Business

Frank Titus, a Los Angeles based exercise therapist is an expert in kinesiology, or the science of movement, and founder of Titus Motion Therapy.

Over many years he has provided his therapy through an exchange of videos with his patients, who typically suffer from chronic pain.

Patients would record themselves standing in four positions and walking in front of the camera and mail the videos to Frank. Then, he would evaluate their posture and movement patterns and send videos back showing them ways to correct posture to
relieve chronic back pain, rotator cuff injuries, herniated discs, arthritis and a host of other painful conditions.

But because the therapy relied on the mail and people making recordings, eight sessions could easily stretch out over six months.

But now Frank has taken the pain out of the technology.

He is using Skype video calling, which enables his clients to be
evaluated and to receive instructions in real time.

"For the first time, they can ask me questions in real time," he said.

Frank said this has sped up the process, enabling clients to finish the regimen in a matter of eight weeks.

Skype also has made it possible for Frank to expand his horizons. He¹s taking care of patients as far away as New Zealand and Australia.

While harpist, Christine Grace Magnussen, of Bellingham, Wash. was presenting to a large group at a motorcoach conference in Oregon, she announced her wish to continue their connection via video. She was thrilled to come home and discover it could be possible via Skype.

This opened up global possibilities for people to connect with her and this heart-opening instrument. Currently, Christine is connected with harp students in much of the US as well as the UK and Portugal.

"Playing the harp helps inspire peace and well-being in my students. Skype makes it possible to reach people who cannot access local harp teachers, or who have challenges that make it difficult to travel outside their homes," said Christine. "With Skype video calls, I can help anyone worldwide not only learn how to play the harp, but also suggest harps that suit them -- all from the comfort of their own home."

For this interview, she squeezed me in between lessons with students in England and Pennsylvania.

How's the sound quality? Christine said: "The sound quality is very good! I can hear the resonance of the harp and the student's expression. With my headset mic, students can hear up close the strings plucked from my harp. We can both adjust sound to hear well and zoom in for close-ups on finger position. I just finished a Skype lesson with a woman who lugged her desktop computer into an RV park laundry room for her Skype harp lesson. We had a great lesson while interested onlookers folded their laundry."

Christine explains that the sound of the harp helps soothe and relax patients undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments. "I will begin supporting one of my students with Skype harp as she recovers from hip surgery, and another who is a cancer patient. This would not be possible without the Skype technology! My previous work was as a therapeutic harpist in cancer centers, hospitals and hospice, and the music I recorded was in tribute to these patients," she said.

She added that harp playing is therapeutic for the harper as well: "The instrument brings a gentle distraction from the stresses of life, and creates an immediate satisfying sound that is physical and emotionally calming. Harp therapy also extends to those who hear the harper play. I guide those who wish to learn more about the field of harp therapy in specific types of music, mentor them on how to interact with patients, and customize each lesson to each person based on their goals, strengths, challenges, musical background and favorite genres."

Christine noted: "Learning the harp is not about perfecting an instrument, but rather accessing those parts of ourselves that elicit joy, express feeling and release tension. I can see the joy people have on their faces when they hear and touch the harp. It's a very satisfying experience and I enjoy making the personal connection virtually through Skype video calls."

Check out Christine online at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtzkfaeGilY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFcB2On5NLM

You can listen to her music and read more at: www.HarpSpirit.com or www.peacecalm.com

Jonathon Wilson, who works with a team of software developers, tells
LifeHacker how he maintains virtual presence in his office with Skype so
he can work at home.

He told Gina Trapani: "I still have my computer at work, in my office
cube (right in the middle of things). I set up a webcam there along with
speakers. I have second cam at home, and I simply Skype in to my own
cube at work. Skype can be configured to auto-answer, if desired, so my
'cube' Skype simply picks up when I dial in...for hours at a time."

Jonathon says that people walk into his office cube and talk with him.
Since he puts his home monitor onto his office monitor, developers can
see what he's doing and work out issues.

He said: "I can 'overhear' the dev conversations in the cubes around me
(just like when I'm in the office), and even pipe in. My coworkers and
managers are quite used to it and it's become completely natural."

So Skype is virtually the next-best-thing to being there.

Frank Titus, a Los Angeles based exercise therapist is an expert in
kinesiology, or the science of movement, and founder of Titus Motion
Therapy.

Over many years he has provided his therapy through an exchange of
videos with his patients, who typically suffer from chronic pain.

Patients would record themselves standing in four positions and
walking in front of the camera and mail the videos to Frank. Then, he
would evaluate their posture and movement
patterns and send videos back showing them ways to correct posture to
relieve chronic back pain, rotator cuff injuries, herniated discs,
arthritis
and a host of other painful conditions.

But because the therapy relied on the mail and people making
recordings, eight sessions could easily stretch out over six months.

