Skypeweb goes live and is already infecting websites. Take a look at how it works on share.skype.com. What a difference presence can make to a blog. The Skype site requires you to log in with your Skype ID to leave a comment. That also gives Skype the immediate benefit of knowing who's checked in. As you will see from this picture it also gives them the opportunity to link to the commenters presence and if you click on the icon the profile information is exposed. That's pretty neat.

Note I blogged back in June 2005 about "The Future of Blog Comments". Some of this is now coming to pass. See also cocomment. So Skype, when can I add this feature to Skype Journal?

SkypeWeb is now officially available. It is supported in the latest release of Skype for Windows. To activate SkypeWeb, you need to turn it on. You can get your own Skype button here.

Skype Blogs: SkypeWeb is now available

Networking sites are already incorporating it. There is no cost to SkypeWeb and it is easy to implement. See the Skype Developer Blog for more instructions.

This is the Skype PR blurb and for another perspective the Bebo press release is contained below.

SKYPE AND BEBO JOIN FORCES TO DELIVER FREE IM, VOICE AND VIDEO CALLS TO STUDENTS WORLDWIDE

Bebo Launches Integrated SkypeWeb Capability for
Free Member Presence Detection, Internet Chat and Video Calling

San Jose, Calif. and San Francisco, Calif. - Feb. 9 - Skype, the global Internet communications company, and Bebo, the next generation high school and college social network, today announced an agreement to integrate SkypeWeb into the Bebo Web site as a free, co-branded Internet calling service. The Bebo-Skype Web service will provide Beboers worldwide with instant messaging (IM), voice and video calling and presence detection, which allows them to see other Beboers' online status.

"As the largest social networking site in the UK and Ireland, and one of the largest in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, we are in a unique position to enable high school and college students worldwide to easily connect, learn more about each other and keep in touch - all without breaking the bank," said Jim Scheinman, Vice President of Business Development and Sales at Bebo. "Since instant messaging, voice and video chat have long been top requested features by Beboers, we believe this new offering is a perfect fit. Bebo and Skype share a vision for simple, high-quality services that allow people to stay in touch and express themselves online."

With more than 22 million registered Beboers worldwide, Bebo's social network enables students to stay in touch with their friends and family, find long lost friends and meet new people. In addition to the Bebo-Skype Web service, members enjoy a variety of fun and helpful online applications that make it easy to remember birthdays, share photos & videos, blog, Bebo mail, discover new music and other interests and just hang out.

SkypeWeb allows people to see Skype users' online status and call or chat with them from any Web site and to Skype people from each site with the simple click of a mouse. More than 50 Web sites have integrated SkypeWeb to allow users to let others know when they are free and make it easy to reach them through Skype.

Available in 27 languages, Skype is used by people in almost every country around the world, and Skyping has become a global phenomenon. The latest version of the software has further simplified the Skype interface, making it even easier for people to see and speak with their family, friends and colleagues.

"At Skype, our goal is to help people build and sustain relationships online," said Saul Klein, vice president of global marketing for Skype. "SkypeWeb, launched today, is the evolution of this philosophy. Working with industry leaders like Bebo allows us to extend the reach of that vision, and we look forward to a long and productive relationship."

About Bebo
Bebo is the next generation social network that enables high school and college students to stay in touch with their friends, find long lost friends and meet new people. Officially launched in July 2005, in just 7 months, the social network has more than 22 million registered members viewing over 700 million monthly page views. The privately-held company is operated by an experienced management team in San Francisco, Calif. The CEO and founder launched one of the first social networking sites, Ringo.com which he later sold to Tickle (now part of Monster), and Bebo was recently joined by the former head of business development at Friendster. In addition, the Bebo.com team runs another word of mouth marketing site, BirthdayAlarm.com, which has 40 million members. For more information, visit www.bebo.com or email press@bebo.com.

About Skype
Skype is the world's fastest-growing Internet communication offering, allowing people everywhere to make unlimited voice and video communication for free. Skype is available in 27 languages and is used in almost every country around the world. Skype generates revenue through its premium offerings such as making and receiving calls to and from landline and mobile phones, as well as voicemail and call forwarding. Skype also has relationships with a growing network of hardware and software providers. Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). To learn more visit skype.com.

Skype is not a telephony replacement service and cannot be used for emergency calling.

CONTACTS:
Jim Scheinman
Bebo
press@bebo.com
415-581-0700
Skype: jscheinman

Syreeta Mussante
Sparkpr for Skype
syreeta@sparkpr.com
415-321-1865
Skype: syreetam

Do you want to add SkypeWeb presence status to your blog feed? Now you can. With the new version released today for Windows (2.0.79) bloggers can now program their RSS feeds to reflect their presence information. With many bloggers reading posts just in newreaders providing presence information there will increase your accessability. I'll upgrade the Skype Journal feeds soon. Similarly companies like Bloglines or Feedster may want to consider returning feed results where the bloggers status is online. Who will do it first?

