FriendCaller, a Skype alternative which, let’s face it, we haven’t heard much from in years, is today launching new web and mobile apps that support up to 7-way group video chats at once. The addition comes on the heels of FriendCaller’s earlier expansion this year into multi-point video and voice conferencing, the company says.
In addition to the seven video participants, the new apps also support 20 participants in a voice-only chat. → Read More
Remember ChatON? The Samsung-built, cross-platform, mobile messaging app which arrived in Google’s Android Market this fall? The app, somewhat similar to BlackBerry’s BBM or Apple’s iMessage, provides users with an alternative to SMS or MMS.
At the time, Samsung was promising support for iOS would be coming “soon.” Well, “soon” has arrived. ChatON is now available for download from iTunes. → Read More
FunMobility, the makers of FunMail, a picture-messaging app that organically pairs your texts with appropriate (and fun) images, FunTones, a large collection of funny ringtones, and FunMe, a suite of tools for consumers to create, share, and post their own user-generated content, is clearly striving for a particular brand message. I think it has something to do with “fun”.
Today, FunMobility introduces a new app to its menagerie of fun, called FunChat, which blends chat, multiplayer HTML5 games, virtual currency, rewards and achievements into a realtime user experience for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android. → Read More
TVs with Internet connectivity are nothing new, but this is pretty cool: As the world’s first TV makers, Panasonic and LG are cooperating with Skype to incorporate the software, which will make it possible to video chat in 720p HD quality, into TVs.
According to a Japanese media report [registration required, paid subscription], Americans will be able to buy the Pansasonic TVs first (as early as this spring), followed by Japanese and Europeans in the summer. Skype itself, however, speaks of a release in mid-2010 for both the LG and Panasonic TVs. → Read More
Did you hear the awesome news? Facebook Chat launched at the weekend for some folks, myself included. Apparently the rollout is on a network-by-network basis, and one of mine, NYU, was a big winner. You can read how great it is on Facebook itself or any one of the fan sites, but I’ll tell you what about it annoyed me. First, the implementation, on a UI level, bothers me. The app, which, right now, you cannot opt out off, installs a toolbar along the bottom of your browser window. Cool, more clutter. Thanks. Also, this really needs to be optional. If I’m on the site up to no good, I don’t want my dumb friends bombarding me with “YO BIG PAPI WHAT R U UP 2?” Always assume I’m not up to anything, thanks. → Read More
[UPDATE - I put the chat room over on the side, just to see what, if anything, will happen if our readers can talk to each other. Lawsuits here we come!] We talked about Meebo quite a while ago. They’re essentially a web-based IM client that supports a number of protocols including AIM and MSN. Well, they’ve just started offering embeddded rooms for websites like the one above. We’re going to hide this one here in case we need it for keynotes or breaking news but feel free to idle in it like it was 1998. While this isn’t very new or special, you can, potentially, place this same chatroom on your homepage and constantly be in contact with the CG team at any time, day or night. How about them apples? Product Page → Read More
A couple years ago, I became a member of a crowdsourcing outfit called Cambrian House just as it was getting started. The premise of the site is basically that you submit an idea for some sort of web-based service and then other members of the site vote on your idea. The best ideas get funded and then you can work on certain projects and gain a percentage of whatever profit the idea makes based on how much you put into it, and so on and so forth. Well I remember one of the members of Cambrian House pitching this very idea — an instant messaging program that translated what you type on the fly, effectively breaking down language barriers the world over. Everyone went ape-shit and thought it was a great idea. I’m not sure if it got funded or not but it turns out the Google is now doing the exact same thing with Google Talk. → Read More
From the “It sounded like a good idea at the time” Dept. Microsoft set up a holiday chatbot (northpole@live.com) on MSN Messenger for kiddies to talk to, play games with, and make holiday requests to. Sounds good, right? Except when you tell the bot to “eat it” one too many times, it replies, “It’s fun to talk about oral sex.“ Way to go, Microsoft. And who do you think found this out? Some white-hat data sleuth? No, a couple of little girls who wanted Santa to eat some pizza they’d “given” him online. Now, I know they can’t check every single possible reply for appropriateness (or relevance) but they could, at the very least, run searches for strings like “sex,” “heroin,” and maybe “murder most foul” so they don’t pop up like that. Redmond has already corrected the problem, but the Reg has photographic evidence of the Chi-Mo-Bot in action. ‘Tis the sleazon. Microsoft’s sex-obsessed RoboSanta spouts filth at children [The Register] → Read More
We’re following the story of a 48-year old man who was posing online as an 18-year old Marine recruit, and was romancing an 18-year old girl who was really a middle aged woman in real life, and the man was jealous of her online relationship with a 22-year old co-worker who was really 22, so he shot him dead at close range in his pickup in a factory parking lot. The Aristocrats! Man Killed Rival in Deceit-Filled Internet Love Triangle [ABC News] → Read More
My friends and I have so little to say to each other that this would be perfect. ChikaZune is a collection of graphics files that can be sent back using Zune’s phot sharing system. Each image contains containing snippets of text — “Are you busy later?” “Dude!” “I’m pregnant.” You could feasibly create a very simple conversation and, provided you weren’t discussing current events or aardvark anatomy, you’re sure to find something applicable. The text is sorted into folders for easy retrieval. It’s not Jane Eyre in semaphore, but it’s pretty darn close. Chizune Thread [Zunerama] → Read More
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