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I just tried the Skype homepage direct from outside the USA, and then again using a USA proxy server.

From outside the USA the page looked the same as always.

Using the proxy server within the USA (the same one I had to use to get them to take my credit card!), there's a big message that says "Free calls within the US and Canada to all phones", accompanied by this image.

If you have access to a VPN connection via the US, I assume you could take advantage of this, but at the same time, I think most people who have access to a VPN in the US don't care about 2 cents a minute.

I was able to test the free SkypeOut by calling my home phone from my PowerBook, but not without some difficulty. At first it wouldn't dial the number at all -- apparently you need to use a bit of a special incantation to get it to dial.

The trick? You must put a plus sign ('+') in front of the 1 (that is, dial "+1-xxx-xxx-xxxx")

This is pretty well documented. Go to the SkypeOut page at skype.com, and it's there in the How to get calling link. Or in the Skype Dashboard widget mentioned on the OSX version's download page. Or in the FAQ link on the Help menu.

I agree though it should be right out in the open where everyone will see it. I wonder why the + is needed though... Perhaps regular Skype user IDs can begin with a number, so they needed some way to differentiate phone numbers from numeric user IDs?

Skype is getting beat up by posters, you have to scroll down to feel the heat: http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2006/05/free_calls _to_all_landlines_an.html
Seems that it does not function in the 70~80.xxx.xxx.xxx range. My ISP Qwest is in that range. In other words they missed a few of us. I use Asterisk and Telasip and don't really care. Bad marketing.

Pretty complete support info is over at Skype forumes http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?t=10822 and http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?t=14646

I dont know how current the info is, but in a nutshell you need to use the Toshiba stack software instead of Windows default stack to make it work correctly. Lucky for me, Dell laptops come standard with Toshiba stack pre-installed.

If you have a Dell and need the Bluetooth card, you can get them through service parts for about half the cost of buying it pre-installed or buying it through their accessories department (makes you wonder about their pricing structure). This applies to the Inspiron 6000 anyway.

I used a cheap eBay no-name headset. It didnt put out enough volume, either transmit or receive, to work well with Dragon, so I donated it to a client. It works great with his phone, but leaves me shopping for a new headset. Based on the FA I'll try the JX10 and see how the noise suppression works with voice recognition.

Pretty complete support info is over at Skype forumes http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?t=10822 and http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?t=14646

I dont know how current the info is, but in a nutshell you need to use the Toshiba stack software instead of Windows default stack to make it work correctly. Lucky for me, Dell laptops come standard with Toshiba stack pre-installed.

If you have a Dell and need the Bluetooth card, you can get them through service parts for about half the cost of buying it pre-installed or buying it through their accessories department (makes you wonder about their pricing structure). This applies to the Inspiron 6000 anyway.

I used a cheap eBay no-name headset. It didnt put out enough volume, either transmit or receive, to work well with Dragon, so I donated it to a client. It works great with his phone, but leaves me shopping for a new headset. Based on the FA I'll try the JX10 and see how the noise suppression works with voice recognition.

> Say Blue, if you ever have free time again, a Mac version would be grand.

Please, I'm begging you Mac users, stop spamming commenting systems with requests for a Mac version.

It's already bad enough when I'm looking at Skype plugins, I don't need it here. When I'm browsing to look at some useful comments on some software, I browse through hundreds of "Make a mac version!" requests, just to find ONE comment on the actual software.

Stop using comments for MacOSX port requests, it's annoying. Thankyou.

Exactly you don't need to "open a shell" to install Mandrake.

Well, go to a home banking website and witness what being in a fringe group means when they reject your not-so-IE browser (this is improving, admittedly)

Yes it is getting better. Here in Canada most home banking sites will work with Firefox on Linux. The Canadian Government is different, many of their sites are deliberately blocking Linux even though they are using Java technologies that should be cross platform (deliberate deprivation of civil rights).

Watch a CSS-encrypted DVD.

Imstall the software from PLF (as easy as installing Windows software) and you have no problem.

Open a Word document (without having to completely recreate the formatting)

Never had to reformat a Word document sent to me, when I open it in OpenOffice 2.0x

Install Skype

http://www.skype.com/download/skype/linux/ - Yes whats the problem ? There is a Mandrake RPM and it is included with the Mandrake 2006 distribution.

