October 2006

Now I have to declare right from the start of this post that personally I never got the whole ‘Hello Kitty’ thing. However, I do have to add that I am 28, male, and not Japanese, putting me firmly outside of the core Kitty demographic.

There is one thing I subconsciously knew when I started this blog though: It was only a matter of time before the Hello Kitty Phone for Skype turned up, and here she is!

Continue reading "Hello Kitty Phone for Skype" »

It’s one of those simple questions, just like “Do penguins have knees?”.  British newspaper The Independent asked just this question this Sunday (the telephone one, not the penguin one), and I thought it was worth suggesting a few good reasons of my own, as well as hopefully getting a few more from all of you Skypers.

The case for using Skype itself is pretty clear I think: free or very cheap calls, coupled with chat, video, cheap SMS and other features.

However, most PCs and laptops come equipped with some kind of mic and speakers, so why spend the extra on handsets, speakerphones or other such peripherals?

Continue reading "Why buy an internet telephone?" »

The Belkin Wifi Skype phone: so good that it’s worth three photos; and the really good news is that Belkin today announced that it is shipping in the UK and should be available from October 30th.

Continue reading "Belkin's dark horse rides into wifi-ville..." »

Now Skypegear loves computers, but sometimes getting home after a hard day toiling in front of one, the last thing you want to have to do is power the laptop up just to call the folks back home using Skype.

Step in the Philips VOIP841 (buy one from our online shop), which lets you make Skype calls from home without even touching your PC, as well as plain old landline calls. Brilliant! Read on for more.

Continue reading "Skypegear Roadtest: Philips VOIP841 Cordless Phone for Skype" »

The head of Skype in France, Jérôme Archambeaud, did a stint on French TV channel LCI’s popular ‘Plein Ecran’ program last Friday. Subject: how Wifi networks are changing the way people communicate both in and out of their homes.

Continue reading "Making the most of the "Skype Ecosystem"" »

The Logitech EasyCall Desktop is a bit of everything. Part wireless keyboard and mouse, part music manager, part speakerphone, and part Skype manager. But is the sum greater than the parts? Skype Gear’s got its hands on one and it could be just the thing for anyone who likes everything quite literally at their fingertips. Read on for full details…

Continue reading "Skype Gear Roadtest: The Logitech EasyCall Desktop for Skype" »

Niklas Zennström’s comments in our interview last week about the many different chargers and other hardware you need as a business traveller got me thinking. Obviously it’s not such a problem for Skypers as most Skype phones can be simply charged through your PC’s USB port, but as more and more Skype phones begin to work independently of your PC, it’s an interesting question.

So here’s a roundup of some current and upcoming ways to avoid having to carry around dozens of chargers for all your electronic devices, to make sure you can keep talking when you’re on the move.

Continue reading "How to leave all those chargers at home..." »

So Skype’s co-founder and Chief Exec Niklas Zennström gave us a little bit of his time this week to talk about Skype, the cordless universe (aah bliss!), and everything gadget-related. Full text of the interview below…

Continue reading "Skype Gear chats to Niklas Zennström" »

Just as the sexy NetGear Wi-fi phone is hitting the shelves in all its shiny white gadgetness, well respected website The Register has got its hands on a review phone and the verdict is: It’s a winner.

Continue reading "The Reg, Gizmodo, and many more bigging up the NetGear SPH101 Wifi phone" »

I came across something today that you don’t see very often: online retailer Amperordirect.com have a great blog which lets them communicate directly with their customers. And rather than just using it for bland corporate communications, there’s a real sense in the blog of their passion and knowledge for Skype hardware.

Continue reading "Amperor, or, How to Communicate with your Customers the Skype Way" »

Following on from my initial post on the Polycom Voicestation 500 last week, I’ve had a good chance to put it through its paces, and it really is everything you want an office phone to be: efficient, non-nonsense and good quality. In short, it’s a cracker of a phone.

Continue reading "Skype Gear Roadtest: Polycom Voicestation 500" »

Aztech were showing off their tidy new Skype-certified cordless PSTN/Skype phone the V500DS last week at the Hong Kong Electronic Fair. It’ll be selling in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong in January next year.

