I am always happy that I did not buy anything (that was tough) last year. Or should I say the past 6 months... I am going to wait till one of those PDA/Smart phones states that it has been Skype certified and that it comes with Skype Out credit. As a gift... Or maybe I should just buy something now. Some remarks :

• no 3G support (no UMTS, no HSDPA)
• has EDGE (fast GPRS)
• has 802.11g (fast Wi-FI)
• has built-in GPS receiver
• has Bluetooth 2.0!
• very thin and small
• fast 400 Samsung MHz processor

Now that configuration will do for Skype VoIP communications, so why not buy something now and start saving on the phone-bill. It does do browser based authentication, yes? X500 Product Page.

No test report yet by Skype-gadgets.com. In mean time read this one.

I could do a long critique of every softphone out there, and there's plenty to pick apart. I thought I'd just select one little detail to show why the portal IM clients and Skype remain top dog: they just deliver what the user wants, no hassles.

Every time I log in to Windows I get this:

Go away! Shoo! Don't irritate me with unnecessary login screens. Fade into the background. I don't want to think about you until you're needed. (If the wireless Internet connection comes up too slowly, it also tends to crash.)

I suppose I should also point out some of the other usability issues. As Amazon long-ago discovered, the way you present the login/new user screen makes a big difference. If it's confusing (high cognitive load) people bail out, probably (rightfully) assuming the rest of the experience inside will be equally bad.

Gizmo fluffs this with a strange radio button layout. In the user's mind, registering is a different process from logging in, even if the information requested is identical. The drop-down text entry box is the wrong cue for creating an account name, because it implies a selection of existing data. (Yahoo is superb at managing this process in a crowded namespace.) Gizmo operates from the perspective of the programmer, not the user. Contrast with Skype:

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(The second of three posts on the newly released Skylook 2.0.)

Two legacy features carried over from earlier versions are the Skylook Answering Machine and Skylook Recording, both of which recorded Skype voice mail messages and calls as MP3 files.. Building on the experience with handling audio in developing these features, Skylook 2 has been enhanced such that voice mails can be incorporated into business processes for timely follow up and retrieval while Skylook Recording is an ideal solution for recording podcasts. The new features include:

• Recording in multiple formats: MP3, PCM, etc.
• Record the caller side or both sides of the call
• Split the recording of each side of a call as "raw PCM audio" into separate WAV files; this facilitates later editing of recordings as podcasts.
• Store audio files either in Outlook or in any Windows folder. This allows call centers to store files in Public folders accessible to all members of a call center
• In the Skylook Call Monitor window you can also store (free text) Notes to associate with the recording. These notes, which can be made either during or after the call, become searchable tags that facilitate later retrieval of audio files.
• When deploying Skype Answering Machine a voice mail (optionally from designated callers) can be automatically forwarded to any designated email address as an attached MP3 file.

As with earlier versions of Skylook all Answering Machine and Recording activity is archived within Outlook.

If you are looking for more than simply receiving voice mail and want to not only have several recording options but also have all your call activity archived for later search retrieval, Skylook 2 offers some interesting value-add features, especially for call centers, customer support operations and podcast producers.

First Post: Skylook 2 - Building Business Processes Around Skype

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I like the new USB speakerphone for Skype Kensington is shipping the United States. The Kensington Vo300 USB Internet Speakerphone (product code K33378US) is small, unassuming, very fast to set up, and tightly integrated with Skype for Windows XP, release 2.6 or later, MSRP $89.99.

Designed for laptop users so it emphasizes mobility. Just for scale, I took a snapshot of it on my stove (left). It's 5 inches wide (13 cm), 4-3/8 inch high(11 cm), and less than an inch thick (2.25 cm).

Kensington's distribution muscle will make this one of the most visible products in consumer electronics. Now at Amazon ($70), soon at Office Depot ($76) and Best Buy.

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Yesterday Andy posted a reference to an article in today's San Jose Mercury News about various new "mobile lifestyle" companies that want to change the way we are using phones. But Michael Arrington has made an excellent point in stating that:

A bunch of VOIP services have launched to help people make cheaper calls from normal phones. None of them are compelling for the mass market.

