Can You Video Chat On a Plane?

From John Battelle's Searchblog: Video Chat on the Plane? Illegal? OK? Legal Gray Area?

... my kids can now gather around any one of our home computers, fire up iChat, and BAM! they can see me even as I zip across the Nebraska sky at some 400+ mph.

Except tonight, as I was chatting with my lovely wife and two lovely daughters (much to the amusement of my seat mates, using Bose headphones and my MacBook's built in microphone), the very nice steward - who I must note brought me extra nuts even though he didn't have to - told me I had to quit my video chat.

"Security. Cameras not allowed!" was the response. There was clearly no argument.

I protested, but not too loudly. I don't want to end up stripped searched in a cold basement cell below SFO, after all. I told my family I had to quit the video chat.

I've written about video chat on a plane before, but this is the first I've heard of someone being told to stop. Granted, you want to be a polite passenger and listen more than talk (see the FAA memo about blocking Skype conversations) but seems like if you're not bothering anyone it should be OK. Anyone have a similar experience?

Google Seattle Tech Talk Event - Video Chat and Chrome Video

I'll be giving a talk on Google video chat Wednesday at Google's Seattle office. Andrew Scherkus will also be talking about the implementation of the HTML5 video tag in Chrome. Short writeups:

Google Voice and Video Chat by Justin Uberti

How does video chat really work? The basic concepts are simple, but in the real world there are a number of things that make life much more complicated. Learn how all the pieces fit together in this deep dive into Google video chat.

Justin Uberti is currently Tech Lead for Real-Time Communications at Google, where he led the effort to create Google video chat. Prior to joining Google in 2006, Justin served as the chief architect for AOL Instant Messenger, including the development of AIM's voice and video chat.

Google Chrome HTML5 Video by Andrew Scherkus

How exactly do you get video playback working in a multi-process, cross-platform, sandboxed browser? Find out what worked, what didn't and what it's like to work on open source projects at Google in this retrospective on implementing HTML5 Video in Google Chrome.

Andrew Scherkus is currently a Software Engineer at Google Kirkland. Since joining Google in 2008 he's been busy leading development on Google Chrome's HTML5 audio/video implementation. Prior to that Andrew was finishing up his bachelor of Software Engineering from the University of Waterloo and working as an intern for ATI and Google.

For more info, see our Seattle Tech Talk Page.

​A smoother voice and video experience

New post from some of our video chat engineers on the Google talkabout blog, discussing some of our recent work in improving service quality. Like most Google services, video chat has lots of checks to let us measure how good our service is. So we can see in real numbers that we've dramatically improved the quality from when we launched the service a year ago. It's great seeing the needle move as our engineers roll out continual adjustments and improvements almost every week.

We have spent the last few months focusing on three things: quality, quality, and quality! For those of you with the Google voice and video chat plugin installed, you have recently received an automatic update that contains:

• A fix that reduces crashes on newer macs (Mac OS X v10.6.2 specifically)
• A fix for webcam compatibility on Windows (including HP webcams)
• Several fixes to increase plugin stability
• Several fixes to the infrastructure used to set up and connect your video calls.

From users who have chosen to “Report quality statistics” in their chat settings, we can see a substantial increase in call connection rates and a big decrease in the call drop rate. We hope that this will result in more enjoyable conversations with our software.

As with all software, working on improving quality is a never ending process, so we hope that you will continue to report any issues you have in our user forum, and we will continue to work on improving connection rates and call quality.

Google Completes Acquisition of On2 Technologies

From Digital Media Wire: Google Completes $124.6 Million Acquisition of On2

Google has announced the completion of its $124.6 million acquisition of video encoding firm On2 Technologies, following a vote by On2's shareholders to approve the deal. Google said that it plans to repurchase an equal number of shares on the open market that it issued as part of the transaction, to be funded from available working capital.

"Through rapid innovation in browsers and web standards, the Internet is becoming the leading platform for development," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of Product Management at Google.

"We believe On2's engineering talent and technology will be an incredible asset for us as we work to improve this platform."

Google voice and video v1.0.21

This week, we released the 1.0.21 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will begin an automatic update within the next few days. 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 1.0.21:

• Fixed an incompatibility with webcams using the 24BG color space (including many HP webcams, as reported here)
• Fixed an issue that could cause crashes on Mac OS X 10.6.2 (especially with the new iMacs, as reported here)
• Fixed an issue that could cause crashes when receiving H.264 FU-A NAL units
• Improved compatibility with the Opera browser

If you're on 1.0.21 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.

