Release notes:

All platforms

1. [new] Re-written audio capture and playback code for better performance and power-efficiency
2. [new] Added pre-buffering to avoid artefacts at message start
3. [new] Added adaptive jitter-buffer to improve sound quality
4. [fix] Fixed several issues with message playback indication (”green wave”)
5. [fix] Multiple fixes in history player code

Windows

1. [new] Added support for Microphone Boost slider in Loudtalks Audio settings on Vista/Win7
2. [fix] Fixed icon resource leak

Known issues

1. Sometimes channels search returns 0 results. The workaround is to close channel search dialog and re-open it.
2. Some screen readers don’t read correctly Contacts and History items

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Release notes:

All platforms

1. [fix] Sometimes received non-empty messages didn’t play and appeared having 0:00 length in the history
2. [new] Improved public channels reliability
3. [new] Option to view the list of users currently connected to the public channel

Windows

1. [fix] Prevent application from “stealing” focus while reconnecting

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Download Loudtalks Lite for Windows Mobile

Release notes:

All platforms

1. [fix] Improved channel search usability and stability
2. [fix] History: don’t lose the tail of a message during playback
3. [fix] History: skip 0:00 messages instantly during playback
4. [fix] PTT button gets disabled when number of online channel users exceeds 10

Windows Mobile

1. [new] Public channels support
2. [new] Better algorithm for hotkeys assignment — if you were not able to assign your PTT to a hardware button on your phone, try it again with this version

Download Loudtalks Lite for Windows

Download Loudtalks Lite for Windows Mobile

Release notes

1. Renamed interfaces to match white-label requirements for developers using .NET
2. Added interfaces to provide access to messages history
3. Added events to notify about incoming and outgoing messages
4. Extended support for channels and groups
5. Updated sample code

Download Loudtalks SDK

Public channels are useful to:

1. Meet the new people from around the world
2. Discuss a topic with like minded strangers
3. Share and receive updates on important time-sensitive information (traffic situation in your area, stocks market etc)
4. Broadcast your status updates to interested followers (yes, like twitter)
5. Learn a new language

Connecting to existing channels

1. Use menu Tools > Add a channel…

2. Enter channel name or the keywords (you can try ‘lobby’ or ’support’) and press Next

3. It’ll show the list of the channels found. Click on the desired channel name to select it and click Next

4. After confirmation screen the channel will appear in your contacts.

5. To talk to the channel, select it in the contacts and use PTT key as usual. Please note that some channels may be “read-only”.

6. Use right-click on the channel name to Connect or Disconnect the channel or setup Auto-connect, when you log in.

7. If you want to delete the channel from your contacts you can use Tools > Delete selected contact(s) menu command.

When receiving a message from a channel both user name and channel name are displayed. In Loudtalks history you can use context menu on the incoming message to add the user who sent it to your contacts with one click. We are building the directory of the channels available to make the discovery easier.

Creating and managing your own channel

Have something interesting to share with the world? You can create one or more channels yourself!

1. Use Tools > Create a channel… menu command.

2. Name your channel, add description, select the channel type and click Next.

It’s very important to write a good and detailed description — the keywords it includes can be used by others to find your channel. Include the language of your channel, and its location (for location-sensitive information) into description. You can either allow anyone to talk on the channel or make it broadcast-only so you can talk uninterrupted. In the later case you may want to create another channel specifically for comments and mention it in the main channel description.

3. If the channel name is available, it’ll be created, added to your contacts and available for others to join.

4. The person who created the channel becomes channel administrator and have additional functions available in the context menu on incoming message in the history.

To fight abuse the channel admin can block any user from accessing the channel (or unblock the user previously blocked).

Hope you’ll enjoy the new feature! It’s still an early version of it so please share your suggestions and feedback — either in comments here or via ’support’ channel in Loudtalks Lite.

Update (May 12, 2010): Now you can browse the public channels online.

All platforms

1. [new] Italian translation, contributed by Giacomo Girotto
2. [new] Chinese translation, contributed by 施宗杰 (JieJie)
3. [update] Updated Swedish, Romanian and Czech translations (kudos to Leif Larsson, Alexandru Bogdan Munteanu, and Ondřej Verzich)
4. [fix] Handling of concurrent incoming messages
5. [fix] Fixed playback of new message / new conversation notifications

Windows

1. [new] Public talk channels
2. [new] Added View > History… menu command to show the messages history for all contacts
3. [fix] Random crash in VOX mode

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Release notes:

1. Codebase is updated to the version 0.9.0.67
2. Added support for VB6 applications and VB6 sample code
3. Extended ActiveX interface to support channels and groups status
4. Unique IDs are assigned to all contact list elements
5. ContactListChanged event fires when any change in contact list occurs

Download the SDK

What it means for you?

1. The service is considered stable and suitable for the use in production environment
2. Core features set is complete but we have some new exciting plans in the roadmap (more on this later in this post)
3. If you use a Basic service plan (up to 10 users), you can continue using it
4. If you use a beta version of a premium service plan, you need to switch to a paid version before your beta expires to assure the uninterrupted use of the service.

Switching to a paid service plan

1. Check out Loudtalks Cloud pricing and available service plans
2. Log-in to your Loudtalks Cloud admin console, go to Account page and switch to the selected service plan
3. If you decided to use a free service plan you may need to remove the users and radio gateways to fit into the service plan limits first
4. If you are switching to a premium service plan, proceed to Account > Payment to complete the payment and activate your service plan.
5. Beta service plans are set to expire on March 15, 2010. Please switch to appropriate paid (or free) service plan before that date.

What’s next?

Here are a few things we want to focus on in the near future:

1. Extend and improve the SDK to allow developers better leverage our platform
2. Support more mobile platforms. iPhone, Blackberry and Android are in the short list.

The latter goal is quite ambitious but we strongly feel it’s very important. If you agree and want to help us making it happen earlier, go ahead and sign up for a premium Loudtalks Cloud service plan!

One more thing

If you have tested Loudtalks Cloud and planning to continue to use it, send us your feedback or suggestions on how we can improve the service, and we’ll credit your network account with $100, which you could use to pay for the premium service.

Loudtalks server API reference
Loudtalks push-to-talk SDK

Windows

- Added animated status while connecting a call (only applicable if you use Clear to send)

- Improved sound capture

- Updated Romanian and Swedish translations

Windows Mobile

- Added animated status while connecting a call

- Fixed audio recording problems on some devices (particularly Samsung SGH-i627, Samsung SCH-i770, Intermec CN50)

- Correctly handle screen orientation changes

- Updated Romanian and Swedish translations

The update will be delivered through automatic updates today or you can download it manually now:

Download Loudtalks Lite for Windows

Download Loudtalks Lite for Windows Mobile