Skype Around the World

This is my first post on the Skype blog, so I figured I’d introduce myself. I’m Rodrigo Madanes and I work at Skype as the Chief Product Strategist. Basically, I look at where we’re taking the products.

A few months ago, I was interviewed by Bradley Jones for a book he was putting together, titled “Web 2.0 Heroes”. The book consists of interviews with many figures in Web 2.0, each made into a chapter (mine was one of them). I wanted to share with you some of the things we discussed.

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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.

Most people look forward to Fridays (or their cultural equivalent that promises rest, fun and fresh air). Banishing the ruthless alarm clock until Monday morning which, for a brief moment, appears eons away.

Well, my kind colleagues here at Skype have taken a crack at making the world’s Mondays a bit less blue. Enter Skype’s brand new flat-rate calling subscriptions that were announced this Monday, i.e. today. According to the announcement, the subscriptions “signal the first time Skype has offered a single, monthly flat rate for international calling to landline numbers in 34 countries.”

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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!?

This contraption is not available at the Skype shop. Or any other outlet for that matter, retail or wholesale. And it’s not because of an unorthodox product name: DIY instant messenger online contact signalizer picture frame thingy. (For a better pic, you may want to check out this entry in the Hacked Gadgets Forum).

Most reactions around my pingosphere have represented the “somebody’s got too much time on their hands” school of thought. But I think that the author, Danish mechanical-engineering student David Bue Pedersen, could turn his project into a beautiful — and modestly profitable — case of art-meets-utility. The concept is there, all that’s needed now is a design shop to commercialize it. Personally, I can easily see myself checking my buddies’ online status on, say, a sleek 64-field wireless “signalizer” on the wall.

In our work, we run into all kinds of stories where people have put Skype to good use in their lives.

Distant lovers enjoying dinner — and each other’s company — over a free video call. Local-government officials replacing meetings with multichats. Homesick soldiers keeping a line open with their families. There are a lot of people who use Skype religiously, but until this post today by our US blogger Howard Wolinsky, I didn’t think of it in literal terms.

If you believe that missionaries tend to be hardline Luddites who eschew modern technology, Malcolm Lanham’s Mercy Ministries/Global Outreach will help prove you wrong. And if you are a missionary who, Luddite or not, has been limited to handwritten letters and once-a-month phone calls, Lanham’s story may help you expand your horizons a bit.

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)

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The weekend is nigh and you’re probably cherishing the thought of sleeping in on Saturday. Then again, you could be a selfless and dutiful Eastern European male who knows about International Women’s Day and will wake up early to get your significant female other some flowers and cook her a proper breakfast.

In any case, I wanted to draw your attention to a nice piece by our UK blogger Peter. Inspired by a this week’s Wall Street Journal article on businesses that banish useful and cool technologies, he’s linked the issue to a Guardian story on the experimental spark that has led a couple of big firms to attempt morphing the monster known as corporate IT policy into a cute little puppy.

For quite some time, we’ve had bloggers sharing the Skype story in a number of countries — if you’re fluent in Portuguese or, say, Japanese, make your choice among the links on the right-side column on this page. But there’s been a certain gap in our otherwise toothsome blogging smile.

Today, we’re plugging it.

Please join me in welcoming Howard Wolinsky, who made his Oprah-themed debut on our oven-fresh U.S. blog today. Howard is a Pulitzer-nominated 27-year veteran of the Chicago Sun-Times who recently left the paper and now covers high tech, medicine, nanotech and business as a freelancer.

Not only is he a great writer with a keen nose for a good story, but has spun a darn good yarn about his own early moments at the Sun-Times. If you think you know what happened in the States on March 30, 1981, you’re off to a good start. If this date doesn’t ring a bell, get up to speed by reading about it in Howard’s own words at GapersBlock. Trust me, it’s worth your time.

So let’s welcome Howard, his quirky sense of humor and the unique prism that this life-long reporter brings, to the Skype blogging fraternity!

Esra’a Al Shafei from Mideast Youth, a network of students, bloggers and activists aimed at eliminating extremist ideologies and ignorance from the Middle East, is showing us how Skype can be used to overcome barriers through the simple act of conversation.

In a post on the Mideast Youth website, Esra’a, a 21-year-old student from Bahrain, talks about a Skype conference call between members of her network and American high-school students in Pennsylvania.

While this link-up may be modest in scale, it is a laudable effort that contributes to the rather noble aims Mideast Youth has set for itself: democratic coexistence and the elimination of extremist ideologies and ignorance from the Middle East. “Arabs, Iranians, Kurds, and Israelis post side-by-side to prove the fact that moderation, interfaith understanding, and sanity does exist in the region,” the group explains on its website.

It’s satisfying to see young people use the Web, and Skype, to strive toward understanding across barriers not of their own making. This particular initiative won’t bring about change on its own, but even a marathon consists of lots of little steps.

Thanks to a lot of generous Skype users who voted for us in the Communications category of CNET’s Webware 100 awards last year, the results gave us reason to smile.