But now Frank has taken the pain out of the technology.

He is using Skype video calling, which enables his clients to be
evaluated and to receive instructions in real time.

"For the first time, they can ask me questions in real time," he said.

Frank said this has sped up the process, enabling clients to finish
the regimen in a matter of eight weeks.

Skype also has made it possible for Frank to expand his horizons. He¹s
taking care of patients as far away as New Zealand and Australia.

Our friends at personal finance blog, WalletPop, did a Skype video interview to demonstrate what not to do in a job interview with Skype users 360JobInterview. They have some great tips on what you should do in an interview as part of the full story (with video captured via a Skype video call).

Are you interviewing for jobs through Skype? We want to hear about it. Send an e-mail to skypestories@KaplowPR.com or post a comment about it below.

Also, when interviewing via Skype, here are a few simple tips to look your best and feel confident when you make a video call.

1. Smile and Focus
One of the easiest rules to remember when interacting with anyone face to face is simply to smile. Also the person with whom you are speaking deserves your full attention so make sure to stay focused and make direct eye contact showing that you are engaged in the conversation.

2. Choose your Colors Wisely
Certain colors like many shades of blue--royal, navy, sky--look great on video while others like reds and hot colors like magenta can be too bright. Patterns with small dots or stripes can be less attractive and more distracting than solids so think about wearing a color that is easy on the eye.

3. Lighting and Background Check
While you are the focus of the video call, remember to think about how your webcam is set up and consider what can be viewed in the background behind you. Are you sitting so that a blank kitchen wall is behind you or is there a cluttered book shelf or large paining behind you? Also, check to be sure you have proper lighting to eliminate shadows as well as avoid harsh lighting conditions that may not look good on screen.

Last year, Mona Kerby, author of "Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch," spoke to second-graders in Sarah Chauncey's library at Grand Elementary School in Rockland County outside New York City.

It was a big hit. But the school didn't have the funds this year to sponsor a return engagement.

So Sarah proposed that Mona visit via Skype video calling. Sarah said it was a hit. She said there is a certain mystery surrounding a visitor from outside the school appearing on the whiteboard in the library.
Students cheered when Mona appeared on the board. They interviewed Mona about the process of writing and publishing a book.
Thus was born an idea: Skype An Author, a Wiki to connect authors with schools and libraries.

In a matter of months, 30 authors have signed up.
"Our goal is to set up a network of authors who would be willing to participate in short Skype conversations with students in classrooms and libraries. This Wiki provides a page for each author who joins the network," said Sarah. "A template has been designed to ensure consistency of content among authors and to keep things simple for authors, teachers, and librarians. The author pages provide procedural and contact information."
Here's an example.

Author visits are arranged via email and/or phone between the author and the teacher and/or librarian. Authors appear free in 10- to 15-minute "meet" sessions. Authors set the rate for 30- to 60-minute visits.

Mona is spreading the word among other authors. And Sarah, who helps authors prepare for Skype, plans to make publishers aware.

Mark D. White, editor of "Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test" from John Wiley & Sons, has held what may have been the first virtual book signings via video calling with Skype.

The book introduces readers to philosophical ideas touched on in the Watchmen graphic novel, which has been on best-seller lists since it came out in the '80s. Watchmen, recently released as a movie, is based in an alternative world in which super-heroes actually lived.

White was pleased that his first stop was at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, where he attended graduate school. His image was projected on a screen in the author event space.

He said he could easily see the fans and they could see him as he called via Skype from the kitchen in his New Jersey home.

White, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, Economics and Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, said he had a good turnout. Pre-signed books were available at the signing.

"We were very happy with the event and the level of discourse between the author and the audience. While the event was in progress, curiosity got the better of people who stopped by to join in," said Michael Link, publisher relations and events manager for Joseph-Beth Booksellers.

White, who also had a virtual signing at Schuler Books & Music in Lansing, Mich., said virtual touring saves time for authors. "An actual in-person book tour would be a significant burden. I have young children and lots of responsibilities," he said. "This way I could tour--and sleep in my own bed."

Libba Bray, the New York Times best-selling author of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, managed to get a shower in before I interviewed her via a Skype video call. I thanked her for that.

Our subject was her virtual book tour to a half dozen cities conducted using video calling with Skype. It was the first such tour arranged by Random House, her publisher.

On her first stop at the Oak Park Public Library in suburban Chicago, Libba messed upon the time. So she was caught off-guard and un-showered in her Brooklyn home when she received an incoming call on Skype.

Libba enjoyed the virtual tour via Skype. She noted that it saved money and enabled her to be home her with her family instead of on the road. It also allowed her to be in touch with fans without being in a "buy my book" mode.

