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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: instant messaging

instant messaging stories: 17 news summaries
Tech Review

Google Wave Too Bloated, Complicated

And its much-touted live-typing turns out
to be a nightmare

Oct 14, 09 11:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - Google Wave, the long-awaited chat/email/collaboration doohickey, is ambitious and sturdy, and packed with bells and whistles… and Twitter kicks its butt. See, Twitter’s main feature is simplicity, writes Farhad Manjoo on Slate, but Wave asks the world of users. It tries to replace email with “an entirely alien... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Google • email • instant messaging • tech review • Google Wave

iPhone Users Report
MMS 2 Weeks Early

Users add photos, video to instant messages

Sep 13, 09 7:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Some iPhone users are already adding photos, voice memos, and video to their instant messages, Mashable reports. Anecdotal reports of MMS messaging on iPhones cropped up on the Web today and soon turned into a Twitter stream. AT&T isn't talking, MobileCrunch reports, but it looks like the company beat... More »

MORE ABOUT:
cell phones • iPhone • instant messaging • AT&T

 Emoticons Invade 
 Academia 

Teaching millennials causes new frustrations for college writing professors

Sep 7, 09 4:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - College professors have lamented the state of student writing for centuries. But today’s Internet-obsessed culture brings new, infuriating errors to Writing 101 as students brazenly use colloquialisms like “:-)” and “LOL” in essays. “Occasionally, I've seen someone using the number 4 for the word 'for,'”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
education • Internet • writing • college • online • instant messaging • emoticon • smiley face • texting • Cal State San Marcos • University of San Diego

Team Obama Told to Ditch Instant Messaging

Obama's staffers give up their favorite lifeline

Jan 18, 09 6:15 PM CST
(Newser) - Team Obama will be chatting in the hall and by phone, Politico reports, because instant messaging just got the boot. Lawyers told them this week that programs like AIM and GChat, still staples of their daily operations, can't be used in the White House. "They just told us flat... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • BlackBerry • instant messaging • Presidential Records Act

OPINION

 How IM Sapped
 My Ability to Deal

End of an intense online relationship forces writer to examine IM dependency

Sep 7, 08 5:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - After breaking up with his live-in boyfriend online, writer Will Doig realized IM had become an intimate part of their relationship, and the fallout was crushing. "At the first hint of crisis, my response had always been the same"—instant message his boyfriend "for an impromptu therapy... More »

MORE ABOUT:
social networking • love • breakup • Instant Messenger • instant messaging • relationship

 6 Degrees of
 Separation?
 New Study
 Says 6.6 

Microsoft researcher seems to confirm that the world is a pretty small place

Aug 2, 08 12:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - A huge Microsoft study of its Messenger records bolsters the oft-quoted, but never proven, theory of “six degrees of separation"—almost. The study puts the figure at 6.6, but that's still a pretty small world. A Microsoft researcher analyzed 30 billion messages sent among 180 million users... More »

MORE ABOUT:
social networking • Microsoft • instant messaging • Microsoft Live Messenger • scientific study • six degrees of separation

Tech Firms to Fix Monster They Created

Email, IMs keep employees available and distracted

Jun 14, 08 11:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - Google, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM are partnering are on a new initiative to help workers distracted by emails and instant messages improve their productivity, the New York Times reports. The Information Overload Research Group, a nonprofit launching next month, will devise cultural and technological solutions to reduce the digital... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Google • Microsoft • work • email • Intel • IBM • office • instant messaging • productivity

After Beacon 'Screw Up' Facebook Ups Privacy

Online chat coming too

Mar 19, 08 1:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Facebook is launching a series of new privacy features today, allowing users to better pinpoint who can see which parts of their information, PC World reports. Privacy has been a watchword at Facebook ever since the PR disaster that was the Beacon advertising platform, which tracked users online. “With... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Facebook • online privacy • chat room • privacy settings • instant messaging • Beacon

Hookers Today Depend on Tech for Success

Spitzer case shows how web, IMs, e-funds drive business

Mar 12, 08 4:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - Eliot Spitzer's woes are shedding light on the new world of the oldest profession. Prostitutes and escort services use online social networking to find business, IMs to record the time spent with a client, and the web to make payment simpler and more private, reports the AP. New technology also... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • prostitution • Eliot Spitzer • website • instant messaging • electronic funds transfers

