For example, we wanted to devise a way to highlight our best and most vibrant chat rooms to our new members...so we sat down and racked our brains trying to work out a clever computer algorithm that would expose the best rooms to new members... then we had an epiphany moment; who better to show new members the best chat rooms than our existing members --no computer could know the Paltalk community better than the community itself! And so this was the birth of the Paltalk Guides feature.

Guides are experienced Paltalk members that volunteer to help new users learn about the Paltalk community. If you have a blue, green or purple nickname that's at least 3 months old, you have a profile, and you are a member in good standing, you are eligible to become a Guide. Here's where you opt-in within Paltalk (see the red box):

As a reward for being a Paltalk Guide, you'll get a badge on your profile page. We'll also showcase the top-rated guides on Paltalk from time to time. Good stuff...

Here are some other great new features:

• Now it's easier and more convenient to SuperIM with your friends. SuperIM allows you to voice and video chat with up to 10 people simultaneously - only the initiator of the SuperIM™ session needs to download Paltalk's free software. Everyone invited just clicks a link from their email to join the instant messaging conversation within their internet browser.
• You will also be able to send IMs to your MSN Messenger contacts from within Paltalk, just like you have been able to with your Yahoo!, AOL and ICQ friends.
• Finally, you can now rate a room while you're in the room itself.

Download Paltalk v9.8 Beta - have fun!

In case you're not familiar with Go Daddy, they're a bigtime domain registrar. And having your own web page will let you promote your chat room in ways you weren't able to before...all you have to do is send your web address that you chose and paid for to your friends and family. They will be able to enter your chat room by going to that page. What's best - they won't have to install Paltalk in order to chat with you - it's all done in Paltalk Express.

Goodtimes!

Choosing your domain name

Any time you create a new chat room, or edit an existing one, you will have the option to buy a personalized web page from Go Daddy through the Paltalk website. You can either create a web address that has a name closely-related to your Paltalk chat room name or come up with something new.

As an example, I've created a chat room called 'no soup for you.' If I want to buy a personalized page for my room, I have the suggested names from Go Daddy, or I can search for other available domains.

Once I pick my domain name, pay the $14.95 for it, and it's up and running, it looks like this:

Looks good, huh?

The coffee machine in the office is looking in a sorry state today, coffee consumption in the office has increased five-fold in the last few weeks; this normally indicates only one thing! The developers have been putting in overtime tweaking and bug fixing the latest Paltalk version PaltalkScene 9.7 BETA to a standard they feel is ready for public Beta - And you can get your hands on it by clicking here. After a lot of internal testing we would like you to try it out and report any issues we might have missed via the Bug Report form.

Once you have played around with the new Beta if you feel the need to send some comments, suggestions, or congratulations we want to hear from you - your feedback is valued! -- send comments via the Product feedback form.

Now about these cool new features...

Connect with more pals on Paltalk - you can now find people you know via the new Email address search.  

Auto-launch into a room - We'll use our crazy-sophisticated algorithms to match you up with your new favorite chat room.

Watermark and red header to indicate authorized Paltalk representatives in IM windows.

Download PaltalkScene 9.7 BETA today by clicking here - happy chatting! 

-Jake

Thursday March 19th at 3pm EST

Technologists are thinking about what our online experiences will look like next.  This emerging Web 3.0 incorporates lots of fancy technology, but may not take our humanity into account.  For example, How do we know who to trust in this super personalized, connected space? Will there be a way to authenticate our community and transactions?

Have all your questions answered in the final program of the 3-part series: Are We The Crash Test Dummies For The New Internet Age, hosted by Henry Blodget, CEO and Editor in Chief of Alley Insider and Melih Abdulhayoglu, CEO and Chief Security Architect of Comodo. You can also leave a text question below.

Date: Thursday, March 19th
Time: 3:00pm EST
Room Name: TechNow Network

Visit http://technow.paltalk.com/crashdummies for more information, to watch past shows and to sign up for a reminder email.

Read our Press Release.

For a personal insight to this show, please check Judy Shapiro's blog: The Connected Singularity Is Near

How much should we reveal about ourselves online?

Join industry experts as they debate the impact of social networks on our ability to protect, maintain and defend our identities.

Tuesday, March 3 at 3 pm (EST) A Paltalk TechNow Event

Most of us have a social network account loaded with personal information. We don't even bother to hide our birth date anymore - don't we all want other people to know and have them write "Happy Birthday" on our Facebook wall? We continue to tag our pictures and can't stop updating our status so that everyone knows what we're up to. 

However, while we enjoy the connectivity of social networking, we also recognize this puts us all at greater risk. Outsiders can steal our digital lives, hackers can plant viruses in chat rooms and people can impersonate others with ease. How long before there is some trigger event in social networks that causes a lot of damage to a lot of people?

What is the industry doing about these issues today? What ideas are being developed to help people be able to secure and authenticate while they interact with contacts in their networks.

Join the debate about what needs to be done to reduce the risk of digital identity theft. You can have all your questions answered... simply join the show, raise your hand and wait to be screened to ask a question. You can also leave a text question below.

Date: March 3rd
Time: 3pm EST

Click here (or the link below) to enter the TechNow room!
http://TechNow.Paltalk.com

Download Press Release

Upcoming show: March 19 at 3 pm (EST)
Transforming the Web into Your Web - This will address how we navigate through an increasingly complex Internet with new powerful tools, such as our social networks, that will create a personalized web experience.

Past Show: Program 1 - (02/10/09)
The Internet Today: Like Cars before Seatbelts

We are all on the internet practically every waking hour of our lives. But do we know what's happening behind the scenes? Is there anyone watching us? Do we have to watch our back while surfing the web?

