Another complaint is the compatibility with existing Skype equipments. You may want to stay with version 3.8 until this issue is resolved. You can get an older version from here.

Potential interested parties are:

• Microsoft: integrate Skype into its consumer communication products
• Google: Enhance its own messaging, audio and video services
• Yahoo: Enhance its own product offerings
• Facebook: Offer new audio and video features to its existing chat and notification product

Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have the cash to pull the trigger; however I am not sure if Skype worths $1.6 billion to any of these companies.

The first announcement is the availability of a new Lite version of Skype for over 100 Java-enable phones. These phones are based on the Android platform and from companies like LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericssion. These phones are based on the Android platform which was initiated by Google and its partners. It would be interesting to see how this would compete with Apple’s iPhone.

The second announcement is the release of Skype 4.0 in early February. This version has been available in beta form for many months and provided major improvements in audio and video qualities. I am really interested to see its integration with Microsoft Outlook. It did not work when I tried it on a beta version.

The third announcement is Skype 1.0 Beta for Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices (MID). MID is a multimedia-capable handheld computer with wireless internet access capability. It is bigger than a cellular phone, but smaller than a ultra mobile PC or tablet PC. It runs mostly on Linux and its derivatives, although it is also capable of running Windows XP and Vista.

Unlike most Skype Wifi phones, a MID would have a browser and can be used in any hot spots around the world.

With high speed internet becomes common household item and the cost and quality of web cams have improved significantly, video calls become very affordable. Most computers have speakers already and $20 investment would give you a very decent web cam along with a microphone. Calls are free.

How you use the video chat is only limited by your imagination; here are some examples:

• Interview university applicants and job applicants
• Tutor students remotely
• Hold virtual parties and tours
• Perform sales demonstration
• Paint portraits by artists
• Show off your new toys
• …

Let me know on how you use video chat.

If your friends do not have Skype, send Skype phones as X’mas gifts and start connecting them with Skype. When my sister-in-law moved out of country, I convinced my wife and her sisters to use Skype video calls. In fact, I purchased Skype phones and web cams them. Since then, they have been chatting as if they were still in US. This is the best investment I ever made. Besides all the phone bills I save, I was their hero… for a few days anyway.

If you are not sure what to buy, this article on Skype phone options would give you a heads-up.

The Great Firewall of China, well publicized in the internet community, is a prime example of political/security/fear censorship. The firewall denies users within China to access politically sensitive information around the world. If you want to get a taste of the censorship, download and install the Firefox plug-in China Channel and you can find out firsthand the nature of the firewall. You can try some of the known blocked sites listed here.

You can download a copy of Firefox from Mozilla.

China Channel is a simple proxy that let your browser behind a China IP address. When turned on, you will be accessing the internet as if you were in China. The response time would be rather slow as you are running through a proxy server from the other side of the earth.

Get a feel on what it is like. There is no guarantee that you would enjoy the same level of freedom you have now. An aggressive administration can change it with little notice. Even if the supreme court catches up with the action, it will be many years later.

Virtual interviews use Skype video calls and last 20 to 30 minutes, the same as in-person interviews. Interviews, real or virtual, are treated as the same in the evaluative process. The online interviews are similar to what would take place if students were sitting in the admissions office.

“While a personal visit is the first choice, the virtual interview is an innovative way to use technology to connect individually with those who, because of financial or other reasons, cannot come to campus,” said Martha Allman, director of admissions at Wake Forest. “This combines Wake Forest’s historic commitment to personal attention with our emphasis on technological innovation.”

Skype is a time and money saving technology enabling applicants and admission officers to get to know each other better. This practice will spread to other universities soon.

1. Prepare a list of items you need and want to buy. Do some research of these items and determine how much money you are willing to spend on them.
2. Find out what specials are available. There are many resource available online, such as bfads.net/, blackfriday.gottadeal.com/, and slickdeals.net. My favorite is the spreadsheet developed by “akelnat”. See Black Friday Sales Locator for more details.
3. Validate your research with the ad from your local newspaper.
4. Find out the store hours
5. Prioritize the list of items and plan your shopping route accordingly. Sizzling hot bargains will disappear within the first store hour. At best, you can only shop 2-3 stores for these bargains.
6. Visit the stores a few days early to make sure these are the items you wanted and to familiar yourself with the store. You would not get much help from salespersons on locating the items on the mad rush hours.
7. Be there when the stores are opened and expect long lines. Stores open at 5AM.
8. If you intend to hit multiple stores, you have to minimize the time spent in each store. Make this a family outing. One person waits in line for checkout while others look for the items. You can spend as much as a hour waiting in the checkout line.
9. Above all, have fun.

This year, “akelnat” published another spreadsheet in fatwallet.com again. I downloaded the file and it was awesome. I made some modifications to the file so you can look at the sales by categories, in addition to by stores. You can download the modified spreadsheet and its pdf version by clicking on the following links:

• Modified Black Friday Sales Excel Spreadsheet
• Modified Black Friday Sales PDF File

We will update the file as new releases are available.

Happy Shopping!!

Note: The files were updated on Nov. 27, 2008 10:48AM CT. They contained promotions from the following stores:

The following graph was obtained from http://nyanyan.to/skype/7d_chart.php and it shows the number of online users in the past 7 days and the number of downloads.