Other issues:

Hamachi setup: The setup time for Hamachi is exactly what they say: A few minutes. The interface is a bit quirky, and the documentaton is limited.

Anyone using Hamachi may want to run it as a service; see this explanation from Cyberonica.

Insecurity: Hamachi uses a very sensible technique for getting around firewalls and NAT. So does Skype VOIP. Of course, that means firewalls and NAT are not really protecting us.

In no way am I saying that Hamachi itself is insecure. I don't think that. They say all traffic is encrypted, and normally none passes through their servers. I am only saying that these techniques show the insecurity of our present protections.

ZoneAlarm Security Suite: We use ZoneAlarm Security Suite, a software firewall that notifies users every time something happens that might be an indication of a security breach.

If the users don't cooperate, and don't call us every time they see a notification, there is no security. ZoneAlarm's notifications are written in pure Geek, an unusual language which is used not to communicate but to pretend to communicate, while actually trying to avoid providing any useful information. Geek is a job security language, not a language for communication.

The real answer, of course, is to have a secure operating system, not one in which there is a lot of profit to be made selling the next version by criticizing the present version. We need an OS that is designed to be secure, not one that is allowed to be sloppy so that it is insecure.

Router VPN -- Netgear: We have had an enormous amount of trouble with Netgear router VPNs. We've had a lot of trouble with Netgear technical support. The Netgear products don't seem finished. Once they are working, our experience is that they stay working, with some quirks.

(Interestingly, Netgear is the worst company for avoiding sending rebates. We almost always have to go to the management of the store from which we bought Netgear equipment and have them get our rebates for us.)

Skype encrypts all calls and instant messages end-to-end for unrivaled privacy.

[Sorry for ranting a bit off-topic. Must be the late hour.]

I have two voip capable cellphones, a 9500 and 9300i. There are also the PalmOS wifi enabled phones too most of which can get free VOIP software and make free calls from any free wireless lan.

http://www.europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,6771,77854,00. html -phone
http://www.my-xda.com/comp.html -more phones.
http://www.barablu.com/ -voip software.
http://www.skype.com/download/skype/mobile/ -more voip software

"Some colleges and departments at Cambridge University also ban Skype"

That would be an interesting question. Even if they didn't have any brick and motar in the US, they'd still be conducting business and taking payments. I'm not sure how their SkypeOut service would work if they didn't have *some* investment in US infastructure, however, and that's how they make their money.

http://jobs.skype.com/

That page shows that they have five job vacancies in the US, so I'm led to assume they do have a US presence.

Free TV on the net at http://www.wwitv.com/ and free phone service at http://www.skype.com?

C'mon! "Ekiga?" Is that the sound of a penguin expectorating?

I can deal with some odd-ball names. Heck, I run "Ubuntu" with Gnome and "Sylpheed". But Ekiga - It's not really "Skype" or "Gizmo", is it?

http://www.skype.com/products/explained.html
"A true P2P system, in our opinion, is one where all nodes in a network join together dynamically to participate in traffic routing-, processing- and bandwidth intensive tasks that would otherwise be handled by central servers."

Of course your traffic isn't passing through Skype's servers. It doesn't need to. It's passing through everyone elses machine thats using Skype.

With vonage your traffic goes through only one other party while with Skype it passes through everyone.

If you want true point to point communications that doesn't pass through anyone's pc's but your ISP and the hops in between then just use NetMeeting that's built into Windows.

Go read http://www.skype.com/help/faq/privacy.html

Especially the caller-log-thingie is very interesting.
Here's a link to the biz-section : http://www.skype.com/business/

That's not really true. Intel is planning on releasing a new product line sometime this summer.

Planning on? I'll believe it when I see it. There's a name for this: "vaporware". So far, all I've seen from Intel has been marketing hype.

Their new Core Duo platform improves battery life and the Vive platform is designed to make it easy to have a Home Theater PC.

I thought the Core Duo was supposed to be available for desktops, not just notebooks. That's been one of Intel's big problems all along; the Pentium M in Centrino actually performed well with low power dissipation, but you could only get one if you bought it in a notebook. If you wanted a desktop system, you were stuck with the underperforming, power-gobbling Pentium 4.

BTW, it's spelled "VIIV". And it hasn't gone anywhere, either. It's just marketing hype so far, and no one really knows what the heck it is. We already have media center PCs; what's so special about Viiv?

