Skype announces new names for its developer offerings, new video API’s for SkypeKit for Desktop and “plugged into Skype” designation for Skype Desktop API programs.

Since 2004 Skype has evolved an API kit that allows third party developers to offer Skype-enabled applications that require access to the primary Skype client on Windows, Mac and Linux. Basically it allows developers to extend the functionality of Skype while using the Skype client application. Examples have included call recording applications such as Pamela and VodBurner and hosted desktop sharing applications such as InnerPass (now transitioning to GroupMix).

This past June Skype announced the public beta for SkypeKit, which is intended to add native Skype functionality directly into partner applications. From the developer website:

SkypeKit enables developers to create innovative products and applications that deliver virtually the entire range of Skype’s functionality—including calling, chat, account creation, and contact management—without the need for your users to separately download Skype.

Whereas SkypeKit had largely focused on embedding Skype in consumer electronics hardware, feedback from that announcement demonstrated a demand for more support of desktop applications with integrated Skype functionality.

Today Skype announced changes to the names of their developer offerings:

• SkypeKit for Desktop, which is intended to add native Skype functionality directly into partner applications
• Skype Desktop API, previously known as the Skype API or Public API, which allows developers to extend the functionality of Skype for Windows, Skype for Mac and Skype for Linux.

Basically the previous Skype developer programs continue to exist; however, their branding is changing. It also means that applications developed using the Skype Desktop API can now use the “plugged into Skype” designation shown above.

In addition Skype announced the SkypeKit for Desktop now includes Video API’s which “will allow developers to bring their desktop applications to life using video calling, with the goal of making their applications feel less isolated and more human.” Previously developers could access the the video stream via Skype’s proprietary RTP interface; however, the new API’s relieve developers of a lot of time consuming and complex “wrap around” work that would have been required to provide video in an application. At this point support is for one-to-one video calling; however, group video chat and screen sharing are on the roadmap.

While the announcement post references three case studies, where one is VodBurner that has been using the Skype Desktop API since VodBurner’s launch two years ago. The other two are planning to use SkypeKit for Desktop:

• Tely Labs is still taking beta testers and expects to launch early in 2012;
• Trillian’s Instant Messaging aggregator product has a beta version of Trillian where they are demonstrating Skype integration using SkypeKit.

The announcement also references the new Skype Apps Directory which was discussed here about two months ago.

Bottom line: SkypeKit was first announced mid-2010; it went public in June 2011. If Skype wants to have an viable developer program we need to see results soon that can bring revenue to the developers. Maybe the incentive to recover a $8.5B acquisition investment will provide the focus required to demonstrate that it’s worthwhile to become a Skype developer partner.

Dan York also comments: Is Skype Soon To Release New APIs? Skype Renames Public API And Extends “Plugged into Skype” Partner Program

Tuesday’s announcement of the pending Microsoft acquisition of Skype has certainly drawn a complete spectrum of comments, feedback and posts. They range from Microsoft’s perception as doomsday venom for an acquisition’s products and services to praise for the potential to merge two complementary software companies that allow not only the continuation of the current service but also leveraging real time conversation features and technology into Microsoft’s existing platforms and products.

But the bottom line is that over 170 million people have actively been using Skype this year. As reinforced at the acquisition press conference, any move that would threaten or inhibit those users’ ability to continue using Skype would not help Microsoft’s bottom line. Thus, for instance, the ongoing support of Skype clients for Mac OS/X, iOS4 handheld devices, Android devices and even Linux. Yet we can now certainly see that a Skype for Windows Mobile can be expected to surface by year end.

But it’s really the user experiences that will both win new users and drive continued use by existing users. Technology journalist, technology TV program host/producer and social networking strategist Amber MacArthur has summed up the desires of most Skype users in her Tending Tech blog on the Globe and Mail website in a post: Dear Microsoft, don’t mess up Skype.

Amber outlines the history of her experience using Skype video. She was a pioneer in using Skype video for TV broadcast feeds – even when the best Skype video call resolution was 320 x 240 – long before Oprah. She regularly uses Skype for her current productions and business activity. But she also has more importantly found the value in Skype for reinforcing family relationships through calls to relatives, especially to her parents for the weekly grandparent call – regardless of where either she, in her travels, and her parents are geographically.

Amber speaks for all Skype users in her conclusion:

In my world, it’s fair to say that Skype is a necessity. Aside from Gmail, it’s the one piece of technology that I’d hate to live without. With more than 170 million active users around the world, I’m not alone. Sure, Facebook has more subscribers, but I’d ditch that social network any day of the week if I had to choose between it and Skype. I can’t say I remember any memorable Facebook messages, but there are Skype video calls I can’t forget.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what the Microsoft news means to the tech world. After all, $8.5-billion is a lot of money. However, the truth is that I don’t care. I don’t really care how much the giant software company paid. I don’t care if it gives them a stronger foothold in the web world. All I care about is that I can still make free video calls to Mom and Dad on my son’s birthday and invite them to share in a little virtual cake and a singalong. [Editor’s bold]

So, Microsoft, don’t screw up Skype. There are 170-million people and growing who won’t be very happy if you do.

Bottom line: I would ask that every Skype employee and all Microsoft employees who may become involved with embedding Skype technology into Microsoft products print  Amber’s post and put it up in their cubicle or office and, when making decisions related to the deployment and use of Skype, ask if each individual business decision passes the “Amber Mac Test” outlined in the excerpt above. It provides one significant benchmark against which the evolution of Skype and its technology can be measured.

Note: the number of users in the quote has been adjusted to reflect the 170 million active users reported at the Microsoft-Skype press conference. Based on previous reporting, this is based on the number of users who actually made at least one Skype call or conversation during the Jan-March 2011 quarter. A much more realistic measure of Skype usage than simply the total number of Skype accounts that are increasing by over 500,000 per day.

Update: Check out Alec Saunders Microsoft-Skype: emerging themes for the perspective of a former Microsoft product manager.

Related articles

• Microsoft Acquires Skype – An Investor’s Perspective (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Microsoft-Skype: emerging themes (saunderslog.com)
• Microsoft And Skype Like A Horse And Carriage (informationweek.com)
• Microsoft-Skype Deal: Three Ways It Benefits Enterprises (lirax.wordpress.com)
• The End of the “Skype as Bandit” Era (disruptivetelephony.com)

Yesterday Skype issued two “hotfix” upgrades.

Skype for Mac 5.0.0.7994

The latest Skype for Mac upgrade addresses an issue where Skype was taking over ownership of the video camera such that it could not be used with other software. Other issues addressed are outlined in this Skype Garage Blog post along with some known issues.

Skype for iPhone 3.0.1

The latest Skype for iPhone 3.0.1 upgrade (available via the Apple App store) provides support for video calls between Skype for iPhone and Skype for TV or Skype for Nokia N900. Skype for TV only supports the H.264 codec; as a results Skype video calls can only be completed with clients that have support for the H.264 codec, such as Skype for Windows 5.0, Skype for Mac 5.0 and, now, Skype for iPhone 3.0.1.

