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March 2009

Howard Wolinsky

Skype for iPhone: I've got launch

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 31, 2009 in Events, In the news.

I downloaded the Skype for iPhone over my home WiFi network and headed over to the Apple Store and downloaded Skype for iPhone onto my iPod touch. Easy as pie.

My address book with all my phone numbers quickly populated my touch. I could see my credits and everything else in my Skype account.

I sent out a chat. Easy breezy.

The soft touch pad dialer looked great. I called my cell phone.

Only one problem. My touch is an early edition. No Mike.

Headed over to the Apple Store to buy one. $35.06 with shipping and tax.

More to come.

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Howard Wolinsky

Skype now available for Apple iPhone/touch

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 27, 2009 in .

Skype and Apple joined together Tuesday, making Skype for iPhone available for free downloads onto your iPhone or touch at the Apple Store.

iPhone and touch users will have Skype at their fingertips in WiFi zones, a user interface integrating your Address Book and low-cost or free calling around the world.


Kurt Thywissen, lead engineer on the Skype for iPhone project, explains all in the video above.

Skype for iPhone delivers a true Skype experience: make free Skype-to-Skype calls and low cost calls to landlines and mobile phones - and participate in conference calls - from any WiFi zone. You can IM to your heart's content, and participate in group chats too, whenever you have network connectivity, whether it's WiFi, 3G, EDGE or GPRS.


Skype for iPhone also integrates with the Camera Roll and your photo albums so you can select your favorite profile picture.


Development of Skype for iPhone continues so your thoughts and ideas can help improve it. Leave a comment below, or head to the iPhone area of the Skype Community to let Skype know what you think.

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Howard Wolinsky

Skype supporting WWF's Earth Hour on Saturday March 28 at 8.30pm

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 27, 2009 in Events, In the news.

Last year, 50 million people worldwide switched off their home and office lights for an hour. Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Colosseum in Rome, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all went dark.

With the darkness moving around the globe, people were trying to demonstrate to world leaders their support for tackling climate change.

This Saturday, at 8:30 PM local time, the event, sponsored by WWF, will take place again.

Peter Parkes reports on the main Skype blog: "This year, WWF has an even more ambitious target. To help them reach it, join Skype and vote earth. The result of the vote will be presented to the United Nations Climate Change Conference http://unfccc.int/2860.php in Copenhagen later this year, and WWF are hoping to get 1 billion votes for Earth."


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Howard Wolinsky

Dallas News blogger: Skype blows away the competition

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 24, 2009 in In the news.

Dallas News blogger Andrew Smith picked up on the TeleGeorgraphy survey showing howSkype now leads the world in cross-border voice calls.

He provides some analysis on Skype:

"Skype has really improved audio quality over the past couple years. When I first started using it, people asked me if I was using a tin can rather than a telephone. That doesn't happen anymore, particularly since the release of version 4.0. The sound is good on all calls and the sound on a Skype-to-Skype call is great -- far better than on a traditional landline telephone.

"And all the other features -- video, call recording, screen sharing, etc. -- blow standard phones away."

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Howard Wolinsky

With new Skype Mobile Beta for Windows, send files and SMS on the go

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 24, 2009 in In the news.

Skype has made Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows Mobile available for downloads.

On the main Skype blog, Peter Parkes reports on the new mobile version:

"It includes two great new features: SMS and file transfer. With 3.0 Beta, you can send text messages from your phone at Skype's low rates, and send and receive files with your Skype contacts around the world ."

He notes: "You can send and receive documents on the move. Need to do an impromptu presentation to a potential client? Have a colleague send that 50Mb PowerPoint document straight from the office. Made some edits and want to back it up? Send it back again."

File transfers are secure, even across unsecured WiFi networks.

When you're abroad or at home and in a WiFi zone, the SMS feature helps you avoid mobile roaming charges - you pay only Skype's low SMS rates to send messages. Roaming charges may apply if you're connecting to Skype using a 3G network, so check with your operator before doing so.

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Howard Wolinsky

Skype now leader in cross-border voice calling

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 24, 2009 in In the news.

Over the past five years, Skype has become the largest provider of cross-border voice communications, according to a new survey.

TeleGeography, which researches statistics and analysis for the international long distance market, reports:

"While international telephone traffic continues to increase at a modest pace, Skype's international traffic has soared. TeleGeography estimates that Skype's cross-border traffic grew approximately 41 percent in 2008, to 33 billion minutes--equivalent to 8 percent of combined international telephone + Skype traffic."

