Google Talk Labs edition is a new desktop version of Google Talk that borrows some features from the online Google Talk Gadget, including the addition of Group Chat, emoticons and more.
Google Talk Labs edition also adds new desktop notifications from Google Calendar, Orkut, and Gmail.
Unfortunately, it skimps on a few of the desktop features, and seems more like an intermediate step toward a full-featured desktop Chat application rather than its fulfillment. The most notable missing features are voice calling and file transfers. If you need those, you're better off with the original Google Talk client.
We hope that, in the near future, Google can round up all of its Chat features into one application. Until then, you'll have to pick and choose which features are important to you, and download or use the appropriate Google Talk service.
Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google!
This edition covers:
Put Google Talk in your blog - "chatback"
Pakistan's YouTube ban causes two hour downtime
Google helps lay another undersea cable to Japan
Put Google Talk in your blog - "chatback"
Google Talk has announced a new feature called "chatback," which is a way for you to better connect with visitors to your blog or online profile, by allowing them to chat with you directly from your site. The visitors won't need to download anything or sign up for an account - as long as you're online with your Google Talk account, they can message you via the chatback widget you throw up on your site. If this sounds like a good way to add value to your site, grab the widget. Pakistan's YouTube ban causes two hour downtime
According to BBC News, the recent downtime on YouTube was a result of ISPs in Pakistan attempting to reroute traffic from YouTube after Pakistan wanted the site banned for containing some anti-Islamic content of Dutch origin. Apparently, the ISP shared its Border Gateway Protocol data for blocking YouTube within Pakistan with other ISPs, which passed it on to others. Nice. But things have resolved now, and everyone can get their daily dose of YouTube again without interruption. Google helps lay another undersea cable to Japan
Google is part of an effort to lay another undersea cable to Japan, together with five other partners, Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, Singtel, KDDI, and Pacnet. The whole project costs about $300 million and will be done in about 2010, adding about 7.5 tbps of bandwidth.
Other Google related bits we've been covering at Download Squad:
What IM do you use? Google Talk and Meebo have been growing with leaps and bounds, and so has IMVU.
Meebo, the online instant messaging system has experienced growth rates of 354% in the past ten months, and Google Talk, both web based and desktop based, has grown 149%. IMVU is another Instant messaging application that you might use if you are a Second Life of Habbo fan. It lets users create a custom virtual characters complete with clothes and 3D scenes. They have experienced a 154% since last year.
A shocking result came from Skype. The eBay owned company saw only a 20% increase in users since last August.
Mobile VoIP company fring has added support for phones and PDAs running Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6. Since fring works with any internet connected device, that means you can use the software to make free phone calls from your PDA, even if it doesn't normally have telephone capabilities.
In a nutshell, fring lets you make VoIP calls using your 3G or WiFi connection. You can make calls to anyone on Skype, Google Talk, MSN Mesenger, SIP, or Twitter. You can also call other mobile phone users running the fring software, or you can use services like SkypeOut to make phone calls to any phone number without eating into your phone plan's voice minutes.
Before you download fring software, you'll be asked what type of phone or Windows Mobile devices you're using. For some reason, a number of devices, including the Dell Axim X3 are listed, even though they do not run Windows Mobile 5.0. And we've confirmed, fring will not work on devices running Windows Mobile 2003SE or older.
Feed reading might be a little time intensive for some busy bodies. Open an application or web location, read, and repeat. How about making it a little easier? Anothr is trying its best to speed feed reading up. We covered them back in October with the release of their RSS aggregator for Skype, and now they enter the market with a reader for users of Google Talk and Jabber clients.
To get Anothr up and running, add the contact name "anothr@gmail.com" to your friends list in Google Talk. The Anothr RSS alert bot will send you back an IM with links to manage and share subscriptions. You can enter website links, or upload OPML files to import sites and get the news ball rolling. However, this solution might only be good for a few important news feeds. I couldn't imagine getting bombarded with a feed update every 2 seconds.
If you are looking for a simple way to read your news feeds, this could be for you. It could be an annoying way to receive updates to your favorite news, but if you want to be notified immediately of updates, this is a great way.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of what could have been a great milestone between AOL and Google."'Could have been'?" you ask? Well, one year ago today the two internet giants announced a $1 billion deal that put 5% of Google AOL in AOL Google's pocket. One result they promised was that the companies' instant messaging products, Google Talk and AIM, would be interoperable, allowing Google Talk users to send messages to AIM users and vice versa. And, as Steve Rubel points out, one year ago to the day, that interoperability is nowhere to be found.
