Skype Journal begged Skype to share their near term product roadmap with independent developers. Recently they've started to do just that, in private forums for their beta developers, at meetings of their developers' advisory board, and last night at their "Skype Night" for developers meeting at VON Boston. Normal caveats: everything is subject to change, we don't know what the new feature names really mean, and this all comes out for Windows first.

Here is the chart as projected for the audience.

Details from that slide.

The current release is 1.3, so 1.4, now in beta, is coming up in September. It will include better people search, help, expressive content (ring tones and the like) and basic call forwarding. UI and usability improvements: Improved GSW (my neighborhood emergency room uses this term for gunshot wounds), Improved Search, Improved Import Contact Wizard, Web Based Visual Setup Guides, Basic Dynamic Content (?), Login-by-Alias (?)

1.5 adds video (?), client-side web presence, and partner bulids (?) in October.

1.6 is the Novemer 2005 "Community Release." New: Simple Talk (client-side) and talk directories, social networking (?), dynamic content (http), and removing bloat from the client's software libraries.

Release 1.7 will feature "Talks and PIM" in December-January. New features: advanced talks on the client side, editable profiles and enhanced video. UI and usability: UI 2.0 (phase 1) and dynamic content p2p (?). On the web: tools for webmasters and blogs.

Unscheduled items: PTT, user rewards program, offline IM, shared groups, video mail, expressive content (phase 2), and phase 3 importers .

Deal done. Retail VOIP in the offing? Views later.

eBay has agreed to acquire Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA, the global Internet communications company, for approximately $2.6 billion in up-front cash and eBay stock, plus potential performance-based consideration.

Skype generated approximately $7 million in revenues in 2004, and the company anticipates that it will generate an estimated $60 million in revenues in 2005 and more than $200 million in 2006. For Q4-05, eBay expects the acquisition to be dilutive to pro forma and GAAP earnings per share by $0.01 and $0.04 respectively. For the full year 2006, eBay expects the transaction to be dilutive to pro forma and GAAP earnings per share by $0.04 and $0.12 respectively, with breakeven on a pro forma basis expected in the fourth quarter of 2006. On a long-term basis, eBay expects Skype operating margins could be in the range of 20% to 25%.

The acquisition is subject to various closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Full text of news release...

On Skype.com:

eBay to Acquire Skype

London, September 12, 2005 – eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY; www.ebay.com) has agreed to acquire Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA, the global Internet communications company, for approximately $2.6 billion in up-front cash and eBay stock, plus potential performance-based consideration. The acquisition will strengthen eBay’s global marketplace and payments platform, while opening several new lines of business and creating significant new monetization opportunities for the company. The deal also represents a major opportunity for Skype to advance its leadership in Internet voice communications and offer people worldwide new ways to communicate in a global online era. Skype, eBay and PayPal will create an unparalleled ecommerce and communications engine for buyers and sellers around the world.

“Communications is at the heart of ecommerce and community,” said Meg Whitman, President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay. “By combining the two leading ecommerce franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in Internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the Net.”

Founded in 2002 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Skype offers high-quality voice communications to anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world. The Skype software is easy to download and install, and enables free calls between Skype users online. Skype’s premium services provide low-cost connectivity to traditional fixed and mobile telephones. Skype’s software also offers a robust set of features, including voicemail, instant messaging, call forwarding and conference calling. Upcoming product innovations include Skype video, expressive content such as avatars, and customized toolbars for Outlook and Internet Explorer.

One of the fastest growing companies on the Internet, Skype already has 54 million members in 225 countries and territories. Skype is currently adding approximately 150,000 users a day and has created a thriving ecosystem of products, services, developers, and affiliates. Skype is considered the market leader in virtually all countries in which it does business. In North America alone, Skype has more users and serves more voice minutes than any other Internet voice communications provider.

“Our vision for Skype has always been to build the world’s largest communications business and revolutionize the ease with which people can communicate through the Internet,” said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder. “We can’t think of any better platform to fulfill this vision to become the voice of the Internet than with eBay and PayPal.”

“We’re great admirers of how eBay and PayPal have simplified global ecommerce and payments,” said Janus Friis, Skype co-founder and senior vice president, strategy. “Together we feel we can really change the way that people communicate, shop and do business online.”

Zennström and Friis will remain in their current positions. Zennström will report to eBay CEO Whitman and join eBay’s senior executive team.

