In the news

A sneak peek at the ad – if you’re reading this post in an RSS reader, click through to skype.com/magic to see it in all its glory.

You may remember that we announced our partnership with CNN back in September - well, the second of our ads has now started appearing.

It’s the perfect way to introduce friends and family to the world of Skype on mobile phones. Just point them to skype.com/magic to find out more.

You can also follow @skypemobile on Twitter to catch up on all of the latest news from our mobile team. See you there

Some of you may have seen the buzz around the premiere of Rage last week – it’s a film by Sally Potter with a difference. Starring Jude Law and Judi Dench among others, it was first released for download to mobile phones. You can also watch it online, in cinemas and buy the DVD from today.

The premiere, too, had a twist:

“The world's first multi-venue interactive premiere, broadcast live by satellite from London’s BFI Southbank to dozens of cinemas across the UK and Europe.”

You can see a video of some of the Q&A session here – and if you look carefully, you might notice Skype

New data released by the exo.performance.network shows that Skype has eclipsed Windows Live Messenger as the number one IM app. Skype’s installed on 17% of computers in the sample set, as opposed to 16.7% for our friends from the home of Kurt Cobain and venti lattes.

Also, Randall C. Kennedy at Infoworld points out:

Since many MSN Messenger ‘users’ may not even be aware the application is running – several Microsoft products have been known to set up Messenger automatically as part of their overall installation processes – Skype’s gains are even more remarkable as it typically requires that the user make a conscious choice to seek out and install the program.

Of course, Skype’s not just about IM, but the fact that it offers IM along with high quality voice and video calling, whether free or paid – as well as file and screen sharing and SMS – in one place is something we’re very proud of. Starting an IM conversation with a group of friends and then flipping it to a call is a matter of a single click; sharing a link with a conference call in the office is equally easy. Take that, northwestern cousin

Chart from exo.performance.network – view live version

Some of you may have seen stories circulating about a ‘trojan’ (a malicious piece of software) which can listen in to your Skype calls – and I’d like to set the record straight on two points.

• In order for this trojan to ‘listen in’, it has to be run on your computer, which means that your computer is already compromised – e.g. by a virus.
• It doesn’t exploit the Skype software; instead, it ‘listens in’ to the audio data which is transferred between Skype and your computer hardware – your headset and microphone, for example – and it does this using processes which are available in the Microsoft Windows operating system. It’s like standing next to someone when they are talking

So, what should you do? All the usual security recommendations still apply – make sure you don’t open files from people you don’t trust, stay current on patches and updates for your computer and use an up-to-date anti-virus program.

If you’re looking for more details, the security experts at Symantec sum things up pretty nicely over on their blog:

What this threat is doing is actually grabbing the sound coming from the audio devices plugged into the computer. It does this by hooking various Windows API calls that are used in audio input and output. It then is able to intercept all audio data traveling between the Skype process and the underlying audio device. The extracted audio data is then saved to .mp3 files and stored on the computer.

Because the Trojan listens in the data traveling between the Skype process and the audio device, it gathers the audio independently of any application-specific protocols or encryption applied by Skype when it passes voice data at the network level. Essentially, it sits below these security measures, recording the audio at the Windows level—before outbound audio from the microphone gets to Skype and after incoming audio leaves Skype and reaches the speakers.

Finally, the Trojan contains a back door, which enables an attacker to have the stolen audio conversations sent to a predetermined location, where they can later be listened to.

In terms of impact, we don’t see this threat gaining much of a foothold out in the wild. What we’ve seen is largely proof-of-concept and does not contain any method to spread from one computer to another. However, it is possible that we will see variations on this Trojan theme in the future. With this in mind we recommend keeping your virus definition and IPS signatures up-to-date.

At Skype, we think we do a pretty good job of helping connect people all over the world. It's one thing to give ourselves a pat on the back - it's another when someone else does it. That's why we're thrilled that Skype was included in the TIME.com's list of the 50 Best Websites of 2009.

Described as a list of the 50 top websites that are 'indispensable', the write-up states that 'VoIP has the power to turn an Internet connection into a videophone. For the average user, Skype is the best VoIP.'

And we're inclined to agree

For the third year in a row, Skype is a winner in CNET’s Webware 100 awards – voted for by you and thousands of others around the world.

Over the last year, we’ve seen a lot: the release of Skype 4.0 for Windows, which has transformed the Skype experience on the desktop – and, of course, we’ve seen Skype go truly mobile too. Skype 2.8 Beta for Mac is now out, and our new subscriptions now let you make unlimited calls to landlines in over 40 countries.