Call enable RSS feed with SkypeWeb (see sample)

To call enable a RSS feed with SkypeWeb you need to add the following lines to your RSS feed:


skype:bluedude?call
http://mystatus.skype.com/bluedude

Put this within the node and just below all other channel attributes. To show your status you need to replace the name bluedude with your Skype ID. SkypeWeb is not released yet so you can only test it with my name. Skype enable RSS and Podcast feeds |

SkypeWeb quietly went live today for those that download the laterst Windows version 2.0.79. Still this quiet launch still has bugs. I wrote about my initial reservations in this post. For others you may just ask what the big deal is. Many will see this as catch up. Other Instant Messaging Services have enabled presence icons on websites for years. So why the frustration over presence now? The simple answer is commerce. I know of more than one Networking Site that is ready to go and add in Skype presence (we have, it is easy) however, with their large number of Skypers they are afraid most users would display a "?" or "Not Telling" status. They are also concerned about accuracy.

The button that means it is not ready for prime time.

Not Telling! A poor attempt at humor. Why is my status a "?" My status is not in question. In fact it is unclear what Skype is declaring to the world. For "Not Telling" is returned for both Skypers and nonSkypers. I'm surprised that nonSkypers don't return a 404 message. What it should mean is I've chosen not to enable it. The icon should just be a blue Skype. The larger one should communicate "buddies only". Similarly Skype could return a "not on Skype" button for non Skypers.

Adding Skype presence to your Site. This is an illustration of the buttons you can use.

My status
Bill's status
Skype VP
Skype Manager
Skype Boss

Status Accuracy: Networking Sites are also concerned about "status" accuracy. When you log off your last known status stays up. There is no notification to SkypeWeb that I'm going offline before my my system goes into hibernation. Thus without action by the user my last known status is broadcast. I could appear to be online all night. Thus we have a reliability issue. When I wrote this the status for two of the Skype employees was incorrectly shown. The third one is apparently not participating. That level of accuracy is unacceptable.

I know Skype has been told about these issues. They were reported to the SkypeWeb forum. So why launch a product that isn't ready for prime time? Is this to do with performance and release targets set in the Ebay deal? If so there is a performance system in place that is compomising both the brand values "innovative communications product", while driving the launch of features that are not ready for market. The net net is Skype is now turning out "me too" applications rather than pushing the innovation boundaries. Where does this push the innovation boundary?

Example:
1. Can I share that I am on mobile? I can with my buddies. Can I do it via SkypeWeb? Not at the moment. Why not? It already exists as a presence icon. Would this help solve the "hibernation" problem? No other IM system can do this. Thus it would have created added value for some users.

2. Enabling presence at certain times. Or the capability to set a default. Eg "Invisible" displays as "offline". I actually have (at least) three states that should be allowed. One is the "blue Skype" I want to indicate that I don't share my presence information or am not currently (eg. on vacation - could be an additional one). Second is I want to share presence only with my buddies but not globally. Thus offline is displayed externally with current status to my buddies only. Disabling my client provides the "?" that is not acceptable. The toggle for this form of presence should selective and reside next to the current "change status" toggle. In addition this secondary info should enable a ZIP code status. So now Skype can broadcast a local element with the presence/profile information. Then networking sites can provide some simple location networking too.

3. If we have mystatus.skype.com/ and we have http://skype:stuart_henshall?userinfo then why can't that info be mapped to http://myprofile.skype.com/stuart_henshall which includes my presence when it has been enabled? Add in location. Then we actually have the JyveCard capability option that was proposed ages ago. We also have a great mashup opportunity. One difference is that Skype would have to serve that. Why not do that for all SkypeOut account holders as an option?

Maybe the "bugs" explain why it went live today without any "noise". I don't quite get what's happened to Skype's great storytelling "spin". They used to be really good at this. I think they must miss Kelly Larabee. I know I'll get flack for being critical yet again. The issue is "supporters" are waiting and wanting a great Skype presence system. It seems they will have to wait some more time yet.

01.02.2006 version 2.0.0.79 Change Log

* feature: Web status
* bugfix: Dialog windows now use background colors from Windows Scheme
* bugfix: Accessibility: Contact mood text not in MSAA
* bugfix: Can not add a PSTN contact from History
* bugfix: Missing group name when hiding group
* bugfix: Contactlist: sort order does not follow local collation order

• 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 and commerce that cross the globe stay connected.
• BT's Broadband Voice outage for a few hours this week. What uptime constitutes phone replacement?
• Nuvvo shows SkypeWeb presence for teachers and students in their learning community. Now they're waiting for SkypeWeb to be rolled into an update of Skype 2.0.
• Warner Music Group (WMG) will sell ringtones through Skype. Skype still doesn't offer the ability to tailor ringtones to a caller, a group of callers, or to the time of day/day of week. So I don't know how the whole ringtone thing is. In addition, nearly all Skypers use PCs, so they get visual cues, making ringtones less useful. For the 40% of us who use Skype in the workplace, "Like a Virgin" is sure to make us popular among our colleagues. This follows Warner's general model for licensing music samples to mobile carriers. Are these licensed to all Skype users or just to those living in countries where copyright is enforceable?

