Skype has added a feature that allows you to record and send a video message to any of your contacts. I think this feature has huge potential, especially for those of us who don’t really want to talk to each other but still stay in touch. (I hesitate to imagine the pornographic potential.)
The following steps apply to the Windows 8 app. I’ll add steps later for the desktop program available to other versions of Windows.
1. Start the Skype app.
2. Select one of your contacts. It doesn’t matter whether they are online or not.
3. On the contact screen, select the plus sign. (This is why I consider this a hidden feature.)
4. Select Send Video Message from the popup.
5. On the recording screen, you see yourself. Comb out those eyebrows. To begin recording, select the red button (middle).
Note: The first control, which looks like a camera with arrows switches between two cameras on those computers so equipped, such as most laptops and tablets.
6. You have up to 3 minutes recording time. I found that a 13 second message took a minute or more to upload at the end of recording.
7. To stop recording, select the only control available, a white circle with a red dot. There are no options to pause and resume recording. (Expect that in the future.)
8. A preview of your video appears after you stop recording. Use the play button (>) to review the video. The two controls to the right of 00:13 mute the volume and display full screen (respectively). Compare the figures immediately below and above this paragraph. The image is as if you were face to face with your recipient (my right side is to your left). That may be as it should be, I find that disorienting.
9. Select Send if you intend to do so.
10. The file takes a little time to upload. The recipient’s Skype app or program will notify them, if it is running or when they start the program. This notification may go unnoticed.
11. If you choose Cancel instead of Send, a popup gives you the option to re-record or to delete the message.
Pretty cool, huh?
). This year, I expect to upgrade to one of the following:
. I also bought the 
for network backups. Amazon and Costco have them for similar prices. I like the 1TB drive because it is portable and doesn’t require a separate power source — that’s ideal, to me. I can take it with me anywhere. I can hide it if I don’t take it with me. A backup is for recovery from theft as well as disaster.
