Gifts for the Skype crowd

Gear: The Better to Hear and See All Year Long

Cute 3-D Webcam from Minoru. For the friend who wants even more than Skype's High Quality and considers 3D glasses the height of fashion. Cheerful, stereoscopic, and works wonderfully with Skype. Minoru videos on YouTube (and wear your 3D specs). Review. Amazon. $89/£50/€80.

Point 2 View (P2V) USB camera. Skype in-focus close-ups in your video call. You show the grandkids your stamp collection, they show you the bugs they found in the back yard. Armature stand included. Review, Overview, Gallery, FAQ, Tech specs, Downloads. Ipevo Store. Amazon.

Touch Screen Videophone from ASUS. The ASUS SV1TS gets the PC out of the way of Skype video. You drop it in the kitchen or living room, plug in the power cord, connect the Wi-Fi, touch the screen, and talk. Large, clear picture. Amazon. $230.

MXL AC-405 USB personal computer speakerphone. Absolutely the best audio quality anywhere near this price from Maxell, world experts in microphone engineering. The AC-405 shares technology with their high-end music and television studio microphones. Amazon. $55.

Freetalk Wireless Stereo Headset. Still one of the best for looks, quality, comfort and ruggedness. More than five hours of talk time and even then it works while recharging. I use it daily without tripping over cables. Review. Amazon. Skype store. $80.

Software: To Record and Share

Vodburner records Skype video calls on Windows. The Vodburner Beta includes easy editing software (see screenshot below) that automatically switches the shot between the two of you depending on who is speaking. Publish meetings, interviews, and training sessions on the web. A subscription runs $9.95 (USD) monthly.

Pamela Professional Edition, the Skype Assistant. Proven software with built in voice mail, birthday reminders, and in-call sound effects. Like Vodburner, it records calls but without an audio or video editor. An all around utility kit for Windows Skype users. I've been using Pamela for many years. PamSoft. €19,95.

Skype Journal Video Grooming Kit:

Teeth: Rembrandt 2-Hour Whitening Kit. Whiter teeth take years off. Feel free to smile.

Hair: Kent White Bristle Hair Brush for those stray hairs. (Ah, I remember the days when I had hair on the top of my head worth brushing.)

Inspection: Jerdon First Class Mirror so you know you look good and bounce a little light your way. See yourself the way others see you.

Skin: Avon mark Cheat Sheet Shine-Blotters to remove oils from your face that shine in the light. (I always thought it was a reflection off my eyeglasses that blinded viewers, but it was the glare from my forehead. )

Wardrobe: Everyone looks better on camera in a clean, dark blue shirt: Soffe Men's Base Layer Long Sleeve Crew Tee. White clothing creates glare and throws off your camera's sensors. Keep a clean, dark and solid top by your desk for the unexpected Skype call.

Lights: Natural light makes you look marvelous. I use the Verilux Original Natural Spectrum Deluxe Desk Lamp, so the camera can see my face. (Despite requests to turn it off.)

Lens: Keep your webcam lens clear with the Nikon Complete Lens Cleaner Kit or the LensPEN Lens Cleaning System. (This doesn't seem to help me: I always turn out smudged no matter how clean the webcam.)

Skype store sells third-party software

Four companies now sell their software in the US and UK Skype stores. All are Skype Certified and three have been Skype partners for years. Skype operates stores for many markets. 13 Skype "Extras" are available in all thirty of Skype's English language stores (Australia, Belarus, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines,  Qatar, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, UAE, United Kingdom, United States).

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.

tags: skype, devrels, store, pamconsult, pamela, pamfax, prettymay, netralia, skylook, cucku

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.

PamFax updates, adds FaxIn, distances from Skype

PamFax is keeping fax alive with its 2.0 update and release for Windows and Macintosh desktops. Big changes:

• Two-way functionality: FaxIn numbers in 27 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA.
• More platforms: Mac version!
• Skype independence: You don't need to be a Skype user, have a Skype account, or use Skype credits any more.
• Click-to-Fax: Extensions for facebook and Salesforce.com. 

Makes me wish I knew someone who used a fax.

PamFax 2.0 product announcement

View more presentations from evanwolf.

tags: skype, pamfax, mac, windows

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.

Time: a Skype Red Software Design Challenge

Skype for Vampires is Time Aware.

Making the most of every night is not enough. Vampires want to make the most of every day too.

German Skype partner PamConsult announced Pamela V software that turns on automatic voice mail and IM attendants before dawn. You never need to miss a daylight message from humans or from vampires in other time zones.

A new clock counts down the minutes until dawn, with alerts at the –60 and –30 minute marks. For early risers, the clock also reports the wait until dark.

Because sunrise and sunset times depend on longitude, Skype now gathers location information from IP addresses on laptops and desktops and more accurate GPS data for S4V Mobile users.

Five Digit Years

S4V resolve bugs that bothered vampire Skypers for years. Skype now holds birth dates going back 100,000 years. The big change was changing age in profiles to support five digits, complying with IETF RFC 2550.

Still on the wishlist: Century. Many senior vampires were raised in eras when calendar dates were less standardized and education less common. You should be able to pick your origin century as an alternative to Julian calendars dates.

Skype restores birthday alerts. Adds death day alerts.

The first release of Skype for Windows 4 left out contact birthday reminders. Skype for Vampires restores them. Skype added two new fields to profiles. First Death Date is your date of conversion to vampire status, or a rebirth as some call it. Last Death Date is when you are really, truly, completely dead. So now Skype helps you celebrate two lifecycle milestones with your friends.