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: "Phil Wolff, Editor of Skype Journal", "Member of the Wolff family", "student in Piedmont Community College Monday night Mandarin 1 class". Each identity's presence is customized for each requestor of that presence. Members of my bowling team can know I'm out of town. My family can always reach me. My colleagues can see me during office hours. SkypeWeb hides my cell phone from most of my clients but my boss and my big customers can always see it. Cheaper than voice mail and priced like caller ID or an unlisted phone number.

Stage 3 is where the money comes in. Shrink-wrap the SkypeWeb presence server. Let enterprises run and manage their own servers, inside the intranet, in their DMZs. CIOs should be integrating finely tuned presence into CRM apps, collaboration toolkits, HR/directory services, phone systems, etc. Licence to online markets (like Microsoft Live Expo, Craigslist, Amazon) who encourage conversation among like-minded buyers and sellers.

The eBay impact: Skype presence becomes a competitive advantage among sellers, especially for complex goods and always for billable services.

Developer ecosystem impact: This can become good for the Skype developer community, integrating faceted presence with other systems. For example, creating collective presence where quorums trigger calls and call negotiation where caller attributes, constraints, goals, and priorities inform schedules.

This depends on:

• Continued investment in SkypeWeb,
• Effectively communicating their commitment to platforming SkypeWeb, and
• Leading (or at least responding) to the other companies entering the presence space.

I'm with Stuart in being disappointed that SkypeWeb was launched with such a minimal feature set and no clear business drivers. But I'm hopeful and eager for more.

Will the SixApart TypePad hosted blogging service integrate SkypeWeb into their comments system when Skype finally releases their extended presence solution? I've blogged the benefits previously of integrating a Skype identity component with blog comments. Similarly, by creating a www.CommentPings.com to register blog comments, commenters would no longer lose the networking value of their comments as they become searchable. Skype-to-comments would also create the opportunity to introduce solutions for audio comments etc.

SkypeWeb is a new feature of Skype 2.0 that allows Skype users to display their Skype online status on a Web page, email, blog, any other HTML enabled content or any other Internet-enabled application.
 - Skype Developer Zone Blog!

Could SixApart abandon TypeKey in favor of Skype user authentication? Short term, that is probably a longshot. However, this blog would adopt "skype names" as an authentication approach in an instant. It would improve the opportunity for dialogue and offer the opportunity for multichats on any post to be opened (for those that "tick" add me to the multi-chat discussion on this post).

We know there have been discussions between both parties, while recently Skype moved their blogs to SixApart's MovableType platform. It continues to use Skype as its log-in authentication for commenters. Adding Skype authentication adds value. There are some management issues... like authentication to your Skype client rather than the Skype server that would be required.

Typepad and the blogger would get both the advantage of a profile and a more personalized way to arrange contact. It would also provide more opportunities for "commenters" on the same post or blog to introduce themselves. Something current systems with hidden e-mail addresses don't allow.

SkypeWeb, announced last year, will be launched officially in a few weeks. For now you can sign up for the beta at the Skype Developer Blog which will give you access to basic details.

That's enough speculation for tonight.

I'm reading the SkypeWeb Partner white paper with a jaundiced yawn. There is simply nothing new here. Oh some language tweaks provide localization for the display language. Beyond that nothing. Nothing we, the Jyve guys and others didn't talk about and begin prototyping almost two years ago.

Skype has chosen to centralize delivery of presence rather than providing a presence server on every desktop. This means you can't be selective with sharing your presence information while enabling presence, and thus makes it availabe to all. At the moment it appears to refresh quickly with a status change. So, if you know my Skype ID and I have enabled my presence info, you can check my status at anytime. You can also, without my authorization, put it on your webpage.

My status Skype VP Skype Manager Skype Boss

Note: Skype doesn't yet send an accurate status when logging off or when closed down. There is also no status for Call Forward active (which may or maynot be wanted).

There is nothing (bar decency) to stop anyone looking up every Skype employee and creating an online/offline availablity monitor. Of course such a directory set to refresh every few minutes may along with others put some strain on the presence system. The point is, when you put your presence information out there using Skype's approach, you have lost control of it. You have given it away free to be used by anyone. That's a lost economic opportunity. My presence, like my attention, is valuable and Skype's solution makes a mockery of it. Companies will just use this as another reason to source another solution.

Thus Skype has given away the opportunity to create a permission based presence system and also given up an income earning opportunity. Concurrently with the launch of SkypeWeb, Skype has failed to develop a workable channel for sharing temporary presence and access.

Sharing presence via SkypeWeb is very different to sharing presence with a few trusted sites. Example. I want to share my presence with my favorite social network, a business network, at work and perhaps in a familiy directory. There is no reason I should enable a call center to search Skype, check status and then ring me. Except that is exactly what is now available. Examples above presenting Skype employees online status. If they don't like it the only thing they can do is stop sharing.

