As Stuart Henshall has been pondering the economics of attention, I thought I’d add in my own experience.

Way back in 1991 I had a summer student job at a small company called NextBase that produced mapping software called AutoRoute. I did sundry C programming, box packing and digital map editing. Soon after I left the founders sold out to Microsoft, getting considerably richer in the process. People paid big money — hundreds of... ... continue reading.....

Skype gets a new general counsel, Robert Miller, recently eBay UK director of legal affairs and formerly of BT. via TheLawyer.com.

For me and you Skype is about being free. For Ike, well she believes people will pay her to use Skype.

I met this charming lady Ike (pronounced Eeka) sometime back (we are both denominated as Super Users on the Skype Forum. She resides in the Netherlands.

I spoke with Ike late today. Just a few hours before she was to launch her new web site.

... ... continue reading.....

Skype will help its users sell and buy information and services. They are starting small with ringtones. And that's fine. This sets up the business relationships with music labels, shopping services on Skype and partner sites, accounting and billing, reporting and feedback systems. It's a chance to learn and experiment on the cheap, to become wise in the ways of helping Skypers play and shop.

Later comes selling entire songs for downloading, like Apple's... ... continue reading.....

The Skype Mega Conference is here. Now up to 500 people with Skype can participate in the same conference call. (Now how does that work? 500 talking at once!). Last week I met Ben Lilienthal who introduced me to Vapps and the premium service they are working to create. Despite the availablity of FreeConference.com, he believes that there is a viable market for this type of mega service. Over 100 is... ... continue reading.....

The first Skype Answering Machine has just received a timely 2.0 update and is now enabled with "Video Greetings". The video greeting is recorded by using your default webcam software. While premium versions of SAM enable call recording as yet there is no capability to record video calls. That may come of course in a future version.

This is a screen shot of SAM options. More details... ... continue reading.....

• Knowing Skype and its competitors may earn you the Product Manager – Mobile Instant Messaging job at Verizon.
• VoIP News: Phil Wolff Talks Skypenomics at the O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference includes a few highlights.
• YASP (Yet another soft phone): voipstunt.
• Chinagate-Skype, for the Chinese diaspora. Jaanus' post on the new portal partnership. Smart alliance; helping families...

Phillip Zimmermann of PGP fame outlines the future for VoIP encryption. A few years ago it began with PGPPhone; now called zPhone. He's provides clarity on how to handle "man in the middle" attacks. His beta will be released at the end of February. This is definitely one to watch.

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure... ... continue reading.....

The PayPal team outlined their approach to micro payements focusing on a new cost structure 5% + 5cents. They were the only eBay/Skype presence at ETel.

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there)

Brad Templeton on CALEA, the threat to VoIP. Fun presentation. Part of three that dispensed with PowerPoint slides and better for it. See also David Isenberg.

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there)

David on Freedom to Connect a conference scheduled for early April. If you listen to both David and Brad Templeton then you will understand that "forces" are trying to take the innovative opportunities away. I say join the movement! Fats Pipes! Always On! Get Out of the Way!

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many... ... continue reading.....

Phil's facts on Skype for ETel. Skype was on everyone's lips at ETel and yet many knew little about it. "Closed" was an anathema to many in the audience.

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there)

[Correction] Sean Egan leads the Google Talk Libjingle program. Before Google he led the GAIM open IM project. He talks of an API that is running ahead of client development. Great for developers.

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there)

Yahoo's new Messenger head talks about where they are going. Best quotable quote. There are more people in the US still using rotary dial phones than there are Vonage customers.

(Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there)

• Skype on your TV. mcePhone brings Pamela and Skype to the Windows Media Center Edition. Screenshots. 
• Clarification: France's ban of Skype in the university system "only applies to university research centers and laboratories, and not to the general student and faculty population.."
• The Unwired: Skype for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs moves from 1.2 to 2.0 beta "without adding v2 features." No video. Still No Symbian (Symbian runs on CPUs too slow...

I’m just stepping back a minute to think about what Emerging Telephony actually is.

You might have seen my earlier musings on the different philosophical underpinnings of “Western” telephony and “Eastern” thought. In an oversimplified nutshell, the Western approach puts the individual in the centre of the universe. The Eastern idea is to put the group in the middle.

I see “conversation” as being the shadow of a group. So future telephony may look... ... continue reading.....

So far this conference has fueled more ideas (for me) than any VoIP related conference I've attended in the last two years!

The O'Reilly crowd appears to have gotten the basic mix right for this first conference on Emerging Telephony. Perhaps the naming isn't perfect, but it is understood. On topics, they have continued to focus on the fringe and what happens at the edge. VoIP is a clear component but the discussion... ... continue reading.....

Gaurav Prasad, New Delhi. India

Lots is happening in India, most interesting stuff in Telecoms and IT related sectors. As of September TRAI (Telephone Regulatory Authority of India) slashed the rate of broadband connection to more 50- 60 % and there is talk convergence (which means single company can offer both telecoms and data services). Not surprisingly there has been 60 to 70 % growth in broadband subscribers base in India. The government has also... ... continue reading.....

There is plenty of interesting discussion going on here at Emerging Telephony. This is a quick post after a fun presentation. There is certainly a few marketing dollars targeted at this audience with T-shirts, postcards etc. I've been listening to the FON presentation which promises internet everywhere, Wi-Fi everywhere and the mission to build a WiFi nation globally. More than anything they are trying to build... ... continue reading.....

I was really impressed by the pitch from Tellme earlier today. (Although, despite them being great voice usability experts, their web site is a pile of Flash-infested crud.) I’d assumed IVR stuff was dull. On the basis you’ll get the best insights from the session that superficially is least attractive, I selected this session. Turns out it was a good choice.

I really liked the idea as telephony as the most intimate... ... continue reading.....

Skype is about to release SkypeWeb ("Hi, world, I'm on Skype!" on your blog) as a hosted web service. Right now it will just catch up with the neighbors (AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN all have presence services). This will be free.

That's stage 1 as I see it. Wide-open public presence.

Stage 2 adds a range of personal controls.

It starts with faceted presence. That's when I have more than one identity:... ... continue reading.....

Alec Saunders has a great writeup on the ballyhoo surround the recent Tello launch. He describes it thus:

The easy way to think about Tello is to imagine what Skype might be like if it were built for a business user. It’s a voice and IM app that can federate across multiple networks, support a heterogeneous universe of endpoints(hardware and software), and reflect presence information throughout the network. It’s a big vision. ...

An interesting panel on design and usability. Most interesting is BJ Fogg sharing his useablity thoughts behind YackPack. This is really a neat application. I'd heard about it but not followed it up in the past. In his case he's actually subscri bed to twenty six packs right now. The interface is very simple. He keep reinforcing taking things out that people aren't using. Basically... ... continue reading.....

I've just arrived at Emerging Telephony. Today various workshops and discussions are happening, tomorrow the conference formally starts. I've ducked in to an Asterisk hacks session. Not sure what I'll find. What I'm seeking is a sense of how adventuous the Asterisk community is and where they are going. There is a good crowd already here. I'd guess O'Reilly will be very happy with 1st show attendance.... ... continue reading.....

Skype broke through the five million active concurrent users today. Congratulations Skype. The growth continues. The next threshold that matters 10 million. Predictions as to when anyone?

For those of you new to Skype, active online users represents the number of users currently logged into the Skype cloud and available to take a call or text message. Most probably use Skype at least some time during... ... continue reading.....