Since then, a lot has happened. Japan, for example, has launched Kizuna, an experimental satellite that will bring low-cost 1.2gbps downloads (and spiffy uploads) to Japan and parts of South-East Asia. Not bad.

But Skype hasn’t sat still either, launching High Quality Video, the 3 Skypephone, squeezing itself into the new Sony Mylo, the Sony PSP Slim & Lite, and is finding other cool ways to land in people’s pockets. And yesterday, we announced the latest feature: a brand new CEO who will join us on March 24.

What I mean to say is this: if you think we’ve still got the mojo after 4.5 years and 100bn Skype-to-Skype minutes, you can now vote for us for Webware 100 in 2008.

Thanks!

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.

So, here I was, in my previous post, being all jetsetty and stupid about sitting on a flight to Prague and flipping through magazines in search of a Eureka moment. (You’ve got to admit, though, it was nowhere as bad as Tyler Brule’s endless columns that appeal to people who need their dose of rare elitist cool that only radiates from articles written by a rich guy who spends his life in transoceanic levitation.)

“Business travel accounts for 65 percent of all flights within the United States,” reports Katharine Mieszkowski in Salon, quoting figures from travel-research company PhoCusWright. Read the article here, it’s packed with useful information about emissions related to air travel.

I’m here to state the obvious: if you can skip a flight, do it. And use Skype instead for that oh-so-important meeting. Yes, the chain of events that led to the manufacture and distribution of your PC, webcam, headset, or WiFi phone did create a negative environmental footprint. So the physical stuff that Skype needs is far from squeaky clean when you’ve got your green-colored glasses on. But using Skype sure beats the hell out of binge flying. Oh yessireebob.

Ok, it’s actually three new SkypeIn countries: Chile, New Zealand and Romania. But because the Dominican Republic was added quietly earlier this year, it’s worth an honorable mention.

SkypeIn numbers are now available in 18 countries. Here’s a quick refresher: When you have a SkypeIn number, your friends who don’t have Skype can call a regular phone number. And you will receive the call on your computer or any other piece of gear that runs Skype.

A lot of people have become allergic to any mention of awards, as they no longer carry the weight they once did. They’ve become a conveyer-belt industry and mounds of acrylic junk make it increasingly difficult to spot the few awards that have any real meaning. Luckily, we have satellite imagery, stabilizer-equipped binoculars and solar-powered pigs to sniff out the truffles.

And here’s one of them. Editors at CNET Webware have selected Skype as a finalist in the communications category in the first-ever Webware 100 awards. This new award is meant to recognize the best Web 2.0 sites, services and applications. I’m told that more than 4,000 nominations were submitted by users, so it’s pretty nice to make it to the final stretch.

We’re modest by nature, but if your love is deep, you are welcome to cast a vote for us through June 11, when the top 25 finalists in each category will be listed. Go to www.webware.com/100 to do the deed.

Winners will be announced on June 18.

Update on June 19: Excellent news! And here’s the proof. Thanks CNET! And thanks to all who voted for Skype.

Here’s an interesting and hopefully inspiring use of Skype in education. (Thanks to the one who sent me the email ) This time, it doesn’t come from a university — instead, it comes from K-12 where we have seen many similar great stories and a lot of innovation happens. I’m not even ten years out of high school, but I’m already feeling old here. (And I’ve always been wondering what’s this “K-12” thing. With K meaning “kindergarten”, it’s nothing more than simply a shortcut for referring to the whole education system from kindergarten up to the 12th grade in the US. I guess you could also call it “everything before college”. So no further magic.)

Anyway, through the Infinite Thinking Machine and Learning is Messy blogs, we travel to Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada.

After learning of a new, homebound 4th grade student in his class who has leukemia, Mr. Crosby found the resources to connect the student to her classroom from home using Internet connected computers, webcams, and Skype.

Photo reposted from “Learning is messy”

Just watch the video produced by the 4th graders. There’s not much that I can add here.

An interesting email I got about how Skype and podcasting are used to create an interactive learning environment. In case of 1-on-1 coaching, the lesson typically remains between the student and the teacher. Here, you can listen to the sessions that others have had and so it’s a learning experience even if you just observe and don’t engage in a dedicated session yourself.

Dear Jaanus

Thanks for the news you provide through your ‘Skype Around the World’ blog. I’ve found the stories about innovative uses of Skype great reading!

I thought you might be interested in having a look at a podcast I produce weekly for advanced level English Language students. Students contact me to sign up for an interview through Skype. The interview is student driven and the content is determined by, for example, the particular exam they might be doing or a situation at work that they want to practise for such as an interview or meeting. The interviews are recorded using Powergramo and then posted as a podcast for other advanced learners to listen to. Each podcast features an introduction to the skill being looked at, the interview itself and then feedback from me on the student’s performance.
The podcast is hosted at podomatic: http://www.splendidspeaking.podomatic.com
I use podomatic to host these podcasts rather than my own dedicated website as I’m hoping that students will eventually use the service to create their own podcasts, using them perhaps for ther own informal audio-portfolio, where friends and teachers can offer feedback on interviews or monologues they may carry our independently of me. I also help run another site for esl learners called flo-joe. We have noticed a steady increase here in students working independently, peer reviewing each other’s writing tasks and the hope is I can help them to do the same with their speaking skills.
Hope you like it!