Of Interest

The Skype for iPhone 3.0.1 release blog post mentions the item “Support for iOS 4.3”. My iPad and iPhone (currently at version 4.2.1) say the next check for an iOS 4 upgrade will occur tomorrow (Feb. 11); probably coincidental with today’s launch of the Verizon version of the iPhone. While Skype has announced support for the “Verizon” iPhone, there must be an iOS upgrade coming to support the Verizon version of the iPhone but wonder if iOS 4.3 will also support, for all iPhones, the WiFi “personal hotspot” feature that is supposed to be available on the Verizon version of the iPhone.

As stated previously, while Skype for Mac 5 brings users closer to the Skype for Windows 5.x client, there still seems to be a learning curve for some users in terms of the “Contacts sidebar” and “conversation pane’ algorithm that has been employed in Skype for Windows 4.x and 5.x for over a year now. It takes some adaptation to the thinking; however, my personal experience has demonstrated that this is a much more effective and productive interface in terms of tracking activity with each of my Contacts. Full disclosure: I probably do more searches in Skype Chat windows than Google searches even though each addresses totally different user needs.

But, since the launch of Skype for Mac 5 Gold, there is one additional Skype for Mac UI issue that I would like to see addressed. Skype for Mac 5 allows you to narrow the Skype client window. However, whereas narrowing the Skype client in Skype for Windows 5.x stops the narrowing of the Contact pane at a width such that you can still see most Contacts’ full name, narrowing the Skype for Mac 5 window crunches the width of the Contact pane to the point where it becomes useless for access contacts.

Bottom line: Yes, it’s a Skype for Mac hotfix but there are still some outstanding features of Skype for Mac 5 required to have the full feature set of Skype for Windows 5, especially with respect to the issue of introducing the complete call bar feature set in Skype for Windows 5. And as for video calls between iPhone and TV sets, another Skype first – definitely not available with FaceTime.

Note: This headline, Skype for iPhone adds HDTV support, is incorrect for two reasons: Skype for iPhone video currently supports 160 x 120 resolution and Skype for TV supports, at best, High Quality Video’s 640 x 480 resolution (or lower if network conditions deteriorate). But it’s definitely not HDTV. Furthermore the H.264 codec  supports lower resolutions that 720p; it’s not always synonymous with HD resolutions. (And somewhere today I recall seeing a headline about “HD” becoming a useless term as it becomes used for anything that might be the “latest” in video — or even audio)

• Skype Journal: Download: Skype for Mac 5.0.0.7994 Hotfix; Download: Skype for iPhone 3.0.1. Video calls to Skype for TV
• Disruptive Telephony: Skype Adds H.264 Support to iPhone App And Supports Skype TVs

Related articles

• Skype for iPhone now lets you make video calls to TVs (thenextweb.com)
• Skype 3.0 for iPhone: New Dimensions in Smartphone Video Calling (voiceontheweb.biz)

This morning, at the CEA Line Show in New York, Skype is taking the first step in the evolution of its revamped developer platform with the beta release of SkypeKit, “empowering consumer electronic and desktop software innovators to embed Skype into their products”.

In summary:

• Most importantly, SkypeKit allows developers to embed all the functionality of Skype into their offering without the need for the end user to have the Skype client open. They call it a “Headless” Skype toolkit whereas the developer community had been using the term “Naked” Skype.
• Initially SkypeKit is available as an invitation-only beta.
• Today API’s are available for Linux; API’s for Windows and Mac OS/X will be available in three to four weeks.
• The current program is targeted to consumer electronics and other telephony device manufacturers as well as desktop software developers
• SkypeKit includes support for Skype’s royalty-free ultrawideband audio SILK codec.
• SkypeKit supports Skype functionality beyond simply voice, including Skype video and H.264 processors embedded within hardware (such as with the FREETALK Everyman webcam).
• Skype’s developers have put significant effort into both security and scalability to sustain two of Skype’s key features.
• Skype will be promoting SkypeKit developers offerings through a “plugged into Skype” logo as well as making them available via the Skype Store.
• SkypeKit provides a long requested complement to the legacy Skype Public API’s used in applications such as Pamela, VodBurner, OnState, InnerPass and others.

This morning I had the opportunity to discuss the SkypeKit beta launch with Jonathan Christensen, Skype’s General Manager and Head of Platform. It provided an opportunity to dig deeper into Skype’s goals and strategy for the SkypeKit platform.

Primary goals of SkypeKit are:

• To provide developers with a “naked” Skype such that a Skype client is not necessary for the deployment of Skype on a hardware platform or Skype-enhanced application
• To provide an SDK that supports ALL the functionality of the current Skype clients, including video and SILK.
• To promote the incorporation of SILK into end point devices, making possible high quality audio calling such as experienced with the recent release of Skype for iPhone 2.0.
• Make the adoption of Skype into a device or application as friendly and readily adaptable as possible while providing appropriate levels of security and scalability
• To provide developers with a robust, scalable and proven channel for readily marketing their devices and applications worldwide.

In our discussion Christensen pointed out that Skype had not only reviewed developer requests for a revitalized and enhanced SDK but also incorporated the need to support all Skype functionality as well as maintaining the level of security and scalability required to meet the demand levels of Skype’s user base.

Christensen emphasized that Skype will be aggressively pursuing hardware vendors to license and adopt SILK as a standard feature of their offerings and to effect interoperability for Skype. IP-phones such as those offered by Linksys, Aastra, Polycom, snom and Grandstream would certainly be good candidates; their adoption of SILK would contribute significantly to Skype’s efforts to make SILK a standard. But it also means we could see the incorporation of SILK into, for example, the Skype for TV offerings available for certain models of Panasonic, LG and Samsung TV sets.

On another topic, Christensen emphasized Skype’s intention to facilitate marketing of the resulting offerings through both Skype’s “plugged into Skype” designation and the option to have them carried on the Skype Store. While any vendor can develop and market an offering on their own, it only receives the “plugged into Skype” designation required to be offered on the Skype Store  by meeting two conditions:

• it was developed using SkypeKit
• it meets Skype Certification standards when it comes to establishing a baseline for audio and video quality

Finally he pointed out that Skype launched this new SDK platform effort with this approach because “having an SDK for devices and desktop applications are a natural place for us to start extending Skype capabilities today”. As for supporting web developers, Skype only said, “We know there is demand among web developers, but we have nothing to announce at this time.”

To give a sense of developers intending to use SkypeKit, FREETALK (with their Webcam for Samsung TV), Panasonic, Litl with their Webbook and Grandstream are participating in the Skype booth at the CEA Line Show this week.

Bottom line: There’s quite a collection of legacy Skype hardware collected around my office over the past four years; most of it is no longer available due to  lack of ongoing support by previous Skype management, technology changes and vendor disappearance (who recalls US Robotics, for instance?). Frankly, if we look at Skype Certified hardware available on the Skype Store today, we only see offerings from FREETALK, Logitech, FaceVsion, RTX and some speakerphone vendors, such as Yamaha and ClearOne.

