jcourtney's archive
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 starr…
David Pogue, New York Times: Video Chats Overcome Clunkiness
Columnist David Pogue in a New York Times article reviewing Skype 4.0 starts by going back to the AT&T video phone demonstrated at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and user experience from then. Not a lot of calls due to technical and psychological i…
Set Up and Make CalliFlower Conference Calls from Your iPhone
Over the past eighteen months iotum’s CalliFlower has evolved into a complete audio conference call service. While they still offer a basic free service, in January they launched a premium service that provides document sharing, local calling numbers i…
SILK: Skype’s New Audio Codec Sets New Performance Standards for Voice Conversations
The most recent hotfix release of Skype for Windows 4 Beta 3 had one key new feature: feature: Super Wideband audio codecThe associated Skype Garage post went on to say:… Starting from this version we’ve included the new Super Wideband Audio codec. …
Skype for Windows 4.0 Goes Gold; Improved UI, Audio and Video Performance
Over the past eight months 1.2 million Skype users have participated in the Skype for Windows 4.0 beta program (stage 1, stage 2, stage 3). During this beta period, not only current user feedback was sought but also feedback from new users installing S…
Skype Everywhere: Coming Soon to IBM Lotus Live Engage
A year ago August IBM’s Lotus Sametime Division announced the acquisition of Skype Partner Webdialogs to obtain their widely respected Unyte Desktop Sharing collaboration technology. About four months later we learned, from Lou Guercia, Lotus SameTime’…
Skype Everywhere: Inner Pass Skype-Enables Business Document Management
At CES 2009 COO Scott Durschlag spoke about “liquid communications” and “Skype Wherever, Whenever”. InnerPass has developed a business-class hosted document management system; they have been marketing it via private label to over 3000 businesses or pro…
What’s Wrong With This Picture, Eh?
The U.S. cell phone industry is asking its customers to only text during the inauguration ceremonies tomorrow. From the New York Times:The largest cellphone carriers, fearful that a communicative citizenry will overwhelm their networks, have taken the …
Skype COO Outlines Skype’s Software Guidelines
During our conversations with Skype COO Scott Durschlag last week at CES, Scott outlined Skype’ criteria for its software development going forward.First was the emphasis on “liquid communications” through statements such as “Skype Whenever, Wherever”….
Skype at CES 2009, Part II: An Overview and Observations
There’s a “new sheriff in town” when it come to running Skype; CES 2009 was a “coming out” event for the new executive team.CES 2009 provided an opportunity to catch up personally with many of the vendors we have covered in Skype Journal including Skyp…
Skype at CES 2009: Initial Steps Towards Liquid Communication
At a Skype’s CES 2009 press conference today recently appointed COO Scott Durschlag provided the first hints of a vision statement for Skype under its new executive team along with some initial software offerings that hint at the direction Skype is tak…
Skype for Mac 2.8 Beta Launches
At MacWorld’s Showstoppers event this evening Skype announced Skype for Mac 2.8 beta, with two major new features as well as several minor ones.Screen SharingThe most impressive feature is a form of basic screen sharing. Either a segment of your screen…
Access Your Skype Contacts via Truphone
Over the past few years we have seen the evolution of several conversation communities, some simply employing instant messaging; others employing both instant messaging and voice. Skype is the primary example with its support of IM, voice and video as …
OnState Virtual PBX: Taking On and Managing All Callers
OnState’s Virtual PBX incorporates Skype as a contributor to lower cost, yet more productive, small business communications management activities.A mainstay for communications in any office with at least a few employees is the need to accept incoming c…
SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry: Pragmatic Cable, Internet and Wireless Convergence onto a Smartphone
In my early 50’s youth when I was delivering afternoon newspapers in somewhat remote Saskatoon, Saskatchewan I always tried to be at one customer’s home at 4:30. Why? At that time the only television viewable came via high rooftop antennae from transmi…
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 pr…
RIM Demonstrates Ongoing Support for Older BlackBerries
While ZDNet has named BlackBerry Bold the most influential biztech product of 2008, RIM has not been neglecting the millions of owners of older 8xx0 series BlackBerries. Earlier this week their BlackBerry Connection Newsletter announced that version 4….
The Skype - Oprah Feedback Loop - It Works in Strange Ways
This afternoon I came across this article by reporter Chris O’Brien in today’s San Jose Mercury News: “Video Chat has entered the mainstream”. It appears that the worlds of Oprah viewers and Silicon Valley geeks and reporters have more than six degrees…
Bold Twittering: When is a SmartPhone Truly a Mobile Microcomputer?
