Sony Announces Skype For PSP, Homebrewers Respond

Croakyvoice writes "Sony has finally officially announced that Skype is coming soon to the PSP. The VoIP service is slated to hit the company's handheld at the end of January. The application will be available via a firmware update and is only compatible with PSP Slim & Lite Consoles. After the announcement the PSP homebrew scene released a new application called Furikup which will allow you to make phone calls with your PSP and is compatible with the original phat PSPs."

Re:

[webmaster404]

No it is called the PSP slim and light not 2 separate consoles.

Re:

[dancingmad]

Ah, thank you. It's a lame name. Someone needs to mod my previous post down.

Re:

[Dr. Eggman]

Yes, but I have heard that a new special version for the skype services will be coming out. This PSP will sport an new shape, roughly that of a half-circle.
.
..
...
Yo quiero Taco-PSP [wikipedia.org]. *runs*

Re:

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Sony seems to just call it the PSP. I don't see any "slim and light", it's looks like an ad-hoc name for it.

Re:

[ucblockhead]

It's called the PSP 2000 [amazon.com].

Good news at last!

[antek9]

I think this is good news. I couldn't care less about Skype on the PSP (although better to have the option than not have it), but this means that Sony are on good terms with the team behind Skype and VoIP will eventually be available on the PS3 as well, which is what I have been waiting for since I got the Playstation Eye. It just seems natural, and finally, our video calls to Japan might get through with better quality than now.

This post might have nothing to do with the parent post, but I'm with him conc

What's that?

[Jarjarthejedi]

Sony: An idea you say? Internet phone on a PSP? Why I do say old chap, that is a good idea! Let us put it in testing and quality assurance and then announce it's release a little before we put it out. Let us also make it available only on our latest devices, to encourage purchasing.

Hackers: Internet phone on a PSP? Good Idea! I'll have a quick-build later tonight, should be able to get this done in a couple of days...hey look, the original's compatible too! That'll save a few bucks...

Re:

[MBCook]

I've got a PSP "Phat", and I couldn't care less.

That said. Let's look at the evidence.

1. Portable game console
2. Network connectivity
3. Microphone on one side, speaker on the other
4. Does 3D

It's the return of... sidetalkin' [wikipedia.org]!

Re:

[Jarjarthejedi]

The return of the N-Gage? Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse? Along with Microsoft giving away a good piece of software and 'In Soviet Russia...' jokes going out of style on /.?

Re:

[poot_rootbeer]

Let us put it in testing and quality assurance and then announce it's release a little before we put it out.

I may be misreading your intent, but are you suggesting that Sony's decision to subject a product to a quality assurance process before publicly announcing its release is a BAD thing?

Re:

[Jarjarthejedi]

Not at all, I was actually trying to imply that their method is superior but slower, Testing and QA are important, but slow, which is why hackers can get things out much faster than companies.

Nintendo DS

[jshriverWVU]

So how long till there's a DS port? The console has a full development suite and wifi is accessible, has a microphone. So start the clock :)

I think the best news for the PSP people, is that an official sony product will work on any PSP. So you don't needs any homebrew hardware (flashcart,custom firmware, etc)

Re:

[Macrosoft0]

[quote] I think the best news for the PSP people, is that an official sony product will work on any PSP. So you don't needs any homebrew hardware (flashcart,custom firmware, etc) [/quote]

nope, sony decided the feature will only be available on the newer (psp slim+lite) model. not that there is a hardware incompatability. the newer model is mostly the same, except for the addition of a cache for quicker load times from umd's, and the backlight is improved (not sure about it, never noticed much of a differenc

Re:Nintendo DS

[cbeley]

It exists. SvSIP allows to to send and receive calls with SIP on your Nintendo DS. You can download it at http://svsip.free.fr/spip.php?rubrique9 [svsip.free.fr]. There are also a couple free places you can use with it to make free calls on your DS that you can find by looking at the accompanying gbadev forum thread at http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=14121 [gbadev.org].

It's pretty cool, though, the out-going quality is sort of bad (it could just be the free service I was using), while the incoming sound to your DS sound just fine.

