Skype marks 10 years of shrinking the world

STOCKHOLM — If David Huang had left his native Taiwan for Sweden a generation ago, he would have taken a giant leap into the unknown.

Now, with the help of Skype, the 35-year-old businessman is able to reach relatives from his Stockholm home as easily as if they lived around the corner, and not half a world away.

“Skype has made work easier, but more important than that, it has enabled me to talk to my family whenever I feel like it,” he said.

Internet messaging service Skype, which celebrates its 10th anniversary on Thursday, has shrunk the world in profound ways that few could have foreseen in 2003.

A total of 300 million users make two billion minutes of online video calls a day. And in the surest sign of success, the brand name has been turned into a verb – a rare distinction shared by the likes of Xerox and Google.

In another sign of success, Skype has spawned competitors with a host of similar technologies, most importantly Apple’s FaceTime.

But revolutionary as Skype’s technology may seem, it didn’t start completely from scratch but built on existing communication technologies.

“We already had cheap international calling using the Internet,” said Martin Geddes, a leading Britain-based telecommunications consultant.

“The significance of Skype was and is the ‘Wow!’ experience of high definition voice, and the sense of ‘being there’ with your distant friends and family in a way not possible before.”

Skype was launched in late August 2003 by two Scandinavian technology entrepreneurs, Niklas Zennstroem of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark, who expanded on existing peer-to-peer networking technologies.

Skype, which allows its online users to make high-quality calls to each other anywhere in the world for free, quickly took off, bringing the world closer together in an age when globalisation and intercontinental travel pulled more families apart than at perhaps any other time in history.

“I’m touched by the ways people use Skype, from an active duty soldier meeting his baby girl for the first time… to just the simple, extraordinarily ordinary instances,” said Elisa Steele, Skype chief marketing officer.

These simple instances, she said, include “a mum and daughter being able to see and talk to one another in a way that feels like they’re just sitting across the kitchen table from each other. Our greatest achievement lies in these moments.”

While Skype helps people to stay in touch with those they already know, it also enables new connections to be formed.

One example was early this year, when students aged between 11 and 15 from Woodham Academy in Britain and Merton Intermediate School in Wisconsin carried out a cross-Atlantic dance contest.

“For a lot of them, I think they’d been in a small-town mentality where they hadn’t really gone out as far as they might have wanted to into travelling,” said Woodham assistant head teacher Jon Tait.

“They had seen films from abroad, but to actually physically speak to these kids in America was absolutely brilliant. It was amazing.”

Skype isn’t for humans only. At Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas, orangutans Mei and Mukah are rewarded for completing tasks by being allowed to communicate via Skype with orangutans in other zoos.

The question many ask however is: Is it possible to make money on a business offering free calls? US software maker Microsoft thought so, paying $8.5 billion for Skype in 2011.

In the 12 months ended on June 30, Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, which includes Skype, reported operating income of $848 million, up from $380 million the year before.

Within just a decade, Skype moved from being nowhere to being everywhere. Could the reverse also be true? In an era of rapid transformation, could it be gone again in another decade? It’s hard to imagine, according to observers.

“It’s not going to go away. It’s going to be utilised and put into more and more devices, videophones, devices for your kitchen, tablets as we mount them on cabinets,” said Michael Gough, author of the book “Skype Me!”

“I can see for example a home automation scenario, where you have a tablet in your kitchen, an Xbox connect in your living room, and you can literally be on a video call and it will follow you around the house. I can actually see that occurring.”

source: interaksyon.com

Army investigators: No foul play suspected in captain's death

(CNN) -- Military investigators said Monday that they do not suspect foul play in the death of an Army captain who collapsed during a video call with his wife.

Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark, 43, was using the video calling service Skype to speak with his wife, Susan Orellana-Clark, on April 30 when he slumped forward. He was dead when military personnel arrived two hours later.

Orellana-Clark said Sunday in a statement that she saw what appeared to be a bullet hole on the wall behind her husband after he collapsed, leading to speculation he had been shot.

While the cause of death is not known, investigators have ruled out a gunshot, Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey said in a statement.

"Agents conducting the investigation, found no trauma to the body beyond minor abrasions and a possible broken nose most likely caused from Captain Clark striking his face on his desk when he collapsed," Grey said.

"Although we have not completely ruled it out to ensure a complete and thorough investigation is conducted, we do not suspect foul play in the death of Captain Clark at this point in our ongoing investigation," he said.

In a statement Sunday, Orellana-Clark said that her husband seemed to be in no distress when he was "knocked forward," revealing what she said appeared to be a bullet hole in the closet door behind him.

Orellana-Clark said she was releasing the details "to honor my husband and dispel the inaccurate information and supposition promulgated by other parties."

Two U.S. military officials with knowledge of the investigation conducted in Afghanistan confirmed that it took two hours from the time Clark collapsed while on Skype with his wife until military personnel arrived.

They said Orellana-Clark's request had been routed through several commands in the United States before it was relayed to Afghanistan.

No wounds were found on Clark's body, according to one of the officials, who said the death has been determined to be "noncombat" and suicide has been ruled out.

An official determination of cause of death is pending autopsy and toxicology results, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is still under investigation.

Clark, who was a chief nurse, was assigned to the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, but deployed with a medical unit from Fort Hood.

He was stationed at Tarin Kowt, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) north of Kandahar.

In addition to his wife, Clark is survived by two daughters.

source: CNN

Man’s bloody suicide witnessed by girlfriend via video call

A woman from Berkshire, England could only watch in horror as his 53-year-old boyfriend who was on a business trip in India slashed his wrists, throat and stomach while on a video call with her through Skype.

According to a report by the UK-based newspaper Mirror, Julie Zalinski was on the call with Adrian Rowland when the incident happened. Rowland was reportedly in a “complete state” during the call, “was sweating profusely” with eyes staring.

“He said there were people in the room that weren’t there. I just kept reassuring him that nobody was there. I told him I’d get help,” Zalinski told the Mirror.

“He walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass and smashed it on the table then stuck it straight into his neck. He was holding his bloodied wrist out to the screen,” she added.

“He kept saying, ‘they are going to get me, they are going to get me’.”

The woman immediately called help from the UK police to contact authorities in India, but even as Indian emergency services managed to reach Rowland’s apartment, Indian law prevented them from breaking down his door.

“Agonizingly, [Rowland] slowly bled to death as [Zalinski] continued to beg him to accept help,” the report said, adding that he was found dead 10 hours after the first Skype call.

The coroner in the UK said Rowland was “going through a mental crisis,” as Zalinski shared how he had been acting strangely just a day before, saying he had been entertaining guests at dinner even as the Skype video didn’t show anyone with the 53-year-old in the room.

Rowland had reportedly gone to India as a consultant in the automotive industry, and had been emotional before he left.

“He didn’t like being away from the UK and me,” she said,” Zalinski told the inquest that followed.

source: interaksyon.com