More About Google+ Hangouts

Google's Justin Uberti has more information about Hangouts, the video conferencing app that will be available in Google+.

To support Hangouts, we built an all-new standards-based cloud video conferencing platform. This platform combines high quality, low latency, and strong security with the ease of use of a web application. Through the efficiency of this new platform, we're able to deliver a leading video conferencing experience at Google scale.

A few noteworthy technical points:
* Fully browser-based/cloud-based
* Client-server: leverages the power of Google's infrastructure
* Designed for low latency (< 100 ms) and high performance (multicore + hardware acceleration)
* Standards-based: XMPP, Jingle, RTP, ICE, STUN, SRTP
* Fully encrypted (HTTPS + SRTP)

Hangouts require the same plugin that's currently used for voice and video chat, it's limited to 10 participants and doesn't work on mobile devices yet. Another interesting thing is that "hangouts are created by one person, but everyone in the hangout shares the ability to invite others. Each hangout has a specific URL. That URL can be shared as a link to invite others." You can also use Hangout to watch a YouTube video with your friends.

Hangout looks like a great Google Talk feature and I don't see why it shouldn't be added to Gmail and to Google Apps. Video conferencing could make Google Apps a lot more useful.

Google Talk and AIM to Become Interoperable

When you log in to your AIM account in Gmail, you get a message from AOL that links to this page.

In the next few days, Google and AOL are working together to change the way you connect to AIM buddies within Gmail. After this change, Gmail and AIM users can talk directly to each other without having to log into both services (you will no longer be able to log into AIM within Gmail's "Chat" section).

It's nice to know that AIM and Gmail Chat (Google Talk) will finally become interoperable and the Gmail integration will no longer be necessary. Back in 2005, Google and AOL announced that "Google Talk users and AIM users will be able to communicate with one another" and two years later Gmail Chat integrated with AIM, but they didn't become interoperable.

{ Thanks, Josh. }

Ability to configure Chat settings at the organizational level

For domains that have the new interface for the Settings section in the Google Apps administrator control panel, it’s now possible to configure Chat settings at the organizational level.

This new interface should be out to all domains using the next generation control panel by the end of next week.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
US English only (Next Generation Control Panel)

How to access what's new:
In the administrator control panel, select ‘Settings’ and then ‘Chat’ to view the new option to configure chat settings at the ‘Org Settings’ level. This means that each organization that you’ve created can have different settings applied just to that organization.

Note: This option is only for domains that have the new ‘Settings’ interface that is currently being rolled out.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=60767

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Google Talk Guru

Google Talk Guru is a new Google bot that lets you ask simple questions. It's "an experimental service that allows people to get information like sports results, weather forecasts, definitions etc via chat. It works on many popular chat applications that support Google Talk."

Send an invitation to guru@googlelabs.com in Gmail Chat, Google Talk or any other Jabber client and find simple facts like "weather in London", "amplitude definition", "translate souris", "2^8", "web stanford" (which returns the top Google result for [stanford]).


The service is not as powerful as Google SMS, but it's still handy.

{ Thanks, Michael. }

Gmail Voice and Video Chat for Linux

After two years of waiting, Gmail's plug-in for voice and video chat is finally available for Linux users. "Voice and video chat for Linux supports Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions, and RPM support will be coming soon," says Tristan Schmelcher, from Google.


Justin Uberti says that adding Linux support was really difficult. "This release required significant engineering to develop an all-new video rendering solution and an all-new PulseAudio-based audio handler, along with work to support 64-bit and countless webcam compatibility tests. We spent a lot of effort to make it fully feature-complete, with all the same goodies as the Windows and Mac versions, and we're happy to now support Google voice and video now on all major desktop platforms."

Now that video chat is available on Windows, Mac and Linux, when will it be ported to Android?

Friend Suggestions in Google Chat

The Google Chat gadget from iGoogle's sidebar started to show friend suggestions and they're usually people you've emailed frequently. Google also shows a list of Google Translate bots that help you translate the messages from a conversation.



Another new feature lets you send some of your contacts to someone you've emailed frequently.


It seems that the suggestions are displayed even if you've enabled this option in Gmail: "Only allow people that I've explicitly approved to chat with me and see when I'm online". By default, Gmail automatically invites to Google Chat the users whom you frequently email. "Gmail determines which contacts you'll be able to talk to without having to invite each other."

{ Thanks, Bogdan. }

Send Files in Google Chat

One of the few features that are available in Google Talk's desktop client, but couldn't be used in the web-based gadgets from Gmail, iGoogle and orkut, is file sharing. The missing feature is now available in iGoogle and orkut, but not yet in Gmail.

"Starting today, you can share photos, documents, and other files while chatting in iGoogle and orkut. To give it a try, just click Send a file... in the Actions menu while chatting with a friend (no download required). This feature is also compatible with the file transfer functionality in the Google Talk downloadable software, so you can share files directly from the web with folks who use the desktop version," explains Google.

