Luis von Ahn presents the Duolingo project. Like Tom Sawyer persuading the neighborhood kids to paint his fence for him, Duolingo exchanges language lessons for help translating the web. Duolingo builds on predecessors like reCAPTCHA, which uses the free labor from proving you are human to translate old books, Duolingo addresses a massive task, breaks it down into small fragments, and aligns the task with a strong motivator. Big project, tiny tasks, strong motivation.
This design looks obvious in hindsight. I think it is harder than it looks.
Selecting the right problem from the universe of problems is hard. You need a problem that lets people feel good about participating, aligning with common values. You need a problem that is already understood by the public or that can be explained in a few words. Your problem should have measurable value in time saved or in money. And the problem should have a major component that can be solved by humans.
Breaking down knowledge work to 5 to 30 second snippets is a fairly new skill, although industrial engineers have designed simple repetitive snippets of work for factories for more than a century. Now we must learn to decompose to exploit what the human mind does well, leaving the rest to algorithms.
Motivation is the last leg of this triangle. We don’t have prior art or proven models to discover contexts that marry the human task to incentives. We have a few examples, like getting access to something valuable, learning a language, or running a cool screensaver. In each example the contributor benefits are immediate, in your face, and powerful enough for high completion rates.
The last project I saw that worked like this was 1-800-GOOG-411. GOOG411 was a directory assistance robot; you’d call for the phone number or directions of US businesses. It used caller voices and behavior to build a vast corpus of speech and search data. Google used the data to engineer its transcription service and to learn about mobile-local search. I loved it; it usually had better answers than expensive phone company operators.
The Smurfs are making their case to Skypers worldwide. “We want our blue back,” said Grouchy Smurf. “Today is a day of action. We’ve gone too long without smurfalicious Online Numbers in our village. Skype should smurf it right now. ”
I came to the story when I looked at Skype and saw it had been smurfed. It was complete and utterly disruptive. I was no longer online, I was “Smurfable.” They even confused me by changing Skype’s usual Ikea-styled house into a cute mushroom home.
Skype CEO Josh Silverman shared these with the audience at #CommunicAsia2010.
12% of the world’s international calling minutes are on Skype. That’s billions of dollars of hard currency going through Skype instead of telephone companies. Skype gives away seven to eight minutes for each minute someone buys.
34% of Skype-to-Skype calls involve video. About one in three calls are video calls. That’s a lot of webcams.
4% of international calling minutes are Skype video calls. 34% times 12% equals… 1 in 25 minutes.
200k hours of Skype calls per hour. That’s 1.7 billion hours of Skypers talking this year.
Skype expects 80% of new PCs to preload Skype in 2011. 306 million PCs were sold in 2009, so that puts Skype on 240-260 million new PCs this year (assuming 5% market growth). Sorry, Mac users; no sign Apple will preload Skype in addition to iChat or a Facetime client.
About 15% of iPhones and iPod Touch devices have Skype installed. 12 million.
Skype signs up 300K new accounts daily. About 110 million new accounts yearly.
Revenues grew 30% yearly to US$716M in 2009. Assuming a straight line (like that ever happens) that would put Skype’s 2010 revenue at $930 million.
50 million people use Skype toolbars daily. This from an Jonathan Rosenberg’s presentation at eComm 2010 America.
Number of internet users in India and China more than doubled from 2005 to 2008. Which explains the rapid growth of Tencent’s QQ.
Fewer than half of all Skype users use Skype in English.这是一个小世界毕竟
Rumor: Michael Arrington suspects minority Skype owner Andreessen Horowitz is buying Foursquare. I love 4sq. Robert Scoble has 8 suggestions for building more 4sq consumer/platform value as Yelp copies 4sq features. Meanwhile, I can’t wait for an enterprise version, the better to check in with colleagues, clients, suppliers, partners. The location-based-workplace is here, waiting to be updated, searchable, social, and easy to navigate. LBS checkins should do wonders for triggering face-to-face work conversations, adding people virtually to f2f conversations, and plain old space-shifting virtual conversations. A little Skype integration, foursquare?
Steve Jobs announced iOS4 and iPhone 4 at the Apple WWDC. They should make a better platform for iSkype: faster processor, longer battery life, front (VGA) and back (HD) video cameras, two microphones with noise reduction, multitasking, an improved display and now support for Bluetooth keyboards. This could mean better performance from Skype, the ability to stay connected to the Skype network all the time, even better audio than what Skype’s SILK codec offers, touch typing text chat, and Skype video calling.