SkypeKit represents Skype’s first step in rebooting and revitalizing its hardware device support; it certainly fits in with Skype’s “Skype Everywhere” strategy. Last week at CommunicAsia, Skype CEO Josh Silverman was talking about his vision of “fixed-mobile convergence” for Skype where a user can transparently move from device to device and seamlessly continue a conversation without the need to even log on from one device to the next. But the final proof is in the execution:

• Has Skype made the business and ongoing support case for developers to employ SkypeKit and deploy offerings?
• Will SILK become an industry standard for audio quality? and will IP-phone vendors realize the value of SILK?

As for other Questions and Answers, check out that section at the end of Jonathan’s post today.

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions, producer of the FREETALK line of Skype hardware, has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The SkypeKit SDK releases. Say hello to the next generation of Skype. (thenextweb.com)
• Skype Opens Up SkypeKit SDK To All Devices And Desktop Apps (techcrunch.com)
• SkypeKit beta SDK adds Skype to any application or device (engadget.com)
• Skype Opens Platform with SkypeKit SDK for Developers and Manufacturers (readwriteweb.com)
• Skype Releases SkypeKit SDK, Will Bring Skype Everywhere [Skype] (gizmodo.com)
• SkypeKit SDK promises devs invisible Skype access for apps & hardware (slashgear.com)
• FREETALK Everyman Headset – Works with Skype on the iPad (voiceontheweb.biz)
• FreeTalk Wireless Stereo Headset: A June Special from In Store Solutions (voiceontheweb.biz)

Skype’s announcement today of agreements to have television sets become end points for Skype video calls really raises a series of both user interface issues as well as social issues:

• Do I want to be interrupted while watching programming such as a sporting event or Oprah?
• Where is it more convenient to talk: via a TV audio channel open to the room or a traditional handset with its inherent conversation privacy and reduced potential to interrupt a roomful of family and/or friends?
• Where do we want convergence? How much do we want to have application-specific hardware?
• Do we want scenarios where all those in the viewing room are exposed to the call?
• What clothes shall I wear while watching TV but enabled to be seen on a video call?
• If Skype is introduced into TV sets, how far can the inherent intelligence and Internet connectivity be deployed in a way that encourages user adoption of additional features and services? (SlingBox in the TV?)
• What Skype account(s) does one want to come via the TV? An separate account? A personal-use account? A business-use account? or combinations of these accounts. (For the Philips VoIP phone on our Rogers Home Phone service, we use a separate Skype account from my normal Skype “business-use” account.)

Why do I raise these questions? Consider three related user experiences I have had:

• When the Turin Winter Olympics opened in February 2006, I happened to be on a Skype call to an acquaintance, Peter, in Sweden while watching the CBC broadcast of the opening ceremony in my office via my newly acquired SlingBox. He was also watching the same opening ceremony on Swedish television. Our conversation was intertwined between the original purpose of the call (to address some technical issues) and comments on the opening ceremony. It was an interesting experience but note that we were watching and discussing the broadcast while being able to watch it.
• Recently Rogers quietly added a TV Call Display service that brought a feature of our Home Phone service to our TV set. Namely when someone calls us the caller ID information appears along the bottom of the TV screen along with options to Send to Voice Mail, Snooze (disable the call notification for up to 2 hours) or change the TV Call Display settings. Bottom line: it’s a minimally obtrusive service that actually provides call information prior to the phone(s) ringing and let’s you have options for dealing with the call without leaving your viewing chair.
• It’s real handy to have a PVR service that continues to record a program while viewing other programs; the other service that comes handy when there are conflicting sports events is Picture-in-Picture.

Skype’s TV Video calling currently has to be in an early adopter (or launch) phase. It simply replaces the currently viewed program with the video call taking over the screen and effectively becomes another Skype client. (More Skype Everywhere?) Obviously the TV set has to be both “intelligent” and Internet-enabled; this explains both why the HDMI 1.4 cable specification includes the ability to incorporate an Ethernet connection and why new higher performance  intelligence has to be introduced into TV sets (or cable set-top boxes).

But, partially based on my experiences described above, for a fully featured user experience we need to see:

• On-screen notification of a call while watching a broadcast program along with options to take the call or send it to a voice mail (or video mail) service.
• Ongoing recording of the currently viewed TV program in background on the PVR while on the call.
• Picture-in-picture integration to allow a viewer to monitor a program while on a call (or switch between the program and calling party as the primary display content).
• Multi-party calling (is this a potential revenue generating service for Skype?)
• Forwarding/transferring of the voice channel of the call to another Skype-enabled device such as the RTX 3088 Dualphone or mobile smartphone, or forward both the voice and video channels of the call to a Skype client on a PC.
• Chat or text messaging capability.

Given the size of the somewhat saturated HD television set market it needs new features to go beyond simply HD capability; using the TV as a Skype end point becomes one option to enhance the TV feature set. From the user perspective, on the other hand, it becomes one of many choices for handling (Skype) conversations. It certainly adds to the “Skype Everywhere” theme but how far do we want “everywhere” to go?

Bottom line: going forward we are going to see a range of attempts at convergence of our communications. But we are left with many questions:

• How much intelligence do we need within our “end point” devices? (I just acquired a Blu-Ray player that has an active Ethernet connection for firmware updates and additional content information delivery).
• Should the Skype intelligence be in TV sets or does it make more sense (and for broader distribution of Skype) to have the Skype intelligence in a set-top box, such as our Scientific Atlanta Explorer box?
• What additional services would intelligence in the TV or cable set-top box could be delivered by the cable service providers?
• How intense will the competition become between TV set manufacturers and cable set-top box manufacturers to control the intelligence behind these services? What can the set manufacturers and the cable companies see as business models for these competing offerings?
• Can this video calling intelligence be brought to mobile smartphones? Do we need LTE or 4G networks to make this happen?

At a minimum, the introduction of Skype’s TV client gives us talking points for the upcoming CES 2010 later this week.

Additional links and information:

Share Skype Blog: Get Skype on your TV

LG Electronics to Unveil Broadband HDTVs With Embedded Skype Capability

Skype and Panasonic Announce Collaboration to Add Skype Software to Viera® HDTVs

Brad Stone, New York Times: A Venture Integrating Skype Into the Family Room

And, as for the Hockey Picture on the captured TV screen: tonight Canada will be defeating the U.S. for World Junior Hockey supremacy once again…. fortunately I will be able to watch it live on my flight to Las Vegas. Something to do in this era of minimalist carry-on luggage.

Earlier this week Skype released Skype 4.1 Beta bringing back a few features lost in Skype 4.0 and introducing screen sharing (previously available with Skype for Mac 2.8 beta). From Raul Liive’s introduction post:

Skype 4.1 Beta for Windows brings to you long hours of work from our audio and video team. They have introduced screen sharing functionality into Skype for Windows and in addition to that they have also worked hard on audio and video quality and reliability.

In addition to the updates to the audio and video engines (incorporating the SILK codec) , Skype 4.1 restores birthday reminders (if you want to keep your birthday private, simply don’t enter it into your Skype profile) and exchanging Skype contacts. One other feature: it embeds Skype’s browser toolbars for Firefox and Internet Explorer.

