Here's three Skype products that aim to enhance your Skypeing experience that leaves me questioning exactly what I'm buying with Skype Certified. The three products are the VoSky Chatterbox, Jawbone Headset and the Motorola Wireless Interenet Calling Kit. Each provide a different angle on bettering the standard Skyper's headset and as you might expect each has their pro's and con's. VoSky Chatterbox. This simple USB device provides an easily portable plug and play speakerphone for ... continue reading.....

Phillip Zimmermann of PGP fame outlines the future for VoIP encryption. A few years ago it began with PGPPhone; now called zPhone. He's provides clarity on how to handle "man in the middle" attacks. His beta will be released at the end of February. This is definitely one to watch. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of ... continue reading.....

Brad Templeton on CALEA, the threat to VoIP. Fun presentation. Part of three that dispensed with PowerPoint slides and better for it. See also David Isenberg. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there) ... continue reading.....

David on Freedom to Connect a conference scheduled for early April. If you listen to both David and Brad Templeton then you will understand that "forces" are trying to take the innovative opportunities away. I say join the movement! Fats Pipes! Always On! Get Out of the Way! (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will ... continue reading.....

About to visit your family for a Chrismakah party and, on your way out the door, you realize: no gift. What do you do? Introducting the Skype Journal Labs Last Minute Privacy Shield. It's simple, affordable, and stylish. It shows you are plugged in to the public policy implications of our interconnected lifestyle. It demonstrates you care about your giftee's confidentiality, privacy, and digital identity. Recycled from recycled paper, so it is uberecofriendly. And it ... continue reading.....

I just received the following scary notice from Skype (Full text below). It suggests that Skype passwords for some users --- at least those that had also logged in at share.skype.com the Skype Corporate blog have had their Skype passwords and thus their SkypeOut account access compromised. Thanks to Kurt Sauer, head of Skype Security for clarifying: Fewer than 1% of Skype users were affected Only users who'd registered on the Share.Skype blog This was ... continue reading.....

I've been trying to embrace what my brother calls "extreme gratitude," in a Skype context. On this Thanksgiving day I'm grateful for: Skype the Provocateur. Showing VoIP could be a consumer hit, Skype lit a fire under hundreds of software companies, portals, mobile operators, cable operators, and phone companies. I'm glad they've unleashed a torrent of attention and resources to re-imagining and building the conversation economy. And I'm pleased I get to chronicle this revolution. ... continue reading.....

Whilst perusing my daily feeds, I see Kim Cameron bring up the following idea: When I was in Britain earlier this summer, I met Toby Stevens. How should I describe him? Can we invent the category of privacy entrepreneur? Was trying out the Skype 1.4 beta today, with auto-forwarding. You know, Skype is now in a position to re-intermediate the mobile and other carriers (for a fee!). If your cellular carrier doesn't "get it" and ... continue reading.....

Skype and its friends are making it much easier to record chats, calls, and even video conversations. And folks like the Internet Archive and Google are making it easier to host and find those records. I just have to wonder how Ariyeh Yakov Mendel will feel at his bar mitzvah about video of his circumcision being on the web for everyone to see. Kids are cute, but they are future teenagers, adults, job seekers, and ... continue reading.....

For the last few days I've been trying out Skylook an Outlook integration that works with Skype. It's an effective integration, enabling easy chat and voice calling from Outlook while adding additional features not seen with other Outlook plugins for Skype. Eg Look2Skype, and Skype's own Outlook solution. The benefits: Archiving: Skylook will automatically archive your chats into Outlook. It creates a folder Skype conversations and then records each session separately. I had hoped this ... continue reading.....

Have you Skyped because Skype is more private than most IMs and telephones? Are you Skype-enabling your web site? Are you using Skype in your curriculum? If you answer Yes to any of these questions, please share your story with me for articles on Skype Journal and other publications. Confidences respected. Skype Phil Wolff at evanwolf. ... continue reading.....