So, take that PSP :-P

Re:

[Enderandrew]

There is a bit of a memory and processor difference between the two. Can the DS handle it?

I'm asking sincerely, not trolling.

Re:

[cheater512]

Contrary to what Microsoft and computer manufacturers are telling you, 67mhz is quite fast.
Also remember that its a ARM processor, not x86.

You dont need a dual core 3ghz processor to use Skype. :)

Re:

[Enderandrew]

That doesn't answer the question though. Do we have an idea for what kind of hardware you need for Skype on a hand-held device?

I know it runs on the Nokia n800 series of internet tablets, but again that is much nicer hardware than a DS.

Skype is proprietary software

[tepples]

Do we have an idea for what kind of hardware you need for Skype on a hand-held device?

Skype is proprietary software with a secret protocol. This means either you'll need a CPU of an architecture that already has Skype (that is, x86), or you'll need 10 times the CPU you think you need to run an emulator. SIP telephony, on the other hand, is already on PC, DS, and now PSP.

Re:

[mccabem]

Skype even runs on the older Nokia 770 with a slight bit of hacking. It's apparently not a hardware limit. :-)

See here for more info:
http://maemogeek.blogspot.com/2007/12/skype-on-n770-using-os2007-he.html [blogspot.com]

-Matt

Re:

[cheater512]

When you say Skype do you mean Skype or basic VoIP functionality?

Skype wont run unless eBay ports it specifically of course.
I would be extremely surprised if it was too slow for the VoIP algorithms however.

PSP Microphone?

[NFN_NLN]

So where does one get a PSP microphone? Or is it built in?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

You can buy headsets. They were originally released for games like SOCOM which have voicechat. Unless Sony feels like shooting itself in the foot, I would assume that they're compatible with Skype. Although, I have seen pictures of a different microphone that plugs into the USB jack, which would free up the serial jack next to the headphone jack so that you can do TV-Out on the Slim at the same time as talking on the phone. Gee, that'll be really useful. With all of these new features like TV-Out, Remote Pl

Re:

[Enderandrew]

A long while back I remember reading online about how in England Sony had struck a deal to make the PSP do phone calls, and I wondered the same thing. Were they adding a mic to the PSP in Europe or what?

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/news.asp?c=3139 [pocketgamer.co.uk]

Apparently that was in May.

Skype annoys the hell out of me

[drspliff]

Just like MSN, AIM, ICQ etc.. they all lock you and your friends into using the software. Skype is no different, it's not interoperable with anything else.

How many times have you reluctantly had to sign up for some proprietary messaging system, then got forced into using a advert laden badly made piece of software, or less than optimal alternative (hear that Microsoft MSN Messanger and Gaim?) when there are tried, tested and IMO superior alternatives.

Me? I use SIP and have a number of hardware & software phones that work with it at home and in the office... for messaging I use IRC and always have done.

If only Sony would adopt homebrew applications like Furikup instead of tying themselfs in with Skype or some other proprietary vendor.

Re:

[B3ryllium]

What's wrong with Gaim? Pidgin, as it is now known, works fine for me.

Of course, I do use mIRC for IRC, so I have low standards ... ;-)

Re:

[Fedarkyn]

pidgem supports voice chat?

Re:

[Enderandrew]

Furikup might as well be proprietary. There is in open source, and then there are open standards.

Thankfully, we established open standards for email years ago, but it used to be that everyone used different protocols and networks, the way instant messaging and cell phones work today.

Cell phones are slightly more universal in that a Cingular customer can call a Sprint customer, however the technologies of different networks differ enough that you can't take a Sprint phone to AT&T. The hope is that some

Re:

[despisethesun]

Google Talk is based on Jabber/Jingle, so it would appear that it scales just fine. The problem is that everyone's been using MSN, AIM, and Yahoo for so long now that they're entrenched, and Jabber just isn't enough of an improvement to force people to change.

Re:

[Enderandrew]

It isn't scale. Jabber is still centric to a single network. I can't log into LJ Talk with My Gmail account, even though they both use Jabber, let alone talk across the two networks.

