Alec Saunders SquawkBox

December 1 is World AIDS Day.  Bristol-Meyers-Squibb has a site set up called LightToUnite.  Go light a virtual candle, and they will donate a dollar to AIDS research. Official World AIDS Day web page here.

The Skype 2.0 Beta is out, and you can download it here.  According to the press release, the new features are:

• Skype Video – Although I have a long standing opinion that most people don’t use video once they’ve tried it (look - Grandpa has a nice forehead today, doesn’t he?), this is a big change from previous versions. 
• Simplified user interface – it is prettier. I’ll give you that.
• Self-expression – Great for the teeny-boppers, I guess. 
• Personalization – avatars and ringtones.  Hasn’t this been part of the last few releases?
• See your contacts’ time zones – Again, hasn’t this been in a number of releases prior?
• Group your contacts – useful, and it’s about time. 
• Real-time contact search – again, useful, and it’s about time.
• Skype toolbar for Microsoft Outlook – hasn’t this been part of prior releases?

Skype Journal has a more complete changelog.  There are some new APIs as well. 

Am I missing something?  This feels like a 1.x release, not a 2.0.

Michael Robertson, of MP3.COM fame, has just unveiled his latest project, Oboe - the MP3 Tunes Locker.  Upload your collection of music, and you can have it available anywhere. 

IEEE Spectrum has just published their R&D 100 list.  They’re measuring the intensity of R&D spending in various sectors of the economy.  As they note, the telecoms sector continues to gut their R&D budgets, while the software sector continues to ramp. It’s been common knowledge for some time that carriers aren’t spending money to develop their own services.  This is just one more indicator of the extent to which that outsourcing of innovation is occurring.

On the other end of the spectrum, the software and services sector had the highest R&D intensity, 14.7 percent. The sector had only three firms in the Top 100—Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP—all packaged-software firms. Microsoft dominates the sector, accounting for 69 percent of its R&D, up from 59 percent five years ago. However, Microsoft dropped to No. 7 on the overall leaderboard after capturing the top spot for the first time in 2003.

Microsoft’s R&D spending decreased 20.5 percent in 2004 despite an increase in R&D employees. According to its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the decrease was "due to lower stock-based compensation expense." As we discussed in detail last year, in 2003 the company began offering its employees stock-based compensation in lieu of options. This affected its R&D accounting significantly, because almost half of Microsoft’s employees work on R&D.

Unlike software and services, telecom services’ R&D has not kept up with sales growth. The sector has just three firms in the Top 100—Deutsche Telekom, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, and DoCoMo. R&D spending dropped year over year for the sector in 2004. Although spending fared better from 2000 to 2004, growing 16 percent, it didn’t keep up with sales growth of more than 50 percent. As a result, the sector has the lowest R&D intensity, at 2.1 percent. Also worth noting is that, with the exception of Deutsche Telekom, no U.S. or European local telephone service providers, long-distance carriers, or cellular firms rank in the Top 100.

It’s the time of year for making lists.  This year, Jeff Pulver has again published his Top VoIP Bloggers list, and yours truly has made the list.  Thank you for the recognition Jeff.  It’s also worth comparing this list to the one from a year ago.  What a difference a year makes!  The 2005 list is 60% longer than the 2004.  As the VoIP market has mushroomed, so has Jeff’s Top Bloggers List.