Skype tricks (with Quicksilver)

I heard about Skype going with the free SkypeOut strategy in the US/Canda and wanted to try it out. Had no luck for a long time, but finally figured out that you’ve got to put a plus sign (+) in front of your numbers like so: +15035551212. Works like a charm. It blows me away that Skype is allowing free calls–this has got to be building their userbase like crazy.

Quicksilver and Skype play well together too. You’ve got to activate the ‘Services Menu Module’ in the Plug-Ins section. Once that’s done, you should have access to three new options: Skype/Call, Skype/Add Contact and Skype/Send message. Now you can invoke QS, hit the period sign to get into text entry mode, enter your phone number as noted above, tab over to the next pane and type ‘call’. You should see the ‘Skype/Call’ option pop up. Hit enter and you’re dialing… Works even if Skype isn’t open–it’ll open and dial when it’s ready (assuuming you’ve got it set to auto-login with your username/password). Nice!

For Windows folks, I assume ActiveWords or AutoHotKey can do something similar. Fire it up and leave a comment for others’ benefit…