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Dec 25, `07 — Slashdot reports on Google linking up Google Reader with Google Talk to make shared items visible to your contacts on Google Talk.

“One week ago Google Reader’s team decided to begin showing your private data to all your GMail contacts. No need to opt-in, NO way to opt-out. Complaints haven’t been answered. Some users share their problems, including one family who says they won’t be able to enjoy this Christmas because of this ‘feature.’ Will Google start doing this with all their products? You can browse the thread in Google Groups.”

Comments from Google Groups

User ‘banzaimonkey’ writes:
“I think the basic mistake here, as Modulo has noted, is that the people on my contact list are not necessarily my “friends”. I have business contacts, school contacts, family contacts, etc., and not only do I not really have any interest in seeing all of their feed information, I don’t want them seeing mine either. This is a major privacy problem.”

User ‘Paul Russell’ writes:
“Using my Gmail contacts as a friends list is a dangerous thing. Especially because a lot of the addresses in there were added automatically when people emailed me. I understand that sharing is a public activity, but to date Google reader shares were pseudo private by obscurity. In reality the only people that were going to see my share were people I told about it. I don’t like the idea of an opt out only mechanism. Facebook just took a bath on this concept. Granted Beacon was a complete disaster, but I think the lesson to be learned is when you change personal sharing to become more public it should be an opt in process.”

Chrix Finne at Official Google Reader Blog invites your feedback on Google Reader features here at Google Groups.

Dec 04, ‘07 — Gmail rolled out a new feature to make it even more convenient and useful to chat from Gmail: AIM support.

Now you can now chat with all your AIM buddies right inside Gmail. Just click on the upside-down triangle next to “set status here” in your Gmail chat and select “Sign into AIM” from the drop down menu. Once you’ve entered your AIM log-in information, your AIM contacts will appear intermingled among your Gmail contacts, and you can select an AIM contact and chat with them directly.

This is just one of the first new features Google’s email service launched using Gmail’s new code structure. This is rolling out in the newest English version of Gmail first and will be available in other languages soon. More at Google.

REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 6, 2007 — Microsoft today launched Windows Live, a new set of personal Internet services and software, which encompasses more than 20 services, including Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live OneCare Family Safety.

A free and fun upgrade for the online and Windows experiences, the new Windows Live was launched today at Windows Live and at events in New York and Los Angeles. To celebrate the launch, Microsoft is partnering with the children’s nonprofit Operation Smile to encourage people to share smiles through Windows Live to help Operation Smile make a difference in the lives of children around the world.

Windows Live Features:

Communicate. Stay close and connected how you want, wherever you are.

Share. A simpler way to share your photos and express yourself online.

Access Anywhere. Connect easily and share information you want.

Safety. Enjoy a worry-free computing experience with built-in safety features.

Cupertino, CA–Oct 31, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ –Web communication start-up Ccube, is today announcing the launch of Communicator Toolbox, a set of four no-dial calling tools for every Web user. Communicator Toolbox is the first Voice 2.0 solution for consumers and small-medium-businesses that enables free nationwide Instant Calls (IC) from the Web in four ways, on any landline or mobile phone, and without downloading software or using a credit card.

Headlining Toolbox are Ccube’s true two way privacy solutions (neither number or email is ever revealed). Web Communicator connects members to members and lets them connect by keywords, while the Call Me Widget, (dubbed ‘the 800 number killer’) connects visitors to members through a clickable button placed on websites, email signatures and classifieds, at no charge to either party.

My Keypad, for calling known long distance numbers free, like family and friends, and Virtual Calling Card, a giftable alternative to plastic calling cards for free nationwide calling, both debut in Toolbox.

“Our social networks continue to explode with new contacts everyday, but how we communicate online has not evolved to the level of efficiency our mobile lifestyles demand,” says Mahesh Lalwani, Ccube founder and CEO. “Ccube Instant Calling tools are changing that — by powering our phones, the way Instant Messaging powered our keyboards a decade ago.”

Anthony Bettencourt, chairman of the world’s largest video search engine, Blinkx, and Ccube advisory board member, says Web 2.0 is now about social utilities like Communicator Toolbox, bringing service value to users across all areas of their lives. Ccube.

 Oct 31, ‘07 – Yahoo! announced on Tuesday it is adding media-playing features, large file transfers, new languages and other tools to its instant messaging service, Yahoo! Messenger. The move comes as a growing number of rivals — from AOL to social network sites like MySpace — boost their positions in the market for instant messaging services.

Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 launched as a beta and has added features similar to ones seen on social networks or media-sharing sites, including extra room to post a picture or other image next to contact names and the ability to share video or photos within a message screen. The service is adding languages from six new markets, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Vietnam, for a total of 25 international markets.

