Items tagged with Chat
Google has done a lot of good things with Android, which would explain why it is the most widely used mobile operating system on the planet. However, most would agree that the built-in messaging service in Android is not exactly great, as it is less featured and less secure than Apple's iMessage. In an effort to to close the gap, or at least narrow it, Google is working on a new messaging service that is simply called Chat. Chat is different that SMS and other third-party services like WhatsApp, which are over-the-top (OTT) services. In addition, with Chat users will not have to download a messaging application or register a new account. As outlined by The Verge, Chat is basically an upgrade...
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Google has just announced that its Slack challenger, Hangouts Chat, has exited beta. Hangouts Chat is now an official member of the core G Suite service. Google wrote, "From direct messages to group conversations, Chat helps teams collaborate easily and efficiently. With dedicated, virtual rooms to house projects over time—plus threaded conversations—Chat makes it simple to track progress and follow up tasks." You can work with other G Suite apps from within Chat, that means collaborating with Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Users can also join Hangouts Meet online meetings from within Chat. An integrated search engine allows you to search for room members, past conversations, and...
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Now that the NSA has everyone second-guessing themselves before hitting the Send button, BitTorrent is jumping into the chat game. The service credited with enabling record-breaking piracy of HBO’s Game of Thrones announced Bleep alpha, a chat service for Windows. The chat’s draw is that it’s meant to keep your chat safe from prying eyes by offering end-to-end encryption and BitTorrent’s distributed data transfer technology, instead of servers. Even BitTorrent can’t see what you’re saying, the company says. BitTorrent is meant to be a private chat tool that keeps your data a mystery to everyone - even BitTorrent. In fact, that’s where the service...
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WhatsApp, iMessage, Kik, Facebook -- the world is overrun with messaging apps and platforms, and we've stumbled upon a near infinite amount of ways to send short snippets of text and images to friends and colleagues around the world. But here's one you may have forgotten about: ChatON. That's Samsung's own chat app, and the company announced today that it now boasts a staggering 100 million users. Of course, Samsung isn't clarifying that these are active users; they're just saying the install base is now up to 100 million. The service was launched in October 2011, hitting the 50 million subscriber mark in May 2013 and doubling that number to 100 million only four months later. That said, ChatON...
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Lest you forget that Microsoft has a new gaming console on the horizon, the company has been trickling out details surrounding it in the past few weeks. Next up? The audio side, and it's pretty impressive. Thanks to integration with Skype’s audio codec, Xbox One offers higher quality voice chat with the Xbox One Chat Headset compared to Xbox 360—whether you’re chatting in-game or through party chat with Skype on Xbox One. Microsoft claims that the console uses dedicated audio processing to handle Xbox One conversations via Skype and multiplayer party chats. On the controller side, the Xbox One Wireless Controller’s new expansion port expands the data transfer rate between...
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These days, anyone unconcerned about privacy violations is probably just being blissfully ignorant. There's plenty to be aware of, and apps like this certainly fit into the category. SecureIM Free Beta just launched onto the Google Play Store, supporting extra-support communications via the Google Talk protocol. Plus, support for secure Facebook Chat is coming "soon." If you're wondering what exactly it'll add to your phone, have a look: SecureIM is the first Secure-Chat application which is built to protect you from any possible or potential leak of privacy. These days organizations spy on our chats to target ads and Governments in the name of security, however there is no excuse of not demanding...
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Another video chatting tool? Yep. As if Skype, Facetime and the other alternatives weren't enough, now one of the guys that had a hand in Facebook's development is launching a new video chatting platform that taps right into that network. Airtime is the project of Napster creator Shawn Fanning and tech overlord Sean Parker. On a simple level, the site launches a web-based video chat, which then taps into your Facebook friends in order to find folks to chat with. It's a little like Chatroulette, or it can be. You can load up your friend list and then select people from there to video / voice chat with, but if you're feeling crazy, you can just select a friend from a broader network and anonymously...