A Powerful Ecommerce and Communications Engine

Online shopping depends on a number of factors to function well. Communications, like payments and shipping, is a critical part of this process. Skype will streamline and improve communications between buyers and sellers as it is integrated into the eBay marketplace. Buyers will gain an easy way to talk to sellers quickly and get the information they need to buy, and sellers can more easily build relationships with customers and close sales. As a result, Skype can increase the velocity of trade on eBay, especially in categories that require more involved communications such as used cars, business and industrial equipment, and high-end collectibles.

The acquisition also enables eBay and Skype to pursue entirely new lines of business. For example, in addition to eBay’s current transaction-based fees, ecommerce communications could be monetized on a pay-per-call basis through Skype. Pay-per-call communications opens up new categories of ecommerce, especially for those sectors that depend on a lead-generation model such as personal and business services, travel, new cars, and real estate. eBay’s other shopping websites — Shopping.com, Rent.com, Marktplaats.nl and Kijiji – can also benefit from the integration of Skype.

PayPal and Skype also make a powerful combination. For example, a PayPal wallet associated with each Skype account could make it much easier for users to pay for Skype fee-based services, adding to the number of PayPal accounts and increasing payment volume.

In addition, Skype can help expand the eBay and PayPal global footprint by providing buyers and sellers in emerging ecommerce markets, such as China, India, and Russia, with a more personal way to communicate online. And consumers in markets where eBay currently has a limited presence, such as Japan and Scandinavia, can learn about eBay and PayPal through Skype. Skype can also help streamline cross-border trading and communications.

With its rapidly expanding network of users, the Skype business complements the eBay and PayPal platforms. Each business is self-reinforcing, organically bringing greater returns with each new user or transaction. The three services can also reinforce and accelerate the growth of one another, thereby increasing the value of the combined businesses. Working together, they can create an unparalleled engine for ecommerce and communications around the world.

Transaction and Financial Information

eBay will acquire all of the outstanding shares of privately-held Skype for a total up-front consideration of approximately €2.1 billion, or approximately $2.6 billion, which is comprised of $1.3 billion in cash and the value of 32.4 million shares of eBay stock, which are subject to certain restrictions on resale.

The maximum amount potentially payable under the performance-based earn-out is approximately €1.2 billion, or approximately $1.5 billion, and would be payable in cash or eBay stock, at eBay’s discretion, with an expected payment date in 2008 or 2009. Skype shareholders were offered the choice between several consideration options for their shares. Shareholders representing approximately 40% of the Skype shares chose to receive a single payment in cash and eBay stock at the close of the transaction. Shareholders representing the remaining 60% of the Skype shares chose to receive a reduced up-front payment in cash and eBay stock at the close plus potential future earn-out payments which are based on performance-based goals for active users, gross profit and revenue.

The above-mentioned dollar and eBay share amounts are approximate, based on the Euro-Dollar exchange rate and eBay’s stock price as of September 9, 2005. The final value of the stock component of the consideration may vary significantly from this estimate based on the value of eBay stock at closing.

Skype generated approximately $7 million in revenues in 2004, and the company anticipates that it will generate an estimated $60 million in revenues in 2005 and more than $200 million in 2006. For Q4-05, eBay expects the acquisition to be dilutive to pro forma and GAAP earnings per share by $0.01 and $0.04 respectively. For the full year 2006, eBay expects the transaction to be dilutive to pro forma and GAAP earnings per share by $0.04 and $0.12 respectively, with breakeven on a pro forma basis expected in the fourth quarter of 2006. On a long-term basis, eBay expects Skype operating margins could be in the range of 20% to 25%.

The acquisition is subject to various closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005.
About eBay Inc.

Founded in 1995, eBay pioneers communities built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity. eBay enables ecommerce on a local, national and international basis with an array of websites – including the eBay Marketplace, PayPal, Kijiji, Rent.com and Shopping.com – that bring together millions of buyers and sellers every day.

