Category: Google
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Updated “Directory Dilemma” Article Now On CircleID…
Continue Reading: Updated “Directory Dilemma” Article Now On CircleID…Back in December, 2014, I published a post here called “The Directory Problem – The Challenge For Wire, Talko And Every Other “Skype-Killer” OTT App“. After receiving a good bit of feedback, I’ve now published a new version over on CircleID:The Directory Dilemma – Why Facebook, Google and Skype May Win the Mobile App War
I incorporated a good bit of the feedback I received and also brought in some newer numbers and statistics. Of note, I now have a section on WebRTC where I didn’t before. You’ll also notice a new emphasis in the title… I’m now talking about the potential winners versus the challengers. I also chose “Directory Dilemma” not only for the alliteration but also because the situation really isn’t as much a “problem” as it is an overall “dilemma”. It may or may not be a “problem”.
I’m not done yet.
I’m still seeking feedback. I intend to do yet another revision of this piece, but in doing so intend to:
- Change it from the informal tone at the beginning to more of a “paper” style;
- Include a bit more about potential solutions.
Comments and feedback are definitely welcome… either as comments here on…
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Google Finally Kills Off GoogleTalk and XMPP (Jabber) Integration
Continue Reading: Google Finally Kills Off GoogleTalk and XMPP (Jabber) IntegrationGoogleTalk is dead, Jim!
By way of a comment to a post I wrote back in May 2013 about Google seeming to kill off XMPP/Jabber support in Google+ Hangouts (spoiler: They did!), I learned from a friend that the GoogleTalk API was officially deprecated as of February 23, 2015. I confirmed this by finding a Google+ post from Google’s Mayur Kamat.
Now, this is not a surprise. Google has been clear that Hangouts was the replacement and also that Hangouts does not support XMPP:
Still, I’m sad to see the XMPP integration die off. It is just a continuation of the descent of messaging services into walled gardens … a topic I’ve been writing about for many years. UPDATE: Please see the post “No, it’s not the end of XMPP for Google Talk” on the XMPP Standards Foundation site. The XSF notes that XMPP is still used inside of Google and that XMPP federation can still occur with a third-part XMPP client. However, because Google does not support the secure use of XMPP via TLS, many public XMPP servers will not connect to its server. I join the XSF in wishing that Google would embrace secure messaging and better…
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The Directory Problem – The Challenge For Wire, Talko And Every Other “Skype-Killer” OTT App
Continue Reading: The Directory Problem – The Challenge For Wire, Talko And Every Other “Skype-Killer” OTT AppAs much as I am enjoying the new Wire app, there is a fundamental problem that Wire faces… as well as Talko, Firefox Hello and every other Over-The-Top (OTT) or WebRTC application that is seeking to become THE way that we communicate via voice, chat and/or video from our mobile phones and desktops. That is:How do they gather the “directory” of people that others want to talk to?
The fundamental challenge all of these applications face is this:
People will only USE a communication application if the people they want to talk to are using the application.
And where I say “talk” it could also be “chat” or “message” or… pick your communication verb.
It’s all about the “directory” of users.
There’s a war out there right now… and it’s a war for the future of our communications between each other. It’s a war for messaging… and it’s also a war for voice and video.
And it all comes back to… which communications application or service can provide the most comprehensive directory of users?
Which communications tool will be the one that people use the most? Will any of them replace the default communications of the mobile phone? NOTE:…
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Lesson Learned The Hard Way – Google+ Hangouts On Air …
Continue Reading: Lesson Learned The Hard Way – Google+ Hangouts On Air …I learned a hard lesson today that Google+ Hangouts On Air (HOA) are limited to 4 hours in length…. and to read the rest of the story, visit Disruptive Conversations…(Good lesson that I shouldn’t be posting articles at 1:00am! But leaving this post up here for a bit because there are now social media links out there pointing to this URL…)
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Did Google REALLY Kill Off All XMPP/Jabber Support In Google+ Hangouts? It Still Seems To Partially Work
Continue Reading: Did Google REALLY Kill Off All XMPP/Jabber Support In Google+ Hangouts? It Still Seems To Partially WorkDid Google really kill off all of their support for XMPP (Jabber) in Google+ Hangouts? Or is it still there in a reduced form? Will they be bringing back more support? What is really going on here?
