Events

Silvia Tolisano, the tech "langwitches" teacher from Jacksonville, Fla.,
took her classes around the globe this school year in a project known as
"Around the World with 80 Schools."

They didn't make it to 80 schools but they did visit 17 schools on six
continents. Every continent was represented except Antarctica.

But Silvia said the kids learned a lot as they spoke to their
counterparts around the world.

And some fourth graders had adopted Skype to speak with their classmates
on their own time.

In fact, minutes before I spoke with Silvia on Skype video calling, she
had been Skype chatting with a student back home.

As it happens, Silvia is in Argentina visiting her mom. As Evita said in
the musical, "Hello Buenos Aires."

She told me Skype is in effect her traveling companion. She has used
Skype to stay in touch wherever she goes. She has been keeping up with
her own children who are back in the USA while she's in Buenos Aires.

Silvia is changing schools in the fall, from San Jose Episcopal Day
School to Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville.

But she plans to continue the Skype journey, starting her count with 18
countries with a goal of 80 schools.

While in Argentina, she hopes to make a connection for her students by
Skyping with scientists in Antarctica during the coming school year.
Buena suerte, mi amiga.

NYC Fashion Week: the glitz, the glamour, the Skype video calls?! That's right; this Fashion Week, Skype will be in the mix.

Fashion designer Norma Kamali, a big Skype fan, has teamed up with us to offer one lucky fan the opportunity to view her OMO (On My Own) collection Fashion Week presentation on September 17 via Skype video call. The contest winner will also be able to ask Norma a question about the collection and win one of her coveted "all-in-one" garments.

Feeling lucky? Get into the front row by entering the contest. Rules and entry instructions can be found here.

This contest is just the latest move by Norma to give access to the often exclusive world of fashion via technology.

She told us, "I believe in the democratization of fashion and technology is accelerating this process. I am grateful that I can utilize Skype, the Internet communications software that connects millions of people around the world, to bring one fan into my show and let them experience the excitement that is Fashion Week in NYC."

We're excited, too, that we can partner with Norma to allow a Skype user an insider's view into a world that most fashion lovers don't get to experience.

For those fans who don't win the contest, but still want to view Norma's Fashion Week presentation and will be in NYC on September 17, they can stop by the Apple store in Soho (located at 103 Prince Street) and see the show live. A podcast of the presentation will also be available for download via the iTunes store in the weeks following the show.

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."

Back in February, I reported on some ideas from a Seattle blogger,, Michael Lieberman to use Skype to promote books, what he called "biblio opportunities."

He suggested that prisons set up Skype reading rooms so inmates can read to their children and that poets do readings on Skype.

He also recommended that authors use Skype video to reach out to book clubs to speak with readers.

Dawn Kairns, author of MAGGIE: The Dog Who Changed My Life/ A Story of Love, has done just that.

She describes here how she used Skype to reach out via Skype Video from her home in rural Boulder, Colo., to a book discussion group in South Padre Island, Texas.

She said she felt the reception was warm and enjoyed being able to discuss her book with people who had read it. She plans to do more Skype book discussions.

Here's an excerpt from her book about her late dog, Maggie:

"Once in every dog lover's life, if you're lucky, that special once-in-a-lifetime dog comes along. You know this relationship is golden, a gift from the spirit world. You have found a soul mate. Animal and human spirits are inextricably intertwined, and you know there will never be another dog that comes close to the presence of this one and the bond that you share. For me, Maggie is that dog.

"You know it when it happens. You think a thought and your dog responds. She knows what you're asking of her, even though you never trained her to do it. You recognize that your communication is beyond words, beyond training. How do you explain it? You peer into her eyes and know you are looking into the depths of a loving, advanced soul. You may wonder, as I did, who are you in there?"

For more on Kairns go to her website. Contact her at dawnkairns@yahoo.com to arrange a book discussion.

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.

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."

These are tough economic times. But people are finding Skype is helping keep them connect with loved ones around the world-for free or low cost.

To help spread the word, Skype is looking for your personal stories on how Skype audio, Video and chats are helping couples living apart due to economic reasons.

