February 2007

Are you part of Skype’s larger “ecosystem”? Are you a developer working with Skype API, or just planning to become one? We’re calling all developers to help us by filling our survey to help us improve our offering to you. This includes technical as well as business roles. So take a look at the linked post from Antoine and fill out the survey to help us help you.

There are two business practices that we currently see happening in the wireless networks, especially in the US. (Note that in this post, I use “wireless” in the sense of “mobile” and not wifi.) One is to lock the phones to the network of a given carrier so that you have to stay with a given carrier for a period of time and cannot switch even if you want to (or switching is very costly and complicated). Another is to dictate to the phone manufacturers which feature they can or can not have on a given market. For example, some new mobile phones have two models: one for the European market with wifi, and another for the US market without wifi, because the US carriers do not want people to be able to use wifi from their phones.

Both of these practices have been going on for a while and everyone seems to have drifted into thinking that this is “how things always were” and this is how they should be.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We at Skype think different. We obviously want to run Skype on as many mobile devices as possible, and it would help us if the networks and devices were more open. We continue to believe in innovation and consumer choice and we believe that many people would choose Skype for calling over their mobile phone’s data plan or wifi if they had a choice. Choice and competition is always good for users.

We want to open up a dialog with users, wireless carriers, phone manufacturers and the other related parties in the US. So on February 20 (just this week), we filed a petition with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that describes our thinking on this and suggests to open an industry forum to discuss the situation and possible ways forward. (FCC is the government body in the US that regulates wireless carriers.) Download the petition here.

Continue reading "Opening the dialog about consumer rights on wireless (mobile) networks" »

It’s time for a new Beta version of Skype for Windows. Download here. Please note that as with all Beta versions, you can expect this version to have some bugs and a few rough edges which we will be polishing before the final version. Download and use only if you are comfortable with using pre-release software.

Although only a minor increase in the version number, from 3.0 to 3.1, this release contains a major new feature called SkypeFind.

SkypeFind

SkypeFind is one of the most interesting features that we’ve done in quite a while now. We call it “Local businesses you like”, and that’s what it is - a collection of businesses, with reviews and comments, built by everyone using Skype.

Continue reading "Skype 3.1 Beta for Windows – SkypeFind and typing indicators" »

&

Symantec and Skype have partnered to deliver PC security solutions to small office and home office Skype users for a secure PC environment. Skype users can benefit from a 30% discount on the Norton Internet Security and other Symantec Norton branded products at store: www.symantecstore.com/skype.

Symantec’s Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus 2007 products, which are suitable for both home users and small offices, have been Skype Certified™. This confirms that Symantec’s Norton line of security products meet Skype’s strict standards for security, quality and usability.

Good news for European Skype users — from today, you can choose to pay a low monthly subscription of €2 and make zero cents per minute calls to domestic landlines in 15 countries in Europe.

The Skype Pro subscription deal includes:

• Zero cents per minute calling to domestic landlines in your country — this means you can talk as long as you like and only pay the connection fee (3.9 cents or equivalent) for each call that you make to domestic landlines
• Free Skype Voicemail (normally €15 per year)
• €30 discount on SkypeIn numbers
• €5 Skype Credit included as part of the introductory offer (see below)
• A €30 discount on a Philips VoIP 841 cordless phone.
• A €10 discount on an SMC WiFi phone.
• Money off a series of Skype Extras.

Bonus: If you get there quickly, you can purchase Skype Pro on a five month basis for €10 and receive €5 Skype credit absolutely free.

This is great for regular Skype users, who will benefit from flat rate calling to domestic landlines, plus all of the other goodies.

The lowdown

Skype Pro is now available across Europe in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the UK — it’ll be launched in other countries across the world during 2007.

If you aren’t based in one of these countries you can still purchase Skype Pro if you’re really keen. You still get all the other benefits, but you don’t get the advantage of the zero per minute local calls.

