Google Talk

Google Talk

Developer(s)	Google Inc.
Initial release	August 24, 2005; 7 years ago
Stable release	Plugin Windows: 3.19.1.13088 (May 14, 2013; 25 days ago)
Preview release	Google Talk Labs Edition
Operating system	Android, BlackBerry OS, Linux, Maemo, webOS, Symbian, iOS (third party apps), Windows, Google Chrome OS, Mac OS X
Available in	English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, Spanish
Type	VoIP/instant messaging client
License	Proprietary
Website	www.google.com/talk www.google.com/talk/labsedition talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/popout

Google Talk is an instant messaging service that provides both text and voice communication.The instant messaging service is colloquially known as "gchat" to its users, although Google does not endorse this name.

Google Talk is also the name of the client applications offered by Google to access the service. Google Talk applications are available for Microsoft Windows (XP, Server 2003, Vista, and Windows 7), Android, Blackberry, and Google Chrome OS operating systems.A Google Talk web app was previously available for Android, but has been discontinued. The native Android version still exists
Because the Google Talk servers communicate with clients using an open protocol, Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol XMPP, the service can also be accessed using any other client that supports XMPP. Such clients are available for a number of operating systems not supported by the Google Talk client
Google Talk uses extensions to XMPP for voice/video signaling and peer-to-peer communication. As of August 2012, Google Talk’s implementation differs slightly from the draft XMPP Jingle specifications. In 2012, Google stated that an update was under way.

Features

Interoperability

Google has announced that a major goal of the Google Talk service is interoperability. Google Talk used XMPP to provide real-time extensible messaging and presence events, including offline messaging and voice mailing. Google Talk supported messaging with any service provider that supports the XMPP protocol. This included Earthlink, Gizmo Project, Tiscali, Netease, Chikka, MediaRing, and, according to Google, "thousands of other ISPs, universities, corporations and individual users."^[8]

Other XMPP clients such as Pidgin and Psi^[9] were compatible^[10] with Google Talk's text chat (IM), allowing text chat with XMPP users on a variety of platforms.

Product integration

Google Talk was integrated into Gmail. Users can send instant messages to other Gmail users. As it works within a browser, the Google Talk client does not need to be downloaded to send instant messages to Gmail users.

Conversation logs are automatically saved to a Chats area in the user's Gmail account. This allows users to search their chat logs and have them centrally stored in their Gmail accounts. For a long time it wasn't possible to directly download chat logs that are not attached to an e-mail conversation,^[11][12] although some workarounds had been found.^[13][14] However, on September 15, 2011, Google announced a new feature of its Google Takeout program that allows users to download chat logs via IMAP.^[15]

Google has also integrated Google Talk with Orkut. This enables Google Talk users to interact with registered Orkut users, by sending and receiving 'scraps' within Orkut.

Google Talk Gadget is a web based module that may be embedded in iGoogle and other web pages, allowing text chat with users of Google Talk.^[16]

Google+ is integrated into Google Talk. In the standalone client and the Google Talk widget embedded into Gmail and Google+, Google+ contacts appear in the contacts list; their respective circles are shown in Google+'s iteration of the widget.

Voice and Video

It is possible to place and receive phone calls from within gmail by using Google Talk. In order to receive calls, however, the user must upgrade to a full Google Voice account.^[17] Initially, users outside of the US cannot upgrade to a full Google Voice account and cannot receive phone calls in Gmail.^[18] (Outbound calling though gmail does not require Google Voice and is available in many countries outside the US.)^[19] Google Talk allows users to leave a voicemail for a contact whether or not they are signed into Google Talk.^[20] Messages can be up to 10 minutes long and are sent to the recipient's email. Messages can be sent with or without first ringing the recipient's phone number.

Google also provides a Voice and Video Chat browser plugin^[21] (not to be confused with the standalone Google Talk client) that supports voice and video chat between Gmail users.^[22] The plugin is available for Windows (XP, Vista, and 7), Mac OS X (only on Intel-based Macs),^[23] and Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSUSE packages available, but the binaries work on other systems).^[24] The plugin must be downloaded and installed, but otherwise seamlessly integrates into the Gmail interface.