To say it yet another way, Skype has missed yet another opportunity to share presence in a way that moves the game forward. As access to it is free rather than restricted, Skype doesn't act as an agent or broker my presence. I can't instruct Skype to only share my presence with www.skypejounnal.com etc. As a result Skype presence availablity won't help with aliases or with limited sharing of my presence and attention data.

If I'm missing something let me know.

Guest post by Hans Blaauw, The Skypeteer

[Editor: I'm sooooo sorry for spelling your name wrong, Hans. Corrected.]

UPDATE 13 December 2005: the download is temporary offline. Download Mood O Matic

With the introduction of the Skype mood field in version 2.0, I have come to the conclusion that this Mood field can be used for much more dynamic information to show to the world.

After enabling my Mood O Matic i immediately received a few people interested in it. This proofs that information in the mood field can be very powerful. (by the way, the odd looking dude on the picture is me the bluedude).

That's why I created the Mood O Matic. This software does dynamic mood by using Moodies.
Moodies are code snippets that update the Mood in Skype with interactive information. Information can be:

- items from a RSS feed;
- highest auction bid on a product you sell;
- output from a brainscanner :-) (Thanks Mat);
- information from a database;
- anything else...

The script Moodie can update the mood field by getting information from scripts:

Below you find some sample URL's to use:

http://www.skypeteer.com/moodies/stock.asp
http://www.skypeteer.com/moodies/skypestat.asp
http://www.skypeteer.com/moodies/cnn.asp

For developers
Developers can develop new moodies that are configurable through the main Mood O Matic interface. Besides that developers can write scripts that produce dynamic information.

Checkout the readme file in the VB6 moodie sample directory.

1000 beta testers wanted! Are you using Skype in your business? Are you wanting you combine your Skyping with a collaborative workspace tool? If you are happy trying a highly developed beta product then this is an early opportunity to get in the front door and build the future. Sign up at Verosee and DOWNLOAD without waiting here.

How would I describe Verosee and my initial experience? It's like Groove but with Skype inside. It's frankly the best wrapper for Skype yet released. It's also the best demonstration of what Skype has to offer when integrated into collaborative work platforms. What intrigues me the most? It's a potential Groove killer, developed by a smart team in Argentina under the radar of both Skype and I'm sure all the major players. A little imagination and one can see a number of strategic opportunities developing for Verosee. So join in and test with me.

What’s it look like? It’s a workspace. You can live in it and switch between workspace projects while managing all your Skype interactions at the same time. It’s effective for conference calls and sharing presentations amongst small groups.

What does Verosee promise? 10 related ones in my book.
1. Enhanced workplace and personal productivity
2. Multimedia call center
3. Multiple workspaces and Project workgroup optiions. Capable of managing document flow for example.
4. Group management from administrator to guest
5. Presence - new angles on managing Skype presence; location, workspace, document open etc.
6. Security architecture – Read their security document. Well thought out. Have to download to access it.
7. Now Windows, it will be cross-platform - java based
8. File synchronization (acts like a wiki for Word docs.) Versioning.
9. Desktop sharing – same document at the same time
10. Features to come include calendar, discussion, browser, photos etc.

Download Verosee here. First 1000. After that you will need to find a lucky buddy to start testing with. Verosee is a startup. They would like to get some early customers for their value added / premium services. If you are a business and testing, take out a short term license for everything and help them along. Nothing can make a smart bunch of developers take your more seriously than a couple of bucks. The price card is also something I’ve discussed with them. So feedback here or directly to the blog will be helpful. I believe their basic annual pricing is very reasonable at $29/ year with a demo option.

I'm looking forward to Skype's response. I don’t think Skype even knows they are about to enter the Groove space. Then Verosee is such a pretty integration and so well thought out you'd almost think that Skype's own UI designer had a hand in it (he's from Argentina too). While they have developed their own UI, it borrows from many of Skype’s best. Skype effectively runs in the background when Verosee is running.

Are there downsides? It’s a large file and does use some processing power. Although when inactive it appears to reside effectively in the background. After testing it for a week, I’ve found it stable. That’s not to say it will be without bugs. I’ve seen many Skype related plug-ins over the last year. This is definitely one of the most professional. It also reaffirms my belief in developers continuing to develop with and for Skype. Still, developers have learned. This proof of concept could just as easily be working with Google Talk if Google got on and released an API.

There's a new calendar+groupware in town for Skypers and it brings some slick new features with it. I met yesterday with the management team at Airena who took me through the paces on their Airset - Skype integrated solution for group management. AirSet software allows users to manage all their groups - family, work, social - in one place using a free Web-based service that includes calendars, address books, to-do lists and blogs. It's an interesting product and I've extended my testing to a group calendar for the Skype Journal and another for the family.

Airset was described to me as a "Lifeware" product for the small companies, and individuals that want control of their life but don't have access to MS Exchange servers and the complex systems that groupware traditionally requires. The more I've played with it the more it makes sense to me. I'm not part of a large company and yet I do need to coordinate calendars, and updates with others. Similarly, many social networking services for me are simply 'broken" as they don't integrate effectively with the events in my life. It's also responds quickly as a result of being "Ajax-enabled". I'll leave that to the real techies.

