chat

Semifunctional Facebook

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, and the site's chat feature makes it possible for users to talk to everyone from their third-grade best friend to their spouse, all in real-time. Unfortunately, using Facebook's chat keeps you tethered to the window or tab in which you have Facebook open. Facebook Chat, a browser extension for Chrome, endeavors to change that. And it succeeds, at least partially.

The extension sounded promising. By simply clicking the small icon it places next to Chrome's address bar, users can bring up a version of … Read more

The 404 597: Where we're getting FaceTime with the Apple iPhone 4 (podcast)

Don't call it the 4G or the 4HD. The Apple iPhone 4 is here and Gizmodo ruined the surprise. As predicted, the new handset has *almost* all of the rumored features, including a 960X640 resolution display, a bigger battery, HD video recording and editing, a three-axis gyroscope, an upgraded 5MP rear camera, and a front-facing camera for use with Apple's new video chat program FaceTime.

Apple's new Retina display promises 4X improvement over the current screen, and Steve's demo screenshots show significant improvements to text and images, but CNET's own TV expert David Katzmaier takes issue … Read more

Big HTC Evo 4G launch leads to Qik meltdown

It seems no one was really prepared for the huge demand for the HTC Evo 4G. Not only did Sprint and other retailers run out of the devices, but Qik, the provider for the Evo 4G's video chat app, was also overwhelmed by the phone's popularity and ended up having to temporarily pull the app.

Actually, the problems started early for Qik when customers complained that they couldn't even find the Qik video chat app in the Android Market, but fortunately, Google quickly came up with a workaround so users could discover and download the app from … Read more

HTC Evo 4G Qik video chat pricing revealed

As you probably know the HTC Evo 4G for Sprint is available starting today, and one of its enticing features is the ability to make video calls with the front-facing camera and Qik's video chat app, but it's been unclear whether there would be a fee to use the service.

Well, now we know that the standard service will be free on the Evo 4G and will offer such features as unlimited VGA quality video chats, live sharing to the Web and social-networking sites. However, you can upgrade to the premium service for $4.99 per month and … Read more

All-in-one IM

If it isn't enough to chat with friends from Google, MySpace IM, Skype, and Facebook, as well as AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, and IRC on Trillian't multinetwork IM app, you can comfortably count the app's deep hooks into Twitter and Facebook alerts and checking e-mail (both POP3 and IMAP varieties) as reasons for switching from your current messenger.

Among its best social networking traits, Trillian will automatically shorten URLs in your tweets, and handle direct messages, re-tweets, and replies. Twitter Trends can show up in your contact list, and you can get tweets to appear in tooltip … Read more

Privacy bug causes Facebook to disable chat

Some Facebook users' live chat messages and pending friend requests were briefly visible to their contacts this week, as the result of a bug in the massive social network's "Preview My Profile" feature. Facebook confirmed the contents of a video posted to TechCrunch Europe on Wednesday that demonstrated the flaw, and has temporarily disabled its live chat software, but denied that it was a large-scale security problem.

What exactly happened in the video? Facebook's privacy settings offer a feature called "Preview My Profile," which lets you type in the name of someone on your … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1203: The potato radius (podcast)

Pluto's in danger of insult again, as scientists decide that anything bigger than a potato should be a dwarf planet. Or something like that. We also dig into why Apple would suddenly disqualify any third-party compilers from being used to make iPhone apps. And the long-awaited iPod Nano scratch lawsuit is settled. Our national nightmare is over.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1203

New service aims to improve on Chatroulette

If you like the basic concept of Chatroulette--video chatting with random strangers--but are tired of clicking "next," "next," "next," and men behaving lewdly, a start-up called ChatImprov says it has an alternative.

ChatImprov, said CEO Lee Lorenzen, is a service that offers video chatting between random strangers, but in a way that is designed to offer participants more engaging, interesting encounters than can usually be found on Chatroulette. Though it hopes to achieve that goal through a series of measures, the most direct is by creating a ratings system called ChatRank.

Simply put, Lorenzen … Read more

Tokbox gets super-sized group video meetings

Video chat service Tokbox is about to get bigger--like hundreds of people in one chat bigger.

The new service, which launches Wednesday morning, lets users host a meeting for 200 people or less, and in an orderly fashion no less. All while using the service's existing technology to facilitate several talking heads up on the screen at once.

It's not free though. It will cost $18.99 per session, or $12.99 for people who are already subscribers of Tokbox's premium service. What that gets you is a control panel with space for up to 12 people … Read more

The 404 537: LIVE NOW at 11 a.m.(ish) EST!

EPISODE 537

To watch today's LIVE Episode and participate in the chatroom starting Mon-Fri @ 11 a.m.(ish) EST:

Go to CNET Live Click "WATCH NOW" next to The 404 icon (the same one you see to the left of these instructions) Choose a nickname and type it into the field (don't worry about the password, you can leave that blank) ENJOY THE SHOW AND THANKS FOR WATCHING!