A word about Skype

I'd like to take a break from the usual Japan trip whatnots and bring light to an amazing instrument of communication that many of you now or in the future will desperately need and love. I'll try not to get too commercial on you but believe me when I say that it's really worth mentioning.

What I'm talking about is Skype. Skype is a program you use on your internet connected computer that lets you talk to other members of the Skype community (such as your family) from anywhere in the world as long as you want in startlingly clear quality. And it's Free. 100% free to use. Free to talk for as long as you want. Think of it as AIM (ie. free) but talking and with ridiculously good audio. As you might know, right now I am living in Japan which is a bit of a stone's throw from the Northeast United States. However, I am able to have long and appreciated talks with my family without any concern for minutes running out or ears getting too sweaty. Yes and I mentioned it was free right? Free to talk to someone thousands of miles away with out greedy phone companies getting in the way.

Most of my friends here who, unfortunately, are without an internet connection at their house have gone and purchased contract free cellphones ($50) along with international phone cards ($40 a pop) in order to talked with loved ones and while not exorbitantly expensive they have admitted that the cards are not an overly fair deal. Plus once a card runs out it's forty more bucks to drop. Now I'm probably coming off as a bastard with my tongue out at them and the truth is that they really don't have a choice. Skype is through the internet and we're not living in internet ubiquitous dorms so it's up to fate to doll out the bandwidth. I've been fortunate. Some have not. The plus side for them is that they can reach each other more easily that me so they've got that on me. Also, when they call home they usually tell their parents to call them right back so they talk for free while mom and dad front the bill. And to be as fair as I am able to be when using Skype there is a very slight delay that takes one or two goes to get the rhythm down but it's really nothing that will bother much, if at all.

I'm posting all of this so that you can now know about this great money saving deal AND IF YOU ACT NOW YOU'LL... Sorry; I know I promised. But this thing does save you a ton of money when abroad (for, you know, books or....a lot of beer), it's got great quality, and it works anywhere on earth with an internet connection. So those of you thinking about-or already are-traveling abroad, computer in toe, here's an invaluable tool to get into.

Hell even if you're not ever going to leave your own State here's a great tool to get into. So go to the website (www.skype.com), watch the cool informative video they have on the main page and give it a try with some of your friends or family. Apparently Skype even works with people who only have dial-up but I honestly wouldn't expect the same quality I've discussed if pursuing a call with it but it's worth a try anyway. If you would like a monetary figure on how incredible Skype is Ebay recently purchased it for something to the tune of 2.6 billion dollars. Yeah I would say something worth that much capitalist toilet paper is bound to have some use in store for you. I know I'm coming off as a lame shill for the company but I'm willing to suffer through it so I can turn a few people on to something that's free and will benefit them greatly. Good day.