I'm pleased to see Airset incorporate Skype. By using Skype presence information and adding easy calling it provides a whole new dimension to managing events. It's also yet another illustration of where communications is going.

Thinking about setting an appointment for the group; Skype makes it easy to check online; potentially reducing time and adding productivity. By adding Skype, now voice services are integrated so instant conference calls or mulit-chats can help with what were once logistical nightmares. Airset is also demonstrating what "mashups" are all about. If you look deeper they are also hooking into Google Maps and tying mapping information to contact details. Thus uploading your contacts means you now have a map at a click for everyone.

A point worth remembering is you can manage your groups, (eg a groups calendar) and never ever have any of your contacts join up and be Airset members. AirSet will still send them messages and reminders. For those wanting to augment email reminders with mobile updates then Arena has a premium service which I'm sure is going to evolve to add a lot more. Updates are sent by email and SMS is ready to integrate with your mobile phone. Overall it synched quickly and easily with my Outlook contacts and calendar system. I even feel happier that I now have a backup for that part of my life!

There are other Skype related groupware products in the works. However, this is a strong signal (even late!) that companies providing other core services (eg an accounting package) should be racing to add VoIP functionality to their solutions. Another thing to keep in mind. Airena like others should be complemented for testing and moving forward with Skype and Google Maps API integrations. However, soon we are going to see IM agnostic solutions. Airset could just as easily cross connect different IM systems or turn their learnings to Google Talk or Gizmo.

So whats your Calendar solution? Does it integrate with Skype? Can you access it anywhere?

Is it all over for Skype? As Google Talk launched tonight with an Orkuttian viral shove provided by Gmail. At first glance it could be Skype's worst nightmare or the kick start necessary to refocus Skype. If you missed the buzz, Google Talk is the long awaited and predicted IM / Voice client. It won't be over for a while and the battle will take to the trenches with Yahoo, MSN and AOL battling to the end. This is a first salvo. Don't expect Google's feature set additions to follow Skype's path immediately to Telecom as Google has other opportunities sitting there within its empire. These are my first impressions.

• Extreme Simplicity. If you have a Gmail account you can just log in. The client is very simple.
  
• Find buddies quickly. If they are in Gmail then you can make hundreds of invites very quickly. Authorization is simple.
  
• Presence. Simplified and more intelligent than ever with customized field options that add new fun to presence. It's about time!
  
• Chat. Very basic, no emoticons etc. Still it's clean and archived and I bet searchable (if not now soon) by google desktop. Chat uses XMPP and thus iChat and Jabber clients can connect directly to Google Talk. You can also add it immediately to Trillian. (Trillian could be quite a winner). Guess that will put Google Talk presence on mobiles too!
  
• Talk. Talk is chat centric. Ie click to chat rather than Skype's click to call. Clicking opens a chat dialogue box. You then initiate a call from the chat window. Talk quality matches Skype and is better than Yahoo.
  
• Chat Window Organization. Windows self organize in an interesting fashion until closed.
  
• No profiles and no friendly pictures at this time.

How it really worked.

I had 8 conversations all around the world. Some of the voice connections didn't connect immediately and felt like they failed. There was just no sound. Sometimes the sound started after the call was connected for 30 seconds or more. This is likely just a short term bug. I enjoyed the inbound ring tone. Distinctively different from Skype. The invite process was very simple, building my list very elegant.

What's Missing?

From a Skype user's point of view: Almost everything. There are no profiles, no photos / pictures, no voice mail, no multi-conference or multi-chat. Plus there is no SkypeIn or SkypeOut capabilities. This is not a phone replacement. The multi-chat and conference calling should be easy to duplicate. The telephone system more difficut. However, each name is a SIP name and that is designed to connect with Vling and Gizmo project in a very short time. Plus with rumors around Google raising money, a TMobile USA purchase can't be that far away. That would provide a user base, the WiFi hotspots and most importantly the chance to integrate mobile numbers with VoIP.

Where's the Strength?

Talk is already integrated with Gmail and thus links nicely with IG, Google's personal content portal. So when will GoogleTalk have access to Orkut (profiles / social networking - pictures and profiles) Blogger (another place to share presence), Desktop (archive searching), Maps (location information) and instantly the whole Jabber/XMPP community. How quickly can Google bring these all together. Then they already have a photosharing program etc. Google has all the elements to bulk up to a Yahoo like client very quickly. Add in Ad Sense etc. Very neat models are likely to emerge. I heard from one punter tonight they had told their mother to buy more Google shares.

Developer Talk

Google has a great page outlining their preliminary plans and open strategy for the future of "talk."

Google's mission is to make the world's information universally accessible and useful. Google Talk, which enables users to instantly communicate with friends, family, and colleagues via voice calls and instant messaging, reflects our belief that communications should be accessible and useful as well. We're committed to open communications standards, and want to offer Google Talk users and users of other service providers alike the flexibility to choose which clients, service providers, and platforms they use for their communication needs.
Google

How does Skype stack up? Yahoo?

