Hands-on: Facebook Video Calling vs. Google+ Hangout
The Google-Facebook rivalry has intensified in the past several days. Last week, Google announced the limited launch of its new Google+ social network, including a video chat feature called Hangouts. Then, yesterday, Facebook launched its new Video Calling feature, powered by Skype. Clearly, social networking and video chat are now joined at the hip.
Which video chat service is better, and who should use which one? I put both Facebook Video Calling and Google+ Hangout through their paces and found that they both have their pros and cons.
Facebook’s video chat is currently more stable, requires fewer system resources, and has higher-quality video and audio. On the other hand, Google+ Hangout is a more fully featured application, clearly designed for group video chat. Those who have made it into Google+ may find it buggy, but in the long run, Hangout could prove to be more useful than Facebook’s video feature.
Facebook Video Calling
Facebook’s new Video Calling service is powered by Skype; perhaps because of that, it’s simple and straightforward to use. You’ll first need to download a plug-in by going to www.facebook.com/videocalling, clicking on the Get Started button, then on the Setup button. At that point, you’ll download and install a Java plug-in.
You don’t, however, necessarily need to head there first. When you receive or try to make your first video call, you’ll be prompted to install the plug-in. I found this out because when I tried going to www.facebook.com/videocalling on my MacBook Air, I received an error message. However, when I tried just clicking the video icon in Facebook chat to make a video call, the plug-in installed with no problems.
Once you’ve got the plug-in installed, making a video call is exceptionally easy. Look at the list of your friends (in the lower right-hand corner of your Facebook page) who are currently available on Facebook chat. Double-click a name, and you’ll see there’s a new icon at the top of the chat screen — a small video camera. Click it to send an invitation for that person to participate in a video chat. They’ll receive a pop-up notification to a video chat, and if they don’t have the plug-in installed, they’ll be prompted to install it.
I found the video and sound quality of video calling in Facebook to be quite good — there was little, if any, video lag, and the sound came through crisp and clear with no delay. This shouldn’t be a surprise; Skype has been around for a while, and so it has had time to iron out any video or audio bugs.
Using video chat is simple and straightforward — just look at the camera and talk. As with most chat apps, the video of the person with whom you’re chatting takes up most of the screen, and you see a small thumbnail of your own video in a corner of the screen. You can move the video chat screen around your display and resize it as well. Ready to sign off? Just put your cursor anywhere in the video window, and a small labeled button will invite you to end the session. more info..
Anty-Piracy
Baidu, the largest search engine in China, about China ‘, 70%; in Thursday s balance of payments by the search market, announced in May that it will introduce its anti-piracy technology file and scheduled products. Last week, companies from the requirement to remove a number of products in its library and documentation found Baidu copyright violation the author of the book criticism.
Anti-piracy technology than law enforcement is a better way to reduce piracy. When the book industry, trying to move to the download from the hardcover, publishers and booksellers are increasingly aware of the importance of protection against piracy of their books. According to the company, technology will be released in full, the study in May, before, and the test will take a long time.
Technology, books or documents in question would like to automatically reject before uploading, and with violating the copyright of the contents of the systematic extermination, even if they have been uploaded. U.S. Trade Representative is listed in the most notorious pirates of the content on the list of search market companies. Some writers have been criticized for Baidu Baidu said last week, is running even stolen goods market in a totally corrupt thief company.
Completely destroy the music industry speculated that music piracy is impossible. As a few years ago, the company turned to anti-piracy technology, although it didn ‘t the result is the desired result. Baidu’s MP3 search service as it is also a dispute, Baidu’s spokesman said they don ‘t take all the same action, but they will continue in the future and try to achieve a breakthrough benefit by everyone in the music industry. In 2007, Apple CEO working pressure record mark down this technology.
He explained to provide an alternate method to do it for the time the product – iTunes accessible to all portable players. Earlier this year, Apple outlines the key cause of relying on a password to reach the user’s hardware patent application a plan. This technology will lead to the data that ‘s sent to a digital rights management module, and then the signature data and the key comparison. If they are matching, the application continues to open, if not, it ‘s stopped in its tracks. It helps in injecting the code into the app ‘of the code stream s.
