Midweek Skypeland news roundup

Expressivo text-to-speech reader plug-in for Skype. $49. Comes in female US-English, male and female Polish, and female Romanian.

Kara DioGuardi, new American Idol judge

Howard Greenfield interviewed me for ZDNet Asia on The Talkification of the Web. (Should I trademark "talkification"?)

UAE ISP du still blocks Skype, writes PC Magazine's Midddle and Near East edition. The Emirates has an effective duopoly with Etisalat the other ISP. Both du and Etisalat now block Skype as mandated by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, per Gulfnews.

The Yahoo! Messenger team hosted their first open chat workshop with users, part of a monthly educational Q&A series.

LinkedIn's company directory is up and running. White and yellow pages meet social proximity. Now add talk.

Jaxtr is promoting their low international rates. Using public data, Jaxtr says they are cheaper than Jajah, EQO, Mig33, SkypeOut, Truphone, and Rebtel in calls to the UK, Indonesia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, China, France and Pakistan. Often 10% to 50% less. Not sure how this compares to Skype's global or regional flat rates.

Marc Andreesen funds Qik. Qik streams live video from mobile phones to the web.

Music composers talk with concert performers and audience via Skype video.

Off topic: Kara DioGuardi to judge American Idol. Barack Obama's Daughters Wanted Jonas Brothers, Not Their Dad, Onstage At DNC. And the Red Sox acquire Kotsay from Braves. 

tags: skype, expressivo, uae, du, etisalat, blocking, censorship, privacy, freedom, TRA, yahoo, yahoomessenger, linkedin, whitepages, yellowpages, directories, jaxtr, prices, rates, competition, qik, video, music, education, americanidol, barakobama, jonasbrothers, redsox

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