Products and Accessories for using with Skype.

Congratulations to the Jyve team who submitted a personal presence server with browsing and call forwarding to win the Skype Developer Competition. Full kudos to them. All the details can be found on the Skype site here. I certainly enjoyed supporting them during testing and constantly asking for more. Well done guys! Some of the others won't come as any surprise to Skype Journal readers, you have already read about them on these pages. Certainly shows the inventiveness and in some cases playful nature of Skype Developers.

Some of the other entrants. The only one I'm yet to try is the Dial MP3.

• Jybe, a simple and easy to use tool for sharing office documents and enabling real time collaboration over the web with Skype contacts.
• Dial Mp3, which allows you to listen to any mp3 in your collection on your phone.
• Pamela Basic, a personal assistant for Skype that answers calls and chats for you in 32 languages when you are away.
• Gizmoz, which lets all Skype users communicate with animated, 3D talking headz. :
• YapperNut Answer Machine for Skype ("Amy"), which offers voicemail, delayed messaging and allows you to receive and send messages when away from the computer.
• Spontania Video4IM, a high-quality video solution

Commercial Mentions:

• KhaosLabs - Free ActiveS COM wrapper.
  
• Columbus CRM (Skype integration with CRM solution)


• ISkoot (free call forwarding)


• Audiomatic (voice activated macros including Skype commands)


• SalesForce CRM integration

Do you want to make internet telephony easier to use and more accessible? Do you want the option of taking Skype calls on your home cordless phone (or any phone)? In my case I want the family to make cheap calls to New Zealand without messing with my PC and yet having simple access to SkypeOut.

Perhaps you are not yet ready to splurge on a DUALphone, although those SkypeOut minutes to global destinations are saving you a bundle.

Introducing UConnect, another great product from VoIPVoice. Now one device brings all the features of Skype and Internet telephony into the cordless phone you have on your desktop. UConnect brings all the neat features VoIPVoice has programmed to work with the CyberPhoneK and lets you use them on your cordless phone.

If you have a recent cordless phone with an LCD, UConnect will enable:

• Skype Caller ID for inbound calls for phones with an LCD.
  
• Easy access to both Landline or SkypeOut or easy dialing out.
  
• Easy buddylist dialing with voice activated confirmation
  
• Voice announcements of who's calling optional.
  
• Skype voice mail notification
  
• Second or third line (or more) with SkypeIn numbers.

UConnect is one of those devices that you look at and say... that's different. There's some sense to the design with its integrated USB connector (also comes with an extension cable) which makes it easy to travel with (use those non digital phones where still available in hotels) or simply press it into the back of a desktop PC. UConnect will work in both USB mode connected to Skype and or just connected to your landline.

Your computer has to be running for Skype to function. Don't expect the sound quality to be Skype headset like. This is not the fault of the device rather dependent on your cordless phone. However, PSTN quality (what your handset was designed for) will be perfectly adequate for the times you want to move and sit out on the deck talking.

UConnect is on the first Skype certified products. That means it meets Skype's quality charter and has met the requirements of Skype's certification program.

UConnect will be released shortly, at a price of US$59.99 which is competitive with competing devices which currently don't offer the same slick Skype feature integration. Watch the VoIPVoice store for more details.

Conducting a business meeting and one or more attendees are not in the boardroom but are availble via Skype or SkypeOut? If so, you have the perfect application for a speakerphone.

Maybe you have family members in a conference setting? Again a perfect application for a speakerphone.

In my experince, most calls using a boom microphone and speakers are not of good quality and often result in echo.

I just tested the Radio Shack MV 100 $39 speakerphone with JP White, a Skyper in Nashville, TN. I was very impressed. Even when he walked twenty-feet away I could hear him clearly. Same when he turned his back to the microphone.

Best of all, no echo.

No big surprise. The MV100 is a USB device using DSP technology.

I will pick one up tomorrow while I am in the Bay Area meeting with Stuart and Phil. Radio Shack closed all their stores in Canada.

Thanks for testing with me JP!

From J.P. White

At my end of the converstaion with Bill using the MV100 speaker phone, I found that turning the volume up too loud caused bad distortion of Bill's voice. I had to maintain a volume of about 1/2. I would have liked for it to go a bit louder but, at the price, it is ideal for a small conference room or home application. All volume adjustments and call initiation/answering are done on the PC.

Being a speakerphone you have to be cognizant of background noises that can interfere with the clarity of you own voice.

It can't rival a Polycom speakerphone but they cost many $100's and connect to POTS lines not PC's.

Shop: Froogle, eBay, Amazon, Radio Shack.

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.

