Apple is about to introduce a new iPad. Good — for I need to buy a new one. I left my old one with my mother. When visiting my folks in India, I decided to leave my Macbook Air at home — I didn’t want to write and just wanted to spend some quality time with the family. Instead, I carried my iPad 2. (I don’t leave home without it.)

When at home, I did a FaceTime call with my siblings who also live overseas. I handed over the iPad to my mom. She had this look of amazement, one of pure unadulterated joy as she chatted with her grandson.

Being a broadband nerd who cannot stop thinking and talking about the need for speed and connectivity, I felt this moment captured essentially what I, and by extension GigaOM, am all about — connectedness and the change it brings. For once, the technology didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter how it was happening — just that she could talk to her grandson who was oceans apart from her. If there ever was a moment that captured the emotion in a piece technology, that was it. The look on her face made me realize how lucky I am to write about an industry that makes such things possible. I also thought to myself, maybe somewhere Steve Jobs is smiling too.

Apple, clearly, is not for everyone. But for me that moment of joy experienced by my mother is enough of a reason why there will be no other computer company. Apple’s competitors will do their own thing. Some, like Samsung, will do spectacularly well. But for me, Apple finds ways to delight people, pushing technology into the background. When Steve Jobs passed away, I wrote:

Jobs put life and soul into inanimate objects. Everyone saw steel, silicon and software; he saw an opportunity to paint his Mona Lisa. People saw a phone; Steve saw a transporter of love. People saw a tablet; he saw smiles and wide-eyed amazement. They made computers; he made time machines that brought us all together through a camera, screen and a connection.

The smile on my mother’s face captures what I wrote the best.The iPad is now with mom. She set up her iCloud account. She figured out Skype, browsing and email. She knows how to send iMessages. More importantly, she has created FaceTime connections for all those who matter to her. I get a feeling that her Windows PC will gather dust and she will be bothering me a lot — right in the middle of a meeting in San Francisco. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

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What You Need to Get Started

To start, you will also need an HDTV with an Apple TV attached, an iPhone 4S and a free Skype account. Why Skype and not FaceTime?  Well there are many more Skype users than FaceTime users. And quite frankly, it is much easier to get all members of the family up and running with a free Skype account than to initialize everyone’s iOS and Mac devices with FaceTime.

Prepare the Car Mount

Most iPhone docks are designed for someone sitting at a desk. What is needed is a better mount that can allow the iPhone to be better positioned for larger settings.  Take any decent smartphone car mount with a suction cup, like this one from Arkon for $15 on Amazon. The suction cup needs a smooth surface to attach to, so try mounting it to any household hand mirror. This set up gives extra stability to the video and the added ability to pass the camera in the mount around easily. The great thing about the car mount from Arkon is that it is just about infinitely adjustable, so no matter how or where you need to place the hand mirror you can angle the iPhone the way you want. And if you happen not to have anywhere to place the hand mirror, just tack up a nail and hang the hand mirror upside down on the wall.  Just don’t lock in the iPhone 4S before you make the video call. (The mount’s quick release allows one to attach and detach the iPhone quickly and easily.) Wait until after the call has been established before you put the iPhone into the car mount attached to the hand mirror.

Initiate the Video Call

Placing a video call on Skype with an iPhone is just as easy as chatting or placing a voice call.  To increase the quality of the video once the call is established, be sure to use the back camera of the iPhone. Then double click the phone’s Home button and swipe left twice to reveal the volume and Airplay buttons. To display the call on the big screen, just click on the Apple TV you want to use and turn on Mirroring. Once you’ve done that, mount the iPhone in the car mount and experience video calls on the big screen. As a side note, I have found that when placing Mac-to-iPhone Skype video calls, it is easier to establish a video connection when the call originates from the Mac.

If this solution works great for you, you can always shop around for a more attractive mounting solution.  You could even invest in a mountable surface that permanently affixes itself to the wall just above your HDTV. For instance, the top shelf of my main entertainment system is made of glass, so I don’t really need a mirror in that room of the house.  There are just as many car mounts on the market as there are solutions on how to mount them on or near an HDTV.

