Skype news functionalities, the API teasing
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No, it’s not the official announcements from eBay. But like its competitors, Skype is building a community of bright developers to play with its own API (Application Program Interface). And during its DevCon, it aired an API contest to add nifty functionalities to its main softphone while rewarding a piece of bread: €2,000 for the 3 first winners, and €500 for the 5 followers ― some people call this “crowdsourcing”.
Here are the winners and their categories, to give an idea of what Skype would be capable to do:
- Auto add Skype me to eBay auctions, from Auctionpix, winner of the “eBay integration” category. In short: “Registered users will be able to add thier Skype name and some descriptive text to create a Skype me hyperlink to be auto included to all new auctions listed on eBay sites.”
- Share your calendar with your friends, from Datalyrics, winner of the “App2App messaging” category. In essence, it provides a system to adapt a local calendar to everyone’s time zone.
- Make Money Talking on Skype!, from Jyve, winner of the “Voice services” category. Briefly explained: “JyvePro is a Plugin system that enables anybody to charge for their time over a Skype call. You can convert Skype calls to paying calls on the fly.”
Additional plugins got awarded. For instance, a Skype plugin for Google desktop (Plugin Place) which does nothing but showing your Skype credits; syncVUE media synchronizer for remote video file (Intelligent Gadgets), good for file-sharing; or fax to Skype (PlusFax).
But our favorite is Boomerang Callback System, from Bitwalker. “Boomerang is a telephony callback system built with Skype. If a visitor to your website wishes to talk with you, they can do so free of charge. They do not need to have Skype or any other additional software installed.” Awesome although we wonder if it works outside North America, where people ‘have to’ pay for landline and mobile SkypeOut.
MSN clone contest has already started. The deadline is September 15, 2006.
Jun 13, 2006 | By Nuno
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