Remember back in the early days on instant messaging when people figured out that they could set up chatbots that users would interact with? Yeah, they were fun for like 20 minutes. But don’t tell Google that — they’re bringing one back today!
Google Talk Guru is an “experimental” Google Labs service that allows you to chat with a bot to get information you’re looking for. What kind of information? Sports results, weather, definitions, translations, etc. → 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
Previously available by invite only, mundu is now available to the rest of us. It allows you to use your Yahoo!, Google, MSN, and AIM accounts with ease. Emphasis on “ease.” I was up and running and logged in on my iPod Touch in under a minute. Very, very simple stuff here. You’re able to be logged in to more than one service at a time and you can make your own status messages and remove contacts directly. It also handles smileys. Best of all, there’s nothing to install. Just point your iPhone’s browser (iPod Touch, too) to iphone.mundu.com and you’ll be good to go. Mundu IM for Apple iPhone [MobileWhack] → Read More
There’s lots of instant messaging news today. Google isn’t letting the fact that it has less than 1% market share and only 44,000 people used its Google Talk client last month get it down. Tonight they’ve released three significant new features to the product – file transfers, voicemail and music status. Information on all of these features is here. File Transfers Files and folders can be sent to Google Talk friends by clicking the “send file” button. There are no limits on file sizes or type, and the recipient will see a preview of the image within the chat session. Both users must be using the actual Google Talk client, however, for this feature to work. See left image below. Voicemail Voicemails can now be left for friends who do not answer calls through Google Talk. Unlike File Transfers above, this feature does not require that the friend use the Google Talk client. In that case, they’ll receive an email with the message attached as an audio file. Voicemails can be up to 10 minutes long, and messages can be left for people online without calling them directly by clicking the down arrrow from any profile card or chat window. Voicemail will also automatically kick in after 4 rings. See middle image below. Music Status If you are listening to music while logged in to Google Talk, you can show your contacts what you are listening to by selecting “show current music track” from your status drop down menu. This is only for “supported music players” but they do not say what players are supported. See far right image below. Note that the Google Chat client is, ridiculously, available only for Windows machines. → Read More
The NYT is reporting that Google will be blending Google Talk directly into the Gmail website tomorrow for a limited number of users. The new product will be called “Gmail Chat”. The new program, called Gmail Chat, will let Gmail users exchange text messages with others without having to log onto a separate chat program, making instant messaging simpler and more integrated with the e-mail program. From anywhere in Gmail, the user can see who is available to chat. The program will also allow users to store instant-message conversations. As of 10:15 PM PST there is no mention of this on the Google blog. Of course, this is the risk that everyone talked about with Gtalkr and Meebo – the big guys can turn off the API, or just do it themselves. Thanks for sending me this link Steve. → Read More
