In the news

The Washington Post's The Trail blog describes Barack Obama's "International Following."

Shailagh Murray notes: "The World Wants Obama Coalition of international and U.S. expatriate supporters has turned into a booming marketplace of campaign-related outreach -- mostly involving people who are not eligible to vote in the United States but who are transfixed by the Obama candidacy."

There are Facebook campaigns. After all the Man from Illinois has been a major presence with zillions of friends in Facebook. There are online photo albums.

And there are instructions on how to use Skype for get-out-the-vote campaigns back in the USA.

The instructions read, "Start by explaining who you are, and asking if they would be happy to talk, for example: 'Hi, I'm Justin from London, England, and I'm part of an international movement supporting Senator Obama. I can't vote in this election, but if you have a few minutes I'd love to talk to you about how a President Obama would improve America's standing in the world.'"

Meanwhile, we reported on Silicon Valley for Obama's use of Skype to reach out to voters.

Equal time statement: If anyone from the McCain and Clinton camps is using Skype, let us know. We'll rock the vote for them too.

The mantra at the Silicon Valley for Obama organization in Palo Alto, Calif., is: "Don't hide behind e-mail. Pick up the phone and call."

And Roger Hu, a memory chip designer, who helped start the group last August and is now an delegate for Barack Obama to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August, said Skype calls have become the backbone of the operation.

Continue reading "Putting Skype to work for Obama in Silicon Valley--and beyond" »

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" »

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" »

They may still be voting in Pennsylvania.

But that's only for Obama and Clinton.

The results are in at Webware 100, honoring the best web 2.0 sites, services and products. Nearly 2 million people voted.

And Skype won in the communications category for the second year in a row.

Skype has announced a new flat rate calling plan to 34 countries.

Here's where you can call for $9.95 a month:

Continue reading "Skype's unlimited calling to 34 countries" »

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 cables 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'" »

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.

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" »

Skype is for lovers.

Ask Rafael Nunez Sá Freire, 26, an adman in Shanghai, China, and Sara Stultz, 26, a graphics design student in Nice, France.

The couple were married in a civil ceremony in Brazil via a Skype video call.

Sara and Rafael met as teens in Brazil and kept up over the years as they moved around the globe.

As to the ceremony. “We saw everything and we saw parents and godparents sign the certificate. It was very exciting and funny at the same time,” Rafael told FOLHA Online.

The judge had performed weddings via proxy before—but said the Skype wedding was a first.

The couple plans a religious ceremony later in Brazil. Maybe they could have their friends in France and China attend via a Skype video call?

Anyone in the US have a similar tale? Wy not share it?

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" »

Is Skype in the sky a pie-in- the- sky idea?

Not necessarily.

Gogo, a new service being tested this year by American Airlines and Virgin Air, will feature broadband service at 30,000 feet.

At its website, Gogo describes how people will go online on transcontinental flights to check their e-mail, buy stuff, etc.

But nowhere does it mention the possibility of Skype audio or video calls. Huh?

Continue reading "Skype in the sky: Part II" »

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.

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" »

A couple years ago I wrote an article for the Chicago Sun-Times about a couple with a long-distance relationship that they kept going with Skype-to-Skype calls, coast-to-coast. He was in Seattle (Pacific coast); she in Chicago ("the third coast").

They would put on their wireless headsets and stay connected via Skype throughout the evening. They talked while preparing dinner. They watched the same TV shows and rented the same DVDs, commenting back and forth. They shared the silent moments. Together.

Continue reading "Ambient Skype: the next best thing to being there" »

The Hollywood Reporter says: “CNN puts Skype in picture.”

But it’s more like Skype put vacationing CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin into the picture on the hot-hot-hot Eliot Spitzer scandal.

Unless you’ve been dozing on a hammock in Maui, you'll know that Spitzer, who was known as “Mr. Clean” for tacking on corruption on Wall Street and the mean streets of New York, got caught on a wiretap relating to his illicit activities with a prostitution ring. Spitzer stepped down as governor of the “Empire State.”

Now the story behind the story.

Continue reading "What happens when “The Most Trusted Name In News” gets tossed into the mix with Skype?" »

When my cousin Ted, a computer engineer and genetic genealogy buff from Tucson, Ariz., heard I was going to be blogging for Skype, he had one question:

“When are they going to upgrade Skype’s Linux version? Like to fix bugs and offer video calling.

Ted didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

Skype on March 13 released the new Linux version of Skype for nerds like Ted.

Ryan over at the Linux blog spells it all out in his “Seeing is believing” entry.

Skype announced the free general release of Skype 2.0 for Linux with video calling.
You can Download it here.

Ryan says the new Linux version, available in 20 languages, also improves audio and fixes hundreds of bugs.

This will make Ted happy. Maybe we can spend hours at a time on video calls now, instead of just chatting about genetics on audio.

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" »