Hasta La Gadget!

Hangouts are one of the redeeming qualities of Google+, and they’re about to be more widely available. Google announced that it’s rolling out the video chats to Gmail. More »

Google continues to integrate their system in an ever-tightening web of connectivity with video chat for Gmail. This video chat comes in the form of Hangouts, the same system that’s currently working in their social network Google+. You’ll be able to use this chat system without signing up for a Google+ account, but Google is encouraging you to do so anyway, of course, for “even more” special features than you’d get without such an account.

This upgrade will be rolling out starting today and will be coming across the world in the coming weeks. Hangouts allows users to work with high reliability and “enhanced” quality over anything Google has used before for video chat. Because this new system is not just peer-to-peer, you’ll no longer have to worry about cut-outs and chopped-up video. This system also works not only with people on Gmail, but with people in Google+ in their browser or using their Android or iOS device as well.

Some of the features you’ll get if you grab a Google+ account as well are the ability to watch a YouTube video or chat with up to 9 people at once. You can collaborate on Google documents, you can dress yourself up like a pirate with enhanced facial-recognition technology, and one whole heck of a lot more! This system is made for simple video chat for Gmail and an enhanced experience for Google+ – in essence, it’s a hook.

And a hook is what you’ll get in the demonstration video above as well. At the end there’s a bit of some pirate action while the fine folks at Google explain your many abilities once you’re fully hooked up. This video chat system will appear on the left of your screen right next to where you’d otherwise be chatting with your contacts online. The video symbol will launch you into a window where you can invite additional guests and chat the day and night away. Let us know if you’ve gotten the upgrade already!

[via Gmail Blog]

Gmail gets Hangouts integration for super simple video chat is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Smartphones and email-equipped feature phones have proliferated in even the most resource-dry areas of Asia, Europe and North America, but for many subscribers in Africa, SMS is the only option for text-based communication on the go. And, to give residents a more consistent method for reading and responding to email from their mobiles, Google just launched Gmail SMS in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. To sign up, simply head over to the “Phone and SMS” settings page in Gmail, add your mobile number and complete a verification process. Once enrolled, the service will automatically forward all email to devices as text messages. The service could even be useful for those that do have access to Android, iOS or Windows Phone devices — data outages can cripple smartphones, forcing users to turn to phone calls and SMS to connect with family, friends and colleagues. Geva Rechav, a Google product manager for emerging markets, confirmed in a blog post that Gmail SMS messages will be free to receive, but standard fees will apply for outgoing emails. You’ll find full signup details at the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Google launches Gmail SMS for text-based email in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Email is an essential tool for many of us today. That’s why Google is now working on a new service that will allow Gmail users to automatically send incoming emails to their phones via SMS text messages. The new service is called Gmail SMS, and Google is launching the new service first in Africa, particularly in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. With Gmail SMS, our friends in Africa can now send and receive emails as SMS messages using their mobile phones, with or without an Internet connection.

Users can reply to emails by simply hitting “Reply” from their handsets. Users can also control the emails they are receiving with commands such as MORE, PAUSE and RESUME. Google notes that the new service is free of charge, however, standard SMS rates will apply when a user sends a reply from a phone. To set up your phone, check out the detailed instructions via the Google Africa blog.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Gmail for iOS gets notification center support , Google launches security warnings for suspected state-sponsored attacks in Gmail,

Online account security breaches are seemingly commonplace these days — just ask LinkedIn or Sony — and now we can add Yahoo’s name to the list of hacking victims. The company’s confirmed that it had the usernames and passwords of over 400,000 accounts stolen from its servers earlier this week and the data was briefly posted online. The credentials have since been pulled from the web, but it turns out they weren’t just for Yahoo accounts, as Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Comcast, MSN, SBC Global, Verizon, BellSouth and Live.com login info was also pilfered and placed on display. The good news? Those responsible for the breach said that the deed was done to simply show Yahoo the weaknesses in its software security. To wit:

We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat. There have been many security holes exploited in Web servers belonging to Yahoo Inc. that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure. Please do not take them lightly. The subdomain and vulnerable parameters have not been posted to avoid further damage.

In response, Yahoo’s saying that a fix for the vulnerability is in the works, but the investigation is ongoing and its system has yet to be fully secured. In the meantime, the company apologized for the breach and is advising users to change their passwords accordingly. You can read the official party line below.

At Yahoo! we take security very seriously and invest heavily in protective measures to ensure the security of our users and their data across all our products. We confirm that an older file from Yahoo! Contributor Network (previously Associated Content) containing approximately 400,000 Yahoo! and other company users names and passwords was stolen yesterday, July 11. Of these, less than 5% of the Yahoo! accounts had valid passwords. We are fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo! users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised. We apologize to affected users. We encourage users to change their passwords on a regular basis and also familiarize themselves with our online safety tips at security.yahoo.com.

Filed under: Internet

Yahoo confirms server breach, over 400k accounts compromised originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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