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Tag: video-chat

  • Yowie Adds Group Video Chat to Its Platform

    Yowie has announced it is now offering enhanced group video chatting for consumers, competing against the likes of Skype, Google Hangouts and Tiny Chat. Yowie, known for connecting fans with celebrity chat hosts such as Colin Farrell, Amy Poehler, Interpol and presidential hopeful Gary Johnson, now compete head to head in hot consumer video chat space.

    "By working with some of the biggest names in entertainment over the past year, we've learned that people with similar offline interests are looking to authentically connect online," said Yowie founder and president Jamie Snider. "With the new Yowie, we're making it simple and safe to not just video chat with a celebrity, but with anyone around almost any topic."

    Yowie claims it is the first online destination to combine social interaction and a controlled environment for video chat. What makes Yowie different?

    • Reputation scoring system: Yowie's proprietary reputation scoring tracks on-site user behavior, including how and why users are being kicked, banned or reported for abusive behavior. Yowie surfaces all of that information on each user's profile so that Yowie users can make informed decisions about whom they engage with online.
    • Multimedia content: Have a cool new video that you want to chat about? Anyone can play YouTube or Vimeo media during their Yowie group chats, and new video and audio content partners — both live and recorded — are being added.
    • Categorized topics and search features: Group chat organizers are asked to tag a conversation so Yowie can aggregate chat rooms by topic. Popular chats will be showcased to users based on their personal preferences, or users can proactively search for specific topics.
    • Experience points: Users will be rated by experience points and earn badges as they use new site features (like playing media, or sharing the room with friends on social networks), encouraging people to use Yowie as a visual and social way to connect around common interests.
    • Public or private: Group chat organizers will be able to designate whether a conversation can be made public or private. This means no worrying about eavesdropping on your private conversation.

    Free and nothing to download: Yowie is a browser-based video chat service, so you have nothing to download. You can quickly start your own free chat room as long as you have a webcam and an Internet connection.

    Other new features with Yowie group video chat include:

    •     Embed the full group chat experience on any Internet destination.
    •     A Facebook application for group video chatting that mirrors the vast majority of Yowie's on-site functionality.
    •     Send a recorded video invite to your Facebook friends to join you in a chat room.
    •     Custom room skinning for chat room sponsors such as fan clubs or meet up groups.

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  • Xbox LIVE Video Kinect Brings Video Chat to Your Living Room

    Along with the announcement of Kinect for Xbox 360 (formally known as ‘Project Natal’), Microsoft yesterday unveiled Xbox LIVE Video Kinect that lets you chat with other Xbox 360 users.

    But the next year, Microsoft is going to link Video Kinect with Windows Live Messenger, allowing the Xbox LIVE community to have real-time video conversations with hundreds of millions of PC users around the world. The new service will also integrate custom news feeds, weather and videos from Bing.

    The Natal camera’s "Autozoom Focus" instantly finds and follows you when you move so you always stay in frame; no headset is required.

    No more details have been given except those given by Piero Sierra, Group Program Manager, Windows Live Messenger & Mail at Microsoft in his blog post: “When we told you earlier about what’s coming in the next version of Messenger, one of the things we discussed was how we’re improving the core instant messaging experience, and making big improvements to video chat and media sharing with built-in features like HD support, full-screen video chat, and more engaging ways to share photos and videos,” he wrote.

    And added: “If you’ve been following the E3 conference, you know that today Microsoft unveiled new details about the controller-free Kinect for Xbox 360, including how it enables Xbox LIVE users to have real-time video conversations with Windows Live Messenger users.

    This functionality will release in the next year, and we’re excited about how it helps make your communication experience even richer by bringing Messenger and your friends directly into your living room.”

    Related articles
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    GIPS Enables HD Voice and One-Way Video Chat to the iPad

  • fring Gives Android Users the 1st Mobile 2-Way Video Calls

    fring just announced the release of the world’s first mobile video calls over internet on Android devices.

    “Now we know iPhone will push video calling with its new 2-camera phone. But before they do, fring is launching today 2-way video calling over IP, across a whole host of Android devices – old and new,” said Gil Regev, Director of Marketing Communications at fring.

    According to recent NPD’s wireless market research, the Android OS continued to shake up the U.S. mobile phone market in the Q1 of 2010, moving past Apple to take the number-two position among smartphone operating systems.

    Android device owners now join Nokia (Symbian S60) and iPhone/iPod touch users who are already making free mobile video over internet calls with fring.

    Regev said fring believes that mobile video calling will change the way people call and communicate with each other. “It will impact the way they shop or kiss their kids goodnight from the road,” he added.

    According to Avi Shechter, fring’s Co-Founder and CEO, the demand for this feature has been “overwhelming”.


    Related articles
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    Frings Brings Video Calls to Nokia Symbian 9.3 Devices
    MWC 2010: Interview with Gil Regev of Fring

  • Goober Introduces New HD Voice and 6-Way Video Conferencing Solution

    Goober Networks, a Unified Communications provider, announced goober 3.0 as a public beta*, a new collaboration solution that includes multi-protocol instant messaging, HD Voice to landlines and cell phones and 6-way video conferencing calls to PCs including Windows and Macintosh.

    goober 3.0 delivers its HD VoIP calling across multiple PCs, including Windows and Macintosh, and the iPhone and iPad with gooberVoIP, which works over Wi-Fi and 3G networks.

