Partner news and campaigns

Jonathan Christensen is Skype’s General Manager for Audio and Video.

Today marks a significant moment in the journey of Skype. Some of you may be aware of the SILK speech codec which is included as part of Skype 4.0 for Windows – it’s what enables super-wideband audio and optimizes call quality, even in low network bandwidth environments. It transforms sound quality for Skype calls, and if you haven’t already tried 4.0, believe me: you should.

I’m speaking at eComm today, and have some very special news to bring our developer community – we’re making the SILK speech codec available for a royalty free license by third-party software and hardware developers soon.

Continue reading "SILK, our super wideband audio codec, is now available for free" »

Good news for those of you who use Xobni - the new version of the sidebar improves Skype integration.

For contacts who are Skype users, you can now:

• Send instant messages
• Make Skype-to-Skype calls

And for all contacts, you can:

• Make calls to landlines and mobiles at Skype's low rates
• Send SMSs

- all from the Xobni sidebar.

The sidebar also displays the online status for Skype contacts, and even if you're not a Skype user yourself, you'll be able to see whether or not your contacts are.

If you're already a Xobni user, you can upgrade to the latest version now; if you're not, you can download it and try it out. Our friends at WebWorkerDaily and TechCrunch seem to like it too

We’re working to make Skype available on as many different devices as possible. Earlier in the summer we launched the 3 Skypephone S2, and our Linux team also shared their plans to bring Skype to the new generation of MIDs in the autumn.

Today, however, we’re very excited to announce that the ASUS AiGuru SV1 is now available for purchase direct from the Skype Shop in North America, and for pre-order in Europe. It'll be available in Asia later this year.

Continue reading "Skype certified videophone hits the shops" »

Hi, I'm Antoine Bertout (but partners used to call me Ants), the Partner Relations Manager here at Skype.

While I'm packing my luggage for my trip to Chicago, where Skype has three sessions at eBay DevCon, I thought I'd let you know about some news from our team.

Our partners have been telling us they want the Skype Developer Zone to be their window into Skype - where they can find new documentation, the latest SDKs, to be able to see the latest forum activity and blog posts as well as being able to get in touch with us, so today we launched version 3 of the Skype Developer Zone.

With the new version we think we've covered of all this, with a bit of personality thrown in as a bonus.

There's also a new Partners section, where we'll be letting partners share their experiences of working with Skype - we strongly believe that new partners will learn a lot from others' experiences of developing a solution with Skype. It's also where partners can engage with Skype and where we'll help promote them and their solutions.

We're also expanding our Partners program by helping to put partners in touch with Approved Integrators if they need support during the development process.

If you're a partner, we hope you enjoy the new version - leave us a comment below if you like to tell us what you think.

(PS - If by chance you have Halina Mugame in your contact list, feel free to share directly your comment, as this new DevZone has been her "baby")

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.

Earlier this month, we said it'd be available later this month.

If you've got a Sony PSP Slim & Lite and have been waiting since CES for a system software update so you could make Skype calls, now is the time to act. All you need to do is to upgrade your handheld's system software to version 3.90.

With the update, foreshadowed in Sony's PlayStation blog and now also announced by the Sony folks in Europe, PSP Slim & Lite users can make free voice calls to 276m other registered Skype users, see which friends are online and available to talk.

Also, if you have a bit of Skype credit lying around, you can use your PSP to make cheap SkypeOut calls to landlines and mobiles anywhere on the home planet.

To get started with Skype on PSP, it might be worth checking out this video by John Koller, senior marketing manager for PSP at Sony:

From Crackle: Skype on the PSP

MySpaceIM with Skype is now live and available to MySpace and Skype users. The new product is available in 20 countries where MySpace has localized communities and adds Skype voice calls to MySpace’s IM client, which has 25 million installed users.

It's these enlightened millions on MySpace that can now place free Skype calls to their friends on MySpace or Skype. The really, really nice bit is that MySpace users don't have to download any additional Skype software. And they can now link their MySpace profiles, photos or avatars to their Skype names. (See the MySpaceIM FAQ for more on how to get started.)

Ahead of the public release, more than half a million MySpace users had hooked up to the beta version of MySpaceIM with Skype.

May your conversations be merry!

Free video calls have been a feature on Skype since late 2005 and have helped millions of people keep in touch. It’s become so popular that one in four Skype-to-Skype calls today involves video. Like they say in Hollywood – show, don’t tell.

Things are about to get a whole lot bigger, sharper and smoother. Today, Skype and Logitech announced a collaboration to give Skype users the kind of video quality that used to be the privilege of big businesses.

Enter High Quality Video, due in November. (Although, if you’re adventurous enough to play with beta software, you’re welcome to try it out now.) Explaining what it does is a bit like dancing about architecture, because you really need to see it in action. But the video window on Skype has grown to 640x480 pixels, delivering up to 30 frames per second. This produces a level of clarity, detail and fluid motion that is pretty astounding. It’s been immensely satisfying to watch the reactions of people who’ve seen it for the first time. Them jaws, they tend to drop.

To experience free High Quality Video, this is what both sides of the conversation will need:

- Skype 3.6 for Windows (expected to be available in November)
- a Logitech webcam that has been optimized and certified for High Quality Video (the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks or the Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF (Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF in the U.S.)
- Logitech QuickCam software, version 11.5 (expected to be available in November at www.logitech.com/downloads)
- a dual-core PC
- a broadband connection (384 kbps and above).

For more, please see the High Quality Video page on the Skype website.

The three webcams are already available worldwide, in retail as well as the Skype web store. In Europe, the Skype shop has a special offer for the webcams. The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 or the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks will normally cost €99.99, but if you head for the Skype webstore, you’ll also get a free headset, free shipping, and SkypeOut credit worth up to three hours of calls to landlines and mobiles. In the US, Skype offers a $20 rebate on either of these products ($99.99 before the rebate).