Re:

[jeaton]

You can talk between Jabber services, as long as both sides support server-to-server communication. LJ Chat [livejournal.com] appears to support it, based on their own documentation.

Re:

[wertigon]

You may not be able to log in to your LJ Talk server with your gmail account - But there should be nothing stopping you from adding LJT users to your contact list on GMail, and vice versa.

Jabber isn't one network, true, but many networks working cooperating through open standards. Pretty much the same thing the World Wide Web, email and internet at large works.

Re:

[cheater512]

Jabber servers mesh together like a hybrid between Gnutella and eDonkey p2p networks.
If your [e-mail] and you want to talk to [e-mail] then abc.com will connect to xyz.com for you.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'logging in' to LJ talk from GMail.
You have to connect to the server your registered with to talk.
If you log in to LJ talk and Gmail at the same time, you should be able to talk to yourself just fine.

Re:

[rbanffy]

"however the technologies of different networks differ enough that you can't take a Sprint phone to AT&T."

Not exactly. Most phones are either CDMA or GSM. I always wondered how it happened that in the USA the phone customers get so much more screwed than in any other place I know and seem uninformed about it - it's not incompatible tech - it's that telcos configure the phones they sell not to be able to connect to any other network.

As in most places, you can easily buy an unblocked GSM phone you can use

Re:

[metamatic]

I always wondered how it happened that in the USA the phone customers get so much more screwed than in any other place I know and seem uninformed about it

How the USA ended up with CDMA and a non-standard GSM frequency:

When the spectrum was being allocated, Europe chose GSM and standardized it. Qualcomm approached the US government and said "Hey! You can't allow some European technology to take over when there is better US technology available! (Which incidentally we have patents on, *cough*)"

The US governme

Re:Skype annoys the hell out of me

[Quarters]

Skype is no different, it's not interoperable with anything else.

Except the worldwide telephone network and most any/all cell carriers. If it has a phone number you can reach it via Skype.

Re:

[drspliff]

Yes, but...
* You can't use things like DUNDI to make telephony networks available via mutual trust.
* You don't get handy [e-mail] VoIP/e-mail via appropriate SRV records.
* Third parties can't implement it easily for new hardware or operating systems.
* You're essentially tied to a computer or one of the select few phones that support ype.
* You can't choose which provider you use for outbound calls (e.g. if Skype's routing is crap to some destinations, you're stuck).
* Want an incoming number in your are

Re:

[Quarters]

* WTF is DUNDI? I'm only being half sarcastic. Is it something a majority of users even know of, let alone want or need?

* See #1 Why do I care about VOIP/email via SRV records as a home user?

* There are a ton of third party phones and routers with Skype embedded into them.

* Skype phones are price competitive with other cordless handsets. I don't see your point as a valid argument. I'd pay just about as much for a regular cordless handset and then extra $ for a dedicated router if I wanted to use Vonag

Re:

[Quarters]

OMG! People have to pay for phone service? When did this injustice start?

They'll be able to talk to DS users

[tepples]

Now that both PSP homebrew and DS homebrew [gbadev.org] have SIP, PSP homebrew users will be able to talk to DS homebrew users over the Internet. What other gaming systems have cross-platform voice chat?

Re:

[Enderandrew]

Please mod parent up.

Re:

[Enderandrew]

I'm the only person who encouraged modding the parent up, but that is redundant?

This is cool

[chuckymonkey]

As I've told many people the PSP isn't really worth owning unless you load custom firmware and your own applications on it. The functionality is immense, for instance I can read books, stream video from my PC to my PSP, play homebrew games, backup my games to SD, rip my PS games and play them, SSH, and quite a bit more. I actually think that I would hate the device if I couldn't load custom software on it. Anyway, back to actually working.

Re:This is cool

[Echnin]

Since we're on the subject - could you direct new PSP owners such as myself to good sites discussing homebrew on the PSP? I tried Googling for a while, but didn't find very good sites on the subject. Got myself one of the new slim PSPs in Beijing last month, and they fixed me up with custom firmware and everything, but still not finding many good homebrew apps to use...

