Webware

No, not really. Sorry.

Google yesterday announced in its Talkabout product blog that there's a new way to connect your site or social page visitors directly to you: a Google Talk chatback widget that instantly connects the visitor to your GTalk or Jabber IM client.

I like giving my readers a chance to connect with me directly in real-time, so I'm all about products like this. But the implementation of this little product is so lightweight and so lacking, that I understand perfectly why even the Google blog post announcing it shows only a picture of the widget instead of a live version of it.

Proof that Google is about to buy TinyURL.

The two big problems that I saw right away are these: There's no way to tell people who see your chatback widget that you're unavailable without also turning off your availability to people in your buddy list; and the product doesn't ask people who want to reach you to identify themselves. There's just not enough control of the chat session before it starts to make it enjoyable.

Then there's the product's gaping user interface weirdness: When someone wants to chat with you, you get a giant unreadable link in your instant message window, which opens up the discussion in a browser-based chat window. Why it can't just run the chat in your existing IM client, I don't know.

However, my Twitter friend Ryan says it does do a good job of parsing photo site URLs and will display the images they link to inline.

As I said, I'm in favor of giving my readers a good way to reach me live, but this tool doesn't cut it, which is why I, too, am showing only a graphic of it and not the thing itself.

If you do like this idea but not Google's implementation, check out MeeboMe (review).

(Credit: Google)

Any jokes about Google becoming a self-aware, humanity-destroying robot got a little closer to fruition yesterday. Google Talk (download the desktop widget), Google's homemade Jabber-based chat client, is now host to 24 (and counting) new translation bots that will take whatever text you throw at it and convert it to the appropriate language. Each of the bots was built with an open protocol called XMPP that lets anyone build their own bots and share them on the Google Talk network--as long as you've got some place to host them.

The new bots become particularly useful if you invite one into a group chat with one or more users who speak a different language. The bot will automatically translate the conversation so each user can understand one another, which you can see on the screenshot to the left.

The translation bot project was the result of some of the Google Talk team's 20 percent rule, Google's somewhat infamous option of having software engineers spend one day a week working on side projects. Besides bots, some of the other services that have come out of 20 percent time have been AdSense, Orkut, keyboard shortcuts in Google Reader, and Google News.

[Via Google Talkabout]

Here's a twist on the all-in-one cell phone chat client--make it call your contacts too.

Fring is a free VoIP and chat client. The downloadable app harnesses your cell phone's Internet connection into phone calls and chats with buddies on Skype, Twitter, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, and ICQ. Your carrier will slap you with no accruing SMS fee, but you'd better have Wi-Fi reception or an unlimited data plan if you want to chat freely and stay in the black.

Fring groups all contacts, including those in your phone's address book, into a single list, highlighting icons at the top to indicate the service your buddy patronizes. You can click a buddy's name to call them, and choose the method of telephony--Fringo, GMS, Skype Out, or SIP. You can also select your service of choice from the call menu. To reach out and ping someone, you select the "chat" option from the menu and begin typing into the narrow field.... Read More

Flickr slide shows show up a little grainy, but otherwise smooth and easy to use.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Google pushed out a nice update to the Web version of their Talk application earlier this week. Users can now have more than four conversations at once, embed Flickr slide shows into chat, and my personal favorite, pop out the chat list as its own window.

The Flickr slide show implementation is pretty slick, although I got a little confused trying to paste in the slide show URL, only to get a dead-end. Users need only paste in an album URL, and Google Talk will automatically convert it into a slide show for you. You can shuffle back-and-forth between photos, which resize dynamically depending on the size of your chat window. A word of warning though: pictures will appear a little grainy, so if you want to see the clear, full-size shots, you'll have to view them on Flickr.

Google also added a button to fire up the chat on blogs, or Web pages, which I've added below.

It's always neat to see a product or service improve after criticism. There are still a few nagging things missing, like file transfer, the lack of a warning message to ask if you want to close out a window with active conversations, and the necessity to have Google Talk installed on your PC to use the VoIP call feature. In the meantime, the Web version has become a really full-featured alternative to the Windows client, and the new-media sharing options set it a step ahead other Web-based chat tools like Meebo and KoolIM.

Google has released a new module to use on its personalized homepage that retains the look and feel of its Windows-only installable chat application, Google Talk. What's interesting is that the Web-based version ends up having a few extra features you don't get with the desktop client. For instance, starting a conversation with a contact creates a new tab on the top of the interface. You can jump through these like tabs on a Web browser. It's far better system than the Google Talk application, which uses expandable horizontal bars like Microsoft Outlook.

There's also a neat new feature that lets you view Picasa albums as well asYouTube videos right inside the chat window, simply by inserting the URL. Interestingly enough, for videos it uses a semitransparent control interface that looks like something you'd find on OS X's Dashboard instead of YouTube's somewhat dated metallic player. I'd be interested to see if it makes its way into YouTube (assuming there still is a YouTube) in the near future.

Google has had a Web-based version of their chat client within Gmail since last June. This new module is coded in Flash, whereas the Gmail one is HTML. Fittingly, the new one is flashier and much more responsive. Despite this, I'd still like to see Google let you 'pop' it out to be placed on the desktop, something you can do with Meebo and conversations in Gmail's chat. Windows Vista users can use Amnesty Generator (review) to put it on their sidebar.

The only drawbacks thus far are a four tabs at-a-time limit, reliance on the Windows app for the call feature, and less customizable interface. Expect those things to be fixed in later versions.

Google has done a short video overview, which I've embedded in this post. In the meantime, you can grab the module here.

[Found on The Google Blog]