You can send multiple files at the same time, but you can't select multiple files from the file picker dialog. Google Chat doesn't support transferring files larger than 100 MB.


Google Talk's desktop client is no longer updated, as Google focused on improving the chat feature from Gmail and adding similar features to iGoogle and orkut. Google Talk's homepage still links to the Windows client, but the first option is a plug-in for video chat.

{ Thanks, Niranjan. }

Google Talk to Add Video Conferencing

Gmail Chat, the web-based version of Google Talk, added last year voice and video chat. The feature is now available in iGoogle and orkut, but it will probably be added to other Google services, as well.

SFGate reports that Google will improve the service significantly in the coming months.

Gmail's voice and video chats are now limited to one-to-one communications, but Google wants to broaden that capability to more than two participants and make it more robust all around for Apps.

"This [current Gmail capability] is the first step in a much broader set of features we hope to roll out over the next six to 12 months around video [and voice] chat capabilities," said Rishi Chandra, a Google Apps product manager. "It's a great opportunity for us to push that space along."

It's not clear whether Google plans to integrate Marratech's video conferencing software, acquired in 2007.

Other features that will be added to Google's services: "intelligent meeting scheduling in Google calendar", "intelligent workflow in the [Google Docs] applications", "lots of new functionality being developed especially around formatting" in Google Docs.

{ via Justin Uberti }

More features in administrator Chat settings

Administrators now have more control over how their users use Chat and can:
- Enable/disable their user's ability to chat outside the domain.
- Enable a setting to automatically accept chat invitations between users in their domain.

Editions included:
Premier and Education Editions

Languages included:
US English

How to access what's new:
Go to Chat settings in the control panel, and enable/disable the checkbox 'Users can chat with other users outside this domain'. This will also affect the ability to chat within the Google Network.

To set automatic acceptance of invitations to chat, enable/disable the checkbox 'Automatically accept chat invitations between users in this domain'. Please note that your users will be able to override this setting and it's a default setting only.


For more information:
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=60767

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Browser-based voice and video chat available in Gmail

You can now have voice and video chats with your contacts for free within your browser's Gmail window.

Editions impacted:
Standard, Premier, Education and Partner Editions

Languages impacted:
US English

How to access what's new:
From Gmail, open a chat session with a contact, click on the 'Video & more' menu at the bottom of the chat window, then select 'Start video chat' or 'Start voice chat'. The first time you use this feature, you'll be prompted to download and install a small plugin.

For more information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2008/11/gmail-voice-and-video-chat.html

SLAs available for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Talk

Google Apps Premier Edition now includes a 99.9% uptime guarantee for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Talk.

Editions impacted:
Premier Edition

Languages impacted:
All

How to access what's new:
This uptime guarantee is available to all Premier Edition customers.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/sla.html

Google on Android

At Google, we develop products that we love to use ourselves. For example, we're avid users of Search, Gmail, Maps, and many others. But for those of us in mobile, it's tough. Not all products work the same on all devices, and although we try and optimize for each device, we often run into challenges specific to certain mobile phone platforms. I, for one, used to carry three devices with me all day. I love my iPhone for its powerful browser and music player. I use my BlackBerry for Gmail and Calendar (and occasionally Brick Breaker), and I carry a Nokia N-series phone because of its camera and YouTube application.

The first Android-powered phone, announced today by T-Mobile, comes 'with Google'. The following Google applications are preloaded on the device: Search, Maps, Gmail with Contacts, Calendar, Google Talk, and YouTube. There are a few things I'm particularly excited about:

• Easy to use. It's never been easier to use Google on your phone. With single sign-in, you can log in to your Google account and have instant access to all your favorite Google products. No messing around with settings, your login never expires, and everything just works. If you don't have a Google account yet, you can set one up on your phone and be up and running in seconds.
• Fully synchronized. Your emails, contacts, calendar entries, Google Talk chats are fully synchronized with Gmail and Calendar on the web. New events are pushed in real-time to your phone and any changes you make on-the-go are immediately available on the web. If you ever lose or break your phone, all your data is safe and secure in the cloud.
• Designed to work together. Search is now available as a feature in many applications, including non-Google ones, such as the music player. While you're listening to a song -- like something from Depeche Mode -- just 'long-press' the artist's name. You'll see a menu pop up that let's you search Google for the Depeche Mode Wikipedia entry, or search YouTube for the music video. The contact application lets you see your friend's IM status, view his address on a map, and communicate with him using Gmail or Google Talk. And, of course, you can call or text him as well.

Check out the video below to see these features in action:



The Google applications on Android take full advantage of the features of the Android platform. Gmail is built on 'embedded WebViews', the real-time push features and synchronization use the multi-tasking capabilities of the platform, and the integration between applications relies on the 'Android Application Framework'.

We're kicking off a new blog series, called 'Google on Android'. Over the next couple of weeks, we will dig deeper into each one of the Google applications available for Android, and at the end of the series, I'll let you know whether I've decided to switch phones or switch to pants that let me carry four phones instead of three.