She said she appreciated being in "intimate" contact with her fans. In fact, she took her fans on a tour of her home. Her cats made cameo appearances. She showed them where she makes the macaroni-and-cheese magic happen.

This summer is an off-season for Libba. The paperback edition of her "The Sweet Far Thing" came out, finishing the trilogy. Publishers don't like to spend money on tours for paperbacks.

During the virtual tour, she was also able to schmooze with booksellers. So now she has their Skype names and can call them in the fall to promote her "Going Bovine" book about a teen who contracts mad cow disease. It's described as a "dark comedy."

Libba said she recommends authors take virtual tours via Skype video calling.

But she noted one drawback: She had to ship signed bookplates ahead for the events.

Libba urged Skype to develop technology to enable authors to sign books remotely. Is anyone in the Skype labs listening?

Myron and Kari Glaser have been making handcrafted bags for business travelers in San Francisco for the past 30 years.

Often, their customers reach out to them on the phone to have the bags and accessories described verbally.

Recently, Myron began using Skype video calling in a virtual showroom-where he can explain to customers how the bags, designed by Kari, can work for them.

When talking about Skype with me, he used word "miracle".

And in an audio interview with Central Valley Business Times, he said:

"We think it's quite miraculous this Skype video call stuff so that if customers have the time to call us we can show them the product as if they were here. It's as real as anything else, they just can't touch it."

He said he enjoys speaking with his customers and can provide answers to their questions about his products in real time and in detail, a bigadvantage over a passive e-commerce website.

"I think very quickly it will be the equivalent of visiting a store," Glaser told CVBT.

I've featured Canadian portrait artist Barbara Muir a couple times on this blog.

Her work caught on big time after Oprah Winfrey recently featured Barbara in her program, "Where the Skype are you?"

Barbara drew a Skype sketch of the talk show queen herself.

Now the artist's story is being told in Canada, including an interview on Toronto's CityNews. Barbara said she gets five to 10 calls a day from people who want to be drawn by the Skype sketcher.

CityNews reporter Jee-Yun Lee describes how she herself is using Skype from Toronto to share images of her new baby with her in-laws in Vancouver. "Oh what technology can do," she wrote in her blog. Indeed.

Some of you may have seen update notifications in iTunes or on the App Store on your device, but for those of you who haven't - Skype 1.1 for iPhone and iPod touch is now available for download.

New languages

Skype for iPhone speaks your language - it's now available in Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish and Traditional Chinese as well as English.

Voicemail and SMS

We've listened to your feedback - Skype for iPhone now lets you listen to your Skype voicemail while you're on the move, as well as send super low-cost SMSs to friends and family around the world.
... and more

Additionally, we've made some improvements to the look and feel, particularly when calling phones using the dial pad.

So - what are you waiting for? Download the update in iTunes, or launch the App Store on your device and tap Updates to grab the latest version.

Note: This version requires iPhone OS 2.2 or 3.0. If you're still using iPhone OS 2.1 or 2.0, you'll need to update to 3.0 in order to run Skype 1.1 for iPhone - it's free and easy to do. Skype for iPhone is not supported on devices running modified versions of iPhone OS.

It's better than ever before - the Gold version of Skype 3.0 for Windows Phones is now available for download.

It includes two cool new features: SMS and file transfer. Sending SMSs using Skype is a great way to reach friends and family instantly anywhere in the world - Skype's low rates mean that you won't have to break the bank to do it. And file transfer lets you send files quickly when you're on the move.

We've ironed out the remaining wrinkles since the Beta release, and it's ready to go. Download it now and give it a whirl.

What is it about us guys? Why do so many of us hate to go shopping? Maybe it's genetic.

Whatever the reason, Joanna Van Vleck, a personal stylist from Bend, Ore. has started a company, Trunk Club, a personal shopping service to take the pain out of shopping--with an assist from Skype video calling.

She told me that her typical client is a professional guy, somewhere in his 30s to 50s, who may be too busy to shop in retail stores and possibly overwhelmed by the multitude of choices online.

Her staff of experts meets with clients virtually on Skype video calling, learns about their clothing needs, sizes, etc. and then ships off a trunk of clothes for the men to try on and discuss on Skype. Clients buy what they want and then send back what they don't want.
The service is free, but the experts are paid a commission just as in a retail store.

So far, all the experts are women. But Joanna is on the look-out for male staffers.
Joanna said her experts aren't meant to replace significant others.

If you get your shopping done online via Skype video calling, you save gas. And you also have more time to spend with your significant other--and doing more shopping?

With local phone tariffs, in the old days, only a few years ago, it seemed cheaper to call my brother 2,100 miles away in the San Francisco Bay area than to call my brother who lives 41 miles away in the Chicago suburbs.

It really rankled me when I got my landline bill.

But Skype has smoothed things over.