In my excitement yesterday about Google Voice now being integrated with Google+ Hangouts, I missed a huge negative side of the new Hangouts change that is being widely reported: the removal of support for the XMPP (Jabber) protocol and interoperability with third-party clients.
But yet a few moments ago I did have a chat from an external XMPP client (Apple’s “Messages” app) with Randy Resnick who received the message in a Google+ Hangout. I opened up a Google+ window in my browser and I could see the exchange happening there as well. Here’s a side-by-side shot of the exchange in both clients:
So what is going on here?
Reports Of Google Removing XMPP
This issue has been widely reported in many of the tech blogs and sites. Matt Landis covered this issue very well in his post: Hangouts Won’t Hangout With Other Messaging Vendors: Google’s New Unified Messaging Drops Open XMPP/Jabber Interop which then generated long threads on Reddit and Slashdot.
The Verge in…
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You Can Now Call Into Google+ From Regular Phones – Google Connects Google Voice To Hangouts
Continue Reading: You Can Now Call Into Google+ From Regular Phones – Google Connects Google Voice To HangoutsWant to hear the sound of Google further disrupting the world of telecom? If you have a Google Voice number and also use Google+ (as I do) with the Hangouts feature enabled, you’ll soon be hearing this new sound if you haven’t already.
UPDATE: I have written a follow-up post responding to several comments and expanding on several points.An Unexpected Ringing
Yesterday a random PR person called the phone number in the sidebar of this blog to pitch me on why I should write about her client. This phone number is through Google Voice and I knew by the fact that my cell phone and Skype both started ringing simultaneously that someone was calling that number.
But as I was deciding whether or not to actually answer the call, I realized that there was another “ringing” sound coming from my computer that I had not heard before. Flipping quickly through my browser windows I found my Google+ window where this box appeared at the top of the “Hangouts” sidebar on the right:
Now, of course, I HAD to answer the call, even though I knew from experience that most calls to that number are PR pitches. I clicked…
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The Fascinating Interest in Using Google Voice With SIP Addresses
Continue Reading: The Fascinating Interest in Using Google Voice With SIP AddressesWhy are so many people interested in using Google Voice with SIP? Is this a sign that people really want to use SIP-based services for VoIP? Is this all hobbyists or people looking to play around with Google Voice? Or is it people trying to solve real interconnection issues? What are people trying to do with Google Voice and SIP?All these questions came to my mind today when I dipped into Google Analytics and noticed that for the month to date in November 2012, my old (March 2011) post about Google Voice and SIP addresses continues to receive a large amount of traffic:
Slightly over 3,000 pageviews in the first 13 days of November – and if I go back a bit I see over 71,000 pageviews since January 1, 2012. In fact, it’s had about 232K pageviews since I wrote it over 1.5 years ago, and has accounted for almost 25% of all traffic to this site in that time.
And this particular article was just one in a series of articles I wound up writing about Google Voice and SIP as we all collectively tried to figure out what was going on.
Digging into the traffic sources…
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3 Great Posts to Read About Why Windows Phone 7 Hasn’t Taken Off…
Continue Reading: 3 Great Posts to Read About Why Windows Phone 7 Hasn’t Taken Off…Jumping online this morning I noticed this trio of great posts yesterday about Windows Phone 7 and why it hasn’t taken off. The discussion was started off by Charlie Kindel, a former Microsoft general manager:
MG Siegler weighed in on his blog with:
And Robert Scoble posted a comment on Charlie’s post that led then to his own post:
The comments on both Charlie Kindel’s and Robert Scoble’s posts are also worth reading. There were other articles on this theme, but these were the three I found most useful.
As to my own opinion, I’m definitely in Scoble’s camp (to which Siegler also agrees):
It’s ALL about the apps!
The device formerly known as a “mobile phone” is now a device to access all sorts of services, information, games, Internet sites and to send messages to people… and, oh yeah, it can make phone calls sometimes if you really want it to.
It’s all about the apps… and until Microsoft is able to truly…