About Skype Technologies SA

Skype, the Global Internet Communications Company™, allows people everywhere to make free, unlimited, superior quality voice calls via its award-winning innovative peer-to-peer software for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Pocket PC platforms. Skype is available in 27 languages and is the fastest growing voice communications offering worldwide. Since its launch in August 2003, Skype has been downloaded more than 163 million times in 225 countries and territories. Fifty-four million people are registered to use Skype’s free services, with over 3 million simultaneous users on the network at any one time. Skype Technologies SA is headquartered in Luxembourg and is growing its offices in London and Estonia.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements regarding Skype and the expected impact of the acquisition of Skype on eBay’s financial results. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the timing of the closing of the transaction, the possibility that the transaction may not close, the reaction of the users of Skype’s services, the future growth of Skype’s user base and public acceptance of Internet voice communication services, rapid technological changes in the Internet voice communications sector, the reaction of competitors to the transaction, global developments in the regulation of Internet voice communication services including those provided by Skype, the possibility that integration of Skype’s offerings following the transaction may be more difficult than expected, and the possibility that entry by Skype and eBay into potential new lines of business will not be successful. More information about potential factors which could affect eBay’s business and financial results is included in eBay’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, the company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to eBay on the date hereof, and eBay assumes no obligation to update such statements.

The eBay announcement:

***A New Way to Communicate***

I’m excited to let you know that eBay plans to acquire Skype, the leader in online voice communications.

Skype has set a new standard in online voice communications with
outstanding sound quality and unmatched ease of use. And like eBay,
Skype has a fast-growing community -- some 54 million Skype users
around the world already use their PCs to talk with one another.

And best of all, conversations between Skype users via PC are free. You
can get up and running on Skype in just a few minutes. Just go to http://www.skype.com/go/x.home to learn more and download the free Skype software application. Try it – it’s fun!

Over time, we intend to make voice communications a part of the eBay
marketplace – a huge step forward in making transactions faster and
easier, as well as bringing even more interactivity and humanity to the
eBay Community.

You can include your Skype ID in your About Me page. For now, however,
Skype links may not appear in View Item pages. We’ll be working with
you, our Community, over the next few weeks to thoughtfully work out
the details of how eBay and Skype will interact, including any policy
changes that may be required.

We expect this acquisition to be finalized soon. In the meantime, you can learn more about our Skype plans in the news release we issued just a few minutes ago.

Working together, eBay, PayPal and Skype will redefine online trade and
community. I hope you’ll join us in this exciting new chapter in eBay’s
history.

Sincerely,

Meg

Skype has an API. Flickr has an API. For the wishlist:

Before the conversation.

Flickr Caller ID. When someone calls or texts me, show me what they've posted on flickr. Show me their flickr profile in a "who's calling" browser.

Skype a Flickr user. Let me find someone to talk with through flickr. Show a user's Skype name in their Flickr profile. So I can chat or call them. The realtime version of Flickr Mail.

Sync flickr groups with my Skype groups. Groups of people are already defined in flickr. Let me sync a group in my buddy list to a flickr group.

Launch a group chat from flickr groups. One click, instant conversation.

Populate my flickr profile from my Skype profile. Location information, affiliations, home page, my "about me" box, etc.

Add my flickr interestingness rating to my Skype profile. So when people with interesting photos call, I answer.

During the conversation.

Social browsing of flickrspace. During a call, let one or more of the participants guide the rest through flickr.

Thread flickr log. Skype knows the Skype IDs of the people in the room, in the thread of conversation. Let me see a stream or collage of their recently flickrd photos. Add visual, topical and temporal context; the joy of flickr.

After the conversation.

Upload via Skype. Skype has encrypted person-to-person file transfer. Let me use it to upload pictures to my flickr account.

Flickr presence in Skype. Show when my buddy uploads pictures to their flickr account. And make it easy to launch from my contact list to their flickr page.

Flickr is, of course, now a part of Yahoo!. Will they be able to integrate openly with other communication services? Or will they succumb to the resources and convenience of Yahoo!'s Messenger platform?

Friday, September 2, 2005

FCC COORDINATING TECH AID FOR KATRINA DISASTER
Quick notes from conference call hosted by the FCC today about urgently coordinating resources and personnel from internet/wireless service providers to get communications networks up and running in in gulf states.

Lack of communications systems has been identified as a critical issue holding back aid, missing persons, law enforcement, etc. in crisis areas.

FCC personnel are working throughout the weekend to coordinate these efforts with private industry, with wireless technology groups, FEMA, and state governments in Mississippi, Louisiana, etc.

COMPANIES WITH TECH ASSETS AND/OR HUMAN RESOURCES TO DONATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AID IN KATRINA-IMPACTED AREAS SHOULD DO THE FOLLOWING

FCC Chief of Staff Dan Gonzalez (daniel dot gonzales at fcc dot gov) says

FCC needs the following information from would be tech donors BY NOON EASTERN [GMT-5] ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 3.

