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Since it was introduced in late 2008, VoxOx has tried to cut a name for itself in the competitive multiprotocol chat client market by providing users with an aggressive feature set. These include VoIP, a "personal assistant" for managing incoming calls with more than a simple redirect, and SMS and Web-based callback to cut down on the cost of long-distance, transnational calls. The latest improvement is a universal translator that translates all text-based messages in real time, and with a reasonable amount of accuracy, for both the Windows and Mac versions of the program. It will work with … Read more

Sometimes, we say things we just don't mean. Or, more accurately, that we really do mean, but we wish we hadn't said in public.

Still, with fewer people seeming to care about privacy anymore, the untoward consequences of our free expressions can be costly. It seems, for example, that saying something nasty to your ex-girlfriend on Facebook might cost you 165 British pounds (around $250).

According to the Telegraph, Darren Mattox, a 29-year-old from Wrexham, Wales, confessed in court to writing something "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene, or menacing character" to a Facebook friend … Read more

With the 2010 edition of the Game Developers Conference winding down, we've put together a short photographic tour of our week, from Sony's PlayStation Move launch to the booth-filled expo hall. Though surprises were few and far between, we did pick up on some new lines of perceived wisdom from our fellow attendees in the form of trends and themes to watch out for.

Indie games looking for bigger audiencesOne highlight of the week was the Independent Games Festival Awards, which celebrated small, indie projects. Many of these games are or will be available as iPhone, Xbox Live, or PC downloadable games, and though we thought there were too many side-scrolling platform games, there were also many very creative ideas on display.

The move toward digital distribution is having the same effect on the video game industry as it did on the music industry several years ago. Small, independent developers, with tiny budgets and teams, can bypass publishing middlemen and sell directly to the consumer (or close to directly--the owners of much of this virtual retail shelf space, including Apple and Microsoft, still act as gatekeepers).

If you want to check out a few of these indie games, Monaco, a four-player co-op game, took top honors at the awards show.  We also liked the photographic mystery game Trauma and the atmospheric side-scroller Limbo. (Disclosure: My spouse, AOL Games Editor in Chief Libe Goad, is a member of the IGF judges panel.) … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--With thousands of people descending here for this week's South by Southwest festival--most of whom are planning on nightly party-hopping--it can be vital to RSVP to the endless string of sponsored shindigs.

The party invites come in batches, and it can be a serious mental task to keep up with the ones that require reservations. And that's to say nothing of the dozens of spur-of-the-moment booze-and-conversation fests that pop up on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, and other social networks. Yet many attendees are so busy with their wall-to-wall panel schedules, business meetings, lobbyconning, and other engagements, that making … Read more

Though Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is worth $53 billlion, he is now only the world's second richest man, according to Forbes.

Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican telecommunications tycoon, has earned the title as the world's richest man, worth an estimated $53.5 billion. A self-made billionaire, Helu holds a controlling interest in several Mexican telecommunications companies, including American Movil, the largest mobile phone business in Latin America. His net worth climbed $18.5 billion just in the past year.

Second-place Bill Gates, who gave up the reins of Microsoft in 2008 to focus on philanthropic efforts, saw his … Read more

If you use both Outlook and MySpace, you are part of an interesting demographic. But you are also in luck.

Microsoft and MySpace said on Wednesday that they are ready with the beta version of a tool that lets Outlook users see their MySpace connections within the e-mail and calendaring program. A new "social connector" feature for Outlook lets users connect to social networks, including MySpace, LinkedIn, and soon Facebook, too.

In a blog posting, Microsoft said the connector for MySpace is now ready.

"MySpace for Outlook enables you to view activity updates for friends and colleagues … Read more

With the days leading up to this year's South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi) turning into hours, all eyes are on two scrappy rival start-ups, Foursquare and Gowalla, which both want to use the Austin, Texas digital-culture bash as a strategic playing field. They're the two most talked about start-ups in location-based social networking--using GPS on a mobile device to "check in" to places around you and announce it to your friends--and neither company wants to lose out to the other.

But in the real geolocation wars, these start-ups may be little more than toy soldiers. … Read more

We've utterly given up the concept of "on-topic" today, as talk of Apple's Developer License Agreement suddenly turns into a conversation about patent law and nuclear arsenals and our one voicemail is a dirty anagram. What happened!? Also, some bad words.

Facebook to allow users to share location http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/facebook-will-allow-users-to-share-location/

… And so does Twitter http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/09/twitter-location-website/

Veil Lifts Slightly on Apple’s Secret Plan to Control … Read more

Update 10:35 a.m. PST: This story has new details regarding where the OnLive service will be available and why it was delayed.

SAN FRANCISCO--OnLive, a streaming video game service that, if properly implemented, could threaten traditional console makers like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, announced Wednesday that it will launch on June 17.

In a speech at the Game Developers Conference here, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman said that the service will go live in the 48 contiguous United States during the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles, and, at an initial price of $14.95 a month, will offer consumers the ability to rent or purchase AAA games from the likes of Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, 2K Games, THQ, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

For OnLive to officially announce its launch date at GDC is appropriate, given that the service was first unveiled at the conference a year ago. At the time, gamers wanting to play full-scale console games were excited by the service's potential for obviating consoles like the Xbox, PlayStation 3, and Wii. According to OnLive, the service will work on most PCs or Macs via a browser plug-in, or on high-definition TVs via what the company is calling a MicroConsole adapter.

At GDC last year, OnLive said it expected its service to open to the public the coming winter. On stage Wednesday, Perlman admitted that the company is late, but said that since it's still winter right now, they will only be about three months late, and that the delays were partly based on wanting to make the service better than had been planned last year. … Read more