Technology

Sometimes somebody just puts together some technology that is so eye-opening that an entire industry sits up and takes notice. That’s what seems to have happened with Skype – http://www.skype.com, a company who has produced peer-to-peer voice over internet software for the past 18 months. The interface is like an Instant Messenger client, except when you go to talk to someone, you actually talk to them. You can conference lots of friends, send text messages and send files. The voice quality is better than anything I’ve ever used. Very cool. Oh, and it’s free for computer-to-computer calls. They make their money selling a service called Skype-Out, which allows you to call out to non-computer numbers for only $0.03/minute in the US and Europe. Liz finally got Skype on her laptop, and she’s been calling me from downstairs to ask questions. The ultimate couch potato’s toy! Give it a shot, and give us a call. My Skype name is abarrow, Liz’s is lizbarrow.