The Blog known as Skype-watch.com, Skype-gadgets.com.

Advertising for a wireless headset.

As given to me by Skype Russia fanatics.
 

3mobile buzz blog buzzing about the 3skypephone.

Look at what I just found the http://www.3mobilebuzz.com/ blog who "3mobilebuzz, which will bring you the latest news, reviews, opinion and hype on 3 from across the web. Initially we’ll be focusing on what people think of the eagerly awaited 3 Skypephone, but in the longer term you’ll be able to find out what other people are saying about all of 3’s mobiles". Nice video on the 3skypephone (mobile skype phone) direct link. and they got this video from here (quicktime movie)

They also list nicely the office 3skype phone websites :

• official 3 Skypephone site
• 3 Skypephone on three.co.uk
• Skype's 3 Skypephone site

Oh yeah by the way share skype with a friend.

Some Skype video's on youtube too and here the 3skypephone video's from youtube.

Skype spreading out on the Ebay website : shop victoriously.

Finally. ebay Allows Sellers to Use Skype Sitewide.  which boils down to "allow sellers to add Skype buttons to their listings across all categories on the site. Buyers who are registered with Skype can click on the Skype buttons to send an instant message or make a call to the seller."

some fundamental questions here :

• what is the official skype ID of Ebay Support (the company, yes)
• what is the official skype ID of Skype Support (the voip telephony company yes)
• what is the official skype ID of Paypal Support (the payment company)

I could not find it... Nobody picking up the Skype phone maybe ?

"Power of the three", works best if you would tell to your market (via the marketing dept.) that the company itself uses it's VoIP company to provide support, interact and talk to their customers... maybe even to their shareholders... Fourth question relates to wether the buyers and sellers really want to talk to eachother, maybe they simple want to receive and SMS to accept/deny the offer and not someone (virtually anyone) calling them... But of course it's worth to try it, only it should have happened 2 years ago. How difficult was it to put a Skype caller-link on a website and why was has that not been done before ?

Kind of funny to read also that the New ebay site lets investors help finance the poor of the world. Since when has eBay been engaged in charity projects ? I am quite sure that the Foreign shoppers that boost US sales
are probably not coming from the poorest countries in the world... Or maybe this will change with ebay Having Its Eye on Southeast Asia... Yes ebay Expresses Interest  In Southeast Asia and that is probably a good thing. Keep in mind also that Google Takes Aim At China's Mobile Market.

And in France "for its first French national TV advertising campaign, ebay is auctioning TV advertising time to its users". No wonder Niklas would not give them a part of www.joost.com... Checkout ebay France putting vendors on TV in national advertising drive

Lot's of leftovers in my keyboard and it needs cleaning.

I  did not get to take a sample but the thing did seem to work properly.

Anyways this gadgets looks like something cool to suck out the dust, dirt, food and other leftovers  (like nails, nose-content in the worst case) and related out of your keyboard.  I tried it myself on the  Mega  Gift fair in Hong Kong. Very  powerful device. See the movie.

Product shown : lot's of good vacuum cleaner for your computerkeyboard can be found on the internet. If they would have supplied a sample then I could list their company here. But the policy of this blog is simple : send free samples and you'll get listed.Be there of be square.

I wonder if there is a vacuum cleaner for skype phones or cellphones in general ?

Zhink Skype to SIP gateway allows you to reject all Skype callers that you do not know.

"a new Skype-to-SIP gateway called Skype SIP Gateway (News - Alert

) (PE) 1.0 from Zhink.com was recently released. This product allows two callers, one on Skype and the other with a SIP address, to communicate with each other. Sweet! By configuring this product and any SIP server" read more here in Tom Keating article.  Company / Productlink : Zhink.

Will the new Skype CEO be a Telecom person ?

The future :Alcatel-Lucent offers view of stabilizing Skype and other high-bandwidth traffic.

On the matter of Skype, it looks like Skype is becoming (maybe our judgment is clouded by the current 3skypephone hype) more and more a telephone company. Just check the latest news :

• UK mobile phone carrier teams up with Skype for free calls on the go
• UK to get new Skype mobile phone
• Cut Your Tech Bills
• Skype and 3: Mobile calls done dirt cheap
• 3 takes web calls mobile with Skype
• Skype and 3 in free mobile calls deal
• 3 and Skype’s phone link-up
•  Cut The Cost Of Your Mobile Phone Bill
• uk's Whampoa 3 Rolls Out Mobile Skype Phone
• Struggling 3 Operator Looks For Help From VOIP
• 3 takes calls mobile  with Skype

It's just a hunch, but it would not surprise me if the new Skype CEO came from these corners too...