But to put some more perspective on screen sharing (shown below is a screen shared from a MacBook using Skype for Mac 2.8 beta):

Desktop sharing is simply an additional communication mode that complements voice and chat conversation:

• It’s a complementary communications mode to chat and voice conversations
• It uses the Skype video stream; as a result you can either send video or display your screen but not both concurrently. Clicking on the video camera icon while sharing your screen will terminate the desktop sharing; click on the video icon again and video will commence.
• It allows either full screen sharing or a selected region (but not specific windows)
• The viewing party can see either a window view or a full screen view
• It is a one-to-one collaboration tool for one-to-one conversations; recall that video calling only supports one-to-one calls
• It provides an excellent way to enhance a conversation when editing documents, making a PowerPoint presentation or demonstrating a design or support issue.
• Updates are almost instantaneous and “snappy”
• It is the only screen sharing that allows sharing of full video activity such as showing a YouTube video. This capability results from its use of the Skype video channel which can handle up to 30 fps.
• It is NOT a moderator-managed conferencing collaboration service for multi-participant discussions and presentations.

Having been a beta tester for the browser toolbars, I’ll discuss them in a separate post.

Recall that this is beta software; you can find the Release Notes outlining features, improvements and bugfixes in Raul’s post. Take heed; there may still be bugs; I have already reported one. To quote Raul again:

which means that it might sometimes not follow your orders, but instead act on it’s own. In case this happens, please let us know by commenting on [his] blog [post], posting on the forum or reporting issues on our public issue tracker.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Skype for Mac 2.8 Beta 2 with SILK Codec (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Skype at eComm 2009: Royalty Free Licensing of SILK Codec (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold: Blog Coverage (voiceontheweb.biz)
• Canadian Experience with Skype Access and Boingo WiFi (voiceontheweb.biz)

This evening I had a conflict: I needed to meet up with a neighbor while walking my dog but wanted to watch a key hockey game via my NHL Center Ice cable subscription. Why? Another neighbor’s son is a leading player on a team that is surprisingly making a run for a playoff position. Fortunately SlingMedia last week released the first “gold” version of SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry. I was able to watch the final period of the game while walking the dog (Blues won!). And this is currently only uniquely available on a BlackBerry Bold since it requires access to a 3G network when not in a WiFi access point’s zone.

While I reviewed it previously during my beta testing activity, SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry is now delivering a high quality, reliable performance with improvements made in reception stability and adapting to commands accessed by pushing buttons on the cable box’s virtual remote control included with Sling Player Mobile for BlackBerry. Key improvements over the past three months of beta testing include:

• Ability to add/ edit Slingboxes and Channel Favorites directly on SlingPlayer Mobile, not just via SlingPlayer 2.0 for Windows, which in the past was then propagated down to the BlackBerry
• Additional setting to optimize low bandwidth streaming
• Additional convenience features, e.g. current connection type indicator, volume level indicator, keypad lock, in addition to general UI improvement
• Enhanced aspect ratio/ display mode support
• Audio track selection if available as part of the channel program

Some of the features I have come to appreciate include:

• ability to see whether you a re on a WiFi or 3G wireless connection (Bold only)
• volume level indicator
• access to your SlingBox account allows easy access to your various SlingBoxes without the need to enter all SlingBox parameters
• access to the “Favorites” menus that can be setup on a PC or Mac.
• use of the SYM key to switch between viewing “connection mode (WiFi or 3G)”, battery level and volume level indicators
• ability to schedule recording of programs on my cable boxe’s DVR player
• “Listen” mode: listen to the audio without video; ideal when driving – safer and reduces battery drain

The best test of quality is following the high speed action of a hockey game; there is no pixelation or other display break up other than when changing channels or pulling up information such as the digital cable guide or channel information bar.

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry works over a 3G connection on the BlackBerry Bold or over a WiFi connection on any 8×20 BlackBerry, 8900 BlackBerry Curve or the Bold. SlingMedia has said they are investigating support for the Storm; also they announced at CES 2009 that SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone will be released later this week.

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry continues to be one of the best demonstrations of the power of the BlackBerry Bold, requiring optimum performance from the processor, display and network connection. And when you get totally absorbed in a music production carried over, say, an HD Net concert, you also get to experience the excellent stereo audio quality of the Bold.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Will You Pay $7.99 Monthly for TV Eps on Your BlackBerry? (jkontherun.com)
• SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry Exits Beta, iPhone Version Looms (appscout.com)

How do you drive awareness for Skype? Have the two daytime talk shows with the largest audiences connect via a Skype (High Quality) video call.

Yesterday afternoon, during the Ellen de Generes show, Ellen was surprised to see Oprah appear, unannounced via a Skype video call, behind her on the large screen monitors used to support the show. Apparently Ellen had been campaigning, not too subtly, to appear with Oprah on the cover of a future issue of “O” magazine.

Oprah had “returned” Ellen’s previous call to discuss the issue.

I just watched Oprah’s showing of the call this afternoon (thanks to a heads up from Skype PR).

Needless to say, this will certainly drive sales of the O magazine issue when it appears. Will Skype collect some form of royalty? Nah, Skype’s into royalty-free these days.

Huffington Post: Oprah Invites Ellen To Share O Magazine Cover provides more background. (via E!)

Dan York suggests that Oprah and Ellen are promoting “Skyp-ing” as a verb.

Since its launch Tuesday, Skype for Windows 4.0 Gold has received some interesting coverage:

• David Pogue, New York Times: in addition to his column discussed here yesterday, he has produced an amusing video: Skype 4.0: The Cheapskate where a video starring Mr. Cheapskate shows a Skype video session with his daughter, Kim Cheapskate, obviously a student. But it also serves as a humorous introduction to Skype for Windows 4.0′s features.
• Alec Saunders: Saunderslog.com: Skype 4.0 audio: smooth as SILK:

Perhaps the biggest improvement, though, is audio quality. We all thought that Skype audio was great, right? Skype’s internally developed SILK codec slipped into the final release, despite not having been in prior betas. A wideband codec that delivers the goods at half the bitrate of prior codecs, SILK makes talking on Skype a pure pleasure.

• Tom Keating: Skype Launches 4.0 with Super Duper Weenie Wideband Codec. Images conjured up when a new codec is lauded with reduced network bandwidth. Obviously Tom has his favorite food hangouts.

Have a good weekend.

Powered by Qumana

Columnist David Pogue in a New York Time article reviewing Skype 4.0 starts with the AT&T video phone demonstrated at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and user experience from then. Not a lot of calls due to technical and psychological issues. He talks about why Skype has been so widely accepted (did he remind us it was “free”?) and why Skype has been a survivor when up against iChat, MSN Messenger, SightSpeed and others.

He goes on to mention several issues that have inhibited video calling in the past but then says:

The video quality still varies when you use Skype. Fast Internet connections and fast computers still work better than slow ones. But if you do have a good setup — wow. With certain Logitech or Philips webcam models, Skype 4.0 can deliver a picture that’s as big and sharp and smooth as a TV picture (30 frames a second, 640 by 480 pixels), with almost no delay.

In my test calls to friends in California, New York and Virginia, we were amazed at what a difference it makes when the delay goes away. (Maybe, for its next trick, Skype can lend its technology to the world’s cellphone carriers.)

