A portable speaker phone for your PC

USR9610 USB Internet Speakerphone with a handy dandy retractable cable I picked up separately

I picked up a $20.00 USRobotics Speakerphone for Skype or other PC based VoIP applications. The speakerphone connects to the PC via a USB connection. A cable is provided. I quickly moved from the bulky standard cable provided to one of those retractable cables.
So far so good. The speakerphone promised echo cancelling and clear sound. The device is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, requires no external power source. A mute button is provided as are volume controls. The device is a standard multimedia sound device which installs automatically under Windows XP.
Does it work?
Good question - so far so good from my perspective. Of course - I have no idea what it sounds like receiving a call from one of these devices - so I can only report half of the story.
I can tell you this - it is much, much easier to contend with than a headset and does not seem to have the echo and loopback problem when using the builtin microphone and speakers on a notebook computer.