Continue reading "Aztech's V500DS cordless Skype phone enters the fray..." »

An interesting post over at VoIP lowdown yesterday asked what Skype needs to really win over small and medium sized business users.

Now, 8-Port Rack-mountable PBX Gateways may not exactly be dinner party conversation material, but Actiontec’s announcement this week that they were shipping their new Skype-loving PBX gateway in the US goes a long way to answering this very question.

Continue reading "Doing the business, Skype style" »

There’s a whole lot of interesting Skype products coming out of Japan at the moment, and I’m hoping in a later post to take you through a good few of them. To start with, though, is a truly converged device: The Buffalo Skype keyboard.

Continue reading "It's not all about the phones..." »

We’re going to be doing a few prize draws ourselves here on Skype Gear pretty soon, but another Skype promotion caught my eye today over on the UK blog (sorry everyone else - just for Her Majesty’s citizens, this one :( ). You’ll have to hurry though as there’s only a week to run on it apparently.

The promotion’s pretty simple: refer three friends, get 30 minutes SkypeOut credit to landlines, and enter the draw to win:

A Sony Vaio FE31H laptop with integrated camera and mic
20 Philips VOIP321 cordless phones
52 Logitech QuickCams for Skype webcams.

…And a number of runner up prizes such as these!

Here’s the link to enter.

So what of the prizes?

Continue reading "Vaio, Phillips, Logitech...As prizes go, these aren't half bad..." »

Here’s a short video which really caught our eye, featuring an interview with George Polk, head of wifi company the Cloud. The Cloud are a really innovative company who have been making great moves towards that Skype nirvana of blanket, flat fee wi-fi penetration across whole countries.

It’s interesting to hear George’s views on the SMC phone which is the subject of the interview. Access to a wide-scale wifi network such as the Cloud’s coupled with a wireless embedded phone such as SMC’s really does mean that you can have Skype at your fingertips as you zip around the city.

Continue reading "SMC "Changing the rules" of mobile communication..." »

It’s great to see Thomson have hooked up with Skype for their new GE-branded cordless handset, which is due in the US very shortly. Skype and Thomson have already announced that this is just the first in a whole family of devices, so watch this space.

Continue reading "Thomson hook up with Skype for the first time" »

As well as featuring favourably in the Time roundup, Netgear also managed to snag one of Popular Mechanics’ coveted Breakthrough Awards.

Continue reading "Official: Netgear's wifi phone is "brilliant", and adjustable spanners are the new MP3 players" »

It’s been a great week for Skype gear-makers this week. US-based Time Magazine got stuck in to Skype and the wonderful wireless world of wifi phones with a great roundup featuring Sony’s delicious Mylo in all its curvy glory (more about the Mylo later), as well as Netgear and Belkin’s new wifi phones.

There’s undoubtedly still an education piece to be done for consumers on the possibilities wireless internet can offer, and it’s great to see a venerable publication such as Time putting these devices in front of the noses of its readers.

Polycom have really grasped VoiP with both hands, which perhaps explains why their two first Skype-certified products are both handsfree speakerphones! As a company which focuses on combining voice, video, data and web content whilst communicating, there is a natural synergy with Skype.

Pretty much anyone who has had the dubious pleasure of working in an office will have come into contact with Polycom’s Soundstation, which graces burr walnut boardroom tables of offices the World over, and has gained a deserved reputation for quality. This expertise with high performance enterprise products can clearly be seen in both the Communicator and the Voicestation 500, both of which are Skype certified.

Continue reading "The Polycom/Skype family is growing..." »

Welcome to Skype Gear!

The aim of Skype Gear is to provide a first port of call for information, opinion and discussion on lovely gadgets, devices, accessories and other things which let you get the most out of using Skype.

So for anything Skype-related that you can touch, see, hold or smell (ok, we’re still waiting on the first Skype smellphone, but it’s only a matter of time), this will be place to come.

Continue reading "Skype Gear is here!" »