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To get started, you need to pair your headset with your iPad. In the Settings app, navigate to “General” and select “Bluetooth.” Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on, and at that point initiate your headset’s pairing mode. With the Jawbone ERA, you perform what is referred to as a “Double ShakeShake” to activate the pairing mode (a single “ShakeShake” is two quick successive shakes of the device), but you other headsets use different methods, like a long press of the power button. Once paired, you’re ready to use your headset with almost any audio app on the iPad. Here are four popular choices:

FaceTime. This was the first app I tried out and it worked perfectly on the first attempt.  The Bluetooth headset is treaded similar to  AirPlay devices, in the sources list. The only issue is that I noticed that I could not do was answer and hang up the call with the controls on the headset.

Skype. With Skype, the Bluetooth headset once connected will be enabled by default. Call quality was good on both ends in test calls. The added advantage of using Skype over FaceTime is that you have access to all of your Skype contacts, and you can place traditional ‘land line’ calls to any plain old telephone number if you have a paid account.

Google Voice (via Talkatone). With Talkatone, you can make calls using your Google Voice account and the Bluetooth headset worked like a charm.You can also use Google Voice to place calls to any traditional phone number. The difference here is that you can’t make video calls.

Unfortunately, you can’t answer calls with a Bluetooth headset using any of the apps above, even when they can receive calls running in background mode. Still, it definitely beats holding your iPad to your ear or always using speakerphone mode when talking to people through iPad voice and video chat apps.

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We went hands-on with the new feature using the Skype for Mac 5.4 Beta to see if it’s as easy to use as the promotional video Skype released detailing it (warning: autoplays) makes it out to be. The answer, it turns out, is yes and no.

Setup you would expect from a beta

To set up the service, you need to tie your Facebook account to your Skype client through a simple authorization process, all of which takes place in the Skype app itself through the Skype Home screen. I had already done this using the last Skype beta for Mac, so I expected to be able to jump right in.

Not so fast. I found that in order to get my Facebook contacts to appear in Skype, I needed to disconnect my Facebook account and reconnect it, then quit and restart the program. After that, I had trouble getting the Skype beta client to recognize who was or wasn’t online. That required another quit and restart of the Skype application. It could be that this only happened because I was already using a previous beta; if you’re signing in with your Facebook credentials for the first time, you may have better luck.

Still, it’s important to keep in mind that this is prerelease software, so bugs are to be expected, and I eventually worked everything out in just a few minutes. Skype will likely iron out these kinks before a final release.

Calls are easy

Once you can see your Facebook contacts, making video calls to them is remarkably easy. Simply go to the Skype Contacts tab in the left-hand menu and navigate to the group of “online” folks. You could also navigate to the “Facebook” group, but video calls can only be made to Facebook users who are listed as online anyway, so it makes more sense to see only who is actually available.

I tried two calls to see how the service worked; the first, to my colleague Kevin C. Tofel, went off without a hitch, although Kevin said that there appeared to be a bit of delay as the Skype and Facebook services did their initial handshaking. Once connected, though, video and audio quality were both great, and there appeared to be no lag or delay on either end.

One caveat for calling that I discovered in my second attempt: If the Facebook contact you are trying to reach has not already installed the plug-in necessary to enable Facebook video chat, they will be prompted to do so. Luckily, it’s a relatively quick, painless process, and once my friend was set up, that call went just as well as the first one.

A good step toward centrally managed video communication

Adding Facebook video calling to Skype extends the service’s reach considerably, and it is another step toward simplifying Internet-based communication by tying people’s most frequently used accounts to one another. It means Skype users should have an easier time raising friends and family for video chat, and depending on how you use Facebook, it could make face-to-face professional communication easier, too.

While there hasn’t yet been any announcement regarding taking Skype’s Facebook integration to mobile devices, that would seem like a logical next step. It would help extend cross-platform potential for centralized video chat even further. According to our recent poll, Skype is a popular option among mobile video chatters, but if this Facebook integration makes its way to smartphones and tablets, too, that popularity could go through the roof.

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Ads were also introduced by Skype in its most recent beta version of the Skype for Mac client. The ads in all cases are only seen by users who don’t have a Skype account with active Skype Credit, subscription calling or a Premium plan. Skype is clearly looking to monetize the activity of users from whom it isn’t directly collecting any revenue, and at least it isn’t introducing ads without adding any useful features that appeal to end users.

Skype for iPhone gains Bluetooth headset support for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 4G, and Skype for iPad will now support Bluetooth headsets on the iPad 2. Skype for iPhone users will also finally be able to view incoming emoticons and send outgoing emoticons, as well. On the iPhone, video call quality will be improved via image stabilization, and there’s also a brand new interface that improves a bit over the original. That should help ease any nausea you may be experiencing from walk-and-talk video calls. There are also bug fixes in both versions, like one that probably plugs the recently discovered hole that allowed access to your Address Book contacts for potential theft.