I would also look forward to a race between Intel and AMD to see who gets to quad-core first.

AMD probably will; they've been first to everything else lately. First to 64 bits, first to dual-core, and they've already announced that they'll release a quad-core CPU early next year. While it's not done yet, they actually have a track record of delivering real performant product instead of just marketing hype, so it seems likely.

My initial reaction was very similar to yours, but after pondering the topic for awhile, I find it difficult to see why this is illegal. Considering that Intel helped develop 10-way calling, (http://www.skype.com/company/news/2006/skype_inte l.html), I don't understand why there's anything wrong with them saying that the feature can only be used on thier chips.

Simple: Intel has what appears to be monopoly power given their very large marketshare, so moves like this are obviously anticompetitive and may be found illegal. If Intel had 30% marketshare, things would be different, but they don't.

In the face of this threat, Intel is countering not by investing in engineering and improving their products, but by making a big new marketing campaign.

That's not really true. Intel is planning on releasing a new product line sometime this summer. Their new Core Duo platform improves battery life and the Vive platform is designed to make it easy to have a Home Theater PC. I would also look forward to a race between Intel and AMD to see who gets to quad-core first.

So now, to go back on topic, what about Skype? My initial reaction was very similar to yours, but after pondering the topic for awhile, I find it difficult to see why this is illegal. Considering that Intel helped develop 10-way calling, (http://www.skype.com/company/news/2006/skype_inte l.html), I don't understand why there's anything wrong with them saying that the feature can only be used on thier chips.

Interestingly, in the Skype forums they are deleting threads and banning any users who refer to Maxxuss' recent work.

It amuses me that a company that offers communication products would be surpressing freedom of speech like this!

The wiki link in Slashdot uncrippled form is supposed to lead to Niklas Zennstrom with dots on top of the 'o'. Here's an alternative link. But Niklas don't bundle any apps with spyware, anyway.

using skype you can already call/receive calls with a pocket pc
http://www.skype.com/products/skype/pocketpc/

I wonder how this is too little, too late against the new alliance of 3G company 3 (available in AT, AU, HK, DK, SE, UK, IT, amongst others) with Skype, offering skyping via 3G. This should definitely get the international call prices down, a process which has begun in some places already.

Skype for Windows Mobile has been out for ages. It will run on any device running pocket PC or Windows Mobile with a wifi connection. http://www.skype.com/products/skype/pocketpc/

Isn't that exactly what Skype has been offering for almost 2 years now with Skype for Pocket PC?

http://www.skype.com/products/skype/pocketpc/

consider the risk of MSIEzating the VoIP protocol. I seriously don't believe Microsoft isn't going to play the usual proprietarization trick to lock user under their own closed platform and eventually levy its own monopoly tax. In any case the quality of Microsoft 1.0 releases hasn't ever been exactly stellar so while waiting for Microsoft to get it right try this other proprietary platform. After all it's here, now.

here you go, works great on HTC/winmobile 2003/5

here you go, works great on HTC/winmobile 2003/5

This is generally concerning the "Skype will be like Napster in 5 years time...". I am not sure how many people are aware that the core engine developer of Skype is none other than Priit Kasesalu, the same man behind Kazaa, along with Janus Priis, one of his older friends, who works at Skype as well, and Niklas Zennström, another person behind Kazaa. Therefore, it shouldn't come as a suprise.

http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?t=46569

Yes, but when was the last time you saw an ad in Skype?

Google didn't advertise for the first few years either.

And the last time I checked, Skype didn't directly sell anything like this.

Check out this.

You are right that free is not a good business model, as we learned in the late 90's, but the idea is to charge people to use the service in a way that they don't notice. For Google, that means through advertising that's very nonintrusive. For Skype, they offer free internet to internet phone service, but if you want to call a land line or cell they charge. Also, if you want to get voicemail (and who wouldn't if they seriously used this service?) they charge. There's so many other services they can charge for as well. The options are limitless.

Leave feedback on their product at their feedback page. Tell them that you're not going to support it due to their business decisions to lock features to a certain part of the market.

Or will Dual-core Mactel systems get the added benefits too?

According to Skype Staffer rosnow on the Skype forums, Intel MacOSX machines will also support the 10 way calling:
http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?t=46469&highl ight=

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't AMD now account for > 50% of new desktop sales? Perhaps business sales are metered separately, but I rather doubt that many business PCs run Skype. It seems like this is a bad move for Skype on many levels.. Not only do they look crooked but they now have alienated greater than half of new PC owners from making full use of their service.