The firm also noted: "Not all of Skype's traffic is a net loss for international carriers. Skype's paid 'Skype Out' 'service, which lets users make calls to standard telephones, generated 8.4 billion minutes of calls in 2008. Skype relies on wholesale carriers, such as iBasis and Level 3, to connect this traffic to the telephone network."

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Howard Wolinsky

ABC's Good Morning America looking to interview 'Skype savvy' people

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 21, 2009 in In the news.

ABC's Good Morning America is looking for "Skype savvy" individuals and families for interviews.

GMA's business correspondent Bianna Golodryga talked via Skype to a Florida couple that had used a government website to change their mortgage.

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Now, GMA is building a database of people willing to be interviewed on. The morning show also is looking for questions to be asked via Skype.

Why not give GMA a shout out?


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Howard Wolinsky

Skype video news: Oprah invites Ellen to join her as 'covergirl' on O magazine

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 21, 2009 in In the news.

The queens of daytime TV met on Friday. On Skype. Where else?

Ellen Degeneres has been campaigning to appear on the cover of Oprah Winfrey's O magazine. Ellen had herself Photoshopped onto O covers.

On Friday, Oprah, who has used Skype on her show over the past year, made a surprise visit to Ellen's show via Skype and invited Ellen, who has been the face of CoverGirl cosmetics, to be a covergirl on O magazine's cover.

Oprah had appeared solo on the cover until the April 2009 issue which she shares with First Lady Michele Obama, Huffington Post reports.

"When I first heard about this," said Oprah. "I thought it was such a fantastic idea. I was only sorry that I did not think of it myself. So I am calling to officially invite you on the cover of O."

"Are you serious?!" Ellen said before jumping up to run and kiss the camera. "I gotta go do a photo shoot. When do we do it? What happens?"

"I can't believe you are serious about this, I am freaking out right now!" Ellen said

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Howard Wolinsky

Skype video helps TV journos get their scoops

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 20, 2009 in In the news.


Janie Porter, a news anchor and reporter with 10 Connects in Tampa Bay, Fla., is a pioneer in backpack journalism.

Traditionally, when TV stations show "live shots," they have a reporter in the field, but they also may need a cameraman and a satellite truck driver. It can be a big, unwieldy and expensive operation.

But Janie can do it all on her own with a camera, a couple laptops and Skype.

Skype is helping change TV journalism. The first shots from the plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y. earlier this year, were taken with Skype.

Janie said that the simple set-up enables reporters to start reporting back and even to get in closer quicker than the traditional approach.

Al Tompkins, of the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., himself a former TV newsman, said: "This type of reporting marks a new day. It is more than backpack journalism or one-woman-band reporting; it is soup to nuts, live reporting without a live truck or a signal that looks like a Max Headroom video. Obviously, it is also a potential cost-saving way to use fewer people and to send in live reports without using expensive trucks.

TV reporting with Skype is catching on big time.

Janie said 10 Connects has been experimenting with the technology, putting Skype-enabled cameras into news vehicles so they can broadcast live scenes, such as traffic congestion, without needing a crew.

She said her station also has given Skype video set-ups to some sources who are interviewed regularly. She said a strawberry farmer can report in when the crop is affected by a freeze--without having to send a reporter to the farm, which an hour away.

TV news is fast paced to begin with. Skype helps stations get their scoops on the air even faster.

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Howard Wolinsky

To Russia with love from Skype

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 19, 2009 in General, News, Events, Milestones.

Skype has just launched its website in Russian.

Check it out.

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Howard Wolinsky

Painting by Skype: an artist shares his dream to paint remotely via video

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 18, 2009 in In the news.

Ed Marion, an attorney and artist, has picked up on the idea of using Skype to paint pioneered by Toronto's Barbara Muir, the portrait artist turned Skype sketcher.

Marion told me recently: "I'm pretty dedicated to this idea of painting people's portraits from all over the world, using Skype. I recently set up a website for the project." It's www.theportraitpaintingproject.com

He noted: Since I came up with the idea, I researched the web and saw that Barbara Muir was already sketching with Skype and I've seen some of the interviews that you did with her. I kind of laughed to myself when you asked her during one of them if she knew of any other artists doing this and she pretty sagely predicted that others would follow. I have no illusions that there won't be boatloads of artists following me, but it's something that really fits in with my lifestyle.