Rubel speculates that AOL isn't delivering the advertising revenue that Google hoped for, which has put integrations on hold. "After all, why get married if the courtship is rocky?" he says. "It would only upset users if they re-segregated the IM systems." Whatever the cause, it's been a long wait and I hope they haven't decided to scrap the whole thing.
Today Google announcedGoogle Apps for Your Domain. Through this new service, Google is offering free private label email, instant messaging and calendar tools.
The web-based applications are built on the same free Google applications you are used to like Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and Google Page Creator, but with the addition of your unique branding and interface design. Users have the ability to totally switch up the colors and logos used in the page layout.
Google originally launched the Gmail for your domain in February 2006 for select users to test out. In the main administration account, users can manage and set up email addresses and distribution lists through an easy to use control panel. With the Google Apps for your Domain service, it makes it extremely easy for smaller businesses to manage their information more efficiently, without costly additions to email software, upgrades, and IT staffing.
The free, ad-supported service that is launching today is still in a beta form, and consists of 2 gigabytes of email storage for each user in the system that is currently built for US-English only. (Google is currently working to develop the service in other languages) Google is working on a premium version of Google Apps for your Domain for more advanced users, and will release more details and pricing soon.
The new Yahoo! Messenger version 8 with voice has been brought out of beta to stir the pot with MSN Messenger, and Google Talk.
Besides being able to tie into MSN Messenger contacts, the new Yahoo messenger is loaded with plug-ins and cool new features from both internal developers, and users, by using Yahoo Messengers Plug-in SDK. Top plug-ins for Yahoo Messenger include one for Coupons.com, Newsgator RSS feeds, and one from Jeteye that lets you store and organize your online world. Nothing tops the new Movie Trailer plug-in that allows you to catch the latest movie trailers while IMing though.
It looks like there is a full on IM war out there. And Yahoo!, MSN, and Google are stuffing their messengers with new features like crazy.
Google has just released a great new version of Google Talk. This new version has all the goodies people have been asking for.
This new feature list includes:
File Transfer - Send unlimited files and folders to contacts. With no restrictions on file size.
Voicemail - If your buddy isn't answering his/her call, leave a message. A voicemail message. And even if your friend doesn't use Google Talk, they can still receive it in a nice little attached audio file.
Music Status - Show what tunes you are currently listening to.
Google Talk is shaping up to be an ultimate player in the IM and VoIP world. They have come a long way since the launch of their first rendition of a barebones instant messenger. MSN Messenger look out!
Those that have been keeping up with Six Apart's open source work may be aware of DJabberd, which is a framework for building Jabber chat servers (Jabber, of course, being the open IM protocol that powers Google Talk/Gmail Chat). It's unsurprising, then, that the company has just announced the integration of a Jabber server into LiveJournal. Though I use the term "integration" loosely--for now it's just a Jabber server running on livejournal.com--you can now use any Jabber client, like iChat, Gaim, Trillian Pro, Adium X, or Google Talk, to chat with other Jabber users. The service seems to be going by the name "LJ Talk," and you can get on right now using your LiveJournal username and password and livejournal.com for the server. Be aware, however, that it's still very beta, and every time you connect (which will be often, as disconnections are frequent) you'll get a message from the server that says "LJ Talk is currently a pre-alpha service lacking tons of features and probably with a bunch of bugs. We're actively developing it, constantly restarting it with new stuff. So just don't be surprised if the service goes up and down a lot." And it does. Still, pretty cool. More details can be found in the announcement on lj_dev.
Gmail's built-in Chat feature, which lets you use Google Talk within your web browser, is pretty handy, but I often find that a message has been waiting me for a long time before I notice the tab blinking at me. Gmail Chat Alert is an extension for Firefox that fixes that by sounding an audio notification when you get an IM in Gmail. Simple and effective.
