Jun 27
Jun 24
We can argue about Android fragmentation and conflicting standards all day long, but you know what? Those fights are nothing compared to how broken your own digital life is.
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Jun 06
While chat apps excel at adding contacts from the online world, they don’t cope so well with real life — reciting and typing screen names isn’t very elegant. Nokia is bringing back some of those social graces with its Nokia Chat 1.1 beta, which revolves around NFC transfers. If both friends own NFC-equipped Lumia phones, they can tap to exchange their own details, other contacts or even the app itself. It’s also easier to share locations: contacts with Lumias will see a Here Maps-based preview of any given place. These additions don’t make as much sense outside of an all-Nokia ecosystem, but there’s certainly enough for existing users to upgrade at the source link.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Nokia
Via: Nokia Beta Labs, WMPoweruser
Source: Windows Phone Store
Jun 06
Tango has wanted to expand beyond the basics of multi-platform messaging for awhile, going so far as to add games within its own app. It now wants to become the social glue for just about everyone: it’s launching a platform for other apps. The new SDK both integrates Tango chat into titles and make its easy to send app invitations to anyone using Tango, with leaderboards when games are involved. The company has garnered some early support from developers like Bubble Gum Interactive and Gameloft, which plan to release Tango-aware iOS versions of Jetpack Jinx and Candy Block Breaker in the near future. Android users will have to wait until July to get their shot at these two games, but developers who want more sociable apps can apply to use the SDK today.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Internet
Source: Tango
May 22
MessageMe chat app amasses 5 million users in 75 days across Android and iOS
Posted in: Today's Chili
Between WhatsApp, Viber, Google+ Hangouts and a raft of others, the mobile messaging app space is crowded, but recent entrant MessageMe has still managed to make notable headway. After a mere 75 days since its launch, the application has amassed 5 million registered users, up from 1 million in its first ten days. Now, the software is churning out an average of 1,500 notifications per second and handling approximately eight image uploads each second.
For the uninitiated, the app is attempting to woo chatty folks on Android and iOS away from its rivals with the ability to send pictures, doodles, videos, audio, music and location information between two people or a group of friends. Sticker- and money-sending features are poised to bring home the bacon for the firm, but CEO and co-founder Arjun Sethi recently told The Next Web that it doesn’t plan to activate them just yet, as it’s focusing on attracting more users first. If you’re itching for another outlet to dispatch notes to pals, hit the bordering more coverage links to grab MessageMe.
Via: The Next Web
Source: MessageMe Blog
May 20
AT&T confirms that all video chat apps will work over cellular by the end of this year
Posted in: Today's Chili
Will video Hangouts launch when you’re on AT&T’s 3G network? Can you FaceTime with a friend over LTE? The carrier’s current video chat support is confusing at best. Following Google’s Hangouts app launch last week, we attempted to try out the Android version over AT&T’s HSPA network. After hitting connect, a message popped up instructing us to hop over to WiFi in order to complete the call. The carrier followed up by suggesting that Google was to blame — as the software was a replacement for a native Android app, it was up to Mountain View to flip the switch. Now, by the end of this year, AT&T has pledged to support all video chat apps, regardless of which device you own, what you pay in fees or whether or not you downloaded the app yourself. This is good news, no doubt. You can catch AT&T’s statement just below.
For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we currently give all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share or Tiered plans. Apple, Samsung and Blackberry have chosen to enable this for their pre-loaded video chat apps. And by mid-June, we’ll have enabled those apps over cellular for our unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices from those three manufacturers.
Throughout the second half of this year, we plan to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device; that work is expected to be complete by yearend.
Today, all of our customers can use any mobile video chat app that they download from the Internet, such as Skype.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T
Via: The Verge
May 17
Though Mozilla has long been a proponent of WebRTC for plugin-free video and voice chat, it hasn’t been ready to enable the full protocol in Firefox as a matter of course. It’s more confident as of this week: the newly available Firefox 22 beta turns on complete WebRTC use by default, allowing for both live web conversations and peer-to-peer file swaps. There’s more to the release as well, depending on the platform. Windows users receive support for HiDPI displays, like that of the Kirabook; every desktop user also gets gaming-friendly OdinMonkey JavaScript tuning, a web notification API and a font inspector. Android users won’t have WebRTC and other upgrades for now, but everyone can experiment with the latest Firefox beta at the source links.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software
Via: Mozilla (1), (2)
Source: Firefox Beta, Google Play
May 15
Google+ Hangouts app hands-on
Posted in: Today's Chili
Google’s new, unified Hangouts platform focuses heavily on its mobile apps, which give Android and iOS users a common platform for text and video chats. In theory, they’re the cure for the consistency problems Google’s messaging systems have faced for years. But are they the fixes we’ve all been waiting for, the all-encompassing solutions that have us dropping the likes of Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp? We gave Hangouts a test on both Android and iOS to find out — check our impressions after the break.
Gallery: Google+ Hangouts app hands-on
May 15
Google launches new Google+ Hangouts platform and mobile apps with focus on conversations
Posted in: Today's Chili
The rumors were apparently true: Google’s unified chat platform (widely nicknamed Babel) is launching as the new Hangouts, with new mobile apps to match. The messaging service puts Android, Chrome, Gmail and iOS all on the same page for the first time, focusing the interface on conversations that carry over from device to device. Across the board, you’ll find consistent notifications, as well as emoji and shared photo pools that weren’t in Google Talk. Contacts are still there, but they’re pushed to the side in the mobile view. Live group video is new, too, while text chats have watermarks to clarify who’s reading and typing. Everyone gets access to the updated Hangouts today. The Android and iOS apps are available as we write this; Gmail users can hit a “try it now” button, while Chrome users can install an extension. One word of warning: the Android app currently won’t run on some tablets, including the Nexus 7.
Gallery: Google I/O 2013: Hangouts
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google
Via: Official Gmail Blog, Google+ Project
Source: Chrome Web Store, App Store, Google Play
May 10
Google hasn’t even officially launched Babel, but word on the street has it that the aforesaid term was being used internally to reference a new, unified chat platform. Now, TechRadar is reporting that Babel will simply become a part of Google Hangouts — almost certainly as a means to continue the art of subtly shoving Google+ onto every user it can. Moreover, the newly expanded Hangouts could launch as early as next week during Google I/O, and we’ll be there to bring you the goods if indeed it does.
Via: SlashGear
Source: TechRadar
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