Microsoft Buys Skype. Now What?

You may have heard that Microsoft purchased the VoIP program Skype. My email has me thinking this news apparently has some readers worried.

Microsoft’s Ballmer $7.7-Billion Skype Blunder

“Microsoft is buying Skype, the video and Voice over Internet Protocol giant, for over seven billion in cash and this will help them how?” READ FULL STORY…

I have seen a lot of dumb moves by tech CEO’s (and investors) over the years. I mean.. colossally idiotic. So, to me, this is just one more item on a long list. (But I am willing to concede, there is probably some reasoning for Microsoft’s long-range plan I am ignorant of.. and it may prove smart.)

What does this mean for you? I am going to go out on a limb, and do something I hate doing – predict the future. And I predict that this acquisition will have no, zip, zero, nada effect on us Skype users.

The fear: I cannot believe that suddenly you will start having to pay for what you are now doing free. (As people seem to be worried about.) Why? Because this is a technology that’s already available fully free and Open Source. Windows Messenger does the same thing Skype does, as does ooVoo and Vid, and several others. (I think Google even has something…)

Skype isn’t even that good a product. What it has going for it is lots of users. (It has “name brand” recognition.)

So what was Microsoft’s Balmer thinking? I don’t know and I don’t care. I just chuckled.

If Skype tells me I need to pay, I’ll simply uninstall it, and install something else – something free.

And so will every other Skype user.

They know this up in Redmond, so I am not expecting to have to switch. Not everyone up there is as idjiotic as Balmer can seem to be…

That’s how it’s done: But that’s how it’s done in today’s world: you come up with some tech thingy and get lots of users onboard, and wait for someone with more money than brains to come and buy you out. Almost 8 BILLION? Cash??? Sold!

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Skype — “Windows Requires Immediate Attention”.. Not!

Folks, after a quiet period, cyber-crooks are once again using Skype to send phishing “chats” in an attempt to defraud you. So, I am reposting this article. It is the exact same ruse, but the name has changed. It will reappear every so often with a slightly different name and URL…

Yesterday a “chat” window (Skype) opened on my machine, and presented me with a dire warning from someone named “Software Update” “Registry Scan Online®”. It said that “WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION” and, it provided me with a solution. 

(Click on image to see large version)

Please, folks, tell me you have spotted this for what it is. Please tell me that you knew –instantly– that this is a cyber-crime attempt; that it is Phraud-ulent.

Please tell me that you know what will happen if the link provided in this message is clicked; and, please, please, please tell me you would never click the link.

Just in case you aren’t sure:
* “Software Update” “Registry Scan Online ®” doesn’t exist.
* “http://www.onlinemonitor.info” “www.registryscan.com” is not registered in ARIN (the registry of Internet addresses).
* clicking the link will allow scripts to run, and/or take you to a poisoned Website which will install malware on your machine, or/and it may take you to a site that will sell you a rogue anti-spyware program (please read my article, Is that antispyware program really spyware).
* Microsoft DOES NOT alert you via Instant Messaging. No legitimate company does. Period. Ever. This is a classic example of a hacker’s attempt to get you to click their link.

All of this so they can rip you off. It’s their full time job.

Please point your less-savvy friends and family to this article and educate them to the dangers of spam (unsolicited) messages and tell them– NEVER CLICK THE LINK.
[Note: while this article directly references the VoIP client Skype, you may see this type of thing in other Instant Messaging/Chat programs.]

[addenda: Peter Parkes (Skype Blogger) wrote and asked me to remind my readers to, quote, “Please report users who send these messages to abuse@skype.net – that will help us to block them where appropriate.”]

Today’s free link(s): I have assembled on my Website a collection of links to the best free anti-malware programs to help you prevent infection.. and clean up if you’ve been infected. To see them, click here.

Also, Bill Mullins has posted a very complete tutorial, Think You Have A Virus?– Some Solutions, which is quite probably the best one-stop lesson on malware I have ever run across. (I also recommend his How Fake/Rogue Software Affects Real People.)

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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E-mail is dead.

Loyal Friends and True know that Tech–for Everyone is always on the cutting edge of technical innovation, and that I am a World Renown Tech Journalist whose fame springs from bringing you the latest in breaking IT news. (Ignore the man behind the curtain.)

It is my skill and extensive research (ahem) that allows me to be the first to inform you, Dear Reader, that e-mail, as we know it today, is utterly passe — completely old hat– and, like, so yesterday that it ‘gags me with a spoon’.

Yes my friends, e-mail is dead.
(And you heard it here first.)

Some of you are surely saying, “Why, Tech Paul! E-mail is the single greatest contribution to society that the IT Geek’s ever made! It enables commerce, and has facilitated ‘Globalization’! A couple billion e-mail messages are sent everyday! Dead? Surely you are mistaken!”
Right? You did say that?

