When I logged on to eBay.com today I noticed a little box that said, “This weekend only call any phone in the UK for free.” When I clicked on the link, a graphic of a phone printed like a British flag, it showed also free calls to Mexico next weekend and Japan the weekend after that. It appears that free calls are being offered at specific times to different countries all over the world. Regular international Skype calls to land phones range in price from $.021 to a little less than $.05 per minute.

I was preparing to use Skypeout to call the cell phone of my daughter and son-in-law on the island of Iona when I noticed their Skype phone was green, which means that they’re online. When I skyped them, they had just returned to Edinburgh, Scotland. Something was wrong with their microphone, however, and they were typing responses to my talking. It was half conversation and half chat.

We had so much fun at the last Windows SIG demonstrating Skype and showing where to find headsets good for Skype on eBay. One of the most fun things we did was to set up a 4-party conference call between ICON’s laptop with Skype and three cell phones: Faye went outside Panera Bread, Donna went into the library, and Mary went out by the restrooms. Everyone could hear really well and we had a lot of laughter.

If you leave your Skype running, go away from your computer, and a call comes in, a number for Calls Missed appears in a circle beside a little flag located between your name and the My Account button. Clicking on the flag shows you whose call you missed so you can return the call.

As I continued to play around on the Skype Web site, I discovered they have a huge list of ringtones to select from—music, songs, etc. for a minimal price. My husband came in and asked, “Was that you whistling?” There are also choices of images that can be used to personalize your account.

I just changed my picture to an Angel Skype. This is what it looks like. This is changed by either clicking on the Skype picture that is right below your name or by clicking on the Edit my profile button. The pictures used in Skype all have .png (Portable Network Graphic) extensions on the filenames. In the Windows Special Interest Group Q&As, I’ll try to explain what this means.

Happy Computing,

Mary