In October 2003 Michael Robertson of Sipphone (Linspire and MP3 fame) said "So Skype is a nice little experiment but it will get quickly run over by SIP.". It took him until now and Project Gizmo to try and address the Skype desktop challenge. So today yet another softphone client emerged. As expected from the founder of Sipphone he's positioning Gizmo as "giving" you... ... continue reading.....

Worldchanging is one of my personal blog favorites. This year they again turned their blog over to their readers (something we SJ could learn from) and I found myself with the opportunity to contribute. So with the Independence Day weekend coming up in America I hit the keys to encourage "Voices for Freedom".

Read it on WorldChanging, all the content links are there.

VoIP...

Last week at Supernova I ended up sitting next to a guy who really knew how to flood the back channel (IRC) putting his own spin on things. Just before lunch I learned he was Tom Coates, who consistently writes a blog with a great point of view. Yesterday I discovered he had paraphrased nicely what I'd said:

"I ask people two questions - 'what's your skype strategy?' and 'what's your presence strategy?'...

We're not lost. We're locationally challenged.

John M. Ford

So, at this moment, I have a place. A chair, in a room, in a building,... ... continue reading.....

Can this man make Skype work for developers? I met up with Lenn Pryor in the local Skype coffee office, down the street from their office in Soho in London a few weeks ago. The time... ... continue reading.....

This is a post about Skype's share.skype.com blog, and the comments features that I perceive to be a real opportunity. Jaanus has done a great job of not only launching the site but finding a flavor for posts that are nice stories. On that score I now have to think a little harder and that's not a bad thing. Still it is Skype's comment system potential that I really lust after. While I still... ... continue reading.....

"We do not have a comment" said a Skype Technologies representative.

Today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling says makers of tools that let users infringe copyright may be held liable for that infringement second-hand only if they promoted that use of the technology. So music and movie companies must prove the team at, say, KaZaA made a "clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement" to win their case.

I'm glad... ... continue reading.....

A Norwegian company IPdrum has been doing the rounds with a press release that enables you to connect a mobile phone to Skype and use the mobile as a gateway. I didn't get it until I read David Gardner's description where he states you will need two GSM phones and SIM cards to make it work. Here's my IPDrum conclusion:

By connecting a second cellphone to your laptop that is in the... ... continue reading.....

An Austrian company has released Jajah and Robin Good calls it a potential Skype Killer. After testing it today, I'm not so sure as it just points to another new opportunity for Skype to take on SIP.

However a couple of things are certain. As parasitic software (include examples like vSkype in this definition) attaches itself to SkypeNet, Skype's readiness for the strategic challenges posed are questionable. In one test today... ... continue reading.....

This looks cool. If you're travelling light and want to take Skype with you on a USB stick complete with mini-headset then this is cool. I've not tested it. I would like to hear from anyone that has bought it.

.... a USB audio device plus flash driver.... make/receive the Skype call at FlashPhone, save your chat history and transfer file in flash driver.

....Travel and drop...

User stories

• Buzzword of the Week: Backskyping = Backchannel with Skype. Suw Charmin's post on the value and overload of backchannels.
• A success story: Skype and vSkype help presenters prep for a conference.
• "Mom Skypes speaker at Harvard law conference." Mom, can I skype you back? I'm in the middle of something...

Digital Lifestyles reviews Skype... ... continue reading.....

Another reason to partner Skype and Firefox (the web browser of choice). Add Skypelinkify and making phone calls for Pizza off web pages just becomes a one click request. Skypelinkify activates SkypeOut calling capability to every phone number on any web page just by clicking. Let's give thanks to the guys at the Questar Developer Blog.

We have been using SugarCRM, and various VOIP solutions, among them...

Should kids be allowed to program Skype's future? Aren't they the ones likely to make it, and show us new ways of communicating? So why would Skype set up a competition and then exclude them? That's exactly what Skype has done and I wonder why they are doing it?

Even Microsoft recognizes 15 years olds under their MVP program, which has had winners from 15... ... continue reading.....

See David Weinberger, blogger and Internet philosopher.



See David interview Phil Wolff for C|net TV.



See Phil talk.



See Phil talk about Skype, Skype and political activism,... ... continue reading.....

Besides the fresh new face lift to skype.com you can find a new Windows release Version: 1.3.0.51

The Change Log reports:

• The word "Skype" is...

It was Fathers' Day around much of the world yesterday.

The present: vSkype recieved was purely informational, but for them it was an exciting day. Five days after launching their new video offering:

272,148 downloads. 1.6 million minutes served.

I believe this to be the fastest adoption rate for a Skype plug-in.

I interviewed the person I would dub the father of both Skype and vSkype, Mr. Venture Capitalist himself, ... continue reading.....

Two new announcements from Skype Portal Partners (Onet - Poland and TOMSkype in China) appear to confirm my thoughts about Skype becoming a Global Media Network player as apposed to a being a Global Telecom as Skype touts on their home page.

Onet Poland

Breaking news from Gdańsk, Poland with Skype Journal’s contact Tomasz Tybulewicz reports via the Polish media site WirtualneMedia... ... continue reading.....

Rolls off the tongue.

As of now:

• Total Skype Downloads: 122,940,494
• Users Online Now: 2,296,041
• Total Minutes Served: 10,001,423,810

Milestones to come:

• 10 million concurrent users online
• 100 billion minutes served
• 1000 registered independent software developers
• 1000 Skype employees
• Zero PSTNs blocking Skype.com
• Someone from Skype as Time Magazine Person of the Year
• Dell ships millionth mobile phone bundled with Skype
• Skype office manager retires in luxury four years...

• 285 lifetimes
• 333 million reruns of your favorite half-hour sitcom
• US$ 1 to 2.5 billion in long distance calls not paid to phone companies

What does it mean to you?

9999888778

Skype Journal confirmed today that the only Internet Service Provider in the Sultanate of Oman blocks its residents from web access to Skype.com. This keeps people from downloading or updating the software and from buying SkypeIn phone numbers, voice mail service, and SkypeOut minutes.

Omantel, the Oman Telecommunications Company, offered stock to the public... ... continue reading.....

We were off line for a few hours today while some of us were asleep and others were in transit. We ran into our ISP's bandwidth limit much sooner than expected. Funny how exponential growth can surprise you, even when you're thinking about it all the time. Thanks to everyone who Skyped us; we... ... continue reading.....

When will it roll over to

Streaming video of Stuart Henshall's talk before the London Ecademy (Windows Media Player) about presence, networks, and more. via cherryleaf's blog.