Skype to display ads

Skype recently announced that it will introduce advertising to boost revenue ahead of listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The popular free internet communications service founded in 2003, announced plans to raise up to $100 million by going public.

The ads won't interrupt your Skype experience

Skype channels voice, video and text conversations over the internet, thereby bypassing the standard telephone network said the ads will initially appear in the US, UK and Germany and will be seen by both personal and the increasing number of business users who are exploring the web based functionality of Skype.

"The Skype experience is our first priority, which is why we we've taken a lot of time working through and testing what kind of advertising would work best in the Skype environment," Skype said in a blog post.

"We believe that advertising, when done in the right way, will help us continue to invest in developing great products," the company said.

Advertisers that are expected to feature on Skype include Groupon, the discount coupon site, Visa and Universal Pictures.

On launch adverts will begin to appear in the home tab in Skype for Windows and Skype has said that they may experiment with ads in other areas as well."

"The ads won't interrupt your Skype experience," the company said. "You won't suddenly see annoying pop-up ads or flashy banner ads in middle of conversations."

Skype Launches Live Streaming Experiment

In a bid to publicize the ability of their software to make traditional phone calls as well as instant message Skype have employed a man to sit in a deserted part of Spain and answer calls via Skype. A live stream of the event is also available (play the video below and the live stream is then displayed).

Skype users are able to contact 27 year old Rob Cavazos via the website www.phoneboxexperiment.com which also features a live stream (it looks windy in Spain today!) Calls can be made by anyone with credit on their Skype account.

Skype were inspired by the Mojave phone booth which was referred to as the loneliest phonebox in the world before it was removed in 2000. The phone, which was 15 miles from the nearest highway, became an early internet sensation and would regularly receive calls from around the world.

Skype is the most well known of the various VOIP (voice over IP) applications and the most popular with 521 million user accounts in operation. Recent advances have included the Skype Mobile as well as a mobile application available for download here.

Fring Video Call App Comes to Nokia Phones

Mobile phones have had 3G video calling functionality for several years now but it doesn't seem to have taken off. Many of us use use instant messenger applications such as Skype or MSN messenger in combination with a webcam on our laptops or PCs. So far video calling on mobile devices has failed to become widely popular, perhaps due to high usage costs.

Now that VOIP technology has come to mobile devices so we are able to instant message or make internet voice calls for free using applications such as Skype mobile or Windows live messenger mobile. These applications are free to download and free to run if you have unlimited web usage as part of your contract. Even if you have to pay for web access it is likely to work out cheaper than traditional calls. The next step was clearly going to be internet video calling and it would seem that it is now available.

Introducing Fring.

It is now possible to make free Skype video calls via your mobile phone using a service called Fring. Fring is an 'identity-aggregating app' which allows you to contact your friends via different social medias like last.fm, Skype, and Facebook all through one application. So far the video calling option is only avaliable to those with Symbian S60 Nokia phones. For more info see the video by Fing embedded below or visit their blog.

Is Offline Computing a Thing of the Past?

Microsoft have announced that their Cloud Computing Platform Windows Azure will 'come out of test mode' in January next year and be fully operational by February. This is a big step for Microsoft who know that they need to have a top notch Cloud Computing (simple explanation) offering in order to compete. It also shows that Cloud Computing is where tech is heading. Although this has been known for some time Microsoft's announcement may well speed things up.

While many are ready to write off Microsoft as an declining icon of computing's last generation, Ozzie sees Microsoft positioned to leapfrog some of the companies that tend to be thought of as the leaders of the cloud computing world--names like Amazon, Salesforce and Google. - Cnet

Most of use use Cloud Computing applications for our personal email accounts with providers such as Gmail or Hotmail. Looking to the future more and more computing will be achieved via a web browser without the need for offline software. Consider the following examples you may already use:

1. Spotify

Spotify allows you to stream music over the internet without having an offline copy. It means that you don't need to carry around your music collection on an mp3 player, you can access it from an internet enabled device.



2. Skype

Skype allows you to instant message your contact over the internet and can be downloaded to a range of web enabled devices. If you use the Skype Mobile or the mobile app you can make VOIP (voice over IP) calls and thus bypass the phones traditional call making technology in order to make free calls.



3. Picnik.com

Picnik lets you edit photos via your web browser. It has all the basic functions the average users needs such as cropping, rotating and adjusting contrast. Once you are done editing your photo you simply download it back to your desktop.



As I said in a comment on a recent Independent article on Azure:

Cloud computing is a great idea (I use various online tools such as Gmail, Picnik and Remember The Milk) but it relies on users having a good connection speed so infrastructure improvements will help it to take off.
If you take Cloud computing to it's logical conclusion all we will need in the future is a device that acts as a browser with no need for offline tools of any kind. You can already see this happening on mobile devices with the increasing popularity of apps like Skype for mobile and Windows Live mobile messenger which bypass the normal call making methods in favor of VOIP calls.

Perhaps the future will see us carrying around mobile web devices with cameras and the ability to make traditional calls may be forgotten. If everything you need to do (or more realistically, want to do) can be handled by online apps all you really need is a portable web browser.