My Unlimited World subscription with Skype makes it the same price to call either my brother or my cousins and friends in Europe, South America and Australia via Skype on the landline phone without toll charges.

Though my wife is a tech type, she hasn't taken to using Skype on the computer just yet. So I came up with a plan.

I signed up for a Skype To Go number, which comes with my Skype subscription.

You can also use a Skype To Go number if you have Skype credit.

After I got my Skype To Go number, I set up speed dials for some frequently called numbers--across town and across the world to reach friends, family and business associates.

With Skype To Go, you can call phones abroad or in this country, reaching whomever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want.

In addition to the United States, To Go numbers are available in Australia, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom .Low-cost calling rates are applied for those using Skype credit. Calls are free to countries included in my subscription.

So, my Unlimited World subscription gives me free local calls via my To Go number. This way my wife and I can call our son in downtown Chicago.

I also use To Go while I'm on the go on the commuter train or walking in downtown Chicago. My speed dial listings serve as a minimalist phone directory for commonly used numbers. I can catch up with my friends in UK or Arizona while riding the commuter rails and since I have Unlimited World subscription these calls are free.

I shared my secret with a student friend. She's from Switzerland but attending grad school in Chicago. She now calls her family and friends around the world while commuting to class on the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). Nice.

It's a sweet deal to reach out and call someone--without running up charges while calling Lake Zurich, the Chicago burbs, or Zürich, Switzerland's largest city.

Travel book author Joe Sharkey was enjoying the Tucson desert air too much to trek back to New York to meet with his publisher.

Still, he had no choice. So he went.

But these days, the travel writer often avoids unnecessary travel.

He describes in a New York Times article how he does the next best thing: He goes on Skype video.

"Until about a year ago, I used to scoff at the assertion, long made by the videoconferencing industry, that its high-end technology, in many cases, negated the need to get on an airplane and travel to a face-to-face meeting. But starting early last year, sales began to rise, offering evidence that videoconferencing was, in fact, being used more often to replace some business travel," he said.

"I now regularly use videoconferencing. Often, my wife has to stay back East while I have the luxury of working in Arizona. We use a simple Skype Internet connection -- little cameras and microphones hooked to our laptops -- to hold nightly videoconferences, in which our two pet parrots in New Jersey also participate."

He describes his parrots as "early adapters, following the screen image, replying vocally, dancing with joy when motivated. They seem to get it -- except that the chatty African grey evidently believes that I am actually inside my wife's laptop and marches behind the screen to peck at it and get me out. I mean, they're birds, after all."

Oprah Winfrey led the way, showing broadcasters how to use Skype video calling on network TV.
A few have been quick to follow.

From the get-go, Jimmy Fallon, former Saturday Night Live comedian and now host of NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, promised to integrate tech into his show, including Skype.

This week, he featured director Jon Favreau, who talked from Canada on Skype video about the much-anticipated Ironman 2 due out next year.

The director had twittered a heads-up to fans: "I'll be skyping a bit from the set of Iron Man tonite on Jimmy Fallon."

But during the interview, Favreau actually didn't show his hand--other than teasing viewers with a glimpse at a bionic hand. He said he was Robert Downey Jr.'s "stunt hand."

He joked that Marvel comics had been on his case for twittering too much from his set.

Over at the FOX News Channel, Greta Van Susteren, host of On the Record at 10 p.m. ET weeknights, tells her fans they can "interact with Greta directly here on her blog - post a comment, follow her on Twitter, or chat with her on Skype -- her screenname is GretaWire."

Stay tuned to see the next Skype development.

I use Skype everyday to make calls as a freelance writer. It saves me thousands of dollars a year. Free is good, especially for a freelancer.

But I also pay for Skype products that help me do my job and to stay in touch.

One of my favorites is my Skype online number.

I set up the number to make it easy for people I want to interview to call me from their landlines and cellphones.

Generally, I prefer to call out on Skype so I can record conversations using Call Recorder software. But some people prefer to call me.

My Skype online number makes it seamless and easy for them to reach me.

They dial my number and my computer rings. They don't know the difference--except the sound quality is typically better than on my AT&T line.

It rings wherever I happen to be logged into Skype--on my desktop at home or my laptop at on the go. I can take the calls on the road, just about anywhere in the world.

If I had the number when I was in Peru or UK last year, family and friends back in the USA could have called me, just as if I were home. I plan to take my laptop and online Skype number with me to New Zealand later this year so my kids can stay in touch for the cost of a local call.

The cost for an online number is just $18 for three months or $60 for a full year. You can also get up to 50 percent off this cost with the purchase of a monthly subscription. For more info, click here.

Oprah Winfrey invited her viewers on May 21 to come along on "an extreme Oprah Show adventure" with Skype.

