Tag: INSTANT MESSAGING

Meebo has been a favorite amongst cloud computing purists for some time. It's a Web-based, multi-protocol instant messaging client that works across more networks than one person could possibly remember. Mobile IM addicts have been eagerly anticipating the service's official iPhone app, which will finally offer an alternative to high-priced options from Beejive and IM+ ($6.99 and $4.99, ...

AOL, our parent company, has released a beta version of its once dominant AIM instant messaging program. While AIM has been toppled as the most popular IM service by both Yahoo! and Windows Live, it's aiming (get it?) to lure new users by integrating Facebook chat. Now, in addition to compiling updates from Facebook, Twitter, and other social services in your "Lifestream," AIM will allow you ...

Teenagers have been running away from home since, well, forever. But usually, the runaway is a rebel who's had enough of his parents' rules -- not a nerd who's addicted to 'World of Warcraft.' Leave it to a 16-year-old from the Great North to turn this classic stereotype on its head. According to The Globe and Mail, Andrew Kane, who lives with his mom and dad in Barrie, Ontario, left the house ...

During tough economic times, businesses want to tighten belts, and prospective employees clamor for any position, even if it's unpaid. Combine that with the ease of communication afforded by the Internet, and a whole new niche in the job market emerges: virtual internships. According to CNN, businesses, particularly small ones, are tapping into new pools of employees around the world by hiring ...

Alongside the United States' sanctions on Cuba, which include restricted travel and trade, Microsoft has added a technological blockade against the country, CBS News reports. The software giant's Messenger has been available on the island for about a decade without interference, but that all reportedly changed late last year with the most recent Windows Live Messenger Update. News of the change ...

The Internet, besides providing access to an unlimited supply of information on all aspects of life, also allows creative, or bored, people with time on their hands to make parodies of pop culture. Sites like YouTube and FunnyorDie host multitudes of videos and voice-overs satirizing movies, and iChat is now following suit. The Geek Pad located some famous movie dialogues that have been ...

The glut of recent incidents involving employees jeopardizing their jobs due to social networking mishaps may be enough to convince people to keep their online social activities separate from their work activities. Recent research, though, suggests that workers may be better served if they use social networking and instant messaging to remain in close contact with one another. Researchers from ...

What are you to do if you like social networking and interacting with people digitally, but don't actually like your friends? Or don't even want to know your conversation partner's identity? Well, 18-year-old Leif K-Brooks decided he was tired of talking to the people he knew in Brattleboro, Vermont, so he created Omegle. The site lets you anonymously chat with a complete stranger one-on-one. ...

The suicide attempt of an 18-year-old California boy was thwarted when his online friend (who was chatting with him via webcam) called police. Jesse Coltrane, a 22-year old New Jersey resident, called police when the teen he was chatting with cut his forearm with a razor. According to Coltrane, the disturbed teen said, "I need someone to talk to You're the only one I feel as though I can talk ...

Barack Obama's aides learned Friday they'll have to give up one of their favorite means of communicating with each other, the media, and the outside world: the near-ubiquitous instant message. The new White House lawyers say any communication involving government business that is sent via instant message will become a part of the official record and therefore subject to The Presidential ...

If you have ever sent a thank you note to an interviewer that read anything like the above headline, you probably didn't get the job. Increasingly, candidates are sending off casual thank you e-mails and even text messages -- unfortunately, we're not joking -- that incorporate IM shorthand and emoticons. The problem is that many younger job-hunters don't realize this may be costing them that ...

Most cell phone carriers have plans that allow for unlimited e-mail and instant messaging, but text messages typically still cost users on a per message basis. This charge has caught up with the city employees of Troy, N.Y., in a big way, with costs peaking at more than $1,000 in recent months. The result? Troy city officials have revoked the text messaging privileges of employees. Deputy ...

Sure, the iPhone has had various ways of letting you chat with friends via just about any instant messaging network you want. And hey, there are even a number of solutions out there that will let you manage all your chats from one application, like eBuddy, Meebo, and Fring. But what if you want to limit yourself to one instant messaging network. And one with as few people on it as possible? In ...

The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) announced earlier this month that it is taking to the Web in an effort to broaden its reach to Web savvy teens who are more comfortable with chat-rooms than traditional hotlines. RAINN, the largest anti-sexual-assault organization in the nation, has run its popular hotline for more than 14 years, but the concept of a phone-in hotline is alien ...

It is well established that we are a culture driven by connectivity. And its not just Americans that check E-mail on the john. or text while driving -- it turns out hat even the Italians and British are choosing TV over sex. But some out there are choosing fight back against their (our) addiction. Sharon Sarmiento realized she had a problem when she started blogging in her dreams and hearing ...