Gizmodo: gchat

How To Send SMS Text Messages With Gmail's Chat

John Mahoney — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:45:00 EST

Google today rolled out a Labs feature that allows you to quickly send SMS messages via Gchat—perfect for continuing to antagonize your contacts with your witty links well after they leave their computer.

Just go to the Labs area in preferences to turn it on—you can just enter any number in the Chat contacts bar, or add numbers to your existing contacts. Messages show up being sent from your own unique 406 area code number, and replies will be router back into the Gchat window. You've been able to do this with other IM services for a while, but if you're like me and everyone I know and rarely leave your Gmail pane, this is handy. [Gmail Blog via Lifehacker]

Google Adding Text Messaging To Gchat in Gmail

Elaine Chow — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:45:00 EDT

Those of you who use Gchat through Gmail can now send text messages to mobile phones. The function is experimental, so you have to go to the Labs tab inside of Gmail's settings (or click on that little green flask icon) to turn it on. Your messages will appear as a 406 number—once you've sent a text through gmail, that'll be your specific number. AIM's had this feature for a while, so it's not surprising that Google would implement it as well. Text your friends! See how it goes! [Webmonkey]

Hands-On Google Talk for iPhone (Verdict: Stick with Installer.app)

Benny Goldman — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Google's brand new Gtalk webapp for the iPhone is as crappy as I expected it would be. It has a nice design, and sending messages was easy, but at the end of the day it's still running in Safari—which means if you get a call you are signed out of chat. And unlike other web-based IM apps, Gtalk doesn't work in the background, so interruptions as simple as going to the home screen sign you out too. Also, there are no preference settings, so you are stuck looking at your whole contact list, online and off. Gtalk's AIM support is also curiously absent from this release. In short, this program sucks. If you're looking for a solid IM solution before the App store opens, I strongly recommend Agile Mobile's AM client recently released on Installer, which I've been playing around with.

AM is extremely easy to set up and has lots of options so you can choose which contacts you see. It supports Gtalk and AIM protocols in addition to ICQ, MSN, Yahoo and Jabber. AM even logs your IM sessions so you can refer back to old conversations. But best of all, it keeps your IM conversations going, even when you are on a call or out of the program, and sends Mail style notifications alerting you to how many IMs came your way while you were gone. All in all, an extremely good experience for IMing on the go, so jailbreak if you haven't yet, and install this puppy. [Google via Lifehacker]