One shouldn’t really trust rumors. But we’ve heard plenty of them in recent weeks and in this case, they weren’t too far from the truth. In tandem with the mobile operator 3, Skype has just launched a new mobile phone called 3 Skypephone. One that lets you make free Skype-to-Skype calls and send free Skype instant messages from anywhere. Not just from the desktop, not just from the office. From anywhere.

And it works the other way, too. That is, if your friend in the US runs Skype on her desktop and calls you over Skype, your 3 Skypephone will ring. And the call won't cost either of you a penny.

What we're dealing with here is a mobile internet phone with Skype built in. That is, in addition to Skype calls the phone also handles conventional calls and can be used to access 3’s other internet services. We're dealing with a new breed here, folks. Because this is the first time an operator has offered a mass-market mobile phone purpose-built for free internet calls. In a package that's easy to use, is easy on the pocketbook and looks so good you may want to chain it to your wrist (lest gravity or someone's sticky fingers get the better of it).

So, where can you get the thing and what's the damage? The 3 Skypephone will be available this year in the UK, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden. Skype-to-Skype calls are free from your 3 Skypephone as long as you are on contract or your pay-as-you-go 3 credit is topped up monthly. In the UK the 3 Skypephone is £49.99 on a pay-as-you-go tariff or free on a contract.

The new phone is available from November 2 in 3Stores across the UK and from Skype and 3’s websites in time for Christmas. And it's available for pre-order in the UK from today.

See the press release for more details.

I'm writing this in Prague where Paul Amery, who heads the Skype Developer Program, last night announced the winning entry in Skype's 2007 Mashup Competition: PamFax from Germany-based PamConsult.

A mashup is a software application or service that combines data from more than one source into an integrated experience. It has parallels in the practice of merging together two or more songs for something entirely new and cool. Think of Christina Aguilera's vocals from "Genie in a Bottle" merged into the Strokes' "Hard to Explain".

Entries to the mashup competition were judged against these criteria: Skypeness, usability, coolness, stability, usefulness, flair and layout. The winner, PamFax, allows you to send a fax to any fax machine in the world and easily pay with your Skype credit. (I realize the previous sentence used the word "fax" three times. Sorry 'bout that.) Registration is not needed, nor is pre-payment. Optionally, you get fax status notifications via Skype chat, SMS or email. And there's one more little cool touch: you can look up where the recipient is located, using Google Maps.

The judging panel consisted of Paul Amery, Antoine Bertout, Lester Madden, Damon Williams, Adam Trachtenberg, Phil Wolff, Jim Courtney, John Musser, Jack Dorsey and Julian Bond. (Also see Jim Courtney's excellent extended mashup competition post on Skype Journal.)

All mashup entries can be found here.

I've been told that the number eight is considered "good luck" among the Chinese. And why not? After all, 3, the mobile operator, has announced that its X-Series mobile-broadband package has now reached Ireland. Making it country number eight where the X-Series is available. The roll-out started in the UK last December, and has since made a mark in Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Australia and Hong Kong.

To Ireland-based Skype users, this has a very real consequence. The X-Series brings unlimited free Skype-to-Skype conversations and some of life‘s other necessities to their very pockets. And that's pretty cool.

If this all sounds like a load of mumbojumbo, here's some more background. The X-series is a flat-rate mobile-broadband package, replicating the established “all you can eat” home broadband pricing model. X-series customers pay a monthly fee for access to a suite of internet services on their mobiles. As Skype's nicely tucked into that suite, users make unlimited internet calls with other Skype users while on the move.

As I make my way through no fewer than 517 emails that some evil spirit produced during my week-and-a-half holiday, I'm pleased to pull back from the depths of the inbox and mention today's coolest bit of Skype-related news.

Namely, Nokia's funky N800 Internet Tablet now speaks Skype. Officially, that is. (You may have noticed in late June that Skype did a pre-release demo of Skype for the N800 in New York).

Andrew Brennan from Skype Gear has written a nice review that you can read here. Once you're convinced it's something for you, install the latest Nokia firmware version from here, as instructed by Andrew's review. Or download Skype for the N800 here.

We did a promotion of Skype for Business recently in Taiwan together with our friends at [PChome Online](http://skype.pchome.com.tw/). Here's a report from our team on the ground.

> In terms of the growth of business user in Taiwan, on March 15, 2007, PChome & Skype announced year 2007 is the Year of SkypeBIZ , and the first product of SkypeBIZ – Control Panel is ready to rock!

On March 15, 2007, PChome & Skype invite our partners, Rhemn Tech, Vosky Tech, BluePacket Communications and our clients, Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan and Comprador International to celebrate this moment with us. Medias including Reuters, CNET, Economic Daily, APPLE Daily, United Evening, Commercial Times, DigiTimes, Download!, and FTV join this party too.

According to the report, about one third of the 171 million registered users worldwide use Skype as a business tool. Crystal Pu, Director of PChome & Skype, says “The industrial structure of Taiwan is formed by small and mid-size business. The communication cost benefit is what they really care about, and that’s why Skype is the best communication tool for business in Taiwan.”

Take a deep breath. 2007, the year of SkypeBIZ in Taiwan, it will be a big start for PChome & Skype and our business users.

Director of New Market Development from Skype — Scott Bagby

Vice President of PChome & Skype — Robert Lo

Sorry for the hiatus. I was, like most other Skypers, in a work-related getaway last week.

Last week was also the week of news. We put out the [news on our new pricing and Skype Pro plans](http://about.skype.com/2007/01/skype_takes_internet_communica.html). You can [sign up to get more info.](http://www.skype.com/products/skypepro/) We're now going over everything that you guys have said on all of this over the past few days, more to come.