Re:This is cool

[Fallen Seraph]

I recommend: http://www.psp-hacks.com/ [psp-hacks.com] and http://pspupdates.qj.net/ [qj.net] for the most part, as well as their respective forums at: http://www.psp-hacks.com/forums/ [psp-hacks.com] and http://forums.qj.net/f-psp-development-hacks-and-homebrew-13.html/ [qj.net] Lots of cool stuff there and you can always ask for help or advice. Personally, I have Bookr, PSPSSH, PSPIRC, and IRSHELL on mine. All very useful tools imo

Re:

[Peter Bortas]

http://ps2dev.org/ [ps2dev.org] is useful if you are at all interested in development. The PS2, PS3 and PSP open source devkits are developed and discussed there.

Re:

[chuckymonkey]

Another good one is maxconsole [maxconsole.net] and the forums there.

Re:This is cool

[Henry Pate]

I got old (fat) PSP for Christmas so I spent some time modding it out and here's what I've found.

4gb memory sticks can be found for $60 online and are a great investment.

You can use this program [kde-apps.org] to backup your UMD disks and then compress them, put them on the memory stick, and tada.

iR Shell [irshell.org] is awesome, it provides a the ability to control IR devices, nice skinnable shell, good file browser, lets you switch out of games (think alt-tab), play MP3s while you're playing a game and mute game music, toggle CPU speed, do adhoc wifi transfers between PSPs, take screenshots and much more, you can find a larger list of features (and the un-official forum) here [irshell.org].

PSP Vault [psp-vault.com] has a very nice downloads section, tons of guides and very active forums.
Psp-homebrew [psp-homebrew.eu] has a great list of homebrew you can sort by firmware version. compatibility
QJ.net [qj.net] is another good resource.

PSP Radio [blogspot.com] lets you stream internet radio on your PSP.

There are [about.com] NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA, Sega Genesis, Neo-Geo, N64, Atari 2600, C64 and probably others.

Wifisniffer [jylam.info] is a great probably that does just what it says.

PSP Weather [dcemu.co.uk] is another good one.

PSP HTTPD [qj.net] lets you use your psp as a webserver.

Portable VNC [dcemu.co.uk] lets you control your PC with your PSP and there is software that will let you use your PSP as your gamepad for your PC.

PSP XTI [zx81.free.fr] is a TI-92 (Graphing calculator) emulator for the PSP. GPS is soon coming to the PSP (USA only), it will be available as a UMD but no release date or price has been set.

There are many others, just browse the file collections and forums.

If you have a PSP with the factory firmware and wish to downgrade it can be an annoying process, it depends on what version firmware you're running.
This forum post as has the information you need [qj.net].

Used PSPs can be had for less than $100 in stores near me, including a 1gb pro-duo stick, I think I've squeezed $100 worth of features out of it.
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes

Re:

[harryk]

not to argue with you, but gps for the psp is already here. There are a couple of hacks that you can create your own cable to interface with various GPS units, or you can buy the official GPS unit for the PSP, psp-290 I believe is the part number. Thats the route I took, the official unit.

Couple the hardware with the homebrew application MapThis! and create a map pack (trivial, but time-consuming). It works quite well.

I believe the author of MapThis! is an individual by the handle of Deniska (sp?) and th

Re:

[speculatrix]

whilst I am impressed by the fervour to crack the PSP's security to allow homebrew, wouldn't effort yield results quicker if you started with a more open platform.

wouldn't it be easier to get a Nokia N800 tablet which is "open" out of the box, has a higher res *touch* screen, twin SD card slots (no memory stick shite), and a standard linux development platform? Want games, how about a GP2X? Want a keyboard, how about a Zaurus?

