If you need to get up to the minute updates on your RSS feeds such as this one from Dan York (which alerted me to this story), you want to check out the RSS Robot which takes an RSS feed and connects it with Skype so you get an IM in Skype when new RSS info comes through. I already get alerted to new RSS feeds from my reader so this isn’t too useful for me. Still it could be useful to someone who is hooked on Skype and whose RSS reader doesn’t alert them to new content.

As we begin to see more and more products integrate with Skype the question becomes when we see a full-fledged office-like environment evolve around Skype. First we would need an e-mail client – perhaps this AJAX-based one from BlueTie will do. Then we need a word processor and a few other apps and we are all set.

With all the talk of Google killing Microsoft let’s not forget Skype could cut the legs out from Google. Perhaps a long shot but perhaps not. Although I am a huge fan of Google and an investor, Google doesn’t seem to be gaining so much traction in areas that aren’t its core competency. It is an ad display company and that is what it does well. Its VoIP entry hasn’t been successful and its video entry was lackluster prompting the company to spend a fortune to purchase YouTube.

I am not counting Google out but I am saying as a partner, Skype could be much more attractive to app developers who are looking for a way to rapidly tap an installed base as a distribution channel.