Facebook’s Messenger app for Windows 7 computers leaked to the public late last year. The service was initially in a beta phase, but as of Monday it’s been officially released. Facebook previously created a Messenger app for iOS and Android smartphones, which allowed users to quickly chat with friends, share their location or photos and more. The desktop version, unfortunately, does not feature video chat and is limited to Windows 7, although Facebook is “working on making the app available for more operating systems, so stay tuned.”

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iOS developer John Heaton has discovered a string of iOS code that suggests Apple is working on bringing its popular iChat client to iOS devices. We first heard this rumor back in September, but now there appears to be some proof to back it up. iChat, not to be confused with iMessage, allows Mac users to chat with one another across various messaging platforms including AIM, Google Talk and more. Currently, iOS users can only access iMessage through the text message app and can only place FaceTime calls using the address book or Phone application. A refreshed iMessage platform for iOS could merge all of these into one easy to use buddy list. While it is still unclear how exactly Apple plans to execute the move across all of its platforms, it certainly bolsters our theory that iMessage really is the start of something much bigger.

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Samsung is set to make a big splash with new products during the IFA trade show in Berlin, which kicks off later this week, and the phone maker recently announced a new group text application called ChatOn. The application allows Android, iOS, BlackBerry and bada users to create groups to quickly send and receive group text messages. The service will no doubt compete with BBM, Apple’s iMessage, Google’s Huddle, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and GroupMe, but Samsung is trying to distinguish itself from those other services by offering a more robust feature set. ChatOn lets users to see their most messaged friends, complete with “interaction ranks,” send animated text messages and share photos and videos in a shared group “trunk.” Read on for a full intro video and press release.

Mobile Messenger More than that, Samsung ChatON (chaeton)

Samsung Electronics, a global communications services for the coming September ‘ChatON’ (hereinafter chaeton) start the service. The world and provides services to more than 120 countries, up to 62 languages ​​that you’d support. This world of mobile phone users to communicate beyond borders and languages, is expected to be enabling.

Chaetoneun simply is not just talking to pass the mobile messenger. Trunk (Trunk), such as sharing content through the box and profile comments to share with your friends lives the concept of micro-community is a global SNS. In addition, allowing users to communicate more effectively with a wide variety of message types, and many more platforms and is designed to be in terminal.

From now on, Samsung’s ambitious, let’s look chaetone.

Generation and space to support a variety of platforms can communicate beyond!

Multi-platform support chaetoneun smartphones, as well as the general consumer with a mobile phone is a characteristic that can be used deulkkaji. ‘Chaeton’ Galaxy of the Samsung products and its own sea-based platform offers new features, starting with phone services, also for third-party’s main platform is expected to expand in stages. Mobile phone users worldwide smartphone, feature phone to break into the ‘chaeton’ will communicate through the mornings I’m not that far!

Micro-community-oriented mobile communication services

Chaetoneun various user groups to community-based micro-oriented. Contact with the balloon that displays the frequency of conversations with the number of ‘intimate position’ feature can be a simple social networking. In addition, the ‘word to your friends’ with the ability to determine a group of friends might like to comment briefly.

Support for multimedia content to communicate emotion.

In addition to the chat room, you do not need to find each other, sharing content. Group-based content storage space of ‘trunk’ through to see at a glance because you can find. In the trunk of your photos and videos can also leave a brief moment.

1:01 chaetoneseoneun chat and group chat, group message (bulletin), and the dialog is available in a variety of ways. In addition, photos, videos, voice message, location, contacts, calendar, and supports a wide variety of multimedia content. Specifically, the background music, photos, handwritten cards and make it yourself with the ability to send animated messages can be an emotional communication.

Samsung Media Solution Director yihosu vice president, “chaetoneun Samsung’s service technology created a global mobile communications for the core services,” said “consumers want and social networking needs to meet the service to become a future sustainable performance upgrades to introduce new features,” he said.

