Miscellaneous

You may have already heard about the Skype Nomad—intrepid Australian Rebecca Campbell is travelling the world for 33 days, only sleeping while on the move, blogging about her trip, and raising money for charity (Motivation). She’s using Skype to stay in touch and plan parts of her trip (you can send her recommendations and tips—she’s ‘theskypenomad’).

In addition to all her travelling and photo-taking and blog writing, Rebecca’s been writing a column in the UK’s Telegraph. But one thing that she hasn’t mentioned yet is the full list of gear she’s carrying. There are tons of ways to use Skype on the go, but Rebecca is perhaps taking it to the extreme—when you’re constantly on the move, light gear is of utmost importance.

Here’s her full list:

• 3 Skypephone
• Nokia N810 Internet Tablet
• Nokia N95 8GB (for Skype for your mobile)
• PSP and headset
• Macbook Air (with 3 USB broadband dongle)
• Solar powered battery charger
• Panasonic HD Video camera
• Canon IXUS 70 (SD1000) Digital camera

She’s got some neat stuff with her—and with the 3 Skypephone and 3 broadband dongle she can get online really easily whenever she’s in a 3 territory. Still, she’s already found that WiFi isn’t exactly ubiquitous and you can’t always be connected.

Rebecca’s going to be passing through the UK later on her trip, and I’m going to try to be one of the many meeting up with her when she’s stopping at Skype’s office in London. Do you have any questions you’d like me to ask Rebecca? Leave ‘em in the comments.

Caught a neat bit of unconventional Skype Gear this week—David Bue Pedersen has created a "a DIY instant messenger online contact signalizer picture frame thingy" which works pretty much as described—it lets him see who’s on Skype in a physical, visual way as he lounges across the room getting fanned and fed grapes. Or doing whatever he, um, normally does.

David used polycarbonate to make a picture frame for five photos, and backlit each photo with a LED. Then using some circuit wizardry and the Skype API, he got the LEDs talking to Skype and lighting up when the person in the photo is online. Pretty neat.

If you’re of the Do-It-Yourself / Make Magazine persuasion, you can make your own light-up frame for up to 22 people—David provides schematics. More info (and some other cool DIY projects) on David’s site here.

I recently came across a nice blog post from John McArthur, a venture capitalist, mentioning how he uses Skype to speak to people at startups for free or cheap. Technology has developed quite a bit since John attended the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Back then AT&T debuted its Picturephone, which allowed video calls over standard phonelines way before computers were commonplace. I wanted to find out a bit more about the Picturephone and see how different it could possibly be from High Quality Video on Skype. How different are they? Wow. Read on to see what I found.

Continue reading "Flashback 1964: Low Quality Video" »

Have you ever made a Skype call and then just kept the line open, so you could talk (or not talk) to a friend or loved one for as long as you wanted? Because Skype-to-Skype calls are always free, the conversation never has to end—and with video it’s like having a window into what your companion is doing, whether he or she is talking to you or not.

I’ve heard of people having these sorts of lingering Skype conversations before—it was a couple who kept a video window open all day at work to say hi and smile at each another. This week I caught another example in a blog post by Roo Reynolds, who not only coined a term for this sort of connection (‘Ambient Skype’) but also provided a photo of a nap he was taking in the US while his wife was going to sleep in the UK. Aww. Roo said:

I found this to be very comforting. It’s rather reassuring to drift off with the familiarity of hearing each other breathing and (for me) the everyday noises of home in the background. A nice way to reduce the distance during a long trip abroad. I don’t know why we didn’t try it sooner.

You can read his whole blog post here. Have you ever used Skype to provide an open window into your life for a far away friend or loved one? Tell us in the comments.

Earlier this week Oprah took to the internet for a live classroom-style discussion with author Eckhart Tolle about his book A New Earth. Over 500,000 people went online at the same time on Monday evening to watch, and over 242 Gbps of information was transferred (according to Harpo Productions, Oprah’s company). Using High Quality Video on Skype, several participants were able to ask questions and speak directly with Oprah and Eckhart.

Having so many people connected to the same streaming video did lead to some (non-Skype-related) technical difficulties (which Howard mentioned on the new Skype US blog)—hopefully they’ll be sorted out quickly as the webinar series is scheduled to run for 9 more week (every Monday at 21:00 EST / 02:00 GMT). You can learn more about the series here, and watch or download the first lesson here (though beware: the iPod-formatted download clocks in at over a gigabyte). It’s also on iTunes.

