News flash: Telus and the Telecommunications Workers Union plan to sit down tomorrow to talk about about a new collective bargain agreement. CEO Darren Entwistle, who apparently became Telus'  biggest individual investor recently, will be "personally engaged" in the discussions. You can bet Entwistle is hoping to avoid a repeat of the NHL's negotiating disaster when talks for a new collective agreement disintergrated despite the involvement of superstars Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

Maybe I'm out to lunch on this one but ever since eBay acquired Skype, Skype seems to have lost some of its buzz. It used to be I checked Skype Journal on a regular basis for the newest software developments, upgrades and partnerships. Now that Skype's part of the eBay empire, Skype seems to have lost some of its rebellious allure. I mean, it's difficult to be James Dean when you're hanging out at the country club with your parents drinking martinis - if you catch my drift. Perhaps the Skype bandwagon is on pause until everyone - investors, developers, etc. - gets a better handle on eBay's strategic plans. It may be eBay needs time to establish its Skype strategy because the acquisition process happened so quickly given there may have been several groups (News Corp., etc.) in the mix. This have meant eBay bid before had time to do enough due diligence, including integration and technology plans. My hope - and that of the fine folks at Skype Journal - is eBay articulates its Skype plans soon, including how Skype will be nurtured as a standalone telecom play.

Perhaps inspired by bloggers' frustation with AdSense, TypePad has introduced a "tip jar" which offers bloggers "the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of your effort" by giving visitors ways to contribute using PayPal or a credit card. Give TypePad credit for introducing a new concept in a competitive market but I'm not sure the idea - although intriguing in concept - will work because a visitor has do something before a transaction can happen. This is why AdSense doesn't work for many bloggers because the people visiting are mostly there for a quick read even if a contextual ad is conveniently nearby. Despite some reservations, Michael Parekh is putting a tip jar on his blog "not for the money but the experiment of what people do when these types of features are introduced" - and he plans to donate the proceeds and those from TypePad's contextual ads to the Red Cross. Fred Wilson figures his "tips" are comments, links and e-mails . As for AdSense, it took me six months to make a whopping US$130. Then again, if I wanted to do something for money I'd be begging for freelance.