PaltalkScene's integration of video, audio, and text chatting unified into one window makes for a strong chatware program that includes a wealth of features.
Parental controls employ a password to change settings or block groups; adult content is hidden by default and all rooms are moderated. Add in the room ratings of G, R, and A, and safe chatting is a cinch. Right-clicking a person's name gives a user-defined amount of personal information, with private room invite and file sending options. Sessions can be printed and saved, and buddy lists from other chat accounts can be automatically imported. Latest updates include screening rooms to share online videos, music feeds from Rhapsody, and multiplayer games in case you get bored talking.
However, the abundance of pop-up ads, which strike even while you're in the middle of joining a room, might motivate users to pay for a subscription or look elsewhere. Free accounts only can open Webcams for a few seconds, while paid users can open multiple video windows. The application crashed when closing, and the system slowdowns were disappointing. Uninstalling Paltalk left an icon on the desktop. Still, the thousands of rooms for politics, karaoke, tech advice, and porn mean that anybody can find a connection on Paltalk.
Popular video chat host and program publisher Paltalk on Tuesday introduces a beta of a complementary program to PaltalkScene. The new application, Paltalk Express, transfers the entire video chat apparatus to the Web and bolsters it with the kind of Web 2.0 bells and whistles that should make its appeal instantly obvious.
Paltalk Express looks and feels like a standard chat program, but it's all in your browser.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Based in Flash, Paltalk Express supports a decent range of features, even in the beta stage. Once logged in, the interface has the look and feel of a standard program, with a menu bar on the top left, your user status below that, and tabbed chat room navigation taking up the majority of the screen real estate.
Users can mark frequently visited chat rooms and frequently chatted friends as Favorites and Pals, respectively. This is practically a must-have feature for an video chat community that Paltalk's president, Joel Smernoff, claims has more than 4 million users and more than 5,000 chat rooms.
Chat features within the program are available to all, but to entice users to buy a subscription to Paltalk Express, Webcam viewing is restricted to paying customers except for group chats. So, if you're eager to participate in the daily live stream of the radio show Opie and Anthony, which Paltalk streams into a chat room for every broadcast, you don't have to subscribe.
Paltalk Express beta currently only supports text chat, but plans for much more.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Other features include an effective search function, multiple status settings so nobody can see when you're logged in, support for several dozen languages, and a left-nav "Pal Bar" that helps you keep track of your "pals" and when they're logged in.
Some of the more interesting or simply more useful features are nonfunctional in the beta. These include the ability to embed a vidcast on your Web page or blog, interoperability with AIM, Yahoo, and ICQ, viewing other people's Webcams, and--disappointingly--even the ability to engage in voice chat with other users.
Assuming Paltalk Express doesn't take too long to move out of beta, these extra features will make it a serious Web-based video chat and casual conferencing option.
PalTalkScene's main chat panel.
(Credit: CNET Networks, Inc.)Exclusive online content is nothing new, but PalTalkScene gives you a forum to conduct real-time voice and chat interaction with whatever all-singing, all-dancing content has attracted your attention. How it works is so simple that users can create their own chat rooms, a great way to talk to friends or collaborate over long distances. Let's take a look:
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PaltalkScene adds video screening rooms for viewing, and voice and text chatting.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Picking what to watch on TV from the crowd of new season premieres just got more complicated. Webtainment is ramping up in a big way, with content both created by and for the public now playing on various outlets across the Internet. One such notable is the migration of Paltalk from a social network congealed through an IM client, to an online media network.
One with edgy aspirations at that. This fall, Paltalk will show several original series that have been produced to fit the updated chat platform, now called PaltalkScene (download here.) The updated application expands on Paltalk Messenger's existing multimedia capabilities with Screening Rooms--private and public chat spaces of up to 5,000 viewers where users can watch, voice chat, and instant message about uploaded user videos and Paltalk's new shows.... Read more
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CNET Networks)
There may be an excess of social-networking sites starting up these days, but the concept seems to be a permanent fixture on the Web landscape. Whether it's MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, or your own network, people love connecting with old friends and finding new ones online.
Most social-networking occurs via Web-based software in your browser, but there are several cool downloadable tools that you can also use to connect and communicate with friends and strangers online. ... Read more
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