Chat and e-mail

If you like the Google+ Circles feature and you're a Google Voice user, you'll be happy to hear the search giant's latest news.

Google announced yesterday that Circles is now available in Google Voice. In order to access the feature, you will need to head to the "Groups & Circles" tab in the Google Voice settings. From there, you can determine how to handle the Circles that Google offers: Acquaintances, Friends, Family, and Following.

"Circles give you more control over how you manage your callers; for example, calls from your 'Creepers' circle can be … Read more

You may have recently learned how to block annoying callers on Android by adjusting settings in the caller's contact information. Now, you can handle the next step of ignoring someone--not seeing texts from them--by using NetQin's Mobile Manager for Android. Here's how to get started:

Important note: This app will ignore alerts for people on your blacklist, not prevent them from incurring charges for texts on your monthly bill. If you need a more permanent solution for blocking texts from your phone completely, you will need to contact your wireless provider.

Step 1: Install Mobile Manager&… Read more

If you don't take care of your skin, it could come up in your next Skype conversation, as Skype for Windows (download) updated today with support for high-def resolution.

The new version of the VoIP software also gets Facebook audio and video chat, the power to share screens with more than one person, a push-to-talk option, Bing Bar integration, and a new software updating service for automatic updates.

The high-def isn't available to just anybody, of course. You'll have to have a Logitech C920 Webcam and an upload/download speed of at least 2 Mbps. Skype explained … Read more

There may be a million reasons why your hot date didn't call to go out again. It could be your Celine Dion shirt, your collection of "Star Wars" Pez dispensers, or the Steve Wozniak tattoo on your butt.

WotWentWrong is a Web app that takes the mystery out of the dating dumps. It gives the dumper an opportunity to tell you what went wrong so you can try to avoid the same hiccups with your next prospect.

Using WotWentWrong is a lot faster and easier than Facebook stalking or dropping desperate hints to friends-of-friends. You simply customize a form letter chosen from a variety of styles, provide some feedback about your date, and let the app take care of the rest.… Read more

How many contact lists do you have? A new iPhone app from Xobni unifies your contact lists into one app (already available for Android), helping you quickly find contact information from a number of sources.

Smartr Contacts for iPhone (Free) unifies your contacts by scanning your iPhone contact list and e-mail contacts, then grabbing information from social sites like Facebook and Twitter, to merge all the available data into a searchable supercharged contact list.

You start by adding your Gmail account, then social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Once connected, Smartr Contacts goes to work tying your contact data … Read more

Kwaga, a French startup that fixes shortcomings of today's e-mail, has raised $1.55 million in first-round funding.

The company's flagship service today is called WriteThat.name. It reads your e-mail and automatically enters contact information into your address book, creating new entries and updating existing ones.

It works today only with Google Apps and Gmail, but the funding will help the company bring it to Microsoft Outlook, too. That service is in beta testing right now.

The funds also will help the company integrate with major customer-relations management (CRM) products.

The funding came from private investors and … Read more

Were you lucky enough to receive a new Mac laptop or desktop this holiday season?

Once you've booted up that shiny new Mac for the first time and have had a chance to look around, check out our Best apps for Mac to get the lowdown on great apps you can download. We feature both free and paid software in our collection and there's something from just about every category.

Whether you want a different browser than Safari, want to discover and listen to new music, or just need a multiservice chat client, this collection has got you … Read more

If somebody was nice enough to get you an iPad for the holidays, make them proud by decking it out with all the best apps.

We've rounded up our favorites so you don't have to wade through hundreds of thousands of apps in the iTunes App Store.

There's no question that the iPad is a great entertainment device, but there's more to it than just games if you know which apps to get. In this collection of Best apps for iPad, we've got several categories of apps to choose from, including productivity, entertainment, social networking, … Read more

Did you get an iPhone or iPod Touch as a gift this holiday season?

Now that you've got your account set up, the first thing you'll want to do is check out some of the great apps in the iTunes App Store.

The question is, with more than 500,000 apps, which ones should you choose?

We rounded up our favorite apps across several categories so you can get started right away. In this collection of Best apps for iPhone, we've got everything from alternative browsers to the hottest games; they all have reviews you can read … Read more