1) identify the provider (name of your company or group)
2) identify assets you are willing to commit
3) state clearly what assets you are technologically capable of providing (IP? data? voice?)
4) what your logistical requirements are to bring that to the affected area.
5) can you bring generators? if so what size? capacity? power levels?

SUBMIT THIS INFORMATION TO

PART-15.ORG (they have an online submission form to collect this data)
or wireless@part-15.org

contacts: Michael Anderson (wireless@part-15.org) 630-466-9090, and Claudia Crowley (ccrowley at gmail dot com), 817-292-0230.

Snip from part-15.org website:

The FCC and FEMA is in a desperate need to reestablish communications in the disaster area. More specifically, the metropolitan area of New Orleans and it's surrounding areas. What can Wireless access internet service providers do to help? We can reestablish internal communications and provide connectivity to all disaster relief efforts by installing point to point, point to multipoint links, IP Web cams to assist the police and fire departments who can not be everywhere in such a large area, VoIP phones to provide voice communications to relief personnel in remote areas and many other types of normal everyday communications that most people take for granted.

To accomplish these goals, we will need not only the License Exempt Industry as a whole, but local communities, major companies, and all others that can provide even the slightest of assistance to our teams.

Link

* One of the challenges the FCC faces is fact that the coordination effort involves multiple layers of bureaucracies -- also, that there has been no central point for directing available assets offered by private industry. Participants on the call included folks from Cisco, Intel, and wireless organizations.

* Another challenge: working with FEMA and local governments to ascertain whether it is more immediately effective to get old systems up and running, or create new temporary ones. Depends on tech behind communications system in question.

* FCC reps on the conference call also said they may relax some regulations (power restrictions, etc) but are concerned that the effort be coordinated centrally, carefully, so that various emergency communications "efforts don't end up stepping on each other" and causing more of a tech mess.

* Quote from call participant Jim Duncan, Cisco Critical Infrastructure Insurance group:
"Operational issue number one is fuel and energy. Convoy accident happened today with fuel truck heading into one area... getting fuel and power in is critical, nothing can happen in terms of communications without that. Communications priorities will include law enforcement issues, but also missing persons -- getting refugees access to webpages to unite missing families... Cisco is working with Red Cross to help them figure out how to get backhaul connectivity to hundreds of tent cities they're setting up..."

* Some call participants also noted that any volunteers who end up being assigned in the affected area should bring sleeping bags, water, food so as not to strain resources. Hotel rooms, cars are hard to come by. Tech experts who end up coming to the area (by way of coordinated aid efforts) should be prepared to camp out.

* SBC and other companies are working to get voice and data service set up for refugees at the Houston Astrodome. One provider of digital TV service will also be applying its technology to text messaging tools, so that people there can reconnect with families.

* Jeffrey Citron, CEO of Vonage, says his company has been donating gear and just got a hospital back online with voice services. They've been trying to round up a large number of wireless VoIP phones to distribute to first responders.

Related Skype Journal posts:

• Skyping KatrinaHelp
• Can Communities of Interest support Katrina refugees in diaspora?
• Katrina refugee telecom problems you can solve now
• Hurricane Katrina cuts a hole in the Skype network

Hurricane Katrina refugees lost more than property. They are uprooted, sheared from the close friends and hundreds of acquaintances that make the social fabric of our lives. We can help them reconnect with old roots and plant new ones.

Goal: Help people easily form "tribes" sharing common affiliations or goals.

Examples: Survivors from a neighborhood. New settlers in a town. An extended family. Schoolmates. Coworkers. Health care workers seeking certification in a new state.

Specifically: Make it simple to provide the online/offline tools that help groups form and sustain themselves:

• Phone trees.
• List serves.
• Blogs and wikis.
• Conference calls.
• Chat rooms.
• Buddy lists.
• Meetups.
• And directories so people can find and join groups.

Does anyone need a Skype API programming project? Just for fun? So I could:

• Be writing a note to a friend in Microsoft Word or sorting a list in Excel
• Print it out using a Skype2Fax print driver
• The driver asks me to pick a Skype ID or a fax SkypeOut number
• I'm offered a few other options, scheduling, resolution, cc, etc.
• I fill in the cover sheet
• Print preview
• OK
• A widget opens up showing the print queue, with my document ready to go
• Skype calls the number, and the fax machine answers
• Skype sends the image, listening to the confirmation and control sounds from the other fax machine and passing through the appropriate sounds generated by the Skype2Fax application.
• When done, Skype hangs up, logs the session, and alerts me.

