Click to call in Gmail

From the Gmail Blog today:

With the ability to call phones built right into Gmail, you no longer have to get out your phone and retype a number anytime someone sends you one in an email or chat message. Starting today [...]  Just click the number, and Gmail’s dialpad will pop up, already populated with the number you’re trying to call.

I use Gmail calling for all my calls at my desk, and this makes things even easier. More great features like this on their way!

Google Talk on Motorola Xoom first look

From PC Magazine: Google Talk on the Motorola Xoom: Video Walkthrough
Google's Honeycomb OS adds video chat, and we take it for a spin on the Motorola Xoom.

Google Video Chat / Flash 10.1 issue on Mac OS X

A few people have written in to say that the Google Voice and Video software has caused webcam support in Flash Player 10.1 to stop working on Mac OS X.

We recently discussed this problem with Adobe, and they have confirmed it is a bug in the 10.1 version of Flash Player (see Adobe's bug tracker at https://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FP-5730). It affects not just Google Voice and Video, but any application that installs its own QuickTime component.

Fortunately, Adobe has come up with a fix for this in the upcoming 10.2 release of Flash Player. If you have been affected by this issue, you can get the 10.2 RC build that has been confirmed to resolve the problem at http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html.

Update (2/8/2011): Fixed the Flash Player download URL.

Jim Breuer Demo Slam with Google Video Chat

Google voice and video v1.8

Today, we released the 1.8 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will automatically update within the next day or two. If you do not want to wait, you can visit http://www.google.com/chat/video and re-run the installer.

You can use your Gmail account to find out what version is currently installed. Simply go to the Gmail Settings page and look under the "Chat" tab. You will see the plugin version under the "Learn more" link, in small type.

Here's what's new:

• Fixed issue where webcams could fail to be detected on Mac OS X
• Improved call quality monitoring

If you're on 1.8 and still having a problem, please take a look at the Google Chat Help Center, or report the issue on the Google Voice and Video Help Forum. You can also tweet @GoogleChat or @juberti, or email me using the "Email Justin" link above.

Google voice and video in Android Honeycomb

Check out the video chat demo at 1:05!

Update: New, longer demo!

Google voice and video issue with Chrome 9 beta

A few users on the Chrome beta track (current version 9.0.597.19) have contacted me recently about Google video chat not working properly in this Chrome version. When using the Chrome dev (10.0) or beta builds (9.0) on Windows, the video window stays all black and does not display the live video.

This issue was caused by some of the enhancements to plugin sandboxing that were added for Chrome 9, and is being tracked in the Chrome bug tracker at http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=64356. We're working with the Chrome team to get this issue resolved as soon as possible, but in the meantime you can work around this issue in several ways.

1. Enable Gmail's "Video chat enhancements" lab. In addition to resolving this issue, this lab also provides a higher-resolution video chat experience. Active the lab by going to Gmail Settings -> Labs -> Video chat enhancements -> Enable -> Save Changes.
2. Disable Chrome's built-in Flash player. Go to about:plugins -> Details -> disable gcsf32.dll -> enable npswf32.dll
3. Switch off the Chrome beta track (will take you back to Chrome 8.0)
4. Or use an alternate browser (temporarily!) for your video chatting

A bit embarrassing, but these things can happen with beta software. I'll update this post when the problem has been resolved.

Update (1/22/2011): This issue has been fixed in the latest builds of Chrome 9 and Chrome 10.

Google voice and video v1.7

Today, we released the 1.7 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will automatically update within the next day or two. If you do not want to wait, you can visit http://www.google.com/chat/video and re-run the installer.

You can use your Gmail account to find out what version is currently installed. Simply go to the Gmail Settings page and look under the "Chat" tab. You will see the plugin version under the "Learn more" link, in small type.