In the show, entitled, "Where the Skype Are You?," the Chicago talk show host pushed the limits of Skype.

She showed how Skype video can connect people in such remote places as the Arctic and Antarctic, on board a Virgin America plane 37,000 feet above San Francisco and on board USS Louisville, six stories below the Pacific off Hawaii.

Oprah described Skype CEO Josh Silverman as the "wizard" of Skype, connecting from Oprah's studio in Chicago to Silverman in London. He said to Oprah: "You have been putting us completely to the test."

Oprah is no newcomer to the Skype world. She has been using it to connect to celebs and ordinary people since March 2008.

"I just love Skype. Love it. Love Skype," she said.

Oprah recently gave Twitter, the short messaging service, a boost. But she said Skype is "a step above Twitter Twitter."

She had Skype connections set up outside her Chicago studio, in a Best Buy electronics store in midtown Manhattan and Harrods in London. She shared laughs with a young man shopping for a Mother's Day gift and with a man addicted to buying green socks to wear on Fridays.

She also connected with some folks featured in this blog: Skype sketcher Barbara Muir, of Toronto, who drew a picture of Oprah based on a view from Skype video, and Ed Gallagher, the blind San Franciscan, who sails a boat, skis and rides a bike while guided by friends who navigate for him based on views from a Skype-connected helmet
.
Skype connections are not ordinarily available at Palmer Station at Antarctica--2,000 miles from the South Pole--because of limited bandwidth. But researcher Neal Scheibe was able to take advantage of a Skype link to speak with Oprah to show the tech's potential. He said he and his colleagues planned to speak to classrooms via Skype while they had the link. That inspired Oprah to say she might use Skype to teach students in a school she established in South Africa.

In an amusing segment, Oprah, Silverman and a couple passengers aboard Virgin America had a wine testing with Randall Grahm, of Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz, Calif. He said he started doing wine tastings on Skype because he was tired of flying to meet with distributors.

Silverman explained how easy it is to download the software at Skype.com, to register for free and to find friends and family among the 400 million people who use Skype to call for free in Skype-to-Skype audio and video calls or for low rates via Skype to landlines and mobile phones.

Oprah encouraged her viewers to give it a try: "You can get your own Skype on America. Get your Skype on."

Tina Quick knows a lot about moving. And she's putting it to use to help others to make their transitions--often recommending Skype to help make their landings soft.

The Boston area entrepreneur notes: "As the daughter of a U.S. Air Force man and the wife of an international public health physician, I made 18 moves (nine of them before my 10th birthday), lived in eight different states, six countries and four continents.

There's more: "My husband (Jono, a public health doctor and himself a Skype power user) and I raised three daughters in Asia, Africa and Europe over the course of 15 years. When we returned to the U.S. I decided to put my expertise to work and started a small consultancy."

She describes in this Skype video how her Winchester, Mass. firm International Family Transitions helps people, especially people who have been relocated internationally to pursue their educations or careers or to follow their spouses or parents, make these often difficult transitions as ex-pats and also as re-pats.

She said Skype audio and video can help these folks adjust to moving far from home or coming back.

Tina notes: "I have been doing seminars and workshops for educators, United Nations groups and international schools. I particularly enjoy working with international students to prepare them for the transition experience of going off to university, particularly if they are returning to their 'home' country."

Dr. Jonathan D. "Jono" Quick's job is reaching out to 70 developing countries, deploying a staff of nearly 1,500 from 65 nationalities. As president and CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based Management Sciences for Health, he is accustomed to working with people in remote locations, such as southern Sudan, Afghanistan and Haiti.

"We have a very mobile network of international staff on the move consulting in these countries," he said.
plays.

Jono said: "Skype has been revolutionary for those of us working in international development."

He shares the important role Skype audio plays to his org in this Skype video.

He said he uses Skype regularly to:

--"Provide the audio link for parts of our Quarterly Global Staff meetings in which we have staff from the home offices in Cambridge and Washington, and field staff from usually 15 to 20 countries together on the line for a 75 minutes virtually meeting. To give an example, we had one global meeting chaired from Boston in which the speakers were myself on Skype from a hotel room in Pakistan, our team from Malawi via Skype, and our office in Washington.

--"Arrange conference calls in which we originate the call with a Cambridge-based computer, but then use a combination of Skype out and computer-to-computer Skype to link staff who may be in their office in Vietnam (we had one call in which the person went back and forth between their local cell phone on Skype out within Vietnam and their computer)."

He expects as people become more used to video, it will be incorporated into his staff conferences.

MSH "takes an integrated approach to building high-impact sustainable programs that address critical challenges in leadership, health systems management, human resources, and medicines."

The organization says at its website:

"Our expertise in these areas falls into the broad categories of management functions--for example, leadership and governance or pharmaceutical management--and health areas like tuberculosis or maternal, newborn and child health."