Encryption

The connection between the Google Talk client and the Google Talk server is encrypted, except when using Gmail's chat over HTTP, a federated network that doesn't support encryption, or when using a proxy like IMLogic. End-to-end messages are unencrypted. Google plans to add support for chat and call encryption in a future release. Some XMPP clients natively support encryption with Google Talk's servers. It is possible to have end-to-end encryption over the Google Talk network using OTR (off-the-record) encryption using other chat clients like Adium (for Mac) or Pidgin (for Linux).

Google's version of "Off the Record" is not OTR (off-the-record) encryption. Enabling "Off the record" inside Gmail's Chat turns off logging of messages, but does not enable encryption.

Offline messaging

On October 31, 2006, Google introduced offline messaging to Google Talk. This allows users to send messages to their contacts, even if they are not signed in. They will receive the messages when they next go online even if the user who has sent it is offline. This only works between gmail-accounts though, and doesn't work between Google Talk servers and other XMPP servers.

Mobile device compatibility

On June 30, 2006, Nokia released new software for their Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, that included Google Talk as one of the compatible VoIP clients, because of the XMPP-based software. Another Google Talk-compatible device is Sony's mylo, released on September 15, 2006. A Google Talk client is also available for BlackBerry devices from the Blackberry site. Google Talk support is also integrated in Google Android devices, but does not support voice and video calls below Android version 2.3.4. This was released in April 2011 for the Google Nexus S.

However, given that Google Talk provides XMPP protocol, most mobile phones for which a suitable XMPP client exists could also offer Google Talk service, at least theoretically (depending on the handset, the user may encounter security warnings because of unsigned Java ME midlets or limits put in place by the mobile service provider). Mobile clients specially designed for Google Talk exist as well.

Most phones support the IMPS protocol, and there are hybrid XMPP/IMPS networks (through XMPP transports, or specially designed hybrid servers), which can also contact GoogleTalk users. The Google Talk service itself is unusable from IMPS (that means, you cannot log with your Gmail account, but you can talk with your Gmail friends with your IMPS account from your mobile phone).

For most smartphones, including Symbian-based as well as Android, third-party applications such as Nimbuzz and Fring include support for Google Talk accounts, including VoIP calls.

Text formatting

Google Talk does not provide the user with a menu for text formatting. Nevertheless Google talk does support some text formatting features like making text bold and italic. To write message in bold, a user should type the required text between two asterisks (*), for example *this text would be bold in Google Talk*. Similarly for making text italic, one should put text between underscores (_) and for strike-through in text content one should put text in between dashes (-). This only functions in some of the Google native tools, and does not always function as expected when received from other XMPP clients.

History

After the rumor of a Google-branded "communications tool" service had been reported by The New York Times and detailed by the Los Angeles Times on August 22, 2005, the subdomain talk.google.com was found to have an active XMPP server^. Two methods of logging into the server were discovered soon after and the ensuing response by eager bloggers revealed to numerous others how to log in before the official release by Google.

On the evening of August 23, many logged-in users using port 5222 to connect were disconnected and unable to log back in. Users using port 5223 to connect were still able to log in, and at 04:12:52 UTC those users received a broadcast instant message from gmail.com, an apparently official username used by Google to communicate with their user base, that stated "The broken link has been fixed. Thanks for being our first users!" Port 5222-connectivity was found to have been re-enabled. On August 24, Google Talk was officially launched.

On December 15, 2005, Google released libjingle,a C++ library to implement Jingle, "a set of extensions to the IETF's Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) for use in voice over IP (VoIP), video, and other peer-to-peer multimedia sessions." Libjingle is a library of the code that Google uses for peer-to-peer communication, and was made available under a BSD license.

On January 17, 2006, Google enabled server-to-server communications, federating itself with any XMPP server that supports the dialback protocol.

On February 7, 2006, Gmail added the ability to chat with a built-in XMPP client.

