chatting

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) tend to spend a majority of their free time in front of a screen, but little if any of that time on social activities such as e-mail or chat, according to new research out of Washington University in St. Louis.

Researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2, which includes more than 1,000 13- to 16-year-olds in special ed who have ASDs, speech and language impairments, and learning disabilities.

While 28 percent of typically developing kids are reported as heavy TV watchers, this study found that more than twice as many … Read more

Scammers are posing as Facebook security in chat sessions to try to trick people into providing their credit card information, Kaspersky Lab warned today.

"This Facebook phishing attack is pretty interesting because it does not just try to trick the victim into visiting a phishing Web site. It will reuse the stolen information and login to the compromised account and change both profile picture and name," writes David Jacoby, a Kaspersky Lab Expert, in a blog post.

"The profile picture will be changed to the Facebook logo and the name will be translated to 'Facebook Security'," … Read more

Facebook Messenger for Windows has just leaked, giving users an unintended preview of the upcoming dedicated chat client from Facebook. … Read more

Over the weekend, a Facebook chat feature was revealed--one that allows you to use a profile picture to represent someone instead of simply typing their name. … Read more

Were you lucky enough to receive a new Mac laptop or desktop this holiday season?

Once you've booted up that shiny new Mac for the first time and have had a chance to look around, check out our Best apps for Mac to get the lowdown on great apps you can download. We feature both free and paid software in our collection and there's something from just about every category.

Whether you want a different browser than Safari, want to discover and listen to new music, or just need a multiservice chat client, this collection has got you … Read more

Not everyone is on Facebook, but it sure seems that way sometimes; the site certainly has more members than any other social networking site in history. Among Facebook's many options for staying connected is its chat feature, which is popular with many users. But what if you want to chat with Facebook friends without being tethered to the Facebook Web page? Try fTalk. This slick chat client lets you log into your Facebook account and chat with your friends without even having your browser open.

We got off to a rough start with fTalk, as it immediately crashed the … Read more

Two popular programs included with OS X are Photo Booth and iChat, both of which allow you to use a camera attached to the system to capture and send pictures and videos of yourself to friends and colleagues.

Both of these programs have a video effects section, where you can apply filters to stretch and warp your face into odd shapes, or have hearts or birds revolve around your head for a "lovestruck" or "dizzy" effect. While these features should work just fine, there are situations in which the effect either cuts in and out or … Read more

For Android users, there's a nifty download now in the Android Market called BrowserTexting (download).

The free app lets you sync your phone to your browser, so you can send and receive SMS messages right from your computer. It's perfect for when you're at work, at home, or when you just don't feel like tapping away texts on your Android phone's touch screen.

To start, BrowserTexting gives you unlimited incoming texts and up to 50 outgoing texts from your browser per day. It also lets you send group texts to up to five recipients at … Read more

BrowserTexting lets you sync your Android phone with your browser, so you can send and receive SMS messages from the comfort of your computer. It's perfect for when you're at work, or at home, or when you just don't feel like tapping away at your Android device's touch screen.

The beauty of BrowserTexting is its simplicity. Once you download and install the app on your Android phone, you pretty much never have to fiddle with it again. Just use your computer browser to navigate to browsertexting.com, where you'll get a unique QR code. Then, … Read more