You’ve surely noticed that Jaanus, our Revered Staple O’ Skype Blogs, has dropped of the radar screen. Was he captured alongside Finnish fishermen in Iranian waters? Cryogenically frozen in a doomsday vault to tell the Skype story to 32nd-century earthlings? Yes to all of the above, probably. But the official version is this: after three years at Skype, he’s taking a summer off and will then plunge into the Human Computer Interaction Master’s program at Carnegie Mellon. If this sounds like Chuvash to you, here’s an explainer: Besides hydrogen chloride, HCI really stands for “usability”. Anyway, let’s give a big hand to Jaanus for what he’s done for us. We’ll miss ‘im.

To add to your pain, here’s a few words about me. The New Guy.

I’ve been at Skype since autumn 2006 and I do a few things here and there for the PR crew. Yes, I’m a PR flack. If you’re in possession of multi-warhead intercontinental missiles, here are my coordinates: (umm, actually no. THAT would be a bad idea)

In my previous incarnations, I’ve worked on the Skype account for our Estonian PR agency, been a staff writer for the Prague Post, the Czech Republic’s English-language weekly, reported on world events for Radio Free Europe, followed the brave gilded world of European venture capital and cash-burning start-ups for a now-defunct Sweden-based dotcom, and headed a news-focused radio station in Estonia. I think that’s more info than anyone needs. See you around!