Skype Gear has been all over the news during the past week. Here are some highlights from a few reviews and articles (as well as a video):

Martin Brown from Computerworld wrote about his experience of using two Skype cordless phones at the same time (well, one at home and one at the office) for six months here. He was using the RTX DUALphone 3088 (which just won the Danish Product Award 2007; review here, shop here) at work and the Netgear SPH200D at home (review here, shop here). Both connect directly to your router so you don't need to have a computer on to use them. Martin noted the aspects he preferred on each phone (he preferred the interface on the DUALphone 3088 but the handset design of the SPH200D) and also a few shortcomings (the selection of ringtones on the SPH200D, and the lack of a 'favorites' system in the contacts of both phones for easier dialing)--though overall he's "very satisfied" with the phones. My parents have a Netgear SPH200D at their house, and I have to agree that it's a nice way to have Skype at home away from your computer (BTW, it's especially good now that's I've got a 3 Skypephone, as they can reach me whenever and it's free for both of us).

Speaking of the Netgear SPH200D, Stan Beer from Australia's iTWire agreed this week that the SPH200D is a great solution for cheap calling for home, especially on a Skype Pro plan (where most national calls to landlines are free and international calls to landlines are cheap). Stan likes the phone so much he's thinking about getting rid of his landline.

And in other Skype news, Larry Magid from CBS News does a nice overview of Skype ('Skype grows up') here. He mentions the utility of SkypeIn and SkypeOut (on the North America Unlimited plan), High Quality Video and the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, and the Philips VOIP841.

And finally, here's a use of video calling on Skype I haven't seen before. This American student studying in Japan was able to watch the Clemson vs. USC football game this past weekend through Skype and a webcam (pointed at his parents' television). Nice.