Also, feel free to give Skype a piece of your mind. They deserve it. http://www.skype.com/feedback/contact/

Fair enough. I will continue to scream "Skype," because Skype has SkypeIn. It's a phone number, for the cheap rate of $35 a year. Better deal than Vonage, without crappy Vonage support. Further, Skype now has POTS-like telephone handsets. In a year or two this will kill Vonage.

Surprise, IM networks are centralized...

Skype isn't.

Do you want security? Use end-to-end encryption.

Skype has end-to-end encryption.

OpenWengo:
SIP compliant VoIP client (+ Video ?), Firefox extension, GPL: http://openwengo.com/

Ekiga:
VoIP and video conferencing application (H.323 and SIP) for GNOME, GPL: http://www.ekiga.org/

PhoneGaim:
VoIP system based on the Gaim instant messaging software and the SIP protocol, GPL: http://www.phonegaim.com/ (sponsored by Linspire: Some controversy exists over the perceived difficulty faced by non-Linspire users who wish to install PhoneGaim on their Linux system.)

sipX:
SIP based products (pbx, softphone, and supporting products), LGPL: http://www.sipfoundry.org/sipX/

Google's Libjingle:
Implementation of Jingle and Jingle-Audio (proposed extensions to XMPP), BSD License: https://sourceforge.net/projects/libjingle/

KPhone:
VoIP application for the KDE desktop environment, SIP, GPL: http://kphone.sourceforge.net/


Skype: http://www.skype.com/

Google Talk: http://www.google.com/talk/

Gizmo Project: http://gizmoproject.com/

Although it isn't that expensive and the cost is apparently applicable only if you are calling someone who doesn't have Skype. I suspect that somebody will be paying more in the future if their is wide-spread use of this service.

There are a few major challenges that Skype faces and will likely relegate it to a popular but, not ubiquitous application.

1. Quality of service from Public Wi-Fi - There is no guarantee the access point won't be saturated or have sufficient bandwidth to support the number of users trying to use the acces point.
2. Carrier Grade WiFi infrastructure will be owned by those who will take a dim outlook on having their income eaten by free calls. Traffic will be "shaped" to make the quality less than existing wireless options.
3. Skype to Skype is free...Skype Out is not so you need to pay to access POTS lines.
4. Not everyone who is attracted to Skype will be willing to pay to access Land Lines.
5. As has been mentioned, Skype is a proprietary application, thus there will always be someone looking to build a better mouse trap and keep this segment of the market fragmented.
6. Voip is not new and most carriers route their calls through a VOIP infrastructure to reduce their costs. Consumers can get cheap calls now through long distance calling plans and cards. In North America local calls are free and long distance can be had for about the same as Skype out.
7. PDA+Voip+Wifi can be done without Skype.

Free 411 and LD on Skype

Just passing this along the information superhighway.

Skype under linux completely sucks. It seems after ebay took over skype, they chucked out the support for linux so much so that it doesnt work at all. Check this out http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?t=32290&sid=8 0e30a3a5027922776d84bb7906d8bf1

Skype, wake me up when you have fixed the audio bug, otherwise go to the DOGS

As the Senator's webmaster, I can tell you he doesn't read his podcasts. He does have communications staff and researchers as all Senators do, but he gets the point of podcasts and prides himself not reading from a prepared statement.

The usual process is he decides what to talk about that week, writes down a few bullet points and then I hit record. Occasionally he'll have supporting docs as well if there are statistics or quotes he wants to use, but in general it's an extemporaneous podcast.

Take yesterday's podcast for example, he didn't have any staff in his meeting with the President, so it doesn't make sense that someone else would write what the meeting was about just for him to read it.

For the podcasts he recorded from the Middle East, I set up a Skype Voicemail account that he called and I pulled it off with Audio Hijack Pro.

Plug: Subscribe to the podcast with iTunes or with your favorite podcast client(rss feed).

[ Amendment IV ]
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Want to read my stuff? Go ahead and crack it - no warrant necessary.

