May 10
Apr 10
The oncoming wave that is Google Babel (previously spoken of as Google Babble, as well) will soon be hitting your devices at full speed. This service will be a cross-device and cross-platform ecosystem for chatting with your friends and associates, and will be available not just on your Android smartphones and tablets, but your desktop computers too. And not only that – today’s leak includes mention of a “first class iOS experience’ as well!
This chat experience has been tipped as a combination of several of Googles already in-place systems: Talk, Hangouts, and Messenger. Though we’re expecting – along with the rest of the tech world – that Google Voice will also be integrated eventually, today’s tipsters have suggested such functionality will not come at the start. The following text comes from a Google memo passed on to Droid Life, their source being the anonymous kind.
• Brand new UI. We’ve designed a new UI that’s applied across all clients and promotes conversations.
• Stay in sync. With just one conversation list and experience across mobile and desktop, everything is always in sync. Install the Chrome app, the Android app, and iOS app.
• Desktop app. Stop laying whack a mole across blinking browser tabs. With the new Chrome app your conversations continue outside of the browser.
• Keep a group conversation going to coordinate with your team, and start a Hangout with a single tap whenever you need to talk face-to-face.
• Be notified…just once. Get notifications on your two phones, tablet, laptop, and desktop. Open it on one and watch the others disappear. If you’re actively using your computer or phone we’ll even intelligently notify you on just one of those endpoints. Magic!
• Message more than just text. Add a photo to the conversation and/or send some of the 800+ emoji to your coworkers. Kittens and poop are particularly helpful in explaining complex issues.
• Get nostalgic. Scroll back in time and relive any (on-the-record) conversation, on any device.
• More ways to talk. For the first time we are building a first class iOS experience. Try out our very early preview on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
If what the above says is true, there are already working software builds out in the wild, and not just on Android. If development is as far as this and other recent leaks suggest, we may well see a working version of Google Babel revealed at Google I/O 2013. We’ll be at Google I/O 2013 from May 15th through the 17th and will be bringing on the Google news from start to finish – don’t miss it!
As far as Google Babel goes – it does appear indeed that this service will be rolling out soon, and along with it some cool Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. In the line of desserts, this flavor will be bringing on a set of features we’ve not yet been able to guess. While Ice Cream Sandwich was a sweet combination of tablet and smartphone builds and Jelly Bean was the solidification of the one true Android, Key Lime Pie could be anything!
Stick around for more hot Google software integration news all week long, and don’t forget to join us for Google I/O 2013, too!
Google Babel memo leak speaks of cross-device chat and iOS experience is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apr 08
Is this really Google Babel?
Posted in: Today's ChiliRumor has it that Google is planning on unifying all of its chat services into one, single and efficient chat service. The new service was reported to be called “Babble”, however now it appears that the spelling has been modified to “Babel”. Some new screenshots released by TechRadar shows what may in fact be the chat service in action, but of course, the source of the screenshots is unconfirmed, so lets take this news with a grain of salt.
In one of the screenshots, the user is hovering over the feedback button and the message, “What do you think about Babel in Gmail?” message pops up. In another screenshot, it shows that you have to sign into your Google+ account in order to share photos through Google Talk, and you are able to initiate a quick Hangout through the G-Talk chat box. There are also hundreds of emoticons you can choose to express your feelings, or represent your zodiac sign.
The major reason why we’re skeptical about these screenshots is because TechRadar states that the source isn’t able to verify their identity, and he/she sent the screenshots through a generic email address. The source states that he/she is a Google employee and they seem to have in-depth knowledge about Google’s communication services and Babel in general.
Nonetheless, if these screenshots are the real deal, it looks like we’re finally going to have a single application that we can use to chat with all of our Google contacts. There’s also speculation that Google will be purchasing WhatsApp for $1 billion and may be integrating its services into Babel. We’ll most likely hear all about Google Babel and Google’s supposed plan to purchase WhatsApp soon, possibly at the Google I/O conference next month.
[via Android Community]
Is this really Google Babel? is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 14
The Daily Roundup for 01.14.2013
Posted in: Today's Chili 
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Oct 08
Polycom announces RealPresence CloudAXIS Suite for easier access to third-party video chat apps
Posted in: Today's ChiliPolycom has been a dominate figure when it comes to video conferencing in the enterprise market. However, the company is looking to shake things up with a suite of products that will make it easier and more affordable to communicate with other people. Polycom’s new RealPresence CloudAXIS Suite allows users to connect with anyone using a selection of different video chat applications, like Skype, Facebook, and Google Talk.
