NEW COMCAST XFINITY SET-TOP BOXES INTEGRATE FACEBOOK AND INTEL PROCESSORS

If you’re a Comcast customer, your TV viewing experience will soon get very interactive. Just yesterday, Comcast announced a partnership with Skype to bring HD video calling to your television sets, and today the company unveiled a new Xfinity set-top box powered by Intel that will integrate Facebook to bring social features and app support to its content service.

Comcast is using Intel’s chip for its new Xfinity set-top box, which will be manufactured by Pace. Intel has been pushing its chips into the home-entertainment markets with Google TV products already employing them. However, sales for Google TV have not met targets, and so this new partnership with Comcast is a good opportunity for Intel to expand into the digital home space.

As for the Facebook integration, it goes beyond just being able to access Facebook from an app launcher. Xfinity will allow subscribers to suggest programming to friends and also receive recommendations. Other apps will also be delivered through Xfinity, such as real-time traffic and weather, although which ones have not yet been confirmed.

However, it has not been confirmed yet when and where the new set-top boxes will be deployed and whether there will be an additional cost for current subscribers.

WINDOWS PHONE 7 UPDATE TO BRING OFFICE 365, FACEBOOK CHAT AND BETTER XBOX LIVE INTEGRATION

The Windows Phone Dev Podcast unearthed some seemingly legit Windows Phone 7 screenshots last week that revealed a few new features apparently headed to the mobile OS, and it's now back with another batch that show yet more additions said to be included with the so-called "Mango" update.

That includes support for Facebook Chat and Office 365 (plus SkyDrive and SharePoint), as well as a revamped Games hub that suggests even more Xbox Live integration (including a rather interesting new "Automatic Sync" option). What's more, the lock screen will apparently now show the album art if there is a song currently playing, and it seems there will be some new group messaging options as well.

Of course, all that's still unconfirmed by Microsoft.

AOL'S AIM INTEGRATES WITH GOOGLE TALK

For eons two realms have been divided: AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk. AIM debuted among American Online employees in 1995; Google Talk premiered just a decade later. By 2007 you could combine your buddy lists, but that required also logging in twice.

Now our long global nightmare has come to an end, and as AOL says "in the next few days" users of both services will be able to chat without logging in twice. One login to rule them all is the promise, though there's little explanation of just how this will work.

GOOGLE AND SPRINT RESPOND TO GOOGLE VOICE INTEGRATION ISSUES

You may recall from yesterday that early adopters were having a variety of issues after activating (or attempting to activate) Sprint's new Google Voice integration feature. Well, a full day has passed, and we've had several calls with GV lead Vincent Paquet as well as Brian Smith, Sprint's director of product development. Both executives have said that their respective companies have been hard at work on resolutions to each of the issues we outlined Thursday night, and some customers we spoke to yesterday are now back online.

Google is not commenting on a voicemail security bug, that inadvertently granted management-level access to people that one user called from the Google Voice web app, vulnerability, but has confirmed that it's not a threat today. The second issue was that some GV customers who were up and running with Sprint integration suddenly found themselves unable to use the service. This issue has been pegged to the removal of an accounting code -- GGLVOICE -- that some Sprint reps have accidentally removed. The carrier is working to prevent this from occurring in the future, and those already affected should soon be able to call in for support. Next up, some international calls were being processed through Sprint, rather than through GV, even after users activated their integration. This has been tied to the accidental removal of the same accounting code, and Google has offered to reimburse affected individuals.

Finally, many users, notably those on personal accounts with corporate discount, have been unable to activate GV integration. Sprint has promised a mid-May resolution, and we'll certainly keep you updated. Users with these issues are still being instructed to share their concerns on the Google Voice Forum, which as of now is finally getting the attention it needs. You can also post a comment below, as both companies have been monitoring here, too. Things are looking much better today than they were yesterday, but our position remains unchanged: Unless you've already activated Sprint/Google Voice integration, please stand by until both companies have had a chance to work out these (very significant) kinks.

SPRINT/GOOGLE VOICE INTEGRATION HAS MAJOR PROBLEMS, LITTLE SUPPORT

There have been a ton of complaints about the new Sprint/Google Voice integration. Some users of Google Voice are finding their accounts are suddenly deactivated due to a problem on Sprint's end. Others can't activate Google Voice at all.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Some users are having problems reverting back to their old number and having the service deactivated by Sprint. For international calls, one the major advantages of using Google Voice due to the low cost per minute, users are finding their calls are not routed through Google, but Sprint at the much higher per minute rate.

Google and Sprint clearly have their work cut out for them, but to Sprint's credit, customer service representatives that we spoke to did their best to research the situation and provide any assistance that they could. Unfortunately, the result is always the same -- reps at every level redirect callers to the Google Voice Forum, rather than an email or telephone support line.

It appears that Sprint does in fact know how to get in touch with Google, at least at the executive level. We received a joint response, sent from representatives of both companies. Surprisingly, their official position is that customers with Sprint-related Google Voice questions should contact Sprint directly. From our experience, Sprint representatives will then refer customers to Google, so that suggestion couldn't be less helpful. Unfortunately, there's no word on when we can expect these bugs to be resolved. In the meantime, it goes without saying that you should avoid activating Google Voice on your Sprint phone, unless the mobile gods have blessed you with multiple devices -- or you really don't care about being able to use your phone to actually make calls.

SKYPE TO GET INTIMATE WITH FACEBOOK

Sources close to the Skype 5 beta have let some new features slip concerning a deep integration with Facebook.    Skype is planning on deploying Facebook connect when the new version ships, which will allow users to log into Skype using their Facebook login information.  Also, they will be able to make voice and video calls to their Facebook contacts directly from the software. [Engadget]