Re:

[tepples]

whilst I am impressed by the fervour to crack the PSP's security to allow homebrew, wouldn't effort yield results quicker if you started with a more open platform.

wouldn't it be easier to get a Nokia N800 tablet

For one thing, the photo in the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] doesn't show any buttons for the right thumb (like the O and X buttons of the PSP or the A and B buttons of the GBA). Games in genres that use traditional controls (D-pad plus buttons, rather than D-pad plus the touch screen) would need the player to touch the screen with the right thumb. Speaking of games, the Wikipedia article also doesn't provide evidence of commercial games for when the user feels done with running homebrew apps, apart from classic poin

GP2X in what store, and with what games?

[tepples]

Want games, how about a GP2X?

Where are the commercial games for the GP2X, other than an M-rated gangster simulator? And if a child who attends a U.S. high school asks for a GP2X as a gift, or saves up to buy a GP2X, where can a parent who is afraid to shop online purchase the product?

SIP client for the PSP!

[Critical_]

Furikup is a beta quality SIP client for the PSP. It's always nice to see the increasing number of devices supporting SIP. Without the luxury of having a PSP to play with Furikup, but having another SIP device (Nokia E61) I can give some recommendations to new users Voice-over-IP (VoIP).

There are a number of free incoming number DID providers. A few examples:

SipNumber [sipnumber.com] provides Iowa State numbers.
IPKall [ipkall.com] provides Washington State Numbers.
OrbTalk [orbtalk.co.uk] provides London geographic numbers.

Google's Recent acquisition of GrandCentral is a very tempting prospect even though it is not a true SIP provider. You can get a phone number in almost any locale with GrandCentral and forward the number to the above two US-based providers. You may almost register for a Gizmo [gizmoproject.com] account and forward directly to it through GrandCentral. Once the Gizmo SIP account is registered to your device it'll ring when called from a regular landline.

The problem with having this many accounts is finding a service which can aggregate your numbers in one place so you don't have dozens of SIP accounts to register in your device. Voxalot [voxalot.com] is a nice service but they charge $15/year. Another one is PBXES.org [pbxes.org] but I would stay away from them. They have a notorious reputation of locking accounts [voxilla.com] and demanding a 50 Euro ransom to regain access. My personal favorite is MySipSwitch [mysipswitch.com]. It's free, does SIP aggregation, and allows simple dial-plans to maximize cheap calling over SIP. It's also an open-source project [codeplex.com] and the developers directly answer questions from the community in the forums [mysipswitch.com].

Coupling this with services like PhoneGnome [phonegnome.com], it's possible receive calls from all over the world with some very simple guides (link #1 [scopezoom.com], link #2 [scopezoom.com]) out there. Go ahead and give it a try. A big congrats to the coders that are bringing SIP functionality to the PSP.

Re:

[ramul]

furikup might want to change their product name if they want any success, at a glance it looks vulgar...

SIP+linux+Nintendo ds

[xtracto]

Any chance to get a port of a Linux SIP application for the DS??? (can be console based!)

Re:

[xouumalperxe]

You are aware that you'll have some trouble finding a webcam that can feed that HDTV a high resolution signal, right? (not to mention actually streaming it in real time at a decent frame rate)

Skyp for PSP?, I want

[v4vijayakumar]

Skype for iPod

umm

[toddhunter]

is that Furikup as in drinking from?

Mylo?

[xENoLocO]

My sony mylo has had this for over a year... what took them so long?

PSP Camera?

[blankoboy]

Will Skype on the PSP work with the Chotto Shot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go!Cam [wikipedia.org] ? Free video calls from your PSP from any wireless hotspot in the world = fantastic.

Now SONY needs to get Skype onto the PS3 and compatible with their eyetoy accessory. If this comes out you can be those cameras will start selling like hotcakes. It will make the PS3 video communication device bringing Skype to the casual (non-PC/Mac) users....ie: my mother.

For PSP's but what about Linux

[Wowsers]

How about a DECENT Skype application for Linux (and a 64 bit version at that). Surely PSP's have an even lower usage rate then Linux, and yet Linux gets a pretty crapified feature-less 32 bit version compared to the Windows one.

How about just a sip client?

[Trauma_Hound1]

Really, sip client would do me better, since I already have a voip service, that allows me to bring my own devices. I have x-lite on all my machines at home and my work machine. I can receive phone calls where ever I am.