vnz 0330 google talking (2006)

When ICQ, the first IM service, hit the market in 1996, there was a eral feeling of “Why would anyone want this?”The chat rooms were morethan proficient at allowing us to talk to our fri

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The incredibly hardworking team at Elsevier Science, including JonathanBunkell, Ian Seager, Duncan Enright, David Burton, Rosanna Ramacciotti,Robert Fairbrother, Miguel Sanchez, Klaus Beran, Emma Wyatt, Chris Hossack,Krista Leppiko, Marcel Koppes, Judy Chappell, Radek Janousek, and ChrisReinders for making certain that our vision remains worldwide in scope.David Buckland, Marie Chieng, Lucy Chong, Leslie Lim, Audrey Gan, Pang AiHua, Joseph Chan, and Siti Zuraidah Ahmad of STP Distributors for theenthusiasm with which they receive our books.

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Lead Author

Brian Baskin[MCP, CTT+] is a researcher and developer forComputer Sciences Corporation In his work, he researches,develops, and instructs computer forensic techniques for members ofthe government, military, and law enforcement Brian currently spe-cializes in Linux/Solaris intrusion investigations, as well as in-depthanalysis of various network protocols He also has a penchant forpenetration testing and is currently developing and teaching basicexploitation techniques for clients

Brian has been developing and instructing computer securitycourses since 2000, including presentations and training courses atthe annual Department of Defense Cyber Crime Conference He is

an avid amateur programmer in many languages, beginning whenhis father purchased QuickC for him when he was 11, and hasgeared much of his life around the implementations of technology.Brian has written a handful of Mozilla Firefox extensions; some, likePassive Cache, are publicly available He currently spends most ofhis time writing insecure PHP/MySQL web-based apps Brian hasbeen a Linux fanatic since 1994, and is slowly being drawn to thedark side of Apples and Macs

Brian would like to thank his wife and family for their tinued support and motivation, as well as his friends and others whohave helped him along the way: j0hnny, Grumpy Andy, En”Ron,”Thane, “Pappy,” “M,” Steve O., Chris pwnbbq, Koko, Rissa,Mailman, and others who he may have forgotten Most impor-tantly, Brian would like to thank his parents for their continuousfaith and sacrifice to help him achieve his dreams

Johnny Longhas presented at SANS and other computer securityconferences nationwide, including the Black Hat Briefings In addi-tion, he has presented before several government entities His is the

author of the best-selling Google Hacking for Penetration Testers

(Syngress, ISBN: 1931836361) During his career as an attack andpenetration specialist, he performed active network and physicalsecurity assessments (one in the cube is worth twenty on the net)for hundreds of government and commercial clients He is a BlackHat featured speaker, and his website can be found at

http://johnny.ihackstuff.com.Johnny is a Christian by grace, a family guy by choice, a profes-sional hacker by trade, a pirate by blood, a ninja in training, a secu-rity researcher, and an author Johnny is thankful for much Hethanks Christ first He gives thanks to Jen, Makenna,Trevor, andDeclan.These guys pay the price when deadlines hit Johnny thanksthem for understanding and supporting him.They have his love,always He also thanks Andrew and the rest of his Syngress family

He thanks Brian and Josh He appreciates their time and ment to this project Great work! Johnny gives thanks to thejohnny.ihackstuff.com mods (Murf, Jimmy Neutron, JBrashars, CPKlouw, Sanguis,ThePsyko, Wolveso) and members for their help andsupport

commit-Shouts: Nathan B, Sujay S, Stephen S, James Foster, Jenny Yang,SecurityTribe, the Shmoo Group, Sensepost, Blackhat, Defcon, NealStephenson (Baroque), Stephen King (on Writing),Ted Dekker(Thr3e), P.O.D., Pillar, Project86, Shadowvex,Yoshinori Sunahara,Pat C.To Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole for theInvisible Children movement (http://www.invisiblechildren.com).He’s behind you guys all the way!

Technical Editor

Joshua Brasharsis a telecommunications and security specialist inSan Diego He spends his time working with Secure ScienceCorporation’s External Threat Assessment Team, breaking thingsapart and taping them back together Joshua has contributed to sev-eral books with Syngress Publishing and has presented at confer-ences and universities across the United States.

Josh wrote Chapter 2, Installation.