    It delivers HD voice quality from 8-16 kilohertz and is able to support video conferencing resolutions from 720 to full HD. No additional hardware is required by the service provider or the end user, and the software-only client can be downloaded for free.

    It supports 227 countries, offering HD VoIP calling worldwide. According to Goober, their flat rates are “versatile and flexible”, offering an average per-minute price “that’s 25-50 percent less expensive than any other VoIP provider.” Calls in the US and Canada are $.01 USD per minute.

    “Goober 3.0 is compatible with today’s 100 million VoIP subscribers worldwide, the 1.6 billion people projected to use IM services by 2012 and the projected 1.9 billion email users by 2013, plus the growing population of social networking and instant messaging sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, GoogleTalk, Jabber, ICQ, MSN, QQ, Yahoo and AOL,” the company said.

    "Goober Chat offers multiple protocol messaging features, allowing friends to join chats, even if they’re using other messengers besides goober, such as ICQ, MSN, GoogleTalk, Jabber, AOL, Yahoo! and QQ – no other UC provider offers this cross-platform chat capability and we’re excited to be the first to bring this capability to the market, so people can simplify their communications from one location," said goober Networks’ CEO Peter Uhlich.

    The solution will be powered by Global IP Solutions’ GIPS VoiceEngine and GIPS VideoEngine.

    *The current beta version offers 4-way video conferencing; however, the final public release of goober 3.0 will support a record-setting 6-way video conferencing capability.

  • Skype Introduces New Monthly Calling Subscriptions and Group Video Chat

    Starting tomorrow, Skype is rolling out new calling plans to more than 170 countries.

    1-month, 3-month and 12-month calling plans will be available in 60-, 120-, 400-minute and unlimited packages.

    The range of subscriptions start from $1.09 (€0.89 /£.69) per month and offer effective rates as low as €0.01 ($.01/£.01) per minute to almost any destination around the globe.

    According to Skype, this provides customers with a savings of up to 60 percent compared to Skype’s standard Pay As You Go rates.

    Skype also announced that it will be releasing the new beta of its Windows software next week. It will feature video conference calls for up to five callers.

    Related articles
    Skype Mobile for Verizon Wireless Now Available
    Skype Goes Symbian
    Skype’s On-Net International Traffic Growing Fast

  • D2 Technologies Showcases its mCUE Converged Communications Client with Embedded VoIP for Android


    D2 Technologies has demonstrated its mCUE converged communications client for Android-based devices at an event designed to promote the adoption of Google’s Android operating system beyond mobile phones.

    During this demonstration, the embedded IP communications software platform specialist showed OEMs and ODMs how embedded software products such as mCUE can enable VoIP, video chat and other IP communications capabilities in stationary Android-based embedded equipment and consumer electronics devices.

    The company showed how, with mCUE, these devices can offer premium multi-service unified communications capabilities and deliver simultaneous interoperability with any communication service provider, Instant Messaging (IM) community or social networking platform.

    The client enables all popular communication modes to be converged to a single communications user interface (UI), including circuit switched voice (PSTN or cellular), VoIP, Instant Messaging (IM), SMS and video chat.

    mCUE includes D2 Technologies’ carrier-class vPort MP VoIP platform that is completely integrated into the Android framework, Linux kernel and hardware platform BSP.

    The free event in Tokyo, Japan, was sponsored by the Open Embedded Software Foundation (OESF).

    Doug Makishima, vice president of marketing and sales at D2 Technologies, said the OESF’s goal of ‘Android Anywhere’ will facilitate the expansion of the Android platform beyond mobile phone applications to many different embedded applications and consumer electronics devices.

    He said as an embedded VoIP technology specialist, D2 is working closely with OESF members such as MIPS Technologies and RMI.

    The aim is to develop and promote the adoption of IP communications and VoIP technology extensions to the Android framework for digital consumer devices.

    "These include mobile internet devices (MIDs), DTVs, digital picture frames (DPFs), portable and home media players, and set-top boxes," he said.

    Developed by the Open Handset Alliance, the Android platform is a Linux-based software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.

    D2 Technologies was the first to demo a complete communications interface, mCUE, on the HTC G1, the first commercial smartphone to market running on the Android mobile operating system.

    Formed in March 2009, the 25-member OESF is focused on expanding market reach for the Android platform.

    Founded by ARM, KDDI, Japan Cable Laboratories, Alpine Electronics and Fujitsu Software, the organization works with member companies on sharing technical information, co-development and co-marketing initiatives.

    The OESF and its member companies are working on standards and development of Android for embedded equipment such as consumer electronics and in-car navigation systems other than mobile phones.

  • Subscriptions and Video Drive Mobile Adult Revenues To $ 2.2bn In 2008


    Increasing demand for streamed subscriptions services and video chat earned the global mobile market for adult content USD $2.8 billion in 2008.

    That represents an increase of 36 per cent over the previous year, according to a report from Juniper Research.

    The mobile adult report found that the increasing prevalence of 3G handsets in many European markets had led to migration away from services offering only text and graphics towards video-based services.

    This has resulted in significantly higher average revenue per user (ARPU) levels for service providers.