Yahoo! Messenger is one of the largest instant messaging service, with about 27.7 million users in September, up 19 percent from a year earlier, according to data from tracking firm comScore. AOL reported about 30.2 million users. Y! Messenger

October 31, ‘07 — A Web start-up, TokBox, wants to do for live video chats what YouTube did for video watching.  

Tokbox is a free service that lets you talk with your friends over live video. Here’s how it works: you sign up and we give you a link. When you want to talk with anyone, just give them the link - they click and you chat. Free video calling from any website. 

The company makes it easier for you to put your TokBox on your social network profile, blog, or personal webpage. Anyone can come to your page and see a “Push to Talk” button. They click it and connect to you in real time using live video and audio. 

TokBox features 

• Free video chat: No cost. No prepaid minutes. Really free
• No downloads: Talk through your browser. No chat client needed
• Any website: Embeddable on all websites and social networks
• Privacy control : You control who can see you and who can’t 

Several other services, including AOL’s AIM, Yahoo Messenger and Skype, allow live video chats but require that each party download the software and be online at the same time. On TokBox, if one party is not present, users can send a video mail message of up to five minutes in length that the other party can later retrieve at the site. TokBox

SAN FRANCISCO, October 23, 2007 - AOL today launched a collection of mobile services designed to create rich mobile experiences that take customization, ease-of-use and experience-sharing to a new level. These products leverage many of AOL’s strongest assets including AIM, AOL Mail, AOL Search, MapQuest, AOL CityGuide, Moviefone and Winamp.

Starting today, mobile users will have access to a redesigned and highly customizable AOL.com WAP portal for mobile phones offering new mobile versions of AOL Search and AOL Mail, best-in-class services, such as MapQuest and Moviefone, and vastly expanded content in the areas of shopping, music, news and entertainment. In addition, those attending the CTIA show will be able to view an early version of AOL MyMobile, new downloadable software which features an easy-to-use interface that can be specifically tailored to users’ needs.

Further, AOL is expanding AIM functionality for mobile devices with a new text message-based AIM short code service and an exciting new GPS-enabled widget called AIM Buddy Finder. New enhancements to Winamp Remote offer more ways for users to enjoy and share their media and playlists on their cell phones.  

AOL.com WAP Portal AOL has introduced the new AOL.com mobile web portal, available at http://aol.com on WAP-enabled phones. New and enhanced features include:

- AOL Mobile Search

- AOL Mail- myAOL

- AOL Shopping Mobile

- Best-in-Class Information Services

- Vastly Expanded Content

AOL MyMobile will soon be available for Windows Mobile® devices as a free download.

- Mobile AIM Short Code & AIM Buddy Finder Widget

AOL has long been the leader in mobile instant messaging and today introduced two new services for AIM users. The first is a new AIM Short Code service, which is now available for mobile users on the Verizon and Alltel networks. This new feature delivers AIM instant messaging functionality through text messaging on a user’s cell phone, including “send IM,” “change status message,” “view Buddy List,” “add/delete buddy” and more. Users can send a text to the ‘AIMAIM’ short code (246246) to access the new service.

Also new is a WHERE™ mobile widget called “AIM Buddy Finder,” which allows users to set and share their locations with their AIM® buddies from their GPS-enabled phones. Users can see the location on a MapQuest® map of friends who’ve chosen to share their locations using the AIM Buddy Finder widget.- Winamp Remote

Earlier this year, Winamp unveiled Winamp Remote, a free service that lets users access and listen to music stored on their computers right from their cell phones. More at AOL

Hotmath.com Adds Math Instant Messaging Feature: First U.S. Web Site to Offer Online Collaboration on Math Homework. Students Will Put Instant Messaging Skills to Educational Use at Hotmath. San Francisco, Calif., October 17, 2007 — Hotmath, Inc. has added a new Math Instant Messaging feature to its award-winning web site, Hotmath. The leader in online math homework help, Hotmath.com displays hint-step explanations for the actual, odd-numbered homework problems used in more than 200 math textbooks used in U.S. middle schools, high schools, and colleges. Math Instant Messaging allows students to study together in real time over the Internet.

The first U.S. education web site known to have embedded instant messaging technology, Hotmath’s Math Instant Messaging allows students to collaborate on homework assignments online. Students use a pointer and “texting” while viewing Hotmath hint-step explanations of textbook homework problems. They can communicate via instant messaging and a shared pointer to move through teacher-prepared problem explanations.

“Starting in November, students who need help on math homework can turn to their friends, without having to be in the same location,” said Chuck Grant, Hotmath co-founder and a former mathematics teacher. “We hear news every day about the preferences of tweens and teens to communicate with instant messaging. Yet, to my knowledge, no other U.S. education company has taken this powerful communications tool and integrated it with instructional content. Now students can work on math problems together in a cyber study hall.”

The guided context of Hotmath for homework discussions helps students work through homework problems at a faster rate. Students move a pointer to a location in a troublesome hint or step, and then use a text-window to ask or answer a question.

More at Hotmath