Hasta La Gadget!

Rounds is doing the rounds (natch!) this morning with a significant update to its video calling and instant messaging app. The company teamed up with Channel.me to add co-browsing to an already broad list of features. Users can now browse the web together during a video chat and see / control the same page at the same time. In terms of security, the experience mimics two people surfing the web in the same location (usernames are visible but passwords are hidden. for example). While users can enter any URL, the app also includes an icon grid of compatible sites, such as Google (for search), Wikipedia, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Amazon and eBay — to name a few. As a refresher, Rounds lets friends watch YouTube videos and play games together during a video chat and even apply filters and scribble over each-others live video streams. It also supports instant messaging and photo sharing and ties it all together with Facebook Login. The app is available for most Android and iOS devices but is optimized to run on phones. Hit the break for the promo video and obligatory PR.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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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

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Source: Tango

Google+ Hangouts got a major face-lift yesterday when Google announced that all of their chat services would be merged together into one app. Essentially, users can now message each other over various platforms, as well as video chat. Furthermore, you can send someone a message without even them being signed in, hinting to the possibility that Hangouts could be an SMS replacement.

Indeed, it seems that’s what Google’s plan is. Google employee Dori Storbeck, who is the community manager for Hangouts and chat said that “SMS integration is coming soon” in a reply in one of her Google+ posts. This confirms that users will be able to replace their text messaging service with the Google+ Hangouts interface.

Of course, this wasn’t the only confirmation that we’ve been hearing about. As it turns out, one of the permissions listed for the app in the Google Play store mentions the ability to read and send SMS messages, meaning that the feature could already be in the app, but simply just needs turned on by the folks in Mountain View.

Google+ Hangouts was announced during the Google I/O keynote yesterday, and it’s available for Android, iOS, and Chrome. However, the SMS integration will most likely only be available for Android, as we would have a hard believing that such a feature would come to iOS, knowing that Apple likes to keep things a bit more tight around the waist.

You can grab the Google+ Hangouts app right now for both Android and iOS, and Chrome users should already be seeing the new service if they have automatic updates enabled. You’ll be able to chat with friends on their mobile devices while you type away in the browser. There’s no word of a desktop app, but seeing has Google isn’t into that with Hangouts, we probably won’t see on anytime soon.

VIA: The Next Web

Google+ Hangouts SMS integration coming soon, says Google is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google I/O just wrapped up, so now we’re inevitably waiting for all the new features to start rolling out. The first out of the gate is the new Google+ Hangouts app, which is now available for Android. The app replaces Google Talk on Android, and will also eventually make its way to iOS, making it the first time that a Google chat app will be released on iOS.

Google talked a lot about Google+ Hangouts during the keynote, and they essentially took all of their different chat clients and combined them into one. The app will let you message other Google users, as well as video chat with them using Google’s Hangouts feature that we’ve all seen before in Google+.

The cool thing with this new app is that you can message a friend and have it delivered to them without them actually being signed in, making it a viable option for a text messaging replacement, rather than just another IM client of sorts. The app includes the ability to insert photos and videos, and there’s even cross-platform support with a web version as well.

Of course, before you get to chatting using the new app, you’ll need to sign up for Google+. This isn’t time-consuming, as Google+ uses your Google account anyway, but you’ll simply need to confirm a few things and get your profile initially set up. Once that’s done, you’ll be all set and ready to chat away with friends and family.

However, Hangouts doesn’t have an “Invisible” status available, which could be a turn-off for some users, but we can’t say that many users will miss that feature. Other than that, the app is ready to go. We’re not sure when the iOS version will be releasing, but we’re guessing it’s currently in the hands of Apple as they take it through their submission process.

UPDATE: Google+ Hangouts is now available on iOS.

Google+ Hangouts for Android now live, replaces Google Talk [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

During BlackBerry‘s Live event in Florida today, the company announced that its popular BlackBerry Messenger service (a.k.a. BBM) will be heading to iOS and Android later this summer. The app will support cross-platform messaging, meaning that users on BlackBerry can talk with iOS and Android users with the BBM app.

The BBM app will support all iOS devices running iOS 6 and higher, as well as Android devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and higher. BlackBerry said that it would be bringing some of the same features of BBM over to iOS and Android, including groups functionality, as well as voice features and screen sharing in later releases.

BlackBerry also announced what they’re calling BBM Channels, which is a new social feature for BBM that will allow companies and celebrities to create a fan page of sorts that BBM users can follow. Whenever a BBM Channel gets updated with new content, users who follow these pages will see notifications for the updates in BlackBerry Hub. Users will also be able to comment and share posts with friends, as well as the ability to create their own channels. In the simplest of terms, Channels is essentially BlackBerry’s version of a social network.

Channels is still in beta, but the company is planning to update it several times until it will fully launch sometime this summer — most likely in conjunction with the BBM launch for iOS and Android. It’s still up in the air whether or not Channels will be the boost that BlackBerry needs to gain more users, but we’ll certainly find out come this summer. The company already has 60 million BBM users, with 10 billion messages being sent every day. With the release of an iOS and Android version, those numbers should jump significantly.

BlackBerry Messenger coming to iOS and Android this summer is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.