December 2006

Skype introduced public chats in November, and it didn't take long for my colleague Jaanus to set up a Skype blog chat. To get involved, click the 'join now' link in the box at the top-right of Jaanus's Share Skype blog.

Once you've got the taste for this public chatting wheeze, why not create a chat of your own? Public chats are basically Skype text chats that anyone can create, host and join, and they’re not much different from private text chats, except that anyone can join without being “added”.
You can choose for the chat to be as open or private as you like.

Here's a top money-saving tip: set up your own New Year's Eve public chat, post a link to it in an email, whizz it off to friends, loved ones and distant relatives, and stage an en-masse babble with all your favourite people this Sunday night. It's much cheaper than pretty much anything else you can do on 31 December (the most overpriced night of the year), and it's a far more original way to see in 2007 than freezing your pants off in the town square and waking up the next morning with a sore head.

Happy New Year, Skypers!

The sultans of style tell me that chintzy flock is right back in fashion these days, but we're not talking about that kind of wallpaper. We're talking about the kind that makes the background of your computer screen (or chosen item of gadgetry) look snazz.

To highlight the new wallpaper feature of the new v3.0 software, the Share Skype blog is currently running a competition to design a Skype wallpaper. The contest runs until 13 January, and three winners will each receive a USB Internet Mini Phone from Skype's pals at US Robotics.

To enter, email your original wallpaper design (png or jpeg format) to this address along with your name, email address and Skype Name. Entries must be received by 11.59pm on 13 Jan, and winners will be published on the Share blog.

Skype's Gear blog has loads of details and lots of lovely photos of the two new phones in the Linksys iPhone range – their first Skype phones that don’t need PCs to run.

Both the CIT400 and the WIP 320 are priced at under $200. Here's hoping that they'll make it across the Atlantic sooner rather than later.

So here it is, that odd hinterland between Christmas and new year, and for many of us it's back to business as usual. Hopefully some companies will find things easier on the communication front, thanks to the business tweaks Skype has added to the latest version of its software.

As well as the recently-announced enhancements to the Skype for Business Control Panel,
Skype 3.0 now includes upgraded features enabling system administrators to configure and control the software across their company. These functions are expected to evolve into a set of tools that can be switched on or off and fine-tuned according to the needs of the organisation.

Continue reading "Skype boosts its business tools" »

The Skype Stories forum contains some real gems of Skype-based creativity, and it's well worth a look when you're after innovative ways to stay in touch with loved ones... or loved football teams.

A Californian forumite named 'NDgamefan' shares his smart tip for catching the latest American Football games while you're 7,000 miles away in Paris. Forget pay-per-view web TV, forget shiny new internet broadcasting portals with "Venice" in their names – all NDgamefan did was get his folks to stick a webcam in front of the telly at home in LA.

Thanks to the magic of Skype Video, NDgamefan caught the last 10 minutes of this week's Notre Dame-USC game in LA without paying a penny. He was thoroughly impressed by the experience. "The video quality was actually decent," he says. "It was great to also hear my family's reactions, as if I was right there with them on the sofa watching the game."

Latest addition to the ever-growing Skype download goodie bag is online advice network BitWine, where knowledgable web users offer useful advice for a small fee.

The BitWine Taskbar Skype Edition is now fully integrated into Skype 3.0, so you can get advice or info from real people in real time. You negotiate the price between you, and pay using PayPal.

BitWine co-founder Alon Cohen said: "By combining the power of Skype’s rich media audio and video communications, we can now open our service beyond dispensing advice. We can now offer a whole set of diverse rich media services, ranging from music lessons to language tutoring."

Paul Amery, Skype director of developer programs, added: "We have been working to enable Skype as a distribution platform for third party add-ons. Applications such as BitWine Extra that use both Skype and PayPal are important in enabling end users to generate revenue while further integrating Skype into their day-to-day work or life."

You don't have to pay upfront for advice from your BitWine sage – you only pay if you feel comfortable with the interaction. If only plumbers and builders worked like that.

Intriguing little story spotted on tech news site Slashdot, which claims that the police are asking members of the public to contact them using Skype if they've got any info about crim'nuls. Apparently, BBC News is even embedding Skype links to Crimestoppers UK.