He then went on to make calls using iChat, ooVoo and SightSpeed: “None of them matched Skype’s immediacy or video and audio quality.” He discusses Skype’s new level of audio quality (with the SILK codec) and reduced network bandwidth speed requirement. He mentions some features that he would still like to see and mentions what differentiates services such as SightSpeed. His closing comment places Skype video calling into a historical perspective:

….. Will we one day adjust to the idea of being on camera every time someone calls?

Nah.

In the end, video chatting isn’t a replacement for phone calls, but a supplement to them, a perfect way to check out someone’s new place, check in with distant family and friends or show off a new talent (or baby). They saw the possibilities back in 1964 — they just didn’t realize that we wouldn’t always want to use them.

Go read David’s post (free registration may be required); it’s an excellent yet objective review of the personal video calling space from the end user perspective. I guess David doesn’t watch Oprah; she seems to be using Skype High Quality Video almost daily according to reports from my wife.

Powered by Qumana

Over the past eight months 1.2 million Skype users have participated in the Skype for Windows 4.0 beta program (stage 1, stage 2, stage 3). During this beta period, not only current user feedback was sought but also feedback from new users installing Skype for the first time. The goal was to provide a user interface that was more intuitive while encouraging users to go beyond simply voice calls to experience and use chat and video conversations.

Today Skype is announcing the Gold release of Skype 4.0 for Windows. From the download page:

We’ve built this brand new Skype so you can have the conversations that make a difference to you, every day. It’s easy to use, plus step-by-step guides help you get started.

While most of the new features have been revealed during the beta period, Skype’s marketing will focus on three key features:

• New user interface; with over 25% of Skype-to-Skype calls involving video this new release has been designed with a focus on improving the video call user experience.
• Improved call quality: Skype 4.0 for Windows incorporates Skype’s new SILK codec whose features are discussed in a separate post today. Bottom line is a crisp, crystal clear audio experience, yet only half the network bandwidth of other codecs is required to support a voice call.
• Bandwidth management: a new bandwidth manager has been developed with the goal of improving overall call performance by adapting, in real time, to degraded or low speed network conditions, such as those caused by excessive packet loss and/or jitter.

The new user interface also has taken into account factors that encourage users to explore Skype beyond voice calling. Incorporating beta user feedback Skype has found that the new UI is driving up adoption rates for Instant Messaging, file transfer and video. When you open a contact window launching a voice, chat or video conversation requires a single click on the respective voice (“Call”), chat or video button. The associated text pane tracks not only chat messages but also voice and video call detail information (launch time, end time) as well as file transfer information. And, as in the past with chat, the entire record is all archived on your local PC for future recall.

Other features: You can choose to view your Skype activity in one larger screen or in individual “conversation” windows. During a call a drop down menu on the “call audio control bar” provides quick access to making any necessary audio or video settings. Single click buttons allow you to quickly change oe add conversation modes to adapt to the context of the conversation. A wizard provides assistance with testing audio and video settings. During their testing they found that these features drove new users to more quickly experience chat and video while there was an increase in usage of these modes by legacy users.

On-the-fly the bandwidth manager can adjust both video and audio transmission by making real time adjustments to parameters such as video resolution, frames-per-second or audio bandwidth. to ensure an ability to maintain a basic level of communication while enduring these conditions. Once again the goal is to improve the overall user experience with no user intervention required.

Two changes;

• The SkypeMe! status button has been removed as a result of its tendency to be used for spamming and other forms of unwanted calls. (Of course you also still have the option to only allow callers in your Contact list to call you.). Along with this Skype has introduced “abuse reporting” which is monitored by Skype personnel for dealing with undesirable calling activity.
• While you can still participate in Public Chat sessions launched or joined from Skype 3.8, there is still no ability to launch or join a Public Chat from Skype 4.0 for Windows. This is my primary complaint about the new user interface. We have had a Skype 4.x Public Chat discussion ongoing since May, 2007; it has provided an interesting dialogue amongst Skype users and Skype personnel, including some feedback on features in Skype 4.0. And is has supported many other informal “water fountain” conversations amongst special interest communities of Skype users. Skype for Windows Product Manager Mike Bartlett claimed yesterday, during an interview, that Skype was reviewing how to embark on “public conversations” in today’s messaging world where services such as Twitter and Friend Feed also provide ongoing dialogues. However, Skype Public Chat has its own “space” in terms of user community; it needs to be brought back as soon as possible.

Over the next few weeks, with more experience using Skype 4.0 for Windows we may cover some features in more detail. In the meantime you can download it here. We look forward your feedback in the Comments. Release Notes are here.

Yesterday Skype went past 16 million concurrent users around 1830 GMT. It will be interesting to monitor both the concurrent user number and Hudson Barton’s “real user” indicator as Skype 4.0 for Windows installations grow over the next couple of weeks..

Of course, the best news is that Skype-to-Skype calls (including multi-party calls), chat and video calling remain free. And there are calling plan subscriptions available for low cost calling to landlines worldwide.

Other Posts:

• Mike Bartlett Discusses Skype 4.0 Beta on Squawk Box
• Skype’s videos about the 4.0 beta limited release
• Mike Bartlett Comments on Skype 4.0 User Feedback
• Mike Bartlett on Skype 4.0 Beta 1 Feedback

This afternoon I came across this article by reporter Chris O’Brien in today’s San Jose Mercury News: “Video Chat has entered the mainstream“. It appears that the worlds of Oprah viewers and Silicon Valley geeks and reporters have more than six degrees of separation. The story starts out by talking about an email he received from his mother:

Seemingly out of nowhere, this note from her landed in my inbox: “Have you heard of Skype? Apparently you can use it to do free video calls on the computer.”

My mother, who lives just outside Kansas City, tends to be a reliable barometer for when a technology is gaining adoption outside the hermetically sealed bubble that is Silicon Valley. Well, my mom, and Oprah. As one of only a handful of people on the planet who don’t watch Oprah’s show every day, I had missed the fact that she’s recently begun using Skype to make regular video calls with her audience.

Chris goes on to report on a brief interview with Skype President Josh Silverman whom he quotes with:

And Skype has a new version in beta that will make video calling much more central to the service, according to Skype President Josh Silverman.

…. And in its new release, Skype users will be able to enlarge the video to fill the entire screen without degrading the picture quality.

Well we now know what Chris is giving his mother for Christmas. For his benefit, listed below are previous Skype Journal posts on both Skype High Quality Video and our reporting last March on Oprah’s use of Skype Video.

• Skype Sponsors Oprah’s “A New Earth” Web Event
• Three Big Milestones in Skype’s Fifth Year
• High Quality Video: What’s the Benchmark?
• High Quality Video: Definitely a Winner for Skype
• Expanding the High Quality Video Experience and Observations
• To Be Restored: Camera Flexibility for Video Hackers
• Installing a Logitech High Quality Video Camera: The Experience.

Chris, keep up with Skype Journal and you won’t be learning about how Skype is used from your mother.

By the way, how did I know to follow up on Chris’s interview with Skype President Josh Silverman last Wednesday? He set it up via Twitter messages with Skype PR. At the time Twitter was their sole available source of contact information.