This isn’t the first time that Skype’s been used in a ‘television-related’ capacity. It’s been used in Canada for CityTV and the CBC, in Germany, in Brazil, and in the US for Tom Green’s show.

If you’re a budding broadcaster, check out these excellent tips for getting great audio quality out of Skype during interviews from Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani of The Conversations Network.

A veritable smorgasbord (or smörgåsbord even) of Skype Gear-related news and reviews this Friday.

Some recent hardware reviews:

• IPEVO Trio
• SMC WiFi Phone for Skype WSKP100
• Skype on PSP

And in the news

• How to Video
• Video Visits
• Online Etiquette

Get the full rundown after the jump…

Continue reading "Gear News Roundup" »

While the majority of recent Skype news has been about a more serious topic, there have been several stories related to Skype Gear in school, work, home and software contexts over the past few days that are worth sharing.

1. Skype at School: Language Learning
2. Skype at Work: Business Traveller
3. Skype at Home: Video Roundup
4. Skype with Software: Mashable Enhancement Roundup

Continue reading "Skypegear News Roundup" »

Last week Skype 3.5 for Windows came out—one of the neat features it adds is better integration with video. You can share videos from Dailymotion and Metacafe in your mood message and in text chats, and they’ll play back in the Skype client. This is great, but sometimes the videos you want to share aren’t on either of those services. If that’s the case, I’d like to share a work-around you might want to check out.

Continue reading "Tip: Share Video in Skype 3.5 From Any Site" »

It’s been thoroughly covered around the web, but is certainly worth mentioning here—this week the American Federal Communications Commission set its rules for the upcoming auction of 700 MHz radio space in the US, which can be used for wireless data and voice. The FCC decided that open devices and open applications are a requirement on the network (as long as bidding for the space goes above $4.6 billion dollars). This means that the winner of the auction cannot mandate which devices are allowed to use the network and which applications are allowed to run on those devices.

This will hopefully mean that when these devices emerge (it will be a while; the auction doesn’t start until January 2008), they can run Skype—certainly an exciting development. Skype has been advocating open applications and access on the wireless internet since this past February when it filed a petition with the FCC to to confirm a consumer’s right to use Internet communications software and attach whatever devices he or she wants to wireless networks.

While the decision isn’t a complete win for champions of openness (it doesn’t require that third parties get access to the networks at fair wholesale rates, which gives incumbent telecom companies motivation to bid high to keep newcomers—like Google—out), it is certainly a step in the right direction for getting Skype wherever and whenever you want it in the US. You can read official statements from Skype and eBay here on Skype Journal.

Five recent bits of Skype Gear and Skype-related miscellanea rounded up on the internets:

1. A Mini-review of the Netgear SPH200D
2. A Frugal Skype Overview
3. A Mac Hardware-Skype Experience
4. A Series of Tubes: The Internet
5. A Catastrophe! The internet crashes.

Continue reading "Skypegear Roundup: 5 bits of miscellanea" »

One reminder and two notes of interest:

Contest!

Don’t forget about the Skypegear Haiku Contest — last day for entries is June 12. Write us a haiku about Skype and the gear you use to Skype for the chance to win a Sony VAIO Mouse Talk VN-CX1. Full info here. We’ve gotten some pretty good entries so far. Keep them coming!

Netgear!

On the heels of the Netgear news yesterday, American users of Netgear’s SPH101 WiFi phone should have a look at the latest firmware update, posted yesterday. It adds the ability to log onto T-Mobile hotspots across the US. Do note that it won’t work at T-Mobile hotspots outside the US, and you need to have already established a paid account with T-Mobile before trying it out—you can’t sign up from the handset.

Video!

And finally, remember the Skype coverage on The Lab with Leo we posted recently? Well, last week Skype was featured on another newscast, this time New York City’s Fox 5. It’s a nice little segment, though be warned it has a bit of that sensationalism that American local news is known for. Like the previous segment, it’s especially good for showing to people who like saving money but aren’t familiar with Skype yet. The video is online here.

I’ve been a fan of Leo Laporte’s for quite a while now—I’m a regular listener to This Week in Tech, the weekly podcast he hosts. So I thought it was pretty cool that Leo talked about Skype on the first episode of his new TV show, The Lab with Leo, and is using Skype on the set to engage with viewers. Check out a clip from the show after the jump.

