I read this very interesting article on Skype on seekingalpha.com. It puts into perspective the real value of Skype within Ebay and the growth potential. I enjoyed it and want to share the link with you. Click here to read the article.
We just updated the FAQ system (= Frequently Asked Questions) on the PamFax website. It’s now much easier to find an answer to a question. My favourite feature is the immediate display of the matching answers while you type the keyword(s) you are looking for:
PamFax FAQ search
Another great new feature are the RSS feeds for the FAQ entries. So you can add the RSS feed to your RSS reader and never miss a new answer to a common problem.
Just try it out on your own: PamFax FAQ
Today I received an interesting newpaper clipping from the Dutch NRC. It was about the European satellite mission called….. PAMELA.
The article went on to explain what Pamela stands for: Payload for Antimater Exploration and Light-nuclet Astrophysics. This is a European experiment and the article was about an information leak regarding the results which appeared on www.arxiv.org.
We’ve done posts before about PamBot but yesterday I was talking to a future client and demo-ed PamBot. It was a cool experience seeing that PamBot, powered by the Alice AI engine and a funny AIML character, just chatted away with us. It was fun being in a Skype multichat and having the bot in it to ask questions and search the internet (I created a Skype multichat with PamBot). I also did a demo of searching Ebay, the results came back instantly. A very easy and quick way to fetch and share (live) data.
The project has been a bit dormant but this is mainly due to the fact that it is operating perfectly. The backed is extremely scalable and can handle literally millions of simultaneous chat sessions. Btw – the same platform we also use in PamFax for sending Skype chat status notifications.
So, if you’re up for some fun just lookup the Skype user “pam_bot” in your Skype and add her to your contact list. Open a chat window and type “help” (without the quotes). Then you can just type away and PamBot will answer based on what you type.
There is also a website with further details. The site is www.pambot.com.
Note that the download is not required when you just want to experience artificial intelligence in a Skype chat.
We recently upgraded our store on Pamela-Systems to a complete new system. The platform is the same as we have already been using with PamFax. Obviously we had to migrate a lot of legacy and this took us a bit longer then we had anticipated.
The new store is much simpler to navigate and find your way around. In addition it finally provides decent multi-currency support and can handle a large number of credit card processing systems. We still have PayPal but we replaced 2CheckOut with Worldpay. We added Google Checkout who are the only ones that offer Amex support and a really simple and easy payment process. In future we might look at adding systems for particular countries.
The store layout is much cleaner and we have been able to add more license packs, now also for Pamela Call Recorder. Each product can be viewed in detail, you can see exactly what a particular edition offers, what the requirements are and there is even a direct download option. In the past this was often confusing, having the download and purchase on separate pages – people occasionally purchased the wrong license. This should improve with the new store.
The backend side has also improved, you can now login to your account and see your purchase history. The system also provides you with the ability to lookup your activation key and download an invoice for your purchase. For companies within EU we offer the ability to enter the EU-VAT number and purchase without VAT.
The upgrade process has also significantly improved. You login to the store, select a product from the upgrade category, enter your old activation key at checkout and the previous paid price is subtracted from the basket. You only pay the difference. Note though that the entered key is disabled afterwards.
So, with this upgrade we hope you will find it easier to find the right product, with the right currency which fits your need. As always, any comments are greatly appreciated.
Beginning this year we have founded the “Scendix Software GmbH” which focusses on selling our “off the shelf” software products like Pamela, Call Recorder, mcePhone, etc.
As of October 1st, Pamela has been switched over to this new company. In addition we upgraded the Pamela Store to a complete new solution. After 2 years of working with the old store, we now have a real solid platform. The PamFax store already uses the new system.
The new store provides a much better shopping experience as products are grouped better with detailed descriptions, requirements and direct download possibility. Now we are able to offer license packs for all products. Support for multi currency is built in. The new system provides you with an account login area where you can retrieve your activation code as well as download an invoice. Upgrading Pamela is also a lot easier. In addition the new platform allows us to do promotions and affiliate deals much simpler, so stay tuned!
Skype have released the Beta 2 release of their new 4.0 client. We have tested it and found it to be already stable enought for day to day usage. It has less rough edges as Beta 1 and a lot of the Beta 1 feedback has been incorporated in this release. So if you are a bit computer savy you will definitely want to give the Beta 2 a go.
For those upgrading to 4.0 and don’t want to miss the “old style” of how Skype looked you can change to the Compact View mode which essentially makes Skype behave as Skype 3.8. But you will still have the advantages of the conversation list (which is really cool) and the upgraded interface which I find more productive and fun the the old one.
Again, this Beta 2 is a great step forward. It is noticeable that Skype are listening hard to their users and I think the end product will really reshape the way people look at “messenger” applications. Just compare this beta release with the Live Messenger 2009 release – wow, does the Live Messenger look outdated 
.
Download Skype 4.0 from www.skype.com.
Last but not least, we are interested to hear from you if Skype should present itself in the new single window design or as “old style” Skype to users who upgrade. In particular, do you think people who have used Skype before 4.0 will easily migrate to the new single window interface? Looking forward to hearing from you.
