Sep 12
eBay has announced that it intends to purchase the VoIP provider Skype. This is good news for Skype, who knows what kind of news for Skype users. I would hate to see this free service go pay only (since it is peer-to-peer and you generally contribute to the network infrastructure while it is running), but with eBay behind it they could help push it into the mainstream. I can see eBay wanting to use it to allow people to talk about their auction items, and perhaps use the built-in IM features as well. I use it infrequently, but I do subscribe to their SkypeOut service to make local calls across the world, including Korea and China.
You can read one of the many articles about the purchase here: News Article
Apr 14
Not to get off track here, but I have to post about this before I forget.
Skype is a completely free VoIP (voice over IP) system for high quality (MP3 level) communications over the public internet. Calls between Skype clients are crystal clear (better than POTS) and reliable. They have a service called SkypeOut which lets you dial land lines for like $0.03 per minute. Pretty slick considering that’s the rate for almost any destination…
ON THE PLANET.
Mind you, certain locations that don’t have local servers are much higher (think regular heavily discounted global calling rates), but the entire US, China, Europe, etc. are all less than three cents a minute to local numbers and always free to other Skype clients.
They just released version 1.2 and it has some pretty slick new features as well. You can now register a local number across the US and have calls forwarded to your Skype account and it even has voicemail. Basically, we’re talking a local number, in the city of your choice, with voicemail. Check it out.
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