"The beautiful thing for me about using Skype is that it opens my remote rural art studio to the world and I can replicate the one-on-one sessions of painting people's portraits, which is what motivated me to change careers from law to art in the first place. It also gives people a chance to meet with an artist, spend time getting their portrait painted, and have this unique experience from wherever they are in the world."

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Howard Wolinsky

Mobile owners want to be left to their own devices, Skype-sponsored survey

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 18, 2009 in In the news.

Two-thirds of mobile phone users feel they don't have as much control over their devices as they would want, according to a new Zogby survey of 3,000 people in the US, UK, Japan and Spain.

Scott Durchslag, chief operating officer at Skype, which sponsored the survey, noted on the main blog that the public's lack of control is reflected in the finding that 70 percent of mobile users have never downloaded an application.

He noted: "However, the same people express a strong desire to be able to choose mobile applications for themselves, rather than have their mobile networks decide for them what applications they can use. The survey results also indicate that people will pay more for a mobile device that will give them the freedom to install the software they want."

Consumers in Spain show what might happen if restrictions were removed on cell phones as has been proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and endorsed by Skype.

In Spain, more than half of the survey respondents (53%) felt they had as much or more control over their mobile devices than they have over their computers, and nearly half (47%) see their mobile devices as extensions of their computers

Durchshlag noted: "Given these attitudes, it isn't surprising that nearly half of Spanish mobile users (48%) have downloaded applications to their devices - a much larger percentage than in the other countries we surveyed. Moreover, a much larger percentage of Spain's mobile users - 50% - are willing to pay more for a mobile device that gives them the freedom to install what they want.

"This is a clear signal to everyone in the communications industry - mobile networks, device manufacturers, and software companies like Skype - to work together to deliver what mobile users like you want: the freedom to install what you want, where you want it. For us, that means the freedom to give you Skype everywhere."

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Howard Wolinsky

'Slumdog Millionaire' inspiration uses Skype to help kids in India learn

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 16, 2009 in In the news.

Like millions of us, Prof. Sugata Mitra, a technology education professor at Newcastle University in the UK, saw and was inspired by the Academy Award-winning movie, "Slumdog Millionaire."


What he didn't know was his work on teaching children in Indian slums was what inspired Vikas Swarup, an Indian diplomat, to write the book "Q&A," which became the movie.

Swarup, Indian Deputy High Commissioner in South Africa, told the BBC that Mitra's work had moved him to write his book. And Mitra's students passed the word along.

Mitra said he was thrilled to have played a part.

He is still reaching out to the kids in the slums in India--now using Skype.

"I'm a big Skype fan," he stated.

He currently is working with retirees, primarily teachers, who read fairytales over Skype to poor children in a school in Hyderabad in Southern India.



He said his research has shown that a projected image on the wall via Skype is more conducive to learning than a small window on a computer screen. "Size does matter," he said.


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He said the children consider their Indian accents a handicap and want to learn an accent that eventually will help them find work. They asked to hear fairytales from an elderly British lady.

Skype made that possible in a school in the Indian slums.

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Mitra said Americans are welcome to join the project, noting that a US accent could help the children eventually find work in an outsourcing center serving the American market.

Interested in volunteering? Contact Prof. Mitra at sugata.mitra@newcastle.ac.uk


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Howard Wolinsky

Grannies to read fairytales to 'slumdog' kids via Skype

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 15, 2009 in In the news.


Here's another fairytale story from Mumbai involving Skype.

AR Rahman, composer of music from "Slumdog Millionaire," used Skype to write an English language version of his Academy Award-winning song, "Jai Ho" (Hindi for "Be Victorious")

Now a professor, whose work inspired the movie, is looking for grannies to tell fairytales to the kids in the Mumbai slums over Skype. The idea is to help the children learn English and to improve their pronunciation.

The Sun in the UK headlined this as "Slumdog Prof Has Gran Idea."

Sugata Mitra, an educational tech prof at Newcastle University, wants to bring teachers into remote schools in India using Skype.

He wants British grannies to use Skype to read fairytales to kids in the Indian slums.

Prof. Mitra said: "When I last visited India, I asked the children what they would like to use Skype for most, and surprisingly they said they wanted British grandmothers to read them fairy tales. They even worked out that between them they could afford to pay £1 a week out of their own money."