MSMobile talks up the latest generation of MS Smartphones. Can Christmas come soon enough? Two reviews "announced" and then a more detailed review. Will T-Mobile get smart and launch these in the US?

Conclusion: .... - if operators will decide to do it. Presence of built-in Wi-Fi means that Skype client for MS Smartphone will be extended and usable also for voice - by now Skype client for Pocket PC had voice and for MS Smartphone not yet (still in Beta version).

...... join the Wi-Fi party, what is incredibly important considering that now everybody has Wi-Fi at home and there are many Wi-Fi hot spots available everywhere...

In the view of having built-in Wi-Fi, lack of support for UMTS is not critical, particularly as latest tests by mobile phone press proved, Wi-Fi is more important for end users than 3G...

msmobiles.com

Reader Jim Courtney referred me to Tom's Networking which reports on a new Cisco phone for Skype. Mark Evans obviously like the Canadian input too. We shouldn't be too surprised Mike Volpi of Cisco sits on Skype's board. Tom's suggest the retail price will be south of $100. That seems a reasonable guess. More importantly the connective wireless hardware is labeled with VoIPVoice. They are the ones behind the neat CyberphoneK Skype integration. My guess is we will see some surprises when this product releases in user functionality.

It's intriguing that an IM product that's had a voice component for years must launch a new version "with voice" and yet that is the message that Yahoo is promoting with the release of Yahoo Messenger 7.0 for Windows. As I reported on the beta version it's a big step forward and it does add real utility to Yahoo. Will it hold the tide of IM users flocking to Skype? Maybe. Is it enough to turn the tide? No not yet. Still it makes the Yahoo client much more sticky. Plus Yahoo has some integration options with e-mail and mobile IM that keep it attractive.

Two things Yahoo is really promoting in this release.

1. Free worldwide PC to PC calls. You can also buy a phone card although the integration could be better. Voice now works, often better than using the phone, however it's not well integrated, retaining a bolted on rather than built in feel. Example - the VM voice mail notification (you have to have "messenger" "show/hide" "seach bar") for it to be visible. The voice archives are difficult to find without this. There is no "events" notification. I can't identify how a YahooIn call (Future) would be handled, or how caller ID would be presented in the future. The downside of these additions is a lack of control over whether anyone can call or start a chat etc.
2. Photo Sharing: On the plus side Yahoo has enhanced how pictures can be shared. It's another integration. The more I think about it the more I'd like to see it in the actual client, Slide shows should be possible

Emoticons: Yahoo adds some new ones. They are nicely done.

Things I haven't checked but am curious about.

• Is dialup performance better than Skype? How's the voice quality stack up. Yahoo has many more dialup users.
  
• What will the impact on Yahoo chatrooms be? Will better voice change dynamics? Note the beta and previous versions weren't voice compatible.

Overall

Skype still has quite a lead. From recent reviews of new clients Jajah, Gizmo, Wavigo, Voipbuster, all these are lacking what makes for an easy-to-use telephone replacement. In Yahoo's case they have the resources and capabilities to blow Skype out of the water. Still it's only going to happen if they get the basics right and open up to the developer community. That's key if Yahoo is to get linked to the next generation of hardware devices now being released. Otherwise Yahoo could find themselves locked out of the future because they are not compatible with these upcoming products.

João Brogueira writes:

On 1 June 2004, Jean Mercier posted an article on SkypeJournal making an analysis of how many users are online at a certain our within a 24 hours period. This raises the question of how to register the values without being waked up during all night.

The same Jean Mercier as per request of Bill Campbell, of SkypeJournal, shows how to make a video to register the Skype window and the number of users online.

I was surfing the Web today and I found this very interesting post claiming to have miniSkype, a small program that can not only register these values but also export them directly to a database for later analysis.

In short:

1. Jirong Zhou posted a test program on his blog, likely written by others.
2. It logs in to the Skype network, without Skype.
3. It gets data from the Skype network, like the number of people online.

Let me describe the screenshot for you...

It is a Windows XP desktop and three windows are open.

Two stacked on the left are titled "miniSkype v0.0.0.01". They each have a Log In/Out dialog panel on the left, showing "shantou001" logged in with a five character password and a "Log Out" button. To the right of the dialog panel is a text box showing a log of miniSkype's activity.

The first window's log shows:

Login
listen on random port
connecting SkypeNet ...
SkypeNet connected

The status bar shows a "1", "3", "login success", and "305271 Online".

The second window's log shows:

Login
listen on random port
connecting SkypeNet ...
SkypeNet connected
Logout
SkypeNet not connected
Login
listen on random port
connecting SkypeNet ...

and then scrolls out of sight.