Thanks to all of you who voted – and don’t forget, if you have friends who haven’t tried Skype yet, tell them all about it – the first call’s on us.

Oprah Winfrey talks to Josh Silverman

For the past year, Skype has enabled The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk face-to-face with anybody, anywhere, at anytime.

We've been tremendously inspired watching Oprah use Skype video to connect with everyday people, celebrities, and even animals on her show. In fact, did you see Oprah last week? Oprah had a Skype video call with a huge grizzly bear. (Now, that's a first.)

This week, we're expecting to see Oprah push the limits with Skype even further. Watch Josh Silverman, President of Skype, make an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Thursday, May 21st as part of the "Where the Skype are You?" episode. It's going to be a fascinating Skype adventure not to be missed as Oprah takes viewers to some surprising places over Skype video.

Check out the video teaser on Oprah.com.

Following his appearance on ETV earlier this morning (English and Estonian), Josh Silverman will be talking to Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves today at 11am GMT.

Watch the video stream live (English, Windows Media format)

Photo by Sten Tamkivi

Jai Ho.

It turns out Skype is for Slumdog Millionaires--and an Bollywood Oscar song winner.

Indian composer AR Rahman won twin Oscars for best song, "Jai Ho" (Hindi for "Be Victorious") and best score for the film "Slumdog Millionaire" Feb. 22,

The Wall Street Journal reported that next day he released an English version of the tune with the Pussycat Dolls.

The Pussy Cat Dolls' Nicole Scherzinger does the vocal, singing the chorus: "You are the reason that I breathe/ You are the reason that I still believe / You are my destiny."

The remix was created in mid-January with contributions on three continents. Rahman provided input via Skype from India, working with songwriters in LA and the touring singers who popped in and out of studios in the UK.

As I write this, I'm listening to the song here in Chicago, having downloaded it for 99 cents from iTunes. What a world, huh?

The English version, from Universal Music Group's Interscope Geffen A&M Records, is hitting a high note so far with Western fans. It's in the top 50 at iTunes. The original version is No. 10.

Jai Ho. Indeed.

Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC’s technology correspondent, made a quick escape from the CES exhibition halls to try something new for the organisation – a live broadcast from a plane.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite to plan:

It was always going to be tricky to go live onto BBC World, and although we did manage to contact London, and they saw us for a minute, a software glitch then froze the picture. So we moved on to or next challenge.

The next challenge was a Skype video call, which worked perfectly – though the roar of the 1950s flying boat’s engines made it difficult for Rory and his colleague Maggie Shiels to have a proper conversation.

Alaska Airlines and Southwest have already signed to launch Row 44’s in-flight broadband systems later this year – and, in comparison to the (sadly retired) Connexion by Boeing system, installation times and costs are dramatically lower. Increased competition in the in-flight broadband market can only be a good thing

Alongside their respective political campaigns, the past few months gave the world a fascinating insight into the personal lives of two prominent US senators and their running mates.

The Obama campaign made widespread use of blogs and social networks, and one of the highlights for me was the set of photos posted on Flickr from election night. Showing Obama in his hotel rooms in Chicago, they offer a glimpse of just how tense it must have been.

Continue reading "The candid Barack Obama - and he's a Skype user too" »

We’re all looking forward to finding out the winner of the US presidential election, and it’s not long now until we’ll know for sure.

Thinking back on this election campaign period, it’s clear that the internet has played a huge role. Online news, blogs and social networks have lit up my conversations and provided me updates about the latest candidate news, gaffes and opinions. It’s been a constant source of drama, comedy, and surprise.

I’ve been really excited about the adoption of Skype in this historic election. Over the weekend, I decided to go check it out for myself and visit the Silicon Valley Obama Campaign office (located in Palo Alto, CA) to see how our technology was being used for a massive ‘get out the vote’ effort. Check out our video here:

For those of you reading this in an RSS reader, you can watch the video here.

Lisa Herb, an American attorney posted with her husband in Mongolia a few years ago, decided to help women in Central Asia learn English as a way to improve their lives. She saw Skype as a way to help women learn English as a second language.

Herb, who now lives in Upstate New York, founded Alliance for International Women’s Rights, a U.S. non-profit organisation aimed at supporting women leaders and future women leaders in developing countries with an initial focus on Central Asia. Recently, the program spread to war-torn Afghanistan.

Herb said: “They need to speak English to reach out to the international community for funding, for research, for information about what women in other countries are doing about similar problems, for example domestic violence, what legislation exists in other countries. All of that is done in English.”

Teachers speak with the students on Skype and use IM as a white board to teach words that are hard to understand and for grammar exercises.