The Sun said he has already recruited a British woman to spend a few hours a week reading to the children and set up webcams so that a life-size image of the storyteller is projected on to a wall in India.

Mitra has recruited 100 women as storytellers, but he wants to find more. He can be contacted at sugata.mitra@newcastle.ac.uk

The phrase "carrying coal to Newcastle" means a pointless activity since there already was coal there. But Mitra's idea is more like diamonds from Newcastle for the kids from the slums.

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Howard Wolinsky

Skype, iPods, webcams find home with senior women

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 10, 2009 in In the news.

Tech isn't just for geeks.

Fortune magazine said:
"Granny loves Facebook. And Skype. And her iPod."

Forget the stereotypes about senior women fearing technology.

Fortune reports on a new survey by VibrantNation showing that senior women are embracing tech big time.

The survey of 20,000 older women found 63 percent say they own an iPod or other MP3 player. Thirty percent say they use Skype. And 28 percent say they use a mini-camcorder to shoot videos that they upload to the web.

"All of a sudden it seems the world is waking up to what we already know," said Carol Orsborn, a senior strategist for VibrantNation. "Women at midlife and beyond are early adopters [of technology], competitive with their kids, and in many cases, they are beating out their kids."

Skype and webcams help keep the women in touch with their network of friends.

Stephen Reily, CEO of VibrantNation, said, "They're using technology to enhance the lives they already have, rather than filling the gap with gadgets that are a distraction, the way a teen boy might."

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Howard Wolinsky

KXAN-TV gives ABCs on using Skype for live shots

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 8, 2009 in In the news.

A crew from KXAN-TV in Austin, Texas, shows how TV crews can reduce the cables and all the gear that burden them and use Skype to get those live shots quicker, faster, cleaner, cheaper.





WGRZ in Buffalo was able to get the first images of the Contental crash last month by using Skype.

TV thrives on the best images possible. But a single journo equipped with this sort of set up can get the first live shots on Skype. A crew with the pricey gear and a satellite truck can show up later.

No doubt freelancers and "citzien journalists" are or will be taking advantage of these techniques to scoop the pros.

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Howard Wolinsky

Skype helping more TV stations get live shots

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 7, 2009 in In the news.

Skype helped Buffalo NBC affiliate, WGRZ-TV, get the first images from the Contintental Airlines commuter plane crash last month.


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"The first reporters close enough to see the smoke and fire of the crash behind police barricades used a simple webcam and a laptop equipped with a cellular modem to send those images," news director Jeff Woodard told Broadcasting & Cable's David Carr.

Carr said: "Woodard said that although the picture may have been jittery, it allowed his station to get the first live images of the crash scene on the air, while competitors."

This is just one example of how Skype increasingly is helping TV reporters get their stories.

Over at WTSO, the Tampa Bay CBS affiliate, Eric Burks, news operations manager, said his station plans to expand Skype usage and ensure every one of his reporters has Skype and "'a garden variety webcam' and knows how to use it, in a pinch, to broadcast live from a breaking news scene - at least until the station can get better equipment to that location."

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Howard Wolinsky

Lowdown from Down Under on Skype Video

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 6, 2009 in In the news.

More than one in four Skype calls involve video.

Anne Mirtschin, a teacher at Hawkesdale P12 College, in country western Victoria, Australia, has made Skype video an important part of teaching her "technokids."

In this Skype video, she tells how her students have:

--Enjoyed show-and-tell with students in South Korea. One of her studnets showed off a blue-tongued lizard, while the kids in Korea pointed the camera outdoors to show snow.

--Saw Russian children doing dances in costume.

--Learned about Halloween and teenage life from students in New England. The Americans talked about pumpkins, while the kids from Oz shared their favorite: Vegemite.


She explains why she likes Skype and alsoshares pointers some pointers on doing Skype Video.

With so many callers now using video, her tips are worth keeping in mind. Though Mirtschin focuses on the classroom, her approach applies at home or in business offices:

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--Speaking to a web camera requires use of eye contact, stillness, or little movement and voice inflexions or animated voices (avoid all montotones). The voice needs to take the place of body language.

--Use of microphone is critical as the audio must be carried to the distant classroom(s).
Student confidence is crucial - students who are not confident will not be effective. (I have found it is often my quietest students and those who are not so competent in literacy and writing skills who will excel and perform well in the virtual classroom)

--Appropriate placement of any object being displayed needs to be carefully considered for maximum effect e.g, when demonstrating a jar of vegemite - the angles need to be checked for maximum effectiveness.