Facebook announced on Tuesday that it has released a new application called “Messenger” for Android and the iPhone. Messenger allows users to quickly chat with friends, create group chats, share their location or photos and more. It doesn’t appear that Facebook will tie it in with its Facebook Chat application just yet, but you can access your Facebook inbox from the new app. Unfortunately, it does not offer the same delivered/read alerts that competing services such as BBM, iMessage and WhatsApp offer. The free application is available in both the Android Market and the iTunes App Store now. Facebook acquired a messaging platform called Beluga in March and this is likely the preliminary fruit of that purchase.

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Activision on Tuesday announced Call of Duty Elite, a new social network-style experience that will allow Call of Duty players to interact with one another in an entirely different way. The social network has three pillars: connect, compete, and improve. “Connect” will allow users to compete against friends, join groups, find players with similar interests, and enter tournaments. Activision will provide both web and mobile interfaces for managing your Call of Duty information from multiple devices. “Compete” will allow players to enter events and competitions with other players that have similar abilities, and Activision promises real world and in-game prizes. “Improve,” will provide users with a strategy guide to help them bump their gaming skills by following their performance and ongoing statistics. “The average Call of Duty player spends 58 minutes per day playing multiplayer,” Activision Publishing CEO, Eric Hirshberg, said. “That is more than the average Facebook user spends per day on Facebook. And yet, right now, there are very few tools to unite and super charge that social community. Whether it’s allowing you to connect with your friends, or people of a similar skill level, people who live in your city, people who share your favorite passions, join competitive clans or social groups, or upload, view and comment on the incredible mass of player-generated content, or watch and comment on exclusive created content, Call of Duty Elite will give people more ways to connect with fellow players than ever before.” Most features will be free, although a premium package will also be available. The service will enter public beta with Call of Duty: Black Ops this summer and will launch on November 8th with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Hit the jump for the full release and a demo video.

Call of Duty® Elite Will Unite and Ignite Gaming’s Largest Online Community

Activision’s New Service Will Offer 30 Million Call of Duty Players Innovative Ways to Connect, Compete and ImproveWill Launch With This Year’s Most Anticipated Release Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 on November 8, 2011

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The world’s most passionate online gaming community can now connect, compete and improve their Call of Duty® multiplayer experience through Activision’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) innovative new online service, Call of Duty Elite.

Developed from the ground up by Activision’s new Beachhead studio, Call of Duty Elite offers cutting-edge features that significantly enhance the franchises’ multiplayer experience and deliver a new level of social engagement that will unite more than 30 million players worldwide.  Additionally, the service will offer exclusive, high-production value, original entertainment programming designed exclusively for the Call of Duty community.

“The average Call of Duty player spends 58 minutes per day playing multiplayer. That is more than the average Facebook user spends per day on Facebook. And yet, right now, there are very few tools to unite and super charge that social community,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “Whether it’s allowing you to connect with your friends, or people of a similar skill level, people who live in your city, people who share your favorite passions, join competitive clans or social groups, or upload, view and comment on the incredible mass of player-generated content, or watch and comment on exclusive created content, Call of Duty Elite will give people more ways to connect with fellow players than ever before. Elite will also allow players of every level to improve their game with an intuitive suite of tools, and compete in tournaments for both real and virtual prizes.”

Call of Duty Elite will include several industry-first innovations, and is designed to reset the bar for what players can expect from a multiplayer experience for this year’s most anticipated game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  Elite will offer two-way communication between the service and the game, so that the choices and decisions that players make in Elite through the mobile and web interfaces will affect their in-game experience.  The service will be fully integrated into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and will launch alongside the game on November 8, 2011.

Call of Duty Elite’s features and services engage the community in three key ways:

• Connect: Call of Duty Elite gives players unprecedented control over their multiplayer experience, transforming it into a true social network. Players can compete against friends, players of similar skill levels and players with similar interests, join groups, join clans, and play in organized tournaments. They can also track the performance, progress and activity of their entire network, both in the game itself, as well as through mobile and web interfaces.  Elite will be an “always on” way for players to connect with the Call of Duty community.
• Compete: Call of Duty Elite establishes the most exciting, competitive environment in a multiplayer game.  Players will have available a constant stream of events and competitions, tiered to group them with those with similar abilities. Both in-game and real-world prizes will be rewarded to all skill levels.
• Improve: Call of Duty Elite is like having a personal online coach. It provides players with a dynamic strategy guide that tracks their statistics and performances down to the most minute details.  It can show gamers how they stack up against their friends or others in the community. Tools and information are provided so players can learn and up their game.