Twice a week, Rihana – whose full name was withheld to protect her safety – works on her English with a Canadian teacher based in Korea. It's part of the Alliance’s “Armchair English” program.

Rihana says that she wants to learn English to update the material she uses in teaching. The problem is that most of the books used in her work are horribly outdated, going back 20 to 30 years. She wants to sharpen her knowledge so she can do the best she can for her students.

At the opening of the Baltic Dynamics innovation conference in Tartu on the 4th September, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves spoke about the need for a society which fosters innovation: (full text)

Continue reading "Skype contributes 10% of Estonia’s R&D" »

In his video interview with Josh Silverman, Skype CEO, Gigaom blogger Om Malik asks: "Where is Skype for the iPhone?"

Silverman's response? "Stay tuned."

He told Malik: ""We need to be on all devices...Skype needs to be everywhere."

Malik: "While (Silverman) wouldn't get into the specifics, he pointed out that, with minimal promotion, Skype for Pocket PC devices has been a big hit -- adding up to nearly 7 million downloads. This response is why Skype is looking at all devices such as BlackBerry and iPhone, but not sharing many details."

Silverman: "People don't want just voice, they are looking for presence and chatting."

In a video interview, Silverman and Malik discuss "the beta of Skype 4.0, the eBay relationship and the Skype-killer client being plotted by telecom operators amongst various things."

Over at BusinessWeek.com, Silverman told columnist Catherine Holahan about 30% of Skype's members use videoconferencing. Presence and chat are also hot.

Silverman told her: "Communication is being transformed without people realizing it."

He maintains: "The telephone companies are not going to invent the communications of the future."

Holahan responds: "Perhaps not. But in the U.S., it's the cable and telephone companies--not the new Web players such as Skype, Google Talk, and Jahjah--that have taken the lead in providing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. These include Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner, Vonage (VG), and Cablevision (CVC), according to research firm Telegeography."

She noted that Skype is helped in the mobile arena by recent moves by Google and Apple to open up handsets to third-party software. She said Skype has an application for the iPhone.

She added: "Already, Skype has seen some traction on the mobile phone. More than 7 million people downloaded the new version of Skype for Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Mobile operating system since its launch last spring."

The upcoming election is big news in the USA. But there's no reason to wait until November to vote--albeit it in a different sort of election.

BusinessWeek has opened its online polls.

And Skype is in the running for the best "Online Tools" for Calling.

The competition is pretty stiff so get over to the BusinessWeek site
and click for your favourite.

You also can vote on the best new Web site, the most influential
person on the Web, information, fun and money sites.

As we say in Chicago: Vote early and often.

The polls close Sept. 12. BusinessWeek will publish the results on
Sept. 29 in the pub's acclaimed "2008 Best of the Web" edition.

From the supporters to the sceptics among you, we’ve been enjoying reading what people have been saying about Skype over the last week or so. As Skype turns five, many of you have taken the opportunity to speculate about the future, or to reiterate your criticisms and concerns – but to everyone out there who’s wished us a happy birthday, thank you

Dan York’s Disruptive Telephony blog has an incredibly comprehensive assessment of Skype – and I suggest you head over and read the full post yourself – but thought it was worth picking out some highlights:

Continue reading "On five years of Skype" »

I posted a few early photos and videos of the 3 Skypephone S2 on the UK blog on Tuesday, but thought it was time to share some more of what we've seen around the blogosphere.

The combination of free calls and cheap high speed internet access (using the handset's HSDPA modem capabilities) seems to be a favourite among those who've tried the phone so far, and I've summarised a few of the latest reviews below.

Continue reading "3 Skypephone S2: the blogosphere's verdict" »

Peter Parkes is reporting on big news on the availability of the new 3 Skypephone in the Skype blog.

While in the United Kingdom recently, I not only got to meet with Peter, but also tried out the earlier version of the an earlier version of the 3 Skypephone.

Sadly, this phone is not available in the United States. But I got a look at what may be coming someday.

My Skype address book popped right up after I registered the phone. So I decided to give it a spin.

I called Chris, a friend back in Chicago, via Skype on the phone. The sound quality was great--plus the call was free.

I did run into a voice connection problem in a rural area outside the old Roman town of Bath.

Still, I was able to do a Skype chat with a friend in Tucson while on the tour bus outside Bath en route to Stonehenge. (Hope you enjoy my photos.)

I told my friend Ted that I couldn't get through on voice. I joked that the Roman cell reception was poor.

I told Ted the issue was there was no "roamin' (Roman) plan." (Nonetheless, Bath was a planned Roman city, roaming plans or not.)

Ted suggested that the Romans didn't have GSM, but were strictly analog.

