We publish the Skype Journal Guide to Skype's Plug-In Architecture. One of the exercises is building a voice mail system using the Skype API, in about an hour. If you're handy that way, check out Tom's Networking's How To: Asterisk Answering Machine. Nicely done.

I'm lusting for a midget-sized usb speaker-phone. The minivox 100 comes close, especially at a US$40 price point. But I want topside buttons for answering Skype (and all my other software that "rings"), a volume control, and a mute button. Heaven would be being able to plug my USB headphones into it and a tri-mode rocker button that would let me swtich between speakerhpone, headphones, and both at the same time.

One of the cool things at VON: an Asterisk softswitch server and a WiFi access point mounted on a bicycle. Ridden through small towns in Bolivia, sprinkling VoIPy dust as they go.

eBay buying Skype continue to ripple through the mediasphere.

• Steven Levy for Newsweek. eBay's Bet: The Skype's the Limit. "Right now, VoIP is a mystery to the mainstream (a recent Harris poll found that only 13 percent of the public knew what it was; 10 percent thought it was the name of a vodka)"
• Bambi Francisco of MarketWatch: The things Google makes you do : We're being forced to evolve at warp speed. "eBay's got its verb."
• CNET : VoIP wants to cut the computer cord. "Before softphones can really become widely deployed, the technology will have to be accessible to more devices than just a laptop." Amen, sisters.

Loving TechCrunch, blogging each week of Web 2.0 . It leads to the Web 2.0 Meme Map.

Coming events:

• Sep. 27, United eBay Buyer Meetup Day.
  
• Sep. 27-28, Connect & Collaborate: Social Networking & Collaboration Inside the Enterprise, New York. The worklplace is rife with goals that catalyze action and group formation. Drop Skype into the mix of blogs, wikis, and other collab tools.

  
  

• Oct. 5-7, Web 2.0, San Francisco. See you there.
  
• Oct. 5, Web 1.0 Summit, San Francisco. Drink you there.
  
• Oct. 6, Recovery 2.0, San Francisco. "The web performed amazing work during the tsunami and Katrina disasters... but the web can do better. So on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6pm PT at Web 2.0, we're holding an open organizing meeting to begin the discussion about what developers, relief organizations, and media need to better cooperate and respond to future disasters, including goals, standards, and communication. This is also an opportunity for those in the area who are working on such projects or want to help can meet."

  
  

• Oct. 10-13, User Interface 10 Conference, Boston. What would Skype's client look like if designed by Tony Soprano?
  
• Oct. 11, Around the Blog, Paris.
  
• Oct. 13, Social Networking 2.0, Palo Alto.
  
• Oct. 13, eBay Seller Meetups.

  
  

• Oct. 17-20, MILCOM 2005 - Military Communication Conference, New Jersey. Clearance required.
  
• Oct. 17-20, EuroOSCON 2005, Amsterdam.
  
• Oct. 18-19, VoIP Convention, Paris.
  
• Oct. 19-22, Pop!Tech 2005, Camden, Maine.

  
  

• Oct. 24-25, Collaborative Communications Summit, San Francisco.
  
• Oct. 24-Oct. 27, VoIP 2.0, the Internet Telephony conference, Los Angeles. Niklas speaking virtually.
  
• Oct. 26-27, Internet Identity Workshop, Berkeley, California. How do you merge PayPal, eBay and Skype IDs with each other and all the other IDs on the net?