Makes that phone number on Nick Owen's chest look a bit prehistoric, doesn't it?

All we need now is a Skype link on your actual telly. You know: press red to Skype Crimewatch. Or maybe you could to do your X Factor or Big Brother audition via Skype Video, so you can avoid queueing all night in the cold? The possibilities, my Skype-loving telly addict friends, are limitless.

Skype is set to announce a new set of prices for SkypeOut – but you'll have to wait until 18 January for the full details. First, you'll have to survive a helpless Cadbury's Celebrations binge, torture-by-in-laws and the whatever else the Christmas assault course can throw at you.

The new pricing strategy is intended to simplify the not-quite-free side of Skyping, and will probably look a bit like the subscription model introduced last month for SkypeOut users in the US and Canada. Watch this space in just under a month's time for full info.

Gorgeous shiny new homepage at Skype.com today, complete with button for downloading the new version 3.0 for Windows.

The first beta of The Venice Project, the new web TV offering from Skype founders Janus and Niklas, is now fully cooked – and the first invitations are being dispatched to people who expressed an interest by signing up online.

"We had a bit of a last-minute frenzy to get the user interface shipshape," admits chief exec Fredrik de Wahl on the project's blog, "but all is well now." Among the latest features added to the beta are a "seek" tool for finding and browsing video content (um, what's wrong with "search"?), along with tweaks to the installer and user interface.

Being a dedicated follower of Skype and its founders, I signed up for info yonks ago, so I should be getting a beta invitation soon. Can't wait to find out Janus and Niklas are as good at putting TV on the net as they are at cutting my phone bill. We shall see...

Next time you're tempted to describe your gorgeous body and corking CV to your new-found Skype flirt-pal, make sure that you're honest. Because, if your correspondent has downloaded the KishKish Lie Detector, honesty is definitely the best policy.

KishKish, an upcoming premium addition to the Skype add-on family, reads your Skype caller's stress levels by analysing audio streams in real-time. Theory has it that if their stress levels are high, they're telling porkies. (High stress levels could, of course, also mean that they're just a bit nervous or dying to go to the loo, but let's ignore that for now.)

"This is a really excellent application, and the kind of thing we want to see more of," said Paul Amery, Skype's developer director. Paul has a point, but personally I'm a little upset that 'bradnewyork' may soon discover that I haven't, in fact, got Angelina Jolie's lips, a pad in Tuscany and a PhD in thermonuclear physics.

What does the word 'Extras' mean to you? A second helping of sherry trifle? "Not as good as The Office"?

Today, boys and girls, 'extras' takes on a whole new meaning: it's one of the reasons why you should go to Skype's homepage as soon as you've finished reading this post and download Skype 3.0, the latest version of your favourite free software.

Whichever of Skype's worker bees chose the name 'extras' is a good, straightforward thinker. Extras are, quite simply, extra stuff included in the download that'll make your Skype experience even more enjoyable.

To find them, click the 'Do More' link when you're signed into Skype 3.0 and browse the menu of games, sharing features, call recording and oodles more. Once you've had a bit of a play, visit the Extras Gallery to download some extra extras and rate them for extra-tasticness. My Skype-certified favourites include Skylook, which lets you record Skype calls and get SMS alerts and Outlook reminders, and CrazyTalk, which gives you a swish animated avatar.

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree. I sent it back and told him to try again. A partridge would poop all over the carpet, and I can get really good pears from that little shop on Wood Street E17.

On the 13th day of Christmas*, my true love sent to me a brand new version of Skype, and I was well chuffed.

(Technically it's the 13th day of December, not the 13th day of Christmas – but who's counting?)

Continue reading "Skype hits the big 3.0" »

It's high time for an update on 3's Skypetasmogoric X-Series service, which I was lucky enough to try out in the flesh at the launch last month.

After the launch, and before any X-Series phones actually went on sale, techie types up and down the land wondered how much it would cost. Because no matter how swish and multi-talented these gizmos are, if they cost too much, no-one's going to bother.

In the event, a whole load of people are likely to bother. Gird your loins for a Tracy Island-sized stampede, folks: at a mere fiver a month plus £20 for the minimum voice and text package, this baby's going to fly off the shelves.