I learned later that Ted wasn't far off. A manager in a 3 store in a shopping mall in Liverpool, not far from the Albert Dock, told me that in some areas voice didn't work because of antiquated infrastructure. He wasn't talking about aqueducts, either.

Still, the Skype chat with my man in Arizona worked great.

In the blog, Peter asks: "How does the S2 compare to the original 3 Skypephone?

"New user interface -- even easier to use than the original 3 Skypephone, with a carousel interface which makes switching apps speedy. It preserves the integrated Skype phonebook, so your contacts' Skype names appear alongside their landline or mobile phone numbers."

The S2 also can take photos and can browse the Web.

Maybe someday, we'll be able to use this phone, or something like it, in the USA. Meanwhile, while UK residents can enjoy the 3, we are still on the "II" in the Stone(henge) Age and can only dream of the III.

Scott Durchslag joined Skype last week (June 30) as chief operating officer, reporting to President, Josh Silverman. I caught up with him Monday while he was in Luxembourg for a meeting of Skype's leadership.

I first met Scott a few years ago when he was an executive at Motorola, the mobile phone pioneer based in suburban Chicago, and I was a tech columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times.

He made a name at Moto, having led a turnaround of the company's South Asia business, where his team doubled revenues to $1billion. As Chief Strategy officer who architected the successful 2002 turnaround strategy, the RAZR phone was launched which became the best-selling mobile phone in history, helping double Moto's market share to 24 percent. Scott was also the force behind Motorola's shift away from proprietary software and toward consumer experience-based designs.

The self-described "consumer product guy" was involved in major deals with such partners as Kodak, Microsoft and Google.

The 42-year-old Chicago area native, who has an MBA from Harvard, left Motorola about a year ago, soon after the company lost Mobile Devices President Ron Garriques to Dell.

He laughed when I asked him whether war-torn Yugoslavia, where he was a freelance journalist, or Schaumburg (Motorola's headquarters) was more dangerous. He wisely kept his counsel.

He has been busy in the past year with some private equity deals and the birth of his second child.

He shared some thoughts about the Skype opportunity and where it's headed.

Continue reading "Skype's new COO Scott Durchslag speaks out " »

Howard Wolinsky here, your friendly neighborhood US Blogger for Skype, just popping in with the latest breaking news from the Skype Nomad:

Thirty-three days, and 17 countries later, Rebecca Campbell, better known at her blog, Facebook and MySpace, as the Skype Nomad, finished her 'round-the-world trip and got off the boat in Tallin, Estonia.,
She headed over to Skype's supreme HQ where she was greeted with cheers, along with champagne toasts and slabs of strawberry mousse cake. A night out on town followed.

"I'm pretty tired, but it was great. It was an epic adventure," said Rebecca, 26, a copywriter from London, England.

Her goal was to show that she could be in "perpetual motion" and still communicate via Skype.

Continue reading "Skype Nomad successfully completes excellent adventure in mobility" »

For a young 26-year-old London-based copywriter, today was the start of a 33-day round-the-world exercise. An exercise to remain in perpetual motion, to soak up experiences in 15 countries, from hot-air-ballooning in the Austrian Alps to dog-sledding in Alaska, and to see if Skype can help her stay in touch. While supporting a charity in the process.

To find out more about what this -- and the person behind the Skype Nomad pseudonym -- is about, take a look at her blog, as well as the post by our U.S. blogger who talked to the Nomad as she was preparing to embark on her trek.

The Estonian island of Ruhnu hardly registers on most people's radar, unless they're passionate Estophiles. But this little speck of land with just 100 inhabitants leaves many larger communities in the dust when it comes to putting new technology to good use.

Because of its small size, Ruhnu found itself at the forefront of Estonia's transition to digital broadcasting. And now, local-government officials have started using Skype -- webcams and all -- in their internal communication as well as to stay in touch with regular folks.

According to a regional newspaper, Ruhnu's officials are scattered across Estonia and being able to see each other is a nice perk that isn't included with their office phones or mobiles. Remind me to ping these guys when webcam-boastin' and Skype-runnin' Intel-based MIDs reach these shores. Wouldn't that be a nifty upgrade from government-issue PCs!?

Those of us at Skype and the broader internet communications industry are mourning the loss of a very strong voice in our community today. Word reached us this weekend that Russell Shaw, a blogger over at ZDNet's IP Telephony blog who has been a follower of Skype since our beginning, passed away.

At the young age of 60, Russell left us while he was doing what he enjoyed most, covering the industry in San Jose, CA for eComm2008 and VON.x.

