GE

Big news for US Skypers today--Skype and Wal-Mart have announced a partnership that makes Skype-certified products available at 1,800 Wal-Mart stores across the US starting today. What sorts of gear will Wal-Mart be carrying? There's a pretty wide range:

Continue reading "Skype, Wal-Mart; Wal-mart, Skype." »

Have you seen how many different phones there are to make Skype calls now?! This year has seen an explosion in different new models, so I thought it was time for a quick Skypegear overview on the different phones you can use to make calls via Skype.

Cost-wise Skype phones run from around £10 right up to hundreds of pounds, so it's important when you're choosing a phone that you pick one based not just on your budget, but more importantly on your needs. I've divided them up into four categories:

• Phones that you need to have your PC on to use
• Phones that can be used without a PC
• Speakerphones
• Headsets.

Of course there are other ways to make calls such as by plugging in a phone adaptor to your regular phone, or by using the in-built mic in your webcam, but these really are 4 main ways of improving your Skype audio calls with hardware.

There's also a great interactive guide to choosing a phone in the Skype store, but read on for more info...

Continue reading "The 4 main types of Skype phone...or, a beginner's guide to buying a Skype phone" »

Estimates suggest that in the UK alone there are around 9 million people with some kind of hearing impairment, and that up to 4 million of those people use hearing aids or have cochlear implants.

For these people, Skype can offer a really useful way of being able to communicate cheaply and easily through multiple channels, be it voice, text, video or some of the extra ways of communicating in Skype 3.

Continue reading "Which Skype phones are Hearing Aid Compatible?" »

Well it appears in the white heat of CES that Skypegear missed out on a few of the Innovations awards that Skype partners had bagged at CES; turns out that it was in fact a grand tally of at least 7 rather than the still 3 that I reported previously.

Continue reading "Correction: Skype bags 7 innovation award winners at CES rather than 3...!" »

The Innovations Design and Engineering Awards have been going since 1989, and are a way for the industry to acknowledge products that their team of independent judges consider to be the best designed products in consumer technology. Skype partners managed to bag no less than three honorees this year at CES, so congrats are due to:

• Thomson - for the GE DECT 6.0 Embedded Skype Residential Phone
• Plantronics - for the .Audio 910 Bluetooth Headset
• Netgear - for the SPH200D cordless Skype phone

The Plantronics is pictured above; (slightly blurry I'm afraid) photos of the other two award winners with their newly earned stripes after the break...

Thomson cordless GE Skype phone...

Continue reading "CES 2007: Skype partners bag 3 Innovation awards" »

Now some Skypers might have been a little disappointed by the news last week that Philips VOIP841 cordless Skype phone won't be shipping in the US until 2007.

For those who just can't wait or those who just fancy something a bit different, the GE phone reviewed this week by BusinessWeek may be just the thing. The GE 28300EE2 (nice name chaps - catchy!) differs from the Philips phone in that it plugs into your PC rather than your router, meaning that you do have to have your PC on in order to make Skype calls (although you can happily make landline calls from it when the PC's off).

Continue reading "GE DECT Skype phone "Well thought-out device": BusinessWeek" »

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" »