In the meantime, kick off the week lightly with this ad for [3 X-Series](http://www.three.co.uk/xseries/). They have a [blog](http://xseries.typepad.com) too.

Extras are little pieces of software written by developers to enhance Skype and give you even more features. With Skype 3.0 you can now open Extras from the ‘Do More’ button and start making use of them straight away. Every week we’ll post details of one of our premium Extras to tell you all about them and the benefits you can get from using them.

We’re starting off with Last.fm, the world’s largest social music platform. Last.fm lets you listen to different music and builds an online profile based on your music tastes. It then creates a customised radio for you and recommends music and events.

By installing the Last.fm Extra, you can listen to free customisable radio. It’s also possible to let your friends know what you are listening to at that exact moment. If they like it too they can always call you to chat about the band's latest album!

It’s easy to start listening to music through Skype. Just like all the other Extras, all you have to do is go to the ‘Do More’ button in Skype and follow the instructions to install.

Then when it’s installed, you can launch Last.fm from the ‘Do More’ button. Try typing in any artist you like and Last.fm will recommend an artist that’s similar to your request to listen to and see whether you like them.

If you do, you can choose what you want to do next, from recommending the song to a friend, to making sure that you never hear the song again if you hate it.

If you want your friends to know what music you’ve discovered, select the box ‘Show what I’m listening to in my mood message’ and the name of the track and the artist will be displayed there for all your contacts to see.

If you’re a developer and would like to develop and distribute similar extras for Skype, keep an eye on our Developer Zone and the Developer blog.

Over the past few weeks, there was a lot of craze around iPhone. Will it be from Apple? Will it do this and that? Oh my, all the buzz, conspiracies, theories and speculations...

Today, the mystery is solved. Turns out the iPhone is just a series of Internet phones, most of them for Skype, from our buddies over at Linksys. [Read more on our Gear blog.](http://share.skype.com/sites/skypegear/2006/12/new_linksys_wifi_and_cordless.html) According to [engadget](http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/18/cisco-not-apple-announces-iphone-branded-voip-phones/), Cisco had trademarked "iPhone" somewhere in the 90s. And so they will be talking about "Applephone" from now on, whatever and whenever that may be. Until then, we'll be talking with our Skype iPhones.

Check out the mashup of Skype with Pamela (one of the earliest and most well-known Skype extras) and Nabaztag (the funny little wifi rabbit). When you record a voicemail with Pamela, it can forward the voicemail to the Nabaztag who then reads it.

This video was shot a while ago, but recently there have been several bits of news around the involved components. Pamela just got upgraded to a 3.0 release and is now available as a Skype extra. More info about Pamela. And Nabaztag just released a new version of their rabbit, Nabaztag/tag (I thought the original name was already weird, but they're really pushing the limit here ) who can not only talk, but also listen and even smell things. Plus they upgraded their my.nabaztag.com "My Account" page that is now much easier to use and navigate.

Skype a Celebrity. Bid on eBay to win talk time with one of the sixteen celebrities. As I write this, the highest bid is for Jenna Fischer from The Office, standing at $630. The bids end on Dec 10.

An interesting service around Skype and feed reading is making rounds recently — anothr.com.

The idea is really simple. You add anothr.com to your Skype contacts and then "talk" with it with chat messages. To get help, you type "?" (just the question mark). To add a feed, you type "RSS + http://example.com/feed.address.xml". And whenever there is a new post on that blog or site, you then get it as a Skype chat message from Anothr.

Here is an example of me adding the feed address of Skype Developer Zone blog into anothr.com and receiving the most recent article after a short while.

I like anothr.com because it is dead simple, easy and hits the target right on the spot — like Skype itself is and everything around it should be.

A note about private feeds, though. It's not a good idea to use web-based services like Anothr to keep track of private blogs that you access with your username and password (and different services handle the credentials differently so it might not work in the first place). So use it only for public feeds available to everyone.

For "professional" blog readers who need to keep track of a zillion feeds across many different categories, and do things like flag, sort and manage them, Another is a bit too simple. But for the most of us who just want to keep track of what's happening on your favourite blogs and sites, Anothr is about as good as it can get and eliminates the need to sign up for yet another software or service just to read blogs and feeds. It reinforces our vision that Skype is increasingly about much more than just free calls. Sure, they have some early software bugs like some non-English characters are not transmitted correctly, but I'm sure they'll work it out.

Anothr.com themselves have a blog, too. Subscribe to it (using, of course, their own service) to keep track of the latest updates.

Have you ever met or called someone and wanted to tell them your Skype Name and it has been really hard to get across? Like if it is "kuglunk457", you need to go "K-U-G... four-five-... no, the digits are as digits, you don't actually write "four"... ok did you get that"? Or how about if it's at such a noisy party that talking is impossible in the first place. And you don't have a pen.

So together with moo.com, we made these things we call MiniCards. They are little cards where you can put your Skype Name, your web or blog link, pictures, and really just about anything else you want. And you can have the cards  shipped right to your doorstep.

To celebrate the MiniCards launch, we are giving away free packs of 10 cards during this week. Just go to moo.com/skype, look for the "Enter promo code" field and type "freebie" there. (Without the quotes, of course.) You can then customize your card.

I recommend checking out those funky pixelated Skype smileys you can see in the program every day. Here's a MiniCard I made for echo123. She said she can't get to the site herself so I helped her out.

So remember... to claim your free pack of 10 MiniCards this week, just go to moo.com/skype and use freebie as the promo code. If you're ready to spend some cold hard cash on a pack of 100, they tell me that you could find a Golden Ticket in your pack and win some free Skype Credit if you're lucky.

