Skype Is Now Offering Screen Share For Mac

I’m becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Skype. I’ve actually just started using it with any regularity and I consider it to be one of my favorite applications now. Maybe the biggest reason is because I can watch my little Grandson on a video call. He’s an hour away from me and it’s very cool to be able to look at him. I also like to Skype my wife when I’m out of town. A Skype video call beats a regular phone call hands down. I can’t say for sure but I notice that the quality of the video I receive on my end is different depending on who I’m having a call with. I don’t know if it’s the quality of the internet connection or the quality of the camera or the computer that is making the difference.

My daughter just bought a new HP Laptop and the quality of our video calls are amazing. The clarity and the detail of the video is excellent. When I make a Skype call with her, I drag the video and go full screen on my 28″ Hanns-G monitor and it’s almost life like at times. This monitor is a monster of a monitor and it almost looks like I’m looking through a window.

I received an e-mail from Skype yesterday alerting me to an upgrade for Mac that now includes screen share. That got me excited because in my family and circle of friends, I’m the designated computer expert. I’m not an expert at anything, I just use mine more than anyone else and have a couple of websites. You are probably the same. Start a website and you are automatically classified as a computer expert. Computers are like cars to me, I just want to turn them on and use them.

If you have a Skype account and did not receive the e-mail announcing the upgrade, you may want to head over to download the new version.

I thought, what a great feature now if I can have a Skype call with someone to help them with a computer problem or get help myself by using Skype screen share. The download was free of course and when I installed it on my Mac it asked if I wanted to override the current version. I clicked yes and it uploaded the new version without incident. I immediately gave it a test with my son who was at home on his windows PC laptop. It’s very simple. Make your Skype call and at the top of the Skype window is a button that indicates screen share. Just click it and your entire screen is seen by the other person. The clarity was perfect and he could watch my mouse move and he was viewing my screen as I was in real time.

I have to assume that if both ends are running a Mac that I can view their screen and they can view mine. I was not able to test this feature because I have not had a Skype call with anyone else who runs a Mac. If you have a Mac and would like to test this feature with me, please let me know and we’ll give it a try. This update is for Mac only so it doesn’t apply to PC’s. I hope they will come out with a PC version.

I still love the ability to record Skype telephone conversations. I have found the quality and clarity is excellent and I’ve now posted 2 interviews I did over the phone on my hyperlocal blog. I did 2 interviews using Google Voice and 2 interviews using Skype. Skype is the hands down winner. Whether you run a PC or a Mac, you should consider adding Skype to your arsenal of applications on your site.

Skype me at ssherron. You can send me a file, send me a text, send me a link, we can chat on the phone or do a video call. Let’s do some Social Media together.

Copyright 2009 BloggerLens.com