It is true… it is very hard to picture a world without e-mail (I can envision a world without spam e-mail just fine, thank you very much) and it is impossible to deny that the ability to send electronic messages has radically altered the way we communicate with friends and family, conduct business, and.. share jokes. Yes, e-mail has had an incalculable impact on our lives.
Keywords: “has had”.

My extensive (ahem) research, and whetted-finger-held-aloft-to-the-Winds-of-Change , tells me (and now I’m telling you) that a New Thing has come along which is going to replace e-mail entirely.. and that is a little thing I have named “v-mail”. (With a little “v”. To those of you old enough to remember Victory Mail, I salute you.) The little “v” stands for “video”.

My Award-Winning* Nose for News has led me to uncover a service (which I am revealing as Today’s free link:) that allows us to send 30-second video clips of ourselves instead of boring -old letters and words and punctuations and stuff. No longer will we need emoticons and “smileys”. Avatars are doomed too. Video, my friends, trumps them all!

Why type “wink”, when you can just.. well.. wink?!

Bonus: Typos and outright misspellings will no longer embarrass us, and ruin careers! (Bad hair days are another story..)

As I mentioned in my recent article Climb aboard the VoIP bandwagon, at this stage in the game you really should have a webcam, and the odds are pretty good that, by now, you have added a microphone and used Skype or SightSpeed  to make calls or video conference (aka “video chat”).
* With v-mail, you don’t have to worry about if your “buddies” are available at the moment.. you just create your message and send it.
* With v-mail, you don’t have to download any special software, or manage a “Contacts” list.. it is entirely browser-based (it uses Flash).
* With v-mail, you don’t have to pay any subscription fee.
* It is one-click simple. (And you don’t have to learn that “texting” lingo used in Instant Messaging/Chat.)
* It is not some new “beta” thing. It has actually been around for a while now, and it works like it should.

Now.. when you add all that up, doesn’t it spell the end of e-mail to you too?
Today’s free link: Get your v-mail at EyeJot (or, go there and take a look at their “how it works” examples). All you need to do is provide your first name and a valid e-mail account (doesn’t have to be one of your real accounts). This creates your eyejot account. Your microphone and webcam are automatically detected, and you can start recording your v-mail right away.
Folks.. don’t you want to be an early-adopter, nay, trendsetter, for once? Blow your kids away and be the first to send a v-mail.

* The prestigious Annie Award. (An award that I just made up, and named after a beloved family pet.)

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Climb aboard the VoIP bandwagon*

Phew, what a morning! I have been troubleshooting practically since I got out of my nice, warm bed. But, I don’t mind: it’s what I do for a living.

This morning, as I was thinking about what to write today (and helping people with their technical troubles), it occurred to me what a tremendous boon two particular technologies are — namely, Remote Assistance, and VoIP/teleconferencing. I simply could not run my business (shameless plug: my online repair shop, Aplus Computer Aid) without them.

Remote Assistance allows me to view my client’s computer screen (and if they permit it, issue mouse and keyboard commands) just as if I were sitting in front of it… basically “transporting” me, across any number of miles, to their computer via the magic of the Internet. This is truly amazing stuff, if you think on it some and.. it saves me quite a bit on gas.
Instead of saying into the telephone, “Okay, what do you see now?” and then trying to decipher the client’s response.. I see on my screen exactly what they see. This saves so much time (and, my client’s money) and miscommunication that a repair that might take an hour can be accomplished in fifteen minutes. Yes, amazing stuff.

But to get to the title of today’s article and the other “distance-eliminating” technology, let’s switch gears to IP telephony (aka “VoIP“). Regular readers of this series know that I am out here on the Lefty Coast, and that I have a young niece and nephew on the other coast — roughly 3,000 miles away.
Loyal Friends and True also know that I do not like to fly. I openly admit that you would have to pay me several tens of thousands of dollars to board an airplane again. (Please do not send me comments on flying. It’s my phobia, and I am quite comfortable with it and I intend to keep it around.. it goes well with my decor.)

In the golden olden days, this East Coast/Lefty Coast situation would lead to  large long-distance phone bills and occasional cross-country drives. But thanks to VoIP, and webcams, I can not only talk with (and see) my niece and nephew, but I can do so for free.
Yes, amazing stuff.

What makes this so neat/cool/awesome is (in my mind, anyway) the “webcam”. These cameras (that often look like a plastic tennis ball) can be had for as little as $15 retail, and they make all the difference. These little video devices do a good job at letting you see and be seen, and even the cheap ones have pretty good resolution. No.. you cannot get a hug over a webcam, but you can see a smile.