On February 7, 2006, Gmail received chat functionality, using Ajax for server–browser communication, and was integrated with Google Talk.

In 2006 Google reported that they were working on adding new features such as supporting SIP in a future release, which would broaden the userbase for the program.

In August of that year Google's and eBay's announced that they would look into making Google Talk users able to communicate with Skype: "The companies will also explore interoperability between Skype and Google Talk via open standards to enable text chat and online presence." However with Microsoft's acquisition of Skype on May 10, 2011 such interoperability might have been suspended between Google and eBay.

Google integrated Google Talk with Orkut on November 8, 2006.
On March 14, 2007, Google released the Google Talk Gadget, an Adobe Flash-based Talk module that can be added to iGoogle (formally the Google Personalized Homepage) or embedded in any web page, thus, allowing one to chat from any operating system which is supported by Adobe Flash Player as long as Adobe Flash Player is installed.
A screen shot was posted on May 18, 2007 as part of the Google Apps presentation, showing some phone integration in Google Talk. A Google engineer confirmed they have been using it internally for some time on March 2, 2008.
On November 26, 2007, Google Talk released Group Chat capabilities. Before this, users could chat with only one person per window. Group chat allows many users to chat with each other in an environment similar to IRC.
On December 6, 2007, Google upgraded its Gmail integrated chat to include AOL Instant Messenger chat capability. This allows Gmail users to sign into the AIM chat service and communicate with any AIM user while still being signed on to the Google Talk service. The Google Talk gadget and client have not been upgraded to enable this feature yet, and no announcement has been made as to when it will be made available.
On February 25, 2008, Google added a feature called chatback, which allows a Google Talk account owner to chat with people who don't have one. The account owner first has to create a badge, which can be included in webpages. This badge shows the current availability of the owner. Clicking on the badge results a chat request notification to the owner who can respond by clicking on the specified URL. During the conversation both parties have to use the Google Talk Gadget and both parties remain anonymous to each other, even the Google Account name of the owner is not revealed to the other peer.
On November 11, 2008, Google Chat (voice and video chat) was launched enabling computer to computer voice and video chat.
Clues from one of the first Google Chrome December 2008 revisions suggests that a new Talk client is in the works.
Google came out with a Voice and Video Chat browser plugin in 2008.
As XMPP Jingle specifications became a Draft Standard, Google updated libjingle to version 0.5.1and stated that "Google Talk is in the process of being updated to be in full compliance with the Jingle specifications."

A screenshot showing the Google Talk, Labs Edition preview release

Google has a version of Google Talk called Google Talk, Labs edition, though it lacks many features of Google Talk's other releases.
On April 20, 2012, Google announced that it was shutting down the mobile web app for Google Talk.

Future

In June 2012 Google announced that they were planning to revamp the chat experience by merging Google Talk with Hangouts and Google Messenger to reduce confusion and fragmentation. At the Google I/O Conference 2013 held at San Francisco, California, Google announced that they were replacing Google Talk, Google+ Messenger and the original Google+ Hangout video chat service with Google+ Hangouts.

On May 15th, 2013, Nikhyl Singhal stated at Google I/O the move to Google+ Hangouts will mean that XMPP (the protocol that allowed Google Talk to interoperate with other vendors and applications) will no longer be supported. This also ends the Google "open offer to interoperate forever" that Larry Page stated on the same day when talking about the Google Instant Messaging service.

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Bluetooth

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (using short-wavelength radio transmissions in the ISM band from 2400–2480 MHz) from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security. Created by telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994,it was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization.
Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which has more than 18,000 member companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer electronics. Bluetooth was standardized as IEEE 802.15.1, but the standard is no longer maintained. The SIG oversees the development of the specification, manages the qualification program, and protects the trademarks. To be marketed as a Bluetooth device, it must be qualified to standards defined by the SIG. A network of patents is required to implement the technology and are licensed only for those qualifying devices.

