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Get Google-Related Desktop Notifiers with Google Talk Labs Edition
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 12:00 AM on April 8, 2008
Windows only: For some time now, Google Talk has been more appealing as a web app than in its rarely updated desktop version. That changes, somewhat, with the release of Google Talk Labs Edition for Windows. The desktop client, which looks a lot like its web counterpart, includes the same group chat, emoticons and tabbed talking as the web, and puts pop-up notifications for Google Calendar, Gmail and Orkut events in the corner of your screen—which is a nice, consolidated way of getting that Outlook-like functionality. The big trade-off, however, is the lack of voice calling or file transfer through the Labs Edition, so if those are regular features, you'll likely want to stick with whatever version you're using now. Google Talk Labs Edition is a free download for Windows systems only.
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chickenpants
Posted 12:24 AM 8/4/08
As a huge fan of the google talk client I have to say I'm a bit let down. I realize this is probably just a first step and hopefully they'll reintroduce some of the old functionality (file transfer, contact sorting, display options, etc).
Frankly, if I wanted the web style interface, I'd have been using the web version all this time.
chickenpants
Gigadafud
Posted 12:09 AM 8/4/08
This is really pretty nice looking, but the ONE thing that I have noticed so far that I do not like is having all the chat windows always tabbed within the google talk window itself. I do like to have the ability of having individual chat windows having their own window.
Gigadafud
earth2marsh
Posted 1:27 AM 8/4/08
@Kevin: you're lookin' a little pale... ;)
earth2marsh
Tom Clarke
Posted 1:42 AM 8/4/08
Yeah but When. Will. They. Release. The. Mac. Version. Of. Google. Talk???
Tom Clarke
guibom
Posted 4:33 AM 8/4/08
I miss the new "Invisible" option in the desktop Google Talk. I wonder why they stopped adding new features to it.
guibom
Tyrun101
Posted 4:30 AM 8/4/08
Anyone else having a weird problem when trying to download this from Google?
I've never even seen this error before:
"Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete."
And that's from Google's Official Download page.
Tyrun101
JrezIN
Posted 5:27 AM 8/4/08
Did anyone else noticed that this is a "labs" version and not a "beta" version?! =]
JrezIN
Blaenk Denum
Posted 7:19 AM 8/4/08
I've been dying to find a little application like GMail notifier but for Google Reader/RSS Feeds. It would pop up a little notification each time a new story has been aggregated. Yes I know this could be a mess if there's too many feeds etc., I just want something like that. Anyone know of something similar to this?
Blaenk Denum
humperdinck
Posted 8:21 AM 8/4/08
@Tyrun101:
"Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete."
Wow. Browser pessimism.
humperdinck
natenovs
Posted 11:59 AM 8/4/08
@Blaenk Denum: i'm writing something like that right now! it'll be in .net for windows. are you a linux or mac guy?
natenovs
ender89
Posted 11:55 AM 8/4/08
@Blaenk Denum: I believe that Mozilla's Thunderbird has an rss feature that (I think) can give you an update window, and if it doesn't you could try looking for an add on for it.
You could also try Google alerts, which sends you an email when there is an update, but I am not sure if it does rss feeds.
ender89
ender89
Posted 11:50 AM 8/4/08
@Tom Clarke: You could always try WINE. It should allow you to use the labs version plus all the other little "windows only" programs floating on the Web. The only reason I mention this is because I heard that windows pretty much owns mac and linux in the doodad dept.
ender89
Palomar
Posted 12:52 AM 8/4/08
Nice app :) But I can't find the option to let it notify me of Calendar events. Also doesn't work when entering a dummy event to test...
Palomar
oleg
Posted 1:40 PM 8/4/08
@Blaenk Denum:
If you have firefox window open a lot, Google Reader Watcher extension will do the job quite nicely :)
oleg
Iain Cheyne
Posted 11:12 PM 8/4/08
Unfortunately this version is blocked the office firewall, while the mail client gets around it.
So far only Skype and Google Talk have been able to escape.
Iain Cheyne
Blaenk Denum
Posted 3:35 PM 9/4/08
Thanks guys I appreciate it!
@natenovs: I'm actually a Windows guy. I was actually thinking of working on another open source Google reader notifier, which only displayed the amount of new items, but I never really got into it (But I do know C# relatively well and the .Net framework). If you need any help testing or anything else please let me know!
@oleg: Thanks I installed it but all it seems to do is tell me the amount of new updates I have, I actually want to see snippets, like with Gmail notifier. Thanks though.
Blaenk Denum