Michael Gough is host and webmaster of www.VideoCallTips.

com, which was launched in January 2005 and receives more than

81,000 hits per month He is also the author of Skype Me! From

Single User to Small Enterprise and Beyond (Syngress Publishing,

ISBN, 1-59749-032-6) and webmaster of www.SkypeTips.com,which receives more than 140,000 hits per month Michael writesarticles on personal videoconferencing and related issues and con-tributes to the Networking Pipeline section of Skype.com He alsoexplains personal videoconferencing options and instructions tousers so that they can practically apply video calls at home andwhile out of town on business to stay in touch with family andfriends Michael also evaluates products for vendors and posts ratings

on his Web sites He evaluates products used with video calls andprovides feedback to the vendors on features and improvements tohelp drive the direction of video call-related products Michael is

also the host and webmaster for www.InternetVisitation.org, a

Web site focused on helping people understand how to make videocalls to family and friends after divorce, and maintains ratings of themany video call solutions available Michael gives presentations onthis subject at several conferences around the country to educateattorneys on the use of video calls in divorce—a practice known asvirtual visitation, and www.InternetVisitation.orgcurrently

Contributing Authors

Michael’s full-time employment is as a Computer SecurityConsultant with 18 years’ experience in the computer technologyfield He works for a Fortune 500 where he delivers security con-sulting services to their clients He also presents for his company atmany trade shows and conferences and works with associations andgroups, advising agencies like the FBI on Skype security and theCenter for Internet Security on wireless security

Michael wrote Appendix A, Introduction to Video Calling and Appendix B, Free Video Software.

