December 2007

Several interesting bits of Skype Gear-related news from the blogosphere recently, on a variety of devices that show off many of the different ways you can use Skype.

• Video: great story about usage and a Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF review
• Mobile: Results to 3mobilebuzz’s recent contest: Why I need a 3 Skypephone
• WiFi phone: Netgear SPH200W one of Time’s top 10 gadgets of 2007
• Headsets: A look at the FREETALK Stereo Wireless Headset

My full take after the jump…

Continue reading "Gear News Roundup: A little bit of everything" »

You may recall the great fanfare with which I welcomed Skype on the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet last summer. Well, now the N800 has a new sibling—the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet—and it also runs Skype. It’s now shipping in the US and will be available very soon in Europe.

I think it’s fair to call the N810 a sibling to the N800. The insides of both are nearly the same: they have the same processor, screen, connectivity through WiFi and bluetooth, amount of RAM and battery life. The main difference is that the N810 adds a slide-out keyboard and GPS receiver. The N810 also has a fixed camera on the front where the N800 has a pop-out camera that rotates, and the N810 has 2GB of memory built in (but only one SD slot where the N800 has two). Look here for a nice comparison.

The Nokia N810 runs OS2008, Nokia’s Linux-based operating system for its Internet Tablets, and in mid-December (according to this page) a final version of OS2008 will be available for N800 users, bringing many new features to the older tablet (I love a good firmware update!).

Last week I was able to play around with a pre-release Nokia N810 and was quite impressed. I’m not prepared to give it a full review (as it was beta hardware), but I have a few observations…

Continue reading "Nokia N810 Internet Tablet (with Skype) is out!" »

Two nice recent video-related developments on the main platforms that aren’t Windows—last week the new Skype for Mac 2.7 beta came out, bringing with it 640 x 480 video at up to 25 frames per second (as well as full Leopard support). It’s not certified High Quality Video because it doesn’t use Logitech cameras with Carl Zeiss optics, but it’s certainly a nice improvement over video at 320 x 240.

Last month the latest Skype for Linux 2.0 beta also added video. My current object of gadget lust is the Asus Eee PC, the small, relatively affordable Linux laptop (based on Xandros Linux) with flash memory rather than a hard drive. Skype comes preloaded on the Eee PC, but it’s not the latest beta version with video support. If you’ve picked up an Eee PC and are a Linux novice, check out this video I spotted after the jump that gives a great tutorial on how to install the latest Skype beta and get video rockin’ on the Eee PC.

Continue reading "Video Love for Mac and Linux" »