The first commercial video call took place 50 years ago today

It’s hard to imagine living through the last few months without getting to hang out with our loved ones over video calls. We're into the fourth month of pandemic-driven social distancing and shelter-in-place measures (though some of those are easing)...

Facebook expands Portal group calls to 50 people

Facebook is ramping up its battle against Zoom by bringing more video calling features to its Portal devices. You’ll be able to hold video calls with up to 50 people following today’s addition of Messenger Rooms. Until now, group calls on Portal have...

Slack adds Microsoft Teams video call options

It seems more of us than ever are relying on video calling apps to chat with friends, family and colleagues. Slack, for example, has seen a huge increase in calls made and received through its app in the last month amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Startin...

ooVoo updates its iOS and Android apps to support four-way video calls

DNP ooVoo updates iOS and Android apps to support fourway video calls

First ooVoo opened up four-way video chats on Facebook, and now the video calling service is doing the same for its Android and iOS apps. The company just updates both applications so that you can view up to four video streams at once, though you can carry on text chats with as many as 12 people. That's true of both platforms, though the Android version is admittedly getting a few more changes. The newest version of the app brings deeper integration with Google services, plugging into the native Android address book to show missed calls, as well as a list of which friends are available to chat. To that end, Android users get not just the app, but also a widget that displays these tidbits at a glance. Rounding out the list of improvements, the updates introduce push notifications as well as the ability to text chat in the middle of a video call.

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ooVoo updates its iOS and Android apps to support four-way video calls originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ooVoo updates its iOS and Android apps to support four-way video calls

DNP ooVoo updates iOS and Android apps to support fourway video calls

First ooVoo opened up four-way video chats on Facebook, and now the video calling service is doing the same for its Android and iOS apps. The company just updates both applications so that you can view up to four video streams at once, though you can carry on text chats with as many as 12 people. That's true of both platforms, though the Android version is admittedly getting a few more changes. The newest version of the app brings deeper integration with Google services, plugging into the native Android address book to show missed calls, as well as a list of which friends are available to chat. To that end, Android users get not just the app, but also a widget that displays these tidbits at a glance. Rounding out the list of improvements, the updates introduce push notifications as well as the ability to text chat in the middle of a video call.

Continue reading ooVoo updates its iOS and Android apps to support four-way video calls

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ooVoo updates its iOS and Android apps to support four-way video calls originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Airtime testing new video post features, improved buddy list

Airtime testing new video post features, improved buddy list

Remember Airtime, the Facebook-integrated video calling / media sharing service with a Chatroulette flavor? Well if not, we don't blame you -- usage stats suggest it hasn't quite taken off, but maybe the new features it's testing will secure a few more fans. No longer is the service restricted to the here and now, as the major change is all about video posts. Use Airtime to record a message and you can post it to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or via a traditional email to get the conversation started. Friends can then reply to your message through Airtime with a video post of their own, and so on. Its buddy list has also been given a little love, so now it shows friends as online, idle or offline, and details your interaction timeline. Whether the features are enough to inspire wider uptake is questionable, but for the few that actively use Airtime, the updates are out in the wild now on a "limited public release."

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Airtime testing new video post features, improved buddy list originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Confirmed: Airtime video chatting works in the air… on Gogo in-flight internet!

Confirmed Airtime video chatting works on Gogo inflight internet

"Whoa! Whoa! Are you on a spaceship? Seriously, are you on a spaceship?!"

Those words came flowing -- enthusiastically, I might add -- from an anonymous Airtimer just today, on the launch of Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning's Airtime project. "I'm actually on an airplane," I replied. "Where are you headed?," he responded. "LA!," as I tried to keep the conversation going. I failed to get to the part about continuing on to San Francisco, but it mattered not -- I just confirmed that Airtime does indeed work in airplanes. On a packed-to-capacity flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, the onboard Gogo connection held up decently enough to have a relatively meaningful conversation (and eventually, for me to post this very article). The video feeds were a bit bumpy -- not completely unlike the ride itself -- but audio was fairly crisp. We shot the breeze for a minute or so before waving goodbye, two complete strangers brought together for the sake of discovering what's possible.

I never engaged in any late-night Chatroulette sessions, so the first-time Airtime experience was quite the surreal one -- particularly given that I was somewhere high over the New Mexican mountains. If I had to guess, I'd say it's just a matter of time before Airtime is funneled into that same black hole as Skype, making it impossible to complete a call whilst onboard; but for now, the tunnels are wide open. The friendly skies never felt so friendly.

Confirmed: Airtime video chatting works in the air... on Gogo in-flight internet! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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