Get the rabbit installed on a machine behind your firewall
==> http://freenet.sourceforge.net/
Faster than freenet
==> http://www.i2p.net/
Encrypt Jabber
==> http://www.vanemery.com/Linux/Jabber/jabberd.html
Onion Routing
==> http://tor.eff.org/
Emerging Network To Reduce Orwellian Potency Yield
==> http://entropy.stop1984.com/
Free Internet telephony
==> http://skype.com/
GNU-ified P2p
==> http://www.gnu.org/software/gnunet/


DO NOT DENY yourself about 2 hours @ InfoAnarchy.org
OMG! ==> http://www.infoanarchy.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Pag e
LearnLearnLearnLearn ==> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography

=================EMAIL ENCRYPTION===============
GPG (Free PGP)
==> http://gnupg.org/
Integrated with Thunderbird
==> http://enigmail.mozdev.org/
Mutt can't be beat as a mailreader and integrates GPG wonderfully.
==> http://mutt.blackfish.org.uk/
==> http://www.mutt.org/links.html
==> http://wiki.mutt.org/index.cgi?UserPages

!!! Please do not immediately send newly created keys to the keyservers (as many HOWTOs instruct new users to). They are already overflowing with "test keys" and other people's experiments from over the years THAT HAVE NO EXPIRATION and will never be deleted. These keys are "orphans" and most will never be used. As keyservers sync together, and most keys are never deleted once submitted - GET YOUR KEY SETUP CORRECTLY AND HAVE PRACTICE WITH IT BEFORE SENDING IT OFF TO THE KEYSERVERS!!! Otherwise storage requirements will continue to grow and using these in the future will become more difficult FOR ALL. Please, if you are just starting out with PGP or GPG or GnuPG or anything similar (the last two are in fact the same thing) use manual key distribution to begin (ascii armor your public key with


$ gpg --export --armor my@email.address.org

and copy and paste it into an email body or attach it to an email


$ gpg --export --armor my@email.address.org > myPubKey.txt

to gain practice with GPG before uploading your key. This way if you need to create another you won't have uploaded your mistakes. Many choices need to be made and it's worth getting things right before "going public" with your new digital ID. Experiment with yourself and a few different email accounts or with some friends first.)

SET AN EXPIRATION OF 2-5 YEARS OR SO AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR PREFERENCES THE WAY YOU LIKE THEM BEFORE SENDING TO A KEYSERVER! Better yet is to HOST YOUR

check out their rates:
http://openwengo.com/index.php?yawl%5BS%5D=wengo.p ublic.homePage&yawl%5BK%5D=wengo.public.aboutCallO ut
http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/

skype: 0.017 euros in the US
openwengo: 0.012 euros in the US

do the math

also openwengo is GPL, can do sms and video and works through firewall and is compatible with other SIP phones. Plus it offers you 3 euros on sign on.

http://openwengo.com/
get it from here:
http://www.wengofiles.teaser-hosting.com/wengophon e/rc/WengoSetup-0.99rc4.exe

hack it up here:
http://dev.openwengo.com/trac/openwengo/trac.cgi/

So get a Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC cellphone that has WiFi and download Skype for it. If your carrier doesn't support high enough bandwidth, you won't be able to use Skype on it for voice, but with wireless it's no problem.

Skype does work using ALSA driver, check this: http://forum.skype.com/viewtopic.php?p=148980

I have been using skype on linux for a while now, but the Linux support is getting worse.

Skype does not support ALSA, causing all kinds of weird problems. There is a bug in skype that require a restart after any voice call (it does not close /dev/dsp after use). These problems should have been fixed a long time ago.

I am actively searching for a better solution.

I have been using skype on linux for a while now, but the Linux support is getting worse.

Skype does not support ALSA, causing all kinds of weird problems. There is a bug in skype that require a restart after any voice call (it does not close /dev/dsp after use). These problems should have been fixed a long time ago.

I am actively searching for a better solution.

I have been using skype on linux for a while now, but the Linux support is getting worse.

Skype does not support ALSA, causing all kinds of weird problems. There is a bug in skype that require a restart after any voice call (it does not close /dev/dsp after use). These problems should have been fixed a long time ago.

I am actively searching for a better solution.

I have been using skype on linux for a while now, but the Linux support is getting worse.

Skype does not support ALSA, causing all kinds of weird problems. There is a bug in skype that require a restart after any voice call (it does not close /dev/dsp after use). These problems should have been fixed a long time ago.

I am actively searching for a better solution.