Carrying forward to future Call of Duty games, Elite will chronicle a player’s gameplay history in a cohesive career record, keeping track of every kill, every game and progress.

“Call of Duty Elite has been tailored for Call of Duty’s diverse base of players — hardcore gamers, casual weekend warriors and even beginners — and additional features will be revealed when we premiere Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer later this summer,” added Hirshberg.  ”Over 7 million gamers play Call of Duty online each day logging hundreds of hours of multiplayer per player per year.  Of course, the out of the box Call of Duty multiplayer experience that gamers have come to love and expect will continue as is.  However, for those players looking for more, Call of Duty Elite will supercharge their experience.”

Many key features of Call of Duty Elite will be available to Call of Duty players free of charge.  Additionally, for players who want to up their game, Call of Duty Elite will offer a premium membership with a wide range of state-of-the-art services, exclusive entertainment programming and all-inclusive game content for less than the cost of any comparable online entertainment service currently in the market.

The service will be accessible on a number of platforms — via web browsers, mobile devices, through game consoles and within the game interface itself — so that players can connect with Call of Duty Elite whenever and wherever they want.

Call of Duty Elite will launch this fall with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. However, to test the scale of the service, Activision will hold a public beta this summer for Elite with Call of Duty®: Black Ops.  For more information, go to www.callofduty.com.

Yahoo! Messenger for iOS has been updated to version 2.1. The chat client is now optimized for tablets screens, and Yahoo! has added support for video chat on the iPad 2, including the ability to place video chat calls to the iPhone, a Mac, or a PC. Yahoo! says it has also added improved spam management tools, and users will now be able to block one or all friend requests from a single screen. If you’ve been using the previous version, the update should also eliminate any unexpected sign-out issues. Yahoo! Messenger 2.1 is available for free from iTunes now.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

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Moments ago, Google announced it will begin pushing out Android 2.3.4 in the “next few weeks.” The company notes that the software will contain bug fixes for the Nexus One and, more excitingly, video chat capabilities for the Nexus S. “You can now video or voice chat with your friends, family and colleagues right from your Android phone, whether they’re on their compatible Android tablet or phone, or using Gmail with Google Talk on their computer,” reads the press release. “You can make calls over a 3G or 4G data network (if your carrier supports it) or over Wi-Fi.” A video demo of the new video chat feature is waiting for you after the break. Enjoy!

Earlier this month, we told you about Internet voice and video chat company fring and its plans to release a multi-user video chat client. Today, the company announced that both its Android and iOS software bundles now have this new feature. “With fring’s Group Video calling, four fring friends can now share a simultaneous video call, for free, on their mobile phone (on Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G) using fring’s proprietary DVQ technology, that delivers the highest quality video for all four participants,” reads the press release. The apps are ready to be downloaded from the Android Market and App Store. There is an awesomely bad music-video demo thingy waiting for you after the break.

A carefully crafted tweet has sparked rumors of a native video-chat feature coming to Android 2.3.4 in the near future. “Just had a video call using gmail on Nexus S. Impressive quality @googlenexus Gingerbread 2.3.4 #io2011,” reads the post in question. The implication is — obviously — that Google will migrate its Gmail, browser-based video chat service to Android and unveil the new offering at this year’s Google I/O conference, which is set to kick off May 10th in San Francisco. We can’t say we’d be surprised to see it… but we’re still pretty excited.Read [Android Police] Read [Twitter]

The brood over at PreCentral have managed to acquire a leaked copy of HP’s webOS 3.0 beta 1 software development kit (SDK). Why is this a good thing? Because contained within said SDK rests a TouchPad, webOS 3.0 emulator, of course. While emulators only provide 50% of the TouchPad story — the other half being hardware — it is useful to get a high-level overview of what user interface will look like. If you want to whet your appetite for this summers TouchPad release, hit the jump. There’s an eighteen minute video overview awaiting your scrutiny. Be sure to click through the read link as well for a host of screen grabs.

