• On TechRepublic: Windows 7: Slower to boot than Vista?
February 25, 2008 9:00 PM PST

Bored? Lonely? Talk to other bored, lonely souls on Cafe Jaxtr

by Rafe Needleman
  • Font size
  • Print
  • Post a comment

Lonely venture capitalist seeks chat with willing entrepreneurs.

I'm having a hard time appreciating Jaxtr's latest service, Cafe Jaxtr. It's a "talk network," where you can find people who are interested in certain topics, and then phone them to chat. If you have hobbies, and like people calling you out of the blue to talk about them, you can set up your own profile page so they can reach you.

The thing I don't get is why anyone would want this, but apparently I'm either too old or too antisocial to dig it. Konstantin Guericke, Jaxtr's chief executive officer, says his 10-million-strong user base is going to eat this feature up like candy.

All phone numbers are proxied through Jaxtr so you never know the other person's real phone number, nor do you have to give yours out. It also includes configurable privacy settings: You can have the system ring your phone whenever someone is trying to reach you, or it can send all incoming calls to voice mail, or you can let through only approved contacts.

Users get 100 minutes per month for free in the U.S. (it's different elsewhere). Premium accounts will have more talk time.

Jaxtr widgets can easily be added to social network pages, but Cafe Jaxtr is a person-to-person communications channel. For truly social chat, see the new Equals, which lets you set up a five-person voice chat via a Facebook application.

Previous Jaxtr story: Startle your friends with Jaxtr's new tools.

Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe.
advertisement

About Webware

Say No to boxed software! The future of applications is online delivery and access. Software is passé. Webware is the new way to get things done.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Webware topics

A CNET Conversation with Eric Schmidt

CNET's Tom Krazit and Molly Wood sit down with Google CEO Eric Schmidt to discuss the future of Android, the Chrome OS, the problem of real-time search indexing, and more.

Verizon tests sending RIAA copyright notices

The No. 2 phone company, known for its reluctance to intervene in antipiracy cases, strikes an agreement to forward copyright notices on behalf of the music industry.

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right