So Skype is offering a spoonful of sugar to help the advertising medicine go down, but are users interested in this prescription? Let us know if you think the improvements make the ads worth stomaching, or if you’ll be sticking with an older version on your device.

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To use the new Facebook integration, you simply click the “Link to Facebook” button from the Skype Home screen and sign in with your Facebook credentials. Once signed in, the Skype Home tab displays recent activity from your Skype contacts, your Facebook friends or both through a hybrid view. You can also update your status using an input bar at the top of the home screen. Each update presents you with options for Liking and commenting, and you can also call contacts directly using a phone icon located next to their name. If their number is listed on Facebook or they’re on Skype already, you can call instantly; if it’s not, you’ll be prompted to enter it manually. Both options require that you have a paid Skype subscription or Skype credit to work.

It’s a pretty solid implementation of Facebook integration; the news feed works well in Skype’s app window, and the ability to quickly call friends based on news they post to the social network is a very smart thing to include. If my friend announces an engagement, for instance, I could call her directly instead of just posting a “Congrats!” or tapping the Like button. Your Facebook contacts also now show up in your general contacts list when you’re signed in, and you can IM them directly as you would your usual Skype friends.

Note that despite the introduction of Skype-powered video chat to Facebook’s website in July, there is no way to directly video call your online Facebook contacts in this beta. You can initiate a Skype call if your Facebook friends have Skype contact info listed on their profile and then opt to turn it into a video call should they pick up, but that’s as far as video-calling integration goes. I’d hope that Skype has designs on making it easy to video chat directly between the two platforms in the future.

All the new Facebook features are welcome and smartly designed, but there are a few bugs I noticed in this beta, like the fact that initiating calls from the contacts list with Facebook friends to their mobile numbers doesn’t seem to actually connect. There’s also a drawback for nonsubscribers and people who don’t have any Skype credit: ads. Skype is now putting display ads in front of users who only access the free aspects of its service. So if you aren’t terribly fond of the idea of Facebook integration and you’re happy with Skype’s free service, you may want to hold off on this update.

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I tested the new Skype client with my new 2011 27-inch iMac, which is equipped with an HD camera. The person I called reported that video quality definitely looked much better post-update, even though my home DSL internet connection probably doesn’t quite meet the 1.5 Mbps upload/download specification recommended by Skype for HD calls. We talked for approximately five minutes, and he noticed no real change in the quality of the picture.

Skype also says on its blog that the update brings “a number of fixes and improvements to the user interface.” I didn’t notice any major ones, besides changes to the way the contact list appears, including quick access to adding individuals to favorites. For me, the Skype interface still isn’t nearly as clean or well-designed as in versions preceding the 5.0 update.

Skype remains probably the strongest video chat client on the Mac, something backed up by our readers. One of its biggest strengths when compared to Apple’s own FaceTime solution is how consistently it has released small updates that pack new features, whereas FaceTime has remained relatively static since launch in terms of what you can do with it. The HD calling seems to work well, at least based on my limited trial. If you do install the update, please let us know how HD calling and the interface tweaks are working for you.

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Update: The Skype iPad app is now available once again in the U.S. App Store, so if you like the looks of what you see below, go ahead and check it out for yourself.

Late Monday night, Skype for iPad finally arrived in the App Store, after weeks of waiting. But don’t expect to find it there now; Skype pulled the app temporarily, saying it “went live prematurely.” We managed to grab the app before it disappeared (and it’s still available on some international stores), so here’s a look at what you can expect from it when it returns.

Skype might have had an issue with the timing of the release, or it might have just wanted to make sure it was completely polished before it hit the streets. I noticed some slightly buggy behavior, like pop-up menus that don’t rotate when the app does. But overall, the product is ready for active use, especially when it comes to core features like voice and video calling.

Over both Wi-Fi and 3G, video and voice calling worked well on the iPad when I tested it by calling my desktop installation of Skype on an iMac. I’d say video quality was at least comparable to what you can get with FaceTime. Plus, with the iPad, you can also talk to users on Android and Windows devices.

