June 28, 2011

More About Google+ Hangouts

Google's Justin Uberti has more information about Hangouts, the video conferencing app that will be available in Google+.


To support Hangouts, we built an all-new standards-based cloud video conferencing platform. This platform combines high quality, low latency, and strong security with the ease of use of a web application. Through the efficiency of this new platform, we're able to deliver a leading video conferencing experience at Google scale.

A few noteworthy technical points:
* Fully browser-based/cloud-based
* Client-server: leverages the power of Google's infrastructure
* Designed for low latency (< 100 ms) and high performance (multicore + hardware acceleration)
* Standards-based: XMPP, Jingle, RTP, ICE, STUN, SRTP
* Fully encrypted (HTTPS + SRTP)

Hangouts require the same plugin that's currently used for voice and video chat, it's limited to 10 participants and doesn't work on mobile devices yet. Another interesting thing is that "hangouts are created by one person, but everyone in the hangout shares the ability to invite others. Each hangout has a specific URL. That URL can be shared as a link to invite others." You can also use Hangout to watch a YouTube video with your friends.

Hangout looks like a great Google Talk feature and I don't see why it shouldn't be added to Gmail and to Google Apps. Video conferencing could make Google Apps a lot more useful.
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11 comments:

  1. WaldirJune 28, 2011 at 4:26 PM

    Ha! Now Skype will have to drop the premium-only support for video-conferencing :) It was (is) rather annoying.

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  2. Top Income ProducerJune 29, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    This is going to be big. I have a picture in my mind that friends are chatting and seeing each other and having fun. Its a big one!

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  3. Harprit SinghJune 29, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    This is going to be big. I have a picture in my mind that friends are chatting and seeing each other and having fun. Its a big one!

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  4. JMFJune 30, 2011 at 6:10 PM

    The end of the paid videoconference scam!!!! :-)

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  5. AnonymousJuly 1, 2011 at 2:45 PM

    Damn, no more sitting at my (home) desk in my underwear...

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  6. AnonymousJuly 2, 2011 at 4:43 PM

    ...only if it'd work for apps.

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  7. Martin RauscherJuly 6, 2011 at 5:36 AM

    When you say, it's standards based, is there some connection to http://www.w3.org/2011/04/webrtc/Overview.html ?

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  8. mFaizJuly 10, 2011 at 8:15 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. mFaizJuly 10, 2011 at 8:28 AM

    so, it's just a typical video conferencing...but when it start to available?TQ

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  10. AMiRUJuly 12, 2011 at 12:45 AM

    I can't wait for this one to be fully available, as well as google+ itself to be publicly available.

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  11. ProjectoAugust 29, 2011 at 12:53 PM

    I placed my netbook right next to my sister's computer and invited her to my hangout. Yes, she has Google+ loaded. my screen said "invite posted" but I never saw anything on her screen. I did this a number of times. Nothing. What should appear??

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