The newly-announced beautiful relationship between Skype and mobile giant 3 is manna to globetrotting chat addicts… and telly addicts.

A 3G mobile phone with Skype built in, that also lets you watch and control your home TV wherever you are in the world? Yep, I’ll have one of those.

3’s new X-Series phones, such as the Nokia N73 that goes on sale on 1 December, are fabulous little bundles of gadgetry. Not only do they let you make unlimited Skype calls using the 3G network, but you can also browse the web, watch your home telly using Sling (though you’ll need a Slingbox for that) and access your home PC remotely with Orb.

So, is this magic gizmo any good?

I was lucky enough to road-test the N73 earlier today, and can happily report that I really, really want one. The screen is big and bright, and Skype — like all the other built-in apps — works like a dream. It’s a world away from those clunky, yawn-making days of ye olde dial-up internet. Read the rest of this entry »

Google and Skype, together at last? At least on some blog posts they are.The rumor that Google might acquire Skype was started Monday in a blog on the U.K.’s respected Guardian and since then, the report has taken on a life of its own at investment firms.

Like many Google rumors there is no solid basis for any such speculation (remember the Google phone?). But it persists because there are some logical reasons for the two companies to establish a deeper relationship. Read the rest of this entry »