As [Sony Mylo](http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2006/08/sony_mylo_available_soon_with.html) is rolling out, opinions and news are pouring in. One bit in the recent AP/FOXNews review caught my eye.

> The music player can handle MP3, ATRAC as well as secured and unsecured Windows Media Audio files, but not anything purchased at Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store. /---/ Songs can be transferred to the Mylo through a USB cable, but I couldn't test that functionality as Sony didn't include that cable with the review unit. I was able to upload a few MP3 files to the device through Skype and got them to play.

So... in some settings and also with these new gadgets, Skype File Transfer may prove to be the most versatile and convenient way of transporting things between your and your buddies' computers and other devices, both at home and at office. We sure know it "in-house", as we at Skype use the File Transfer daily for moving about, well, just about anything we need to. Cool to see the rest of the world is realizing this too.

Here is a [promotion](http://www.fleurop.com/Promos/Skype/200506/) run by a Skype partner Perfectel together with Fleurop-Interflora. If you buy a bunch of flowers from [Fleurop-Interflora](http://www.fleurop.com/Promos/Skype/200506/), you will receive a free [Perfectel](http://www.perfectel.com) USB phone. More importantly, if you [refer five friends]( http://www.perfectel.com/fleurop.php) and anyone one of them buys flowers, then all 5 friends and yourself will receive a voucher for 30 minutes of SkypeOut. The campaign runs until November 30, 2006.

Today, we announced with Philips and Netgear the first standalone cordless phones for Skype that do not require a computer.

There's a variety of cordless phones already available that plug into your computer. The Philips and Netgear ones are different: they plug directly into your Internet router, so you don't need an always-on computer with Skype. They also work as standard cordless phones, plugging into your phone line, so you can use them both for standard phone calls and Skype calls.

Neither device is available yet. They say the Philips one will be available for this year's holiday season, so more news coming in a few months.

Here is a photo of the Philips VOIP841 phone, together with some screenshots.

The guys from [e-junkie](http://www.e-junkie.com) told me about this new [FireOlive](http://www.fireolive.com) thing. You can add voice opinions to current news. They'll rotate a news item and you can just call with Skype and your comment gets published. Interesting simple concept with lots of opportunities for further development.

Earlier this week, Logitech and Skype [announced](http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/news/FR/EN,contentid=12623,crid=34) the EasyCall™ Desktop, combining a mouse, headset and speakerphone with a Skype-specific keyboard. This is interesting because it's another "world's first" for both Logitech and Skype: the first keyboard from a mainstream vendor to include Skype calling buttons. You can place and end calls and change your online status right from the keyboard, and even assign quickdial hotkeys to some function keys so you don't have to open up the Skype contact list at all to place a call.

It's going to be available in Europe in mid-September for the price of €129.99, or £89.99.

[Seth Godin](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/about.html) will be doing a [Skypecast about his new book](https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/detailed.html?id_talk=26526) on August 22 together with Typepad's Michael Sippey. [More info in the Skypecasts blog.](http://share.skype.com/sites/skypecasts/2006/08/seth_godin_speaks_exclusively.html)

Seth says about himself: "bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change." Or put it another way, one of the most read, quoted and recognized current marketing gurus. Highly recommended.

[Gumtree](http://www.gumtree.com) is a UK-based classified ads and community site. Started just over six years ago, they now have more than 1.4 million monthly visitors.

They told me that they now have a Skype button on more than 5% of their listings. Here's what they added...

> Users that you would expect are certainly using Skype -- landlords, plumbers, sellers, daters etc. But interestingly, a large chunk of the Gumtree community are using Skype to provide language tuition (see [this](http://www.gumtree.com/london/37/5455837.html) and [this](http://www.gumtree.com/london/91/4950391.html)) or free language swaps (see [this](http://www.gumtree.com/london/40/4964240.html) and [this](http://www.gumtree.com/london/73/4937173.html)). Generally, a very successful implementation and great value added for our community.

Sony just announced [Mylo](http://www.sony.com/mylo/). It has WiFi and Skype. It will be available in September for about $350 on [sonystyle.com](http://www.sonystyle.com) and Sony retail stores and authorized dealers.

Mylo stands for My Life Online. It's an interesting device for Skype, Sony and the other involved partners because it's the first of its kind. You can talk with it, but it's not really a phone. You can listen to music, but it's not just an MP3 player. It's all these combined, and more. Two Mylos that are close can automatically detect each other and stream music and things across. It has a full slide-out keyboard so when entering info, it doesn't limit you to some obscure onscreen entry method or entering characters with number keys like you do with most cell phones. You can surf the web, work with photos and videos... see the [Mylo page](http://www.sony.com/mylo/) to find out more.

We've put a lot of effort into working with Sony to make Skype run great on this thing. It does all the Skype features you'd expect -- calls, voicemails, chat (one-on-one and in groups, and with animated emoticons), profile and contact management... And remember we got free SkypeOut calls in North America to the end of the year? So you can walk around and do free Skype and phone calls.

In addition to Mylo, we announced WiFi phones a while ago. We have more devices coming. The remainder of 2006 will be a very interesting Skype gadget year.

Here's an [interesting idea by KishKish](http://www.kishkish.com/sam/vsa/), a new feature in their SAM. You can record calls and later analyse them for the voice stress level. They say a near-real-time version is also upcoming. You should obviously exercise caution because no analysis can be fully accurate, and of course inform the remote party that you are recording the call. But it's an interesting example of what you can do with the Skype voice stream.

There's strong interest from the developer community in having easier access to the voice stream to develop exactly this kind of applications, and this will be much more accessible to developers in the future versions with the voice API.