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

How Did We Get Here? 2

The Rise of Google 3

The Instant Messaging World 4

America Online Instant Messenger 5

ICQ 6

Microsoft Windows Live Messenger 8

Yahoo! Messenger 9

QQ 10

What’s Wrong With This Picture? 11

Introducing Google Talk 11

Google Talking Without a Client 12

Google Talking On the Go 14

Solutions Fast Track 15

Frequently Asked Questions 17

Chapter 2 Installation 19

Introduction 20

Minimum System Requirements 20

Connection Speed—Broadband vs Dial-Up 20

Upload and Download Speeds 21

Testing Your Bandwidth Speeds 22

Microphone and Speakers 22

Headsets 22

Microphone and Headphones 23

Bluetooth Headsets 23

USB Phones 24

Personal Computer (PC) Requirements 25

Installing Google Talk on Windows 26

Troubleshooting Windows Audio Recording 27

Installing the Application 31

Solutions for Fast Track 37

Chapter 3 Google Talk for Non-Windows Users 39

Introduction 40

Gaim for Linux 41

Setting Up Your Account 41

Using Gaim 44

iChat for OS X 45

Setting Up Your Account 46

Using iChat 48

iChat Limitations 50

Adium X for OS X 50

Setting Up Your Account 51

Using Adium X 53

Summary 55

Solutions Fast Track 56

Frequently Asked Questions 57

Chapter 4 Google Talk Usage 59

Using Google Talk 60

Your Contact List 60

Adding Contacts 61

Changing Your Contact List View 64

Interacting With Contacts 66

Setting Status 68

Google Music Trends 70

Chatting With Google Talk 71

Emoticons and Text Formatting 72

Reviewing Old Chats 73

Chatting “Off the Record” 74

Speaking Your Mind 75

Voice Chat 76

Voicemail 77

Sharing Files and Tunes 77

Personalizing Your Google Talk 78

Avatars 79

Themes and Skins 80

Configuration Settings 81

Summary 88

Solutions Fast Track 89

Frequently Asked Questions 91

Chapter 5 Google Talk Add-ons and Modifications 93

Making Google Talk Yours 94

GT-Plug 94

Extended Talk 100

Creating Your Own Theme 104

Creating the Necessary Files 104

Altering Message Displays .106

Primary CSS Data 112

Reach Out and Touch Someone 113

Surprise Mom With a Call From Google Talk 114

VoIP Over Talqer 114

VoIP Using GTalk-To-VoIP 118

Can You See Me Now? Good! 122

Fun and Games with Festoon 128

Using Festoon as a Business Tool 129

Sex Change in a Download 130

Become A Google Talk DJ 132

Quick and Dirty Broadcasting 133

DJ’ing Through Mercora 135

Google Talk Chat Rooms 137

Pushing the Envelope 142

Google Talk to Go .142

Sleeping With The Enemy 146

Summary 154

Solutions Fast Track 156

Frequently Asked Questions 159

Links to Sites .159

Chapter 6 Proxy Use 161

Introduction 162

What Are Proxies? 162

Onion Router Proxies 166

How Onion Routing Works 167

Configuring Google Talk to Use Onion Routing Proxies 169

Using an SSH Tunnel 170

Creating an SSH Tunnel in Windows 171

Creating an SSH Tunnel in Linux and OS X 173

Summary 174

Solutions Fast Track 175

Frequently Asked Questions 176

Chapter 7 Google Talk in the Enterprise 179

Introduction 180

Implementing Google Talk in Your Network 180

Configuring for Google Talk: Standalone Client 180

Deploying Google Talk Client 181

Deploying Google Talk: Client Registry Changes 181

Allowing Google Talk Client Network Traffic 183

Configuring for Google Talk: Google Mail 183

Blocking Google Talk 184

Blocking Google Talk Traffic 184

Blocking Google Talk from Executing 185

Enterprise Security and Control of Google Talk 188

Summary 190

Solutions Fast Track 192

Frequently Asked Questions 193

Appendix A Introduction to Video Calling 195

Introduction 196

Personal Videoconferencing 196

Business Videoconferencing 196

Web Videoconferencing 197

What Is a Video Call? 197

Where Can You Perform Video Calls? 200

Appendix B Free Video Call Software 203

Overview 204

One-on-One Video Call Solutions 205

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM 5.9)

and AOL Triton (BETA) 206

Apple iChat AV 207

Festoon 208

IVisit Lite 211

Microsoft MSN Messenger 7.5 (Windows Live Messenger 8.0 BETA) 211

SightSpeed 214

Skype 2.0 218

Spontania Video4IM 223

WigiWigi—Vwho 226

Yahoo Messenger 227

ZoomCall 227

Multiuser Video Call Solutions 228

Apple iChat AV 228

Festoon 229

WigiWigi—Vwho 230

Multi-IM Video Call Solutions 231

EyeBall Chat 232

Festoon 233

FWD.Communicator 233

PalTalk Basic 234

QNext 234

Trillian Basic 235

TryFast 235

WigiWigi Vwho 235

SIP Video Call Solutions 236

FWD.Communicator 237

INEEN 238

Lycos Phone 238

Sony/GlowPoint IVE 239

Yak Virtual Videophone 240

H.323 Video Call Solutions 241

EnvisionSL 241

CamFrog 243

Chatablanca 243

CUWorld 244

DKMessenger 244

EyeBall Chat 245

LIvVE 245

PalTalk 245

Other Video Call Solutions 246

Microsoft Portrait 246

Obsolete, End-of-Life, or Discontinued Solutions 247

Summary 248

Index 249

Solutions in this chapter:

■ Where Did Instant Messaging Come From?

■ Other Popular IM Clients and How Google Talk Stacks Up

■ How You Can Implement Google Talk in Your Life

Chapter 1

Summary

Solutions Fast Track

How Did We Get Here?

We live in a grand age in which information flows at the speed of light andregional boundaries collapse under the weight of the Internet Once upon atime, our parents were penpals to others living in foreign nations, scratchingout long messages on paper to be mailed off Weeks would pass withoutnotice or confirmation, until suddenly a heavily stamped envelope wouldarrive from a friend overseas Now we enjoy instantaneous communication tonearly every country in the world.The world of penpals and business hasbecome one of instant global communication But the struggle to get to thispoint has been long and filled with peril We are at a stage where the world

of communications is being turned upside down, and many users and nesses are forced to make a choice: to adopt new technology or to confinethemselves to the relics of ancient devices

busi-Personally, I have been lucky to follow the advent of the instant-messagingworld from the beginning It all started with the days of bulletin board sys-tems (BBSs) running Renegade and PCBoard, which had very basic chatcomponents to allow you to “talk” with the handful of others who could be

on the same BBS at the same time It was the introduction of FidoNet, anold-school mail-relaying system, that whetted my appetite for internationalcommunication I quickly established my own bulletin board as a FidoNetnode, allowing myself and my users to send messages to the vast reaches ofthe world.The fall of the BBS world led to my time in Internet Relay Chat(IRC), which after 12 years I’m still in the habit of visiting Back when theBBSs crumbled, the world wasn’t ready for instant messaging Everyone wasaccustomed to their chat rooms on AOL, IRC, CompuServe, and Prodigy,where they could join a channel of other random “thirty-somethings” anddiscuss the latest Seinfeld episode

