News, comments, reviews from Skype and partners by the Skype hardware team. Tell Skypegear how your Skype phone helps you at work, at home or on the move for your chance to win a brand new Skype phone every month... E-mail your entries to skypegear@skype.net.
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Andrew Brennan on April 24, 2008 in Mobile, Skype Mobile.
Here’s a video of Skype for your mobile running on a Nokia N95 8GB. You can learn more about Skype for your mobile from my full post about it and you can download it for your phone here. Don’t forget that it’s beta software: known bugs are here, and you can report any you find here.
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Andrew Brennan on April 24, 2008 in Mobile, Skype Mobile.
Whoa whoa whoa! Hot on the heels of Skype’s new global calling plans comes (in my geeky opinion) some even more exciting news—the release of Skype for your mobile beta!
Skype for your mobile (beta) is a ‘thin’ client for Skype that works on Java-enabled mobile phones. It lets you use many of Skype’s features on the phone you already have. On the main information page (here), you can get instructions for how to install it on your phone and you can see a list of phones that Skype for your mobile has been tested on (though it may work even if your phone isn’t listed, the phone needs to be Java-enabled).
Using Skype for your mobile beta, you can
There are a couple things to be aware of though:
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Andrew Brennan on April 22, 2008 in Awards, Belkin, Sony, Wifi phones.
Some recent Gear-related news on this fine Tuesday:
I just caught this video review of the Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype by Chris Hogg (and Chris Hogg) on Digital Journal TV. We’ve reviewed it before here. "They" run through what the phone does and say that it kicks derriere. I’m not sure of the camera and computer tricks DJTV used to make the video, but it’s pretty neat. Watch it here:
If you’ve got a Sony PSP Slim & Lite and haven’t tried Skype on it yet, have a look at these step-by-step instructions on Instructables. The author also goes into how to rip and convert DVDs for viewing on the PSP.
For the second year in a row, Skype is a winner in CNET’s Webware 100 Awards in the Communication category. Users (like you! Thanks if you voted!)chose the winners of these awards; no doubt this year more people are using Skype in more ways beyond the computer (like on a Nokia Internet Tablet, 3 Skypephone, a Skype WiFi phone, a Sony Mylo—the list goes on…). Check out the Skype’s winning page here, and all the 2008 Webware 100 winners here.
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Andrew Brennan on April 11, 2008 in Miscellaneous.
Caught a neat bit of unconventional Skype Gear this week—David Bue Pedersen has created a "a DIY instant messenger online contact signalizer picture frame thingy" which works pretty much as described—it lets him see who’s on Skype in a physical, visual way as he lounges across the room getting fanned and fed grapes. Or doing whatever he, um, normally does.
David used polycarbonate to make a picture frame for five photos, and backlit each photo with a LED. Then using some circuit wizardry and the Skype API, he got the LEDs talking to Skype and lighting up when the person in the photo is online. Pretty neat.
If you’re of the Do-It-Yourself / Make Magazine persuasion, you can make your own light-up frame for up to 22 people—David provides schematics. More info (and some other cool DIY projects) on David’s site here.
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Andrew Brennan on April 2, 2008 in Nokia, Skype Certified.
Some exciting news out of the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, USA this week—Nokia officially announced the N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition. The N810 WiMAX Edition takes the very Skype-friendly Nokia N810 and adds WiMAX, a new wireless broadband technology. It’s going to be out in the US this summer in areas where WiMAX is available. What exactly is WiMAX? The press release spells it out quite clearly:
WiMAX is a standards-based wireless broadband technology that delivers an open Internet experience similar to that of fixed broadband technologies with typical data download speeds of up to 2-4 Mbps per user with peak download speeds of up to 10 Mbps. Unlike current single point local area technologies like Wi-Fi which have a range of a few hundred feet, WiMAX networks consist of a number of interconnected base stations, each with a radius of up to 2-3 miles, that allow for handoffs from one base station to another as users move about a region or metro area. Additionally, WiMAX networks integrate technology designed to maximize the quality of service for each subscriber.