A final question: will we be seeing a new version of Skype High Quality Video (or better) introduced at CES in January?

Powered by Qumana

Earlier this week the GMail weblog announced GMail voice and video chat; basically they are designed to add voice and video modes to an email thread; from the GMail blog post:

… today we’re launching voice and video chat — right inside Gmail. We’ve tried to make this an easy-to-use, seamless experience, with high-quality audio and video — all for free. All you have to do is download and install the voice and video plugin and we take care of the rest. And in the spirit of open communications, we designed this feature using Internet standards such as XMPP, RTP, and H.264, which means that third-party applications and networks can choose to interoperate with Gmail voice and video chat.

This afternoon I had an opportunity to try it out with Hudson Barton; publisher of the Borderless Communicator weblog and tracker of “Real Skype Users”. We had a 20 minute conversation using my Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks on a Wiindows laptop and the webcam on Hudson’s MacBook. There are two viewing sizes available: a 225 x 140 window inside the GMail tab of a Firefox (or other browser) session and an optional pop-up window that goes to 430 x 270. We were only able to determine that it provides a “letterbox” 1.6 width-to-height ratio (as opposed to the 1.33 ratio of “standard” video), but not the frame size or frame rate actually being transmitted over the Internet. As for CPU usage, the “googletalkplugi.exe” was using between 10% and 17% of my CPU. With no accessible statistics along the line of Skype’s option to display call statistics, it was not possible to drill down further. Both audio and video quality were clear and crisp – quite acceptable for a basic one-to-one conversation. Echo cancellation was apparent; Hudson was using the native speakers and mic of his MacBook with no perceivable echo..

It’s definitely not up to the feature set of Skype but here’s where it fits in:

• GMail certainly has a large user base, same order of magnitude as Skype.
• It’s easy to forward your standard POP/IMAP email account to GMail; I use this feature both for the resulting search capability and the available access to GMail on multiple devices, including smartphones.
• It provides real time conversation mode options for GMail threads being read on a PC. While reading an email and running the cursor over the sender’s name, an option pops up to respond to the email message by email, Chat or Voice/Video based on the sender information as shown in the graphic above.

I would classify GMail Voice and Video Chat as a very mild competitor to Skype, suitable for basic “free” voice and video as a conversation enhancer. There’s no way to establish or check audio and video settings; there’s no access to the PSTN. While the video is quite good, it certainly does not meet Skype’s High Quality Video standards. It’s a perfect example of embedding voice and video into an application as a feature but it’s not a standalone real time conversation software application. When I consider the rejuvenation of Global IP Solutions and look at its customer base, I can foresee many other forthcoming instances of embedded voice and video as a feature within an application.

Note: as for the installation issues that Aliza encountered, I simply went to the URL suggested in the GMail weblog post and installed the plug-in (with the browser open). But then you have to restart your browser (in my case Firefox); initially the “video availability indicators” (as represented in the graphic above) were not present but I had to head out at that point. When I came back to my PC four hours later, they had appeared. Chat pixel dust from the (Google) cloud in the interim is my only explanation. At the time of writing this post, its availability should have spread to many GMail accounts by the usual Google osmosis process.

Full disclosure; the author has had previous first hand experience with what was thought to be an application but turned out to be a feature. Quarterdeck’s mid-90′s effort at building a web browser as an application was thwarted when Microsoft decided to make its web browser (aka MS Internet Explorer) a feature within the Windows operating system.

Global IP Solutions today announced a white paper on Desktop Video Conferencing, providing a background for their video infrastructure technology that has the potential to make video calling and video conferencing available to a much broader user base beyond Skype’s (even though it is quite large) and SightSpeed.

Many of you will recall that Skype’s original voice engine came from Global IP Solutions (formerly Global IP Sound) and contributed to Skype’s initial adoption through both its ease of use and voice quality. In April 2006, Skype acquired Camino Networks whose voice engine provided improved features such as echo cancellation. Camino’s President and CEO was Jonathan Christensen, Skype’s current General Manager for Audio and Video.

Global IP Sound went on to supply their voice engine to other players, such as Oracle and Yahoo but, as a company, they have been struggling; their most recent quarterly report demonstrated the extent of the revenue drop-off after loss of the Skype royalties.

This past April, GIPS announced the appointment of a new CEO, Emerick Woods (see full disclosure below). Since joining GIPS Emerick has led a reorganization of the company that included dropping their professional services offerings due to not only lackluster revenue but also the channel conflicts that operation created for their core audio and video infrastructure technology business. They have also closed a Tokyo office and settled outstanding customer lawsuits, including one with Skype where GIPS’ previous claims were denied in an arbitration resolution. As indicated in this interview with iLocus, they are moving to extend their customer base for their Voice Engine product line. As an initial move in August there was the announcement of Voice Engine for iPhone accompanied by a white paper.

In my interview with Emerick at that time, he pointed out that, while GIPS offers, through its various Voice Engine products, a total solution linking the Internet inbound/outbound connection to the user’s microphone/speakers, customers can also customize the voice engine, particularly when it comes to codecs. Customers can use either the GIPS codecs available with the voice engine or any other standard codec. Another feature he emphasized was their independence from operating system restraints and their support for various mobile platforms.

One additional focus has been on working with their current customer base to build stronger customer relationships that can extend their various Global IP Solutions implementations. And, going forward, GIPS will be investing in innovation with video as a key focus.

Today GIPS released a Desktop Video Conferencing (DVC) white paper, authored by analyst Jon Arnold, outlining “the value proposition behind desktop video conferencing, especially in conjunction with other solutions, such as telepresence. Supporting this is an analysis of the trends that create the momentum we believe will make desktop video conferencing as ubiquitous as PCs themselves, and even mobile phones in the years to come.”

Jon talks about the spectrum of video conferencing solutions from telepresence systems employing large “real life” HD video displays, such as offered by Cisco and Polycom, to boardroom systems that provide the basics of teleconferencing via standard display monitors, to desktop conferencing where the user does not have to leave his/her desk to participate in a video conversation.

In short, compared to other video conferencing solutions, the value proposition for DVC is based on three variables: quality, cost and flexibility. Today’s DVC solutions can deliver a high-quality experience, at an affordable price point, and across a wide variety of environments. Aside from complementing the other types of video conferencing solutions, DVC can be deployed in a host of scenarios that are simply not practical any other way.

Jon goes on to provide tables comparing the three scenarios and then goes into details on potential market size for DVC as well as enabling trends that will help provide an appropriate infrastructure for DVC. On a SquawkBox conference call this morning (recording will be linked once posted) we discussed one aspect: support for HD video. Its minimum 720p resolution will require higher bandwidth upload speeds (> 1.5 Mbps) that I have been told will be coming to Rogers Internet next year with an implementation of the DOCSIS 3 infrastructure and probably to other cable Internet services; recall that the widespread availability of broadband Internet was one factor in the rapid adoption of Skype back at its launch in 2003.

He then goes on to discuss the complexities of the providing and adopting the underlying technologies starting with video quality. Synchronization of audio and video, a consistent user experience, the variability of DVC end point configurations and support for a wide range of camera devices are other factors.