Skype also boasts a contact browser that would actually be pretty if any of my Skype contacts had user pictures. It sort of resembles Apple’s built-in Photos app, with your various contact sources (like your iPad contacts app, Skype, Online contacts, etc.) represented as stacks, which, when tapped, display contact images on a grid. Tapping any contact flips up the relevant card, giving you contact information and options to initiate a voice or video call, chat, or SMS (if you have enough Skype credit). The Skype for iPad app, like its iPhone sibling, also runs in the background, so you should never miss a call.

You can also call landlines and mobile phones from the iPad app, if you have Skype Out, and search and add people from the Skype directory. A nice feature also lets you save a phone number (without having to create an actual contact) for later use.

As someone who uses Skype as a home-phone replacement, I’m quite happy with the iPad iteration. You can receive calls to your Skype In number if you have one and make all the voice and video calls you want, right from the device that, for me, is most likely to be next to me on the couch on any given evening.

Skype may not yet think the iPad app is ready for public consumption, but based on my experience, it’s very close. You shouldn’t have to wait long to grab it, and considering it’s free, it’s well worth the wait.

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I used Skype video calling approximately three minutes after it launched (with pal and web developer Wes Bos), and it worked perfectly. Installing the plugin on my iMac required a tiny Java app download that’s virtually foolproof to use, and making and receiving calls is as simple as clicking a few buttons and confirming you want to share video.

Video chat doesn’t appeal to everyone. It works well for people who have close relationships with one another (like parents and children) and who live far enough away from each other that face-to-face interaction is rare. But when you add the complication that both parties have to install a dedicated app and have that app open and active, the pool of people who’ll actually use it are even smaller. With Facebook chat, if they’re in your network, they’re potentially available for video calling. No Skype registration, no calling people ahead of time to tell them to open the Skype client so that you can call them, since people are much more likely to be Facebook users (there’s 750 million of them, Facebook announced today) and online at any given time on that site.

Skype’s Mac client also isn’t winning over any fans in terms of its design, mainly because that design feels unnecessarily cumbersome. Facebook’s Skype integration is the opposite of that: It’s invisible, blending in with Facebook’s web presence without drawing too much attention to itself or changing the Facebook experience that users are comfortable with.

For both the above reasons, I think Facebook Video Calling will unseat Skype as the video chat option of choice for Mac users, at least when it comes to consumers. Pro users might need the advanced Skype features offered through the dedicated Mac app, but some of those might make it to Facebook eventually, too, it was suggested at today’s press conference. And things like calling out to landlines and cell phones might be better handled through Skype’s smartphone clients anyway.

Facebook still has to bring video calling to groups and mobile, but the groundwork is laid for that to happen, and while some are saying Google+ is still in the lead thanks to its Hangouts group video chat, I think that’s underestimating Facebook’s advantage in terms of its huge network size lead.

I’m seeing a lot of negative reaction to this announcement on Twitter in general, but I think it will do wonders for the adoption of video calling among less techie users. What do you think?

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For non-Premium users, there are some improvements that make it a worthwhile upgrade from version 5.1. For one, it seems to be a lot less buggy than previous versions, which for me frequently had trouble with landline calls and some freezing issues. The UI also boasts some small changes, like the ability to completely hide the sidebar menu to make it easier to focus on a single conversation. You can also now pop out video controls in a small hovering window when you interact with other applications or your desktop. This keeps the person you’re talking with on top and visible, and also allows you quick access to hang up and mute commands.

The changes should appeal to Skype power-users, and especially those Premium subscribers who use group calling for meetings and virtual conferences. The new screen-sharing options (limited to OS X for now) make video chat a whole lot more productive, and Skype still offers the best video chat quality of any of the various OS X options that I’ve seen. Our readers seem to agree, as more than half chose Skype as their Mac video chat client of choice in our recent poll. It’s nice to see that even after acquisition by Microsoft, Skype’s presence on other platforms isn’t being ignored, especially now that Google seems to be interested in making a big play in the group video chat market.

Unfortunately, the new UI Skype introduced in 5.0 and refined slightly in 5.1 remains largely unchanged. It’s still too big and obtrusive for an app that would be served better by being more inconspicuous. There are quite a few tutorials out there providing instructions for downgrading to the more simplified and minimalist Skype 2.8, and if you’re not a Premium user, this new version doesn’t really offer much incentive to upgrade. Since group calling and group screen sharing only require one Premium user to initiate, however, you might want to suck it up and make the switch, just so you can use the new features if a request to do so comes your way.

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