The second status bar is the same as the first except that the number of people online is 3047812.

The third window is an application, what appears to be a utility from Gunagzhou's http://www.sky.net.cn/, makers of personal firewall software. It shows open applications and their network connections. One of the instances of MiniSkype.exe (running on drive E:) is shown with both a TCP connection (open on port 1389?) and a UDP connection.

Accessing the Skype Cloud Without Skype?

So does this mean...

• Skype's access to the cloud can be reverse engineered? If so, we can write applications that can write and read to the cloud from servers or clients. So if Skype doesn't write a version for your platform (let's say the PalmOS, for example) you might write your own.
• Cloud data is posted in the clear? While conversations are encrypted, it isn't clear that profile data and presence status is. And, I'm assuming that MiniSkype didn't encrypt the login process beyond common https.
• The MiniSkype client successfully logged in through Skype's own admin servers? If so, can Skype be selective about which clients have access? Should Skype publish a Terms Of Service about touching the cloud? In other words, how should Skype sanction access to the cloud?
• Having accessed the cloud, what other data from the cloud is available? Everything described in the Skype APIs? More?
• Can MiniSkype ask questions about other people, the way the Skype client can see buddy list presence and profile information?
• Is this intensely cool? Widely important? Or dangerous?

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 would then be picked up by Google desktop search, however so far I've not been able to search them. Still the archiving feature is important. The downside - there are no real archiving controls. Topics, folders by person, etc. Additional work is also required for formatting.

Recording:
Skylook enables full recording and thus archiving of all conversations again into Outlook. The recording is effective and archived as an MP3. Skylook doesn't act as an answer machine, and while it provides warning when setting it to record all calls, you cannot control this on a record by record basis.

Message Forwarding:
Having the Skype records in Outlook makes forwarding a chat conversation or call easy. Simply forward as you would any email.

Presence:
Connecting to another Skyper is simple with click to call and chat options. Current online status is visible.

This product has not been Skype certified.

Overall an effective integration that goes further than others I've seen. Also a plus - it hasn't yet crashed my Outlook. On the reservations side I didn't like the privacy and profiling information that I viewed when I downloaded it. It said too much about cookies and gathering information for me to be comfortable. So while I've tested it, I'm uncomfortable about the data it said it may be collecting. So after testing it for one more day I'm going to restore my sytem to an earlier time. It doesn't yet have my trust. It will cost you money after 14 days.

How good is good? Whose opinion is best? When is bad simply due to poor lighting, a cheap camera, or a camera that is not adjusted correctly?

In the Tim and Niklas Fireside Chat presentation shown at AlwaysOn conference showing off the new Skype Video Application (watch it here ) was the wash out of Niklas due to his wearing a white shirt (that’s a big no, no) or poor colour rendition by the Skype Application (maybe Tim Draper’s tie settled this point)?

I don’t wear a tie anymore, and I certainly couldn’t get my fellow beta testers like Carlo and Peter to wear a tie, let alone a tie like Tim Draper’s . (grin) So we are designing some test tools and scenarios to evaluate and compare video applications. I thought I would share some of those tests with you today.

To eliminate the effects of lighting, camera and camera setup we use a Virtual Camera ( discussed here )to feed three pictures directly into the video application we are testing. The three pics test resolution and colour rendition.

Here are three sample tests using Spontania’s Video4IM Client:

Simple; effective.

For the time being to test frame rate we use the elephant movie I discussed yesterday here.

The best frame rate test is an Italian contact like Carlo. Italian's are very animated. So if you are in a video conference with an Italian and there is no pixilation you just know you have high frame rate! (Grin)

Choosing a WebCam

What web cam is best? That is a tough question. There seems to be no end of the number of web cams available with a wide range of prices from $10 to thousands of dollars fitting every imaginable application.

The word "ultimate" in the title refers only to supporting basic video picture quality while conferencing with Skype.

If you need more detailed information I would suggest looking at Home Office Reports who have compiled information on over a 100 or more web cams.

Webcams come in two basic varieties. They use either CMOS or CCD technology to capture light. If your budget permits narrow your search to those using CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) technology. This is the same technology used by the Hubble Space Telescope. They have excellent light gathering power. My Logitech 4000 Pro is CCD (price is about $80 US dollars). I can actually deliver a quality image in a dark room lit only by my two 17 inch LCD monitors. (Note the Logitech Quick Cam Zoom is NOT CCD! Even with a lamp shining in his eyes Carlo’s face is still too dark at night. But Carlo's cam looks just like mine...don’t you just love marketing people?)