Maybe one spouse is in Dallas, and another in Atlanta. Or one in Chicago, and another in London.

Skype would appreciate it if you could share your story in a brief summary about your circumstances and contact information. Please send any leads to Skype@kaplowpr.com.

OneWebDay , patterned after Earth Day for the Internet eco-system, will be celebrated on Monday (Sept. 22) with events all over the planet to focus attention this year on the value of online participation in democracy, to focus on local Internet concerns and to create a global constituency to protect the Net.

With Ohio being one of the key battlegrounds for 2008, it's only appropriate that the two presidential campaigns will be participating in a OneWebDay event starting at 10:30 a.m. EDT in Cincinnati, sponsored by Media Bridges , Cincy's media arts & education center, which provides the education, equipment and environment to assist people in communicating effectively through media.

And Skype will be in the center of the action.

Christopher Libertelli, Skype's senior director of government & regulatory affairs, explains how:

"Skype's goal is to enable conversations. In this case, we're enabling a conversation between the two Presidential campaigns about the future of the Internet.

"This is the first time that I know of that campaigns are using a technology like Skype, which is emblematic of the fight for an open Internet. On Monday, you will have both Republicans and Democrats using the same technology to have a conversation about the laws and regulations that would govern the future of the Internet. It's a tangible example of what's at stake."

Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge will speak on behalf of Senator Obama's campaign. Michael Powell, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will represent Senator McCain's camp.

In an interview, Libertelli provided some perspective on the campaigns' tech policies.

Skype USA: Net Neutrality is one of the key differences between the candidates? What is Net Neutrality?
Libertelli: Net Neutrality is about whether we're going to have an open Internet or a closed Internet, meaning whether we're going to have laws where phone companies and cable operators can decide what kind of traffic gets onto the Internet, or whether we're going to have laws that prevent cable and phone companies from deciding which kind of Web traffic goes fast or slow or which is favored or disfavored.

Skype has a clear position on Net Neutrality. We want a non-discrimination rule that protects the Skype experience on the Internet.

Skype USA: Isn't this issue bigger than Skype?
Libertelli: It's industry-wide. Absolutely. The question of innovation on the Web includes Skype; but it is also much bigger than Skype.

For the last year and a half, Skype has been advocating applying openness rules to the wireless Web. Right now, mobile phone companies block the Skype experience on cell phones.

Skype USA: Wasn't the FCC divided on this?
Libertelli: The FCC is still considering Skype's petition to open up mobile phones.

Skype USA: We're talking about the Presidential campaign here. Is this only a big deal for Skype? Why should consumers care?
Libertelli: This is an important issue for the consumer. The issue of Net Neutrality is one where there are some pretty stark differences between the McCain approach and the Obama approach. I cannot say that Net Neutrality is as important as an energy policy, financial market regulation or some of the other things that the Presidential candidates are talking about. But it is one of the most important technology policy issues that both campaigns are thinking about.

Skype USA: The Obama campaign very clearly states that they're in favor of Net Neutrality and McCain states the opposite.
Libertelli: What will be interesting is to hear the McCain and Obama people talking about openness using Skype. This is a moment where people can see what's at stake. The issue is whether these kinds of conversations will be blocked by the network operators.

Skype USA: Which candidate supports a rule to stop blocking if it occurs?
Libertelli: Obama proposes a rule that would make that practice illegal. It is a question for the McCain campaign: Does their stance block the blockers? Does it allow for these Skype conversations to happen on the Internet?

Skype USA: Why does McCain take this position?
Libertelli: The current telecom policy is a deregulatory policy. The question is whether we're going to have a continuation of these deregulatory policies or whether voters want change and a movement away from deregulation in telecom.

Skype USA: Doesn't the public sometimes need regulation?
Libertelli: Recent events on Wall Street suggest that safeguards to protect consumers may be necessary.

Skype USA: Are we seeing a backlash toward a pro-regulation age?
Libertelli: I think we're heading back to an efficient regulation age.

Skype USA: So maybe I'll finally be able get a 3 Skypephone mobile phone and make a call on Skype in the U.S. as I recently did in the U.K.?
Libertelli: That's where the rubber meets the road. Our openness policy is designed to make Skype available to U.S. consumers so they can make free calls. That is what this is about for us. It's to create a situation where you can go out and buy an unlocked GSM phone and access to the Internet, download Skype and off you go.