Gmail turns on HTTPS for all

I previously mentioned that if you visit Gmail via HTTPS at https://mail.google.com, your Gmail session will be secure, meaning that nobody will be able to see your information as it flows from Google to your computer. While this is great, it's easy to forget to type https:// when you visit Gmail.

So last year, we announced the ability to force Gmail to always use HTTPS, meaning that no matter how you enter into Gmail, your session will be secure. However, users had to manually turn this on, so most people didn't take advantage of this.

That's why I'm happy to report that we've now enabled HTTPS by default on all Gmail accounts. Users don't need to do anything different - but now, their access to email and chat will be fully protected by HTTPS.

This is a great step forward, and I'm glad to see Google leading the way here - from my quick tests, HTTPS is not yet supported on Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, or AOL Mail.

Google voice and video v1.0.19

Today, we released the 1.0.19 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will begin an automatic update within the next few days. 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 1.0.19:

• Improved efficiency of the video codec
• Improved call setup time in cases where DNS lookups are blocked
• Fixed issue where video could become corrupted during a call (green and upside down)
• Fixed issue where calls could fail to start on Windows machines with Pentium III processors
• Fixed accidental output to the debug console on Mac OS X (more info)
• Fixed several crashes that could occur when ending a call by closing the browser
• Fixed crash that could occur when the system time was set to a date before 1970
• Fixed several other crashes that could occur during calls
• Fixed issue where certain crashes would fail to be recorded properly

If you're on 1.0.19 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 voice and video v1.0.16

Today, we released the 1.0.16 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will begin an automatic update within the next few days. 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 1.0.16:

• Substantially enhanced noise reduction algorithm, which should noticeably reduce background noise during calls
• Video codec quality and efficiency improvements, including support for the pending H.264-SVC packetization standard
• Fixed problems with incorrect display of video streams with nonstandard aspect ratios
• Fixed problems on certain Macs where the camera could take several seconds to start up
• Fixed several crashes, plus additional diagnostics to detect deadlock situations

If you're on 1.0.16 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.

Hulk Hogan visits Google!

As part of our Authors @ Google series, Hulk Hogan stopped by Google Kirkland on Tuesday to discuss his new book, My Life Outside the Ring. Having watched Hulk Hogan while growing up (including, of all things, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling), I had to check this out.

(Above, Hulk wishes me a Happy 35th Birthday...)

Some hints at what's in store for Google video chat...

From SFGate: Google Apps will get stronger video chat capabilities

Google Apps users can expect to see significant improvements in the suite's voice- and video-chat capabilities, as the company builds on Gmail's current features in that area.

Gmail's voice and video chats are now limited to one-to-one communications, but Google wants to broaden that capability to more than two participants and make it more robust all around for Apps.

"This [current Gmail capability] is the first step in a much broader set of features we hope to roll out over the next six to 12 months around video [and voice] chat capabilities," said Rishi Chandra, a Google Apps product manager. "It's a great opportunity for us to push that space along."

More Kirkland Grand Opening Coverage

From the Seattle P-I's Microsoft Blog(!): Google Invests in Kirkland with new campus

With about 600 Seattle-area employees, Google's influence in the region pales in comparison to Microsoft's. But the Internet giant, whose friendly image has won over millions and millions of worldwide Web users, may have the chance to start small – with Kirkland.

"Google is a very, very important part of our high-tech sector," [Kirkland mayor Jim Lauinger] said. "The high-tech sector is growing rapidly in Kirkland. It's taking a breather right now, but it's going to grow."

From Xconomy Seattle:

Google Kirkland Is Hiring, and Other Highlights from the Company’s Northwest Birthplace

Lastly, as I am wont to do, I asked [Google VP] Alan Eustace and [Google Kirkland site director] Scott Silver individually to boil down Google’s culture to one word. Neither took the bait. Eustace did say Google’s culture is quite uniform across its various centers worldwide. He used words like innovative, open to new ideas, community focused (versus competitive), happy, and high-energy, to describe the culture, but wouldn’t commit to just one of them.

Silver came closer to giving me one take-home message. “Engineers are in charge,” he said.

