December 2008

New York Army National Guard Sgt. Eric Farina is in Afghanistan this Hanukkah.

But his wife Melissa and sons Gavin, 9, Jake , 7, and Ben, 5, plan to join him to light the candles for the Jewish Festival of Lights--via Skype.

Melissa Farina told Long Island, N.Y. Newsday
she plans to celebrate the holiday by lighting the menorah while on Skype Video.

"My plan is to try to make it as normal as possible...," she said. "We'll try to get on Skype with him so he can be watch us lighting the candles and exchanging presents."

Hanukkah is celebrated over eight days by lighting candles and sharing gifts.

Melissa says when Eric returns in January, she plans to light a ninth candle.

Twenty-five families of Hawaii National Guardsmen gathered on Christmas Eve in a meeting room in the state house in Honolulu. And guardsmen gathered in a conference room in Kuwait.

Soldiers and their spouses connected in cyberspace to share holiday wishes--even joining in a rendition of "Silent Night--with what one TV reporter described as the "miracle of technology:--a Skype Video call.

Gov. Linda Lingle gave her personal greetings to the troops.

The Honolulu Advertiser described the scene:

"About two dozen family members of the deployed troops took turns saying hello.
Denise Hidrovo, wearing reindeer antlers, blew a kiss to her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Vladamir Hidrovo, and light-heartedly caught up on some bill-paying with him.

"The soldiers, in turn, brought a few tears with a group rendition of 'Silent Night.'...

"April Ikeda, 24, said she's able to stay in touch with her husband via phone, e-mail and video through Skype, but yesterday's gathering brought a social element to the contact.

"The atmosphere, it was a lot different because you could hear other people around you and it's all emotional," Ikeda said. "Just knowing that you are not the only one going through it was a big deal."

KGMB TV said one mother was surprised by her son:

"'Her son never calls and never writes," said Maj. Gen. Robert Lee. "To see her son because the general says you gotta come here and talk to your mom. That was worth it for her. She said that was the best Christmas present."

Skype has responded to your blogs and Twitters with a tweaked-out new third Beta version launched today.

On the main blog, Mike Bartlett explains the new features.

They include:

--Full History. This enables users to browse and search past conversations by event type (IM, incoming calls, outgoing calls), making it easy to locate the information and find out who was in the conversation and what was said. The History button is at the bottom on the Conversation tab.

--Bandwidth Manager. Skype adapts more quickly to changes in network conditions.

--Abuse Reporting. Abuses are reported when you block a user. This will help address unwanted authorization requests.

There are more changes to the look and feel of Skype.

Please download it and try it out.

Because of the current economic climate, more consumers plan to stay home this holiday season, according to a new survey conducted by YouGov for Skype.

The survey showed that nearly 60 percent of survey respondents are staying home this holiday rather than traveling to visit friends and families, with only 19 percent of respondents planning to travel domestically.

But that doesn't mean they don't want to reach out to friends and family,

Take my neighbor Francis Fullam. He described how he used Skype Video for the first time to speak with relatives in Seattle for Thanksgiving. Now he plans to make Skype a family tradition.

"With so many people cutting back on traveling this year, technologies like Skype, which lets you make free video and voice phone calls over the internet, is an easy and budget-friendly way to feel close to loved ones when you're unable to meet face-to-face," says Daniel Begun, consumer communications expert for Skype. "Skype is a great gift for you and your friends and family this holiday."

You've heard of a wake-up call? How about a Wake Forest call--on Skype?

The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based university began offering virtual interviews to early-decision applicants in October. Thirty students opted for virtual interviews on Skype, which save on the time and expense of a campus visit.

Now virtual interviews are available for other students.

"While a personal visit is the first choice, the virtual interview is an innovative way to use technology to connect individually with those who, because of financial or other reasons, cannot come to campus," said Martha Allman, director of admissions at Wake Forest. "This combines Wake Forest's historic commitment to personal attention with our emphasis on technological innovation."

