The national and international media couldn't get enough of Elizabeth Edwards' appearance via Skype this week at the Personal Democracy Conference in New York.

Edwards couldn't fly to the conference because of bad weather. So she reached out via a Skype video call. And her husband John, the former presidential candidate, joined in an apparently unplanned appearance.

Egan Orion in UK's Inquirer
observed that the impromptu Skype conference was a media breakthrough:

"What strikes us as revolutionary is that Elizabeth and John Edwards conducted this video interview impromptu and online over Skype, not from a television studio. Eat your hearts out, US television networks."

K.C. Jones in Information Week observed:

"The glimpse into the Edwards' lives and their home turned out to be a crowd pleaser, drawing applause and laughter when it resulted in the brief impromptu exchange with John Edwards during the last five minutes of the conference.

"Once he regained his bearings, he told the crowd that technology has 'completely changed the nature of the race already.' He should know. He competed for the Democratic nomination before dropping out of the primary in January.

"As a member of the audience, I found it a lot more interesting to see Elizabeth Edwards in her own surroundings -- on a yellow couch with a pink rose print, in front of oak furniture, pottery, and a grandfather clock in the background -- than it would have been to see one more speaker behind a podium and under a spotlight. And, without the technology behind Skype, I doubt I ever would have seen anyone nominated for vice president come home from work without the self-consciousness and self-editing that usually comes from knowing you're on camera."

Also among those reporting the Edwards-Skype news and more were The Economist, ABC's Good Morning America, Wired and e.politics.