Online gameAn online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, and span many genres, including first-person shooters, strategy games, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). In 2019, revenue in the online games segment reached 16.9billion,with4.2 billion generated by China and $3.5 billion in the United States. Google TalkGoogle Talk was an instant messaging service that provided both text and voice communication. The instant messaging service was variously referred to colloquially as Gchat, Gtalk, or Gmessage among its users. Google Talk was also the name of the client applications previously offered by Google to use the service. Google Talk applications were available for Microsoft Windows, Android, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10 and ChromeOS operating systems. A Google Talk mobile web app had also been previously available.
Pidgin (software)Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a free and open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple that has support for many instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to simultaneously log in to various services from a single application, with a single interface for both popular and obsolete protocols (from AIM (software) to Discord), thus avoiding the hassle of having to deal with a new software for each device and protocol. the number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over three million.
VideotelephonyVideotelephony (also known as videoconferencing, video teleconferencing, or simply video call) is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real-time communication. A videophone is a telephone with a video camera and video display, capable of simultaneous video and audio communication. Videoconferencing implies the use of this technology for a group or organizational meeting rather than for individuals, in a videoconference.
AdiumAdium is a free and open-source instant messaging client for macOS that supports multiple IM networks, including XMPP (Jabber), IRC and more. In the past, it has also supported AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. Adium is written using macOS's Cocoa API, and it is released under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later and many other licenses for components that are distributed with Adium. Adium was created by college student Adam Iser, and the first version, "Adium 1.0", was released in September 2001 and supported only AIM.
WeChatWeChat and Weixin () are a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018 with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions. WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing.
Signal (software)Signal is an encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice, and video calls. The instant messaging function includes sending text, voice notes, , videos, and . Communication may be one-to-one between users, or for group messaging. The application uses a centralized computing architecture, and is cross-platform software. It is developed by the non-profit Signal Foundation and its subsidiary, Signal Messenger LLC. Signal's software is free and open-source. Its mobile clients, desktop client and server are all published under the AGPL-3.
DiscordDiscord is an instant messaging and VoIP social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers". A server is a collection of persistent chat rooms and voice channels which can be accessed via invite links. Discord runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, and in web browsers. , the service has over 350 million registered users and over 150 million monthly active users.
CompuServeCompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS or later CSi) was an American online service, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the others are Prodigy and America Online)." It dominated the industry during the 1980s and remained a major influence through the mid-1990s. At its maximum during the early 1990s, CIS was known for its online chat system, message forums for a variety of topics, extensive software libraries for most personal computers, and a series of popular online games, notably MegaWars III and Island of Kesmai.
Comparison of VoIP softwareThis is a comparison of voice over IP (VoIP) software used to conduct telephone-like voice conversations across Internet Protocol (IP) based networks. For residential markets, voice over IP phone service is often cheaper than traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) service and can remove geographic restrictions to telephone numbers, e.g., have a PSTN phone number in a New York area code ring in Tokyo. For businesses, VoIP obviates separate voice and data pipelines, channelling both types of traffic through the IP network while giving the telephony user a range of advanced abilities.