Phil Wolff at Skype Journal provides an insightful analysis on the economic benefits of TV using Skype.

Skype has become a "disruptive technology" for TV stations, providing a new way to obtain live images as well as cutting costs.

Over the past year, I've been reporting on how shows such as Oprah's and local TV news operations have adopted Skype.

People use Skype to save money--so do TV stations.

Phil notes: "Today's remote live video shoots might cost $25k+ for satellite time, gear, van, and a crew (camera operator, sound recordist, producer, hair & make-up artist, lighting technician). This is more production value than a field reporter.

"On the other hand, let's say it costs $10k for a high-end Mac including free Skype software, webcams, insurance, geek time, mobile Internet, and a mobile phone for the control channel. Spread the cost over twenty guests/interviews, you might spend $500 for a shoot where the guest hooks themselves up in 15 minutes (power into the laptop, plug in the webcam, turn it on, fire up Skype, press the green 'Video Call' button). And now guests like (Ashton) Kutcher are Skype-ready; no cost to you."

He's referring to the actor who made news last week as he took on CNN to connect with one million Twitter followers. He went on Oprah to discuss--via Skype.

Phil said: "You can see that Ashton's end of the show is poorly lit, color balance is off, he's not been through hair or makeup (or wardrobe), his office is badly decorated to get unlicensed art off the wall behind him. Nobody cares. Skype's dialtone made that show possible without blowing the show's budget, without flying Kutcher from his office at Katalyst Films to Chicago for three days, spending five hours hosting a remote crew at his office, or even three hours to drive to a local television station for fifteen minutes of air time. It was almost as easy as having someone phone in. But with better audio and with live two-way video."

In addition to the money savings, backpack reporters can use Skype to get scoops, bringing home stories first, such as the first images from a plane crash in Buffalo, N.Y.

Dr. Loren Olson,who lives, practices psychiatry and raises cattle in the country outside Des Moines, said Skype Video can help overcome the shortage of psychiatrists in rural areas such as those he practices in Iowa and around the country.

Instead of spending a lot of "windshield time" driving for hours to rural outposts, he told me in the video below that Skype can help psychiatrists maximize their time to see more patients.

Olson, who plans to dedicate space in his office to a Skype "studio," said there is adequate bandwidth for patients in the country to use Skype.
He told a couple stories about seeing patients with Skype.

One patient was so engaged that the 60-mile distance went unnoticed. In fact, said Olso, "He asked me to get him a glass of water."

Skype Video may be the next best thing to being there--and in fact in at least once case may be even better.

Olson said: "I asked a schizophrenic how he felt about being interviewed over a (webcam) rather than in person and he said, 'I think I prefer it this way.'"

A major TV show is looking to feature doctors who use Skype in their practices.

If you're a doc with a Skype Video story, please share it in an e-mail. Send it to skype@kaplowpr.com.

Loads of companies are bi-coastal, Pacific and Atlantic.

With some help from Skype, Yola Inc., the developer of free tools to develop websites, manages to be bi-continental and bi-coastal facing the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Yola was founded in Cape Town, South Africa. But a year ago, the company moved its operation to where the digital action is--the Bay Area, while maintaining a developer team and other staffers in Capetown

Randy Almond, vice president of marketing at Yola (known until a week ago as SynthaSIte), describes in this video how Skype video, audio and chat are "critical" for this company to operate on two continents.

"Skype helps put a face" on personnel in North America and Africa, he explained.

Entrepreneurs Sam Merrill and Kent Holiday are helping save rural America, at least a piece of Northern Wyoming, which they have transformed into Big Skype country.

Their start-up, Eleutian Technology, has hired 300 people to use Skype, mainly via Video, to teach English as a second language. Their employes, based in call centers in Wyoming with high bandwidth, webcams and Skype, are teaching 15,000 people in South Korea how to speak English. They plan to expand to China and Japan.

Merrill said, "Small towns in America have been shriveling and dying." He said the typical job options have been to work at the gas station, on ranches and to teach school.

He said Eleutian's business model with Skype has opened new high-tech opportunities.

Merrill, Eleutian's chief technology officer, said Koreans and other Asians generally have a good grasp of English grammar. But he said they can struggle with pronunciation.

He said projecting teachers on Skype Video into classrooms helps students get first-hand guidance in overcoming these obstacles. He said some students opt for audio calls, adding that Skype chat is another useful teaching tool.

He shares his thoughts on Skype in this video:

Dr. Deepak Vidmar built his reputation as a nomad astrologer and psychologist, who would out on his motorcycle, computer in saddlebag, to do readings, from Ibiza, Spain to Pune, India.

Deepak, a native of Louisiana and Texas, decided to settle down in Bali a year ago. "I didn't want to leave and go traveling. I'm getting kind of old for that. I'm almost 66 now," he said in an interview.