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--Keep any movement of objects or people to an absolute minimum, or else there is too much blurring.

--Use the chat window feverishly for feedback, questions and variety of delivery. If dealing with a country that does not speak English as their first language, or if the sound quality is not so good, the chat is great to type in the key phrases, to ensure they understand what is said.

--Video should be used to keep the class interested and give some concept of a third party(ies).

--Diction is another crucial element in successful use. You need clear, slow voices and short, simple sentences.

--Need to be able to multi-task e.g. speak, read chat, position camera, microphone, control and manage existing class and virtual class etc.


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Howard Wolinsky

'Helicopter' parent hovers with an assist from Skype

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 6, 2009 in In the news.

Carol Band, a humor columnist for Dominion Parenting Media, shares her experience with Skype in a letter in the Boston Globe to a March 3 article about hovering "helicopter" parents.

Band said: "It's no coincidence that the emergence of the helicopter parent has coincided with cellphones, Skype, IM capabilities, and text messaging. The new technologies that working parents use to check up on their kids after school are the same instant means of communication that allow them to monitor their child's mood, minute by minute, long after they leave the nest."

She tells of speaking on Skype on a daily basis with a 20-year-old daughter who is spending a semester in Africa.

Band said: "I think we talk more now that she is on another continent than when she is across the hallway in her bedroom. When she comes home in June, the only question I'll have is 'How was the flight?'"

She makes the observation: "Daily text messaging is a far cry from when the girls in my dorm would line up at the pay phone in the hallway to place the obligatory Sunday night, long-distance call home."

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Howard Wolinsky

Looking back on a year of blogging on Skype: from Bali to Bollywood and beyond

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 4, 2009 in In the news.

One year ago, March 4, 2008, I became the US blogger for Skype. So it seemed time for a look back on the more than 150 blog entries.

Skype has extended my world and I hope yours, too. I have interviewed people via Skype in Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Lithuania, Peru, Portugal, South Africa and Turkey. And of course the USA.

I touched base with six continents using Skype. And my sources tell me that Skype could be available in Antarctica in the next year or two. (One scientist said: "They're really sensitive to bandwidth usage down there, but there's a big movement right now trying to get Skype down there.")

I have met travelers, including Rebecca Campbell, the Skype Nomad, who went round the world in 33 days to show mobile Skype is.

I spoke via Skype video wth Zac Sunderland, the 17-year-old Californian, who is sailing around the world by himself in a yacht. We spoke while he was in South Africa.

Silvia Tolisano is showing her classroom the world through the eyes of students around the world with an assist from Skype video.

I followed Barack Obama's tech-savvy campaign through a Skype telescope as Roger Hu and his crew used Skype in Silicon Valley to get out the Obama vote in primaries and election day to David Bill's students from the Worcester Academy covering Obama's inauguration in January.

Skype went airborne with the BBC and went into San Francisco Bay with blind sailor Ed Gallagher, who was featured in a documentary and on NBC's TODAY Show.

My coverage stretched from Bali to Bollywood.

I spoke with Bali-based astrolger Dr. Deepak Vidmar, who uses Skype for his consultations around the world; in Bollywood, Slumdog Millionaire composer AR Rahman used Skype to do an English version of the song Jai Ho (Hindi for "Be Victorious") with the Pussycat Dolls.

There was Canadian portrait artist Barabra Muir who uses Skype to do sketches. I spoke with the wife of an American playing basketball in a Turkish league. And I interviewed an Afghan woman, who withheld her full name for fear of being killed for speaking to me.

I followed celebrities using Skype to reach audiences and to keep movie production on track, including Olivia Newton John and Paris Hilton.

Oprah Winfrey incorporated Skype into her world online and on TV as did Jimmy Fallon's new Late Show.

With Skype, our world gets smaller. Maybe this year in Antarctica.

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Howard Wolinsky

Skype introduces new spins on voicemail: text conversion and alerts

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 3, 2009 in In the news.

Skype has upgraded its voicemail with voice-to-text from SpinVox and with voicemail alerts so you won't miss your VMs.

Peter Parkes lays it out on the main blog.

He said: "With voicemail to text, you'll never miss an important voicemail - thanks to our partnership with the ultra-cool SpinVox. SpinVox will convert your voicemail to text, and we'll send it directly to your mobile by SMS for you to read (SpinVox's blogger, James Whatley, is understandably quite excited about this ;)). The SpinVox gnomes currently understand voicemail messages left in English, French, German and Spanish, and, believe me, they're pretty good."

