Video-conferencing tool Zoom is seeing a surge in use during the coronavirus pandemic, due to people being stuck at home and unable to meet in meatspace groups. I’ve read about people using Zoom to drop in on yoga and pilates classes, as well as for more usual business-related activities.
iOS 11 will finally give users the ability to hold FaceTime group calls with multiple friends, according to a new report.
Sources familiar with Apple’s plans claim the feature will support up to five participants, and that users will be able to initiate video calling from within iMessage group chats.
Allo, the exciting new messaging platform from Google, landed on Android and iOS today — but you might want to think twice before you rush to download it. Every conversation you have with Allo will be logged by Google (unless you remember to go incognito).
Most of us have heard nightmare stories of friends who traveled abroad only to come home with a horrific cellphone bill. Either they forgot to put their device in Airplane Mode, or didn’t consider an international plan. Those types of mistakes have cost people hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in international fees for phone calls and data usage abroad.
Stories like these are becoming less common, however, as technology improves. One of the best and most recent advancements are new plans that make it easier for folks to travel to another country and still be able to use their current phone.
We tell you about three options for using your phone while traveling abroad, so you can keep in touch with friends and family back home — and not spend too much in the process.
Watch out Facebook Messenger, Google is taking another stab at messaging with its newly revealed app called Allo.
Does the world really need another messaging app? Probably not. But Google is hoping that it has finally created the perfect mix of features that will make you ditch Snapchat and Facebook.
Google’s chat and video messaging service, Hangouts, got a whole new standalone web app on Monday afternoon.
“We are launching another way to use Hangouts today,” writes Google’s Jordanna Chord on Google Plus. “From our new site you’ll be able to take advantage of the best of Hangouts in the browser, along with an inspiring image to get you through the day.”
Now you’ll be able to keep in touch with all your Hangouts-using buddies in any web broswer, including Safari, without having to run Gmail or Google Plus (or the Chrome app).
Get ready to say au revoir to that unwanted Google+ account you randomly get a friend requests on once a year.
Google announced today that in the coming months the company will allow you to create a YouTube Channel, or Gmail account, without creating a Google+ account. And for those of us who were forced onto Google+, there will be an option to finally remove your public profile.
If you’re looking to plan a heist, you’d probably best stay clear of Hangouts: Google has inadvertently confirmed that its chat platform is susceptible to police and government monitoring.
While the tech giant usually keeps quiet about Hangouts’ security features, the revelation (of sorts) came out of an “Ask Me Anything” session Friday on Reddit that included members of Google’s public policy department and legal team. Its proposed topic was “the current status of U.S. government surveillance law reform and how Google thinks about these issues,” but the questions were less about laws or reform and more about Google’s practices.
Google has released a major update to its Hangouts iOS app. Most notably, the new version includes a design makeover that’s more akin to iOS 7. Short video messages can be sent to contacts, and location data can also be shared.
Here’s the full changelog:
A somewhat concerning bug affecting a large number of Google Hangouts and Google Talk users is causing messages to be delivered to the wrong recipients. The problem, which appears to have started early this morning, is already being investigated by Google — but you may want to avoid using these services for the time being if you can.
After Google announced Hangouts at Google I/O back in June, we suspected that Google+ Messenger’s days were numbered — and we were right. In a new Google+ update rolling out now on Android, Google is killing Google+ Messenger for good, while the iOS version will get the chop at a later date.
The new Google Hangouts app for iOS has received its first update since making its App Store debut back in May. The release adds a number of new features, including the ability to invite friends via SMS and click and share links, plus bug fixes and improvements.
This week on The CultCast: Google Maps gets prettier, smarter, and faster; Hangouts is a new chat app with some innovative features; Google Music is too late to party; Erfon eats H’orderves on a space jet with Tim Cook and Richard Branson; and Leander dons his powdered wig to judge an all new Faves ‘N Raves.
All that and more on this week’s CultCast! Stream or download new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.
Show notes up next.
The new Google Hangouts app for Android and iOS is the best messaging service Google’s produced yet, but one thing that will probably prevent it from taking off is its lack of SMS support.
If you tried the Hangouts yesterday you probably noticed the amount of people you can talk to is sparse. That’s because Hangouts only uses Google+ to connect to other humans so all of your friends would have to sign up for Google+ before you can use Hangouts to send them a message.
The dearth of people on Google+ probably means that Hangouts isn’t quite ready to be your go-to messaging app quite yet, however, Google’s Community Manager says SMS integration is coming to Hangouts soon.
Google unleashed an insane amount of news during its marathon keynote at the I/O developer conference today in California. A new music subscription service, Google Maps update, and messaging platform were just a few of the announcements.
Software and services was the name of the game at I/O this year, and here’s a roundup of everything Google unveiled earlier this afternoon:
Google Babel, the new communication service from Google, has been renamed Google Hangouts ahead of its public debut at Google I/O next week, according to an unnamed Google employee. Babel had been its name internally throughout the service’s development, but that moniker has now been dropped by Google.
Thanks to those leaked screenshots that appeared on Tuesday, we’re pretty confident that Google Babel is no longer just a rumor, but a real product that’s patiently waiting to get its grand unveiling. And according to sources that are familiar with Google’s plans, it’s worth getting excited about.
They claim Babel aims to be “everything we have ever asked for in a unified messenger service,” with cross-platform syncing and a “first class iOS experience.”
According to Google engineer, Frank Petterson, on his own Google+ profile page, the search giant’s social network iOS apps just got a little more international, as the app just became available in 48 new countries and territories.
Google has issued an update to Google+ for iOS that makes it the first app to offer an “Open in Chrome” button for URLs. Version 3.1 also brings teen Hangouts, and bug fixes that promise to improve performance.
It appears the Gmail video chat and its peer-to-peer technology has run its course. It served many of us well, but with the introduction of the more modern and featured packed Google+ Hangouts, it’s time to move forward. Google today announced they would be upgrading Gmail video chat to utilize the power of Google’s network and deliver higher reliability and enhanced quality with the new Hangouts system.