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Skype Adds Video Calling GADGETS OF THE WEEK / Products on the Cutting Edge

Posted on: Thursday, 1 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Ken Belson

Products on the cutting edge

Skype, the Internet phone service, is adding video calling starting Thursday. The software upgrade can be downloaded from the company's Web site (www.skype.com). Users will also need a Web camera that attaches to a computer. To start a video call, a Skype user is dialed, just as with a voice call. The caller then finds the log-in address of the person being called and presses the green connect button on the bottom of the screen. If that person's computer has a Web cam connected to it, a video call will automatically be created.

Skype users will not be charged for video calls, which in demonstrations proved as good as most other Web-based video calls. The picture window can be enlarged, and it can be detached from the Skype screen and placed in the corner of the desktop. The new software also lets users tell others what time zone they are in and whether they are busy or available to talk. In addition, new folders will make it easier to sort personal contacts into groups. But it is the video calling function that will have people talking. *

[Includes screen shot of Skype video call]

Source: International Herald Tribune

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