Cringely’s latest column is a collection of items - including Adobe’s recent purchase of Macromedia - but the one I found the most interesting was his description of using IPdrum, Mobile Skype Cable, and two cel phone handsets to make calls from his cel phone for free: “…One phone stays at your PC as the interconnect with Skype. I’m hoping the cable also charges the phone, but that, again, isn’t made clear. In the simplest case you could probably pick up the phone and use it as a dedicated handset to speak over the Skype network. But the true power of the Mobile Skype Cable comes from having multiple phones and some kind of family billing plan.

I’m a Verizon mobile user and so is Mrs. Cringely. Our Verizon plan allows unlimited calls between our two phones. Now imagine one of those phones (or a third, they cost $9.99 per month each here in Charleston) is attached to a PC back at our house. By calling that phone and using the IPDrum software that ships with the Mobile Skype Cable, I can be linked directly to Skype where I can dial a second call over the computer network. Since the mobile call is free and the Skype call is free, suddenly I can make unlimited mobile calls anywhere in the world. Even more powerful, by linking my Skype and mobile numbers through the IPDrum software, any Skype user anywhere in the world can call me for free….”

His column is here and IPdrum and Mobile Skype Cable are here.