Name and logo

The word "Bluetooth" is an anglicized version of the Scandinavian Blåtand/Blåtann, the epithet of the tenth-century king Harald I of Denmark and parts of Norway who united dissonant Danish tribes into a single kingdom. The idea of this name was proposed by Jim Kardach who developed a system that would allow mobile phones to communicate with computers (at the time he was reading Frans Gunnar Bengtsson's historical novel The Long Ships about Vikings and king Harald Bluetooth). The implication is that Bluetooth does the same with communications protocols, uniting them into one universal standard.
The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging the Younger Futhark runes  (Hagall) (ᚼ) and  (Bjarkan) (ᛒ), Harald's initials.

Implementation

Bluetooth operates in the range of 2400–2483.5 MHz (including guard bands). This is in the globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency band. Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum. The transmitted data is divided into packets and each packet is transmitted on one of the 79 designated Bluetooth channels. Each channel has a bandwidth of 1 MHz. The first channel starts at 2402 MHz and continues up to 2480 MHz in 1 MHz steps. It usually performs 1600 hops per second, with Adaptive Frequency-Hopping (AFH) enabled.
Originally Gaussian frequency-shift keying (GFSK) modulation was the only modulation scheme available; subsequently, since the introduction of Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, π/4-DQPSK and 8DPSK modulation may also be used between compatible devices. Devices functioning with GFSK are said to be operating in basic rate (BR) mode where an instantaneous data rate of 1 Mbit/s is possible. The term Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) is used to describe π/4-DPSK and 8DPSK schemes, each giving 2 and 3 Mbit/s respectively. The combination of these (BR and EDR) modes in Bluetooth radio technology is classified as a "BR/EDR radio".
Bluetooth is a packet-based protocol with a master-slave structure. One master may communicate with up to 7 slaves in a piconet; all devices share the master's clock. Packet exchange is based on the basic clock, defined by the master, which ticks at 312.5 µs intervals. Two clock ticks make up a slot of 625 µs; two slots make up a slot pair of 1250 µs. In the simple case of single-slot packets the master transmits in even slots and receives in odd slots; the slave, conversely, receives in even slots and transmits in odd slots. Packets may be 1, 3 or 5 slots long but in all cases the master transmit will begin in even slots and the slave transmit in odd slots.
Bluetooth provides a secure way to connect and exchange information between devices such as faxes, mobile phones, telephones, laptops, personal computers, printers, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, digital cameras, and video game consoles. It was principally designed as a low-bandwidth technology.

Communication and connection

A master Bluetooth device can communicate with a maximum of seven devices in a piconet (an ad-hoc computer network using Bluetooth technology), though not all devices reach this maximum. The devices can switch roles, by agreement, and the slave can become the master (for example, a headset initiating a connection to a phone will necessarily begin as master, as initiator of the connection; but may subsequently prefer to be slave).
The Bluetooth Core Specification provides for the connection of two or more piconets to form a scatternet, in which certain devices simultaneously play the master role in one piconet and the slave role in another.
At any given time, data can be transferred between the master and one other device (except for the little-used broadcast mode^{[citation needed]}). The master chooses which slave device to address; typically, it switches rapidly from one device to another in a round-robin fashion. Since it is the master that chooses which slave to address, whereas a slave is (in theory) supposed to listen in each receive slot, being a master is a lighter burden than being a slave. Being a master of seven slaves is possible; being a slave of more than one master is difficult. The specification is vague as to required behavior in scatternets.
Many USB Bluetooth adapters or "dongles" are available, some of which also include an IrDA adapter. Older (pre-2003) Bluetooth dongles, however, have limited capabilities, offering only the Bluetooth Enumerator and a less-powerful Bluetooth Radio incarnation. Such devices can link computers with Bluetooth with a distance of 100 meters, but they do not offer as many services as modern adapters do.

Uses

Bluetooth is a standard wire-replacement communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range (power-class-dependent, but effective ranges vary in practice; see table below) based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. Because the devices use a radio (broadcast) communications system, they do not have to be in visual line of sight of each other, however a quasi optical wireless path must be viable.

