I made a brief mall detour this AM to spend a few minutes with Bose QuietComfort headsets and see if Apple has those new iPod on display (nope). While there I noticed a Vonage booth going in. The cabinets are bare and the store rep is still waiting for his broadband connection, but it was pretty interesting (and surprising) to see them making this retail push. If you’re familiar with the DC area, Vonage plans to have a presence in Montgomery Mall (above), Tysons Corner, Potomac Mills, and White Marsh.

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One of my parting gifts as Netgear’s CES Blogger In Residence was a WiFi Skype phone. But wait. There’s more! They also provided me with their new dual-mode Skype phone. Believe it or not, there’s only so many Skype phones I can use. So one lucky reader is taking the WiFi model home.

Quick summary… What I like: Wireless handset with Skype - no computer needed. What I don’t like: Battery life and lack of web browser (to sign on at Starbucks). I loaned Kevin Tofel of jkOnTheRun the phone who has written a more thorough review.

Here’s how ya win: Leave a comment linking to something we wrote in January, 2007 and tell us why you selected that as a notable topic. No two submissions can use the same post. I’ll pick a random winner sometime next week.

Update: Good news for the winner who also connects at Starbucks… A beta firmware update allows T-Mobile Hotpost authentication.

After a month in beta, Skype 2.6 for Mac has been released. In addition to improvements and features, such as Call Transfer, introduced in the beta about two dozen bug fixes have been implemented. My beta version (.72) didn’t recognize an upgrade was available, but I manually downloaded and installed the updated client (.137).

A periodic roundup of relevant news…

• Get Your Skype at WalMart: Dvorak
• Vonage May Have Solved Patent Dispute With A Workaround: UNEASYsilence
• Microsoft’s (Beta!) VoIP Device Blitz: GigaOM
• Skype 3.2 PC Goes Gold: SkypeJournal

Skype is out with a beta (”experienced users only”) client for Mac OS X. While several of the new features play catch-up to the Windows app, Mac users do get one exclusive… Call Transfer. TechCrunch tried it out and had this to say:

When you are on a Skype call, you can transfer it to another Skype user on your contact list. It is available under the “more” button during an ongoing call.

SkypeJournal documents the additional features:

• Join public chats
• Chat typing indicator - see when others are writing a message
• Call any Skype Prime premium services provider and pay with Skype credit
• Automatic Updates – get new features and updates without having to go to Skype’s website to download
• DTMF tones for automatic answering services available also during Skype-to-Skype calls

Given Vonage’s uncertain future (their CEO resigned today) it’s probably time for me to start relying more on Skype.

To recap… Verizon went after Vonage, claiming patent infringement. The jury agreed that Vonage infringed on three of Verizon’s patents, ordering $56 million in repayment plus future royalties. The court seemed to move towards a total injunction, but yesterday GigaOm reported on Verizon’s propsal:

Judge Claude Hilton has issued an injunction that bars Vonage from signing up new customers. “It’s the difference of cutting off oxygen as opposed to the bullet in the head,” Vonage lawyer Roger Warin told the Associated Press. Still the 2.2 million Vonage customers can breathe a sigh of relief - their phone service is not going to be turned off this weekend.

Which was quickly followed by a stay:

Vonage has been granted a temporary stay from U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, the company said. The company is now able to continue signing up new customers.

As a Vonage customer, I’ve been following this story. I find their service adequate and their customer service poor. I’ll have no problem (and will shed no tears) finding another provider, or going without, should they get shut down.

I’ve got two Skype items for you this month…

Skype 3.0 was released out of beta mid-December and while it’s generally been a smooth upgrade, I noticed a few quirks. One was the alignment/layout of certain elements seemed slightly out of whack, another was duplicate time-delayed text messages, and finally this week I experienced a spectacular implosion of hundreds of rapid fire Windows access errors before Skype committed hara-kiri. Honestly, I can’t say I’ve seen a crash like that in Windows production (as in non-beta) software in years — Fortunately, Skype didn’t take down my OS with it. Hopefully I have some good news: Version 3.0.0.205 is out (replacing 3.0.0.190). Skype Journal has itemized the bug fixes and linked to the download. FYI A current 3.0.0.xxx client will not recognize this incremental upgrade and the Check for Update option will indicate your are current. So, you’ll need to download the complete package and overwrite your existing install.

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I must preface this post by saying Netgear gifted me with their new $199 Dual Mode Skype Phone, part of my CES Blogger In Residence prize package (AKA ‘Dave got paid’). So, it’s entirely possible I’m not objective and therefore I won’t do a formal review. Having said that, quite a few products sit (unopened) on my floor for months waiting to be reviewed… whereas I immediately put this phone into production when I returned from CES.

Unlike Netgear’s previous WiFi Skype phone, this model has a base station which you wire to your home router. The base station will also accept a telephone connection from your “land line” — hence the “dual-mode” moniker: Skype + Land Line. Which brings me to the first point (of two) that I wanted to share…

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