So if you have a computer, and you have the Internet (how else would you be reading this article?), and you have loved ones who live farther away than next door.. and you don’t have VoIP and a webcam.. what are you waiting for? Get on the bus!
Buy a webcam, insert (and run) the Install CD, and then plug the camera into a USB port. It is basically that simple. Buy one for your loved one’s house — if they don’t already have one — too.

Then, you’ll need some way to contact them (“call” them) and start your Internet visit. If you are already using an Instant Messenger (IM) to “chat” with them, then you already have the method. Most, if not all IMs have video capability as well as “phone” (or “voice”). [Click View >Options if you have difficulty finding these features.] Typically, you have to pay a fee (“subscribe”) to use the phone/voice.

Today’s free link(s): To avoid those fees, both you and your loved ones can download a VoIP client — such as Skype or SightSpeed. You will then set up an account, in very much a similar manner as you do opening a free email account (Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo Mail, etc.).. you set up a User Name/password. Then you add Contacts, or “Search For” contacts, again in a manner very similar to email.
Once configured — and it really isn’t hard — a visit with a distant friend is only a click away. Thanks for listening, and have a great weekend.

[update: a reader wanted to know how the make the video window larger in Skype; right-click on the video image and from the choice select either “Windowed Mode” (my reco) or “Full screen”.]

*Original posting 12/27/07

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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“Skype me”

Phew, what a morning! I have been troubleshooting practically since I got out of my nice, warm bed. But, I don’t mind: it’s what I do for a living.

This morning, as I was thinking about what to write today (and helping people with their technical troubles), it occurred to me what a tremendous boon two particular technologies are — namely, Remote Assistance, and VoIP/teleconferencing. I simply could not run my business (shameless plug: my online repair shop, Aplus Computer Aid) without them.

Remote Assistance allows me to view my client’s computer screen (and if they permit it, issue mouse and keyboard commands) just as if I were sitting in front of it… basically “transporting” me, across any number of miles, to their computer via the magic of the Internet. This is truly amazing stuff, if you think on it some and.. it saves me quite a bit on gas.
Instead of saying into the telephone, “Okay, what do you see now?” and then trying to decipher the client’s response.. I see on my screen exactly what they see. This saves so much time (and, my client’s money) and miscommunication that a repair that might take an hour can be accomplished in fifteen minutes. Yes, amazing stuff.

But to get to the title of today’s article and the other “distance-eliminating” technology, let’s switch gears to IP telephony (aka “VoIP“). Regular readers of this series know that I am out here on the Lefty Coast, and that I have a young niece and nephew on the other coast — roughly 3,000 miles away.
Loyal Friends and True also know that I do not like to fly. I openly admit that you would have to pay me several tens of thousands of dollars to board an airplane again. (Please do not send me comments on flying. It’s my phobia, and I am quite comfortable with it and I intend to keep it around.. it goes well with my decor.)

In the golden olden days, this East Coast/Lefty Coast situation would lead to  large long-distance phone bills and occasional cross-country drives. But thanks to VoIP, and webcams, I can not only talk with (and see) my niece and nephew, but I can do so for free.
Yes, amazing stuff.

What makes this so neat/cool/awesome is (in my mind, anyway) the “webcam”. These cameras (that often look like a plastic tennis ball) can be had for as little as $15 retail, and they make all the difference. These little video devices do a good job at letting you see and be seen, and even the cheap ones have pretty good resolution. No.. you cannot get a hug over a webcam, but you can see a smile.

So if you have a computer, and you have the Internet (how else would you be reading this article?), and you have loved ones who live farther away than nextdoor.. and you don’t have VoIP and a webcam.. what are you waiting for? Get on the bus!
Buy a webcam, insert (and run) the Install CD, and then plug the camera into a USB port. It is basically that simple. Buy one for your loved one’s house — if they don’t already have one — too.

Then, you’ll need some way to contact them (“call” them) and start your Internet visit. If you are already using an Instant Messenger (IM) to “chat” with them, then you already have the method. Most, if not all IMs have video capabilty as well as “phone” (or “voice”). [Click View >Options if you have difficulty finding these features.] Typically, you have to pay a fee (“subscribe”) to use the phone/voice.

Today’s free link(s): To avoid those fees, both you and your loved ones can download a VoIP client — such as Skype or SightSpeed. You will then set up an account, in very much a similar manner as you do opening a free email account (Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo Mail, etc.).. you set up a User Name/password. Then you add Contacts, or “Search For” contacts, again in a manner very similar to email.
Once configured — and it really isn’t hard — a visit with a distant friend is only a click away. Thanks for listening, and have a great weekend.

[update: a reader wanted to know how the make the video window larger in Skype; right-click on the video image and from the choice select either “Windowed Mode” (my reco) or “Full screen”.]

Copyright 2007 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

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