Continue reading "Farewell, Russell Shaw" »

The Hollywood Reporter has done a nice story on how quick-thinking CNN tech staff in the US helped the network out of an equipment crunch by using Skype to carry a video interview.

This isn't the first time a major network has done so, as the article also points out. But it could help open the rusty floodgates. We're all used to seeing journalists in khaki-colored vests filing reports from the world's distant hotspots over the videophone, and strangely, the choppy quality of these reports does add a layer of raw believability to what is being transmitted. (Similarly, AM broadcasts to me feel more "radio-like" than the squeaky clean FM signals or the kills-bugs-dead sterility of satellite radio)

Continue reading "Skype "a good thing" for CNN" »

Hi, I'm Josh. The new guy. On March 24, I'll step aboard as CEO to lead the next stage of Skype's exciting journey.

To say that I'm looking forward to leading this company is an understatement. Skype is one of the defining internet technologies of our era. It's helping people all over the planet connect with each other like never before. It's changing the world. You don't look forward to something like that. You drop what you're doing and jump aboard.

I’m well aware that it is more than just an ingenious feat of engineering, which has made Skype one of the most rapidly-adopted technologies in human history. It’s a passionate community of users who believe in the power of human connection, in bold innovation and in striving for product excellence which has put us on our path to changing the world. I share your passion, and take very seriously the responsibility of all of us at Skype to be good stewards of the product and the brand.

So what can you expect from me? That I’m serious about wanting to build the greatest products -- and the greatest company -- on Earth. That doing so means listening well, being willing to think different and take risks. And in everything we do, one thing is certain: we'll always have the best interests of the Skype community at heart.

I’m the new guy, and have a lot to learn. To really understand Skype's cultural and technological DNA, my number one priority is to do a lot of listening and learning. With my wife and kids about to begin their adventure in Estonia as well, I have all the support I could ever need. I want to know everything about the technology, the team and the community. And I hope to share some of my observations on this very blog and see what you think, too.

As chief executive, I'm stepping into a flight deck first captained by co-founder Niklas Zennström and latterly interim CEO Michael van Swaaij. Both of whom have done great, meaningful things with this company. I don't yet have the right to expect your enthusiastic two thumbs up. But as we go further on this journey together, I plan to earn it.

In the meantime, I look forward to meeting and talking with as many of you as possible over the months and years to come.

In the absence of a thirsty cat, a glass of milk quickly goes sour when left on the kitchen table. Thankfully, awards have a longer shelf life and I hope you'll excuse my travel-driven tardiness in tipping the old blogger's sombrero to the Global Mobile Awards panel at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Earlier this week, the 3 Skypephone was highly commended for its innovative approach in the Best Mobile Handset or Device category.

As the judges -- industry experts, analysts, journalists and academics -- put it, "The Skypephone is an innovative partnership between Hutchison 3 and Skype. In addition to the headline Skype service, the phone offers extremely good value for money with a wide range of features not previously seen at this price point."

Since the 3 Skypephone was announced in late October, it's been enjoying an excellent ride in the hands of Skype-loving consumers and it sure feels nice to see the industry recognize the innovation that this handset embodies.

Incidentally, the 3 Skypephone was also one of the main attractions among journalists, bloggers and other visitors to the Skype stand at last Sunday's Showstoppers. Even as you see more and more Skype-enabled mobile and wireless handsets pop up over time, the 3 Skypephone will continue to play a special role in showing people what's possible -- and what to expect.

As you may have heard, on March 31, Meg Whitman will step down as President and CEO of eBay, Skype's parent company. She will be succeeded by John Donahoe, who has been President of eBay Marketplaces.

For more on management changes at eBay, please see the eBay press release.

At Skype our main focus is providing our users with the best communications experience possible when using Skype. The first results of the survey start showing that 40% of the people within the Skype ecosystem are interested in/are currently working with Skype on the implementation of concepts and ideas that add value to the Skype Users.

I do know that part of the Skype partners are Developers or work in Software companies, so that is why we would like you to tell us what you would like to see in 2007.

Our developer community and the businesses responsible for creating ideas have helped Skype work towards continued innovation and delivering this promise to our users.

To develop further services for the Developers, Software partners and Business Development communities, Skype would like to understand a bit more about you and how we can best help to facilitate your requests with both our technical teams and business development teams moving forward.

Please take some time to answer our survey. Fill out it!

Your feedback and input are welcomed. Antoine at Skype

Interbrand recently surveyed 2,500 voters in 99 countries and asked them which brand had the most impact on their lives in 2005. Skype came third behind Google and Apple. The full article is available here [here](http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?fa_id=298)

Continue reading "Skype voted number 3 global brand" »