Apple announced FaceTime, iPhone 4-to-iPhone 4 video calling. The spec for FaceTime is based on some open protocols and Apple will submit the suite to standards bodies. The rumor that Skype wanted to use FaceTime was downgraded to Skype noticing it.
ooVooreset its pricing for multiparty video calling. $0.10 per minute per person (e.g. $18/hour for three people above the two free included in the service) or $20 per month for six-way calling. Clues to Skype for iPhone’s mobile video charges? ooVoo has to pay for expensive servers and bandwidth since every stream goes through its servers at least once. Unlike ooVoo, Skype distributes its iPhone and desktop video streams peer-to-peer. Skype can undercut ooVoo ten-fold and still make money.
Skype hiredRick Osterloh from Motorola to head consumer product management. This includes desktop software (netbooks? tablets?), Skype.com, and Skype’s paid products (SkypeIn, SkypeOut, SMS, voicemail, WiFi access, etc.).
Verizon will put Skype on non-smart phones too, according to a news release. "Skype mobile from Verizon Wireless, currently available on 12 different smartphones, will expand to more handsets later this year, including several 3G Multimedia phones." Good for Skype: a lower price-point means more users will have access to Skype. via Florin
Skype will redesign its Skype mobile UI to pursue international callers. From the same release: "In addition to Spanish, Skype mobile will also be available in Korean and simple Chinese, providing more flexibility and the ability to communicate with people around the world. Skype mobile customers will soon see an enhanced user interface with a drop-down menu with flags for international dialing."
Juniper Research predicts 100 million mobile VoIP users by 2012, half in the North America and Europe. An analyst said "we also anticipate that several more traditional operators will have joined 3UK and Verizon in the US and developed relationships with mobile VoIP players such as Skype."
People are using Skype from conception to the old age home
Telemedicine was attacked in today’s Telegraph Herald, covering Dubuque, Iowa. A right-to-life advocate is afraid out of town doctors will prescribe RU486 to women in local Planned Parenthood clinics through a Skype-like videoconference.
Kids are using Skype for video play dates. In a few years it will be Skype pajama parties. Then Skype sex. I saw a difference between watching people shoot pool through a video monitor and, as I did tonight, watching a pool game in a local tiki bar. As vivid as the video gets, the view is frozen. When I move my head, my body, perspectives change and the part of my brain that thinks spatially tells me this is real, not a painting. So let’s be sure to keep kids catching colds from other kids, immersing them in face to face reality along with skyped conversations.
Meanwhile, check out Skypito: "Kids can finally safely chat on the Internet. Strangers and bad guys cannot reach them anymore." Uses Skype, naturally. Free, sponsored by EasyBits. This follows the classic blend of server based community and desktop based Skype plug-in. Meanwhile CNN readers who’ve never seen kids play together virtually objected strongly to video play dates.
Robinson says bringing classrooms together to study each others’ language restores culture education, improving the quality of instruction. He demos Skype, shows how to find other classrooms through ePals, and offers a pedagogy.
He rightly ignores the sunk costs of computing and communications infrastructure. These new capabilities are free or nearly so, and ride atop previous investments.
Many of these stores aren’t localized beyond currency and payment, operating in English instead of Eesti, Chinese, and the other languages people use. For now, UK and US customers are shopping in Euros instead of Pounds or dollars. US customers also pay UK value added taxes.
This is a bare bones start, but an important one. Skype is preparing to build a platform for programmers. An "app store" helps partners make money from their investment in your platform.
The "extras" department isn’t seeing much traffic yet according to publishers. When it does, this distribution channel could encourage hundreds of existing developers to invest in Skype certification.
The first products in the store:
Company
Product
Description
Price
Cucku
Cucku Backup
Free remote backup to friends, family or a second PC.
Freeware
Scendix Software
Pamela Call Recorder
Pamela Call Recorder, play cool sounds and auto Chat Reply.
€17.79 incl. VAT
Scendix Software
Pamela for Skype – Business Edition
Includes easy integration with MS Outlook as well as call recording and other great features.
€29.95 plus VAT
Scendix Software
Pamela for Skype – Professional Edition
Pamela Professional allows you to record Skype calls of any duration as well other great features.