What if Skype answers the phone?

• Skype sends the image as a file transfer and the cover page info as a chat message.
  
• When done, says "thank you" in the chat.
  
• Then hangs up.

I'll pay US$25 if Skype2Fax includes the ability to do fax broadcasts and will also let me receive faxes via a SkypeIn number. Bonus points for offering a PDF in Skype-to-Skype transmissions.

How long do we have to wait for an integrated Skype record function? Why can't I retain copies of voice messages I've left for others? How long should simple improvements to VM take? Gizmo while imperfect launched with a record function. Skylook provides an adequate recording system. Skypers must concludes this doesn't appear difficult. I'm sure the lawyers can write the clauses to hang us all should we abuse the functionality. Almost every new product releasing in this space has some recording functionality. On the one hand Skype is the Podcaster's friend. Look around you will find many Podcasters use Skype to record calls. So why doesn't Skype develop what we all want?

SkypeVM was launched in beta approximately nine months ago. I wrote the following "needs sorting" and posted it on Jan 18th. Other than the timer, all the faults are still there.

A few things still need sorting.

There is no time indicator for recording the message. With this there is no preview of the message. You blow the message it is gone! There is no getting it back. (Update, have the time indicator, but no confirm button still)

There is no confirmation that the other party got the message or when. If this is to be voice messaging focused rather than voice mail that may be a useful feature.

Even when I look in the VM file I can't tell who I may have sent VM's to or how many may still be outstanding. There is currently no "call list" update of who VM was sent to. I sense that I should get to retain a copy. On the plus side the encrypted nature of the file means it isn't going to be playable anywhere else. At least in the original format. I could send it to sound recorder etc.. but that is different.

It probably makes sense to put the VM record function under File/Options. It did take me a minute to find it for the first time.

Fix the in-bound call crisis. When I am leaving a VM for someone else an inbound call is simply a killer. It takes over the screen, you lose verbal traction and that message is going anyways... you can't stop it. Unbound Spiral

Skype may tell us they have many priorities. My guess is VM is underperforming with VM accounts actually tied to sales of SkypeIn. In fact Gizmo gives voice mail away for free. So does Yahoo. We also know that Skype Call Forwarding is coming. There probably won't be a charge for that as the cost will be in SkypeOut minutes. Will that auto forward voice messages? Or only inbound calls? Will it forward text to speech translations of chat messages? Say once an hour. (Not likely!!!) Will it limit forwarding to certain buddies? All things we don't know. Expect it to be simple. Expect it to underwhelm. SkypeVM at 9 months certainly does.

How could you turn my opinion around. Surprise me. Show me video with video messaging. Enable video recording along with voice recording. Integrate these features. Open up proprietary formats. Enable us to forward voice messages and video messages. Create an agree pubic / private release system. This will create new opportunities and push the boundaries again. Time to stretch Skype to the future!

What if Plazes had a Skype plug-in? What if Skypers could display their Plazes location in their presence information? Would that be cool / useful? What if each time you logged on you had an option of confirming your Plazes location? Thus Online Library vs Online Office, vs Online Starbucks Lafayette. Would this help to accelerate the building of a database like this. It confirms people's hangouts, and locations of importance for them. Wouldn't that make Skype instantly more sociable? Wouldn't that help Plazes to develop?

What is Plazes?

Plazes is the first global location-aware interaction and geo-information system, connecting you with the people and Plazes in your area and all over the world.

Could Plazes be made more interesting by integrating its launcher with Skype? Would timezones and location information integrate more appropriately within the presence info rather than the buddylist? Will Skype enable such services to add value to the presence fields? At a minimum, Skype should open up a presence field into which we can insert our own definition of a "presence" update.

Note Plazes already integrates Skype callto: features. Maybe Plazes and Jyve should work together?

She walks in and sees me with my headset on.

"Are you on a call?" she asks.

As it happens, I'm not. But maybe my headset needs an LED on top to show if I'm on a call, listening to music, or just inert!

A list of my 329,001 fellow IBM employees.

Alphabetically.

By first name.

"How do we scale up the number of quality human relationships one person can sustain by many orders of magnitude? In an increasingly connected world, how does one person interact with a hundred thousand, a million or even a billion people?"