My camera supports a frame rate of up to 30 frames a second. Most of the applications I test run at 15, but as the applications improve 30 frames per second will likely be more common so why not invest to have that extra fluidity in your videos in the future.

What resolution should you get? 640x480 or 320x240? Get the 640x480. Why? That is a big question. I suggest going here to find out why and just how much better one is than the other.

Update the camera driver. Even if you bought it today. Same goes for Microsoft DirectX, one of the most frequent causes of poor video quality according to Spontania Product Manager Mario Silva Sanz.

Tommorrow I will cover how your bandwidth affects video quality.

Ever press the dial pad numbers in Skype, but not have the tones work right? I wrote a tiny program that fixes it. Free. This is what it looks like:

You can download it here.

So the next time you call to order pizza, book movie tickets, or check your bank balance, I hope you'll use KhaosDial.

For more information or to leave some feedback, please see this post on the Skype forum.

By Peter Henning, Skype Super User and Beta Tester. Bucharest, Romania

Today we got a brand new toy from Skype, it is called Skype for Outlook. It integrates into Microsoft Outlook, the email and calendaring program in Microsoft's Office Suite.

This toolbar enables you to use Skype directly from Outlook and should work on all versions of Outlook beginning from version 2000 onwards on both Windows XP and Windows 2000. Skype for Outlook is a plugin for Skype therefore Skype needs to be installed on your system for the toolbar to work. As a side note, Outlook is a different product than Outlook Express which comes free with Windows and this toolbar will NOT work with Outlook Express.

Okay, nice new toy, but do you need it?

To answer this question you need to ask yourself if you are still using mail or have you moved on? To be honest I don't really use mail for personal communication anymore, but do get a lot of business related mail from people I know, which is why I love this toolbar.

Skype Staff have recognized that even though they use email less and less, some people and workplaces are still heavily reliant on email. This toolbar comes to their help in providing ways to make communication seamless.

Installation is fast

To install Skype for Outlook toolbar, just download it, run the .exe and follow the instructions. When you restart Outlook, you be will prompted to authorize an application called SKYPEOBE to use Skype. You should authorize this as it is essential for the toolbar to work.

So, what does it do?

One of the more important things about it is that it integrates Skype presence information into Outlook. Receiving mail from a contact and seeing that his is online can lead to a much quicker response and an increase in productivity to those who rely heavily on email.

Matching Outlook contacts to Skype contacts is easy.

To be able to associate a Skype name to an outlook contact just press the Looking glass icon on the toolbar. Skype for Outlook tries to find a match from you current Skype contact based on Name and Email, it if fails you can open the combobox and select it yourself. If you don't have the Skype name of that contact in your Skype contact list you can associate by typing it in. There is also an option to search for the contacts Skype name using Skype's integrated search feature.

Skype stores the Skype name information in the contact's radio phone field so you can complete this manually too.

There isn't any way of associating multiple Skype names with one contact, however I was told that this feature is something that they are looking into for the next release.

If you have completed the task successfully, clicking on an email received from Skype contact would show his/her presence and name on the toolbar.

Now after you have set up the associations is very simple to use. You can either select what you want to do from the toolbar combobox or you can just hit the appropriate buttons to call or send instant message. You can also do this by right clicking the email and going to the Skype for Outlook option.

The toolbar recognizes Skype contacts even from the cc and to email headers, giving you the ability to instantly call and chat to people who have received the same email.

You can also edit the Skype name either by manually modifying the Radio Phone field or clicking on the 'Edit Skype name...' option in the toolbar combobox.

Something that I found very neat is that Skype for Outlook enables you to call the phone numbers of Outlook contacts even without these being added to your Skype contact list.

You can also set the default country code so if the phone number in your contacts' profile is in local format (not in international), Skype can complete the phone number when attempting to call such a contact without your intervention.

Skype names and telephone numbers are also recognized in the body of an email, making it even more convenient for you to get in touch with whoever you want.

Care to start a group chat from email messages? You can do that too. Even chat topics are automatically set to the emails subject.

Credits

Special thanks for this product goes to Peter Kalmstrom who started working on an Outlook plugin for Skype quite a while back, drawing the attention of Skype management and having been hired as a contractor to develop this product. Recently he has been hired full time at Skype to continue the development of Skype for Outlook. Mat Taylor, Skype London, who manags the API and other third party develper's efforts helped do the engineering specifications and testing. Applause to both!

Other features include:

• Record journal entries for all incoming Skype calls
• Automatically add Skype callto signatures to outgoing email messages.
• Import contacts to Skype direct from Outlook.
• Open Outlook contact automatically for incoming calls.
• 
  

Later today, Skype Journal will feature another exclusive preview of another new Skype tool.

