My boyfriend and I have both recently experienced this problem several times – when one of us is calling the other via FaceTime, an old picture freezes on our screen, while the person receiving the call only sees a black screen. It’s kind of creepy, because it brought up photos of both of us at work, where I have used FaceTime a few times but he never has. We’re just wondering how/why this is happening, and if there is a fix. It’s not terribly inconvenient, but it’s definitely unsettling, where is seems that even if we haven’t taken a picture or used FaceTime, the camera is keeping images. If anyone else is experiencing this, we’d love feedback. Thanks!

I’ll make a quick guess as to what’s going on here. There’s probably some minor bug that’s misplacing a memory address when buffering the image data it’s getting from FaceTime. But, as any geek knows, assuming the user is remembering correctly is always a bad idea when it comes to weirdness like this. So, to follow that probably incorrect assumption, I wonder if it’s possible that the program is snagging data from the CCD without any user indication. I would prefer to have hardwired capture indicators enabled whenever a camera is going.

Most likely, the both of them did open up the FaceTime app, but didn’t connect a call. The app buffers image information right away to get it ready to start the whole process of sending that data over to the recipient. When no call connection is made, and the program is exited from, that buffer isn’t overwritten. So when the next call is made, the program opens up the same buffer and OMG! there’s already something that looks like image data there! So it sends along that old bit of buffered video and then goes black, because the camera is sending the new data to another chunk of memory. It sends that buffered frame and then gets stuck, it doesn’t have the right spot where the new camera images are being stored.

[via Intomobile]

Both incoming and outgoing video calls are supported, and you can also chat between Macs. Up to 720p HD quality is possible, and we’re expecting the app to be preloaded onto the new MacBook Pro models and use their rebranded FaceTime-HD webcams. You can download FaceTime for Mac 1.0 from the Mac App Store.

[Thanks Greg!]

As you’ll probably remember, the fourth-gen iPod touch has a 0.7-megapixel camera on the back that’s used for 720p HD video recording or 960 x 720 stills. The iPad 2′s front-facing camera, meanwhile, is VGA resolution and also does stills and video, just like on the iPhone 4.

That could put a dampener on two of the three apps seemingly coming with the second-gen slate, PhotoBooth and the regular Camera app, which were spotted in iOS 4.3 Beta 2 earlier this week. Obviously Apple is going to have to work hard to fit everything it wants to inside the iPad 2′s slinky casing, but we’d hoped for a few more megapixels along the way.

The Camera app is straightforward, offering a simple way to use the iPad 2′s camera to take snapshots and, presumably, record video clips. It’s unclear at this stage – though rumored to be the case – whether the iPad 2 will have a rear camera for photography as well.

As for FaceTime, that will allow for video calls over WiFi with iPhone, iPod touch and Mac users from the second-generation slate. Finally, PhotoBooth has various filters to modify pictures and video; the new beta makes mention of Thermal Camera, Mirror, X-Ray, Kaleidoscope, Light Tunnel, Squeeze, Twirl and Stretch. Previous digging suggested the iPad 2 would also have a proximity sensor.

[via MacRumors]

Video demo after the cut

As well as video calls between Skype Mobile users, calls between the new mobile app and Skype’s Windows, Mac and Linux software is also supported. Unlike Face Time, Skype’s software supports WiFi and 3G video calls; Apple’s system only allows WiFi connections to be used.

The new Skype for iPhone app is a free download [iTunes link] from the App Store; however there’s still no optimized iPad version of the software as yet. Earlier this week, leaks suggested that a Verizon iPhone video calling app was incoming, renewing speculation about the possibility of a CDMA iPhone.

Update: It’s official! More details here.

That would certainly fit in with earlier rumors we’ve heard, of an updated iChat version that could hold video conversations with the iPhone 4 and most recent iPod touch update.  So far those devices have been able to hold video calls between each other, but not with iChat on the desktop.

Apple is only half an hour through their event, so there’s plenty of time for Steve Jobs to announce it later. Keep reading SlashGear for all the details!

If true, Apple are unlikely to be the only company planning Face Time integration with desktop software.  The company has promised to release the necessary APIs so that other manufacturers and software developers can create interoperable products – Qik recently confirmed they plan to do so with their eponymous software, which will run on Android and Symbian among other platforms – though has not yet set a public timescale for their availability.

The French site also suggested that iLife would soon be updated, removing iDVD and replacing it with a new, unknown application.

[via Apple Insider]

Qik’s decision will take some of the onus off of manufacturers themselves to adopt Apple’s standards; last week, Samsung told us that while they wouldn’t be adding in Face Time support to the Galaxy Tab, they wouldn’t stop developers from using the slate’s front-facing camera.  Qik apparently expects to have its app on 75m devices by the end of 2011.

[via Android Community]

Meanwhile there’ll also be push notification built into the FaceTime system – in fact we’re told it’s already baked into iOS4.1, the beta of which went out to developers a few hours ago – that will alert users to incoming FaceTime requests.  The current iPod touch and iPad aren’t set up with the front-facing cameras required to use FaceTime, but we’ve heard plenty of rumors recently about a suitably equipped iPod due at the usual September model refresh.

If you’re an iOS4 user you’ll be pleased to hear there’s baked-in support for Apple’s multitasking system, so Fring stays call-aware in the background and will alert you to new messages or incoming calls.  They’ve also tried to make the app the single place you go to check all your social networking updates, with Twitter and Facebook integration too.

Video demo after the cut

We tried to use Fring on the Galaxy S a few weeks back but found the old version of the app would only recognize the rear-facing camera rather than the front-facing webcam.  Until Apple – or, more likely, their wary carrier partners – open up FaceTime to 3G use, Fring may be the best way to video chat while mobile; that is, assuming you ever wanted to in the first place.

The 5-megapixel camera, the retailer has heard, will support HD video – presumably the same 720p HD as the iPhone 4 – together with using an LED flash for low-light photography.  The iPod touch will also get direct YouTube uploads; we’ll have to see whether its processor is updated so that it can comfortably run iMovie for iPhone.

Meanwhile gaming will be emphasized with the new motion sensors, and Apple will continue to push their video calling functionality by bringing FaceTime into the iPod touch fold.  None of this is official, of course, and we’re not sure who John Lewis’ sources are exactly, but then neither does it sound especially outlandish considering the moves Apple has been making in recent months.

Apple has announced that Face Time calls that are initiated within a voice call will not count against your call allotment. The voice call is terminated as soon as the Face Time call is connected. If you think about it, even if Face Time calls do count against your voice plan minutes, since AT&T is the only carrier for the iPhone in the US and calls between AT&T users don’t use minutes this really doesn’t matter.

I guess this is nice to know if you have friends in the UK or Canada who are using Face Time on another carrier. Apparently how exactly Face Time calls over 3G, reportedly on the list for the next update, will be charged is under debate. I bet you get double hit for data and voice usage in that instance.