Adrian Scott on Edge.org

Useful? No.

(Just an example, folks; I don't work at IBM. I used to work for Adecco, which employed 3.5 million people. You should have seen Adecco's employee directory around the year 2000, but that's another story.)

Let me clarify Skype's opportunity.

Overload.

Being true to "It just works" even when there's too much.

• Too many names in the cloud. Which Gupta do you mean? When there a billion profiles in the cloud, every query will turn up too many results.
  
• Too much information about each person in the cloud. Our profiles will expand to look more like CVs/resumes and biographies than business cards.
  
• Too many conversational media and styles. Not just phone calls, but phone+text, text+video, video+game+text, voice+blog+irc, voice+desktopsharing, stressanalyzer+voice, etc. How should I contact Bill about his article at this time of day?
  
• Too many inquiries or calls in a day. Can Skype help me be Oprah popular without being rude? Can I avoid distractions gracefully? Can Skype help me prioritize whom I should call?
  
• Too many changes to the profiles of the people in my contacts list. As my contact list grows by a hundred or more each month, people already in my list are changing where they live, where they work, what they look like, whom they know, what they do for fun, what they care about, what they've said and done lately.
  
• Too many contacts. How can I make sense of the 50,000 people in my address book? Can I find someone based on something said in a conversation we had? How are my contacts related to me and to each other? What should I do to keep our relationships current?
  
• Too many and too rich an archive of prior call attempts and conversation records. I text, talk, or vid with Stuart a few times a day. When did we first mention video when talking about Skype? When I've had Skype for 10 years, I'll easily have gigabytes of archives (after SkypeVideo, maybe by year end). How do I find those conversations? those urls mentioned or people quoted?

I have just two eyes, two ears, and 24 hours in a day.

Skype, please help me manage today's and tomorrow's ever accellerating information overload.

The more I live in Skype,

• the more I bring my work, family, social, and civic life into Skype,
• the more I depend on Skype across my mobile phone and laptop and TiVo and Xbox360,
• the more my memories are stored in Skype's logs and archives than my email or my brain...

Skype, please help me:

• Spend my precious time wisely.
• Find relevance.
• Discover and create meaning.
• Lubricate and propel my relationships.
• Hold more efficient and effective meetings.
• Help others do likewise.

Thanks.

So you are in a conference call, perhaps you have pulled members of your family together. You've been a voice mail subsciber for awhile and you think..... Let's just send so 'n so a voice message. You know the Happy Birthday song, the congratulations from all of us.. Well you get the following message. Cannot send a VM while in an active call. Would be a wonderful way to record and send podcasts too! What's that? Voice message from a conference call to multiple accounts. Skype as the distributor. Cool.

Another for the wishlist.

There are only 169 shopping days until Christmas. And I want to buy SkypeOut minutes for my family. On a gift card.

I want to give minutes from my account to a friend who has a SkypeOut account.

I want to give minutes from my account to a friend who doesn't have an account.

I want to give minutes from my account to a fund for Tsunami relief workers so they can call home.

I want to see if they've been spent.

Nice if they could send Thank You notes.

I want to give minutes to someone who can use them to buy a SkypeIn number.

I want to be able to turn down minutes.

Yeah.

Hmmm.

I'd like to do it from a client, something I write.

Using an API.

It would have to authenticate me, to start.

It would also let me

create a new account,

get my status and activity reports,

buy minutes,

transfer minutes between me and a friend,

lookup accounts and see if they're open to receive minutes,

display in various currencies, languages

accept bank transfers, paypal transfers, credit/debit card transfers.

Hurry, please.

Only 169 days until Christmas.

Yep I have Google on Skype. It's not the purchase or buy rumors. It's not a Skypebot this time either. It's simply Google Desktop search on Skype.

When loading up a new PC over the weekend I simply had to add Google Desktop Search back in. I then learned there is a new format available. a FLOATING TOOLBAR. I added it and it's floating over my Skype. It fits well... although I can't see Skype buying Google for this one. It does illustrate why I'd like to be able to add additional features to the Skype UI.

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, in a town, in a metropolis, in a province, in a nation, in a region, on a planet.

And I can move about. (Me walking about the room, waving arms, saying "La la la I'm moving about", then sitting down).

My Skype profile lets me pick a place in the world to call home. A country. And I can even type in a state or city.