  Should you buy an Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard? With it you can make free internet calls using your regular cordless phone and Skype. Its already had many reviews done eg Hardware Geeks and featured positively in many blogs. There are also complaints and observations noted in the Skype Forums. Overall, I've had positive experiences using it. It's also a stopgap or intermediate solution before something much better is launched.

Where the Actiontec IPW really shines:

• You can use your cordless phone.
• You get a solid ring on the attached phone.
• It's easy to make a SkypeOut without going to the PC.
• You can put a landline call on hold and skype and vice versa
• Finally I can make calls out by the pool.

It has its faults.

• You need to be at the PC to connect to a buddy not on speed dial or to get any presence information.
• I can't listen to Skype voice mail via the Actiontec set up  Skype Forum.
• Dialing SkypeOut numbers is generally accurate although any pause in the dialing and you have to start again.
• While there is a speed dial function (you assign numbers to your Skype buddies) I'd prefer to scroll the list.
• No way to initiate a conference call from the Actiontec connected phone.
• If you unplug the USB it return Skype to Window's default sound settings and not the previous device used.

Net net, this is old technology that wasn't designed for Skype and has been adapted with some success. It provides the freedom to use the phone and if you primarily get inbound Skype calls and you're seldom at your PC then it could be just the product for you. Don't expect to text back chat messages from your phone. You will notice a degradation in sound versus Skype to Skype on headsets. However, you will be comfortable that it sounds just like a phone. Buyers considering the Actiontec should contrast it with a CyberphoneK, which can be purchased for similar money and provides better integration. However CyberphoneK doesn't lead to cordless solutions and is limited to Skype only.

In my case I use multiple headsets and handsets. This has made my desk a mess and the four-into-one USB is fully utilized. Right now I can't say I have a great solution for either "working mode" bluetooth with standard headset or "social mode" using a handset either corded or cordless. What I want is cordless, no cables, great sound and better range than I get from my bluetooth for daily work. I'm still waiting on the solution. It would also help to have a quick toggle on Skype or via a plug-in that would switch devices even while in a call.

From the Forums, someone innovatively Skyperized all the phones in their house.

We've disconnected our main phone line from the patch panel where the lines run to other extensions in the house. We've connected our Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard to a spare PC and simply plugged the phone line into the wall outlet. Incoming Skype calls ring on all our house phones, and of course, we can place Skype calls from anywhere in the house!

Skype Forum

Living the Skype Life

Does anyone know Roxy's Skype name?

engadget: Use DittyBot and Skype to access your iTunes collection from any cellphone (Mac). It works, but Om says you can buy an iPod for the same price as the added mobile minutes. DittyBot (cute name, cuter character) is another example of the willingness of customers to make their own features.

Russell Shaw explains 15 common Skype error messages.

For your inner Quant

The latest Skype stats:

• Total Skype Downloads: 122,320,159
• Users Online Now: 3,014,635
• Total Minutes Served: 9,947,864,820 (should roll over)

For contrast: 64 million Firefox users

Researcher Sandvine says Skype users rule North America.

• Skype users account for 35.8 percent of individual callers on North American networks.
• Skype calls account for 46.2 percent of minutes used.

also...

• Cape shows Skype now synonymous with voip, at least in the blogosphere. Poor Vonage.
• Skype is filling the void left by broken email.
• Xandros is adding German and French desktop Linux versions (with Skype inside). Skype's also shipping with the English and Spanish versions. When Skype is bundled with the operating system...

vSkype multiuser video chat free Beta release shipping now. See Bill Campbell's product review and exclusive interviews.

IPdrum promises a bridge between net and mobile phones later this summer. "Patent-pending technology to connect traditional mobile systems with Skype." Wholesale service or retail? via Engadget.

Skype voicemail came out of beta. New feature: Voicemail customers can leave voicemail for any Skypers.

Security? Om Malik re-voices concern about Skype crossing firewalls.

Skypes To The Editor: Online publication MSmobiles.com uses Skype for reader feedback. Leave a voicemail with your comments.

What's Your Skype Strategy? Blast from three months ago.

Coming this week:

• Supernova 2005 Conference. San Francisco. Stuart Henshall and I will see you there.
• Philadelphia Metro Telecommunications Enthusiasts Group Meetup. First meeting.
• CPSN'05 - The 2005 International Conference on Computers for People with Special Needs. Las Vegas.
• Internet Law 2005. The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Gnomedex 5.0. Seattle.

Today Santa Cruz Networks ships the beta release of vSkype, the first multiuser video conferencing extension to Skype for Microsoft Windows.