Posted by Marc Vanlerberghe, Product Marketing Director

SSL enforcement available as an administrative setting

Premier Edition administrators can now ensure that users access Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites with HTTPS, so data is encrypted as it travels between user web browser and our servers.

Editions impacted:
Premier Edition

Languages impacted:
US English

How to access what's new:
Sign in to the control panel, choose 'Domain settings', check the box for 'Enable SSL' and save your changes.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=100181

Google Talk available for the iPhone

You can now access Google Talk from the iPhone to instant message with your contacts on the go.

Editions impacted:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions

Languages impacted:
US English

How to access what's new:
From your iPhone's browser, visit http://talkgadget.google.com/a/example.com/talkgadget/m. Be sure to replace 'example.com' with your actual domain name.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/mobile.html

Google Talk for the iPhone

Posted by Adam Connors, Software Engineer, Google mobile team

We've just released in the US a new version of Google Talk designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch browsers. In addition to sending your friends Gmail messages from your iPhone, you can now chat with them while you're on the move, too! In your iPhone browser, just go to www.google.com/talk, sign in and start chatting. That's it. Google Talk runs entirely in the browser so there's no need to download or install anything.

There are some differences from using Google Talk on your computer. For instance, in order to receive instant messages with Google Talk on your iPhone, the application needs to be open in your Safari browser. When you navigate away to another browser window or application, your status will be changed to "unavailable" and your Google Talk session will be restarted when you return.

Other than that, we've tried to keep the design as faithful to the desktop experience as possible, so it should be familiar to you. You can select from a quicklist of the people you contact most, search your contacts, and manage multiple conversations. You'll never have to miss out on the latest gossip or updates from friends just because you're away from a computer.

Google Talk gadget adds support for 20 new languages

The Google Talk gadget now supports US English, UK English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Editions impacted:
Standard, Premier, Education and Partner Editions

Languages impacted:
UK English, Chinese(Simplified), Chinese(Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese(Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.

How to access what's new:
Bookmark http://hostedtalkgadget.google.com/a/your-domain.com/talkgadget/client to quickly launch the Google Talk gadget.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/talk.html

Gmail in-browser chat supports group chats, emoticons and in-line media previews

When users instant message using Gmail's browser-based chat feature, they can now have multi-user chats, add emoticons to their messages, and view media like YouTube videos right in the chat window.

Editions impacted:
Standard, Premier, Education and Partner Editions

Languages impacted:
US English

How to access what's new:
Sign in to Gmail, and start a chat session with one or more of your contacts. When a contact sends you a YouTube link, you can watch the video right in Gmail's chat window.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/talk.html

Google Talk gadget launched with group chat

Google Talk can now be launched from the browser, so you don't need to use the Google Talk application. The Talk gadtget also supports multi-person chat sessions.

Editions impacted:
Standard, Premier, Education and Partner Editions

Languages impacted:
US English

How to access what's new:
Bookmark http://hostedtalkgadget.google.com/a/your-domain.com/talkgadget/client to quickly launch the Google Talk gadget.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/support/a/google.com/bin/answer.py?answer=58339

Nokia 770 Will Include GTalk

Nokia 770 Internet Table which offers Wi-Fi access and high-resolution touch screen will include Google Talk as a VoIP application.

Engadget found out that Nokia will launch this model Tuesday and it will cost around $390.

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet's software is upgradeable and currently runs on the Linux-based Internet Tablet 2005. It includes Opera browser, internet radio, PDF viewer and media player.

The upgrade to the Internet Tablet 2006 operating system will include support for additional services, like VoIP and Instant Messaging.

Related:
Google Talk Tips

Google Talk Tips & Tricks

Some people say Google Talk is nice because of its minimalistic design, but they coudn't use an Instant Messenger that doesn't have smileys and font customization. Here are some tips that will make your work with Google Talk better.

Keyboard shortcuts

* CTRL + Mousewheel up/down: Change the font size in a conversation window.
* CTRL + E: Center text
* CTRL + R: Right justify text
* CTRL + L or CTRL+J: Left justify text
* F9: Open Gmail to send an email to the person you talk to
* F11: Start a call
* F12: Stop the current call
* ESC: Close the current window

Conversation

* Some smileys are converted by Google Talk: :-| :-O :-x :-P :-D ;-) :-( :-) B-) :'( :| :O :x :P :D :) :( :)
* To write bold text, type *your gtalk message*
* To write italic text, type _your gtalk message_

Startup parameters (go to Start/Run and type "c:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /one_parameter_from_the_list_below)

* /nomutex: allows you to open more than one instance of Google Talk.
* /register: write Google Talk settings in the registry.
* /checkupdate: check for new version.
* /factoryreset: revert to default settings.
* /mailto email@gmail.com: send an email with Gmail.
* /diag: start Google Talk in diagnostic mode.

Related:
New Google Talk build (includes avatars)