Best wishes

Pete

Peter Travis
http://www.splendid-speaking.com

I have been watching the YouTube search feed for Skype for quite a while now (a year or so). For months and months, there wasn’t really anything posted there about Skype at all. But in the past few months, it has become really active. People are posting phone/video calls with their families or random people, interviews, tutorials, silly videos with emoticons (staff favourite! ) and what not.

Here’s a random recent one, where someone compares the connectivity of iChat and Skype on Mac. iChat tries to connect to the user’s AIM account, but fails repeatedly. Skype takes a bit longer to connect, but works fine.

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

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.

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.

This just in from the “weird” department. According to Amazon.com, 94% of people who view the Netgear Dual Mode Cordless Phone on their site do indeed buy it. But the remaining 6% all go and buy “Waterpik NEW Professional Ultra Dental Water Jet”.

Huh???? It would make some sense if the Netgear phone had some video capability, you would then need fine shiny teeth, but we are not yet shipping devices with Skype Video, so… what gives?

Just as we mentioned our brand transition, linking back to last year’s Brandchannel survey, the results from this year are in. Skype is seventh globally and second in Europe only after Ikea. There were 3,625 respondents to the survey globally, so this isn’t really serious science, but still nice to know. We’re individually mentioned still only Europe’s top 10, so lots of catching up remains to do elsewhere.

image from brandchannel.com

We’ve read stories of other people using Skype for various home monitoring needs, but I usually haven’t known these people. But here’s a cool story from someone I know. Check out how my eBay friend Ryan is using Skype video to keep an eye on his buddy Baxter, seen below.

Earthquake near Taiwan disrupts Asian communications. Anothr.com says that they are affected too.

Anothr.com is still alive; but our server had been influenced, some international feed can’t verify before the recovery.

Anyone from here in that region? Are you seeing any effects of the earthquake? Both with Skype and with the rest of your Internet and phone communications? Please post your stories here or in the forum.

Chris is a teacher in South Carolina. He sent me a link to his blog where he documents a project of his to use Skype to videoconference with another class who is thousands of miles away in Peru in South America. Apparently it went fine and the kids loved it.

Schools used to be isolated entities. You went to your school and you heard from your teachers. I don’t remember too much about other schools, except if there was some competition and we had to compete against them. Now with tools like Skype that make affordable global videoconferencing available to classrooms on a tight budget, the world is smaller than ever.

Ten years ago, the differences between the two cultures would have been significantly more profound. Widespread adoption of the Internet, popular music, television and other flatteners have created a global culture. My kids knew the same shows, listened to some of the same bands (artists) and spoke some of the same vernacular. The true flattening moment for my kids was when they realized that all of the Peruvian students were at least bilingual. Some are trilingual. My students are figuring out that if they intend to compete for work in ten years, it is high time they step it up. The competition is getting fierce, and the cultural differences are shrinking.

No, answered Gerd Kanter, one of world’s best discus throwers to a journalist at a press conference this week. Using new technology in the team surely helps, but results mostly depend on my work.

Gerd and his Team 75 plus have a rather unorthodox approach to athletics. Training, nutrition and recovery are important, of course, but on top of that the team puts a lot of energy into competing on winning spirit and information.

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EbOY is a group of pixel artists. Their latest poster features Skype. We’re the only ones to have our own truck well last.fm has its van too, but Skype’s is the most impressive one. Cool. I’m not fully sure who were the staff posing on the truck. And while there are a lot of other cool online/web companies, eBay is interestingly not there (or did I miss it?).

The President of the United States George W. Bush visited Estonia for a bit less than a day. It’s a great honour to our country, as there are many other countries where the U.S. Presidents have never got and never might.

He’s sitting here with the Estonian prime minister Andrus Ansip (right), Condoleezza Rice and other officials, discussing state matters.

As it happens on such visits, diplomats and officials exchange gifts. And while they are often just nice decorative memorabilia, Estonia decided to give President Bush a Skype phone well, he got a beautiful glass sculpture too. Ansip is holding the phone in his hand if you look really carefully. And on the other picture, you see Bush holding the gift box.

The phone in question was Philips VOIP841 cordless Skype phone that plugs straight to your Internet router, so that you can make Skype calls without ever turning a computer on. You’ll have to take my word on this one, as the exact model is not visible on the photos, but I know that was the one

I think it’s a nice symbol about the significance of Skype to Estonia. As for Bush himself, I’m not sure how badly he needs the phone. If you look at the Skype search results, he could easily be a S