A few days ago, [many sites reported](http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=novac+skype&btnG=Search+News) that the Japanese company Novac has [released a product](http://www.novac.co.jp/release/2006/release060707_2.html) that lets you stream your home TV across Skype video. I didn't want to post this news before because there was no site for you to try this out. Well, there is now. Novac set up [a demo page](http://www.driver.novac.co.jp/skype/lf2000/trial.html) where you can see it right in action. It's in Japanese so you might not understand much, but just click the big Skype buttons to start a test call. Since the demand is great, they have limited the call length to 3 minutes, but this is plenty to give you an idea how it works -- and it really does, so just give it a shot.

Photo from Engadget

[KishKish SAM](http://www.kishkish.com/sam/) (Skype Answering Machine) is one of the earliest Skype plugins. They are now running a [promo](http://www.kishkish.com/sam/buy.php?txt) where you can get 15% off SAM until the 4th of July. You know... Uncle Sam and all that. Oh and see their [blog](http://www.kishkish.com) too.

We announced the world's first [Skype edition notebook with Packard Bell](http://about.skype.com/2006/06/packard_bell_skype_announce_th.html) yesterday.

It has a Skype calling button right next to the integrated webcam at the top of the display. You can see some buttons there on the photo and one of them is for Skype calls.

Skype [announced](http://about.skype.com/2006/06/skype_signs_up_local_partner_i.html) that it now has a local partner in Turkey. See [e-kolay.net/skype/](http://www.e-kolay.net/skype/) for more info if you happen to speak Turkish. And go sign up to be among the first 100,000 to receive a surprise gift from e-kolay.

Emerging Internet markets like Turkey and [Poland](http://skype.onet.pl/) are important for Skype. Poland is one of the biggest "Skype countries". Turkey will surely catch up with it quickly.

Shortly before we were off to Developers Conference, our dveloper program evangelist Lester [announced the winners](http://share.skype.com/sites/devzone/2006/06/api_contest_results.html) of the competition we held to all Skype plugin developers. We got some really interesting ones and if you're interested in how you can extend Skype with plugins, I encourage you to check out them all.

I took a look at one of them, [TranSkype by TransClick](http://share.skype.com/directory/transkype/view/). It's a plugin that translates chat messages on the fly. In the current version, it shows both original and translated version, but their folks also showed me a web-based version where the translation is completely transparent so that you may even not know what language the other parties are speaking.

There are obviously many challenges with machine translation, such as getting the context right (we all know the stories about goofs like "car-flavoured marmalade" and "the spirit is strong but the flesh is weak"), making it understand various idioms and all that. TransClick is putting work into making it work with context-based dictionaries, learning-on-the-fly etc. Interesting.

The guys from [Skylook](http://www.skylook.biz) gave me this coupon to pass on to my friends and you all, the Share Skype blog readers:

**SKYPALS06**

It will get you 20% off any Skylook license if redeemed by the end of June 2006.

Continue reading "Give your friends on Skype 20% off Skylook" »

There's a Skype book now available. [Get it from Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032140940X/ref=sr_11_1/104-3424750-2204760?%5Fencoding=UTF8) and see the [Skype Journal review](http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/archives/2006/05/a_book_the_definitive_guide_to_skype_1.php).

Remember [Sainsbury's](http://share.skype.com/sites/partners/2006/05/skype_partners_with_sainsburys.html)? Skype and PCHome Online are doing a similar thing in Taiwan in Family Mart stores already since April. Family Mart has over 1800 stores in Taiwan.

When you go to buy a voucher, you just select one from the directory and it gets added to your receipt. So when you do your shopping and get your receipt, it will have the Skype Credit voucher code printed on it. You then proceed to [PCHome-Skype web site](http://skype.pchome.com.tw/) and click the right link (I won't tell you which one -- you need to know the language to redeem the voucher and get the Skype Credit added to your Skype Name.

Continue reading "Skype and PCHome sell Skype Credit vouchers in Taiwan Family Mart" »

Skype Corners like this are already in some of the [PC City superstores in Spain](http://www.pccity.es/), and will soon be in all. A bit like [in Japan](http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2005/08/japanese_retail_takeover.html).

Continue reading "Skype corners in PC City Spain" »

The community folks at eBay have started a fresh new [Chatter blog](http://www.ebaychatter.com/). Well, it's not totally new. They have had the Chatter newsletter for years and they're still [keeping the archives around](http://pages.ebay.com/community/chatter/archive). As time goes on, the history becomes only more valuable, so it's good to keep it. But now the community news are in a fresh new blog format -- great. They even have a separate [Skype category](http://ebaychatter.typepad.com/the_chatter/skype/index.html), where they and myself will be looking at various topics connected with eBay and Skype.

I visited the eBay community team a couple of weeks back to learn more about their work and the eBay community. Both companies are really about the community and there's a lot we can learn from and share with each other. Among other things, I saw there are a lot of folks at eBay who actually refer to this blog to find out about what's up at Skype. Hi to you all And welcome, eBay, to the world of blogs. I hear blogs and sharing will be a big theme for eBay going forward, so let's see what else they come up with down the road.

Oh, and while we're at it, both myself and the eBay community team will also be present at eBay Live! this year. I'll be coming in already for the developer conference. ([Read more about Skype at the DevCon.](http://share.skype.com/sites/devzone/2006/05/meeting_skype_at_the_ebay_devc.html)) So come say hi.

Skype and Dell have teamed up to make it easy to stay in touch. Today, Skype announced an agreement with Dell, the world’s largest maker of personal computers, to ship Skype software with new Dell™ XPS™ mobile systems – the XPS M1210 and XPS M2010

Image courtesy of Dell Inc.

The agreement will allow Dell to provide its customers with easy access to Skype’s voice and video Internet calling software. Dell will be able to pre-load Skype on the XPS 2010, a unique mobile entertainment system featuring a 20.1-inch high-definition display with integrated webcam. The XPS 1210 can be configured with Skype as part of an optional audio-video communications package that also includes an integrated rotating webcam, noise-isolation earbuds and mobile broadband capability.

