Learning about Skype

Ok, some more free stuff on the web that I found useful. Skype - you can connect with friends over the internet using their voice call or video call facility. And surprising, the voice quality is really good. Nice and clear. Lucky thing the web cam worked after I swopped my computer with another one that someone returned to the office :) No problem if you just do a two-party video call, but once you do add people (that's the button on the top right-hand corner), the video goes poof and you end up with a three-party voice call instead. Not too bad really, but they should have made it quite clear upfront that the video calls are just between 2 parties and no more.

Surprised me to that when you add people, you can select up to 24 participants to join your call. But if the group gets too large, it would be quite difficult to tell who's speaking isn't it? One probable use for this skype facility would be doing like a video call in class - an external speaker could be invited to speak on a certain subject, and this call could be projected on screen. Could be used during elearning week/business continuity week too, for students to ask questions, or for colleagues to interact outside of the office. Ah.....Oh yes, must remember to click on that video icon to turn on your video function. And you could also do a grouping, so that you call all relevant parties at one go too.

One other feature on Skype would be the Share screen feature where you can open up a document and show it to the other party online.

Here's the link to Skype The latest version is 4.1. Here's the user guide on Skype for video calls.