Skype My wife usually uses a cheap calling card to call her mother in Japan. Unfortunately, for the last month, every time she would try to call, there would be problems. Today for example, they were having problems routing calls and she kept waking up some man in god only knows what god forsaken country he was in.

I suggested she finally give Skype a try and she’s now downstairs on her iBook chatting with her mom. Since her mom doesn’t have a computer, she’s using the Skype Out service which is still much cheaper than using the phone.

I don’t exactly know why, but I find this use of computers and software so interesting and compelling. Part of it is the simple enjoyment of seeing how technology can foster community and communication. But more personally, it is also the excitement of seeing software and technology that I am excited about that my wife can also enjoy and be excited about. Most of the time my excitement for technology falls on deaf ears.

Hey honey, check this out! These new Visualizers allow me to view the values within a Hashtable while stepping through the debugger. Does’t that just blow your socks off!?

Umm… sure it does honey.

Reach out and Skype someone.

I just read what I wrote up there and it sounds just like a Skype ad. Hey Skype! Pay me! ;)