[See more info about the launch](http://www.dell.com/newxps/) or [visit the product site](http://www.dell.com/xps/).

TypePad has put up this great offer for all you Skypers. Just click on the image below and get to the TypePad page where you can get 30 days free trial and 10% lifetime discount as a Skype user on TypePad. A great way to host your blog and talk about your [Skypecasts](http://www.skype.com/go/skypecasts) or anything else you see fit.

Blogs are yummy. Why not [go get yours from TypePad](http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/skype) while stock lasts

China is one of biggest "Skype countries" in terms of people using Skype. So we work a lot with TOM who manages the Skype business in China. We often meet to discuss things, whether at TOM or at one of Skype's locations.

We had a few TOM people over in Tallinn for a week. So I talked to Kevin to learn more what he does and what TOM and the Chinese telco market in general is up to.

Download as [MP3](http://download.skype.com/share/audio/kevin_from_tom.mp3) or [OGG](http://download.skype.com/share/audio/kevin_from_tom.mp3) (length 11:47)

**Today we have an interview with Kevin from TOM. Perhaps Kevin, you can first tell us a bit in your words about what is TOM and what does TOM do?**

Hello, this is Kevin from TOM Online. TOM is the one of the biggest wireless service providers in China. We have this range of wireless applications available to China users. We are also an Internet portal, which means we have the news service, entertainment and other sections available to our users.

Continue reading "Kevin from TOM" »

Jeremy from [Skylook](http://www.skylook.biz) sent us this. A great follow-up to Australian SkypeIn numbers. Skype is doing really great "down under".

> I have some news which I thought you would be interested in to use on the Skype Blogs to inform readers on some major Skype community events that are happening in Australia this week at CeBIT Australia in Sydney. [CeBIT Australia](http://www.cebit.com.au/) is **the** major IT&T conference in Australia. In its fifth year, CeBIT Australia 2006 will attract 700 exhibitors and 30,000 business visitors.

Continue reading "Skype and OneVillage at the Australian CeBIT" »

If you're in the UK, you can now walk to any [Sainsbury's](http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/) to buy Skype Credit vouchers. You can then redeem these vouchers to your Skype Name and use the credit for calling or paying for other Skype offerings, such as SkypeIn or content from [Personalise Skype](http://www.skype.com/go/shop.personal).

As part of the Skypecasts Preview, we're happy to be working with Six Apart to make it easy to share Skypecasts on [TypePad](http://www.typepad.com). We've created this great little [Skypecasts Widget](https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/widget.html) to make it easy for TypePad users to announce and promote their Skypecasts on their blog. Michael Sippey, Six Apart's General Manager for TypePad chimes in, "We're very excited about bringing Skypecasts to TypePad bloggers -- we think it's a great way for bloggers to connect with their community of readers." See also [Six Apart blog](http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/news/2006/05/skypecasts.html) and their [Skypecasting page](http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/skypecasting/).

Here's what your blog sidebar could look like with the widget.

[Get the Typepad Widget.](https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/widget.html)

With Mother's Day coming in the US and many other countries, WeeMees is running this little funny campaign with us at [dontforgetyourmom.com](http://www.dontforgetyourmom.com). Are you/is yours the [conservative mom](http://www.dontforgetyourmom.com/send2.php?weemee=1) or [sporty](http://www.dontforgetyourmom.com/send2.php?weemee=2)? Or maybe even [Grand Mom](http://www.dontforgetyourmom.com/send2.php?weemee=2)? Or [young](http://www.dontforgetyourmom.com/send2.php?weemee=3)?

Moms are great. Don't forget to call your mom this Mother's Day.

In January, we [announced](http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2006/01/launching_a_whole_bunch_of_stu.html) that Netgear is going to produce a Skype Wi-Fi phone. Netgear [put up this page on their site](http://www.netgear.com/go/skypephone) where you could, and still can, sign up for e-mail updates.

Two weeks ago, they e-mailed folks that they are now taking pre-orders for this phone on Amazon. And now [there is an official release from Netgear on this](http://www.netgear.com/pressroom/press_releasesdetail.php?id=320).

This is a big deal -- it's the first device in this new category. So it's new to all the involved parties and we're looking forward to how people will receive it. Netgear will publish more details about the product as the availability date comes closer. We can say that it is optimised for speaking, and thus the initial version will not have some other functions that might be inconvenient to use from a mobile phone, such as chat or file transfer.

Learn more about the device and news [on Netgear's site](http://www.netgear.com/go/skypephone).

Too bad I missed it. But I can indeed some Skype people there. [More pictures here.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinvars/sets/72057594112950168/) Reminds me of the [SkypeIn party in Brazil.](http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2006/02/the_skypein_launch_party_in_br.html) (Photo link from [OpenBC](http://blog.openbc.com/2006/04/imagine_skype_f.html).)

Plazes has Skype support now. [Plazes](http://www.plazes.com/), in their own words, "puts physical presence to the web". They have showing people on Google Maps and whole bunch of other cool stuff. You can consume the data through their API-s. And now they do Skype and mood messages too.

> Let the Plazer set your mood text, your profile’s location or send chat messages on outgoing calls to tell people where you are.

Currently for Windows only, but the comments say Mac version is upcoming too.

Update: See Josh Silverman's blog post for more details on the October 2008 security breach.

Today's Financial Times posted a story about how Skype's partner TOM Online is filtering text messages in China.

Skype has a joint venture with TOM Online. As part of that venture, we provide a co-branded version of Skype called TOM-Skype, which is the version of Skype that is available in mainland China.