But I need more. From the profile and from the Skype API.

I need:

• Lattitude and Longitude in my profile
• To search by proximity given a Lattitude and Longitude
• A temporary address, perhaps one that expires in an hour and that I can update frequently

This lets me build and use tools that do fun things.

• Find people who have similar interests that are near me. Think local sports ("Did you see that kick?"), grassroots politics ("there's a rally this afternoon; can you bring signs?"), religious fellowship ("can you make a minyan tomorrow?"). Harry Potter fans.
  
• Find people who are at a conference, even though they are not at home, to establish a conference backchannel.
  
• Put people search results on a Google map.
  
• People at a restaurant willing to do instant reviews of tonight's menu.
  

Uri Levanon and I were kicking around a few ideas. Here's one: Blog This Chat.

Imagine a chat window.

See those two buttons in the right column?

The first says "Edit and Post to Blog."

The other says "Post to Blog (MyCSS)."

Lots of chatter on Skypenet.

Some is blogworthy.

Let's make that easier.

The first button would copy the text of the chat to a blog writing tool or launch to a new-post-page in your browser. So you can comment and tune it up before posting.

The second would bypass the editing process and just post a draft to your blog. Bonus points: nifty formatting that makes Skype chats and chat archives so readable (CSS stylesheets and graphic assets).

How much would you pay for this feature?

How about if it helped you post your audio or video recording to your blog, filling out all the podcasting info?

SixApart, are you listening? Blogger? 20Six?

I suggested a bunch of video features that I wanted. A dozen of you took the survey to pick the top ones. Here they are, with a tie for second place and a three-way tie for fourth.

First place:
• Supertitles with my name and a title - like a newscaster.
Tied for second:
• Integrate with my calendar, reminding me of scheduled video calls
• Video-enabled voicemail announcements. Especially if they can be customized to the caller.
Tied for third:
• Let me play powerpoint and talk over it.
• Lurkers on a video call, people choosing not to share video but participating on audio or text only.
• Translator services, bridging language and culture gaps during a call.

Of these six, two bring other tools into Skype calls, and four help you overcome real life communication challenges.

OK, I've got the video bug. I'm excited. It's making a difference in my work.

But I want more.

Put the processing power and richness of a PC to work.

• I wanna be able to edit what I show on the fly, mixing in live sources (other web cams) and static assets (pictures, video files, web pages).
• I want to mix screen capture - a la screencasting - in with my video.
• I want to be able to do supertitles with my name - like a newscaster.
• I want to have video-enabled voicemail announcements.
• I want bumpers, those little bits of video they stick at the beginning and end of programs.
• I want to fade in and fade out.
• I want to lower the pitch of my voice by three notes.
• I want the text of a group chat to crawl up the wall behind me via green screen.
• I want a teleprompter.
• Let me play powerpoint and talk over it.
• Let me show a window from my desktop in a corner of my outgoing feed so I can show real time charts from live call-in surveys.
• Feed the audio of what I'm saying into a separate file and route it to my speech to text application, leaving a transcript.
• Feed that audio file to a third party web service for transcription and annotation.
• Automatically save the video from my call and make it easy to upload to a server in the background for vlogging and vlogcasting.
• Let me rate this conversation for adult content using one of the commonly used schemes from around the world.
• Activate an external device to let me know there's a video call coming in.
• Give me another actuator to indicate I'm On The Air (so those walking by know they are at risk of walking in front of the camera).
• Integrate with my calendar, reminding me of scheduled video calls
• Put a bug in my ear so someone in a separate call can feed me lines
• Serious backchannel support.
• Lurkers on a video call, people choosing not to share video but participating on audio or text only.
• Live relay service, transcribing speech to text in real time for the hearing impaired. Transcribing their sign language to speech and text for the rest of us.
• Translator services, bridging language and culture gaps during a call.
• Matchmaker services, that put two people together on the call, back away for the call, then, after, gently ask each party what they think of the other and share the feedback gracefully and politely.

Who will challenge the hardware market and put Moore's Law to use?

Care to vote on these features? Click here to take a quick survey. First 100 visitors only.

The marquee of the Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, California says:

"We salute W. Mark Felt, an American patriot and a hero! Where is today's Deep Throat?"

I was in the middle of some great General Tsou's chicken and the final battle in The Last Samurai when the phone rang. I paused the movie, swallowed and answered. It was a fundraiser for the wrong cause at the wrong time.