The question any VC's need to ask when considering funding of any of these startups is "How do you intend to readily migrate these services into the mass market?".  This is a market that fundamentally picks up a handset, "dials" a number (or looks it up in an embedded directory to dial) and makes contact with the called party. Unless it can perform this basic simple algorithm for establishing a voice connection, additional services and features become technology showcases without hope for any mass adoption (and all the associated revenue opportunities).

Over the past three months I have had the opportunity to use the VoIPVoice UConnect when in my office and their CyberSpeaker W Skype phone when on the road. (Both use the same driver software and start with a standard telephone keypad user interface.) Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to preview what is coming out this fall in cordless phones. As mentioned previously I am evaluating some relatively new wireless devices. Over the past year I have not had to pay more than 3 cents a minute for any landline long distance calls whether at home or on the road beyond any basic service fees (and since mid-May that has gone to zero for SkypeOut calls within North America).

The combined experiences have helped me establish a base line for the level of simplicity I would expect as we see the emergence of both cordless phones and wireless mobile devices that use or access Skype (and/or other VoIP-based services) while serving as a standard telephone handset:

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This is the second post in a series reviewing wireless devices in the emerging Personal Handheld Assistant space; the ultimate aim is to identify roles that Skype can play in this market of converged functionality devices. This is a special post in the series that was triggered by a VON Fall 2006 session. Links to other posts in this series are available at the end of this post.

Monday afternoon I attended the first Fall VON plenary session: IM: The State of Presence featuring a panel of executives and managers from the GYMAS-five representing over 90% of the IM usage worldwide. Carl Ford ran his usual vibrant Q&A format, offering each member of the panel an opportunity to provide commentary on several topics surrounding IM and where it is going. It was a very informative and stimulating discussion overall.

One major direction for IM is the extension of IM's access and reach by its incorporation into wireless devices. We heard about many of the issues that challenge the ability to provide seamless wireless IM clients, including login barriers, coverage and the relatively high cost of data services.

But the session confirmed a belief I had started to hold about a month ago during my evaluation of several wireless platforms. In particular, my evaluation of one Skype WiFi phone demonstrated to me the futility of providing such a device:

• The battery life was about eight to twelve hours in standby mode
• It could not handle DTMF tones
• The basic clock would arbitrarily drop a couple of hours
• It provides the presence functionality of Skype's IM client but no text chat capability
• Skype was the only application that runs on the device
• While the Skype client provides Skype names and the Contacts' other phone numbers (if available via the Contact's registration), there is no address, email or other information such as provided by synchronization with Outlook.
• They would only work in open access WiFi zones; they would not work in WiFi hotspots requiring a browser-based logon.
• They were purely engineering toys that demonstrated one could make the concept work but they badly needed an experienced wireless phone product manager to get the feature set right.
• In a market of multi-function devices in a similar price range, a Skype-dedicated device could not be price justified.

I came away with the feeling that, while they perform more or less as advertised, Skype WiFi phones are nothing more than a prototype engineering demonstration of Skype on a wireless platform.  Certainly they would have a very limited market -- maybe in enterprises that wanted to provide "walled garden" communications amongst geographically disbursed nomadic employees. But they certainly are not a wireless phone that will gain broad consumer acceptance and market share of any significance.

Combining this experience with my experience with Nokia N-series phones, the Blackberry and Skype for Mobile on the Dell Axim I have to recommend that Skype drop the concept of a dedicated Skype WiFi phone and focus their efforts on getting Skype incorporated into those other wireless platforms. (It is for this reason that I did not bother to mention which brand of Skype WiFi phone I evaluated; it's the entire product concept that is a problem.)

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This is the first post in a series reviewing wireless devices in the emerging Personal Handheld Assistant space; the ultimate aim is to identify roles that Skype can play in this market of converged functionality devices. Links to other posts in this series are available at the end of this post.

Over the past couple of months I have received several wireless handheld phones/devices from Nokia (manufacturer of the last three cell phones I have owned), Research in Motion and SMC for evaluation. In addition I have been using a WiFi-enabled Dell Axim X50v as a PDA over the past two years and a Canon PowerShot A610 for photography; the Axim, of course, can run Skype Mobile, . Recently Sony announced its WiFi-enabled mylo; meanwhile last week saw the arrival of the Blackberry Pearl 8100.With such a variety of feature sets and user experiences, one needs to take a pause to review what is fundamentally important in a wireless handheld device to provide a basis for reviewing these devices, particularly in view of the convergence emerging in the various Nokia, Windows Mobile and (RIM) Blackberry devices.

