In the first major update since its release back in May, Google's cross-platform unified messaging software Hangouts has just enhanced your chatting experience with a couple new additions. Addressing some of the top requests, Google Hangouts versions 1.1.1 features improved iOS 6 support and now finally lets you send URLs, as well as and click on links received in chat messages. I've included more information about this update after the break...
Atlassian's cross-platform group messaging HipChat app launched in January 2010 following a one-month beta period. The Mac app, originally developed using Adobe AIR and in beta since Valentine's Day, is now finally ready for prime time.
If you hate AIR as much as I do, you'll be delighted that the team has now dropped Adobe's sluggish technology (good riddance) in favor of the native OS X experience.
And in addition to the rebuilt HipChat 2.0 for Mac, the company has also given its iOS client some much-needed love, pushing a major 2.0 update that's leaner, faster and includes many new features. Here's what's new in both HipChat for Mac and iOS...
Microsoft-owned Skype started testing out Video Messages in mid-February. The new feature is meant to let Skype users send short video snippets to each other up to three minutes long, even when offline. Now out of beta, Skype Video Messaging is available to everyone via a free update to Skype mobile and desktop apps across Windows, Mac, iOS, BlackBerry and Android platforms. Here's a closer look at Skype Video Messaging and how to use this new capability on your devices...
Messaging is arguably one of the most oft-used features of mobile devices. And with folks overwhelmingly embracing services like WhatsApp, little wonder instant messaging has overtaken traditional SMS by volume. The October 2011 iMessage unveiling signaled an era of frictionless communication between Apple device owners, made convenient by blurring the line between SMS and IM.
iOS 7 elevates that experience by making it prettier while implementing a few evolutionary improvements. That said, the iOS 7 Messages app is nonetheless a pretty big departure from iOS 6. But don't worry - iDB has you covered...
Previously code-named Babel, Google yesterday announced its new cross-platform unified messaging product called Hangouts. Shortly after, the software surfaced on Apple's App Store and Google's Play store for Android.
In replacing Google Talk, Hangouts supports one-on-one and group chatting across desktop, Android and Apple devices and includes photos, emoji, and video calls.
In a nutshell, the app integrates messaging from Google’s GTalk, Google+ Messenger, Hangouts and Voice products. But that's just scratching the surface as Google obviously has big plans with the product...
Viber, the popular instant messaging service and WhatsApp's chief rival, has fallen behind a bit in the past year or so. Not only did WhatsApp take the lead - the service claims to handle an astounding eighteen billion messages every day - but the search monster Google is getting ready to unify its many chat services under a new Bable IM brand.
Small wonder then that Viber in a major move on Tuesday announced a brand new desktop application for Mac and Windows PCs. Available as a free download from the Viber's web site, Viber for Mac lets you send free messages as well as make free calls to other Viber users.
The much-welcomed software release now enables one to keep their communication in sync across mobile and desktop devices because in addition to desktop, Viber is now available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Nokia and Bada platforms.
Moreover, Viber - which was founded by American-Israeli entrepreneur Talmon Marco - has revamped its mobile iOS/Android client with video messages, an improved voice engine said to help improve call quality and lots more. Go past the fold for an introductory video and more tidbits...
The social networking giant Facebook today issued an update to its standalone Messenger app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Facebook Messenger version 2.4, available now, has brought out the popular Stickers feature that was rolled out nearly a month ago in the major Facebook iOS client update. And if Stickers are getting on your nerves, perhaps the reappearance of the swipe-to-delete functionality is just what you needed all along? I've included a few more tidbits right below...
WhatsApp, the cross-platform instant messaging application for smartphones, is rumored to be close to negotiating a landmark acquisition deal with Google. Sources reportedly close to the negotiations claim the Internet giant is considering dropping a whopping one billion dollars on the popular service that as of March 2013 had a cool 200 million users, a hundred million ones on Android alone.
The report ties nicely with talk of a new instant messaging brand from Google called Babble, and even more so given Facebook with its new Home UI layer for select Android devices is basically encouraging its one billion users to use its Messenger service right from their Lock screen or from whichever app they happen to be using at any give moment...
Apple's iMessage platform has gone through its share of teething problems, ranging from issues related to iOS devices continuing to send and receive messages, even after being remotely wiped and having their SIM cards deactivated, to iOS saving deleted iMessage attachments to a recent exploit which involved denial of service attacks leading to a series of spam messages crashing the stock iOS Messages app. Although unpleasant and worrying, these problems are mostly localized.
When it comes to government surveillance, however, iMessage is bullet proof and the agile government, of course, has only recently become aware of this. According to an internal document from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), instant messages exchanged between iOS users through the iMessage platform are "impossible to intercept" due to strong iCloud encryption...
The Internet giant Google, reportedly adamant to solve its instant messaging conundrum, is working on consolidating its many chat services and folding them under a new brand name - Google Babble. Not sure whether Babble is just a code-name, but I'd definitely chose a different moniker because the term 'babble' doesn't just denote chatter, it also means "to utter a meaningless confusion of words" and "talk foolishly or idly".
Be that as it may, a new report Monday claims knowledge of an all-new IM solution from Google designed around organizing chats by conversation rather than by people, no matter what chat service they happen to be using. It's said to support video, audio, file transfers and threaded conversations across all the existing services. Go right past the break for more tidbits...
Facebook has just updated its Messenger iOS app with a few new features and "other improvements and bug fixes." The new Facebook Messenger version 2.3 is all about enhancements to group conversations, says the social networking behemoth. It contains one feature I've been yearning for ever since the program's debut on the iPhone: you can finally name a group by tapping on the top of your active conversation.
And just like Facebook's main iOS client (and a growing number of other third-party apps for the Apple platform, for that matter), you can now get to your active group conversations by swipe left, which reveals them in your sidebar. I've included a few screenies along with other nice tweaks right after the break...
Facebook on Sunday announced a new promotion that will allow users of Messenger for iOS and Android to exchange instant messages for free or at heavily discounted data rates in select international markets. Partnering with more than eighteen operators in fourteen international markets, the social networking giant said Facebook for Every Phone, basically a bare-bone service for feature phones that is now optimized for chat, is also included in this promotion.
The move arrives just after the company flipped the switch on the in-app VoIP calling feature in its mobile client for iOS and Android devices. Facebook first rolled out VoIP calling in Canada earlier this year, and some parts of the US, via the Messenger app...