And finally consider reading : Google: Friend Or Foe For Telecom?

source image.

Skype becoming an IM game company ?

Some observations :

Is Skype becoming the IM game company ? Skype rolls the dice with Facebook games.

Skype Video Chats Get Sharper with the new Logitech Camera. And that's a good thing, but you'll need a powerfull computer. I have not tested it yet. No sample. It's getting more and more difficult to convince manufacturors to provide samples for a skype centric blog.

Related links :

Skype/Logitech team up for high quality video conferencing San Francisco Chronicle
Skype, Logitech Upgrade Videoconferencing PC Magazine
Skype beefs up video callingCBC Prince Edward Island

3 Skypephone cannibalising voice revenues or is Skype cannibalizing Skype ?

Well, it's one way to look at the bold move of 3... with Ebay's telecoms division Skype and mobile phone network 3 trying to shake up the mobile industry. But I don't think that Skype who is going mobile via Whampoa's subsidiary 3, will scare the other players (yet).

The google news on 3skypephone is already dying out. And we are not even 1 day away from the launch of this device... It's a phone, right ? It seems like the hype is out of the Skype and it remains to be seen wether the 3skypephone launch can change that. In my humble opinion I think that the worst thing that could happen to this invention called 3skypephone is that it will be considered as yet another Skype hardware gadget and not a full phone.

Surely Skype fanatics, internet-geeks and computernerds will want it, but if the big masses will go for it, I doubt it. After all VoIP is still something new and fairly unknown by the masses. There are also a lot of other powerful cellphones on the market that also can run plugins such as www.fring.com, www.soonr.com, www.iskoot.com or simply have SIP/WIFI functionality... without being a closed platform such as Skype, but then again people like cute and round brands...

Or is Skype is cannibalising itself here...

source image.

A mobile skype phone fell from the three...

Good things always come in combinations of three, it is said.... Or maybe three (3) is a chinese lucky number..

• the three musketeers
• the three stoges...
• etcetera...

I am not so sure about the power of three (Ebay Paypal Skype) but well ehum, we know how that story went... I always wondered why Paypal for example did not put a Skype-icon for free telephonic ad hoc support on their support pages... In many cases a simple phonecall can create much more satisfaction between customer and supplier... That is, if you find people who want to pick up the call and have it done in an organized way (1st and 2nd level support layers...).

And then (it's almost like a saga... or fairy-tale) the years went by and after the closet got cleaned from some skeletons, the company three came out with 3skypephone.

Today it looks to more like the power of three is broken two... So now that the previous CEO has been ripped out of the contract, everybody is curious to see the next one stepping forward. Who will be the next CEO of Skype ?

Raketu is announcing FREE phone-to-phone calling!

" In addition to the computer-to-phone free calling (Raketu's RakOut service), Raketu now offers users free phone-to-phone calling using our RakWeb Calling service. Raketu's RakWeb service does not require any software download and can be accessed directly from any web browser, and from mobile devices at http://www.Raketu.mobi. Any user that makes a pre-paid payment to Raketu is eligible to receive up to 1200 free minutes per month for 3 months for making free calls to locations in over 40 countries around the world. Your pre-payment is used only when you use Raketu's services that are not free."

WiMAX vs. 3G cellular showdown

" "The WiMAX vs. 3G cellular showdown is poised to become one of the next great market battles in the tech industry. Fortunes will be made and lost in this battle, and the user experience of the Internet will be irreversibly changed (hopefully, for the better) in the process." How will this battle shape next-generation wireless technology?" source.

Can WiMAX remain an open platform or will it be hijacked by the big telecoms?

" The vendors who pioneered WiMAX have steadfastly held to the goal of making it an open platform with standards to ensure interoperability among different products. This week's Tech Sanity Check looks at whether WiMAX can remain open or if telecom vendors will hijack and fracture it the way they've done with cellular networks."  source.

And why does the Skype3phone not have wifi embedded ? Unless I am mistaken here... What's the point in have www.fon.com Skype enable all their hotspots ...