I wanted to be able to vote "thumbs down" on the caller, to affect their reputation, to reflect my frustration at their interrupting my breakfast (yes, breakfast).

Like other social networks, Skypenet users can benefit from an online reputation system. In the before, during and after Skype moments, you want to avail yourself of a caller's reputation.

• As part of a Skypenet enhanced caller ID, you want to screen potential callers. Screen using a bozo filter and white lists; for authentication (this is the real Michael Jordan calling); and for contextual screening (this call is for business vs. social vs. activism vs...).
• During a conversation you want to assess trustworthyness by context, for example I might trust you to sell me a collectible BB gun (an eBay rating) but not to watch my kids.
• As part of hanging up, I might want to give feedback to the caller, the caller's employer, the caller's professional network, et al; voting as closure.

As we become concerned about SPIT and telemarketing, reputation systems may play an important part and be a clear business model.

Questions:

1. Whose existing reputation systems do you trust?
2. What new ones would you like to see?
3. Which social norms for communication cross cultural borders?
4. And which don't?
5. Does Skype fail to meet or support cultural norms for telephony? How?

Grassroots activists found FreeConferenceCall.com in the 2004 U.S. election. As long as everyone pays for their own long distance call, it's free of service charges. They're now inviting Skypers to use the service. Their pitch: use SkypeOut to call in and cut your long distance charges to SkypeOut's $1.20 an hour.

Why not conference using Skype alone? Two reasons: scale and access. This service supports up to 96 callers at a time. It also supports Skypeless callers.

What capabilities would make a difference?

• The SkypeAPI makes it possible to program an app that lets me invite buddies to a non-Skype conference.
  
• FreeConferenceCall should be able to take Skype phone calls directly into a conference.
  
• Scale text chat to hundreds. When more than four people actively participate in a chat, readers can't keep up. The diversity of opinion within the flow makes it hard to follow threads. So design must address the cognitive challenges: information overload; thread clustering, navigation, contribution; peripheral vision and alerting; leveraging social and procedural contexts; turn taking, voting, and moderation.
  
• Augment with white boarding and desktop sharing. These features let parties to a call show presentations or demonstrate real-time screen captures. Some implementations even permit multiple users to share the same app. My dream would be a collaborative realtime wiki for a call, along the lines of SubEthaEdit

First off, let's look at writing. The American Management Association wants writing interns to write a book on making deals online. Has Skype helped you make a deal? If not, the you may want to swing by the World Association of Newspapers conference in Seoul. 29 May - 1 June. If blogging is journalism, what is skyping? The next day another conference, TrendTag (Trend Day) in Hamburg looks like a great time for quants and futurists. 2 June. For more events I find interesting, see my list on evdb.com, including The 8th Asia Pacific IP Telephony, Singapore, the Wireless Community Conference, Monterey, California, INBOX, San Jose, California (where I want to learn more about spam over IP telephony), and SUPERCOMM Chicago.

We all want more from Skype. A million Apple fiends are all goosepimply with excitement that Spymac is adding Skype, maybe to become SkypeMac? This popular Macintosh portal adds SkypeMe to its user profiles, forums, to push realtime conversation on news and user posts. I wonder what Skype video will do to portals and online communities? Or to libraries: 26 steps for effective web presence in libraries includes Skype.

Martin Geddes is craving a long list of Skype client features. He ain't alone. Jan's Tech Blog says Skype's SkypeOut Dialing Wizard helps you sort out international numbers before you spend those SkypeOut minutes. Build it into the next release, please.

I'm fascinated by Consumer Casting Conversations (fr) who are using Skypecasting for market research. via Franck Dumesnil. Reminds me of Sparkcasts' beercasting. Gregory Narain, are you listening?

Skype's shaking people up.
  Some band together: the Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association is trying to make the world safe for Skype and Skypers and others of our ilk.
  Others resort to force, as Hello Estonia sees it: Next call for Net phoning : Regulation. The idea of using Skype for emergency calls is beyond belief, per Richard Cobbett. "What wonderful, idyllic, crime-free world does he see in the morning, where technology is reliable and the internet doesn’t die on a daily basis?" Read Richard's "He’s got a gnu!" for a serious chuckle. All the fear mongering could lead to an Online Dating Patriot Act sponsored by True.

If you take comfort in your toolkit, Make your own Skype phone. Not for the faint of screwdriver.