So begins the Skype Video War. What a cool arms race. There are three groups in the race. The IM people upgrading audio and video (AOL, MSN and Yahoo!), the Skype third party developers, and Skype itself.

Two weeks ago the story was Spontania’s Video4Skype release. Now Santa Cruz Networks realeases vSkype. This means the 40 million Skype users have these features, and Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo don't. CEO Stuart Jacobson says, "vSkype adds two cool new experiences to a Skype user: multi-user video and desktop sharing."

The screen shot below says more than my words can. It is an international conference I hosted from Kelowna, B.C. to: Opole, Poland, Toronto, Canada, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA, Sweden, and Bucharest, Romania.

I have been playing with and testing a pre-beta release of vSkype. It has been a thrilling week. Thank you Santa Cruz Networks ─SCN─ people for the opportunity and for putting up with all my whining and nagging.

Now I get to share with our Skype Journal readers the fascinating story of a development team who in eight weeks went from strategy to product deployment in the market. I’ll cover the product, the company, the cool features I like, test results and interviews with CEO Stuart Jacobson and CTO Barry Spencer.

First: vSkype is Easy to Use

This should look like a familiar process to any Skype user who has added a contact to a Chat.

A Skype chat message with a conference link is sent to all those invited.

Tip: In fact it would be a good idea to create a persistent chat for all the participants.

One click and you add another buddy to video conference as shown in this video conference session: France, USA, Poland, Sweden, and Canada.

Seasoned talent driving vSkype.

"We’re a group of battle-scarred veterans", says Santa Cruz Networks developer, Bernie Vachon, ex-Borland like 3 of his work mates and also an ex-Canadian from my neck of the woods. Interesting contrast to the younger demographics at Skype. CTO Barry Spencer, who has his hands around the core video technology, tells me, "I was employee number 23 in Lotus just ahead of Jim Manzi".

When asked what he brings to the table, Itzik Cohen, VP of Marketing and Business Development explains it to me this way,

"I am a 6 foot 9 former Israeli pro basketball player who was employee # 38 at WebEx. Video is the hardest thing to do on IP. I want to do what Skype did for video- just make it usable. The future is no more blind dates. We have a lot of interesting technology to make video a fun experience… eye candy, backdrops, gaming. We have a great leader in Stuart, who brings incredible wealth of experience and a calming influence, along with strong investor/board members like Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Robert Troy (Geneva Venture Partners). vSkype is just our first plug-in. We plan to release plug-ins for every major presence network out there. We have a consumer strategy and a strategy for business grade services."

These SCN guys feel like seasoned players!

Cool things I like…

1. It is encrypted end-to-end

2. Collaboration: I can share a PowerPoint or any other window on my desktop or even my whole desktop!

3. When one party talks their name under their pic changes colour

4. I can detach a video pic and resize it. Shown below. This is part of the vSkyper team at SCN. I detached Sam's pic to a separate window. Sam is the SCN in-house anthropologist. I guess they hired Sam for his videogengic eyes and Sam wanted to do a PhD thesis on old people in Silicon Valley! (Grin)

   

5. Best is last. I can do a video call with myself! This is just perfect for anal retentive testers like me. You get to tune your systen and camera without wasting any one's time. To make a test call to yourself just go to Start > All Programs > vSkype as shown here View image. The result is shown here View image

Results from the Skype Journal Testing Lab:

I like to test 4 key performance indicators. In the end you the user will decide what you like best. These tests are so our beta testing group doesn't end up deadlocked like the UN. Opinion doesn't count in this court. Nor do fancy PowerPoints.

1. CPU Utiliization
2. Resolution
3. Fluidity/Frame Rate
4. Bandwidth consumption

vSkype performed remarkably well. CPU utilization was between 5 and 10 percent.

Resolution even in a 5 party video conference call was better than 300 lines per inch View image (that's really good) and it did as well as Video4Skype on the eye chart test with viewers in a conference being able to read 12 point type.

Fluidity was just okay. Fluidity is the ability to move your head or hands without any jerkiness in the video. Finger test counts were behind by one finger (about half a sceond) so lip sync was not as good as I would like to see it.

Bandwidth consumption is difficult for me to rate. SCN use a neat technique called elastic bandwidth (that Barry Spencer is a clever fellow). vSkype uses all the bandwidth you have available which makes for a great video experience, but it makes it really difficult for us beta testers to do comparitive testing! All I can say is if you want a good video experience get a broadband connection with more than 128 kbs upload speed if you can.

Let's hear from SCN CEO Stuart Jacobson

Tell me about your corporate culture. You seem to be an older lot. How does your demographics compare to others in the valley?

