Skype Dev Zone is to get better and better. I found this out first hand 10 days ago when I met with Skype managers and executives in London. I got to see their nice new offices too. Very classy. (More on that next week.)

Paul Amery is the new Director of Skype Developer Program (SDP). Fresh blood; there is no substitute. Lot's of energy and a high level of commitment.

Here is Paul showing off my new Dev Zone tee-shirt without me in it.

Actiontec announces a Reseller Program for the VoSky Exchange This looks like a good opportunity to make money in Skypeland. The timing is good too. We will probably see some exciting new initiatives from Skype for the Small, Medium Business segment in the next six months.

Skype Journal Exclusive

The marriage of Skype and Asterisk technologies has been a long-time dream for many business owners who love Skype. The time for dreaming is over. You can now deploy.

Canadian Call Center Pioneer Pika Technologies, Inc announced today a seamless, scalable connection between Skype and Asterisk. "This is not a trick-based solution around Call Forwarding a Skype Client," David Clarke, the Pika's BusDev guy tells me.

Skype is three years old today! As a special gift they also had 7 million concurrent users online. Wow!

Well done Skype.

For more on the story check out Jean Mercier's blog. and of course the Skype blog by Jaanus.

Thanks to Tony in Austria for the pic.

The early results are in. Wall Street frowns on the eBay/Skype side of the partnership according to the New York Times.

"Google's shares rose $7.69 yesterday, to close at $380.95, while eBay's shares rose 49 cents, to $25.79."

I think they got it wrong. But you can do the math!

What do you think? Are Skype users into family-friend communication and social networking or are Skype users a bunch of capitialist commercial buyers and sellers? What did Niklas Zennström create? Where is his new team taking Skype?

We would like to hear your views!

Skype gets hooked on Google. What's all this mean?

As Jaanus Kase of Skype puts it, "What does all this mean in detail? We'll see next year, as testing of all these new joint initiatives is said to begin in early 2007. For now, one thing is sure -- great companies working together is always exciting news."

Yes, the Google-Skype story feels very upbeat. It is a tremendous opportunity to monetize their huge customer base. This is bigger than SkypeOut and very scalable.

So do we have to wait till 2007? Will there be no sex? I doubt it. The new Skype-enabled Google Tool Bar is available in the 2.6 Preview Release Jaanus blogged about here.

Big Disclaimer

The formal press release ended on what seemed to me to be an unusual disclaimer,

"At this time, eBay does not expect this agreement will have material impact on its financial statements in 2006 or 2007."

Really? No sex? Let's see later today how Wall Street votes. eBay shares should, in my opinion (just about worthless), get a big boost.

To find out I talked with Don Albert, the North America General Manager for Skype. Don told me:

'Click-to-call' is something we have not done before. It is brand new. We are really excited by it. It is a new revenue stream for eBay it is just too early to predict financial impacts.

Hum along, Neil Diamond's music while you read about 3 G coming to America.

Somewhere in the Southern States. By a Skype buddy who can't be named. I had the chance to test the first real 3 G network using Skype Video and voice. I got the screen shots. They won't let me share.

Telco's are so secret.

But it was a two-thumbs up moment. The video was as good as any I have seen. Download bandwidth at my buddies end was 384 kilobits. Upload was in excess of 80 kilobits. Clearly this is the level of 3 G technology required to take advantage of the new multimedia phones such as the Nokia N 80.

Suck it up Euroland, America is right behind you. (Grin)

One new cool new feature in the Skype Preview version (2.6.0.44) of August 9th. is live (clickable) URLs inside a mood message.

Here is how my fellow Skype beta tester Don enhanced his mood message:

This is a great way to share web content (think video on UTube) with your buddies or to just simply direct them to your web site.

Thanks Don. Just think how many new readers we would have if everyone was as kind as you. A "love-in" for Skype Journal. (grin)

It is also a great time to learn about TinyUrls. TinyURLs work like a trash-compacter. They take a hugely long URL and make them shorter.

This URL:
http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/archives/2006/08/stealth_re
lease_of_skype_26.php

equals this:

http://tinyurl.com/r29o5

when compacted.

Go get in the mood!

Skype did a stealth release of a "Preview" version of Skype 2.6 today.

Read about the details from Jaanus at Skype.

If you do Skypecasting you will really want to test drive this new release. If you have never tried Skypecasting start today!

The new client features this tab, "Live"

This new "Preview" version tells a silent story about the future of Skype. It is a story worth reading.

Go play with 2.6.0.44.

Sony saves Skype users who feel tethered to their PC. Sony announced an agreement with Skype to integrate Skype software into Sony's first WiFi broadband communication and entertainment device, the mylo (My Life Online) personal communicator.

It looks like an awe-inspiring product. I can't wait to test drive it.

The mylo personal communicator will offer a rich array of Skype features, including

• Skype to Skype, SkypeOut, and SkypeIn calling
  
• Call history and voicemail
  
• Skype chat and multi chat with animated emoticons
  
• Contact add and search
  
• Full profile viewing and automatic Skype sign-in

The Skype Certified Sony mylo personal communicator will be available in September at Sony Style stores, sonystyle.com and at retail outlets across the United States. Price point is about $350. Read more about it here.

• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
• Large 2.4 LCD colour screen
• Internet Browser and e-mail client (Opera)
• Three-hours continuous talk time on Skype
• Small: Approx. 4 7/8 × 31/32 × 2 1/2 inches (123 × 23.9 × 63 mm)

"The mylo personal communicator puts the fun parts of a computer in the palm of your hand,"

The Sony mylo ranks as a "must have product"!