As part of the joint venture, TOM provides guidance to Skype about how to co-operate with local laws and regulations in China. In every country we operate in, we always work with local authorities to follow local laws and best practice.

TOM operates a text filter in TOM-Skype. The filter operates solely on text chats. The filter has a list of words which will not be displayed in Skype chats.

The text filter operates on the chat message content before it is encrypted for transmission, or after it has been decrypted on the receiver side. If the message is found unsuitable for displaying, it is simply discarded and not displayed or transmitted anywhere.

It is important to underline:

• The text filter does not affect in any way the security and encryption mechanisms of Skype.
• Full end-to-end security is preserved and there is no compromise of people's privacy.
• Calls, chats and all other forms of communication on Skype continue to be encrypted and secure.
• There is absolutely no filtering on voice communications.

The folks at [Skylook](http://www.skylook.biz) are happy to announce that Skylook is now at version 1.5, a major update of Skylook. [See what's new there.](http://www.skylook.biz/whatsnew/)

In short, Skylook is a feature-rich Outlook add-on for Skype that has not only contacts integration, but also rich voicemail and messaging capabilities.

Skylook is offering a discount for Skype Blogs readers. **Just enter the coupon code SKYPEBLOGS2006 when buying any Skylook license**, and you'll have 10% off the price. This offer is valid until the end of May 2006.

Continue reading "Skylook version 1.5 released, now Skype Certified, discount for Skype Blogs readers" »

Update: As of January 2009, Verbdate no longer seems to work. Just so you know.

Verbdate is a fun new dating service that uses SkypeWeb to let members see if other members are online or not, and thus let people connect to each other instantly. It's a very "2.0" site, featuring tags, location from Google Maps, Flickr, RSS... go see yourself. Dating on Verbdate is safe, as you don't have to give out your private info when talking to others. David Weinberger said if Verbdate were anymore web 2.0 you would only be able to date Tim O'Reilly They say a mobile client is coming too.

Our friends at [PCHome Online](http://www.pchome.com.tw) launched Skype for Mac OS X in Taiwan a few weeks ago. Here are some pictures of the event.

In connection with the launch, they published the extremely cute story of Eunice and Miki. They are a boy from Taiwan and a girl from Korea who use Skype to communicate with each other. Among other things, it got them married. And you can [see the whole thing as a video](http://event.pchome.com.tw/skypev20/). Don't be scared by the Chinese text on that page -- just look for the Play button of the Media Player control. Most of the text in the video is actually in English. Some innovative ideas there too, such as hang your laptop on the wall in the kitchen and use it as a cooking assistant (talking to your mom).

We've always thought that Skype and dating would go together well, and we know many [stories](http://www.skype.com/) of people that have met by using "Skype Me". Our friends at [Lavalife](http://share.skype.com/directory/lavalife_world_chat/view/), with our blessing, have been cooking up a neat way for Skype users to meet each other. It's called Lavalife World Chat, and it's available now as a beta.

The idea is this -- you call in and record a short profile about yourself. You then listen to other people's profiles and send them voice messages. Three times per day, they open the Lavalife World Chat room which is a virtual voice lounge where you can go and send instant voice messages to other people that are online. You can even speak to someone directly. And you can do all of this anonymously, without revealing your Skype Name to anyone, so that your safety and security are protected.

As all you Skype users know, voice is a rich way to communicate with each other, much richer than, say, e-mail or Instant Messaging/chat. Someone's voice says a huge amount about who they are. You can get great clues about someone just by listening to them. This is especially useful if you are looking to meet other single Skypers. And on Skype and Lavalife, the voice is even clearer than on regular phone calls (even though it looks a bit like a phone number, you actually can't call it from the regular phone network, as the Voice Services -- and Lavalife is one of our many Voice Services -- are only available on Skype).

So, dial up [+9907LAVALIFE](skype:+9907LAVALIFE?call) on Skype and give it a try. The service is free while it's in beta. And it's available to callers 18 years of age or older.

The folks at [Skylook](http://www.skylook.biz) let me know that they've released a major Skylook update, bringing it to version 1.5. See what's new in Skylook 1.5 -- with screenshots. Skylook is an Outlook plugin for Skype that can not only connect the contacts of the two apps, but do a whole lot of other fancy stuff such as record your calls.

Do you want to talk to Penelope Cruz, Matthew McConaughey and others? Not read about them in some magazine, but actually talk to them live and unmediated? You can now. If you can outbid others for the privilege, that is. Just go to the [skype-a-celeb](http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=skype-a-celeb) auction on eBay and make your bid.

The auction terms aren't clear about whether this is just a voice call or whether it is video -- I'll try to find that out. [UPDATE: it's voice only.] Apparently, many people are up for the call, and some of the bids like Penelope Cruz and Brooke Shields are already beyond $ 1000. The auction runs until March 3, so [find out more and make your bid](http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=skype-a-celeb).

Lester is running a competition on the Skype Developer Blog, where you can win a Fleurop-Interflora bouquet and the Perfectel headset delivered to that special someone door. Plus 10 runner-ups will each receive a Perfectel handset. [See the post for details.](http://share.skype.com/sites/devzone/2006/02/win_a_valentines_bouquet_and_a.html)

Today, we announced that we're going to have Warner Music Group content in our [Personalize Skype](http://personal.skype.com/). Nothing there yet, but check back soon. Reportedly, Madonna is going to be the first featured artist.

Other coverage of this: [WSJ](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113858578410959651.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo) (subscription), [Red Herring](http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=15515&hed=Skype%2C+Warner+in+Ringtone+Duet), [CNet News](http://news.com.com/Warner+Music,+Skype+ring+up+a+deal/2100-1026_3-6032722.html), [Reuters](http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=telecomm&storyID=nN30198928), [silicon.com](http://networks.silicon.com/telecoms/0,39024659,39156040,00.htm).

