chat

Over the weekend, a Facebook chat feature was revealed--one that allows you to use a profile picture to represent someone instead of simply typing their name. … 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

Not everyone is on Facebook, but it sure seems that way sometimes; the site certainly has more members than any other social networking site in history. Among Facebook's many options for staying connected is its chat feature, which is popular with many users. But what if you want to chat with Facebook friends without being tethered to the Facebook Web page? Try fTalk. This slick chat client lets you log into your Facebook account and chat with your friends without even having your browser open.

We got off to a rough start with fTalk, as it immediately crashed the … Read more

Two popular programs included with OS X are Photo Booth and iChat, both of which allow you to use a camera attached to the system to capture and send pictures and videos of yourself to friends and colleagues.

Both of these programs have a video effects section, where you can apply filters to stretch and warp your face into odd shapes, or have hearts or birds revolve around your head for a "lovestruck" or "dizzy" effect. While these features should work just fine, there are situations in which the effect either cuts in and out or … Read more

For Android users, there's a nifty download now in the Android Market called BrowserTexting (download).

The free app lets you sync your phone to your browser, so you can send and receive SMS messages right from your computer. It's perfect for when you're at work, at home, or when you just don't feel like tapping away texts on your Android phone's touch screen.

To start, BrowserTexting gives you unlimited incoming texts and up to 50 outgoing texts from your browser per day. It also lets you send group texts to up to five recipients at … Read more

BrowserTexting lets you sync your Android phone with your browser, so you can send and receive SMS messages from the comfort of your computer. It's perfect for when you're at work, or at home, or when you just don't feel like tapping away at your Android device's touch screen.

The beauty of BrowserTexting is its simplicity. Once you download and install the app on your Android phone, you pretty much never have to fiddle with it again. Just use your computer browser to navigate to browsertexting.com, where you'll get a unique QR code. Then, … Read more

Smartphones accounted for 59 percent of the handsets sold to U.S. consumers in the third quarter of 2011, according to The NPD Group's Mobile Phone Track.

As the phones' penetration has grown, consumers have been more likely to find themselves with an ever more versatile tool in their pockets. These capabilities have certainly contributed to the decline in once hot-selling categories, such as MP3 players, digital cameras, and portable navigation products. These companies, in turn, have sought to differentiate themselves with, for example, larger screens on car navigation products and better image quality and longer zooms on digital cameras.

Smartphones are relatively cheap because of carrier subsidization; they are almost always with us because of the desire to be available for phone calls. However, are consumers settling for a second-hand experience in leaving their specialized gadgets behind? According to recent research from NPD Connected Intelligence, most consumers would say they are not. … Read more

Skype deepened its partnership with Facebook today by adding Facebook video calling to both its Mac and Windows applications.

With the just-announced Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows, you can initiate a Facebook video call without having to open up your browser and log in to the social-networking site. Just connect your Facebook account to Skype, select a Facebook friend, and hit the Skype video call button. Your friend picks up the call directly from within Facebook. While the feature isn't exactly a game-changer, we do think it's superconvenient. Since you … Read more

IM+, the popular instant-messaging application for Android, jumps to version 5.0 today, bringing with it a revamped tablet-optimized interface, improved battery usage, and several other really nifty features.

Beyond its shiny new interface, the big addition to IM+ is its support for Android's native Share tool. Now you can select text from other apps or your browser and easily add it to an instant message through IM+. Sure, this seems like a basic feature, but that's precisely why it's a big deal that IM+ is finally getting it.

Additionally, IM+ now offers group chats for AIM, … Read more