Download: Skype for Windows 4.2.0.141 Beta

Download the Beta now (full install). A few new features and improvements, 35 bug fixes.

Skype Access. (Beta). Boingo brought over from the Mac version. "Pay by the minute for WiFi internet connection in public hotspots: Automatically detects accessible Wifi hotspots; Connect manually: Tools > Skype Access... Connect to the web and pay per minute with your Skype Credit. Only pay for what you use. Available at over 100,000 WiFi hotspots worldwide."

Call Quality Indicator. Answers the question What's wrong with my call? "Check microphone, speaker and webcam, as well as computer CPU and internet connection speed. Skype runs a diagnostic and gives an overall rating for how good your call quality’s going to be. Full five bars indicates optimal conditions and fewer than five bars indicates less than optimal conditions. Clicking on the indicator allows to check the individual elements and to troubleshoot."

First-time User Experience. "Allows an improved account creation experience. An enhanced experience for creating a new Skype account, updating the profile information and accessing the Getting Started Wizard."

Pop-up Alerts. Social peripheral awareness or interruptionware? "Alerts about new contact requests and delivers messages from Skype. Alerts when someone is requesting to become your contact.  Messages from Skype about your account, and other important notices."

Call Transfer. One more reason to have a Skype subscription plan. "Transfer calls to other Skype users and to landline’s or mobile’s. This feature was available in Skype 3.x version, and has returned by popular demand. Direct transfer: Call is transferred directly to the intended recipient. Screening transfer: Incoming call is placed on hold, intended recipient is called and informed of the intended transfer before transferring the call. In addition to the voice call, during an active Call Transfer call to another Skype client also File Transfer and Instant Messaging are available. Note that Video is not available."

Toolbars. Chrome! 7! "Skype browser toolbar improvements. Support for Google Chrome browser. Windows 7 support. Revised Windows taskbar functionality. Support for new taskbar behaviour. Support for jump list. Support for audio ducking. On Account creation users will be pre-filled using Windows Location API."

tags: skype, skypeforwindows, windows, beta, 4, 4b, 4.2

Call me at +1-510-316-9773, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private technologist roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype for Windows 4.1.0.141 (hotfix)

Download the latest bugfixes.

Open issue: "When upgrading Skype, and installing the Skype plugin for Firefox, users may experience a crash in Firefox if it is running during the upgrade. Close Firefox before attempting to install Skype."

correction: it's 141, not 136

tags: skype, skypeforwindows, hotfix, download, update

Call me at +1-510-455-4384, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Download Skype for Windows 4.1 Gold

Download Skype for Windows 4.1.0.136. File size 22 MB. Official release. Release date: June 30, 2009. File name: SkypeSetup.exe. No features added from the 4.1 beta, launched a month ago, but it fixes bugs.

Dan York takes aim at Skype's product staging:

Skype's continued belief in a fragmented, fractured, siloed platform-specific product strategy is still a path of monumental stupidity, in my opinion. I've ranted about this before. It's still the same.

In contrast, Mozilla comes out with Firefox 3.5 on the same day across all three operating systems. For any given Firefox release, there is tons of attention and interest because everyone can download, try it out, write about it, tweet about it and generally use it. There's a good buzz that can happen.

tags: skype, windows, release, 4.1

Call me at +1-510-455-4384, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype for Windows 4.0.0.226 hotfix

Download the update.

9 prominent bugs resolved:

• Extras Manager was not installed to some users
• Skype incorrectly advised users of new Audio Devices available
• When adding a new number the phone type was incorrectly labeled
• Re-adding contacts to a existing conversation did not display the contact in the Add contacts drop down menu
• Video did not always scale correctly
• Skype occasionally crashed when uPnP port forwarding failed
• Improved uPnP handling for Linksys WRTG54G owners
• When dialing certain numbers some digits were erased from the beginning and the number became invalid
• Audio device was reset for some users on each Skype start

tags: skype, download, downloads, windows, 4, hotfix

Call me at +1-510-455-4384, Skype me, follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff.
Visit our Skype Journal private roundtable, one of the longest running public Skype chats.

Skype for Windows Skype 4.0.0.215 (hotfix)

Help > Check For Updates or download to get the 40 bugfixes, some to serious UI and device problems.

Known issues:

• Accessibility features still not complete. Download 3.8.
• Still incompatible with several Creative brand webcams and digital video cameras.
• Skype slows on launch when you have many contacts and slows when your hard disk is busy.
• Skype's backup feature doesn't restore manually-added phone numbers. Those same numbers aren't available when you log in on another computer.
• Skype's Outlook integration won't import phone numbers without proper country codes but it won't show you the problems. So you have to identify the number problems and fix them in Outlook.

SkypeSync supports Portable Contacts API

 

The SkypeSync desktop utility imports your contacts into Skype from other platforms. The new SkypeSync 1.8 adds sources supporting the Portable Contacts API. The standard is supported by Plaxo, so SkypeSync supports import of Plaxo contacts into Skype.

SkypeSync supports other sources too, including webmail address books from Google and Yahoo! using email standards and mobile phone contacts via the SyncML protocol. I described SkypeSync's mobile data portability last year,

Skype's own Contacts > Import Contacts... wizard in Skype for Windows 4 imports from Yahoo! web mail and Outlook desktop mail. SkypeSync steps in to fill gaps in Skype's coverage.

SkypeSync suffers from a few limits beyond its control.