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Smartphone

 

A smartphone is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than a feature phone.The first smartphones combined the functions of a personal digital assistant (PDA) with a mobile phone. Later models added the functionality of portable media players, low-end compact digital cameras, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation units to form one multi-use device. Many modern smartphones also include high-resolution touchscreens and web browsers that display standard web pages as well as mobile-optimized sites. High-speed data access is provided by Wi-Fi and mobile broadband. In recent years, the rapid development of mobile app markets and of mobile commerce have been drivers of smartphone adoption.
The mobile operating systems (OS) used by modern smartphones include Google's Android, Apple's iOS, Nokia's Symbian, RIM's BlackBerry OS, Samsung's Bada, Microsoft's Windows Phone, Hewlett-Packard's webOS, and embedded Linux distributions such as Maemo and MeeGo. Such operating systems can be installed on many different phone models, and typically each device can receive multiple OS software updates over its lifetime. A few other upcoming operating systems are Mozilla's Firefox OS, Canonical Ltd.'s Ubuntu Phone, and Tizen.
Worldwide sales of smartphones overtook those of feature phones in early 2013.

History

IBM Simon and charging base (int. August 16, 1994)

Origin of the term

Although devices combining telephony and computing were conceptualized as early as 1973 and were offered for sale beginning in 1994, the term "smartphone" did not appear until 1997, when Ericsson described its GS 88 "Penelope" concept as a "Smart Phone".
The distinction between smartphones and feature phones can be vague, and there is no official definition for what constitutes the difference between them. One of the most significant differences is that the advanced application programming interfaces (APIs) on smartphones for running third-party applications can allow those applications to have better integration with the phone's OS and hardware than is typical with feature phones. In comparison, feature phones more commonly run on proprietary firmware, with third-party software support through platforms such as Java ME or BREW. An additional complication is that the capabilities found in newer feature phones exceed those of older phones that had once been promoted as smartphones.
Some manufacturers and providers use the term "superphone" for their high end phones with unusually large screens and other expensive features. Other commentators prefer "phablet" in recognition of their convergence with low-end tablet computers.

Early years

In 1973, Theodore George “Ted” Paraskevakos patented the concepts of combining intelligence, data processing and visual display screens with telephones, outlining the now commonplace activities of banking and paying utility bills via telephone
The first cellular phone to incorporate PDA features was an IBM prototype developed in 1992 and demonstrated that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. A refined version of the product was marketed to consumers on 16 August 1994 by BellSouth under the name Simon Personal Communicator. The Simon was the first device that can be properly referred to as a "smartphone", even though that term was not yet coined. In addition to its ability to make and receive cellular phone calls, Simon was also able to send and receive facsimiles, e-mails and pages through its touch screen display. Simon included many applications including an address book, calendar, appointment scheduler, calculator, world time clock, games, electronic note pad, handwritten annotations and standard and predictive touchscreen keyboards.
In 1996, Nokia released the Nokia 9000, part of the Nokia Communicator line which became their best-selling phone of that time. It was a palmtop computer-style phone combined with a PDA from HP. In early prototypes, the two devices were fixed together via a hinge in what came to be described as a clamshell design. When opened, the display of 640×200 pixels was on the inside top surface and with a physical QWERTY keyboard on the bottom. Email and text-based web browsing was provided via the GEOS V3.0 operating system.
In the late 1990s though, the vast majority of mobile phones had only basic phone features so many people also carried a separate dedicated PDA device, running early versions of operating systems such as Palm OS, BlackBerry OS or Windows CE/Pocket PC These operating systems would later evolve into mobile operating systems and power some of the high-end smartphones.
In early 2001, Palm, Inc. introduced the Kyocera 6035, the first smartphone in the United States. This device combined a PDA with a mobile phone and operated on the Verizon Wireless network. It also supported limited web browsing. The device was not adopted widely outside North America.
In 2004, HP released the iPaq h6315, a device that combined their previous PDA, the HP 2215 with cellular capability.

 

A Windows Phone device produced by Nokia, the Lumia 800

   

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