There is a new version of Google Talk available that adds
a feature that most other instant messaging clients have: user pictures. It also contains a number of new features,
including:
Pop-up boxes for contacts when rolled over
Multiple visual themes with
different formats to display chats
Alerts now have a close button and right-click option
Contact status changes occur mid-conversation
Ability to set alert to display when a contact comes
online
Ability to sort contacts by name
Contact's name changes transmit occur more quickly
All in all, it sounds like they've addressed a number of issues that kept it slightly behind the cutting
edge in the world of instant messaging. Being integrated with Gmail has to have been a huge boost for Google Talk, and
if they can continue to improve the client, it may well have a chance. Unfortunately, there is no mention of a fix to
my personal bugaboo: hotkeys. Hopefully soon.
Note - this is a beta version of a beta product. Confused yet? Me
too. Basically, this is a test build. Install at your own risk, yada yada yada. And here's a review if
you're not sure you want to take the plunge just yet.
Recently Google updated
Google Talk to enable "federation" with other servers, the main effect of which is that you can now talk to
users on other Jabber servers using Google Talk. As a side effect, however, it's also possible to sign on to AIM, MSN
Messenger, or Yahoo! IM and talk to your buddies, all from within Google Talk. BigBlueBall has
a tutorial on getting it working. It takes a bit of fiddling—basically you have to use another Jabber client
to set up connections to special Jabber servers that talk to other services like AIM—but once you're finished
it's easy to add new contacts on AIM, MSN, or Yahoo! to your Google Talk contact list.
Google Talk Labs edition is a new desktop version of Google Talk that borrows some features from the online Google Talk Gadget, including the addition of Group Chat, emoticons and more. 
What IM do you use? Google Talk and Meebo have been growing with leaps and bounds, and so has IMVU. 
Feed reading might be a little time intensive for some busy bodies. Open an application or web location, read, and repeat. How about making it a little easier? Anothr is trying its best to speed feed reading up. We covered them back in October with the release of their RSS aggregator for Skype, and now they enter the market with a reader for users of Google Talk and Jabber clients. 
Today marks the one-year anniversary of what could have been a great milestone between AOL and Google."'Could have been'?" you ask? Well, one year ago today the two internet giants announced a $1 billion deal that put 5% of 
Today Google announced Google Apps for Your Domain. Through this new service, Google is offering free private label email, instant messaging and calendar tools.
The new Yahoo! Messenger version 8 with voice has been brought out of beta to stir the pot with MSN Messenger, and Google Talk. 
Google has just released a great new version of Google Talk. This new version has all the goodies people have been asking for. 
Those that have been keeping up with Six Apart's open source work may be aware of DJabberd, which is a framework for building Jabber chat servers (Jabber, of course, being the open IM protocol that powers Google Talk/Gmail Chat). It's unsurprising, then, that the company has just announced the integration of a Jabber server into LiveJournal. Though I use the term "integration" loosely--for now it's just a Jabber server running on livejournal.com--you can now use any Jabber client, like iChat, Gaim, Trillian Pro, Adium X, or Google Talk, to chat with other Jabber users. The service seems to be going by the name "LJ Talk," and you can get on right now using your LiveJournal username and password and livejournal.com for the server. Be aware, however, that it's still very beta, and every time you connect (which will be often, as disconnections are frequent) you'll get a message from the server that says "LJ Talk is currently a pre-alpha service lacking tons of features and probably with a bunch of bugs. We're actively developing it, constantly restarting it with new stuff. So just don't be surprised if the service goes up and down a lot." And it does. Still, pretty cool. More details can be found in the announcement on lj_dev.
Gmail's built-in Chat feature, which lets you use Google Talk within your web browser, is pretty handy, but I often find that a message has been waiting me for a long time before I notice the tab blinking at me. Gmail Chat Alert is an extension for Firefox that fixes that by sounding an audio notification when you get an IM in Gmail. Simple and effective.
There is a new version of Google Talk available that adds
a feature that most other instant messaging clients have: user pictures. It also contains a number of new features,
including:
Recently Google updated
Google Talk to enable "federation" with other servers, the main effect of which is that you can now talk to
users on other Jabber servers using Google Talk. As a side effect, however, it's also possible to sign on to AIM, MSN
Messenger, or Yahoo! IM and talk to your buddies, all from within Google Talk. BigBlueBall has
a tutorial on getting it working. It takes a bit of fiddling—basically you have to use another Jabber client
to set up connections to special Jabber servers that talk to other services like AIM—but once you're finished
it's easy to add new contacts on AIM, MSN, or Yahoo! to your Google Talk contact list.