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Have an HTC ThunderBolt and a burning desire to use Skype’s video chat service? You’re in luck, because the gang over at Droid-Life have discovered a leaked iteration of the Internet communication client that is video-chat ready. The client, which was expected to ship with the ThunderBolt at the time of its announcement, can only be installed on Verizon’s first LTE smartphone… at the moment. If you’re interested in taking the software for a spin, hit the read link and have yourself a download.

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Fring, the makers of the self-titled, cross-platform, mobile voice and video chat client, are beginning to dabble in group video chat. In a recent YouTube video, the company showcased its latest software build — currently in beta — running a group video chat session on iOS. The feature will allow up to four users to simultaneously connect, face-to-face in a Brady Bunch-like mosaic as seen above. The beta is currently accepting applicants, so if you think you’re worthy — or just love playing with new software — hit the jump, watch the video, and follow the read link to apply.

[Via AppScout]

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RIM has made Facebook for BlackBerry, version 2.0, available via its BlackBerry Beta World portal. The latest update includes support for Facebook Chat and messages — which will now automatically land in your unified mailbox. Provided that you leave yourself signed in, the app will automatically notify you of new chat messages, even if you don’t have the app open. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve accidentally “Liked” a random friend’s status while scrolling through our Facebook News Feed, so a revamped layout that prevents this from occurring is certainly welcome. It’s also now possible to check-in, update your status, or post photos, directly from the top of your News Feed. Facebook for BlackBerry 2.0 offers revamped navigation controls, and a new notifications bar that looks a lot like the “Today View” in BlackBerry 6. Lastly, the profile view has been tweaked, and now allows users to toggle between wall, info, and photo tabs on a friend’s page.

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Yobongo, if you haven’t heard, is a new iPhone app that meshes location-aware messaging with a chatroom-like environment, and it’s kind of amazing. By using a custom algorhytm and different variables including your location, people you have chatted with previously, or even people you know, Yobongo connects you with up to around 10 people in a single “room” and well, from there it’s one big conversation. I’ve been using Yobongo for around a week, and while the beta test didn’t use our location to work (there was most likely no one nearby since the service hasn’t launched yet), it’s a pretty incredible experience. For starters, the UI is beautiful, well thought out and extremely polished, and it’s minimalistic enough without being bare. Using the app is very straight forward — you just open it and you’re instantly placed into a room using the aforementioned data points. Messaging is very fast, almost real-time, and that’s something co-founder Caleb Eston aimed to achieve; Yobongo’s big vision is that it’s a communication system that leverages location in such a way that hasn’t been done before, we don’t believe. The iPhone app launches for free in early March in the App Store, though you can sign up now to be put on the wait list on Yobongo’s website. Hit the break for a video of the app in action.

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Palo Alto, California-based start-up SayNow announced on Tuesday that it has been acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum. SayNow’s platform facilitates voice messaging between individuals or groups, and the company provides access to its services through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Android and iPhone applications. The start-up claims to have over 15 million people currently using SayNow apps and services, which include SayNow Phone, SayNow Broadcast, Big Call and Chit Chat. While details surrounding Google’s intentions for the platform are unclear at this time, the company’s services will ultimately be folded into Google Voice according to SayNow founders Ujjwal Singh and Nikhyl Singhal. Hit the break for SayNow’s full press announcement.

Google acquires SayNow
Tuesday January 25, 2011

We are thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Google.

Since 2005, we’ve explored fun and entertaining ways for people to talk with each other. Through the web, smartphones, and even land lines, our products brought communities together through the power of voice. And as Google has some of the best voice products in the world, we believe combining forces with the Google Voice team will let us innovate in new and unexplored areas.

We have no specific product plans to announce at this time, but we’ll have more to say about our roadmap as we integrate with Google, so stay tuned. We couldn’t be more excited about what is yet to come.

Nikhyl & Ujjwal, co-founders

[Via TechCrunch]

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