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The times, they are a-changing. It's an old saying, but it's still proving true. ComScore's latest figures are the crux of that in the tech world, with the 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus report showing a monumental shift in e-mail usage amongst the youth in the U.S. This annual report examines how the prevailing trends in social media, search, online video, digital advertising, mobile and e-commerce are defining the current marketplace and what these trends mean for the year ahead. Some of the key insights? Let's dive in. Social Networking accounted for 16.6 percent of all online minutes at the end of 2011 and is on track to surpass Portals as the most engaging online activity in 2012. Facebook...
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Skyping on your couch. Who would have ever thought that would be "a thing." Crazy as it sounds, some people actually do prefer video chatting on the big screen, not on the handheld ones, and that's where companies like Warpia step in. They've just announced the new ConnectHD (SWP400VC), which brings a wide-angle camera (HD) and multidirectional microphone to your TV. The purchase? To enable video calls in the living room. Furthermore, there's a second major ability tucked in: it gives users an easy way to stream content wirelessly from any laptop computer to an HDTV without limitation. The ConnectHD can be used for additional entertainment such as playing PC Webcam games, watching movies and...
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If you've heard of video calling, you've probably heard of Qik. It's a rapidly expanding startup, looking to catch up with Skype and take advantage of the sudden urge to video chat now that 4G services are becoming more available. But to dominate the world, you need to be available on the iPhone. That's where Qik's new application comes into play, Qik Video Connect. This new software is a rival to FaceTime in many ways, enabling users to engage in video calling, video messaging, and video sharing with friends and family. With Qik Video Connect, users can instantly share what is happening around them with friends and family through a live video call. If they aren’t able to connect live,...
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ooVoo launched a new mobile video chat service for Android that will compete with Qik. The new mobile service lets up to six users connect simultaneously. ooVoo Mobile also offers free ooVoo-to-ooVoo voice calls, text chat, contact list integration, and video calls to any person not on ooVoo via a web browser. The new mobile client is currently available for HTC EVO and Samsung Epic. ooVoo plans to support additional devices such as the Apple iPhone, iTouch and iPad early next year. ooVoo's video chat service is currently available for PCs and Macs as well. ooVoo Launches the First 4G Mobile Video Chat Service That Simultaneously Connects Smartphone, PC and Mac Users Users can now experience...
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GameCrush, which has been in private beta testing since March of this year, has gone live. It's an obvious idea since most gamers are men: get them to pay to hook up online with attractive women and use their joysticks, er, play video games with them. To be clear, the PlayDates, as they are called, can be men or women. They can make as much as $20 an hour, according to the site's press release. Meanwhile, gamers, seeking to play (ahem) with these PlayDates pay $0.60 a minute. Additionally, developers of games used on the site get rev share, as well. In addition to securing a live one-on-one gaming session, you can chat live with online PlayDates. They show up on the site with red borders around...
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It's never pretty watching two nerds duke it out, and as is often the case, a would-be battle turns into a lot of awkward posturing. That's currently what's going on between Fring, who last week released an updated iPhone app allowing iPhone 4 owners to make 2-way video calling over Wi-Fi or 3G, and Skype, who may rank as Fring's least biggest fan. So what's the big deal? According to Fring, Skype is playing dirty by refusing to allow connections with Fring, thus ending 4 years of Skype interconnectivity. "We are disappointed that Skype, who once championed the cause of openness, is now attempting to muzzle competition, even to the detriment of its own users," said Avi Shecter, Fring's Co-Founder...
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iGoogle offers you the ability to visit several websites one on page, but did you ever wish that iGoogle offered you the Chat functionality that you can get in your Gmail account, so you could forego going there and simply stay on iGoogle? Well, now you can. After all, that seemed to be the only thing really missing from iGoogle, to make it potentially your all-in-one website. Here's what Google had to say in the blog post announcing the feature: Similar to the chat feature on Gmail, people will be able to send instant messages to their colleagues, friends and family straight from their iGoogle page. We've made this easy. If you're already a Gmail chat user, all your current chat settings will...