YouTube unveils video fingerprinting

I wonder if Skype does Voice fingerprinting... Anyways, read this : "reported on Google's video fingerprinting system. Well, the video fingerprinting system was finally unveiled on October 15, 2007. As expected, the system puts the burden on movie studios and other content owners to provide YouTube copies of the content that they wish were kept off YouTube. The system will create a "fingerprint" of the furnished video and store the digital information in an internal database. Do you think video fingerprinting will mostly eliminate the problem of copyright infringement on YouTube?" source : Video fingerprinting receives mixed reactions

Press reporting on the 3skypephone : the new skype hype and some questions for the support desk.

As picked from the google top ten news search on skype :

New Hype With Skype
Skype, 3 Unleash Phone for Free Calls Red Herring
3's Skype phone is go Register
3 and Skype launch VoIP mobile calls VNUNet.com
Free internet calls as Skype mobilises
The Register: ‘Skype is a kind of freestyle MVNO’
Skype mobile phone launched
Will 3's Skypephone change mobiles forever? Tech
November 2 launch for 3Skypephone Camera Core
3's Skype phone official
Interesting: Covad, Vonage, SkypePhone, Akamai HD, Hypres & Apple ...
3 Italy launch Skype cellphone that encourages mobile VoIP use
Hot import?
3 cosies up to Skype
Skype Launches Its Mobile Phone Overseas
Comment: Skype and 3 deal likely to scare industy

Product info here : www.three.co.uk/skypephone
Skype the 3Skypephone Press Office.

General questions the uninformed people will ask (who reads manuals these days...) :

• can it work with another simcard than the 3 simcard?
• in what countries will it really work?
• when I am in Belgium, can somebody from the UK call me on Skype without out any roaming costs.
• what type of call can it make?
• can i send/receive email with it?
• is it better than the Iphone ?
• can it be unlocked ?
• does it get hot like the skype wifi phones ?
• can it be used over wifi ?
• does this phone work with other IM program (like www.fring.com that allows other IM's)
• can skype users from abroad (let's say outside the UK) call me on my cellphone ?
• what happens when my Skype is offline and somebody calls on my 3skypephone ID ?

Time to digg into the Skype or 3skypephone forum. Who do we call by the way when we got a problem ? Where is the Skype / 3 helpdesk ?

It would be great to see that other operators/carrier make a simular phone, or is this a propietary solution dedicated to one carrier and one phone. We know how long that will lasts. People want freedom. Freedom to roam... People want to stick in any SIM-card into any cellphone and call any number. Some people also want to login to wifi/wimax to be able to use Skype free, totally free, even without a dataplan. I know I do that with my simple Nokia E70 phone via www.fring.com.

Discover P2P Skype traffic.

I got one of these DVD. Now it's time to test the www.facetime.com
More later.

eBay and the world says hello to the 3skypephone and goodbye to Niklas Zennstrom. The Skype mobile phone is launched.

www.3skypephone.com. Looking good. See the guys here testing it. They even put  it on a youtube video. Quite impressive. Remember this is version one of the 3Skypephone and you get it on http://skype.mobi or just go here and choose yourself. And the price is about 100 USD.

Good comments on this product by Phil by the way on SJ.  buy the 3 Skypephone on Friday from the Skype online store. Read about it now on its Skype product page.

Samples are welcome. We have not tested this one, but it looks good. Of course we are skype gadget fanatics... If this 3skypephone will have the same appeal on the cellphone market, remains to be seen, but let's not spoil the party... I wonder how Niklas Zenstrom and co. feels now about the 3skypephone project. Skype has finally made it and is dancing the dance with a carrier (three.co.uk / Hutchison Whampoa). The original Skype brainchild has been raised into an agressive yet obedient todler by the eBay mummy and it's uncle is now a Telecom-carrier... The rebellious nature of Skype has been removes from it's genes.  Ripped out.  Maybe some DNA has remained.

"LUXEMBOURG, 29th October 2007 – Skype, the global Internet communications company and 3, the mobile operator, have launched a new affordable handset that lets you make free Skype to Skype calls and send free Skype instant messages from your mobile phone to other Skype users no matter where they are.

The 3 Skypephone is a fully-featured 3G Internet phone with Skype built-in. In addition to Skype calls the phone makes conventional calls and can be used to access 3’s broad range of other internet services." source. More here or  here.