Extra: You can use your Skype Pro deal wherever you are — if you’re in France, you get free calls to French landlines; if you’re in Austria, you get free calls to Austrian landlines, and so on.

Show you’re Pro

Feel free to show off the fact that you’re using Skype Pro — you can steal the image at the top of this post to use as an avatar. Right click on it and save it to your computer, then follow the instructions here.

Rosana who edits the Skype Brasil blog also works as a TV host in Brazil. Now she brings us this cool idea of people dialing in with Skype Video straight to the studio and participating in talkshow as virtual audience. Click on the pictures to see larger versions.

Here’s what Rosana said.

I work for a live sunday night tv show in Brazil, called Panico na Tv, an equivalent do Saturday Night Live, on Sunday nights. We created a new way of having the audience in the studio, live, using Skype in a webcam. I’ll send you the pictures and you’ll understand right the way It’s always live but this sunday, it will be recorded, because of Carnival. Two people, Leslie and Bruno, took part as virtual host and hostess, via skype, live, from Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte. It will be on air this sunday night, from 21:00 h to 23:00 h Brazilian time and you can watch it on the web.

See these links to find out more, and see the post on the Brasil blog.

http://www.timbonet.com.br/tvs/rede_tv_2.htm
http://www.livetvcenter.net/rede_tv_sul.asp

A real-life story from one of Skypers about the effects of Skype video.

Heh, my brother’s kid is 1.9 old or such and she’s quite a brat when trying to put her to bed. Million reasons to get out, walk about, read a book etc.
Yesterday we did first-ever video call with her in the evening and I finished up by telling her that let’s go to sleep now. Today brother tells me that she got up and ran to her bed without wishing good night to her dad and fell asleep almost immediately.

Ok so this is not exactly “fresh”, but I just found out about it via Andrew. This Luke Johnson guy is putting his mobile number on the internet and now wants everyone to call him. This was posted last September, I have no idea if it’s still ongoing, but the video and its comments seem to be still “active” so reposting it here too. And the number shown in the video is obviously in the US, so add the US country code +1 when calling.

Over the past few days, we have seen a story circulating about how Skype is reading BIOS data of your computer and what this might possibly mean. Here’s an update from our Chief Security Officer Kurt Sauer on this.

If you happen to live in one of the European countries served by the Skype Accessories Shop and have been hesitant about buying from them for some reason, there’s now news for you — they take PayPal. So you can head right over and get some fresh Skype hardware. You may want to check back once in a while, as I hear we have a new store in the works.

VoIPnews.com has published this handy guide called Hacking Skype: 25 Tips to Improve Your Skype Experience.

These days, people freak out when they hear the “hacking” word. It is sometimes associated with criminals and breaking into stuff and stealing and god forbid what else. But the article actually uses it in its true original correct meaning which is simply to “expand” and “use in different ways”. We indeed designed Skype to be simple yet expandable and versatile, and this article provides good testimony to that purpose. It lists many useful tips, from Skype’s own features to many extras that we have.

I won’t list all the tips here, go to voipnews.com to read it all. I found this one the coolest. Many people have asked me for a Skype plugin that can distort your voice or mix music into the call. I didn’t know we already have one.

There’s nothing more entertaining than changing your voice to mess with your friends. Whether you want to impersonate their boss or their girlfriend, DoNaut has got you covered. This easy to install Skype add-on will allow you to adjust the tone and quality of your voice throughout the call. In addition, you can use DoNaut to pipe in some background music to your Skype calls off your favorite music player such as iTunes, or Windows Media Player.

Skype Rescues Missing Cell Phones: Technology Evangelist. Interesting use of Skype as a “backup” dialing system to locate your misplaced cell.

Skype to the rescue: I simply clicked “Call Ordinary Phones” dialed my cell phone’s number, then listened intently for the buzz of my phone in its hiding place. Sure enough, it worked.
And where was it? It was … um … well … on the table … behind my laptop’s monitor.