Here's what's new:

• Improved performance for networking and media processing, especially when the system is busy
• Fixed issue that could cause crashes in Safari 5+
• Fixed issue where frames could be dropped at call startup when using the Video chat enhancements Lab
• Fixed an issue where video could fail to appear on OSX
• Fixed issue where killing the Google Talk Plugin process could crash the browser process on some platforms
• Various performance improvements for Atom CPUs
• Added support for hotplugging and unplugging of webcams on Linux
• For interoperability, added support for video bitrate to be specified via XMPP signaling

If you're on 1.7 and still having a problem, please take a look at the Google Chat Help Center, or report the issue on the Google Voice and Video Help Forum. You can also tweet @GoogleChat or @juberti, or email me using the "Email Justin" link above.

Hangin' with Vint Cerf

Turned 36 today. No Hulk Hogan visit like my last birthday, but I did get to meet Vint Cerf (the true father of the Internet) the other day. Really a nice guy, and gives our team lots of feedback on our products, especially about our use of Internet standards. Glad to have him here at Google!

Google voice and video v1.5.1

Today, we released the 1.5.1 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will automatically update within the next day or two. If you do not want to wait, you can visit http://www.google.com/chat/video and re-run the installer.

You can use your Gmail account to find out what version is currently installed. Simply go to the Gmail Settings page and look under the "Chat" tab. You will see the plugin version under the "Learn more" link, in small type.

Here's what's new:

• Fix issue where we would write a 'debug.log' file to the application directory, in some cases the desktop
• Fix issue where the plugin could crash if cameras sent resolutions other than requested
• Fix issue where we would sometimes show the camera capability icon even if you had no camera
• Various performance improvements

If you're on 1.5.1 and still having a problem, please take a look at the Google Chat Help Center, or report the issue on the Google Voice and Video Help Forum. You can also tweet @GoogleChat or @juberti, or email me using the "Email Justin" link above.

Google voice and video v1.4.2 and v1.4.3

Today, we released the 1.4.2 (Windows) and 1.4.3 (Mac) updates for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will automatically update within the next day or two. If you do not want to wait, you can visit http://www.google.com/chat/video and re-run the installer.

You can use your Gmail account to find out what version is currently installed. Simply go to the Gmail Settings page and look under the "Chat" tab. You will see the plugin version under the "Learn more" link, in small type.

Here's what's new:

• All-new, hardware-accelerated video rendering subsystem (more on this later).
• Fixed a crash when processing RTCP packets.
• Fixed a crash on Windows when ending a call.
• Fixed an issue on new MacBook Pros where loading Gmail (and starting the Google Talk Plugin) would cause a switch to the high-performance GPU and cause the battery to drain more quickly.
• Several minor fixes and improvements.

The 1.4.3 release for Mac also resolves issues identified by some early users of 1.4.2 on Mac OS 10.4. Note that when running on Mac OS, Google voice and video requires QuickTime 7.2.1 or later (the current version is 7.6, so almost all Macs should have this.)

If you're on 1.4.2 on Windows or 1.4.3 on Mac and still having a problem, please take a look at the Google Chat Help Center, or report the issue on the Google Voice and Video Help Forum. You can also tweet @GoogleChat or @juberti, or email me using the "Email Justin" link above.

CNET TV: Google Voice vs. Skype Prizefight

For some reason, they don't even mention Google video chat, but I'm still happy with the result :-)

Google voice and video RPM packages now available

Following up on my earlier post, we've now released a new version of Google voice and video for Linux that includes both Debian and RPM packages. As usual, it can be downloaded from www.google.com/chat/video; upon visiting this page, you'll be given the option of which package you want to download.

This new version also includes fixes for some top crash issues seen since release. If you've already installed the plugin, you'll be notified through the typical package update mechanism that a new version is available.

Also a quick followup regarding some of the PulseAudio questions: while PulseAudio is supported, it's not required. If PulseAudio is not detected, the plugin will fall back and use ALSA.

Lastly, we're also working on resolving the issues reported with upside-down ASUS cameras and a debug.log file appearing for a few users. If you encounter other issues, please report them in the Google Voice and Video Help Forum.

Hold the phone! Free calls in Gmail!

We were excited yesterday to release our new Google Voice integration in Gmail, and the response so far has been fantastic. Over 1 million calls were placed in the first 24 hours, and the press coverage and user feedback have been great. Some choice quotes:

David Pogue, New York Times:  "Google just loves upsetting the apple cart. It shook up Web searching and advertising. It shook up free Web-based e-mail services when Gmail offered gigabytes of free storage rather than a few megabytes. It shook up the way companies go public.