Related domains : www.freeskype.com | www.3skype.co.uk

Nice logo by the way. Something tells me that the new CEO of Skype will be somebody from the Telecom/Carrier world... Maybe somebody from the Hutchison Whampoa group ? Eitherways, I'll be happy when this 3skypephone (skype mobile phone) becomes available in Hong Kong.

Source mugshots 3skypephone : http://www.cellulare-magazine.it/news.php?id=7875
Productpage : http://3skypephone.com/ | http://skype.mobi
Press: 3 Skypephone Press Release

And this is probably the 3skypephone press office skype_ID : 3skypephone at least this popped up when I looked in the skype-search function.

Why is Skype-gadgets.com and Skype-watch.com not listed as "Friend of Skype".

I have asked it friendly to be listed there, maybe I am not welcome anymore. I would like an answer. I have asked this quite some times, now I am asking it publically.

All the others are listed, so why not a blog like www.skype-gadgets.com, www.skype-watch.com ?

Skypejournal.com is listed.

Friend or Foe ?

Search and track your eBay stuff using Skype (very cool).

Very cool ! You can test this here at http://pages.ebay.com/skype/. You have to Download the eBay version of Skype and then you can do things like tracking auctions that you follow. I don't really use this, since I am not an Ebay Auctioneer, but okay fair enough. It's present... I do wonder why so little Skype products are display on that page. It would make sence to put a bit more, right ?

Ebay CEO on Skype: "the price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake."

Yeah; I could not agree more.... "EBay CEO Meg Whitman kept her keynote appointment at the Web 2.0 Summit despite the company's rocky earnings call the night before, when it suffered its first loss since the late '90s. Questioned by show host Tim O'Reilly about missteps like eBay's pricey and troubled Skype buy, Whitman was confident and defiant: "In this business, the price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake," she responded." source news | source image.

USB port on the back of the Ipevo Solo.

I asked Ipevo this on the matter of the Ipevo Solo phone to explain to me what the usb-port on the back is for on the ipevo solo :

- web-camera for Skype video later ?
- usb bluetooth dongle for bluetooth headset
- usb network device (in case the networks get faster and upgrade)
- usb connection to Xing Ipevo or other speaker-/ conference-box

I guess now it is used for diagnostics and uploading the software first time ?

Product : http://www.ipevo.com/products/solo/solo_overview.htm
SJ review here.

See here a little story about USB Internet Phones by Marco from Amperordirect.com.

3skypephone domains.

I just browsed around a bit on what 3skypephone.* domains have been registered. These domains are taken :

3skypephone.com

3skypephone.net

3skypephone.org

3skypephone.info

3skypephone.us

3skypephone.biz

It's funny that nobody thought of registering the domain iskypephone.com... not that it really matters, but I just noticed this.  Same goes for threeskypephone.com... time to be more thorough...

I'll be looking forward on the opening of www.3skypephone.com, assuming that this will be the place where the 3skypephone will be sold online.. apart from www.three.co.uk.

Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom removed from Web 2.0. summit list of speakers.

As read here on Web 2.0 Summit,  "EBay’s Meg Whitman will be speaking Thursday, right before her company’s Q3 earnings announcement the same day.  Friday’s Wall Street Journal had an article about eBay’s struggle to juice its slowing growth rates.  We also hope the moderator asks her questions about the departure of Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom, eBay’s associated $900 million write down. Speaking of Mr. Zennstrom, the Skype founder curiously disappeared from Web 2.0 Summit’s list of speakers sometime over the last few days. As recently as last Wednesday according to the Google cache, Zennstrom was listed as a speaker at the conference, where he was to participate in a session entitled, “Show Me.” Oops. Today, all references to Zennstrom are removed from O’Reilly’s conference agenda." source.

Quote : "according to the Google cache, Zennstrom was listed as a speaker at the conference, where he was to participate in a session entitled, “Show Me.” Oops. Today, all references to Zennstrom are removed from O’Reilly’s conference agenda."

Here are some questions I would ask to Meg Whitman :

• who will be the new CEO of Skype ?
• what exactly went wrong in the partnership Ebay / Skype ?
• how will the Ebay / Skype losses be accounted for ?
• how would you assess the damage that the Skype brand