Electronics Assignment 10/18

Kevin Wagenheim

Dr. Roundtree

Art211

October 18, 2017

Skype

Skype is an instant messaging application that can be downloaded to many different devices. The app is mainly used for instant video sharing or video chatting. Since the software is available for many devices, people can talk to each other no matter what the device. Skype was initially released in 2003, and bought by Microsoft in 2011. In the current version, one can actually make phone calls and send text messages on devices that isn't a smartphone, like a desktop computer. 

The idea of video chatting could very easily be influenced by two inventions - the telephone and the camera. Phones can send one’s voice to another phone instantly through the phone lines we see on the street. The authors of Skype took the idea of the telephone one step further and made it possible to send our live images to another device. However, Skype works through the internet which is a little different than the phones. Skype can reach someone around the globe without having to pay long distance. Now, instead of just being able to share voices with one another, we can now communicate face to face. Skype can also function as a telephone to make voice calls using phone lines; so Skype is basically an upgraded telephone that is comparable with many devices, and can reach around the globe using the internet. Video chatting could also be connected to the camera. As devices became more and more equipped with cameras, and the front camera became a normal thing, it was only a matter of time that people were going to want to share live images. Instead of just taking a photo, we can call someone on Skype and instantly share our own image while seeing the other person’s. 

In the future, the idea of Skype and video chatting may also develop into a different invention. As cameras are developed stronger, and devices gain the ability to project images, maybe a virtual hologram chat could be made. Since there are devices that are projecting keyboards, I could see these projectors developing to be able to show a detailed portrait of someone live. Hologram chatting would be pretty realistic in my opinion. Another invention that could also come up is with the Virtual Reality (VR) headset game consoles. When these devices develop, maybe there will be a way we can use these VR goggles to enter a virtual room with someone, and have our own images projected into the room. Lots of amazing technologies could easily branch off of the original telephone, and inventions after it such as Skype.