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RIP Beluga

AprecheApreche
edited November 2011 in Technology
We knew it was coming since Facebook bought them. Beluga is being merged into Facebook messenger.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/01/facebook-messenger-sinks-beluga-raffi-heads-back-to-the-drawing/
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Comments

  • RochelleRochelle
    Very lame. Will FB messenger be decent for us to use at PAX East? Are there other alternatives?
  • GregGreg
    For Beluga, your fantastic on-the-spot organizing will be missed.
    image
  • AprecheApreche
    Very lame. Will FB messenger be decent for us to use at PAX East? Are there other alternatives?
    Let's make a test pod with it. However, I know that some people *cough*Rym*cough* won't get a Facebook account.
  • ColdguyColdguy
    You mean I have to USE my facebook account...crud. Oh well backup plan is always google hangout.
  • GregGreg
    Very lame. Will FB messenger be decent for us to use at PAX East? Are there other alternatives?
    Let's make a test pod with it. However, I know that some people *cough*Rym*cough* won't get a Facebook account.
    I won't be able to join it because it doesn't support SMS and I'm the one person in the world who still doesn't have a smart phone. I'll be relying on JTVH if we migrate to that.

  • AprecheApreche
    You mean I have to USE my facebook account...crud. Oh well backup plan is always google hangout.
    Yeah, let's try to see if G+ can get the job done.

  • RuffasRuffas
    Very lame. Will FB messenger be decent for us to use at PAX East? Are there other alternatives?
    Let's make a test pod with it. However, I know that some people *cough*Rym*cough* won't get a Facebook account.
    I won't be able to join it because it doesn't support SMS and I'm the one person in the world who still doesn't have a smart phone. I'll be relying on JTVH if we migrate to that.
    Me neither, but I borrowed an iPod Touch for the last PAX East and it performed adequately as long as you had somebody with a real phone with you outside the con (lunches and stuff).
  • RochelleRochelle
    Well we have a lot of time before the event, so hopefully a decent alternative will be available.

    I'm still awaiting for registration to open up.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    Everyone in Germany uses WhatsApp.
  • MattMatt
    edited November 2011
    Beluga, you served us valiantly. The search is on for the next best group messaging app. I know there are plenty, but none I've experimented with. Back I originally pushed Beluga, the other big guys were Slide and GroupMe, which have also been bought by Google and Skype respectively. Time to find out what incarnation of each exists, and if there is a new app in town worth checking out.

    Edit: it looks like the hot new app worth checking out might be Glassboard? Will investigate later.
    Post edited by Matt on
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    GlassBoard has almost identical functionality to Beluga, runs on Android, WinPhone, and iOS. No FB sign in required.
  • RochelleRochelle
    GlassBoard has almost identical functionality to Beluga, runs on Android, WinPhone, and iOS. No FB sign in required.
    For now.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    DUN DUN DUUUUUUN
  • AprecheApreche
    GlassBoard has almost identical functionality to Beluga, runs on Android, WinPhone, and iOS. No FB sign in required.
    Let's try it.
  • AprecheApreche
    GlassBoard seems to work, but don't know if it has SMS. Someone else make a board and invite me.
  • Natakou2001Natakou2001
    I used GroupMe at PAX. We had around 200 people in our group. We didn't run into any problems. It supports sms as well.
  • NuriNuri
    Can you use G+ Hangout without the G+ app? My phone doesn't support it.
  • ColdguyColdguy
    Can you use G+ Hangout without the G+ app? My phone doesn't support it.
    Hangout has its own seperate app.
  • AprecheApreche
    Can you use G+ Hangout without the G+ app? My phone doesn't support it.
    Hangout has its own seperate app.
    Not on iOS.
  • Li_AkahiLi_Akahi
    Why don't you guys just text each other? Seriously.
  • RochelleRochelle
    Why don't you guys just text each other? Seriously.
    Because organizing or communicating with 10+ people would a spam of different individual text messages, hoping that everyone got that information.

    Plus, not everyone has an unlimited text plan. I only have 250/month and the only times I go near that is during conventions when I'm actually individually texting certain people.

    Have you even used Beluga to know how it works?
  • CremlianCremlian
    My poor blackberry... Why does thou not get software I need.... (work why not pay for a android or iphone for me :-p) *worlds smallest violin*
  • NuriNuri
    Yeah, and Beluga lets you silence the alerts until 8 AM and cool stuff like that.

    Well, I might be getting a new phone soon anyway, so I'd be able to have the new iOS that supports the G+ app.
  • VigaViga
    This sucks, but there's Glassboard luckily. Still, with and without a smartphone, Beluga was so useful. I barely go to a con without being in a pod nowadays.
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    You guys want Huddle (which has since renamed to G+ Messenger), not Hangout. It works really well, but no SMS for those still living in 2004.
  • GregGreg
    You guys want Huddle (which has since renamed to G+ Messenger), not Hangout. It works really well, but no SMS for those still living in 2004.
    2011 is expensive!
  • YoshoKatanaYoshoKatana
    I vote for either Glassboard (which I haven't tried) or G+, though I'm not sure if we'll have the functionality of Beluga with either of those two.
  • AprecheApreche
    Apparently LINE is the new hotness? It does a lot of different things, but group messaging is one of them. Apparently it's really hot in Japan.

    http://line.naver.jp/en/
  • jtvhjtvh
    Apparently LINE is the new hotness? It does a lot of different things, but group messaging is one of them. Apparently it's really hot in Japan.

    http://line.naver.jp/en/
    I fear sticker sets. Unless we can create our own. In which case maybe I should fear them even more.

    I could see giving LINE a try at ConnectiCon. It requires that one register using a phone number or SNS account; I don't know if that would bother anybody.


  • RuffasRuffas
    edited May 2013
    I supervise groups of Japanese students at my English school, and we set up a Line group for each one. It works really well, it's got a PC and phone client though the PC client lags behind the phone ones in terms of features (doesn't tell you if your message has been read and doesn't have the photo browsing thing).

    The contacts page automatically pulls people from your phone contacts if they have a Line account too. The audio and video chats aren't quite as good as Skype, but there's no Microsoft jankiness either. Photo and video sharing work well, and you can archive chats if that's a thing you do. As for the stickers, there are 3 free sets, (more if you have a Japanese phone number, or maybe just the Japanese version of the app). There are Fist of the North Star and PSY stickers if that does anything for anyone.
    Post edited by Ruffas on
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