I spent time talking to Dick Schiferli of Pamela-Systems today. He's had me trying out his latest profesional version of Pamela. He's looking for a few more beta testers before it goes live. Beta testers get a free pass for thirty days to try it out. Send an e-mail to pamprobeta@pamela-systems.com

Skype announced today a new affiliate program that pays you dividends!

How does it work?

Just set up an account with our associates at Commission Junction, and use our graphics or texts to link to skype.com. Whenever someone from your site buys or subscribes to one of Skype’s premium services (SkypeOut, SkypeIn, and Skype Voicemail), you will get a cut of the action.

• Skypers Unite! on LiveJournal.
• List of Skype-related Google Groups includes Skype in Africa, SexSkype, Skype Ebay, VoIP and Video Chat, and Skype.
• 58 Skype groups on Yahoo!

Where else do Skypers gather? ... continue reading.....

Kevin says Torrone finished most of his Skype Payphone project. Here's an 8MB Quicktime video of the Skype payphone before it takes money.

If you have a Windows Smartphone with GPRS (I'm waiting for the Symbian version) and an account like T-Mobiles unlimited $20/mth GPRS connection and love Skype then you will want to try out this beta. I'm sure this is the application I saw running on Niklas's iMate in Toronto. It's slick, it doesn't provide voice over GPRS, merely presence and text messaging. As a user of Agile... ... continue reading.....

Finally we are close to having our Mac friends participate in mulit-chats. You can download the beta via the Skype Forum link. I had to check out what Growl support is. Growl can display an attractive message on your screen Check out the application list here. Growl should enable mac lovers to really integrate a number of notifications with Skype. Hope someone writes up their experiences soon!

New version 1.0.0.30 of Skype...

Sharing files on Skype is easy, tracking what you may have sent is impossible for there is no history on what files and names were sent or received on Skype. That may be fine for sharing the odd photo with friends however for the 30% that are using Skype for freqent business use it actually becomes a problem.

Over the last few weeks we've been running a couple of different projects. Much of our... ... continue reading.....

• Aswath Rao's VoIP Daily article: Why Skype is No Different. Read before you pick up...
• Skype Security Center's Network Administrator’s Guide (pdf). "It contains configuration and operational information relevant to IT managers and network administrators."
• Columbia's Baset and Schulzrinne: An Analysis of the Skype Peer-to-Peer Internet Telephony Protocol (pdf). "This report analyzes key Skype functions such as login, NAT and firewall traversal, call establishment, media transfer, codecs, and...

Since nothing urgent happened at today's congressional hearing, I'll start you with the mood. [Ed. The self indulgent blather of a naive Capital Hill romantic exposed to the blunt realities of power and lobbying]

Some of you may know 2600, the hacker quarterly, and its Payphones of the World photos. Phillip Torrone of O'Reilly is building a Skype payphone for Make magazine.

• What features do you want in a Skype payphone?
  
• How do you collect money?
  
• How do you keep the costs down?
  
• Is localization a problem?
  
• Can you use the Skype user interface, or must you create your own? ... continue reading.....

Hi, I'm in a suburb of Washington, D.C. this week and next. If you're here and would like to talk face to face about things Skype or blog, Skype me or call 510-206-1138. Lunch, coffee, dinner, nosh?

I'm trying to attend tomorrow's hearings by the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet on How... ... continue reading.....

We at Skype, are very excited to present our first public competition. It's a competition for developers (that's software developers, not property developers). We would like you invite you to enter.

We're giving away 5000 Euros of cash prizes and in return we'd like you to use our API to develop applications that show-off the potential of Skype, and make it even easier and better to use in the future.

You can put...

I tend to say yes to new experiments and sharing ideas so podcasting is something I'm both experimenting with and willing to participate in. Richard Giles who hosts the Gadget Show out of Australia roped in James Seng and myself to talk about VoIP and Skype. From a technical point there's more background noise than I think should exist on a recorded show. It starts slow and probably gets better in terms of content.... ... continue reading.....