But he noted the ex-pat community in Bali was too small to keep his astrology business humming. So he decided to change his business model and do astrology sessions on Skype with clients around the world.

He said: "Skype is basically the only way I can survive here. You move to a tropical paradise in a garden, that's great. But how are you going to make money and support yourself?"

Clients go to his Website to make appointments. They use their credit cards to pay via PayPal.

He encourages his clients to set up their own Skype accounts. He uses Skype Out to reach landlines of those who prefer old-fashioned calls.

His clients so far have come from Germany, United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Malta, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Scandinavia, South America.

Deepak is also a teacher and hopes to use Skype Video to teach classes. He also is planning a hypnosis session over Skype with a client in South Korea.

When I interviewed Deepak, the sound quality between Bali and Chicago was as a clear as a day on Bali. I could hear roosters crowing and a fountain bubbling. I could almost feel the humidity.

Deepak even gave me some personal advice during our Skype conversation.

I have been thinking about visiting Spain or Israel in 2009.

Deepak said: "You will be too restless to settle in one place so plan on doing both. You have a Uranus transit over your Moon (once in a lifetime) April 2010-April 2011. You feel it now and in the summer of 2009 the feeling will get stonger and stronger."

Good to know.

The Pajama Entrepreneur notes that in tough times, entrepreneurs have to be smart about controlling their spending.

He notes: "It seems like only yesterday (for this pajama entrepreneur, mid-2002 to 2004) that we were facing a long period of very few clients or clients who don't pay. The key to surviving is to cut costs by using free online services, cheap mobile calling plans, and a bit of creativity."

His No. 1 pick? It's Skype.

He notes: "I do almost all of my calls on Skype. It's free and convenient."

He has a a top 10 list on other phone tricks, free e-mail and free invoicing.

The last I spoke with my friend Chris Martin I had made an accidental pocket dial via Skype on a 3 Skypephone while I was in London and he was in his suburban Chicago office.

Increasingly, Martin told me has been turning to Skype to run his public relations business. I wanted to learn more and hoped to catch up with sooner or later.

It turned out to be sooner and just serendiptitously as a pocket dial.

I signed in to attend the Chicago New Media conference at the Museum of Contemporary Art .

Minutes later, Martin had signed in and happened to see my name. I already had disappeared into the auditorium.

At lunchtime, I was meeting with an friend at the Water Tower and noticed that Martin had sent me an e-mail, asking that I text him. When I got back to the MCA, I texted him that I was in the lobby and he came out found me. Aren't communications amazing?

So he gave me the scoop on how Skype changed his business.

"Skype allows me to communicate over the phone--the core of my business--more inexpensively than I did with AT&T," he said. "I got rid of my business phone."

Now he spends less than $40 a year for long distance, compared with the $1,200 AT&T charged him.

But there's more to this story than saving the money.

Martin says that Skype enables him to do three things he couldn't do before:

--Make easy, inexpensive conference calls with clients.

--Keep an orderly, up-to-date contact list right at hand. "I couldn't do that with my landline," he said.

--Easily record interviews with medical doctors, podiatrists and nurses, which provides quotes and information for his press releases. He uses Call Graph , which produces recordings in the mp3 format. Like other recording programs, it also provides a log of time spent on calls, a handy feature for consultants who track time.

Martin next hopes to produce podcasts from his interviews and may explore Video calls and chat.

Martin says Skype rocked his world.

How has Skype rocked yours? Why not share your story in the comments?

Montreal resident Steve Felix uses his "the bridge" blog to "share his thoughts on the world of institutional real estate and other stuff."

In an Aug. 8 entry on other stuff, he describes how he had signed up for Skype years ago, but only the previous week had given it a spin with a call from his son in London.

He was impressed: "It was amazing how clear the connection was. Skyper-Skyper calls are free. If you use Skype to call a non-Skyper there's a charge but a friend of mine in London says that by using Skype their company saves 35% on their telephone bill. Not too shabby.

"Today I buy a good headset and start encouraging certain friends and business colleagues to sign up (P.S. Skype also has a camera feature and as my new MacBook Pro has a built-in camera it's easy for people to see me through the Skype connection). Now, if I choose to use that feature I better be sure that I've combed my hair first!"

So if you're thin king about saving money when you contact friends, family and business associates, why not follow Steve Felix's example?

One of the ways, hotels run up the bill is through charges for phone service.

So it's refreshing to hear about a hotel chain that is offering phone service with Skype as a guest service to save money for the chain and its customers.

TMCnet's Shireen Dee reports on how the Firmdale Hotels, boutique chain in London and soon New York,
Is using VoSKY's system with Skype in conjunction with an existing telecom system to lower calling costs.