When ICQ, the first IM service, hit the market in 1996, there was a eral feeling of “Why would anyone want this?”The chat rooms were morethan proficient at allowing us to talk to our friends, and there seemed little to

gen-be gained from an IM client Still, many of us quickly signed up for accounts

to play with the new idea Over time, IM began to play a more central part in

my life and in the lives of others around me When I wanted to hop onlinefor a few minutes to check my e-mail, minutes turned into hours as myfriends could immediately see that I had logged in and initiate chats.The

world of chat rooms felt too confining at this point; it was too much protocol

to join a server, find a chat room, see who was awake and around, and get

caught up in channel politics just to talk to a friend Instant messaging

allowed me to quickly “ping” a friend and share information

As AOL released its Instant Messenger application (AIM), followed byYahoo! and Microsoft Messenger, I registered on each to explore the new fea-

tures and worlds opened to me I can at least say that I’m happy not to have

any screen names that end with a number After using just about every client

for long periods of time, I remained comfortable with ICQ and AIM.That

was until August 2005, when Google Talk was released After a rocky start, I

began using Google Talk exclusively as my chat client It provided all the

main features that I wanted, without all the fluff that the other clients offered

The Rise of Google

Google Inc has recently joined the instant-messaging foray with the release of

Google Talk Everyone seems to know Google Well known for creating the

most advanced search engine of its time, Google has become synonymous

with information gathering and research—so much so that in the summer of

2006, Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary included the

word Google as a verb meaning to search for information on a person using

the Google search engine Google’s search engine and its related advertising

services have turned Google Inc into an overnight success, with over 10,000

employees scattered throughout central California and even in Microsoft’s

backyard of Redmond, Washington

The Google machine has been working overtime in recent years, ducing a large number of free applications to help the common computer

pro-user and to change people’s perspective of Internet technology.The most well

known of these is Google Mail, a free Web-based mail service provided by

Google Known affectionately as Gmail, it launched on April 1, 2004, with the

promise of 1 Gigabyte of information storage to any invited member.The

invite-only structure still exists, as Gmail is still technically in the Beta stage,

but with an abundance of invitations granted to each user and numerous

invi-Google store the accounts for millions of users, but it also maintains an ible social network, tying various accounts together Google knows whoinvited you to join their Google Mail service, as well as whom your friendsare in Google Talk, creating an interesting network of your friends and family.Other Google services, such as Orkut (www.orkut.com), make this social net-work visible by allowing you to invite new friends to join your social circle.Google has also started work on its line of Web-based office applications.

invis-It currently offers the ability to create and store documents and spreadsheets(http://docs.google.com), maintain your calendar schedules (www.google.com/calendar/), and store your favorite photos (http://picasaweb.google.com) We’ll take a look at many of these applications and see how GoogleTalk plays a vital role in then

Notes From the Underground…

Google Beta?

Anyone who follows Google’s products will notice that a large majority of

them are in Beta, a term describing the overall status of the software as

not quite complete but good enough for mass testing You might be

familiar with the term Beta test, whereby a product is considered

com-plete enough to warrant scrutiny and stress testing Well, Google Talk is a Beta product, under Beta testing by millions of users It joins the large Google family of Beta products, such as Google Mail What this ultimately means is that the product has not been finalized into a releasable product and could undergo changes at any time.

It is important to note that this book covers the Beta version of Google Talk That means that new features might be implemented by the time you’ve installed it, and other features might be altered and removed.

The Instant-Messaging World

Chances are that you are already using an instant-messaging client of somesort, and would like to know what Google Talk can offer you Google Talkprovides quite a few unique features, but what it is really known for is what it

does not offer you: advertisements, spyware, information overload, and other

useless junk that other IM clients are known for In this section, we’ll take a

brief look at Google’s competition in the IM market

America Online Instant Messenger

Currently, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is the most popular

instant-mes-saging service in use in the United States Precise numbers are hard to

deter-mine, but comScore judged that AIM has 54 million users as of July 2005,

giving it a significant market presence AIM is the big name in the IM world,

there is no doubt about that Although not the first IM service, AIM has the

largest number of users with its existing America Online user base and the

millions of others who registered just to use its chat client

AIM gave users the ability to log into any computer across the world thathad the AIM client and immediately receive their full contact lists, showing

which of their buddies were online at the time It was the perfect product for

the busy traveler and student, who might use hundreds of machines during

the course of a year Chat was effortless, as was the transfer of files from one

machine to another

However, over time, a disease crept into AOL Instant Messenger A diseasecalled creeping featuritis, which often proves fatal

Notes From the Underground

Hide Your Daughters, It’s Creeping Featuritis!