And, now for the commercial: GIPS is offering four products, Voice Engine and Video Engine for the PC client side and Voice Conference Engine and Video Conference Engine for the server side, that will allow ready embedding of desktop video conferencing into their customers’ services. Basically GIPS is providing platforms that allow developers, enterprises, service providers and end users to have a high quality DVC experience. Jon concludes:

With GIPS, they have a complete engine that handles all the complexities of IP communications, and with that, a clear path for allowing DVC to reach its full potential, not just at the desktop, but in the mobile world as well.

GIPS has put up two demonstration videos for comparison: one “Traditional Video Conference” and the other “Video Conference Using Global IP Solutions”.

The only current customers using these services are Oracle and Baidu, the Chinese portal; however, discussions are being carried out with several prospective customers, probably including many in their current customer Most interesting is their potential for mobile video; the only North American carrier supporting video to date has been Rogers; however, its most obvious problem is finding other users who can take video calls. Introduction of the Nokia N95 8GB was supposed to expand the video calling-enabled user community; however, iPhone and BlackBerry Bold have stolen the 3G phone market.

Skype’s High Quality Video, SightSpeed’s acquisition yesterday by Logitech, Qik on Blackberry and Nokia N-Series combined with news of GIPS platform offerings are all precursors to a much broader adoption of user-friendly video in both business and personal conversations in the future. (Yes, we all know users have been looking for Skype video conferencing; when?)

Skype Journal: On2 Powers Skype High Quality Video

Full disclosure: GIPS CEO Emerick Woods was the Vice-President, Internet of Quarterdeck Corporation in the mid-1990′s with whom I worked on several business development projects involving partnerships with ISP’s of the time. Over the past 12 years, Emerick, in his capacity as CEO of several startups, which have gone on to be sold, has hired the author at various times for his business development services. The author, however, has no business relationship with Global IP Sound. One more clarification: Emerick has the same initials as a well known Tiger and loves golf just as much.

Tags: Global IP Solutions, GIPS, Emerick Woods, Jon Arnold, Skype High Quality Video, Polycom, Cisco, Nokia, BlackBerry, Qik.com, Logitech, video conferencing, video calling, video, Jonathan Christensen, Desktop Video Conferencing, Voice Engine, Video Engine

Videophones were first demonstrated to the public at the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and Montreal’s Expo ’67. But, until Packet 8 introduced a video phone a few years ago, they were not readily available.

Once Skype introduced video, you knew someone would have to come up with a Skype-enabled video phone. Coolest Gadgets reports the announcement of a Skype-certified AIGuru SV1 Skype video phone. No additional details are known at this but it’s a development we’ll follow once launched later this fall.

Just as significant, this is the first new Skype-enabled hardware device partner we have seen in quite some time – certainly since the introduction last fall of the Skypephone and the FREETALK Wireless Stereo Headset.

Hat tip to Andy for pointing out this post while sitting in on the Mobilize sessions.

ASUS Product Page for eee Video Phone AIGuru SV1 for Skype.

About two weeks ago Skype launched a new type of beta … one that actually will end at some point in the reasonably near future but that is also a major effort to incorporate user feedback while trialing some new concepts. As mentioned in my previous posts about this beta, this is not a replacement for your current Skype 3.8 or earlier installation in mission critical situations but rather Skype wants to trial this version with a broader audience than simply their very dedicated set of designated outside beta testers worldwide.

On Monday Skype’s Product Manager for Windows, Mike Bartlett put out a post, 10 days later …, commenting on the first ten days of feedback from users. (I’m a little late on following up on this as I’m supposed to be on vacation this week.) To quote Mike:

We’ve had some very positive feedback from a lot of people on the new way of working, and that’s encouraging as it seems we’re starting to solve the problems that we set out to solve. However, it’s very understandable some of you used to using Skype on a regular basis have been a bit frustrated about not being able to work with Skype the way they are used to.

Key points:

1. In beta 2 they will introduce a “Compact” mode where users can access their main Skype activity through a a more traditionally sized window that does not take a large portion of the user’s desktop. From my own experience I like the ability to detach conversations into separate windows, if desired; however, the right side “pane” left over when there is no focus on a Conversation, is wasted desktop space. Perhaps a sliding window pane addition, much like the one that comes with the JWire Hotspot Finder, would be more appropriate. In this case when you focus on a Conversation listed under the Conversations tab but not already open in a detached window or initiate a new conversation with a Contact , the wider conversation pane would slide out and become detachable, if desired. And using this feature should be a user selected option. On the other hand I find the new Conversations tab feature in the left pane to be very useful (a concept apparently adopted from the current Skype for Mac) for readily accessing my conversations with individual contacts..
2. One of the primary issues Skype wants to address is how the video is displayed in a more user friendly, more obvious, yet flexible manner. Basically Mike describes ways to both detach and resize the video in the current beta but also mentions we can expect further enhancements in beta 2. From my own personal experience, Skype video looks best in a minimum 640 x 480 window (available with Skype 3.6 and later) due to its clarity and video quality but with Skype 4.0 beta, as a user, you can determine your own optimum video window size and detach a video session into a separate resizable video window.
3. And for all those frustrated Skype for Mac users out there, expect something later this summer that incorporates feedback from the Skype for Windows beta experience.

One question: does the appearance of the “Add people” button in the detached video window (see Mike’s post) foretell a future beta that incorporates multi-party video?

Yes, there are still many “details” being suggested; I’m sure Mike’s team is looking at them all and especially looking for commonality amongst the many users providing feedback. We have to give credit to Mike and his team for introducing as a trial such a radical UI change to try out with the wider user community. If nothing else, it has demonstrated the passion and enthusiasm of the Skype user community while providing an opportunity for receiving back their input.

As I have said repeatedly, this is a beta; it’s not for any of your mission critical Skype installations as it still lacks some features of the released Skype 3.8. But it’s certainly worthwhile installing it on a secondary PC, trying out the various features available and providing feedback.

Once again, this is a beta — it’s not the final released version — changes, incorporating where feasible and practical the consensus of Skype’s user base, will happen. On the other hand, as one who has administered software beta programs in the past when “beta” meant truly trying new concepts while getting user feedback over a limited time period, Skype is running a true beta program for Skype 4.0, not an “infinite” beta as seems to have become the norm for many web services providers these days. Apparently we can expect a second beta release towards the end of the summer, with the objective of a final release later this fall.

Hat tip to Andy at VoIP Watch, who is also supposed to be on vacation this week, for pointing out Mike’s post.

Learn more about Yugma’s Fluid Collaboration approach for enhancing conversations vs traditional Structured Collaboration – a meeting centric approach.

Return to Yugma Product Overview

Earlier this week Skype Journal reported on Skype’s sponsorship of Oprah.com’s Web Events involving “classes” discussing Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth. A unique aspect of this presentation involved “full duplex” video dialogues as viewers posed questions. In some cases the viewers were supplied with the appropriate webcam and dual processor PC so that they could use Skype’s High Quality Video to support the dialogue with Oprah and Eckhart. Unfortunately last Monday’s initial session was fraught with network congestion issues as Harpo Productions attempted to support viewing by over 500,000 participants. However, I was finally able to watch the entire presentation once the video download or streaming was made available Tuesday.

