A Skype interview with the Netherlands - I'm wicked up-to-date

I just interviewed a guy in The Netherlands over Skype. Very cool - cash-strapped newspapers won't pay for transAtlantic phone calls - but on the other hand, it kept cutting out, which never happens on landline phones.

So while Internet telephony is a big leap forward from the switched-circuit landline telephone days, to an extent it's a technical step backward ... sort of like cell phones, come to think of it.

I had a Skype voice-call with my Dad a few years ago that was so problematic we ended up saying "over" each time we were done speaking, as a cue. My Dad was reminded of his walkie-talkie days as a kid. He enjoyed it!