Barry and I are a bit older but our average age is late 20 and early 30s. I am happy that you didn’t comment about our maturity vs. age. Although we are twice retired and living in Santa Cruz, we are still having fun!

Do you mean the Silicon Valley or the San Joachim Valley? The valley is multi-ethnic and so are we. We even have a Canadian on our team. We speak 8 languages among us. I have lived in India, China and Marin County. Itzik used to play pro basketball in Europe before a great run at Webex. He has lived in France and Israel. Jean-Marc was born in Paris and speaks with a real Parisian Accent. Alex is from Mexico. Our lead engineer, Jeremy lives here and in Russia. At the moment he is on vacation with his family in Germany – which is why you are seeing so much of Barry! We re as diverse as the valley!

What are the advantages of having a team of old guys vs 13 15 to 20 year olds?

Older guys don’t make as many mistakes. More important, they actually understand how computers work. Video is hard to do and still taxes processors. To make is work on the internet were bandwidth varies, and to make it work in more that just a P2P configuration, you have really understand how to manage resources and optimize instructions. Most programmers today use Java or VB. They don’t worry about overhead and do not have to know, nor can they know, what is really going on. Older guys learned how machines really work and know how to manage and optimize with scarce resources. We like to team experience and wisdom with energy and enthusiasm!

Why did Stuart Join SCN? Who found who? What unique things do you bring to the table? What gaps do you fill?

Communication is good for us all and can be a very profitable business. I joined because I think it is time to use the internet to help people communicate more often and in more ways and because there is a huge opportunity to win big. I was originally introduced to SCN by Joe Costello, our board member. Joe sat on the Saba Board. Recently I was also reacquainted with Robert Troy from Geneva Venture Partners. Geneva and Robert were involved early on with Oracle while I was their and funded old colleagues of mine who built the CRM business (Seibel and Salesforce).

Is an IPO on your radar screen?

No. I have been through 3 IPOs. Even if the market were right, my answer would be the same because it is not the right time to think about an IPO. At this point we are focused on building a great user experience, making real-time communications fun, finding interesting ways to encourage its usage in group settings, and making money.

From a Skype Plug-in perspective who is your end user?

That is a good question! One of the reasons we are releasing our product in beta is to better understand this. The Skype community is vast and wonderfully diverse. We are learning as we go along. Our colleagues over the hill in Silicon Valley are interested in using the plug-in to manage their outsourcing partnerships and clients in India and China. We have also had interest from various religious and special interest groups interested in everything from motorcycles to politics. We have also had interest from tutors and educators, especially those focused on teaching language. They all want to meet on line and in groups.

Are you a video conferencing tool, a collaboration tool or a content producing tool?

As you know, we have a large library of content and camera games that we intend to leverage with vSkype. We know that allowing users to play group camera games will be a hit in the Skype community. Our tools for conferencing are fairly complete and we think they will also be useful to Skype users. Collaboration is a big word and an industry on its own, our collaboration is light but useful.

At heart, we are a technology developer and our strategy is to enable our partners and their customers to utilize our tools to have fun, make money, and improve their customer satisfaction. If we do this well, we will make lots of money.

Did you know Tim Draper personally before you came to SCN?

No.

What is your vision for SCN at the end of 2006?

Our vision: People will come together on the internet and use it to communicate more and in different ways. As the internet becomes unwired, opportunity to communicate and share will grow. We want to be a core enabling technology provider facilitating this.

By the end of 2006 we believe that millions of users on all of the presence networks throughout the world will be using our products to communicate visually, meet in groups, play games online, and show their friends what they are doing right now!

Now let's hear from the CTO Barry Spencer

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When will you move to a P2P architecture like MSN did and like what Spontania have?

We already have P2P running. It will be an option included in our production release. We decided to start with the hard stuff first (a server solution that supports both one-to-one and large groups) and offer users a broader range of services – many of which can only be delivered using a server architecture. Once we determine how it is being used, we will optimize our P2P solution.

What are the advantages of P2P?

Performance may be faster with computers that are geographically close in a P2P environment. There also is no bandwidth cost, but this cost is dropping radically. The advantages of a server based solution are many and include groups, security, scalability, reliability, and better support and management in corporate environments (e.g. bandwidth control, firewalls, NATs, etc), There are also additional features that can be offered like centralized archiving, video mail, and games.

What is unique about your technology? Why did you build your own codec? There are some really good ones on the Market like the VP6 TrueMotion.