Creeping featuritis occurred when an application loses “its roots” and begins to throw in as many new features as they can possibly fit, even if

it proves detrimental to the original concept of the tool I wish I could say that AIM was the sole sufferer of this wasting sickness, but it proved to take hold of most IM services As a prior software developer, I know the temptation of it all too well I remember thinking, “I’ll just add one more feature that the users will love and everyone will adore me” But, the

The unfortunate side effect is that more focus and development goes into the creation of new ideas and add-ons, instead of making the already existing features pristine and bullet-proof Typical features creeps in IM clients include themes, enhanced smiley faces, games, greeting cards and avatars.

AOL Instant Messenger was also used as a vehicle to push advertisementsand other AOL features to users who really couldn’t care less, as shown inFigure 1.1 AOL also touts its AIM Today portal to all users, insisting that theyreally do want a one-stop shop for all their e-mail and personal settings aswell as all the latest celebrity gossip

Figure 1.1 AOL Instant Messenger 5.9

ICQ

ICQ is known as the first true instant-messaging client, released in late

1996, and has long been known for its outlandish sound effects ICQ was

designed with a peculiar name, an acoronym for “I Seek You,” by a team of

Israeli programmers ICQ itself hosts over 20 million active users from all

across the world, as stated by one of AOL’s press statements

(www.corp.aol.com/products/brands_icq.shtml) This user base is contested,

though; since ICQ and AIM share the same protocol, there is a chance that

the number is dramatically lower Some market analysts put the ICQ user

base at a meager 1.8 million

Life for ICQ changed quite a bit, though, in 2000, when it was acquired

by America Online ICQ was left alone to continue to prosper, but its

back-end protocol design was altered to become compatible with AIM, allowing

AIM and ICQ users to communicate with each other

Although ICQ doesn’t commandeer the great number of users that otherservices do, it has an established presence in many foreign markets It also

touts itself as a medium for online dating and relationships through its

com-plex homepage that attempts to find compatible chat partners Unfortunately,

like many other IM clients, it relies on many advertisements for its own

fea-tures and for other service providers, as shown in Figure 1.2

Figure 1.2 ICQ 2003b Pro

Microsoft Windows Live Messenger

The up and coming challenger in the instant messaging world comes fromMicrosoft, the behemoth from Redmond, Washington that likes its fingers inall of the pies.Their Microsoft Network (MSN) service was an attempt todominate the ISP world and compete with AOL, but the only real by-productseems to be MSN Messenger MSN Messenger ended up being one of thecleanest and produced more efficient IM clients for its time With the release

of Windows Vista, Microsoft is moving forward with its MSN replacement,Windows Live Messenger (WLM), as shown in Figure 1.3 WLM is proving

to be quite a capable IM client, with a much cleaner interface than most of itscompetition

Figure 1.3 Microsoft Live Messenger

Although it does have a hefty 17 different menu icons for services such asMSN Video, MSN Shopping, MSN Dating, MSN Games, Rhapsody music,and eBay, these are all mostly hidden away from the user And just like everyother prominent client, it urges you to use its portal system, in this case MSNToday, to catch up on your daily gossip WLM does capture the second largestuser base in the IM community, though, with approximately 23 active millionusers, as reported by comScore in July 2005 However, Microsoft is still

aiming for the top of the food chain with a recent deal with Yahoo! that will

allow the two clients to share user communications

Yahoo! Messenger

With the arrival of Google,Yahoo! has been fighting for its identity in the

online world Its second-rate search engine was recently updated to match the

power of Google’s search engine, but a lot of its attention has been placed on

Yahoo! Messenger If you are looking for flash-bang graphical overload,

Yahoo! will probably be your client of choice Not only can you force gaudy

commercialized themes, called IMVironments, onto your friends, but you can

also play a game of checkers with them In Figure 1.4, you will notice that

you are pushed into a variety of advertisements for Pop-Tarts,Yahoo! Movies

Trailer plug-in,Yahoo! Voice Chat,Yahoo! Music LAUNCHcast,Yahoo! 360*,

Yahoo! Weather, and the Yahoo! Search engine

However,Yahoo! Messenger has found its niche, since it holds the thirdlargest user base of IM clients, with approximately 21 million users