The latest development is particularly shakeworthy: Google now lets you make free phone calls from your computer. It isn’t new fellow geeks who have installed Skype or iChat and use special “handles” like SkiBunny1968–but it will be to normal people, on regular American and Canadian phone numbers. Free."

Michael Arrington, TechCrunch: "... Today Google Voice is being integrated right into the browser via Gmail. It’s amazingly good – I know because I’ve been testing it for the last few days."

John Cook, TechFlash:  "I've been test driving Google's new phone service this morning, placing free calls from my Gmail account to work colleagues and family members. So far, the service has worked like a charm -- crisp sound, an easy-to-understand interface and, most importantly, no dropped calls."

techiefool, CNET comment: "Google has put the awesome back into email again."

Try it out for yourself! Head on over to gmail.com/call and get started - it's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

One quick tip: from the main Gmail page, you can type "gp" to bring up the phone dialer. Useful if you want to make a call without taking your hands off the keyboard!

Google Talk turns 5!

Today marks the 5th anniversary of the launch of Google Talk, the world's largest open chat, voice, and video service. To our users worldwide - whether you know it as Talk, Gmail Chat, Orkut Chat, or just "GChat" - thanks for your continued support!

Google voice and video - now available for Linux!

Google voice and video chat is now available in Gmail for Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions. As the comments on this blog indicate, I know many folks have been waiting very patiently for this day! For those of you using RedHat-based distros, we're planning on adding RPM support soon as well.

This release required significant engineering to develop an all-new video rendering solution and an all-new PulseAudio-based audio handler, along with work to support 64-bit and countless webcam compatibility tests. We spent a lot of effort to make it fully feature-complete, with all the same goodies as the Windows and Mac versions, and we're happy to now support Google voice and video now on all major desktop platforms.

Visit www.google.com/chat/video and start video chatting!

Google voice and video enterprise firewall configuration

If you're a network administrator trying to control access to Google voice and video chat, take a look at our help document on this topic, specifically this line:

Allow your XMPP clients to connect to all IP addresses resolved on DNS name talkr.l.google.com, UDP port 19295 and 19302, or TCP port 19294.

This rule allows your internal users to contact our STUN and relay servers over UDP and TCP. In the event that policy does not allow receipt of UDP from the Internet, just allowing access to TCP port 19294 will allow users to still contact the relays via TCP, although performance may suffer in congestion situations. Lastly, if policy does not permit access to TCP port 19294, port 443 may be used instead.

Note that the info for talkr.l.google.com is updated regularly as we add/turn down datacenters, so it's a good idea to check regularly for changes.

Awesome Google video chat photo

Love this photo - Google video chat lets a grandma virtually attend a wedding. Full story on the Gmail Blog.

Google voice and video v1.3.1

Yesterday, we released the 1.3.1 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will automatically update within the next day or two. If you do not want to wait, you can visit http://www.google.com/chat/video and re-run the installer.

You can use your Gmail account to find out what version is currently installed. Simply go to the Gmail Settings page and look under the "Chat" tab. You will see the plugin version under the "Learn more" link, in small type.

Here's what's new in version 1.3.1:

• Fixed an issue on Windows XP where audio could become garbled or significantly delayed , especially when other applications were using the sound hardware.
• Fixed an issue on Mac OS X where the Google Talk Plugin process could show as "Not Responding" in Activity Manager.
• Improved detection and reporting of deadlock conditions (unfortunately often caused by buggy audio drivers)
• Some important stuff that I can't talk about yet :-)

If you're on 1.3.1 and still having a problem, please take a look at the Google Chat Help Center, or report the issue on the Google Voice and Video Help Forum. As always, feel free to email me directly as well.

Google video chat setup tutorial

If your Grandma (or Grandpa) has encountered some hiccups setting up Google video chat, we've made a short video that hopefully will make the process a bit easier. We know this is a killer use case for video chat, and are always looking to make getting started even easier!

Full story on The Official Gmail Blog.