Android Central: Google finally shutters this long-defunct messaging service. “Google has completely pulled the plug on Talk, a legacy messaging service that you probably haven’t used in a very long time. Google Talk has remained operational for quite some time, even after it was retired a few years ago, but that officially ends today.”
University at Buffalo: Innovative chatbot provides safe space for young people to learn about sexual and reproductive health. “An innovative chatbot designed for sharing critical information about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) with young people in India is demonstrating how artificial intelligence (AI) applications can engage vulnerable and hard-to-reach population segments.”
The Verge: A chatbot could help prevent eating disorders, new study finds. “A chatbot may help reduce the likelihood a person develops an eating disorder, according to a new study. For women at a high risk for an eating disorder, going through a dialogue with a bot developed by researchers reduced concern over body weight and shape — a factor that contributes to their risk.”
Tech Xplore: Artificial intelligence answers COVID questions. “A chatbot that is based on an artificial neural network that can carry out natural language processing (NLP) is being developed by researchers in India. The team describes how the chatbot can be programmed to answer questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Details are to be found in the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics.”
9to5 Google: New Gmail with Google Chat tabs rolling out for free accounts, here’s how to turn on. “Last year, Google announced that the future of Gmail will see Chat messaging and group Rooms join the existing Meet video calling integration. This is already available to enterprise Workspace users, and Google is now letting personal Gmail accounts get this ‘integrated workspace.’” Isn’t this something GMail had several years ago, or was that a different integrated chat?
BBC: Omegle: Children expose themselves on video chat site. WARNING: Disturbing content. Even this excerpt is disturbing. “A BBC investigation into the increasingly popular live video chat website Omegle has found what appear to be prepubescent boys explicitly touching themselves in front of strangers.”
Neowin: Telegram adds group voice chats, lays out plans for monetization in 2021. “Telegram is receiving one more update before the end of 2020, once again bringing new features to the platform. Throughout the year, the company has developed a handful of major new features, including support for video calls, video editing tools, support for bigger files, and more; this time, the highlight of the update is voice chats.”
New York Times: Oh, So We’re Doing Random Video Chat Again?. “Omegle, a website that pairs random visitors through video and text chat, has spiked in popularity over the last four months. (‘did i miss something why is everyone on omegle?’ one person recently tweeted.) The site is similar to the once wildly popular Chatroulette, which is also experiencing a renaissance of sorts, in that it is free, requires no registration and promises a surprising social experience.” As one who remembers Chatroulette, I think “surprising” is certainly one way to put it.
TechCrunch: Facebook Messenger ditches Discover, demotes chat bots. “Chat bots were central to Facebook Messenger’s strategy three years ago. Now they’re being hidden from view in the app along with games and businesses. Facebook Messenger is now removing the Discover tab as it focuses on speed and simplicity instead of broad utility like China’s WeChat.”
The Next Web: 2020 will mark the death of the chatbot as we know it. “According to recent research, only 9 percent of customers felt that they would be best served by a chatbot for serious enquiries, whereas the figures for a voice call were in excess of 80 percent. But with 80 percent of contact centers wanting to adopt chatbot technology by 2020, what is does this industry know that we don’t? Well, they are seeing the bright and not-so-distant future of this technology, and it doesn’t look like a thing like your average chatbot.”
Search Engine Journal: 8 Superstar Video Chat & Conferencing Apps for Business. “With these eight superstar video conferencing and chat apps, you can work with partners and employees around the world and feel like you’re face-to-face with them. Let’s explore what makes each one special.”
MakeUseOf: Tumblr Launches Disappearing Group Chats . “Tumblr has launched group chats. Tumblr’s group chats are ephemeral, publicly viewable, and designed to connect people who are passionate about niche interests. And they’re available right now on Tumblr’s mobile apps on Android and iOS.”
Linux Journal: What Really IRCs Me: Mastodon. “When it comes to sending text between people, I’ve found IRC (in particular, a text-based IRC client) works best. I’ve been using it to chat for decades while other chat protocols and clients come and go. When my friends have picked other chat clients through the years, I’ve used the amazing IRC gateway Bitlbee to connect with them on their chat client using the same IRC interface I’ve always used. … I’ve written about Bitlbee a number of times in the past, and I’ve used it to connect to other instant messengers, Twitter and Slack. In this article, I describe how I use it to connect to yet another service on the internet: Mastodon.”
Refinery29: You Can Now Start A Group Chat Directly From Your Instagram Story. “It’s officially getting even easier to connect with your friends on the ‘gram. Starting today, Instagram is rolling out a Chat sticker that lets you launch into a group chat with your followers directly from your Story.”
Mashable: 10 crisis help lines that offer texting or chat services . “A growing number of crisis lines provide people in need with texting support as well as phone advice. The appeal of this type of service is clear. Texting and chat platforms provide a degree of anonymity that a phone conversation simply does not, given its intimacy. Here are ten crisis lines that provide texting and chat services for people in need.”
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