(www.thestreet.com/_googlen/markets/jamesaltucher/10242834.html) Its

numbers are sure to fluctuate as it finally has merged its protocol with

Microsoft Live Messenger in summer 2005, allowing Yahoo! and Microsoft

Live users to communicate with each other

Figure 1.4 Yahoo! Messenger

Ever heard of QQ? You probably haven’t, although it is the most popular IMchat client in the world It has over 220 million active users on its service;that’s more active users than all the other clients discussed here combined!However, its user base is predominantly Asian, with large usage in China,Korea, and Japan, along with significant usage in South Africa So why do Imention it? Well, 220 million users can’t be wrong! However, much of thissuccess is because QQ operates very anonymously, without even requiring ane-mail address for registration QQ features a very clean and simple interface,

as shown in Figure 1.5, with no advertisements and no pushy pop-up dows.There are no additional frill packages, just honest-to-goodness chat.This

win-is what the people want, and they have been waiting for it here in the UnitedStates! Their wishes have finally been answered with Google Talk

Figure 1.5 QQ Main Screen

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Now that you’ve briefly looked through what the market has to offer, what

do you see wrong? There is plenty to complain about: advertisements,

pop-up windows, portal home pages, dozens of icons and buttons, and a lack of

concise design Much of these products are tailored towards the young

teenage crowd, with an emphasis on games and playing “dress up” with your

own avatar What about the practical user in all of us? Our inner adult wants

to get down to brass tacks, bypass all of the graphical fluff, and just chat with

friends We don’t care what dress Tiffany’s fictional avatar is wearing What

we want is a simple to use program that makes it easy to find our friends and

talk to them, as shown in Figure 1.6 The answer for this type of user is

Google Talk

Figure 1.6 Google Talk Client

Introducing Google Talk

popular Jabber protocol It is ubiquitous in your world, allowing you to nect through a standalone client, Google Mail, or many of Google’s otherWeb-based applications.

con-When Google Talk was envisioned, the planners decided to take advantage

of the Jabber protocol, an open-standard protocol based upon XML that’s used

in a large variety of networks Its design makes it easy for third-party developers

to create modifications and extensions to Google Talk or create their ownclients that can converse with Google Talk users.This is vastly different from allthe other prominent IM services, which use their own closed-source protocolsand spend countless hours blocking access from outside clients

Google Talking Without a Client

Throughout this book we will become intimately familiar with the GoogleTalk standalone client, shown in Figure 1.6 However, that is not the onlymeans of communication Google turned a lot of heads when it decided toimplement Google Talk capabilities within Google Mail, as shown in Figure1.7 Using any Internet-accessible computer in the world, you can now jump

in to check your Gmail and chat with all your friends Although there is a bit

of difference in how the standalone and the Web-based clients work, theyshare the same protocol and basic functionality Many of these differences will

be discussed later in this book, and we’ll discuss how you can setup and useeach of these implementations

Figure 1.7 Google Mail Chat

Obviously, the sky is the limit for an application like Google Talk, with thefull resources of Google, Inc behind it Google Talk has already been imple-

mented into other Google apps, such as their Google Desktop (http://desktop

google.com), with the potential for it to be included in numerous other

appli-cations, such as Google’s Documents and Spreadsheets applications Google’s

interoperability is often the butt of many jokes, though, after the recent press

that they have received over their ad-based Google Mail system Pretty soon,

we may see Google Talk monitoring our conversations, as demonstrated in the

UserFriendly.org comic strip in Figure 1.8

Figure 1.8Google Talk Helping With Bad English

(http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050828)

Notes From the Underground…

Docs and Spreadsheets Aren’t There Yet

document with your friends, family, or coworkers and send messages about the content while simultaneously editing the document Such a chat feature might seem right up Google Talk’s alley, but it’s actually using

a standard Web-based chat format However, keep your eyes on it; there

is great hope for what Google Docs and Spreadsheets can become Think

of creating a new spreadsheet and picking names off your Google Talk contact list to share the contents with, then tying in the discussion with your Talk buddies

Google Talking On the Go

Along with its Web-based interface for communicating with others, GoogleTalk is also available on a number of portable communication devices, such asthe RIM BlackBerry, as shown in Figure 1.9, and the Nokia 770 InternetTablet.There is strong potential for an even greater market presence withGoogle Talk for Palm devices and cell phones How about Google Talk onyour wrist watch?

Figure 1.9 Google Talk for the RIM BlackBerry (Courtesy of Google Inc.)

Solutions Fast-Track

How Did We Get Here?