There have been some baby steps towards more openness. There have been press releases from wireless operators. We filed a lletter last week with the FCC that made it clear that if the Commission thought that the wireless industry was going to speed toward a broad policy of openness, they may have been mistaken.

Skype USA: Should we vote for president on the basis of Net Neutrality?
Libertelli: In part.

Skype USA: Where else do the campaigns differ? What about broadband policy?
Libertelli: There are some differences there. In order to have an open Internet, you have to have access to the Internet in the first place. People in rural areas need help getting onto the Internet at affordable rates.

Senator Obama has proposed a way of funding broadband Internet service to those areas by using the Universal Service Fund, an enormous pot of money that is used to keep phone service affordable in rural areas. It's phone-centric funding. Sen. Obama wants to repurpose that money and make it friendlier for broadband services.

It appears that Senator McCain's approach is more skeptical that the fund should be used for rural broadband. His approach is different. He has proposed some tax credits that would be used by companies to roll out broadband.

To take this discussion up a level, the purpose of OneWebDay is to bring activists, academics and entrepreneurs around the planet together and celebrate the Internet for one day and to focus on Net Neutrality for one day, so policymakers can see that there is a constituency out there that cares about openness on the Internet. We're going to see that on Monday when there is a conversation between the two campaigns that is facilitated by Skype.

Skype USA: By the way, has Skype made contributions to either of these campaigns?
Libertelli: Skype doesn't have a PAC (Political Action Committee). Skype isn't an entity that can make political contributions.

The upcoming election is big news in the USA. But there's no reason to wait until November to vote--albeit it in a different sort of election.

BusinessWeek has opened its online polls.

And Skype is in the running for the best "Online Tools" for Calling.

The competition is pretty stiff so get over to the BusinessWeek site
and click for your favorite.

You also can vote on the best new Web site, the most influential
person on the Web, information, fun and money sites.

As we say in Chicago: Vote early and often.

The polls close Sept. 12. BusinessWeek will publish the results on
Sept. 29 in the pub's acclaimed "2008 Best of the Web" edition.

If you were an elite athlete getting ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, what would you do in your off hours?

Why, making Skype calls of course.

Betsey Armstrong, goalkeeper for the U.S. women's water polo team, said in the New York Times Rings blog at the New York Times:

"So far in our down time, when we're not napping, we've been doing word search puzzles and calling home on Skype -- basically just allowing ourselves to get comfortable with being far away from home and on such a different schedule."

Armstrong, is a 2005 University of Michigan (Go Blue) graduate, who helped Team U.S.A. win the gold at the 2007 Pan American Games.

Win or lose, I'll bet Betsey and her fellow athletes from around the world will be calling friends and family on Skype.

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."

In the minute or so before the Personal Democracy Forum conference on technology and politics went live on C-SPAN, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former presidential contender John Edwards, apologized for being unable to attend the meeting in person in New York.

Andrew Raisej, the Forum's founder, who worked on Edwards' 2008 campaign, told Mrs. Edwards: "You're here anyway by the miracle of technology and this wonderful thing that someone invented called Skype. So we were saved by the same technology that we are all excited about."

Mrs. Edwards may have been new to Video calls via Skype. But she explained she had previous experience with Skype.

She noted: "Actually, Skype allowed us to keep in touch with our children when John was giving speeches in Europe at three cents a minute or whatever it is, instead of an a dollar a minute. So I am rather fond of Skype myself."

The media often describe the Edwards as wealthy. So there is a message for the rest of us as well on how Skype can save money.

Check her out at YouTube:

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

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

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

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

K.C. Jones in Information Week observed:

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

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

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

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

Bad weather may have stopped Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the former Presidential campaigner John Edwards, from leaving her North Carolina home to deliver a speech at a New York political forum. But thanks to Skype, Mrs. Edwards still was able to speak on an impromptu video call to the Personal Democracy Forum.

And John Edwards was a surprise drop-in speaker via Skype on Wednesday to the delight of attendees.

ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports that because of bad weather Elizabeth Edwards had to cancel a speaking engagement at the Personal Democracy Forum 2008 in New York.

Parker reported that a Chapel Hill, N.C. woman with a Mac computer and a Web cam was dispatched to Edward's house, enabling Mrs. Edwards to appear at the conference on Skype.

The ABC blog noted: "During a question and answer session, Mrs. Edwards was talking about how the Internet can get people more involved in the political process when her husband, former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., walked into their home.

"'John, sit down here and say hi to the PDF conference,'" Mrs. Edwards called to her husband, eliciting applause and laughter from the crowd. "

Andrew Raisej, the Forum's founder, who worked on Edwards' 2008 campaign, said, "There's about a thousand people here who are expecting Elizabeth and unfortunately the weather didn't allow her to make it, so we used technology -- you may have heard of it, it's called the Internet, to bring her to everyone in real time."

Check it out

at YouTube.

Edwards was asked how the Internet has changed politics.

"It's completely changed the shape of this race already," Sen. Edwards said. "It is the only reason that Barack Obama is not taking public financing, because he has a fundraising base that's more grassroots, more small donors that allows him a huge competitive advantage against Bush."

"McCain," corrected Mrs. Edwards.

"I mean, excuse me, McCain. Freudian slip," Sen. Edwards said to crowd applause.

We already reported how the Obama campaign in SIlicon Valley reached out to potential voters on Skype.

Continue reading "Skype's new 4.0 Beta 1 for Windows steps up Video conversations" »

I'd like to tell you about an opportunity for the entire Skype community to get involved in an important Internet community event.

OneWebDay is an Earth Day for the Internet that takes place each September 22nd. 2008 is the third OneWebDay. This year, OneWebDay is focusing attention around the world on the importance of the internet to political participation.

Skype's own Christopher Libertelli has joined the cause as one of 100 OneWebDay ambassadors. On each of the 100 days leading up to September 22nd, a different ambassador is reaching out to his or her community about OneWebDay.

We're encouraging people to talk (and do something) about internet issues that worry them - censorship, the digital divide and inadequate connectivity, in general.

The idea behind OneWebDay is to create a platform for a global constituency that cares about the future of the internet. We make progress when we make things visible, and with OneWebDay we're showing that this global constituency exists.

For more information about OneWebDay, check out its website, or have a look at the OneWebDay starter kit for keen participants.

My old friend and colleague Eric Benderoff described is his May 8 Chicago Tribune Tech Buzz column the way things should be for mobile device users.

He told of being at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January and testing out gear from Intel and Motorola that transformed his car into a mobile hot spot using WiMax, an emerging technology that is sort of like WiFi on vitamins, if not steroids.

Among other things, Eric said he called back to the Chicago office on Skype via the car’s navigation system.
I saw a demo of the same WiMax technology aboard the good ship “Summer of George” on a Motorola-sponsored cruise on the Chicago River last summer. It’s amazing stuff and should be available soon.

If WiMax catches on, it would be great if the Federal Communications Commission would encourage phone and cable companies offering phone services open up their networks so everyday Americans, not just tech reporters, can use Skype while cruising like the Skype Nomad in their planes, trains and automobiles.

In the tradition of Phileas Fogg, hero of Jules Verne's 1872 novel, "Around the World in Eighty Days," Rebecca Campbell is setting out from London today to go around the world in 33 days.

This isn't a race with Fogg. The 26-year-old London resident, a native of Sydney, Australia, dubbed the "Skype Nomad," isn't going for a time record.

Rather, Campbell is showing just how mobile Skype is as she covers ground in 15 countries. "It's all about perpetual motion to show how truly mobile I can be," she said.

She'll be hopping from jet to rickshaw and bumboat in Singapore to a Fogg-esque hot-air balloon over the Alps in Austria, to gondola in Venice, a boat cruising the Yangtze River in China, cable car in San Francisco, dog sled in Alaska, the famed cross-continental Indian Pacific train between Sydney and Perth in her native Australia, and a boat ride across the Baltic from Sweden to Skype's supreme HQ in Tallinn, Estonia to finish up June 6, "D-Day."

