Skype has announced that it’s newest beta release supports up to 10 users on video at once.  The beta is for Skype 5.0, and also adds automatic call recovery, and a cleaned up interface.  Of course, since this is a beta, it’s going to be buggy, so it probably isn’t for everyone.  That being said, if you want to have 10-person video chats, everyone involved has to have the same Skype beta.  Right now that means that they all have to be Windows users since the beta is only for Windows. {Mashable}

The real question is if you really want to have 10-person Skype video chats.  It might make sense for small businesses, but for the average user, it doesn’t seem too useful to go all the way up to 10.  The previous version of the beta supported up to five people on a video call at once, which seemed to be a good number.  Who knows, maybe we’ll never be able to live without 10-person video chat when it hits everyone.  Or maybe we’ll stick just stick to voice chat to cut down on potential service issues that seem to plague some Skype users no matter what.

The reviews of Windows 7 are in, and the reaction is mostly glowing. At Slate, Farhad Manjoo proclaims the new Windows OS release “not only the best operating system that Microsoft has ever produced. It is arguably the fastest, most intuitive, and most useful consumer desktop OS on the market today. Windows 7 edges out Snow Leopard—Apple’s latest Mac operating system—in several important ways and will leave any computers running an older version of the Mac OS in the dust.” Yes, even the hardcore Mac fanboys are willing to give Windows a chance in its latest iteration.

And if good old-fashioned “better mousetrap” tactics don’t work, we now know that Windows is willing to grab your geek heart through your stomach. With 7 patties, it’s more of a stranglehold, but whatever gets the job done.

Read more {Slate}
Read more {CNN}