Finally! Skype has released a 30 page guidebook for Network Administrators. It is an "all you ever wanted to know about Skype" book. Simple, mostly non-technical language makes it an easy and quick read.

Topics covered:

Understanding how Skype Works

Make your network Skype-friendly

Configure the Skype software

Use skype safely and securely

On a page called Big Points for IT Managers it lists the discussion topics of:

Andrew Ferguson is a disturbed young man. Brilliant, but disturbed. Funny and innovative. But disturbed.

You know the email spam you get that says, please call this bloke in Africa to send him money to (fill in the appeal here) in the wake of (insert natural or national disaster)? Well Andrew decided to call. Using SkypeOut. Interminably. continue reading.....

Bill and I sat down with Jeff Pulver at VON Canada and began to get a real sense of his deeper passion for the IP community. We discussed developers and more. This post focuses on what’s wrapped up in our “freedom to connect”.

I was pleased I dropped my iPod/iTalk on the table. Jeff spoke at New York speed and my scrawl was no match. Since then I’ve also had a little time to... ... continue reading.....

Skype Journal confirmed that Skype users in the United Arab Emirates are blocked from the Skype.com web site. This prevents users of the Skype internet telephone system from buying minutes to call at highly discounted rates, of... ... continue reading.....

Martin Geddes wrote two posts that are must reads for those not shy about thinking, promoting, or strategizing on Skype. Down under we used to say just "stirring" like stirring the pot. He's doing a little more than that.

In the first post he points out why Skype isn't the next Netscape and points out the strategic power that Skype has to begin centralizing some functions. It's already building this with a centralized buddy... ... continue reading.....

There is the reported line and the unreported line. It’s not that CEO’s don’t tell the reporters where they are going, new facts sometimes get glossed over. It could be the world isn’t quite ready for more big Skype announcements.

My interpretation of Niklas’s presentation is the “themes” for what comes next are all there.

First a little history. When Skype first launched (Aug 2003)it was described as P2P telephony that just... ... continue reading.....

After a visit to VON Canada and meeting the two stars of VON Canada Niklas Zennstrom of Skype and Jeff Pulver the organizer I sense that radical changes are in the works. VON is not yet Skype’s stage at least not from the point of view of VON attendees. However, if Jeff’s message didn’t get through it soon will. Today you can’t have a VON strategy if you don’t have a Skype... ... continue reading.....

Skype released the Skype API for Linux today.

This is exciting for the Linux community, but it should be for device makers and users too. This new capability will open up a whole family of new, useful Skype Products like this. This new embedded market was highlighted by Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom, during his keynote address at the VON Canada Event in Toronto earlier this week.

The Skype Developer Zone just got hot.

Skype has made third party API developer tools accessable from their web site. This is a welcome and historic move for Skype.

Six products are now listed (including the Skype Journal's own Guidebook, Learning Skype's Plug-in Architecture

I believe we will see a lot more activity in this area as Skype takes its Developer Community more seriously.

What I would ideally like to see would be something that allows me to record calls, take notes and chat, and at the end of it all save everything together, so that when I rescan the call my notes and the chat are available to me.

I want to do stuff with the message.

1. Let me save it to my hard disk
2. email it to a friend
3. send it to another Skype user's voice mail.
4. Playback effects, like time compression, skip ahead/back, repeat last 7 seconds. Pause button, please.
5. Play back during another conversation.
6. Transcribe messages using...

1. Put Skype callto: links on the disaster web site, both in the directory of contacts and with each post/update. As important as phone numbers, especially when bridging long distances. This lets volunteers forage for the right contacts. The html is <a href="callto:skypename">skypename</a>
2. Pick a "tag" for your disaster. TSUNAMI. MADRID311. TOMDELAY2006. Something simple...

I have plenty of material to absorb. Some new learnings and no radical announcements. I sat through Niklas's pre lunch presentation and have just finished making notes from his hour long press conference. He's been the draw card here this morning although Tom Evlin injected some new thinking for many in the audience. See his post here. Bill and I will write up... ... continue reading.....