Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 342 pages
- Published by: O'Reilly Media, Inc. December 12, 2005
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0596101899
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0596101893
-
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 1.1 pounds
Product Description
If you've heard about Skype--and who hasn't with all the recent media attention devoted to internet telephone services--chances are you've been mighty tempted to try it out.
Skype Hacks tells you what all the Skype hype is about, explains the basics, and shows you more than 100 clever tips and tricks for tweaking and tuning Skype to make it do just what you want and more.
Millions of people (48 million and counting, in fact) have opted for Skype, which uses peer-to-peer (P2P) technology to turn any PC, Mac, or Pocket PC into a telephone. Skype offers free calls between computers and extremely cheap calls to "old-fashioned" phone numbers (landlines and mobile phones). The sound quality is excellent, and end-to-end encryption means the connection is private and secure.
But if you really know what you're doing, Skype can accomplish a whole lot more than that.
software developer and author Andrew Sheppard recently converted his entire house to Skype and uses it for all his personal and business calls, even when he's traveling. In
Skype Hacks, he shows you how to do things with the technology that even the engineers at Skype probably never intended.
Skype Hacks shows you how to:
- Get started with Skype
- Figure out how much money you're saving and maximize your savings
- Cut the ties to your old phone company
- Optimize your Skype configuration
- Integrate Skype with desktop tools like Microsoft Office and your web browser
- Set up a Skype-based call center
The book offers ideas for creating and organizing a contacts list, using Skype to transfer files, taking advantage of chat and voicemail capabilities, turning a PDA into a mobile phone, and automating Skype for even greater efficiency. So whether you'd simply like to give Skype a trial run, you want new Skype ring tones and fun on-hold music, or you're considering wiring your home with Skype to get rid of "regular" phone service altogether,
Skype Hacks is your ideal guide.
About The Author
Andrew Sheppard develops
software for the banking industry. Recently, he converted his entire house to Skype; he uses it for all his calls, personal and business, including when he's traveling.
Reader ReviewsSkype is hot right now. Actually, you can expand that and say that VoIP is hot right now, but Skype has carved out a special niche that many VoIP companies haven't yet been able to. Skype has prompted several imitators (Gizmo Project and Google Talk are two that I use personally), and has even been verbed ("I just skyped Leo Laporte about the last TWiT podcast" or "Skype me at notarealskypename and we'll talk" are examples of this). So how do you get the most out of Skype? By using this book. In a lot of ways, this book could have been part of the Missing Manual series rather than the Hacks series. The first chapter steps users through making a Skype call, conference calling, and chatting. Using the pay features of Skype (SkypeIn, SkypeOut, and Skype Voicemail) are also covered, with special attention paid to showing users how to get a free trial for them. Of course, reading the Terms and Conditions would tell you much of the same information, since the refund policy for pay features is there. The second chapter goes into the financial aspects of Skype, and shows that it may not be the most economical alternative for many people. Useful information, but pretty easy to calculate. Most people don't think about minute-rounding when they figure what their phone bill should be, though, so this section is pretty valuable. There's really not much "hacking" in this book until chapter 4, where we start tweaking and tuning Skype (though chapter 3 does show how to build your own Skype server at home, and how to integrate Skype into your existing phone system). We learn about config.xml and what we can change to make Skype run the way we want it to. We're even told how to put Skype call shortcuts on our desktop, if we have people we call frequently. Chapter 5 is for the businessman, showing how to implement Skype in a corporate setting. There's some unexplored potential to this aspect of Skype, including the call-center application (Hack #54). The main reason that I wanted this book was Hack #56 -- recording conversations. My main reason for getting Skype was to use it for interviews, and I planned on recording them for editing and playback on my podcast. This was also my reason for switching to Gizmo Project -- Skype doesn't have that feature built-in, but Gizmo does. The book shows a few solutions to this problem, preferring the Pamela Professional Skype add-on ($22). I was disappointed that they didn't mention Hot Recorder ($14.95, but with a free version also), which is the solution I have heard the most about. The most important hack is #81 -- the workaround for 911 service. VoIP phones don't have 911 capability, which is a source of concern for many potential users (including me). The book offers a simple workaround for this lack, and the lack of 411 service as well. There's a lot of valuable information in this book. I'm not sure it qualifies as a Hack book, but it is invaluable for anyone who uses Skype frequently. Highly recommended.
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