• Google may win on philosopjy alone (see above mission) or the resources in dolars and manpower. However today, while Google may get it's Orkuttian swell of new users isn't actually an acceptable replacement client for either Skype or Yahoo. Both do more better for their current audiences.
• On features, Skype is still ahead and if they would speed up their development and releases of call forwarding, VM improvements, Video, and their Presence Server they still have a chance althougth the market has shifted dramatically. Yahoo is bulking up however still does nothing really well. That may change.

Where should Skype's strategy start?

Open Up! By contrast with Google, Skype is on a philosophical back foot, well balanced. Being closed is no longer an asset, so Skype can compete only on its design, features and capabilities. To open up, the Skype chat client must adopt the Jabber/XMPP protocol, accelerating its interconnect and encouraging developers to "stick" / "start" developing products around the API. So far Google hasn't announced an API (count the hours). They will need one even if just for hardware. Skype will be forced to open up many aspects of its interface now.

The rumor of Google Talk appears to be rattling the cage at Skype and will shake some egos. This post reflects on Skype's latest PR release which opens the gates on new initiatives. Are they in response to Google Talk? I wrote this prior to testing out Google Talk this evening. I'll let you be the judge.

Party time at Skype over the next week.

...is preparing to mark its second anniversary next week by opening up its platform to anyone who wants to integrate Skype's presence and instant messaging services into their website or application. By opening up Skypes platform to the web, it will now be simple for anyone to connect to Skypes fast growing member base,.... Skype Anniversary Press Release

Underlying the fluff we find two new initiatives that indicate Skype is testing a bolder (or maybe reckless if the news is too premature) strategic direction. Certainly these components support Lenn Pryor's desire to build a broader ecosystem around Skype.

SkypeWeb: Creating a web of availability.

Skype will launch a web presence server solution under the name SkypeWeb. This will be supported in a new client release (we don't know when) which will broadcast your presence data via preferences in the client. Apparently a new bit of code in the P2P network will ping status updates every five second to a presence server. Presence information will be availabie in the form of an ATOM feed which will enable presence updates and also enable contact lists. All list detail is said to be controlled by the user. Thus the Atom feed will push presence data direct from the Skype client enabling contact lists for a circle of friends. The general idea space is good. Details? Client? We don't know yet.

SkypeNet: Stripped down client extends Developer opportunities:

Skype will open up presence and IM functionality to the whole world under the name SkypeNet. It's unknown whether this will include file sharing. SkypeNet is made up of SkypeLite clients --- a headless Skype client, without user interface, that can be integrated into any application. This should let you build Skype servers and web services. It should help Skype become enabled in programs like Trillian, make Skype more interesting for online game publishers, and create opportunities for business applications that need to scale. This is a huge gap in their architecture and, depending on execution, SkypeNet may fill it.

Some of the PR announcement is fluff. Skype has done a tremendous job of building and growing a software platform. Still, the combination of big deal buyers (Murdoch billions) and bragging on registered names (51 million) doesn't sit well with me. It hides the plain truths. Skype at two is still an upstart minnow. It's achieved much. Year One saw the launch of P2P telephony that just worked and free conference caling. Together these reinvented telephony. In Year Two we have SkypeOut, SkypeIn and the SkypeAPI and Skypers who want to do more with Skype. Today Skype has a global following in the 10's of millions talking for billions of minutes.

The industry clearly needs some metrics. However apples and oranges examples isn't the way to do it.

Skype's minutes served are currently flat. Active users are stalled. Releases with substantial features - voice recording, - call forwarding, work groups, contact lists, all seem to be coming along very slowly.

What is slow? From a developer's perspective progress may be very fast. However, from a Skype user point of view, many are now using Skype as a super telephone replacement, often for mobiles, so we expect all sorts of complex new features to be available. They are standard features on other systems. Now Skype adds these two initiatives. Expectations for Skype's next major client release are growing. We want it all and yet, two years after Skype first launched, I still can't do the things with it I dreamed I would like to be able to do.

So, Skype, please don't put your credibiltiy on the line with stretch announcements. The meme is still spreading because Skype is inherently good when I can talk to one or more for free. However, nothing kills a meme faster than the smell of desparation or an empty store. Telling me about presence servers and stripped clients is not the same as delivering them to me. The developer community has provided many gifts. I just hope when you blow out the two candles this week our wishes come true.

I'm really unhappy with the information architectures we adopt to display presence information. Many of you will be familiar with the work of Edward Tufte and his innovative displays of multidimensional and fluid data on 2-dimensional static paper.

We need to do better with presence data, because that data is going be become a lot richer. So, inspired by Tufte, let's see what we can do. I'd like to introduce to you my little pet Tod the Tadpole. As you'll see, I was diagnosed with disgraphia horiffica and have the drawing age of a 3 year old. Never mind.

