April 2008

The beta version of audio-enhanced Skype 3.8 for Windows has been available since April 2.

Now, 3.8 is rolling out in a public release. Go to the download page to get your copy.

3.8 offers reduced background noise, less delay, fewer call drops, and fewer cut-outs. And if you change your headset, headphones or microphone, you won't need to deal with reconfiguring sound settings. 3.8 does the work for you.

Th new version has a technologically minor but user-friendly change: By default, the user’s profile image is hidden in incoming authorization requests. Some people have offensive images, so Skype decided to conceal them behind a veil. You can still see the hidden avatar if you click on it.

The release also includes a number of video-related bug fixes, Skype’s own UPnP implementation and other tweaks.

Even if you’re happy with an older version of Skype, why not do some spring cleaning and upgrade to the latest.

They may still be voting in Pennsylvania.

But that's only for Obama and Clinton.

The results are in at Webware 100, honoring the best web 2.0 sites, services and products. Nearly 2 million people voted.

And Skype won in the communications category for the second year in a row.

Skype has announced a new flat rate calling plan to 34 countries.

Here's where you can call for $9.95 a month:

Continue reading "Skype's unlimited calling to 34 countries" »

Maybe you, like me, have feasted on the unlimited calling via Skype to non-Skype landlines and cell phones of your friends and family.

My landline bill shrunk when I used Skype Pro for unlimited calling.

Now for the first time this smorgasbord of calling is going international: Skype is introducing a new flat rate for unlimited calling to 34 countries.

Continue reading "Skype takes flat rate calling international" »

A Federal Communications Commission hearing Thursday in Silicon Valley focused on these questions: Should the Internet be a closed entity controlled by the likes of the cable companies and phone companies? Or should it be controlled by the people who use it?

Skype has voted for the latter.

And Christopher Libertelli, senior director of government and regulatory affairs Skype, made the case in an op-ed appearing today in the San Jose Mercury News.

Continue reading "Skype speaks out on FCC hearing on 'net neutrality'" »

Music lessons generally are a local business.

But John Tuggle, a guitarist in Athens, Ga., has found a way take his classes to a national and international audience online. Skype has been a major player in Tuggle's business.

Search Engine Land tells Tuggle’s tale of building his business online.

Tuggle launched a blog, podcast,YouTube videos, digital downloads and live Skype lessons.

Gibson Guitars found Tuggle on YouTube and added him as a recommended instructor on their web site. He teaches more than 40 students.

Tuggle told Search Engine Land: “After I put up my first few YouTube videos, I immediately got e-mails for more lessons and Internet lessons. I never planned on doing Skype guitar lessons, but someone e-mailed me and wanted some as soon as possible, and I decided to create a service based around it. I'll be teaching the captain of a US Navy ship here shortly, and I've already taught to Portugal last week!"

Back in March 1958, pioneer rockers Bill Haley and his Comets released their album: Rockin' Around the World. WIth Skype as his roadie, Tuggle has taken his music and lessons 'round the world.

Retinal disease blinded Ed Gallagher, 57, of San Francisco, eight years ago.

But now, with a boost from Skype, Gallagher is “seeing” again—and a lot more than that.

With the help of a laptop equipped with a Wi-Fi card, a link to Skype, a webcam mounted on a helmet, and guidance on his headset from a visually able assistant, he is performing amazing feats:

—Sailing on San Francisco Bay, where he is commodore of BAADS, Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors.

—Walking without a cane or his guide dog Genoa for a first time since he went blind.

—Riding a bike.

—Shooting at a firing range and hitting the target.

Gallagher is the subject of a new documentary, Inner Space, featuring Skype. The movie debuts April 12 at Yuri's Night: The World Space Party, a celebration of art and space.

Continue reading "Blind adventurer uses Skype as his "eyes" in new documentary" »

Skype is for lovers.

Ask Rafael Nunez Sá Freire, 26, an adman in Shanghai, China, and Sara Stultz, 26, a graphics design student in Nice, France.

The couple were married in a civil ceremony in Brazil via a Skype video call.

Sara and Rafael met as teens in Brazil and kept up over the years as they moved around the globe.

As to the ceremony. “We saw everything and we saw parents and godparents sign the certificate. It was very exciting and funny at the same time,” Rafael told FOLHA Online.

The judge had performed weddings via proxy before—but said the Skype wedding was a first.

The couple plans a religious ceremony later in Brazil. Maybe they could have their friends in France and China attend via a Skype video call?

