As you can imagine, we use Skype rather a lot and make use of shortcuts to help us move around Skype faster. Some Skype for Mac users will probably be familiar with these options already, but we know lots don't. These little shortcuts help you save time, manage conversations better and generally improve how you use the latest version of Skype for Mac.

There are a lot of shortcuts to choose from, so we've put the Mac team's top 12 tricks and tips together in one place.

Currently, our most popular tricks and tips are number 5 (Push to Talk) which makes Skype work like a walkie-talkie when you're on mute, and number 10 (Dial pad) which helps you make internet calling to a landline or mobile without taking your hands of the keyboard - surprisingly, a huge timesaver.

If you use a shortcut that we haven't mentioned, please take a second to add it as a comment to the Facebook post so other Mac users can try them out. And, if you want to find out more about some of its great features, like group screen share, check out our earlier announcement.

Yesterday, Facebook and Skype launched Facebook video calling, powered by Skype, which allows users to call and see each other right from facebook.com. At Skype, we are super excited about this product, which we closely collaborated with Facebook on many of the parts of the solution in a true team effort. We think users will love its ease of use and simplicity. It combines the quality and scale of Skype video calling with the social experiences of Facebook in a way that we believe makes for a powerful combination.

Without a doubt, techies around the world will want to know how we did it. How did we integrate Skype and Facebook? Will it scale? Does it use the Skype client?

The first step of the user experience is on facebook.com. While looking at the profile page or while in a chat, users will now see buttons which allow them to initiate a video call with their friends. Those buttons are rendered as part of the Facebook Web page. When a user clicks on the "call" button, the page will check for the existence of the Skype video calling software, which is an optimized version of Skype's desktop software that powers the video calling experience; we call this the plug-in. If the Skype plug-in hasn't been used before, the user is prompted to install it. Facebook's servers interact with Skype's technology through a proprietary REST API that we have developed. Through that API, Facebook automatically creates an anonymous Skype account for new callers (or 'callees'). Our REST API also allows Facebook servers to obtain a login credential that can be used to log the user into Skype using the anonymous account.

The plug-in is in essence, a miniature version of the Skype client. We've optimized the Skype client for Facebook by removing most of the user interface and eliminating many of the features that are not needed for the Facebook application (e.g., Skype instant messaging). Our plug-in is actually composed of two distinct parts. One is the runtime, which is a standalone miniature Skype client, and the other is an actual browser plug-in. The runtime provides some simple APIs through an RPC mechanism, and the browser plug-in delivers those APIs in JavaScript for access within facebook.com. Despite its compact size and simplified UI, the runtime is Skype in all ways that matter. Our peer-to-peer technology, our firewall and NAT traversal protocols, our video and audio codecs, our media processing engine - everything that makes Skype wonderful - is there, in the runtime.

Once the plug-in has been downloaded and installed, and the caller logged into it anonymously (a process which happens automatically - invisibly to the user), a handshake takes place through Facebook's server infrastructure. This handshake alerts the 'callee' that the caller wishes to call them. By using Facebook infrastructure for this, we allow calls to be initiated prior to installation of a plug-in on the callee's computer. Together, we believe this brings real virality to this feature and reduces the barriers between people communicating.

The user interface you see for the video itself is rendered by the Skype runtime. It's the same video quality you'd expect from a normal Skype video call, since it is a normal Skype video call. It just happens to be invoked from within Facebook, and uses a slim UI.

One of Skype's challenges in providing this functionality was scale. Even though Skype leverages its P2P technology to help achieve scale, we still rely on server infrastructure for several parts of the solution. To handle all of this, Skype has substantially increased server counts and added bandwidth in all of our data centers. The actual voice and video traffic utilizes Skype's global P2P network, allowing for great quality without needing thousands of expensive servers. Together, we'll be rolling the new capability out over the next week or so and carefully monitoring load and quality as we go. As a result, some of you will see video calling buttons on Facebook, and others will not. If you see those buttons, please go ahead and click on it - you'll be able to call anyone on your Facebook friend list.

We think this is awesome technology. We've combined everything that makes Skype great - our quality, our P2P technology, our scale - with the world's number one social property on the Web, and brought those two things together in a completely seamless way.

We hope you enjoy it!

In the following video, Tony Bates talks about Skype's leadership in video calling and recaps some important milestones over the past few weeks. He highlights today's news about Facebook video calling powered by Skype, and shares Skype's broader multi-platform strategy to bring video calling everywhere - the desktop, mobile phones, TVs and the Web.

Just a few weeks ago, Skype announced the ability to IM your Facebook friends or to 'Like' and comment on a Facebook status directly from Skype. Today, we are excited to announce that Skype's partnership with Facebook goes even further, as we are now making it possible to video chat with your friends right from within Facebook. This is an exciting step for us as it represents Skype's first big step on the Web, and because we know this has the potential to unlock even more conversations and make the experience on the Web even more social.

The partnership with Facebook makes fantastic business sense for Skype and gives us an unprecedented opportunity to offer Skype's voice and video calling products to more than 750 million active users on Facebook.

Together, we've collaborated to create a great user experience -- with Skype providing an optimized version of its software and Facebook embedding the Skype calling experience deeply into their site, allowing Facebook users to enjoy the many benefits of video calling.

To get started connecting face to face using Facebook video calling, powered by Skype, it's quick and easy. Just ensure your Facebook Chat status is set to "online" and you are ready to go! You can initiate a Facebook video call right from the Chat box or you can click on your friend's Profile and if they are online, a "Call" button will appear at the top right of their Profile page. If your friend does not answer, you can leave them a video message. Your recorded video message will be waiting in your friend's Inbox the next time they check their Messages.

We hope you enjoy this latest product development from Facebook and Skype. And while you are on Facebook, why not head on over to Skype's Facebook page to learn more, share comments, and don't forget to 'Like' us too.

We are excited to announce that the Skype 5.2 update for Mac is now available for download.

With this new update, Skype for Mac users can now share their screen during a group video call. While screen sharing is already available for free on a one-to-one Skype call, group screen sharing makes communication and collaboration on group calls even richer by enabling people to view presentations, photos and documents on a participant's screen, perfect for presenting a document to colleagues knowing they can't skip slides in advance or for sharing holiday photos with friends and family.

To take advantage of group video calling and group screen sharing, one or more call participants must have a Skype Premium subscription. To find out more about Skype Premium subscriptions or start a free seven-day trial, click here.

If you multi-task during a video call, you'll love the introduction of video in the call control bar. With Skype 5.2 for Mac, if you're on a video call and wish to switch to another program, you can still see the person you're talking to, as well as be able to hang up, or mute - all from the call control bar. We know lots of you have asked for this feature over the last few months - we hope you find it useful.

We've also made it easier to find your most active conversations under Recents in the sidebar and added a history section where you can see those that are less active. Overall, with Skype 5.2 for Mac, you'll find your conversation list less cluttered and easier to navigate through.

Lastly, we often hear from advanced Skype for Mac users who are looking for - or even want to share - tips and shortcuts for enhancing their Skype experience. A guide to many of our favorites Tips and Tricks is now available here and is loaded with tips that will further improve the Skype for Mac user experience and make navigating Skype quicker.

You can download Skype 5.2 for Mac for free here today.