What do you do when Google and Sean Parker kill your idea? Change direction. That’s what Ali Ahmed and his videochat startup Lutebox have done, switching from the idea of helping people chat about premium videos to focusing on social shopping. Read more »
SMS is getting a facelift at Mobile World Congress. Mavenir Systems is launching a messaging platform that could turn carriers’ staid old SMS into a much more vibrant platform on par with Apple’s iMessage. But most importantly, the technology preserves SMS’s most valuable asset: its ubiquity. Read more »
Google+ users can under some circumstances access IM conversations of other Google users. The bug seems to be related to the way Google Talk is integrated within Google+. Google has said that it is addressing the issue, which only affects users of shared machines. Read more »
Now that Facebook has thrown its hat in the ring, there are quite a few choices for mobile messaging on the iPhone and other iOS devices. The three big ones are Facebook Messenger, Google+ and iMessage. Here’s a chart comparing their features and abilities. Read more »
Skype just dropped an update for its Mac client. Version 5.3 includes support for HD video, so long as your Mac is equipped with one of the new FaceTime HD cameras introduced in MacBook Pros earlier this year, or a third-party camera that supports HD resolution. Read more »
Millennials — workers between the ages of 20 and 29 who grew up with ubiquitous cell phone and Internet availability — are now a dominant force in today’s enterprise. Is your company ready for them? This report, the second in a two-part series, examines the tensions ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Harmon.ie 3.0, is an Outlook add-on that’s adding new social and collaboration features. The new “people” tab in the Harmon.ie sidebar lets users see colleagues’ profiles and availability, displays an activity stream, and lets workers call, chat or videoconference directly. Read more »
I often extol the virtues of virtual work. But no matter how much I love virtual, I’m also keenly aware that being remote isn’t always ideal. In my experience, there are four specific situations that should never be handled by phone or email. Read more »
Imagine the convenience and reach of your Facebook friends list, combined with the VoIP goodness of Skype. That’s what a new iPhone app called Facebook Messenger aims to provide. It lets you call any of your online FB contacts for a VoIP chat. Read more »
VoxOx is a great idea: one program that does phone calls, IM, video chat, Skype messaging, conference calling, even incoming faxing. You can select your own phone number. Unfortunately, with an app that does this much, I suppose it’s inevitable that there will be shortcomings. Read more »
There are plenty of chat tools out there, but using one that is purely meant for internal business communication has its benefits — at least, your team won’t be distracted by friends and family. HipChat is a group chat tool built specifically with companies in mind. Read more »
It’s yet another app to join the crowded chat and IM market, but Donut Chat can help to bring web working teams together. Group chats can take place in a Facebook page, on a personalized domain such as webworkerdaily.donutchat.com, or embedded in a web page. Read more »
There are many apps available that try to bring together various communication protocols. I’m always interested in programs that manage multiple services, since for me, Adium on the Mac and its PC relative, Pidgin, are indispensable for dealing with my eight (!) IM accounts. After my […] Read more »
The first week of September has seen a deluge of new arrivals at the App Store. It’s time for me to search through the latest releases for iPhone and hand-pick my recommendations for the past seven days. This week I’ve been looking at Button, Facebook, BlogPress […] Read more »
Yahoo announced today an eagerly awaited update to Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone that brings about support for push notifications, joining rival AIM. With the latest updates, Yahoo is continuing to push the bar (pun intended) and give AIM a run for its money (pun not […] Read more »