• Searching the Skype p2p user directory is so slow it makes looking up Skype names difficult.
• Backward compatibility means I now have six "Alec Saunders" contacts instead of one with his five phone numbers. UPDATE: Skype limits max number of phone numbers per Skype contact to three.
• Skype does not permit programmers to search the Skype Find/Prime business directory.
• And there is no place for SkypeSync to store medata from other sources (address information, emails, employers) as notes about my contacts.

On my wishlist for future releases:

• Dozens of other sources.
• Offer intermediate steps before adding contacts.
• Push Skype contacts into Plaxo and other services. 

Step by step... 

Pick your source. Today you can choose from SyncML mobile phones, Outlook, GMail, Yahoo! mail address book, and Plaxo.

I chose Plaxo, where I have more than a thousand contacts pulled from my Google, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts.

Skype is picky about phone numbers: they need a "+" in front, in the US a "+1". 

So you've defined your source and set your numbering.

Now you can start your importing. Trial mode limits you to 15 names from any source.

And go...

Whoops. I need to give SkypeSync permission from my Skype client.

So, trying again, SkypeSync adds 15 contacts to Skype.

Results

I buy the software and, with a "full license", import all 3970 of my Plaxo contacts.

They are labeled "SkypeSync" so you can see who's been imported.

Most of my contacts don't have Skype names, just phone numbers: the green phone icon. Some of them have two phone numbers. SkypeSync creates two contact entries, one for each phone number. Inconvenient, but needed for compatibility with older versions of Skype. Skype for Windows 4.0 supports multiple phone numbers for each Skype name, but this hasn't always been the case.

Looking at the screenshot above, some people are offline. They have Skype names in their Plaxo profiles.

Sadly, SkypeSync automatically sent these people an invitation to connect in Skype. Should this be opt-in? Should SkypeSync offer you the chance to not-add a former girlfriend, someone suing you,

Strangely, Skype sent an email notifying the new invitees. This is new to me. 

License	Trialware
Cost	€12, pay with SkypeOut credit
Easy of Use
Does What It Says
Useful
Fun
Social
Certifications	Not Skype certified

tags: skype, 4, dataportability, skypesync, plaxo, software, import, importing, portable contacts, portablecontacts, utilities, extras

follow @skypejournal and @Phil Wolff. Ask for an invitation to the Skype Journal private roundtable.

Jealous of Skype for Mac's screensharing?

Need relief for Mac envy? Skype for Macintosh lets you turn your desktop into a webcam, so you can share your computer (including videos, applications, your browser) with someone else in a Skype video call.

Windows users can do this too. The Nyanyan Virtual Desktop Camera for Skype (2006.05.29 edition) is a free download. I've used it for years. Works great. Skype thinks it's a webcam. Enjoy.

Technorati tags: skype, windows, collaboration, screensharing, desktop sharing, webcam, virtual webcam, nyanyan, camera, video

Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold: Blog Coverage

Since its launch Tuesday, Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold has received some interesting coverage:

• David Pogue, New York Times: in addition to his column discussed here yesterday, he has produced an amusing video: Skype 4.0: The Cheapskate where a video starring Mr. Cheapskate shows a Skype video session with his daughter, Kim Cheapskate, obviously a student. But it also serves as a humorous introduction to Skype for Windows 4.0's features.
  
• Alec Saunders: Saunderslog.com: Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK:

Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, is audio quality. We all thought that Skype audio was great, right? Skype’s internally developed SILK codec slipped into the final release, despite not having been in prior betas. A wideband codec that delivers the goods at half the bitrate of prior codecs, SILK makes talking on Skype a pure pleasure.

• Tom Keating: Skype Launches 4.0 with Super Duper Weenie Wideband Codec. Images conjured up when a new codec is lauded with reduced network bandwidth. Obviously Tom has his favorite food hangouts.
  
• Update: JK On The Run: Geek Session: Skype 4.0 and the HP Mini 1000 MIE provides a ten minute video recording of Kevin's Skype video call with James Kendrick from a netbook running Windows 7 beta. Not a Skype High Quality video call but still demonstrates a reasonable quality video call, even at full screen (select "HD On" in upper right corner if you go full screen) . Would love to have knows the fps and resolution from the Skype tech specs for the call.
  

Have a good weekend.

Powered by Qumana

Skype 4.0 Gold – The Walkthrough Screenshots

Updated 3:40PM: These screenshots are in my flickr set Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold. We're walking through download, install, orientation, and testing. Five minutes or so if you do everything.

Download

So you've heard of Skype and this new release.

The download page, for you Windows users.

Looking closer...

Further down the page, selling benefits:

So you download to your desktop and run the installation program.

Install

Skype has a new two-step installer. A small program downloads the 22MB bulk of Skype for you, and installs it.

Let's look at the options.

If we cancel, Skype sends you back to their web site. 

But we are happy with Skype's EULA and privacy statements, so we'll click Install.

The Browser Highlighter plug-in recognizes phone numbers and turns them into clickable Skype links. The same thing for products for sale on eBay.

Moving on, we're going to wait for a few minutes while Skype downloads and installs. This depends on your bandwidth; not bad on any broadband.

Skype cycles through these benefit messages until you "sign in" or create a new account.

Then Skype says hello.

So we see what's new.

You get the idea. You can skip the orientation.

Import friends

Let's find friends using Skype from Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or your Yahoo! webmail accounts.

Test your gear

A wizard tests your sound gear and your webcam. Also optional.

Notice it parallels the "what's new" guide.

First, check your speakers.

Then check your microphone.

Make a test call to echo123 if you like.

Test your webcam.

If you're looking presentable, take a snapshot for your avatar.

You're done with getting ready.

And then Skype loads.

Next, walking through the Skype client UI.

Technorati tags: skype, screenshots, windows, 4.0, configure, ijnstall, download, orientation