May 2006

Since Skype is such an international company - we all love the World Cup! We also love Macs - so when I got this on my email the other day, I thought I must share it with our loyal Skype Mac users! Someone has taken the time to enter all the FIFA World Cup matches into iCal, and then decided to share it with the world - so I figured I should help share this!

4 Easy Steps

1. Download this file
2. Double click on it,
3. Whem prompted, add Calendar to iCal.
4. Enjoy the World Cup!

Keep an eye out for any World Cup associated Skypecasts!

AUSTRALIA FOR THE WORLD CUP!

Being involved in both Skype's developer platform and Mac product teams I pride myself on knowing about all of the cool new applications and accessories before anyone else. Everyonce in a while something sneaks right past me that I had no idea was coming and no idea where it came from but am SOOOO happy it came to be when I see it. The latest example is Ecamm Network's Call Recorder for Skype. It is our first dedicated call recording app for the Mac platform and uses the Skype for Mac API to enable super simple, well integrated, and a very Mac OS experience for one click call recording. How simple is it? Follow me ...

Continue reading "Ecamm Network Call Recorder for Skype - simple high quality call recording for podcasters, Skypecasters, and more" »

Everyday we get lots of questions about our upcoming releases of Skype for Mac. People ask us about new features and release dates in the forums, on this blog, via email and via Skype. As many of you have noticed, we don't answer these questions. We keep quiet.

The reason we're being silent is not that we're evil people who like to keep you in the dark, or that we're not doing a proper job planning ahead. The reason is simply that Skype as a publicly traded company cannot disclose release dates, or describe what features the release will include.

Skype’s key focus is innovation and delighting the user. Our team is working hard to develop the new Mac version. I apologise that we cannot tell you more about the future.

But - we still really appreciate your feedback, and what you think is missing in Skype for Mac. We use the information when we develop our product roadmap, and it helps us make Skype for Mac the application our users want it to be.

We [announced](http://www.skype.com/company/news/2006/skype_freecalling.html) that SkypeOut is now free within the US and Canada to all landlines and mobiles, until at least the end of 2006.

How does this work?

If you’re in the US or Canada, you can use [SkypeOut](http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/) to call any landline or mobile number in both the USA and Canada for free. To call within the US or Canada be sure to add “+1” before the area code and local phone number.

Continue reading "Free calls to all landlines and mobile phones within the US and Canada" »

The response to my last post on using the new presence enabled Skype buttons has generated a great response and I have gotten a ton of email and comments. I wanted to respond here so that as many people as possible can benefit. Most of the feedback relates to two issues:

1.) I Can't get it to work ...

- Make sure you insert the code snippet Skype provides you in one of the empty div tags generated to provide spacing. If paste it into a random spot you could cause an error that will not render the page properly. Test it in the browser and make sure that it looks the way you want the signature to look.

- When you are saving the file out as an HTML file from your editor, make sure you don't overwrite the existing Webarchive file, save it to another location and rename it. Don't forget to then open it in Safari and use the "Save as" command to save it as a Web archive with the name of the original in the signatures folder.

- You must have your "Composing" Preferences set to "Rich Text" for Message Format for the status image to display.

- You must have your "Viewing" Preferences set to "Display remote images in HTML messages" to load the image.

2.) Status doesn't change in email, always says you are online even if you are not.

- Mail.app does not reload the image once it has loaded it. Unfortunately status will not refresh automatically for an image in an email in Mail.app once it has loaded a remote image. It appears to be stored in a cache.

Keep them coming ...

As one of Skype’s resident Mac heads, it is my duty to share the little tips and tricks that we uncover in our own quest to have the ultimate Skype on Mac experience. With the release of Skype for Mac 1.4.0.49, Mac users now have the ability to show Skype status on the Web or email signature just as our Windows using brethren have been able to do for a while now. This post will share a few tricks in adding a presence enabled Skype button to your email signature in Mac OS X 10.4’s Mail application. I love Mail.app because it is simple, has an elegant UI, and most importantly supports Apple’s Spotlight technology which gives you instant search results across your email almost instantly. The downside is ... its not very easy to add a Skype Button to your email signature with Mail. Let me help you out.

Continue reading "Mac How-to: Adding a Presence Enabled Skype Me Button to your signature file in Apple Mail" »

We released Skype for Mac 1.4.0.49 today, which is our first Universal build of Skype. Universal means that Skype now runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac computers, boosting the performance of Skype running on Intel Macs.

1.4.0.49 also includes support for web presence, which allows you to showcase your online status on the web or in an email signature. See the status sign next to this blog post for an example.

To activate web presence, go to Preferences -> Privacy, and tick the box saying 'Allow my status to be shown on the web'. More info about web presence here.

Finally, we've translated Skype into Traditional Chinese for this version. More languages to follow in upcoming releases.

Enjoy

Hi everyone! I started at Skype last week - and I figured it would be rude for me to not introduce myself to our loyal Skype users who read our blogs!

My name is Ryan Hunt, and I've been brought on board as a Project Manager to help speed up things with both the Mac and Linux clients. I come from a Linux background, and "fell" into the Mac world a few years ago. I stopped using Windows for good about 2 years ago - so I strongly understand what it's like for all you Mac/Linux users out there!

Brief about me: I'm originally from Australia, and my passions outside of Skype include Snowboarding, Travel, Technology, just to name a few. I have my own personal blog - http://ryanhunt.net/ if you care to read about my non-skype life. It's mostly focused on my travels around the globe, but has bits and pieces about technical stuff!

Nice to Skype you!

\- Ryan.

Skype launched a new product last week, Skypecasts. Skypecasts allow people all across the world to meet and discuss shared interests — anything from holiday ideas and new gadgets, to online gaming and the best ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. Skypecasts are moderated by the ‘host’ who is able to mute, eject or pass the virtual microphone to participants when they wish to speak.

Hosting or participating in a Skypecast is completely free, plus Mac users with version 1.4 can take part in Skypecasts.

Continue reading "Skypecasts for Mac users" »