€19.95 plus VAT
Scendix Software
Pamela for Skype – Standard Edition
Pamela allows you to record Skype calls.
€12.95 plus VAT
Scendix Software
Pamela mcePhone for Skype
mcePhone for Skype allows you to seamlessly integrate Skype and Pamela in Windows Media Center 2005 and Vista.
€17.79 incl. VAT
Scendix Software
Pamela Rich Mood Editor
Create cool HTML formatted Skype Mood Messages
Freeware
Scendix Software
PamFax for Skype (Mac)
Send faxes to any fax number in the world.
FREE (pay per page)
PrettyMay Team
PrettyMay Call Center for Skype – Standard version
Skype PBX Phone System for Small Business.
$200 incl. VAT
PrettyMay Team
PrettyMay Call Recorder for Skype – Basic version
Record Skype calls FREE within 15 minutes.
Freeware
PrettyMay Team
PrettyMay Call Recorder for Skype – Business version
Record Skype Calls, Store voicemails, auto answering.
$29.95 incl. VAT
PrettyMay Team
PrettyMay Call Recorder for Skype – Pro version
Record Skype Calls, Store voicemails, auto answering.
$24.95 incl. VAT
Netralia Pty Ltd
Skylook – make more of MS Outlook with Skype
Recording contacts office outlook calling.
€99.95 incl. VAT
CORRECTION: The Pamela and PamFax software products are from Scendix Software, not PamConsult, their professional service firm.
Kids will learn geography, and maybe a little more about people, using Skype this year. Silvia Tolisano’s Around The World with 80 Schools project will help her primary school visit briefly with other schools around the globe over Skype. Short calls to say hello and introduce yourselves. Your school can sign up on the Langwitches blog.
Such a great way to learn it’s a big world, people are different and the same, it’s a flat world with access only a click away, not everyone speaks English, languages are barriers you must overcome to be a part of the world, time zones matter in a flat world, and seasons differ.
On the occasion of Skype‘s fifth birthday, Skype Journal will publish a series on "What Skype Means To Me." You are invited to email your essay or short thoughts to editor@SkypeJournal.com.
Opportunity. My Business. New friends. Everyday communication tool. Cool thing.
I use Skype daily nearly for five years. I started with Skype 0.8 beta version and shortly afterwards I first translated Skype’s user interface into the Czech language. I became a volunteer translator for Skype for Windows. I’m helping people use Skype and I’m happy that the Skype family is growing. I started to sell Skype hardware and accessories also and this became my full-time job. I enjoy it.
Thank you Skype!
In Czech:
Petr Silon je ředitel společnosti xTel s.r.o., která provozuje obchod Skype Hardware shop v České Republice.
Skype používám skoro denně už 5 let. Začal jsem s verzí 0.8 beta a brzy jsem začal dělat český překlad Skype po Windows. Stal jsem se dobrovolným Skype překladatelem. Pomáhám lidem používat Skype a mám radost, že Skype používá čím dál více lidí. Začal jsem taky prodávat Skype techniku a příslušenství a stala se z toho moje práce na plný úvazek. Baví mě to.
Myngle picked up €800k in first round funding last week. Language teachers offer their services through the site, students shop for teachers, they pay through Myngle, study through Skype. Co-founders include alumni of eBay, Berlitz, Razorfish and Proctor & Gamble.
Teachers set market prices, publish hours when they are available (Myngle takes care of time zone arithmetic). Students shop and sign up for lessons.
Myngle augments instruction. Teachers can use a whiteboard during a class. They can record podcasts for students to study before or after class. And they can design quizzes to warm up or reinforce a lesson.
Teachers can share curriculum and best practices within Myngle. A touch of community.
Language schools can also sign up, selling their service through Myngle. Sales and fees are administered through the school instead of the instructor.
It’s not free. "Myngle charges 18% commission per lesson when you start teaching. This fee is charged for use of Myngle’s platform and services, PayPal fees and includes VAT." Payment is immediate. Contrast this with Skype’s Prime terms (30% commission, 15% VAT, 120 days to get paid, $30/hour minimum bill rate).
So, just to be clear, Myngle and the instructors are making the market, use free Skype to deliver service, and pay via PayPal. Skype is free.
Language and culture are the ultimate barriers to online communication. Solving those problems is a massive opportunity, with many competitors.
Skype
Join the Skype 6.X Text Chat Room