One of the coolest features of the new suite is its cloud-based platform that allows users to chat with others right through a web browser, so there’s no need for both parties to have anything more installed on their computers. This not only makes it easier for businesses to communicate with one another, but it also removes a lot of the hassle associated with video conferencing,
The CloudAXIS Suite will be available for both large enterprises and service providers, and will offer what Polycom calls Video Collaboration as a Service (VCaaS) on private or public clouds. Overall, the new suite revolves around better user-friendliness and improved support for other video chat programs to make it easier to communicate with more people.
While Polycom’s CloudAXIS Suite will only be available in the corporate sphere, the included features would be excellent for regular consumers as well, and if or when a time comes when a company creates an easy, no-hassle solution like this for consumers, it would definitely be a big hit.
Polycom announces RealPresence CloudAXIS Suite for easier access to third-party video chat apps is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 26
Jul 26
Is there something wrong with the Internet today? First we hear of Twitter experiencing an outage which has since been resolved albeit without any reason given for the outage in the first place, while Microsoft’s engineers are sweating it out to get Windows Azure up and running, and here we are with word that majority of the users of Google Talk are unable to log in, where this particular IM service which supports text, voice and video chats kept on displaying “error messages and/or other unexpected behavior.” It is not all doom and gloom, however, as a bunch of users do see the start of what could very well be a recovery from the outage.
Google did mention on their App Status dashboard a couple of hours ago, “The problem with Google Talk should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.”
As with Twitter, there were no reasons given whatsoever to explain the outage.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Gmail Chat and AIM shake hands, File transfer now available in Google Chat,
Jul 26
No need to rush off to reset your router: Google Talk is indeed down. The vast majority of users are seeing downtime with Google’s chat service, although the cause of the outage hasn’t yet been determined, and Google isn’t sure when everything will be fixed either. Taking to its status page, Google recognizes that there is a “problem with Google Talk affecting a majority of users.” Users can apparently periodically access the service, but occasionally get error messages and failed message attempts.
Google Talk has been down for most of the morning, and it looks to be an extended outage given Google’s service updates. The company is actively looking into the issue, with its most recent update reading, “We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update … detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.” The next service update is scheduled to come in the next half hour.
In the meantime, keep checking Google’s status page, and rest easy in the knowledge that there’s a whole wealth of other messaging options available to help you keep in touch. Heck, you could even break the habit and spring for one of those old fashioned phone calls. We’ll update this article as more information becomes available about the outage.
UPDATE: Google is still trying to get to the bottom of things: “Our team is continuing to investigate this issue.” Another update will come in an hour.
UPDATE II: Google says that Talk has been “restored for some users,” and that everyone else should be good to go “in the near future.”
UPDATE III: Everything should be back to normal: “The problem with Google Talk should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support.”
It’s not just you: Google Talk is down (UPDATE: And we’re back!) is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jul 26
Google (and several users) are reporting widespread outage on its Talk service. Although there’s no time set for when the service might return, Google says that it’s “continuing to investigate this issue,” aiming to give a status update later today, at 1:50PM ET. The service has been reportedly down for two hours.
Update: And it appears to be back, according to both Google and our own accounts. Some users appeared to get an early return to full service, while others had to wait for the mobile apps to recover. Apologizing for the outage, Google stated that, “system reliability is a top priority,” and that the company is “making continuous improvements to make our systems better.”
[Thx Mrigesh]
Filed under: Internet
Google Talk down for ‘majority of users’ (update: services restore) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Jul 03
To everything (Turn, Turn, Turn). There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn). Sometimes those seasons can get a bit convoluted, however — or such is the premise of Google’s “Spring cleaning in summer” post, outlining the end of a handful of tech offerings. Because heck, even a company as big as Google has to pick its battles. On the chopping block this time out are the Google Mini enterprise search system, the Google Talk Chatback widget, Google Video, iGoogle and the Symbian search app. Of course, the company won’t be leaving people hanging entirely. Google’s pushing users toward existing properties like the Meebo bar for Talk Chatback and YouTube for Google Video (which already stopped taking uploads a while back), the latter of which will be fully integrated into the more popular video offering come August. More info on what all this means in the source link below.
Google retiring iGoogle, Google Mini, others for ‘spring cleaning’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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