The instant-messaging world that we currently enjoy has been indevelopment for well over a decade as dozens of IM clients battledfor market dominance

The use of IM marks a significant departure in the way modernInternet users view their online friends and their time online.Today

we don’t want to commit ourselves to a chat application and investthe time in sitting in chat rooms We want instantaneous

communication with friends and family, no matter what we are doing

at the time

The Rise of Google

Google Inc., starting from the development of an ingenious searchengine design, has grown into a multibillion-dollar corporation thatseeks to revolutionize the way people operate on the Internet

Google Talk is just one small side project of the greater Google goodand symbolizes Google’s attitudes toward allowing its employees towork on fun pet projects that could grow up to change the world

The Instant-Messaging World

Although ICQ might have been the first recognized messaging service, it has definitely fallen behind the times, holdingsignificantly fewer devoted users than any other prominent IMservice

instant-
AIM has been able to leverage its large established America Onlineuser base into the largest IM market in North America and still

Yahoo! Messenger and Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger havebeen vying for the lead position, and now that both clients

intermingle, their combined user base could spell trouble for AIM

One of the greatest disadvantages to most IM clients is their creepingfeatures, where numerous insignificant modifications are favored overthe core chat experience

QQ leads the world in active users through its established market inAsia and with its simplified and to-the-point interface

Introducing Google Talk

Google Talk might be the newest IM service to emerge, but with astrong brand name and loyal following, it could become one of themost popular clients in upcoming years

Google Talk not only operates with its standalone client, it is also tiedinto a number of Google services, such as Google Mail

For chatters on the move, Google Talk is also fully supported onnumerous mobile devices, such as the RIM BlackBerry and Nokia

770 tablet

Q: I use Trillian for all of my instant messaging Does Google Talk integrate

into it?

A: Trillian is an excellent client that features a simplified interface that

appeals to many users.Trillian is also a free product that allows you tocommunicate with a wide variety of instant-messaging services However,the free version of Trillian does not support Google Talk; you will have topurchase Trillian Pro If Google Talk is going to be your client of choice,and you don’t use accounts on many other services, it is much easier andcheaper just to use the Google Talk client

Q: When will Google Talk be taken out of Beta?

A: That’s impossible to say Many Google products stay in the Beta stage for

months, if not years, because they are constantly being fine-tuned andupdated Many developers are hesitant to put the final stamp of approval

on their product until they are sure that it is completely bug free and hasall the features users want However, as any software program manager cantell you, sometimes products have to ship with bugs It is advantageous forGoogle to have its product sit in Beta mode, where millions of adven-turous users can test and abuse it, without having to commit the company

to Google Talk being a final product

Frequently Asked Questions

The following Frequently Asked Questions, answered by the authors of this book,

are designed to both measure your understanding of the concepts presented in this chapter and to assist you with real-life implementation of these concepts To

have your questions about this chapter answered by the author, browse to

www.syngress.com/solutions and click on the “Ask the Author” form

Q: I like my instant-messaging clients with lots of colors and video Can Imodify Google Talk for this?

A: Absolutely.There are currently many plug-ins to Google Talk as well as

modifications made by advanced users In Chapter 4 of this book we’ll gointo some of these modifications and how you can do some really coolstuff with a very basic client.You can even use Google Talk to talk to yourfriends on AIM and Yahoo!

Solutions in this chapter:

■ Installing Google Talk on Windows

Chapter 2

Summary

Solutions Fast Track

In this chapter, we’ll look at what’s required to begin making and taking calls

in Google Talk Depending on your platform, the installation requirementsand steps are slightly different, so feel free to skip down to the section thatcovers your particular platform

Minimum System Requirements

So you’ve heard all about this Internet telephone thing that the world isbuzzing about, and you’ve decided you want to get on board Good for you!Let’s look at the steps you’ll need to take to get Google Talk properly installedand configured so you can begin to reach out and touch someone Firstthings first: We need to ensure that your computer system meets Google Talk’sminimum requirements

Connection Speed: Broadband vs Dial-Up

First you need an Internet connection I know, I know … an Internet nection? For an Internet phone call? Stop the presses! Although this mightseem blindingly obvious, it is important that your connection have enoughbandwidth to accommodate Internet telephone traffic What is bandwidth?Bandwidth is a measure of the capacity of a communications channel.Thehigher a channel’s bandwidth, the more information it can carry

con-So what does this mean to you, the Google Talk user? Basically, there aretwo types of bandwidth: broadband and dial-up.This is of course a dangerousover-generalization, but for consumer-level Internet connections, this defini-tion will suffice Broadband is generally considered to be anything at theDigital Subscriber Line (DSL) level and faster, such as the common cablemodem Internet connection