If I ever had any doubt about the value of Twitter as a commercial social networking tool, it evaporated this weekend as a result of following some Tweets on the subject of smartphones that appeared this weekend. They certainly provide an independent p…
Truphone Breaks the Carrier Barrier
Truphone’s announcements last week overcame a significant carrier resistance barrier to using VoIP-enabled services to reduce international calling costs. The key secret here was that it required the combination of Truphone’s iPhone and iPod Touch appl…
Race to Provide Low Cost International Calling on Mobile Heats Up
Yesterday I wrote a post for GigaOm, Skype: Coming to a Cell Phone Near You, discussing how the announcement of two new beta versions of Skype on mobile devices gave a hint of Skype’s future mobile strategy.At the same time Truphone announced a new ver…
Skype 4.0 for Windows Beta 3 Available
We have just learned that Skype 4.0 for Windows Beta 3 is now available. Once we have had a chance to install and review it, there will be more to say. But for now:Skype 4.0 for Windows Beta 3 Download. Release Notes Raul Liive’s Skype Blog PostFrom t…
Skype’s Restructuring Makes Major Moves: New CxO Announcements
Over the past few months, announcements have been few and far between with respect to Skype product news. But at the same time I have often discussed Skype’s restructuring moves; the first official disclosure of a restructuring was disclosed in our Sep…
Voxeo Grows Again: Voice Objects Acquisition Adds a Third Layer of Developer Resources
Over the past ten years Orlando, FL-based Voxeo Corporation has grown to become one of the largest hosts of enterprise Interactive Voice Response (”IVR”) applications, building not only tools for developing and hosting these applications but also a tra…
Fonolo Takes Its “Deep Dialing” Into Full Public Beta
When calling into an enterprise of any reasonable size, we all love to navigate our way through those pesky (and repetitive) enterprise auto-attendant services or phone trees that go through menu after menu to connect you directly to an appropriate des…
Motley Fool Discusses The 2012 Annual Report of SkypePal Inc.
The Motley Fool has become a popular and widely respected investment community site since the origins of the commercial Internet in the mid-90’s with the objective of helping people take control of their financial lives. It has evolved into a multi-me…
Truphone for iPod Touch: Accessing Skype Contacts and Social Media
Over the past year one of the leading IP-based voice service offerings for low cost international calling from wireless smartphones has been Truphone whose service primarily runs over WiFi access points. Their Truphone Anywhere service, launched last s…
eComm 2009 Registration Opens: Take Advantage of the Skype Journal Discount
Two weeks ago I wrote about eComm 2009 and the announcement of Skype’s participation as a Platinum sponsor. Yesterday registration for eComm 2009 opened with a Super Early Bird Special pricing of $1,190.00 available to those who register prior to Dece…
Getting Closer to the True Numbers on Skype via Mobile
Yesterday UK web publication TelecomTV put out a post “Skype claims mobiles are involved in a quarter of its calls”. But a “correction” comment by the author, Tony Chan, disclaims his basic premise:CORRECTION: As the original author of this story for C…
Alec Saunders Twitters: “Ditching all IM Systems except Skype”!
When I started using Skype more intensively about three years ago, I had been a heavy user of Microsoft’s MSN Messenger for several years. But about 18 months ago, I stopped logging into MSN Messenger; none of my contacts were there - or, if they were,…
Source of Skype Growth
Borderless Communicator Hudson Barton has spent the last few years as the “keeper of the ‘real users’ statistic”, a measure of Skype usage that attempts to understand the demographics of Skype’s user base and put it into some sort of perspective so tha…
Skype Seeking Skype Developer Community Manager
If we go back to our early September interview with Josh Silverman where we discussed “The Way Ahead - Platforms and Partners”, Josh stated in response to our question about addressing ongoing partner communications issues:What I don’t want to do is o…
Another Skype Partner Acquired: VAPPS Goes to Citrix
We have often reported on HiDef Conferencing as a leader in high quality voice conferencing. It’s a service built around servers that specialize in connecting up to 500 conferencing participants from either the PSTN or Skype, and managing the call part…
Updates: iNum, Calliflower and Entering “Last Name” onto a BlackBerry
With both VoiceCon and Under The Radar events in the Bay Area last week, there were lots of announcements in the Voice 2.0 communications space; I wrote up some GigaOm and Web Worker Daily Posts to cover a few of them:On Tuesday Voxbone announced the l…
Twitter4Skype. Following Your Twitter Life within Skype
Borderless Communicator’s Hudson Barton and I both follow our Twitter friends using a nifty third party Skype utility called Twitter4Skype. Basically you set up Twitter4Skype as a Skype Contact and enter your account information. Going forward, wheneve…
GMail Voice and Video Chat: Threading Voice and Video Into Email Dialogues
Earlier this week the GMail weblog announced GMail voice and video chat; basically they are designed to add voice and video modes to an email thread; from the GMail blog post: … today we’re launching voice and video chat — right inside Gmail. We’ve …
iSkoot Scores a New $19MM Financing Round
This evening iSkoot, the service that provides Skype access from smartphones, announced (press release link to come when available) they had received a new $19 million venture financing round to build out and bring to market a new suite of mobile commu…
iSkoot Available Through Android Market on T-Mobile’s Newly Launched G-1
The new G-1 phone based on Google’s Android platform is slowing getting out to market this week through T-Mobile stores in U.S. locations where T-Mobile supports the 3G wireless protocol. At launch there appear to be about 50 third party applications a…
HiDef Conferencing Aids Business During Credit Crunch
HiDef Conferencing, a leading audio conferencing service that incorporates HD Voice when accessed via Skype, but can also be accessed via designated country-specific numbers and toll-free 800 numbers, wants to assist those businesses and professionals …
TOM-Skype Breach: Answers to Phil’s Questions from 2006 SJ Post
This is the third of four posts resulting from an interview with Nart Villeneuve, principle investigator of the Citizen Lab report “Breaching Trust”.Two weeks ago Phil republished an April 2006 Skype Journal post with about sixteen questions related to…
Subscribes
Archives
-
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- November 1999
- January 1970
Sipy...
-
News, opinions and announcements about fast changing communication tools and technologies, from various blogs and ezine.