Anyone in the US have a similar tale? Wy not share it?

Scott Davison has details in the Skype for Business blog on new features added to the Skype Business Control Panel.

The Business Control Panel is the easy way to purchase and manage Skype Credit and SkypeIn numbers within your company. And now it also makes it easier for you to help set up the rest of your co-workers on Skype.

Continue reading "TCB (taking care of business) Skype-style" »

Skype has gone Hollywood.

In a new movie, Nim’s Island an 11-year-old Robinson Crusoe stranded on a remote South Pacific island gets a boost from Skype.

Film critic Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer said the lead character, Nim (Abigail Breslin, of Little Miss Sunshine), “flourishes on a remote South Pacific isle with her father, Jack (Gerard Butler), a marine biologist. Lonely? Not Nim, whose menagerie includes a cuddly sea lion, a chatty bearded dragon, and an ESP-gifted pelican. Equipped with satellite dishes, her island has full wireless Internet and Skype capabilities.”

Rickey said during most of the film, “Nim is alone on the island, with her father marooned at sea.” Nim uses technology to stay in touch with the outside world via “agoraphobic adventure novelist Alex Rover (Jodie Foster).”

The critic only gave the movie 2 ½ stars. But maybe Skype still has a shot at a Tinseltown career.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's April 1 speech opposing Skype's petition to open the wireless networks disappointed commentators in the blogosphere.

Here's what they were saying:

—Over at Public Knowledge, Art Brodsky said: “(B)ased on some announcement or two and on a perceived change of attitude, what Martin calls ‘the industry’s embrace of a more open wireless platform,’ he concluded it would be ‘premature to adopt any other requirements across the industry.’

"I, for one, certainly hope the chairman tries to test this attitude by going to his nearest Verizon store and buying an iPhone.

Continue reading "The blogosphere sounds off on FCC Commish Chair Martin's April 1 call against Skype's petition" »

Back in the 1980s, to put a fresh angle on new reproductive technologies, I wrote a front-page story that was headlined: “Will men bear children?”

The story caused quite a stir at the time. But the science was solid. It was only a matter of time before it happened.

It finally did. And on April 3rd—not April 1st—Oprah featured a story about a pregnant couple, Tom and Nancy, from Bend, Ore.

You guessed it: Tom is the mom.

Continue reading "Tom's the mom: More Skype Oprah-style" »

Skype today launched the beta version of Skype 3.8 for Windows.

The new version has an improved and optimized audio library.

This means you’ll get:

— Significantly reduced background noise
— Less delay
— Fewer call drops
— Fewer cut-outs
— Change your headset, headphones or microphone without having to fiddle with settings

Continue reading "Sounds improved: Skype 3.8 for Windows now in beta" »

It was April Fool’s Day in Vegas. But Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin wasn’t fooling around.

Martin told the CTIA Wireless meeting in Las Vegas he would try to shoot down Skype’s application to require wireless operators to permit any device on their networks.

Skype filed a petition with the FCC a year ago to apply the 1968 Carterfone decision to wireless networks. In that decision, the FCC gave telephone customers the right to connect their own gear to the public phone network so long as the customer’s equipment did no harm to the network.

The landmark decision made it possible for devices such as modems to be connected to phone network. Without Carterfone, you wouldn’t be reading these words.

Continue reading "FCC Commish Chair Martin's April 1 message: Leave the market to its own devices" »

Is Skype in the sky a pie-in- the- sky idea?

Not necessarily.

Gogo, a new service being tested this year by American Airlines and Virgin Air, will feature broadband service at 30,000 feet.

At its website, Gogo describes how people will go online on transcontinental flights to check their e-mail, buy stuff, etc.

But nowhere does it mention the possibility of Skype audio or video calls. Huh?

Continue reading "Skype in the sky: Part II" »

A new service is coming that could have you online while you’re airborne.

It’s called Gogo. It’s a Wifi service that initially will make Internet access available this year for flights between the East and West Coasts on American Airlines and Virgin America.

I can see it now: Gogo users will be going online at 30,000 feet, checking e-mail, catching up on the news, playing games and buying shoes.

Gog's website doesn't address the possibilities of Internet calling. But an American Airlines announcement last year indicated Internet calling was on the no-fly list.

Still one can dream of placing Skype audio and video calls and IMing on board.

Note to Gogo: Don't forget those of us in the "flyover." And please consider Skype in the sky. We promise to be considerate of other passengers.