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In October, Google toyed around with a feature that let you send SMS text messages from Gmail. After hitting a few snags, the company ended up pulling it. Now, this feature is back, and it appears it’s here to stay. This new Labs feature combines IM and texting, allowing you to chat from your computer and making it possible for your friends to receive your messages on their mobile phones. To check out this feature, click Settings and then go to the Labs tab. Scroll down until you see Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat and then select Enable and Save Changes. According to the Google blog, Google is trying this feature with cell phones in the United States for the time being. Technically speaking, you...
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Google will roll out its new voice and video chat inside Gmail over the course of the next two days for both Windows and Mac OSX. The new service was created in a joint effort between the Google Sweden and Google US teams, and hopes to promote and assist global collaboration for businesses while also providing an easy to use interface that will allow even the most computer illiterate to get chatting.How easy is it? Let the developers at Google show you: Unlike Skype, by incorporating the chat directly into Gmail, all that is needed is a simple plug-in and you're ready to go. This plug-in keeps the size of the application down to approximately 2 mb and uses a proprietary format rather than flash,...
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Oh, well. It sounded so good, and it would have been, too: Gmail adding, through its Labs, the ability to send SMS messages through Gmail Chat and at the same time associate a permanent phone number with your account. Normally, a temporary ID is set, but this would have enabled you and your friends to SMS back and forth without worry. You would have been assigned a number in the 406 area code once you sent your first SMS message. However, Google found a bug, and had to pull back the feature. According to their blog post: Oh snap. Last night, we started rolling out a new feature to Gmail Labs that lets you send SMS text messages right from Gmail. It combines the best parts of IM and texting: you...
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Before you say, "So What?" we are well aware that you could send an SMS from email by using an address of the form number@att.txt.net (we're also aware AIM supported this). But when you did that, you only got a temporary ID that your friend could text you back on for a limited time. This new feature will give you a permanent "number" they can use all the time for SMS, which goes directly to your Gmail Chat.So, how does it work? Well, first of all it's a Google Labs feature. Unlike Mail Goggles, we like this one. Go into your Gmail Settings, then Labs, and enable the functionality (most will not see this feature yet, at the time of this writing). Go into chat, type...
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The team at InCrysis had a bit of a heart to heart with Crytek CEO, Cevat Yerli and NVIDIA's VP of Content Relations, Roy Taylor, in sort of a state-of-the-nation fashoin that offers a bit of insight as to what's going on with game play, the engine itself and performance optimizations that both companies are working hard on. There is also talk of the forthcoming patch for the game that was promised long ago but now has been projected for release by Cevat in the "7 - 14 day" range. There are also a lot of great tid-bits of information regarding the game and how it taxes your hardware, in this interview, so its definitely a worthy read."MadBoris: Where does the specific...
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If you want to ask ATI some direct questions regarding their X1600 family of products, Rage3D will be hosting a chat today with Prasad Sristi in their IRC channel. Plus, it looks like ATI will be giving something away to a lucky participant. More information is available on Rage3D's site. "...Just a quick reminder that Rage3D will be hosting a chat with Prasad Sristi, ATI's Radeon X1600 product manager, today at 2 PM EDT on irc.gamesurge.net #rage3d. At the end of the chat ATI will be giving away something cool..." ...
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Our buds over at the PC Chat radio show have one of their segments streaming now on their web site that has a telephone interview with yours truly in amongst their regular programming for the show. We talk or should I say "chat" about the history of HotHardware.com a bit and then they pepper me with questions about what I like in PC gear these days. We're also giving away a couple of Gigs of Kingston PC HyperX PC3500 DDR memory, on the show, so see if you can get yourself in the running. I had a lot of fun talking with the guys at PC Chat and hope we can hook up with them again sometime in the future. Mike, Mr. Modem and Nick are good peeps. Check them...
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