Continue reading "Skype Tips on The Lab with Leo Laporte" »

In case you missed it, there’s been some interesting news out of Skypeland this week: the introduction of Caller ID for SkypeIn numbers (for some countries) and the release of the final version of Skype 3.2 for Windows. What does this mean for gadget lovers? Read on.

Continue reading "Caller ID & Skype 3.2" »

Well the eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted that Skypegear’s got a new blogger on board: so a big Skypegear welcome for Andrew Brennan who is going to be working alongside me.

Andrew hails from Philadelphia and will be working out of the US initially. He’s hoping to move back to the UK pretty soon - presumably for the climate, excellent cuisine and to experience London’s housing crisis first-hand.

The last few weeks he’s been covering some of the phones and other hardware which we’ve managed to miss on the blog, but look out for more from Andrew coming up. A bit of background: As well as being a Skype freak, Andrew is a world-class rower, having won a bronze medal at the world championships, and is currently training for his first marathon. He’s also a self-confessed pop snob, which is an oxymoron if ever I heard one .

His favourite Skype gadget is Netgear SPH200D phone we recently reviewed. His other ‘desert-island gadget’ (assuming an island with some kind of solar-powered charger and also a satellite-based internet connection of some sort, of course) would be his Creative Muvo V100 MP3 player which he describes as “perfect for workouts”.

Please give Andrew a warm welcome and feel free to say hi and post any questions you may have for him to this post.

If the smooth lines of the slinky Futiro Skype phones Skypegear reviewed last week don’t fit in to your beautiful 19th century manor house’s decor, what should you do? Well, of course there are already a few retro Skype phones and handsets available such as the Hulger P*Phone, but if you really want to go the whole hog, then the fantastic Instructables blog may have just the thing - a DIY Old Timey Skype Phone.

Continue reading "How to make your own old-time Skype phone..." »

If you’re a US Skype user, you may have already noticed that the US Skype Store has had a thorough makeover. Whilst most of these home makeover shows suggest neutral colours and well-placed scatter cushions on the sofas, you’ll be pleased to hear that Skype have instead gone for a more intuitive navigation, the ability to search by product or category and lots of shiny green rainbows.

With the new site comes a host of new money-off offers for the US as well, including $50 off SMC’s Skype Wifi phone package (which includes a FON router, loads of Skype call minutes and Skype voicemail for a year), free shipping on orders over $50, and $40 off the Netgear SPH200D cordless Skype phone. In addition there’s $30 off the Logitech® QuickCam® Pro 5000, $10 off the Logitech® Premium USB Headset 350, and $10 off the D-Link DPH-50U Skype USB Phone Adaptor.

There’s also a whole load of Skype kit on the site that was previously not available, and so Skypegear’s going to take the opportunity over the next few weeks to review some of the kit which (through, I guess, nothing less than sheer and blind negligence), we’ve managed to miss over the last few months.

US company Digital River are behind the new site, and will also be handling the logistics behind the scenes. For more details, just visit the store here.

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?" »

Happy Christmas!

Skypegear’s taking a little break until the New Year. And it sounds like we’re going to need it - with CES just round the corner, you can bet that there will be a flurry of announcements from Skype’s hardware partners to keep us busy over January and beyond…

So please enjoy the holidays, and if you do get a Skype phone under the tree, why not send us a picture?? The best picture will get another Skype phone so you can give one to your brother/sister/best friend/boss so that they are always just a Skype call away. Just send the photos over to skypegear@skype.com.

In the meantime, check out the Weemee site, where you can make yourself a lovely “virtual you” for all your Skype buddies, decked out in as much Christmas clobber as you fancy.

All the best, and here’s to 2007!

Now there have been suggestions in the past that US President and most powerful man on the planet George W Bush isn’t a huge telephone user, but hopefully that’s about to change.

During the usual exchanging of gifts during Bush’s visit to Estonia yesterday, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip presented the US Commander-in-chief with the latest in telephonic chic: the Philips VOIP841 Skype/DECT phone.

Continue reading "George Bush gets a Skype phone from the Estonian PM" »

I mentioned earlier that there had been sitings of a Skype bus travelling the length and breadth of Spain, and we now have a positive sighting, in the Millionaire’s paradise of Marbella.

Continue reading "All aboard the Skype bus..." »

FON invited Skype along to share their stand at SIMO last week, providing a platform for Skype to showcase a few of the latest Skype-certified phones to the great and the good attending the show in Madrid.

Continue reading "Skype and FON: El amor verdadero..." »

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?" »

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..." »

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" »

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!" »