Skype App Adds Video Calling

When traveling for business, I often use Skype to video chat with my family at home. This is a comforting way to connect while sitting in a hotel. I’ll even leave the call on for hours at a time, just to watch what they do and hear the homestead background noise, which often includes the screaming of little ones.

The coolest thing about the Skype application for my iPhone has always been the ability to make calls from other countries to any phone number the USA for a flat rate of $3 per month. Skype-to-Skype calls are free to and from anywhere in the world.

Skype now works on the 3G network, but you may not want to use another carrier’s network in another country, at a cost of a dollar or more per minute, plus connection fees of $20 or more in many cases.

The new Skype app for the iPhone allows users to make video calls to any Skype user. With the new app, you can make free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls over 3G and Wi-Fi, share your Skype video calls with users on iPhones, PCs, and Macs, and you can talk face-to-face or display what you’re seeing with the iPhone’s front and rear-facing cameras.

Share that spectacular sight…show off those new shoes…include others in the big event…speak to clients face-to-face… Now Skype for iPhone lets you get more out of any moment with friends, family, and colleagues.

CNET reports, “Skype for iPhone will work for anyone on Skype’s network, be they desktop or mobile users. While you can only broadcast video on on Apple devices with rear-facing or front-facing cameras–namely the iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4, and iPhone 3GS, you can also receive incoming video broadcasts on the iPad and third-generation iPod Touch. As an extra bonus, desktop Skype users (Windows|Mac) can share a view of their computer screen with Skype users on iPhone.”

If you haven’t used Skype for video calling, give it a try. In my home we use it almost daily. I have an in-law in Australia, and she and my family talk via Skype all the time. The connection is nearly perfect, and best of all, it’s free!

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto, discusses sharing too much information on the Internet on Fox News. Disclosures