Mike Southby

I had the following message pop up on Skype a short while ago, I mean really, after all these years do people really think we are still stupid enough to fall for the same con? Aside from the jump to social media platforms instead of email, the old tactics are still the same.

Still, it made me chuckle.

Hello Southby,

I have been in search of someone with this last name.  Southby.  So when I saw your name I was pushed to contact you and see how best we can assist each other.  I am Mr. David Akoto, a Banker here in Kumasi, Ghana.  I believe it is the wish of God for me to come across you on skype now.  I am having an important business discussion I wish to share with you which I believe will interest you because, it is in connection with your last name and you are going to benefit from it.  One Late Albert M. Southby, a citizen of your country had a fixed deposit with my bank in 2004 for 36 calendar months; valued at (Three Million, Four Hundred Thousand US Dollars) the due date for this deposit contract was the 16 of January 2007.  Sadly Albert was among the death victims in the May 26 2006 Earthquake disaster in Jawa, Indonesia that killed over 5,000 people.  He was in Indonesia on a business trip and that was how he met his end.  My bank management is yet to know about his death, I knew about it because he was my friend and I am his account officer.  Albert did not mention any Next of Kin/ Heir when the account was opened, and he was not married and no children.  Last week my bank Management requested that Albert should give instructions on what to do about his funds, if to renew the contract.  I know this will happen and that is why I have been looking for a means to handle the situation, because if my Bank Directors happens to know that Albert is dead and do not have any Heir, they will take the funds for their personal use, so I don’t want such to happen.  That was why when I saw your name I was happy and I am now seeking your co-operation to present you as Next of Kin/ Heir to the account, since you have the same name with him and my bank head quarters will release the account to you.  There is no risk involved; the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law.  It is better that we claim the money, than allowing the Bank Directors to take it, they are rich already.  I am not a greedy person, so I am suggesting we share the funds equal, 50/50% to both parties, my share will assist me to start my own company which has been my dream.  Let me know your mind on this and please do treat this information as TOP SECRET.  We shall go over the details once I receive your urgent response strictly through my personal email address, davidakoto50@live.com

Regards,
Mr. David Akoto

Needless to say I won’t be contacting Mr Akoto anytime soon.

Finally, after months of waiting Skype have officially released their native application for Android.  The native application is fully featured and offers amongst other things:

• Free Skype-to-Skype calls over both 3G and WiFi.
• Send and recieve instant messages.
• Discounted calls to foreign numbers.

For most, you’ll be able to find the application directly in the market or, you can download by visiting the Skype website directly.  If you are unable to find Skype using either of these methods owing to geo-locking, I have uploaded a repackaged .apk here (just unzip and away you go…).

Unfortunately it’s not all good news.  For such a new application it’s surprising that it does not support the ability to be installed on the SD card under Froyo; the application itself is a rather large 13Mb; however, you are able to overcome this by using a mod such as ‘setInstallLocation’, which will enable you to move the files to the SD card leaving only a 2.1Mb footprint on the internal memory.

Unfortunately Skype isn’t available on the Market for download, Skype officially do not have an Android product as yet aside from a branded version here in the UK for the 3 network (and I believe a similar version on Verizon in the US).  It’s also not possible to download the 3 version and use it on another network as it’s not a true p2p application. 3 use a ‘Skype bridge’ which routes only part of the call through the Skype network rendering it useless on other networks.

All is not lost though, whilst it is no longer available, Skype at one stage did have a beta product called Skype Lite available for all Android handsets, although it has long since been withdrawn you can download it from here.

There are limitations though.

It would seem that in order to make outgoing Skype calls, Skype Lite dials a local UK landline number to route the calls, which of course for most will not be an issue owing to talk time packages.  However, if like me this isn’t your primary reason for wanting Skype then this itself it not a huge issue; after all if I want to make a call I’ll just use my phone (or Google Voice).  Personally my sole reason for wanting Skype is to be able to use the instant messaging feature as I have a lot of Skype contacts and I’m pleased to report this works just fine, without limitation.

For those wanting all of the Skype features, there are rumours that Skype are developing a full release which will be available later this year.

Enjoy.

Update: 05/10/2010, The official Android Skype client has now been released, details can be found here.