Google to Microsoft:
Not So Fast

Web giant steps in, offers to help Yahoo rebuff rival's advances

Feb 3, 08 9:00 PM CST
(Newser) - Google is offering to help Yahoo thwart Microsoft’s attempts at a hostile takeover, the Wall Street Journal reports. After Microsoft announced its $44.6-billion bid, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt called Yahoo’s Jerry Yang on Friday to bolster talk of an ad search alliance, support Yahoo’s... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Yahoo • Google • Microsoft • online advertising • antitrust • Jerry Yang • Eric Schmidt • search engine • instant messaging • web email accounts

Flash Attack Could Turn Routers Into Zombies

Experts say online criminals could exploit UPnP to hijack routers

Jan 16, 08 1:11 PM CST
(Newser) - Security experts have demonstrated how attackers could use Flash software and the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol to hijack their home routers, reports PC World. Users exposed to a malicious Flash file could have the servers they're trying to reach changed remotely and secretly, meaning a fraudster could redirect... More »

MORE ABOUT:
online fraud • Skype • instant messaging • hackers • computer security • routers • Adobe • Flash

Campaign for Young Voters:
Vote 4 Me! Pls?

Candidates employ new technology to reach youth

Dec 24, 07 10:17 AM CST
(Newser) - New technology has given presidential hopefuls a host of new ways to transmit the "Vote For Me" message, McClatchy reports. Campaigners are using social networking sites, YouTube videos, instant messaging, and even text messaging in a bid to gain an edge with young voters. But their target audience seems... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • YouTube • instant messaging • campaign • telecommunications • texting • Election 2008

Sex Talk Sinks Microsoft
Santa Software

User claims raunchy elf crossed the line with underage girls

Dec 6, 07 3:26 AM CST
(Newser) - Microsoft got an early peek at Santa’s naughty list and found that it contained Old Saint Nick himself. The company pulled the plug on its automated Santa instant messaging program after a user claimed the elf brought up oral sex in a chat with his underage nieces when they... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Microsoft • instant messaging • Santa Claus • Microsoft Live Messenger • The Register

I Dumped U
For Yr Sister, Oops GTG ...

Teens depend on IM to say what they wouldn't face to face, poll finds

Nov 15, 07 2:42 PM CST
(Newser) - Usurping the old note passed in study hall, about 40% of teens now depend on instant messaging to say things they wouldn't in person, according to a new poll. "If they freak out or something, you don't see it," one high schooler tells AP. The survey also found—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
instant messaging • teenager

'4-Hour Workweek' a Silicon Valley Siren Song

Marc Andreessen, others lured by call
to ignore influx of email and IMs

Nov 10, 07 2:27 PM CST
(Newser) - Tim Ferriss is an ex-kickboxer and tango champ, but he's ensnared the attention of some in Silicon Valley with a simple message: pull the plug. Techies like Netscape founder Marc Andreessen—ironically, an investor in attention-sapping chat service Twitter—have found solace in “The 4-Hour Workweek,” Ferriss’ tome... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entrepreneurs • Silicon Valley • email • blogging • BlackBerry • instant messaging • Treo • Timothy Ferriss • The 4 Hour Workweek • motivational speaker • self help

Senate Would Extend Web
Tax Ban 7 Years

Will have to reconcile with House bill setting exemption at 4 years

Oct 26, 07 3:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Senate passed a bill yesterday to extend a ban on Internet access taxes for 7 years; it will have to be reconciled with a House bill—which has a 4-year lifespan—and signed into law by next Thursday to beat the current law’s expiration date. The bill was... More »

MORE ABOUT:
taxes • broadband Internet • email • instant messaging • moratorium • web services

Yahoo Adds Phone Text Messaging to Email

And, OMG, it's free

Aug 27, 07 5:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sending phone text messages soon won’t require a phone, thanks to an upgrade in Yahoo’s already leading email service, which will provide the new feature for free. The new system will integrate email, text messages and instant messaging, reports USA Today. Customers "don't want to bounce around... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Yahoo • cell phones • email • communication • instant messaging • texting

17 Stories


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