Our technology was designed to support groups and other add-on services such as sharing. Our technology has built-in QOS for the Internet; it constantly adapts to fluctuating bandwidth and prioritizes multiplexed data accordingly. It also provides centralized bandwidth control for shared connections. Our multipoint architecture allows us to cheaply scale to support large groups of up to 200 per call. Designed specifically for the Internet, our solution securely goes through firewalls, NATs and proxies.

The Challenge

How will 3rd party video plug-ins compete with Skype video? Will the war end before Skype announces their free video? Who knows? who cares?

For us Skypers the vSkype beta is on their web site. Go play. Get thrilled, as I did, by a new Skype experience.

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Many thanks to my Skype buddies Ben, Peter, Kevin D, Kevin L, Sanks, Carlo,... … the greatest beta testers in Skypeland whom I get to work with. Lucky me. - Bill Campbell. Skype me

Sociologists keep trying to explain that phones are a rich medium for research. My Social Fabric is a tool for helping you visualize, analyze, and manage your own contacts, associates, friends, and family. When was the last time you called your mother? Can't wait for the Skype plug-in. via the We make money not art blog, via Emily on Smartmobs. Visualizes the state of your relationships, including how often you contact people and how.

In the media...

Skype Me! (The Book), is coming out soon. By Markus Daehne of the German Skype forums.

BusinessWeek cover package for June 20, 2005: The Power of Us: Mass collaboration on the Internet is shaking up business.

The 35 employees at Meiosys Inc., a software firm in Palo Alto, Calif., didn't know they were joining a gang of telecom-industry marauders. They just wanted to save a few bucks. Last year they began using Skype, a program that lets them make free calls over the Internet, with better sound quality than regular phones, using headsets connected to their PCs. Callers simply click on a name in their Skype contact lists, and if the person is there, they connect and talk just like on a regular phone call. "Better quality at no cost," exults Meiosys Chief Executive Jason Donahue. Poof! Almost 90% of his firm's $2,000 monthly long-distance phone bill has vanished. With 41 million people now using Skype, plus 150,000 more each day, it's no wonder AT&T (T ) and MCI Inc. (MCIP ) are hanging it up.

How can a tiny European upstart like Skype Technologies S.A. do a number on a trillion-dollar industry? By dialing up a vast, hidden resource: its own users. Skype, the newest creation from the same folks whose popular file-sharing software Kazaa freaked out record execs, also lets people share their resources -- legally. When users fire up Skype, they automatically allow their spare computing power and Net connections to be borrowed by the Skype network, which uses that collective resource to route others' calls. The result: a self-sustaining phone system that requires no central capital investment -- just the willingness of its users to share. Says Skype CEO Niklas Zennström: "It's almost like an organism."

WaPo letter to the editor: Someone Pays for That 'Free' Phone Call

Regardless of whether one finds Niklas Zennstrom's unusual business ventures right or wrong ["File-Sharing Pioneer Turns to Free Internet Calling," front page, June 4], it is important to note that his "free" Internet file- exchange and "free" phone services are not actually free and require a complex infrastructure that is maintained and paid for by someone.

Jonathan Krim's article on Skype Technologies SA made it seem as though the lack of a traditional telephone network, with poles and wires and technicians, somehow means that Skype does not require any infrastructure to operate. While the service may be free to the public, the Internet on which it depends is a complex hardware and software network that is maintained by an assortment of private and public entities. This doesn't come free, which is why Internet users must generally pay a service provider for access and why many useful Web sites are festooned with advertising.

If Mr. Zennstrom had to pay for even a micro-fraction of the infrastructure that make his "free" ventures work, he would have been out of business before he started.

ERIC WENOCUR, Silver Spring

Skype makes friends...

Distribution agreements in time for summer... Mobile phone distributor Brightpoint, strong in retail and college markets, will promote Skype through its channels. In a similar arrangement, Intel will bundle Skype.

"Intel will revamp a heap of its software utilities and bits and bobs in the second half of this year. ... It will also introduce a series of promotions in the second half of this year, including Premium Video, Digital Media Adaptor, Remote Control - a Logitech Harmony remote - and a VoIP Skype offer as bundles."

In the world of products, a little irony: Packet conditioner and policy manager supports Skype. The same system blocks KaZaA.

Popular Telephony announces they're shipping what I call a "Something-Skype Right Now Product": PeerioBiz with Gateway for Skype Peer-To-Peer VoIP System for SoHo. This leverages Skype's hotness and user base, fitting Peerio's decentralized architecture. More telephony vendors will follow.

Another meaning for mobile: Skype on a USB memory stick from U3. Just made for the millions who use Internet cafes. And the rest of us who want to keep their personal Skype voice mail, contacts, and call logs off a company computer.

Someonenew.com launches the German version of their dating site.