Skype's friendship with Facebook just became more significant. The free-VoIP service Thursday launched Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows. The updated betas allow users to conduct a Facebook-to-Facebook video chat from within Skype, as well as to call Facebook friends, colleagues and business contacts without having to actually go to the Facebook site.

Video calls can be answered in either service, depending which one users are logged into. Once users link their Skype and Facebook accounts, the new releases continue to allows Skype users to send instant messages and to follow friends' status updates.

Skype said its update includes more robust video rendering, giving a smoother video experience for Mac users and group screen sharing for Windows users with a Premium subscription. Users who are chatting one-on-one will also be able to screen share with live video streaming.

The Facebook-Skype expansion shouldn't come as a surprise. In August, Neil Stevens, Skype's vice president and general manager of products and marketing, while discussing plans after Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) $8.5 billion acquisition of the company, said Skype would continue to evolve the relationship. Stevens said the companies would focus on rolling out their online video chat. Eventually, he said, they'd add the ability to make outbound landline calls from the social networking site, and to call into Facebook from Skype, which likely will be on a fee basis.

For more:
- see this Skype post

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What's the definition of perfect timing? How about when the latest release of your software showcases your partnership with a social network that just had a box office hit movie made about it. Skype's latest rendition for Windows seems to be taking advantage just as the buzz machine surrounding Facebook is heating up.

The latest release of Skype for Windows is making its new Facebook integration a centerpiece of its service with Skype users accessing their Facebook features right from their favorite VoIP calling system. Users can view the Facebook news feed complete with the latest status updates of their friends right from Skype. The integration also pulls in their Facebook contacts into Skype so that Skype calls and SMS messages can be sent right to their Facebook friends. Sure the latest party pics might deserve a poke, like or comment--all of which users can do right from Skype now--but they now will have the option of calling a friend and hashing out what really happened over the weekend.

In addition to the new Facebook integration, users of the latest version of Skype will get to beta test the new group video calling feature. According to the release, 40 percent of calls over Skype in the first half of 2010 were video calls, so this is bound to be a popular feature. And now with all your Facebook friends at the few clicks of a mouse, multi-user video conferencing might be the 21 century party-line.

For more:
- read the release

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So we've already mentioned the mega deal Skype and Avaya have in the works but wait, there's more! It looks like Skype has been really busy wheeling and dealing to make their service ubiquitous.

According to an exclusive at All Things Digital, Facebook and Skype are working on a deep integration partnership. The deal will allow Facebook users to send each other SMS messages, video call and voice call each other over the Skype service. Users will be able to sign in to Skype through Facebook Connect and engage with their peers seamlessly.

According to the article, the integration is expected to be right around the corner--being launched with Skype 5.0 set to release in October.

Add this latest development to Skype's deal with Avaya and its recent moves to get itself integrated into consumer televisions and Skype might be too conveniently in most consumers faces not to use.

For more:
- read the All Things Digital article
- and the EWeek follow-up

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