Kevin Pittard, an associate director of admissions at Wake Forest, has conducted several virtual interviews and says the response has been positive.

One student said Skype not only made his interview possible, but also allowed his mother to make a Video call to her sister in Japan.

We're just here to help.

I bumped into my neighbor Francis Fullam on a commuter train the other day heading into downtown Chicago.

Francis, a market researcher at a major medical center, and I have followed the development of Voice on the Net since the mid-1990s . I can remember when Francis, his then grade-school son Spencer and I made calls out into the ether, reaching people we didn't know, like the guy claiming to be in a hammock in Hawaii. In those days, Voice on the Net was akin to CB radio.

Things have come a long way since then with advent of broadband service and Skype.

Francis told me he used Skype Audio to speak with his son Spencer, now a University of Illinois student, while he was studying in Prague last year.

Over Thanksgiving, Francis expanded his Skype capabilities and spoke with relatives in Seattle using Skype Video.

He said he expects to make weekly Video calls to distant family.

"It will be part of our family tradition," he said.

Toronto portrait artist Barbara Muir is accustomed to having her subjects come to her home studio.

But recently, she has been using Skype Video to speak with and sketch her friends and family in their homes. She said she finds this intimate since she's talking to people where their computers are: home offices, kitchens, bedrooms.

She explains her approach in this video:

She also enjoys the different camera angles and lighting conditions that Skype Video presents to her artist's eye.

Sometimes, she even captures images from Skype or uses the sketches to do paintings, such as this one of her son Christopher, who is an English teacher in South Korea:

Continue reading "Part II: Sketching with Skype" »

Toronto portrait artist Barbara Muir was introduced to Skype in June.

She has put her own spin on art Skype-style.

Here's how happened: Muir found last June that Skype Video is a great way to stay in touch with her son Christopher, who went to Seoul, South Korea to teach English.

At least once a week, she catches up with Christopher "despite the 14-hour difference. My morning is his night."

Christopher has shown his mother his Seoul neighborhood "in the heart of the city" by holding the webcam on his laptop up to his window. "I also can see my son's headboard and pillow when he talks to me," said Muir.

Video is a two-way street: Muir's husband Steven comes in for chats, along with the cats, Timbah and Fiona, and the dog, Zoey.

Muir who blogs at Barbara Paints has added an artistic angle to her Skype. She calls it "Sketching a Skype."

Muir stays sharp by drawing all the time. Once, she was talking with her friend Flora Doehler, of Nova Scotia, a fellow artist, and started a sketch. Friends and family can tell she's up to her Skype sketching when she bows her head down.

"While we were talking, I was sketching. I kept showing her every 60 seconds or so, and she was egging me on saying, let me see, let me seeee!'"

On an actual portrait commission, Muir has 10, two-hour sittings. But her Skype sketches provide "instant gratification - just like Skype.

"This was my wonky view of (Flora, below) in her kitchen, with the shelf to the right. Of course it's got that caught in the headlights feeling that a Skype image has, but it's also got a nice,' Are you really drawing me?' serious look to it. And it was a very fast sketch..."

Muir said the Skype drawing helps fill her blog: "Blogs are hungry for images."

During the Vietnam War, an electrical malfunction blew up the USS Forrestal, an aircraft carrier. More than 130 crew members were killed.

Bob Kohler, a survivor of the explosion, a former Navy commander and the commander of American Legion Post 288 in Coinjock, N.C., shared his experiences with fourth grade students in a Skype Video call.

"We lost 134 brave men," he said. "The airplanes blew up, and there was no place to run from the fires. It was a terrible day, and I remember it very vividly," he told students,
according to a report by Toby Tate in the Daily Advance.

The program, which included a report from another veteran,was planned by Central Elementary teacher Lenora Kaska and Kathy Blades, the technical facilitator for Currituck County Schools.

"I wanted kids to have some idea of what Veterans Day is all about," she told the Advance. "We've been 'Skyping' with other schools in Ohio and in Jarvisburg, and we thought we could do it with vets, too."