Last death date turns out to be very useful in managing your relationships but hard to get people to fill out.

tags: skype, s4v, skype for vampires, skypeforvampires, pamconsult, time, years, centuries, ui, ue, ux, vampire, vampires, skypered

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.

PamConsult Has a "Fantastic Year"

Amidst all the macro economic turmoil of 2008, there are businesses that have stuck to their knitting and had a quite successful year. Pioneer Skype Partner PamConsult recently reported on their 2008 achievements where they have both built out their product line and provided consulting services that have resulted in a stronger development team and enhanced product offerings.

PamConsult comprises two business divisions: Scendix for software product offerings, such as their widely accepted Pamela utility for Skype (the first Skype Extra going back to 2005) and PamFax, and PamConsult for development consulting where, for instance, they developed Skype for Salesforce.com under a contract with Skype. Some highlights:

• A major accomplishment has been the ongoing growth of PamFax. During the year they built out the infrastructure to provide the robustness and scalability such that PamFax now supports over 130,000 registered users. They have announced plans for a fax-in service as well as Mac support in 2009.
• Pamela has now had over 5 million downloads; early in 2009 they expect to release version 4.5; mcePhone, their Skype integration tool for Windows Media Center, will soon see version 3.
• Finally, PamConsult continues to provide eBay offerings, including the eBay Skype tabs licensed to eBay Germany, eBay France and eBay UK. At last year's eBay Live event, PamConsult won an eBay Star Developer award for their Jaast for Wii, which brings eBay to your TV via Nintendo's Wii console.

It will be interesting to see how PamConsult's Skype partnership evolves in 2009 as the new executive team introduces a comprehensive technology roadmap and revamped partnering programs.

Other posts:

• Radio Free Asia: A Skype Facilitated Broadcasting Service
• PamFax: Adding Click-to-Fax

Product Information and downloads:

• Pamela
• PamFax
• mcePhone for Skype
  

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eBay - Skype Synergy: The Missed Viral Opportunity - Post 2 of 2

To: Meg Whitman,
CEO, eBay

That was quite the quarterly report; lots of good news. Congratulations to the entire eBay team (including Skype, of course). But there is the Skype monetization issue to address. Following up on my other post Wednesday, I think I found one way to contribute to this while at CES. Bottom line: it can bring in more Skype registrations of eBay members (@ $0.38 Skype revenue per account per quarter), increase the fun and enthusiasm associated with participating in eBay auctions while minimizing desktop real estate and probably is the most virally intuitive way to justify the Skype acquisition.

In Wednesday's post I drew attention to the eBay Tab for Skype available for eBay U.S. members. It has significant usability issues and definitely results in a negative user experience. You mentioned in the analyst conference call Wednesday that priorities for 2007 include a focus on improving the user experience and experimenting with Skype to increase the fun and excitement associated with an auction. (BTW, Jordan Banks, Managing Director for Canada, at a presentation in Toronto last night, reinforced that theme when he talked about the importance of understanding user behavior and finding an action point within 2 clicks.)

One of your eBay and Skype developer partners, Germany-based PamConsult, has already developed a solution. (Their Pamela-Systems Call Recorder is ranked third in terms of Skype Extras Downloads.) In fact, their eBay Skype Tab has been licensed by eBay Germany, eBay France and eBay U.K. Based on the slide show of screen shots below enhanced by an accompanying video and a discussion with one of the principles of PamConsult at CES, their eBay Tab for Skype:

• provides a positive user experience,
• allows an eBay member to carry out ALL their major eBay activities within a Skype Tab and
• basically elevates their eBay activity to the level of Skype IM activity within the Skype client both in terms of delivering real time information and creating a truly interactive experience
• has the potential to virally drive Skype subscriptions by eBay members.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

The user experience provided by this version of an eBay Skype Tab brings to the table:

• a user login that is accessible and visible -- note the same screen also shows the day's top auctions
• an eBay search capability for logged-in members
• complete item descriptions with the Tab itself (no need to open a web browser)
• a bid confirmation screen
• real time notification of the upcoming end of an auction
• options for user determined parameters
• as well as access to My eBay
• appeals directly to both buyers and sellers (whereas SkypeMe buttons are targeted at sellers to install on their listings)

To provide a more real time experience (pardon the German but you get the flavor):

Bottom line is that all eBay members can participate interactively in the full eBay auction process within the Skype client, obtain real time information and switch quickly between eBay and Skype activities. Did I mention it also saves on desktop real estate? And, most importantly, it has viral potential.

Merging and integrating acquisitions is not trivial; been there, participated in that! But, aside from generating more revenue for both Skype and eBay, this situation demonstrates: the developers of a product must be passionate about what they are doing. The Pamela team understands both eBay and Skype infrastructure as well as the Skype and eBay user cultures in a way that would take months if not years for an internal synergy between eBay and Skype to develop. (I have had experience with situations where "big" companies thought they could do a better job than a dedicated solution provider on an infrastructure task and eventually came back to the solution provider to get the job done right.) And it did not go unnoticed that this solution has been licensed by the two eBay European subsidiaries whom you highlighted in the analyst conference call Wednesday.

Let me do a calculation associated with monetization: Skype generates $0.38 per registered account per quarter (~$1.52 per year). With 97 million eBay U.S. members that represents a minimum sustainable market size of $148 million for Skype. Now, if one could just raise the revenue per registered account! Or considering the North American Unlimited Plan, at $29.95 per year, the market size to consider booms to over $1.4B!

BTW, PamConsult was participating in the AMD booth demonstrating eBay auctions through an ATI set top box via the Windows Media shell within Windows Vista. Imagine eBay auctions for the SuperBowl championship clothing immediately after the game!

Have a great Weekend-Before-SuperBowl!

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