When I asked you to get in touch with your true stories about how Skype has changed your life, I hadn’t reckoned on quite such an enthusiastic response. That’ll teach me to be a crusty old British cynic.

One of the first stories I received was one of the most striking. Dr Doug Yu (above left) is a tropical ecologist, currently working with a team of researchers in darkest Peru – though without Skype, he’d have had to pack up and return home to Norwich long ago.

Doug, whose work currently focuses on a group of native Americans called the Matsigenka, originally used GILAT satellite telephones to communicate with colleagues and students back in the UK. But after six months, the system started rejecting calls from the UK, then from the US, and finally from Brazil. About as useful as a marshmallow umbrella.

Then Doug remembered Skype. “So we now use SkypeOut to call the villages,” he told me. “It allows us to arrange logistics, consult with each other during fieldwork and to keep in touch with our Matsigenka friends. These are people who were only contacted for the first time 30 years ago, and they still lead a very traditional lifestyle.”

Skype now allows Doug and the team to maintain a “virtual lab group,” working remotely with each other wherever they are in the world: mainly Brazil, Germany, Peru and China. “We use Web 2.0 services like Basecamp to manage our documents, but Skype is what we use to have group discussions and otherwise chat about things without worrying about the cost. I communicate with my colleagues in the department less than I do with my colleagues around the world!”

And Mac-lover Doug, who’s eagerly awaiting the new video version of Skype for Mac, says: “It’s also nice to watch my nephew grow up.”

* Has Skype changed your life? Drop me an email, or Skype me: janehoskyn36.