My one key observation about the impact of the video technology is being able to watch the viewer’s facial expressions change as her/his question is answered. It provides an additional perspective to the discussion through watching the viewer’s emotional response as a complement to the verbal dialogue between the viewer and either Oprah or Eckhart. Using High Quality Video allows the viewer to be seen at the same level of video quality as the primary video feed from the main studio. Even when the viewer was shown full screen there was minimal pixelation; it allows the technology to take a back seat to the primary presentation and discussion as opposed to being a distraction. Bottom line: a viewing experience that focuses on the subject matter under review. And [switching to Skype cheerleader mode] you had to love Oprah’s comment during one dialogue: “Thank God for Skype!”. Whereas a year ago I was a skeptic about the value of video in conversations, watching this show, following my Skype High Quality Video experiences of the past few months, changed my viewpoint.

This weekend Oprah distributed an email to her book club registrants:

To Students of A New Earth,

Like you, I was deeply disappointed that so many dedicated webcast participants around the world were unable to view our first live webcast.

Experts from both Limelight Networks and Move Networks, our partners in bringing this groundbreaking experience to the Internet, believe they have identified and addressed the programming problem that was unmasked by a historic number of simultaneous users. While we were certainly prepared for the more than 700,000 people registered and continue to be assured that capacity was not the issue…it is clear that pioneering this new platform will always come with risks. So, that said…the team believes we are good to go for another try.

Since Monday night, over 1.5 million people have streamed or downloaded the webcast, and that option will be available on Tuesday of each week after all of the next nine classes.

I have been encouraged by the thousands of message board posts cheering us on to continue the live classes on Monday nights, and so we will keep moving forward, attempting to break new ground.

If you are willing to partner with me in exploring this new frontier — I’ll see you in class live on Monday. Otherwise, you can stream or download the class on Tuesday or whenever it’s convenient. I understand the frustration and leave it to you to experience the class in whatever way works best.

— Oprah

For those who always asked about Skype promotion, does 1.5 million viewings over a one week period answer their concerns about Skype’s awareness generation in North America? I would probably expect around 1 million real exposures as there were four options for downloading and I’m sure, as I experienced, lots of visitors made a couple of attempts to determine a suitable format for viewing or listening.

[In case you had any doubt about the power of an Oprah endorsement: Earlier today, while visiting a Staples, I asked where I could find a Post-It Flag Highlighter -- a co-sponsor with Skype and GM Chevrolet division of this event. In an unsolicited response the Staples associate told me the store had been inundated with requests for this new book reading tool as a result of Oprah's using it on one of her shows. Also worth noting - While Skype's only appearance during Oprah's class is the actual use of Skype High Quality Video with the Skype logo in the name bar as shown above, the other two co-sponsors only had ads that were inserted every 20 minutes or so during the event.]

There was a caveat with respect to tomorrow’s second class (of ten):

We are asking you to arrive early to take your seat. On Sunday, you will receive an e-mail that contains your special link and specific time to enter class. If you arrive after 8:55/7:55c, there is a chance you will be unable to participate in the live Web event. Our goal is to provide as many of you as possible with a positive experience. If we should see a significant decline in video quality, we may limit the size of the class that evening.

Today I received that email with a link; I’ll report on the outcome.

• Dan York: The Oprah-tization of VoiP via Skype
• Harold Wolinsky: Oprah Goes Skype
• Skype Ad Page on Oprah.com

Tags: Skype, Skype High Quality Video, Oprah, Oprah.com, Oprah Book Club Web Event, Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, Post-It Flag Highlighter, GM Chevrolet Division

Powered by Qumana

Getting an interactive Internet program broadcast out to 500,000 proves to be a true pioneering effort; Oprah.com and Harpo Productions demonstrate the value of transparent communication to your audience as a result of a communication technology breakdown. From the Web Event web site at about 10:00 p.m. EST:

Congestive heart failure is a disease where functioning of your heart continues but in a somewhat weakened state. Last night 500,000 logins was too much for Oprah.com. In spite of moving information over the Internet at 242 Gbps, Oprah’s Web Event¹ suffered congestive Internet failure. Some got a steady stream apparently during the first 15 to 20 minutes after a 9:00 p.m. start, whereas others (myself included) received intermittent coverage that eventually just froze. Harpo Productions, however, was quick to put out an apology and explanations, via both the Oprah.com website and emails to all who registered:

Harpo Productions, Inc., Move Networks and Limelight Networks recognize that interactive Internet broadcasting to a mass audience is still an emerging medium, and we’re proud to have been pioneers in pushing the industry forward. We deeply regret that some of our audience did not have an optimal viewing experience and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The first session of the webinar will be available in its entirety for viewing on Oprah.com or for downloading as a podcast on Oprah.com or iTunes on Tuesday, March 4.

In the public relations space, it’s called quickly and transparently acknowledging your issues and getting a message (any message) out to your target audience.

As for Skype’s involvement, during the snippets I could watch in 15-20 second intervals, Oprah took two questions over Skype High Quality Video from Illinois, one an individual and one a group watching at a Borders store in Chicago. A couple of comments:

• The bar with the Skype logo remained on screen during the entire dialogue with each questioner. No brief ten second impressions here; this was an ongoing continuous five minute impression! And repeated for each questioner.
• At one point I heard Oprah say something along the lines of “Let’s go back to Kelly via Skype. This Skype is ‘wonderful’: I didn’t even know about Skype until a couple of weeks ago.”
• The Skype High Quality Video logo appeared continuously in the upper left hand corner of both the video calls I was able to view.

When the webcast is available later today, I’ll go back and listen for more details on what is hopefully an uninterrupted stream. Being available as a webcast and a downloadable podcast, there will be lots of residual impressions for Skype. As one of my fellow bloggers commented to me in a chat session: “OMG, the Oprahfication of Skype!”

With nine more Monday night “classes” scheduled, this will be as interesting for the communications technology story and associated public relations activity as for the book’s content.

¹ Due to the dynamic nature of this landing page, the content may change with time. As of 8:00 a.m. EST Tuesday, March 4 it started out: “Monday night’s webcast was one of the largest single online events in the history of the Internet. More than 500,000 people simultaneously logged on to watch Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle live, resulting in 242 Gbps of information moving through the Internet. Unfortunately, some of our users experienced delays in viewing the webcast. We are working to identify the specific causes for the problems experienced and will work diligently to rectify them.”

Last week Alec Saunders received an evaluation Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks; in a post today he comments on:

• the camera’s basic optics quality
• his previous objections to video calls that are overcome by Skype’s High Quality Video:
  • getting the right lighting
  • how previous cameras tend to focus, distractingly, on the forehead rather than the face.
• our twenty minute “across the Internet table” video call this afternoon.

and includes a couple of video comparisons. The outcome: he ordered an additional camera off eBay so he can do Skype video calls with his family while traveling.

Previous High Quality Video posts:

• High Quality Video: What’s the Benchmark?
• High Quality Video: Definitely a Winner for Skype
• Expanding the High Quality Video Experience and Observations

Tags: Skype, Skype Video, High Quality Video, Alec Saunders, Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks