Lenn came to Skype from Microsoft to build up Skype's developer relations program, a program so troubled Skype Journal gave it a nearly failing grade last July. All of the issues have been addressed, most of them dramatically improved under Lenn's stewardship. That's impressive given Skype's internal changes, the eBay buyout, and the relocation from Seattle to London.

Lenn blogged he will move to California to work on eBay's... ... continue reading.....

It's not news that Skype reports outages and problems. Those reports, scattered through its many blogs and forums, were hard to find. Bill Campbell wrote earlier about Skype's new Heartbeat page. Bringing announcements and status together on one page is excellent for users and for Skype's partners. Good job!

It isn't nearly enough, though. Here's what else I'd like to see:

Alerts of outages and problems. Push your... ... continue reading.....

I guess when the fourth person contacts you for your reaction to the week's network neutrality voting in the US, it's time to say something about it.

For newcomers, my reasoning why Network Neutrality is a last resort at fighting duopoly rent seeking can be found here. I won't repeat it.

Let me re-iterate something I said back in 2004:

Over time, the architecture of the telecom system will resemble the political...

It is called Heartbeat. Make a short cut. Whenever you have a Skype problem go check out Heartbeat. It will help you diagnose whether the problem is local or global. Very important information to keep your blood pressure normal.

Read more about Heartbeat from Jaanus here.

Platform neutrality isn't easy or even wise. PayPal achieved its success with eBay buyers and sellers in no small measure because eBay enforced it as the only alternative to cash or credit cards. The market power from that lock-in is one reason Yahoo! was forced to adopt PayPal for its own payment system.

Google Checkout's launch today brings... ... continue reading.....

Jaanus from the Share Skype blog warns about a two month old test version of Skype for Macintosh with video floating around. Buggy as all get out, hurtful, dangerous to your data, etc. Don't touch it and get your Skype software from Skype.com. Hat tip to John Maas.

A long sought after utility. "A Must Have Utility", says the author of Skype Me. Now you can switch between a USB Device and a Audio card or even multiple USB devices. Even in a call. A smple doble-click with your mouse or a short-cut key.

Neil Lindsey, is my Skype beta tester friend in Vancouver, Here is Neil's take:

"Bill, it installs in a blink of an eye. Every Skype user can...

Skype made a liar of me. It wasn't that I was "Not Available"; I was. Just not to you.

Skype and other IM presence is a broadcast tool, telling the universe how approachable I want you to think I am. But that doesn't work if I have more than one kind of person in my world. I may be available to my family, but not to that pariah of a cousin who I don't speak... ... continue reading.....

Time for a brief break from our voice communications obsession. As with any blogger, when writing for Skype Journal, I continually seek out tools that facilitate the blogging experience.  Ideally the entry of content, with graphics, should be transparent to the writer. However, while blogging tools make the experience somewhat more transparent, they still have some user interface issues to address. But I diverge.

Our blogging is... ... continue reading.....

Last week Microsoft cranked up the hype machine and had lots of people wondering if their announcement today would be something approaching earth shaking.  In the end it turned out to be about the consolidation of several communications related servers, such as Exchange and Live Communications Server, onto on Office Communications Server, available in Q2 2007. It was announced today so that IT and communications managers can start to plan architectures, hardware requirements and budgets... ... continue reading.....

Using Bubbleshare (well, you're all tired of Flickr, right? and it's a local product coming out of the Toronto area), I have finally organized my pics from the eBay/PayPal/Skype Developer's Conference two weeks ago.

Double click on any picture for a larger version and the slide show in a separate window. Enjoy!

This album is powered by... ... continue reading.....

By Evgeny Gorbarsky Moscow, Russian Federation. Manager of the Russian Skype Forum.

It is always nice to be the first to try out a new product. Recently I tested the Plantronics Voyager 510-USB. The Voyager ™ 510-USB is positioned as the first Bluetooth headset system optimized for VoIP that provides instant wireless connectivity to softphones. Per se, this first Bluetooth solution which does... ... continue reading.....

For those of you who only visit Skype Journal via RSS, we've been listing a few other places to read and write about Skype. There's always been Skype's own official forum in English. Two German language sites are very active: Forum - Deutsches and meinSkype.de. For Chinese readers, you must see the 9Skype blog's active comments, SkypeBBS, and SkypeU.com. New this week: the Russian continue reading.....

Hasan writes:

Skype Journal claims US-based Skype users can call anywhere in the world free for 30 minutes. Also, keeping with the American obsession with their military, servicemen are being equipped with skype starter paks. Personally, I find this obsession with war sickening, but I am certain that they find my taste in sport equally sickening.

It's a smart move on a few points.

• It's timed just before an American holiday,...

Skype on your razr?
incompatible today.
SoonR might do it.

Net neutrality
astroturfed, lobbied and shelved
telcos win again

fcc taxes Vonage
maybe SkypeOut too
Save the Internet!

pick friends well, Yahoo!
AT&T messenger
now with NSA

Technorati Tags: politics, activism, netneutrality, askaninja, ninja, rights, ebay, skype, skypejournal, freedom, access

The xing conference phone features four-way surround sound microphones. It is compatible with either a PC or Mac picking up voice from 5 meter (15 foot) radius. So you can walk around the room, work with a white board or a PowerPoint. In comfort; unconstrained.

Price point is $149.99 with an IPEVO online special at $129.99.

It comes bundled with with Convenos Meeting... ... continue reading.....

Seems like there are several Skype-related stories out this week:

Andy at VoIP Watch, in a post entitled Skype Giving More Away, has commented on the SkypeOut Internationl calling promotion that Bill brought to our attention yesterday.

In my view this Skype is acting more and more like a real phone company, using promotions such as this, which is clearly sampling. In many ways this is much like the old MCI or...

Over the years your Skype contacts list will grow and grow. Mine is over 500 now. And that's after constant pruning. A long list of contacts makes it difficult and frustrating to scroll to find a contact. Even if you use Grouping (I gave up on Grouping Contacts).

If you happen to be one of the ten million Skype Users who are red-green colour-blind (like I am) you will find this function absolutely invaluable.... ... continue reading.....

The eBay Live press room computers featured a version of Skype just for eBay users, release 2.0.41.107, no beta version yet. Its eBay tab is new, and points to the same kind of eBay-via-browser-in-rich-client experience you can find in Windows Live Messenger, continue reading.....

Skype made waves around the world last month with a free offer to North Americans. Free SkypeOut calls intracontinental. Now this:

Skype is offering its U.S.-based users one hour of free international calling to landline phones in 30 countries around the world. Until June 30, 2006, U.S.-based Skype users new to SkypeOut™, can make up to 60 minutes of free calls to landline phones in countries including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico...

When my daughter started up her new MacBook Pro a couple of months ago, the most impressive feature was the embedded iSight webcam. When you first create user profiles, capturing a picture of the user is one of the first questions that pops up. I have said previously that Skype is not fully supportive of the Mac line until they come out with a version 2.x of Skype for Mac OS X with full... ... continue reading.....

Peter Kalmström, Program Manager for Skype Toolbars, demonstrated several new (and forthcoming) features in the Skype Toolbar Suite to me during an interview at the eBay DevCon. The Skype Toolbar Suite includes Skype Email Toolbar; Skype Web Toolbar (Internet Explorer, Firefox) and the recently released Skype Office Toolbar