Skype and the and similar Internet conferencing services may have to be added to my list of “killer apps” for the Internet along with email and maps. Earlier this week we set up a webcam and skype at Amy’s dad and brother’s homes. Now we can conference call Anchorage, San Diego, and McPherson at the same time. One on one communciations include the webcam, if they could get video conferencing to work for more than two parties that would be very cool indeed.
So I’ve got a skype account. Search for my name and you should find me easily if you want to talk to Amy or I without worrying about cell phones.
Mac just set up Skype for his dad to do a regular conference call to see if he likes it. I don’t know how much he has used it yet, but his intentions are to cancel his landline and just Skype and his cell.
We have Skype set up at home, and Mac has been using it for his consulting contracts for awhile. I’ve been thinking about using it to call into meetings at work while I’m at home as well. I haven’t set it up on my MacBook yet.
This “no computer at home” business is getting less and less appealing…
We don’t intend to pay for anything right now like the ability to call out to a cell or landline or get a phone number inbound. So we’re pretty much using it as a voice/webcam based IM. I know a lot of podcasts use Skype to get the participants together and talk about their topic. I also see around 5M people logged in at any one time, so I guess it’s pretty popular.
Skype Rocks! You can call from Skype to any US or Canada phone number for no charge and the quality is pretty good, but there is usually a noticable delay.
What a great birthday present, Paul and Amy. Thanks! I think I’ve played with this new “toy” more than anyone else in the family thus far. It’s great seeing you’all when we talk to you.
Maybe you should ask Santa for a computer this year. Think of all the recipes you’d have immediate access to – oh and you could see my smiling face in SD all the time