(A friendly wag suggested this should be Simon the Sperm, but as a family blog I'll demur…)

What this does is adds some more dimensions to our presence display. The most obvious one is a temporal history of our availability. In the example, when the tadpole tail is high, you're available, when it's low you're not. The time scale is squeezed up as a log scale; the last minute and last hour might have the same pixel-width; the far end of the tail might be summarising whether you where around at all last week in just a few pixels.

This history is useful. If someone has just got back from vacation, you want to see that. If someone's online all the time, there's no rush to grab them; conversely, if they're rarely online and you see them come on, call them now!

The up-down movement of the tail is smoothed by adding some inertia; coming online doesn't make it zoom straight to the top, but applies a point force that accelerates it in that direction. (I guess some user testing would tell us whether "y", "dy/dx", or "d2y/dx2" is the right vertical scale.)

Day and night are shown too. This is important when buddies might be spread around the world and very mobile. I've drawn it really badly, but twilight and dawn would be light grey, whereas the middle of the night would be a jet black background. Tod is approaching sleepy time. Naturally, the lengths of the day and night phases would reflect your actual daylight at your current latitude.

You might even choose to colour the daytimes with weather-related information from the locale of the person, such as temperature hues or a pattern of raindrops.

The tail might also encode data about the nature of the presence, beyond being online or offline. For example, the red parts could indicate "busy" — i.e. typing, talking or dragging. (Just clicking in a browser might be regarded as the equivalent of being idle!).

Episodes of mobility, where such data is available from the user device or a network operator, could also be displayed, such as by using a dotted line.

Looking into the future, the background might indicate someone's predicted presence status. If their calendar has a meeting shown, add a border for "busy". If they're due to catch a plane, add a border for "away".

The "head" of the tadpole is also presence-enriched. If you're listening to music, a set of headphone appear on your head. Hey, the little sound-marks coming out of your ears could even beat to the music! Roll the mouse over, see what they're listening to. If you're on a phone call, it looks like you're wearing a headset. And so on.

Of course, the head icons would be personalisable for more immediate recognition. After all, they're your avatar. A great service would be one where you could feed in a normal digital photo of yourself, and it would do all the pattern and colour recognition to churn out a race, age and facially structure look-alike (assuming that's what you want!)

Facial expression could also come into it. A huge chunk of our brain is given over to watching faces, and it's not used much in today's presence and telephony. Don't show a clock icon when someone is away — make them look like they're dozing!

Ideally the head would have a contextually appropriate background, such as a stylised version of "home", "office", "car", "out and about" and "abroad". Tricky with a small icon, but possible if you allow a little more screen real estate.

Which brings me to my last point. Take a look at this miniaturised screenshot of Skype.

Yes, it's weeny. This protects the privacy of those careless enough to become my buddies. But more importantly, it lets you see the overall structure rather than the detail.

What do you see? A ton of white space! Is this vertical scrolled list the best possible information architecture for presence data? I think not. Now, I'm not sure what the right one is. You need predictability of location so you can find folks. You need to properly group and sort according to current presence status as well as tribal affiliation (different work, family and friend groups). There's a lot of variables, and an unconstrained space on which to display them. Other people get PhDs doing this stuff.

Why is better presentation of presence data so important? Because the toughest part of a phone call is the rendezvous. We often miss each other, play phone tag, have hurried "can I call you backs" (and don't). We often simply don't make some social calls for fear of calling at a bad time, and eventually relationships with old friends dissolve. Anyone who thinks telephony is just about creating a duplex audio stream isn't looking at the whole problem.

Anyhow, I eagerly await for someone to rise to the challenge. In the meantime, remember Tod the Tadpole next time you accidentally call someone at 4am — who isn't there anyway.

via Telepocolypse

Frustrated by not being able to share your online presence at your favorite social networking site? Want to add your Skype presence information and contact details to Typepad or Yahoo360 (not on Yahoo360!)? Perhaps even a business or calling card to your website or blog. Or include your contact information and online status as part of your signature in a forum or on an email.

About a year ago I wrote about a Jyve Card and have used it ever since on my personal website. When you click on the Skype Card button up pops a new window with my contact details, my online status and various ways to get in contact with me. A business card and mini profile all in one.

Click to open my Skype Card.
Which scaled down looks like this:

To get your own Skype Card, just do the following.

1)Download and Install Jyve WebTools Skype plug-in
2)After Download Jyve will start.
3)Follow this link to http://plugin.jyve.com/skypecard/
4)Fill in the form. Your current Skype profile information will already be included. You may change this if you wish.
5)Press save and copy the html at the bottom of the page onto your blog or webpage. Save. View your card. Make amendments.
6)As long as your Jyve-Skype plug-in is running your presence information will be updated on the card and on any website you choose to leave it on. For example it's on my RYZE page. Add it to a flexible platform like a wiki (sometimes you need to change the code), perhaps MSN spaces... whereever want to share your presence.
7.Manage your online Jyve presence status. Options include "in a call" disclosure and a independent status control.

The very observant will note there is a change from the first system that enabled easy and quick call back information. Messages are no longer sent to a central server. You must have Skype n Jyve installed to use the calling features.