Continue reading ""Skype Nomad's" excellent adventure in mobility" »

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

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

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

Continue reading "Skype takes flat rate calling international" »

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

Skype has voted for the latter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—Riding a bike.

—Shooting at a firing range and hitting the target.

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

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

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

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

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

Skype has gone Hollywood.

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

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

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

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

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

Here's what they were saying:

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

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

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

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

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

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

You guessed it: Tom is the mom.

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

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

The new version has an improved and optimized audio library.

This means you’ll get:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Skype blogmaster Villu Arak’s entry on the AT&T Picturephone brought back memories for me.

Back in 1964, I trekked with my family from Chicago to the World’s Fair in New York. As a sarcastic teen, not much captured my imagination. But the Picturephone did. It's one of the few things, along with General Electric's "Progressland," I remember seeing while out at the Meadowlands.

Continue reading "Back to the future: “Crossing a telephone with a TV set”" »

There are only days left to vote. (Only until March 31.) Pressure is mounting. And “our guy” needs your help.

We’re not talking the Pennsylvania primary or Obama or Hillary or McCain. We’re talking CNET’s 2008 Webware 100 Awards on Web 2.0 products.

Skype did well in the voting last year.

And Skype has been doing more than kissing babies since then, launching High Quality Video, the 3 Skypephone, and appearing in the new Sony Mylo and the Sony PSP Slim & Lite.

This year, Skype is a finalist again.

Continue reading "Stuffing the ballot box for Skype" »

Everybody and his mother have a mobile device. Now the market appears to be moving toward providing them with Skype on their devices.

Jonathan Christensen, head of audio/visual at Skype in San Jose, CA., says the next leap forward for the mobile world will be “unfettered mobile IP access on open devices. There is now a chance this will happen.”

Christensen, whose team develops software for Skype calls and video calls, was the opening speaker Wednesday at the emerging Communications (eComm) show at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

He says that economic forces, including Federal Communciations Commission auctions of spectrum and flat mobile phone plans, “are pushing the market in this direction.”

He says this will mean people using Skype on mobile devices will be able to do “many of the cool things they can do on their computers with Skype now.” This includes video calling as well as sharing files, pictures, moods and presence, the ability to see if your network buddies are available or unavailable for your call.

“It’s happening now and Skype is excited to be innovating at the edge,” says Christensen.

Meanwhile, let’s contemplate our mobile future on Skype. Better put on our sunglasses. As the band Timbuk 3 said: “The Future’s So Bright Gotta Wear Shades."

Continue reading ""Unfettered mobile" Internet access will open bright new possibilities: Skype engineering leader" »

Last week, Oprah Winfrey’s foray into the New Age with spiritual teacher and best-selling author Eckhart Tolle went off the rails.

It was too much of a good thing. More than 500,000 seekers showed up to sit at Oprah’s and Eckhart’s feet. The plan was for class members to share their views via Skype video calls on the “A New Earth” event.

But there was trouble. The show crashed. A disappointed Oprah conceded there were “technical difficulties."

Don’t worry. It wasn’t Skype.

Despite the glitches, nearly two million people, from Afghanistan to Zanzibar, eventually watched or downloaded the first show at oprah.com or itunes.com.

Continue reading "Oprah goes silent again—but that's OK" »

I was looking forward to watching my fellow Chicagoan Oprah Winfrey using Skype for communications on her ambitious Webcast. I signed up at Oprah.com. I was good to go.

Oprah's project features spiritual teacher and best-selling author Eckhart Tolle on an interactive classroom Oprah.com. The 10-week program discusses Tolle’s "A New Earth: Get Ready To Be Awakened." I was ready to be reawakened.

Skype, along with GM's Chevrolet division and Post-It Notes, is sponsoring the Webcast. With over 750,000 registrants, and about a half million who showed up, this well could be, to quote Oprah, the world's largest classroom.

Oprah explains it all at Skype Campaigns.

Oprah's star power attracted 750,000 registrants from 139 countries, from Albania to Zimbabwe, and all 50 states.

Continue reading "Oprah goes Skype" »