January 2007

If you haven't yet downloaded the newest version of Skype for Mac, take a deep breath and then download it now. Since Beta we've fixed many bugs and made it easier to use. You can now send SMS' straight from the History menu or see when your voicemail subscription expires in the "My Account" area. There are numerous other improvements that happened behind the scenes but make using Skype for Mac more pleasant than ever before.

Make a Video call in this version, and you will notice we have introduced a new video codec that significantly improves the quality of video calling. Power users can take this one step further, tweaking some settings. See Skype Garage for more if you're brave. (Requires changing some settings to Skype's xml files to give you near HD quality Video calls)

We've even added a nifty little birthday reminder feature, to help you impress your Skype contacts (and secure an invitation to the ). We have also introduced clickable mood messages and a few new emoticons. Download and enjoy.

See the brand new birthday reminder in action below:

You can find the release notes on developer.skype.com

While we are working on next Skype for Mac releases I'm starting this series of blog posts that helps to get the most out from the current version. The topic today - how to copy a phone number from History or send an SMS message to such number.

The simplest way to do either is to choose "View info" of the number with Command-I or Control-click and choose "View profile". From the view that pops open you can easily copy the number or click Send SMS.

Please comment whether this was helpful or not and let me know what topics you'd like to see covered in the future.

Updated 3.49 PM GMT. I just learned that there are more than two paths leading so sending SMS messages from History. If your default action for double-click is 'Start a chat' (Skype>Preferences>General) then by far the easiest is to double-click the phone number - SMS menu opens like magic . Alternatively you can click on missed events, then 'Show history' and see a 'Send SMS' icon next to any number you have highlighted