Normal dial-up Internet, also referred to as narrowband, is any Internet

connection over the plain old telephone system (POTS) network.These nections require a user to dial the Internet service provider (ISP) over thephone and are considerably slower than cable or DSL In contrast, cable/DSLconnections are “always on”—that is, as long as your computer or a devicedirectly connected to the modem is powered on, you will have Internet connectivity

con-So why does all this matter? con-So glad you asked! Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) requires a lot of bandwidth to send voice traffic at acceptable

speeds Without a sufficient connection, the quality of the audio will decrease,

echo, jitter, and become otherwise unusable.Typical dial-up connections

simply don’t have the room or the speed to make telephone calls; ironic,

con-sidering that this traffic is over telephone lines in the first place If you happen

to live in an area where broadband Internet connectivity is not available, that

doesn’t mean that you will be unable to use Google Talk, but it does exclude

you from taking advantage of Google Talk’s voice chat capabilities However,

if you are fortunate enough to have access to a broadband connection, you

will be able to take advantage of all Google Talk’s features

Upload and Download Speeds

An important thing to keep in mind in regard to bandwidth speed is that not

all connection speeds are created equal.This matters most when it comes to

upload speed, which affects your ability to send audio Upload speed is how

fast you can send data Conversely, download is the speed at which you receive

data Most cable modems and DSL lines have asynchronous speeds, which

means that the download speed is generally much faster than the upload

speed.This is especially important over shared Internet connections, such as at

a Wi-Fi hotspot or on a local area network (LAN) Although download

speeds are often plentiful, the same numbers of people are sharing the

min-imal upload bandwidth, which might result in choppy or unusable call audio

As a guideline, the following are average speeds associated with theirrespective Internet connection types:

■ Cable modem 4Mbps download, 250kps upload

■ Standard DSL 1.5 Mbps download, 128kbps upload

■ Satellite 500kbps download, 56kps upload

Testing Your Bandwidth Speeds

Many places on the Internet, such as www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/,will give you a measurement of your connection’s bandwidth speeds

However, these sites will typically measure only your download speed, andGoogle Talk is more dependent on upload speed For an accurate measure ofupload speed, check out the speed test at www.dslreports.com/stest/ Pleasenote also that although this site supports most geographic locations, not allplaces are supported, so your mileage may vary

Microphone and Speakers

Now that you’ve made sure you’ve got the download and upload speeds essary to make a Google Talk call, you need some equipment to actually sendand receive audio Specifically, you’ll need a microphone and speakers In thissection, we’ll look at some considerations for these required accessories

nec-Headsets

Google recommends using a headset (which integrates both a microphoneand a headphone speaker), such as the ones made by Logitech For optimal

sound quality, get a headset with full duplex Full duplex means that the

headset can receive and send audio simultaneously

You’ll also want a headset that offers noise cancellation.This ensures thatyou will not have any echo or feedback in the audio (high-pitched shrills thatsound not unlike a dying narwhal) and will eliminate most of the ambientbackground noise in the area

Microphone and Headphones

If you don’t have access to a headset such as those made by Logitech, you can

use regular headphones like the ones that come with any iPod or CD player

and a generic microphone Both can be obtained at most stores with an

elec-tronics department, such as Best Buy or even Wal-Mart It is important to

prevent the sound from the headphones reaching the microphone or you will

experience the dreaded audio assault of feedback

You will probably need to fiddle with the audio settings for both themicrophone and the headphones Ideally you want the headphones no louder

than what is required to clearly hear the person on the call, and you want the

microphone no more sensitive than is needed to be heard clearly by your

caller

A Word About Laptops

The majority of laptops manufactured today come from the factory with

built-in speakers and a built-in microphone Although it is still advisable to

use a set of headphones with this configuration, you can have a perfectly

good experience without one.You will still need to configure your

micro-phone’s sensitivity to avoid undesirable audio

Bluetooth Headsets

Most modern mobile phones and many laptop computers come equipped

with Bluetooth Bluetooth, the common name for devices complying with

the IEEE 802.15.1 standard, is a wireless technology for personal area

net-works (PANs) that allows wireless data exchange Bluetooth net-works especially

well for headsets, allowing hands-free communication within a range of 1 to

10 meters, depending on the class of Bluetooth radio in the device.The

ranges for the respective radios are as follows:

■ Class 1 100 mW, 20 dBm, ~100 meters

■ Class 2 2.5 mW, 4 dBm, ~10 meters

■ Class 3 1 mW, 0 dBm, ~1 meter