"The PBX-to-Skype Gateway enables customers to make overseas calls using Skype, and as a result is making Firmdale Hotels more popular among its guests," Dee said. "Using VoSKY's system, customers can now contact the hotels via the Internet, with no charges, thereby making a significant reduction in international calling costs."

Mark Rupert Read, group IT manager at Firmdale Hotels, said in a statement. "It was also extremely easy to integrate with our existing infrastructure, as it's literally plug and play."

He added: "We have been receiving up to 50 Skype calls per day, and our customers and partners themselves have remarked on the positive difference it has made to them."

Paul Devlin, five-time Emmy Award-winner and Independent Spirit Award nominee, has been doing some creative financing in the making of his latest work, Blast!, about cosmologists launching a special telescope to the top of the atmosphere via a high-altitude balloon. (Blast is short for Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope.)

He invited his supporters to help finance Blast! for as little as $19.95 as "Blast! Participants," who have access to deleted scenes and production update videos to $40,000 for "Blast! Adventure Participants," who can host a lecture and get a guest lecture from the director and the lead scientist.

The Independent Documentary Association (IDA) wanted Devlin to join a "DOC U " panel scheduled for Monday in LA: "Creative Financing: What's the Deal?"

However, IDA board member and filmmaker Sara Z. Hutchison said Devlin was tied up in France on an assignment.

But she said Peter Broderick, president of Paradigm Consulting and moderator of the panel, and Sandra Ruch, IDA executive director, were aware that Skype had been used last May at the Cannes Film Festival, connecting some Hollywood types to a meeting in France.

James Cameron (Academy Award-winning director of Titanic, Aliens, The Terminator, etc.) and cinematographer Vince Pace participated in a 90-minute session from their Hollywood studio via a live Skype video call to talk about the stereoscopic camera they developed and are using to film the 3D movie Avatar.

So thanks to creative communications, Devlin will be joining the panel Monday from France via a Skype Video call. (Other panelists include Broderick; Jim Gilliam, Brave New Films; Danae Ringlemann, IndieGoGo; Jill Sobule, recording artist.)

Hutchison said many in the IDA community are familiar with Skype, especially "taking a meeting on Skype" and holding IDA committee meetings on Skype audio calls.
"People use Skype all the time," she said.

Video is a nice addition for the visual artists.

This is Skype's latest foray into the world of documentaries. Last April, a documentary came out about a blind adventurer who used Skype to "see."

Heading out to the ruins in the remote Incan town of Ollantaytambo, about 75 kilometers from Cuzco, Peru,"the navel of the navel" in the Incan worldview, I spotted an Internet cafe on the main square.

My wife Judi and I along with our yoga teachers decided to climb the ruins and on the way back go into the Internet cafe.

The teachers wanted to check their e-mail. But I wanted to introduce them to the wonders of Skype.

I struck up a conversation with Carlos Danz, the owner. Carlos' business may be based deep in the ancient Sacred Valley, but he is a man of modern communications.

I asked him what he thought of Skype.

"It's killing me," he semi-joked.

Continue reading "Good karma for Skype along the Inca Trail" »

In the age of WiFi phones for Skype and mobile phones, desk phones seem rather quaint and outdated.

But I am convinced it will take a desk phone-style model to get some people to make calls on the Internet. Not everyone feels comfortable wearing a headset.

So the just-released Belkin Internet Phone for Skype is a welcome addition to the roundup of devices.

Continue reading "Skype goes "retro" with desktop phone" »

Skype’s Hollywood profile is on the rise again.

Here’s the latest from Tinseltown: Skype is on the A-list at the Cannes Film Festival, no less.

Not bad. Only last month, Skype had a supporting role in Nim’s Island, a Robinson Crusoe-style adventure on a remote South Pacific island.

Movie stars, directors and other Hollywood royalty that don’t make it to Cannes can make their video calling connection via Skype to the American Pavilion, the business and hospitality center for the press, filmmakers, stars and others attending the famed festival running from May 14 to May 25.

Titanic director James Cameron and cinematographer Vincent Pace, executive producer of this year’s Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour and other luminaries will be linked via Skype video calls into discussions hosted by the American Pavilion.

The American Pavilion will use Skype video calling in its “In Conversation” and “Industry In Focus” series, in which respected filmmakers and industry insiders offer audiences opinions and insights, in moderated panel discussions. The discussions happen nearly daily during the festival.

Continue reading "Skype to provide video calling link between Hollywood and Cannes Film Festival" »

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.

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" »

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" »

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.

Missionary Malcolm Lanham of course puts his faith in God.

But he and his team with Global Outreach, based in McDowell County, the poorest area in West Virginia and the fifth poorest county in the United States, rely on Skype to communicate with far-flung missionaries.

Continue reading "On a mission with Skype" »