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I tested out SpinVox a couple years ago, and second the motion that it is cool, convenient and accurate. This is a great addition to Skype calling.

There is a 10-minute gap before VMs are converted so you get a chance to listen to the voicemail first.

Text transcription helps when you can't answer the phone and speak to read what a message is about.
How much does it cost to convert a voicemail to text?

Each message converted to text with SpinVox will cost 2.1¢, plus a maximum of 3 SMSs sent at standard rates (depending upon the length of the voicemail message). If the message cannot be converted for instance, if there is a lot of background noise when the message is spoken you'll receive an alert (charged at Skype's standard SMS rate ) plus the 2.1¢ charge. All payments will be made through Skype Credit.

Currently SpinVox can convert voicemail messages left in English, French, German and Spanish.

And then there are voicemail alerts

Parkes noted: "You can now set up email or SMS voicemail alerts to let you know when you have new voicemail messages. Email alerts are free, and SMS alerts are charged at Skype's standard low SMS rates. You can also use Skype To Go to pick up your voicemail on the move.

"To make life easier for you, we've also introduced privacy settings for voicemail alerts, so you can get alerts only from people on your contact list. In addition, you can set a daily limit for the number of alerts."

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Howard Wolinsky

Harvard Square hair stylist offers a plan B with Skype video consults

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 2, 2009 in In the news.


Back in 1995, tech-savvy hair stylist Rick Fogarty used Web-based questionnaires to consult with potential new clients.

Fogarty, who runs the plan B salon in Harvard Square, in Cambridge, Mass., largely serving the Harvard crowd, appears to be a pioneer again.

This time he's using Skype video to consult with clients in a chic new site by Web designer Mike Ciolino at Verve Creative in Boston.

He provides free consults via Skype, which help clients determine if he's the hair cutter for them.

Plan b has been getting some buzz for its new look via SKype.

Fogarty said the Skype video calls provide a preview on whether a chemistry exists between cutter and client.

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Though hair salons typically serve a local clientele, Fogarty said he consulted via Skype with a women in Los Angeles, who came into his salon while she was in Cambridge.


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Howard Wolinsky

Father in Poland gives bride away in Texas via Skype video

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 1, 2009 in In the news.

Skype is playing cupid again.

Hayley Kappes reports in the Killeen, Texas Daily Herald how a Polish woman, Kasia Deorsam, was given away in her wedding to husband Beau by her father back in Poland via Skype video.

Pastor Mike Tracy, of New Beginnings Assembly of God Church, in Harker Heights, hatched the scheme for the Skype wedding.

Kappes reported: "Large TV screens in the church were hooked up to the Internet and a computer connected to Kasia's father in Poland. Her brother and sister-in-law were also watching with Kasia's father.

"Tracy counseled Kasia and Beau before their wedding. What stood out to him during their sessions was how sad Kasia was her father would miss her big day.

"It was the first time the church used computer technology to connect a faraway loved one for a wedding.

"'I felt the Lord guided me in coming to the decision that her father should be there on Skype,' Tracy said."

Deorsam, a college student, is an old hand with Skype. She calls her family in Poland on Skype every day.

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Howard Wolinsky

Watch for techy new Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to feature Twitter, Facebook and Skype, The Biz

By My status Howard Wolinsky on March 1, 2009 in In the news.

There's loads of buzz about the new Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show, which debuts Monday on NBC.

The Biz reports that Fallon's co-producer Gavin Purcell is a geek who plans to apply the latest in tech to late night TV.

Purcell and Fallon have been doing a video blog.

Nicholas Carlson reports that the show will feature Twitter and Facebook.
And also Skype.

Carlson said: "Jimmy already uses Twitter and Facebook. Expect those services to be integrated into the production of the show. Also expect Late Night's writers to be generally aware that of that universe. Gavin says there are already comedy bits about Facebook written for the show.

"Just as we were sitting down to talk to Gavin in his office, another producer stuck his head in. Was 'that thing we did yesterday really Skype?,' he asked. Gavin told him yes, the video-conferencing in yesterday's test show was made possible by Skype technology."

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  • Dallas News blogger: Skype blows away the competition
  • With new Skype Mobile Beta for Windows, send files and SMS on the go
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