This avalanche of handheld devices has made me ask the questions:

• How much convergence of functionality do I want or need on a handheld device?
• Where should Skype play a role in wireless-enabled handheld devices?
• Can my previous three devices (phone, PDA, camera) be combined into one unit or do I continue to need three device holsters on my belt?

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Last winter, while visiting a friend in Silicon Valley, I had a demonstration of a comprehensive personal video management system that he had set up combining SlingBox, a TiVo PVR and his WiFi-networked home office personal computer configuration that included a 300GB storage drive . This is a person who is a hard core road warrior and wants to be able to access his video recordings from anywhere on the Internet; he had configured this system to achieve this goal. Via his SlingBox Player he could perform all the TiVo functionality, call up any recorded program or PC file, whether stored on the TiVo or his 300 GB hard drive from any broadband connection to the Internet in hotels, airports, etc. But it required some work on his part to pull this all together and to maintain the integrity of the system through software and firmware upgrades, etc. After his initial demonstration I enquired about pricing and then asked, "Is this not 90% of the functionality of a Windows Media Center system at 20% to 30% of the cost?" He replied in the affirmative.

MediaREADY Inc. (formerly known as Video Without Bounderies, Inc.) is a Florida-based provider of interactive, media-ready home entertainment devices that effectively combine the functionality of the TV and networked home PC's media management features into one dedicated Linux-based device. These devices, combined with the SlingBox, can provide the equivalent functionality of my friend's configuration at a much lower cost than a TiVo combined with a home-networked Windows PC and dedicated storage hard drive . Working with a MediaREADY dedicated function device, the user can focus on managing his/her TV viewing, recording and recall without the inherent problems of a Windows system, such as sharing the processor to handle other non-media-related programs or handling Windows security issues. From an home entertainment system point of view it is simply one more box in a home entertainment cabinet as opposed to requiring full PC hardware configuration including the monitor any other attachments and the associated footprint requirements. Not to mention placing a full PC in the family or other TV viewing room may not be appreciated aesthetically (or socially) by other members of the household.

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A few days ago Alec Saunders, Mark Evans, Jon Arnold and a blushing Andy Abramson all drew attention to a "ranking" of VoIP blogs put out by Garrett Smith of SmithOnVoip. Even Garrett himself admits his poll is somewhat arbitrary; he did outline his criteria and they have been repeated (and praised) in some of the linked posts. Skype Journal came out well at a number 6 ranking in Garrett's Top 10 list. Very encouraging and rewarding to find we are that far up.

Luca Filigheddu, an Italian blogger on VoIP topics, reviewed Garrett's poll and then determined his own ranking based on Technorati rankings. Whereas Garrett's "Smith Blog Rating System" rankings are "agreeably" subjective, Luca's Technorati rankings are based on linkage statistics. Luca's rankings switch Andy and Om for top spot but they always (deservedly) want bragging rights (!) and we always like to see a little competition at the top. Six of the Technorati Top 10 appear also in Smith's Top 10. Eight out of thirty in each poll only appear in the one poll. Interesting, but purely coincidental that Skype Journal is the only Top 10 to have consistency of ranking in each system at sixth place..

Bottom line for me is that I have added a few more VoIP blogs to my personal blog reader and get a wider diversity of news and opinion for linkage in Skype Journal posts. And thanks to all who give us link love at Skype Journal.

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Hi. Just wanted to bring you up to speed and keep up our transparency. Let me tell you about Stuart, our independence, some policies, keeping secrets, reviewing, and ask for your help.

First, one of our owners and founders, Stuart Henshall, left the building earlier this year. He's still an owner but is happily working full time in an executive role at a stealth start-up. I've been asked not to say what his firm is called or what it's doing, but it's very cool. Skype cool.

Second, Jim Courtney joined us this spring. He's a great analyst and brings serious science, engineering, and business chops to his writing. He also brings his field work to the table, consulting on partnering strategies, channels of distribution, product management, and business planning. Jim's become one of the most linked-to VoIP bloggers and we're glad to have him.