I think this is pretty awesome—it adds a whole new layer of mobility to the N810. Rather than needing to be at a WiFi hotspot or tethered to your mobile through bluetooth to check your email or make a Skype call, you’ll be able to get online wherever you have a WiMAX signal (presumably in large metropolitan areas to start). Check out a video of the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition in action after the jump.
Continue reading "MAXed out: Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition" »
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Andrew Brennan on March 31, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Webcams.
I recently came across a nice blog post from John McArthur, a venture capitalist, mentioning how he uses Skype to speak to people at startups for free or cheap. Technology has developed quite a bit since John attended the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Back then AT&T debuted its Picturephone, which allowed video calls over standard phonelines way before computers were commonplace. I wanted to find out a bit more about the Picturephone and see how different it could possibly be from High Quality Video on Skype. How different are they? Wow. Read on to see what I found.
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Andrew Brennan on March 20, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Webcams.
Have you ever made a Skype call and then just kept the line open, so you could talk (or not talk) to a friend or loved one for as long as you wanted? Because Skype-to-Skype calls are always free, the conversation never has to end—and with video it’s like having a window into what your companion is doing, whether he or she is talking to you or not.
I’ve heard of people having these sorts of lingering Skype conversations before—it was a couple who kept a video window open all day at work to say hi and smile at each another. This week I caught another example in a blog post by Roo Reynolds, who not only coined a term for this sort of connection (‘Ambient Skype’) but also provided a photo of a nap he was taking in the US while his wife was going to sleep in the UK. Aww. Roo said:
I found this to be very comforting. It’s rather reassuring to drift off with the familiarity of hearing each other breathing and (for me) the everyday noises of home in the background. A nice way to reduce the distance during a long trip abroad. I don’t know why we didn’t try it sooner.
You can read his whole blog post here. Have you ever used Skype to provide an open window into your life for a far away friend or loved one? Tell us in the comments.
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Andrew Brennan on March 13, 2008 in Belkin, Desktop internet phones.
Remember that Belkin Desktop Internet Phone for Skype that was announced at CES in January? It’s about to go on sale and I’ve had the chance to use it around my office for the past week. I think it’s one of the most handsome Skype phones yet, and it’s (almost) perfect in an office setting. Read on for my review.
Continue reading "Skype Gear Roadtest: Belkin Desktop Internet Phone for Skype" »
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Andrew Brennan on March 5, 2008 in Miscellaneous, Webcams.
Earlier this week Oprah took to the internet for a live classroom-style discussion with author Eckhart Tolle about his book A New Earth. Over 500,000 people went online at the same time on Monday evening to watch, and over 242 Gbps of information was transferred (according to Harpo Productions, Oprah’s company). Using High Quality Video on Skype, several participants were able to ask questions and speak directly with Oprah and Eckhart.
Having so many people connected to the same streaming video did lead to some (non-Skype-related) technical difficulties (which Howard mentioned on the new Skype US blog)—hopefully they’ll be sorted out quickly as the webinar series is scheduled to run for 9 more week (every Monday at 21:00 EST / 02:00 GMT). You can learn more about the series here, and watch or download the first lesson here (though beware: the iPod-formatted download clocks in at over a gigabyte). It’s also on iTunes.
This isn’t the first time that Skype’s been used in a ‘television-related’ capacity. It’s been used in Canada for CityTV and the CBC, in Germany, in Brazil, and in the US for Tom Green’s show.
If you’re a budding broadcaster, check out these excellent tips for getting great audio quality out of Skype during interviews from Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani of The Conversations Network.
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Andrew Brennan on February 22, 2008 in Ipevo, Logitech, Miscellaneous.
A veritable smorgasbord (or smörgåsbord even) of Skype Gear-related news and reviews this Friday.
Some recent hardware reviews:
And in the news
Get the full rundown after the jump…