Continue reading "X-Series phones set to fly" »

There's a lot to love about India: onion bhajis, Bollywood dancing, the word "jodhpurs". I could go on, but I won't because it has come to my attention that the Indian government, in its infinite lack of wisdom, is proposing to ban Skype.

The authorities, which have already tried to ban blogs, claim they're losing money due to the increasing popularity of Skype, Yahoo IM and other communication services that don't pay the usual 12% tax and 6% fees paid by Indian telcos. Tha Man's answer to this potential loss of revenue is to ban the lot of 'em, which seems somewhat harsh.

Much more of this and I may have to start boycotting my bhajis.

If saving cash on phone calls is my favourite way to pass the time, sharing my photos online runs it a very close second. Turns out that I can combine the two, so I've gone a bit daft with excitement.

The Photo Voice feature from Kodak EasyShare Gallery, the free snap-sharing website formerly known as Ofoto, lets you create a slideshow and share it during a Skype phone call.

To get started, download the free application, open Skype and select pictures from your computer or your EasyShare Gallery account. Then pick a Skype buddy, dazzle them with your slideshow – and chat about the pics as you go.

Sales of Skype-compatible WiFi mobiles are flying off US shelves in a Buzz Lightyear-style Yuletide frenzy, according to American website Computer World. Could this be the shape of Christmassy things to come in the UK?

Two of the fastest-selling Skype-certified phones in the US are the WSKP100 from SMC and the catchily-named Belkin F1PP000GN-SK. Here in the UK, hot Skype gadgets like the DUALphone 3088 and Skype's £99 WiFi phone package could soon be giving Wiis and novelty cufflinks a run for their money in the Popular Pressie charts.

Never underestimate the power of eBay to drive up those bids. Western civilisation may be in a Christmas shopping frenzy (see here and here for evidence), but that doesn't stop us sparing a few extra quid – 987 dollars and 55 cents of it, to be precise – on the chance to spend 10 minutes talking turkey (and stuffing, and maybe the odd brussels sprout) via Skype Video with American telly chef, Emeril Lagasse.

Emeril who, you say? Yes, well, he's not exactly imprinted himself on the British public consciousness in the manner of your Jamie Olivers or your Gordon effing Ramsays. But he's very big in Tucson, honest. And judging by his Wikipedia entry he's a bit of a card, with a CV including Crest toothpaste ads "in which he yells his trademark catchphrase, 'BAM!!!'", and a 1993 cookery programme called How to Boil Water.

The winning eBay bidder, 'mooresnatalie', has coughed up nearly a grand in American money (500 quid in home-grown wonga) for the privilege of Skype-chatting with the big man on 7 December.

Memo to Skype HQ: How about organising something similar with our lady of Cranberry, Delia Smith? Or that nice Mr James Martin off Strictly Come Dancing (2005 vintage)? Or Nigella for the lads, p'raps?

Hey! That's me! Nip over to Skype's homepage today and you'll see a shiny new link straight to this blog.

What's that...? You followed that very link to get here? Well, I'd better stop babbling and let you carry on reading, hadn't I? Have fun, my new friend...

Though I'd indulge in some Saturday blogging to remind y'all of the special expat offer on this weekend.

If you're in Spain (in which case, why are you reading this instead of barbecuing sausages and gargling sangria?), you can call anyone on a UK landline for free today and tomorrow.

To make the call, click the dial tab within Skype and choose United Kingdom from the drop-down list. Type or dial the phone number from the dialpad, click the big green call button, yak away for as long as you like, and then go away and count the cash you've saved. And spend it on more sangria. Bottoms up!

It's dark, it's cold, and you've got at least three more months of this dismal winter nonsense to look forward to – but Skype's here to make your life warmer with its Talk for Britain free-calls-for-Skype-Credit special offer, which runs until the end of this month.

Just buy some Skype Credit (starting at £10), and you'll get free calls to UK landlines for the next six months. The only condition is that you need to be phoning from within the UK, which, given that you're reading this on the UK blog, you probably are.

You can claim your free calls until 31 December, and your six months of free calls start from whenever you activate them.