See the [USRobotics speakerphone in New York Times.](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/technology/circuits/26phone.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1138374310-/HS/Swi9yhVcFx2kC0gCVg) Looks like an UFO but is actually a full duplex speakerphone. There's a [blip on Engadget](http://gaming.engadget.com/2006/01/05/usr9610-usb-internet-speakerphone/) and on [many other sites](http://www.google.com/search?q=USR9610) as well..

Updated: product info now available on the [USRobotics website](http://www.usr.com/products/voip/voip-product.asp?sku=USR9610).

[We just launched a client with Chinagate.](http://www.skype.com/company/news/2006/skype_chinagate.html) [Chinagate](http://www.chinagate.com/), also known as [wenxuecity.com](http://wenxuecity.com/) is a Chinese ex-pat portal, offering services to people who are mostly originally from China but now live elsewhere -- they say their users reside in over 95 countries. So obviously, most of their services are also in Chinese and unless you can read Chinese, you may not understand too much. But if you're a Chinagate user, just head over to [skype.chinagate.com](http://skype.chinagate.com/) and download your Chinagate-Skype right away.

We know Skype keeps many relations going between family members in separate countries, and that includes many people in China. Living in different countries may be difficult and we're happy to contribute our humble part to make that a bit easier, by letting people keep in touch.

Do you remember the [German e-plus announcement](http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2005/11/skype_on_german_eplus_3g_netwo.html) from last November? We just did the same with [3](http://www.tre.se). 3 is a 3G operator in Sweden and Denmark. (And has a cool name -- it's hard to come up with anything cooler and shorter than "3", eh?) [Check out the offering.](http://www.tre.se/my3/StorefrontPage.aspx?id=19769)

So in a nutshell, you pay around 21 € a month and get a 3G data card and 1 GB worth of mobile broadband for all your Skype needs and other stuff you do online. [Available in Sweden and Denmark.](http://www.tre.se/my3/StorefrontPage.aspx?id=19769)

NETGEAR has put up a page where you can find out more about their upcoming Skype WiFi phone, and can sign up for e-mail updates to be the first to know when it becomes available.

We are now working with [openBC](http://www.openbc.com). (See below for a giveaway to celebrate the occasion.) They are an online networking platform for professional and secure contact management. Read what openBC says about this in their blog. As they also say there, they initially had plans to make their own communications client, but now Skype has worked out to be a better solution for them.

OpenBC actually had the Skype profile integrated already a while ago. If you sign up for their site, you can set who sees and can interact with your Skype Name. So if you find someone interesting to add to your OpenBC network. you can talk to them on Skype straight away.

Hey, here's a giveaway. They offer one month's worth of free premium membership to anyone who signs up through share.skype.com. Just go to this link: [http://www.openbc.com/premium-skype05](http://www.openbc.com/premium-skype05) and sign up. After the free trial you can either opt to become a paying member or you can stay a free member. Thanks, OpenBC.

This just in from Pamela Systems. Pamela Systems and Netralia Pty. Ltd agree strategic partnership. Pamela Systems is making, well, [Pamela](http://www.pamela-systems.com/products/), and Netralia authors the [Skylook](http://www.skylook.biz/) add-on. A good example of growth by cooperation and different opportunities that the Skype ecosystem provides for developers. It will be interesting to observe what Pamela and Skylook will come up with, so we can only wait and see.

Title inspired by Panasonic's cordless phone review at Endgadget.

Image from endgadget.com

See the campaign we have with Coldplay. It runs until the end of February, but to increase your chance of winning, you'd better call right away. If you're lucky, you'll be able to talk to them in March. You can also [get their new single Talk right on skype.com](http://www.skype.com/campaigns/coldplay/).

Do you remember the [announcement](http://www.skype.com/company/news/2005/u3_smartdrive.html) we made about Skype for U3-powered smart drive? That work is now nearing completion and you can already [get Skype from U3 Software Central](http://software.u3.com/Product_Details.aspx?productId=56) (note that this requires U3 USB smart drive). This means that you can walk into any Internet cafe or other location with your USB smart drive, plug it in and use your Skype with your own settings, history and other data.

Here's a related tip that you may find useful, whether you're using your own removable media or just want to tweak your configuration. Skype for Windows 1.4 has a /datapath:"path" command line option that specifies where all the Skype data is located. So you could do something like 'skype.exe /datapath:"c:\skypedata"' and that is where all your user data is stored.

Another parameter you should use when running Skype from a USB drive is /removable - this makes sure you won't write nonexisting paths into the registry that are only valid when Skype is run from the USB drive, and if you would start Skype from the hard disk next time, you could get some ugly errors. The command also does other optimizations to the operation needed when running from removable media.

Folks in our secret undercover engineering labs were kind enough to let me play with our recent WiFi phone prototype. We're working with many companies on a wild variety of hardware concepts and the WiFi phone is just one example.

So it's a piece of hardware that you can use to make Skype calls on a WiFi network without needing to use a computer. Don't yet ask for photos, screenshots or details on how much it will cost, when and where it will be available etc -- we bring you the news as soon as we know more ourselves. Until then, you'll have to live with these remarks.

Continue reading "The WiFi phone prototype" »

It has been brought to our attention, both through firsthand experience and people like [James](http://eurotelcoblog.blogspot.com/2005/06/vskype-early-experience-following.html), that the vskype video add-on for Skype may send unwanted chat messages to people on your contact list. Pay extra attention to what buttons you are clicking (as you should do with any program). We continue to look into the issue.

As always, you should be careful about trying new Skype plugins that are not certified or recommended by us. It makes sense to create a test user and not experiment when being logged in with your "main" Skype Name, until you are really sure and confident of what you're doing.