Other mentions:

• From Chris Pirillo's blog: Google Seattle
• From KMOX News: Google moves into new headquarters

Google Kirkland Tour

Today was the official grand opening of our new Kirkland campus. Here's a video of the event from TechFlash.com.

FedEx: Video Chat Commercial

Funny.

Google voice and video v1.0.15, for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Today, we released a specific 1.0.15 update for the Google voice and video chat software. This update is for Mac computers only, and is focused on resolving compatibility issues with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. All current Mac installations on OS 10.4 and 10.5 will begin an automatic update within the next few days.

However, if you have previously installed an older version of Google voice and video chat on OS 10.6, you will need to visit http://www.google.com/chat/video and download the new 1.0.15 version.

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.

The following Mac OS X 10.6 issues were fixed in version 1.0.15:

• Fixed problem where the Google Talk Plugin was not detected in Safari
• Fixed problem where the Google Talk Plugin would delay system sleep by 30 seconds
• Fixed problem where video would not be displayed in a video chat
• Fixed problem where registration for automatic upgrades did not work
• Fixed problem when uninstalling and reinstalling the same version

The issue with video not being displayed in a video chat is the result of a QuickTime bug in OS 10.6. We have implemented a workaround for this situation, but we have received reports that an extra step may be necessary for some users. If, after installing version 1.0.15, you continue to encounter this issue with video not being displayed, a single reboot of your Mac should fix the problem. We are working with Apple to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

If you are on 1.0.15 and experience problems, please report them on the Gmail voice and video chat forums. As always, feel free to email me directly as well.

Voice and video chat in Orkut!

Following on our recent launches of chat in Orkut and video chat in iGoogle, today we launched voice and video chat in Orkut. This makes Orkut the first social network with built-in voice and video chat, and significantly expands the reach of the Google video chat network.

Read more about this launch on the Orkut blog.

Using Zfone to secure Google video chats

One of our team members sent me a link indicating that Zfone could be used to secure Google voice and video chats with ZRTP (as shown in the screenshot above). I did some research, and it turns out that one of the Zfone developers managed to get this wired up a few months ago, as documented in an entry on the Zfone blog. For those not familiar with Zfone, Zfone is a small download that encrypts voice and video traffic so that it cannot be intercepted or tampered with, all with minimal setup. You can read more about Zfone/ZRTP on the Zfone FAQ.

I haven't had a chance to try this out yet, but it's pretty neat that the Zfone team was able to get this working without any support from us (yay standards!). If you want to give it a shot, you can download the Zfone Beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux from this site.

XMPP support on App Engine

Google Talkabout: XMPP support on App Engine

Thanks to some great work by Michael Davidson, AppEngine now supports the ability to host XMPP bots (written in either Java or Python). All the tricky work of setting up and deploying a bot is now handled for you.

To get started, head to the AppEngine site on Google Code and check out the API docs (Java | Python).

Google voice and video v1.0.13

Today, we released the 1.0.13 update for the Google voice and video chat software. All current installations will begin an automatic update within the next few days. 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 1.0.13:

• Improved startup time for both voice and video calls.
• Detection and recovery for some situations that would cause the plugin to hang indefinitely, which could lead to messaging like "Detecting devices" in the settings page or "Add voice/video chat" in the roster or chat menu.
• Fixed connectivity problems caused by VMWare virtual network adapters.

If you're on 1.0.13 and still having a problem, please report it on the Gmail voice and video chat forums. As always, feel free to email me directly as well.

Google video chat tips, installment #1

From the Google Talk Blog: tips on using Google video chat, from one of the engineers on our team.

Did you know you could use the "pop-out" arrow on the top of a chat window to make a video chat bigger? This will separate the video chat into its own window that you can resize and move around as you like.

If you want to make the video chat as large as possible and block everything else out, simply use the Full Screen button in the top left corner of the video area. This will fill up your screen and make your conversation much more immersive. Based on the feedback you've given us, we have added the ability to mute your microphone while in full screen mode. To do this, simply hit the space bar!

Pidgin Adds Support for Google Voice and Video Chat

Slashdot | Pidgin Adds Google Talk Voice and Video Support

Just read that Pidgin 2.6.1 (on Linux) supports interoperability with Google video chat. Haven't had a chance to try it myself yet, but we'll be checking it out this week. Nice job Pidgin team!