CES

Skype on the go was a major theme of this year's CES. Another cool Skype-related announcement was the Sony mylo ("my life online") COM-2. It's a small internet device with a touchscreen and keyboard that supports Skype out of the box and improves upon a lot of the features of the original mylo.

The Skype integration is great--it means you can make and receive free Skype calls and instant messages (as well as make SkypeOut calls and receive SkypeIn calls) from anywhere you have internet access via WiFi. One nice thing for American mylo COM-2 users: WiFi access on the Wayport network is free until the end of 2010.

There's also a lot to do with the mylo when you're not Skyping...

Continue reading "CES Spotlight: Sony Mylo COM-2" »

So as many of the slightly geekier readers of this blog may be aware, this past week was the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. Skype was out there (though I didn't get to go ) and announced / showed off several new things. One of the coolest is that Skype will be making its way onto a new series of mobile internet devices based on Intel mobile processors and chipsets called (wait for it) MIDs (as in Mobile Internet Devices).

The specs on these MIDs will vary by manufacturer (though they'll all have Intel chips), but it's safe to say they'll have touchscreen LCDs, WiFi or WiMax, and will run Mobile Internet Linux. Skype will be preinstalled, so free calls, instant messaging and group chats can be made from the get-go. And some MIDs will have cameras for video calls on Skype--pretty cool.

If these seem a bit similar to UMPCs, another Intel-based small form-factor mobile computing platform, you're right, though the major difference is that MIDs are smaller and run Linux rather than Windows. Engadget as done a nice post noting all the differences, which you can check out here.

Intel MIDs running Skype on Mobile Internet Linux should be available during the first half of 2008. You can learn more about the MID platform here.

Well it's back to work, and already Skype CEO Niklas Zennström has been talking to the BBC about, amongst other things, what to expect from Skype in 2007:

Today, most Skype users are using Skype on a computer. What we'll also see in the next few years is that more and more people will use Skype outside of the computer on mobile devices, wifi telephones, and other devices. Today most revenues are coming from voice calls. What we're also working on now is to develop other revenues, in terms of e-commerce and content.

Certainly there's going to be a real focus on hardware, and what better place to start than the world's largest consumer electronics show, CES, in Vegas next week?

Continue reading "Looking into 2007: Where does the Skype genie go from here?" »