Second, Jean Mercier asked if Skype Journal remains independent. Jean, an occasional Skype Journalist, noted I met Skype's Jaanus Kase. I've actually met a handful of Skype personnel. Yes, we remain financially indepedent of eBay and Skype. The only money changing hands that I know of is Skype paying part of Bill Campbell's air travel and lodging costs for a meeting next month. That trip is part of his uncompensated participation in Skype's closed Beta program.

Third, Skype Journal's policies guide our behavior. We link to them in our page footer. Our Editorial Policy governs accuracy, labeling and sourcing, explicit conflicts of interest, and accountability. Our Corrections Policy says we'll make things right. Our Syndication Policy points to our feed formats and provides terms of use. And our Accessibility Policy is more of a goal than reality, I'm sad to say.

Fourth, we respect confidences. If you'd like to tell us something as a confidential source, just tell us as you talk with us. We honor embargoes at least as well as the Wall Street Journal and Businessweek, subject to the usual conditions. If you hire one of contributors as a consultant, they will abide by mutual confidentiality agreements related to their work for you. For example, Bill's service to Skype through their closed Beta program is under an NDA so I never hear any inside scoop from Bill. And neither will you.

Fifth, our product reviews are filtered or frank but not both.

Bill Campbell loves to review new products, especially if they break through in a new category. But he won't print bad reviews. So the only reviews by Bill you'll see on Skype Journal will be happy ones, the disappointments washed out and negative feedback given privately. Part of this, as Bill explains it, is because many small companies can't survive a bad review or even a strong critique. Even big companies and their PR firms don't take criticism well and may exact retribution, which Bill prefers to avoid. So you get posts like Bill's Sony saves Skype on the launch of the Sony Mylo.

I'm less squeamish. For example, you might read my Sony Mylo suffers from Sidekick syndrome post, also in response to the Mylo's launch. They are so different a Sony publicist asked Bill if I worked here. A constructive review is useful for our readers, in the consumer advocacy spirit, and part of telling the whole truth.

So Bill is a gatekeeper, filtering in good news, and Jim and I will tell you the good and the bad. I hope this context helps readers and publicists.

Last, be a Skype Journal author. See our editorial wiki pages (still in draft) for more information.

• Becoming a Skype Journal Author

• Author Guide

• Editing Checklist - before sending your post

• Skype Journal Beats - What we would cover with infinite resources

• colophon - tools we use

Thanks. And if you have any questions or comments, leave them with this post, email editor at skypejournal doht com, or Skype me.

During trip earlier this month to Nova Scotia, I visited Baddeck, Alexander Graham Bell's summer refuge from the heat and humidity of Washington, DC for the last 37 years of his life. Interestingly the estate is still (privately) occupied by descendants, including his 101-year old granddaughter. However, the highlight was to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, a Parks Canada museum of his trials and experimentation.

From the era of the Voice 0.1 Manifesto and pre-Skype Certification: Just send me the voice -- not exactly your average Nokia N91! Oh, and definitely not suitable for SkypeIn or SkypeOut.

Definitely worth a visit for anyone keen on the history of the telephone; Alexander Graham Bell was the original technogeek often working late into the night, applying his curiosity and energy to not only telephony but also avionics, air conditioning, marine engineering and structural design. Some interesting notes that we can relate to in this era of telephony's evolution into the VoIP age:

• He was effectively trained as a speech therapist following in his father's and grandfather's profession of teaching the deaf; his father's work with a phonetic alphabet, where each sound is represented by a character, triggered his interest in developing the telephone. But what are codecs and Internet packets but ad hoc "phonetic" codes for the coding/decoding and transmission of sound?
• While applying for his original telephone concept patent in 1875, a year prior to the first actual telephone call, he spent a good part of the next 18 years in the courts defending his patents -- successfully.

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

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

It comes bundled with with Convenos Meeting Center and a free 14-day trial offer of this web-based conferencing and collaboration software. Ships next week.

I will be testing this product in our labs, so check back in a few days to find out how fast it goes. I suspect it will match the usual supurb quality of the other IPEVO products. I see that it uses 16 KHz audio sampling so it will match Skype byte for byte on sound quality.

Over the past few weeks I have been using my 12-year old Nortel M9417 dual line phone as the primary telephone handset on my office desktop (wood version). It continues to access my PSTN services in the normal manner yet accessing Skype is as simple as picking up the handset and dialing **. This is all made possible through the introduction of VoIPvoice's Skype Certified UConnect USB-Phone Converter into one of my office's Bell Canada phone lines.

