A waterproof cell phone, and the great Skype tease
It was just introduced in Japan, so it may be some time before you can get your mitts on this waterproof—30 minutes at 1 meter—Sony Ericsson SO902iWP+. But still, isn’t nice to think that such phones will one day be available? And isn’t funny that the whipper snapper author of the blog where I found out about this phone calls the waterproof feature “useless”, adding “we’ve never really seen the point of waterproof gadgets unless the manufacturers are actively targeting people who make a habit of dunking their gear in toilets.” So cute! We’ll politely not call him an idiot, but simply note that our very first cell phone died dead from just a wee splash of salt water. We like waterproof.
Meanwhile Skype, the king of free computer-to-computer VOIP telephony, is offering free calls to any landline or cell within the U.S. and Canada until the end of 2006. That’s going to please some cruisers who like to use Skype over WiFi along the coasts, as is Skype’s plan to offer a “SkypeIn” service whereby you can purchase a phone number that friends and associates can use to dial your VOIP system. Perhaps the wildest concept: Set up your boat with an amplified and marine antenna’d cellular high speed data card and unlimited service, and then use it along the coasts for e-mail, Web access, and phone calling using a cordless Skype phone like this.
Dumped the land line years ago in favor of Skype. Works wonderfully. I use with a Logitech USB microphone for incoming and outgoing calls.