It may have been a coincidence however yesterday I received a note from Richard Moross the founder of something called PleasureCards. I played around quickly on the site. What intigued me was the business model to get card printed. I liked less the highly structured control of the information. Still combine PleasureCards with a Jyve WebTools and some interesting new opportunities would emerge. What I'd really like for the Jyve - Skype Card is a format for creating it that mimics Google's personal page in beta. See this. http://www.google.com/ig The flexiblity to move elements around is what will really make products like these take off.

Ever miss an important Skype call? Want to forward your inbound Skype Calls to your mobile phone and are willing to spend a few SkypeOut minutes to do it? Jyve offers a quick and easy solution to make it happen. More importantly you can forward calls from specified buddies or anyone.

To add call forwarding for your Skype.

1. Download Jyve Web Tools
2. Activate the "Advanced ON"
3. Select Call Forwarding
4. Point Jyve to your phone number or the Skype name you want to forward calls to.
5. Make sure you have a paid up SkypeOut balance. You pay for calls forwarded.

Note the same feature will also act as a ringer. Ringing your home phone and letting you know that your PC has a Skype caller.

How does it work?
When Jyve Skype Forwarding is active, your calls will be forwarded to the number or Skype name you have specified. Jyve enables call forwarding by sending the caller a text message (well not yet on SkypeIn) that the call is being forwarded. Then Jyve creates a conference call, muting the mic and speakers on your PC and connecting the Skype call to your mobile or another telephone or Skype client. It's a simple solution. When the callers hang up the conference bridge ends. Jyve is then ready to forward the next call.

Jyve relaunched over the weekend with a new set of WebTools to create the first really interactive Skype enabled websites. Jyve WebTools is a free program that partners with Skype to do things you could never do before. From call forwarding to online "presence" data. You can download it here.

When Skype provided the SkypeMe button and linked it to a callto:// tag, many bloggers began asking for more. Presence indicators that show online status, the desire to get text messages rather than calls etc. It's also why I've kept pushing on "presence" and "presence strategies" for these solutions have huge implications for businesses. So here's why this version of Jyve is a big stealthy idea. It's the prototype for a revolution in online presence. Jyve may have a few months on Skype (it's in the works at Skype) and the Jyve WebTools will evolve. Jyve puts the control of "web presence information" and contact capabilities in your hands under your control. You can share it where you like and turn it on or off when you like. You can be offline on your website and online for your buddies. A first look at a future where you control your presence information and decide who will be your presence agent(s).

Real-timing Social Networks:
Jyve begins the process of "real-timing" social networking sites. When I go onto a website where I want to connect with others I don't want to wait for e-mail messages to be exchanged. While on many sites there are so few people online that there's nobody I'd be likely to want to talk to. Jyve WebTools have the potential to shake it all up and solve the Lavalife problem. Lavalife claim 8 million registered users and yet only 2000+ are likely to be online at any one time. Jyve creates the potential to connect with people who have registered for a site and yet aren't currently logged in. With Jyve presence activated you can get messages from people who are looking at your profile right now. Exchanges can become "real-time" with voice. Whether for dating, translations, meeting other people or for talking about specific topics, Jyve provides the potential for websites to make their profile directories more active. Just go to Jyve and see what I mean. Go to Jyve

What Jyve WebTools do:
Jyve is pioneering a new series of website interaction opportunities for Skype visitors. Advanced buttons enable Skypers to send voice messages, open text chats and even create conference calls just by clicking buttons you can add simply to your webpages. The same program also allows you to share your presence information. From "online" to "away" or "in a call", finally presence indicators on webpages are beginning to have meaning.

For Charles and the development team at Jyve they are the first with a stable scalable Skype presence product. Congratulations! I'm personally hoping that Skype pays real attention to the presence opportunity. I'm afraid that they will think short term and go after centralizing and providing their own presence servers. Instead where we really need the effort is in the Presence API and tying it to the SkypeOut account. In the meantime download Jyve and share the word. Go to the Jyve community and see them in action. This should give you some ideas of what a true Skype Interactive website could include. You now can also have the same functionality on your website.

Please explain Web tools and how to use them:
The web tools are a set of buttons that you can add to your website that make your site Skype Interactive. People can now imitate a Skype communication with you or each other through your website. There are buttons for Instant Messaging, Voice Mail and Calling as well as other useful Skype functions.

How do I get started?
You install the plug-in (1 Meg), takes 5 seconds. And you can interact with any site that has the advanced Jyve-Skype buttons. With the Plugin installed, you now can broadcast your Presence to any website you choose simply by adding your button to the site:

What do I have to do to get my Presence working?
Nothing! The moment you install the Jyve Plugin, your Presence starts working. And it updates in real-time. You have the ability to turn it On/Off as well as broadcast a different Presence to the web than you do to your Friends.

Note: Jyve is a program like other SkypeAPI programs which have access to all the data tranmitted though the SkypeAPI. Jyve WebTools currently update the Jyve server only with changes in your presence information.