Key criteria for this review are:

• Ease of installation
• Ease of accessing either PSTN or Skype
• Access to Skype features, especially the Skype client
• Ability to run other audio programs (Windows Media Player, iTunes, SlingBox, etc.) while on a Skype call
• Duplication of standard telephone user interface features
  • telephone keypad, dialtone access
• Flexibility when leaving the office with a laptop

The Package comprises:

• the VoIPvoice UConnect USB to Phone Converter module (pictured above),
  • Note that there is NO power adapter involved
• a USB extension cable,
• a line cord (RJ-11 connector to the phone line);
• a telephone cord (RJ-11 connector to the Nortel M9417) and
• a CD-ROM with the VoIPvoice software.

Other requirements:

• Installation of the Skype client on a Windows 2000 or Windows XP PC
• A telephone handset that supports DTMF; callerID support is optional
• A working PSTN line for making standard telephone calls.

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Over the past three weeks I have had the opportunity to evaluate four Skype Phone products from VoIPvoice; I will review them individually in upcoming posts. However, in addition to being Skype Certified, all four share some common features and traits, including the ability to just attach, install and call:

• At my home office, I make my Skype and SkypeOut calls via their UConnect USB-Phone Converter, using my 12-year old Nortel M9417 dual line phone set. Yet I can still access and use all my Bell Canada services, including their Smart Touch services. "Just dial ** for Skype."
• On the road I take along either the Cyberphone-W or Cyberspeaker-W; plug either into a laptop USB port at a WiFi access point and start making Skype or SkypeOut calls.
• My daughter is using the recently introduced Cyberphone-W for Mac with her MacBook Pro as her primary landline and a complement to her wireless phone.

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Polycom, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:PLCM) is ringing NASDAQ's bell today, ten years listed, shipping the two millionth SoundStation conference phone. But that's fluff, business as usual, generic PR silliness. What matters is their launch of the Polycom Communicator. It may be the highest audio quality USB speakerphone on the market, good enough for CD quality music. Shipping in June 2006, $129.

The product.

Jim Kruger, Polycom vp, did a little show-and-tell last week at Polycom's Pleasanton offices. The 5.4 ounce (151 gram) Communicator comes in a dark soft case.

Unwrapped, it's a simple gadget. Big speaker with the Polycom triangle at the top. Controls in the middle: blue Skype button launches Skype, mute, start/stop call, volume up and down. Two microphones at the bottom. An 1/8" stereo headset connector on the side. Comes with a CD and software that installs in five minutes.

Open the back flipstand. Kruger said the angle was chosen for best acoustics. The stand hosts the Skype Certified sticker.

Under the stand is a data cable, USB connector, and a storage space for them. The unit runs on the USB cable's power, so no batteries are included or required. The flip stand must be open for the unit to run.

The microphones reach a seven foot radius (two meters) so can serve a 14-foot across table (four meters). The two carefully separated microphones are important for reducing noise and cancelling echoes.

The plastic case comes in "cobalt blue" and "charcoal gray." The insides of the plastics are airtight. The seals are necessary for the acoustic tuning to work. Assuring the seals remain intact across the USB and headset connectors, even with regular use, was just one of several difficult challenges.

They describe the audio frequency range as "wideband," meaning it can pick up higher and lower pitches (up to 22KHz) than today's Skype can even use (16KHz).

The processing for all this is up to your computer. The CD 's software makes up for their not including a digital signal processor in the hardware. Software codecs perform automatic gain control (1 person near the mic, 1 person far, both sound good) and acoustic echo cancellation. To get the best performance, they use the Skype client's programming interface to turn off Skype's own echo cancellation.

Positioning

The Polycom Communicator should be available in June 2006 worldwide, priced at $129 in the United States, varying elsewhere. Kruger said the Communicator is targeted to the 30% of Skype users who use Skype in the workplace. They offer hands-free, headset free conversation to small office and home office users. While it will work fine in larger settings, it's optimized for individual use as opposed to conference rooms. It should support small meetings of three to four people without difficulty. 

Polycom is distributing the Communicator through direct marketers, retail and retail online, and existing large distributors. It will also be sold through the Skype store for U.S. markets and Polycom's own store should open later this month.

More to follow...