Have all your questions answered in a provocative three part series airing live on Paltalk's TechNow. Simply join the show, raise your hand and wait to be screened to ask a question. You can also leave a text question below.

SERIES:

• February 10 at 3 pm (EST) - The Internet Today: Like Cars before Seatbelts. This talk will address the truth about where we are today and how the criminal elements may very well take over the Internet.
• March 3 at 3 pm (EST) - Your Digital Identity - Establish it or lose it. This part will discuss how we continue to live online without risking ourselves.
• March 19 at 3 pm (EST) - Transforming the Web into Your Web. This will address how we navigate through an increasingly complex Internet with new powerful tools, such as our social networks, that will create a personalized web experience.

Live Show Dates & Times (Eastern Standard Time):

• Tuesday 2/10 - 3:00pm
• Tuesday 3/3 - 3:00pm
• Thursday 3/19 - 3:00pm

Click here (or the link below) to enter the video chat room.

http://technow.paltalk.com/crashdummies  

If you have more comments about the BETA good, bad, or ugly we still want to hear from you - your feedback is valued! -- send comments via the Product feedback form.

Ok let's take a moment to talk about some of the new features and improvements included in PaltalkScene 9.6 Beta:

SuperIM - Instant Invite

We all have friends that use other chat services. With this in mind we have created a simple, fast way to have a voice+text+video conversation with anyone (in fact, up to 10 of you can video chat simultaneously) anywhere, instantly! And here's the kicker... there's no download or installation needed! To invite your non-PaltalkScene friends instantly for a voice, video or text chat simply click the new "Start a SuperIM" text link in your Pal List and paste them the SuperIM.me URL link that's shown in the text area.

To invite non-PaltalkScene friends to a conversation you're having with another Paltalk member, just click "Web-enable" in the IM window and paste them the URL link.

Welcome Widget

PaltalkScene is a feature rich application, so we have created a widget that gives you quick launch options for all the features you love the most, all from this compact window. You can start a SuperIM conversation, browse chat rooms, check out our top rooms, create your own chat room and much more. The welcome widget will auto launch on top of the Pal List when you login to PaltalkScene.

Download PaltalkScene 9.6 BETA today by clicking here - enjoy!  

-Jake

Today (January 12) - Israeli Consul General Asaf Shariv will be in our studio to discuss Israel's invasion of the Gaza on News Talk Online at 5 PM New York time.

Tomorrow (January 13) - Hussein Ibish, executive director of the Foundation for Arab-American Leadership and senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine will be my guest to give the Palestinian view.

They will participate in a live question and answer session with host Gary Baumgarten, discussing the situation in the Middle East.

The event will offer online viewers the opportunity to ask questions and exchange dialogue with Asaf Shariv and Hussein Ibish through Paltalk's interactive video platform.

Click here (or link below) to enter the chat.

http://express.paltalk.com/index.html?ad=N&gid=1029354185&refc=100020

Sincerely,

The Paltalk Team

Fans of the Penn State Nittany Lions who can't get a ticket to the Rose Bowl are invited to be part of all the festivities by joining the Paltalk Penn State Fan Club room on Paltalk.com.

Thousands of fans from across the country and around the world will join in wishing Joe Paterno and his boys the best of luck against USC in the granddaddy of all bowl games.

The fun begins Wednesday night, December 31, from the big pep rally at Beverly Hills High School at 6:30 PM New York time. Thousands of Penn Staters and fans will get revved up for the game with Coach Joe Paterno, President Graham Spanier, the football team, Blue Band, cheerleaders, the Nittnay Lion and more. Fans also get to join in and comment on Joe's pre-game press conference at noon New York time New Year's Day before tailgating along with those who made the trip to Pasadena. All live, right from their computers at home courtesy of Paltalk.

Best of all, they'll be able to chat with other fans during the game!

That's in the Paltalk Penn State Fan Club room in the Sports Section of Paltalk.

Click here (or the link below) to join the chat room:

http://express.paltalk.com/index.html?ad=N&init_panel=autoguest&gid=1183783278&refc=100015

Joining us for this exclusive opportunity to ask questions (simply post them as a response to this blog and include your user name and location), get the insider scoop on the latest Bond gadgets and hear how Bond defeats the baddies one more time.

We've even created a cool contest where you can submit to us your fantasy Bond Girl profile - just for fun. Two winners will get a special Bond gadget pack signed by Marc Forster. Just go to  http://www.paltalk.com/bond-contest/ and enter the contest.

So come by and get your Bond fix.

Join Live Video Chat Show:

Date: Thursday, October 23

Time: 5:00pm EST

Room Name: Paltalk Studio B - Hollywood Now 

BTW - check out Marc's bio below.

About Marc Forster

Marc Forster was born in eastern Switzerland and moved to New York when he was 20 years old. For the next three years, he attended NYU's film school and several documentary films. In 1995, he moved to Hollywood and shot an experimental low budget film, which won the Slamdance Audience Award. His breakthrough film was Monster's Ball (2001), in which he directed Halle Berry in her Academy Award-winning performance.

For more information about the chat, visit: http://paltalk.com/hollywoodnow

-Jake

As usual, we're looking for some questions from you to ask him on air.

Simply post your questions in the comments area below and be sure to include your username and location. Maybe your question will be chosen to be asked during the show!

For more information about the chat, visit: paltalk.com/musicscene

-Jake    

Like our previous shows, we're looking for some questions from you to ask him on air.

Simply post your questions in the comments area below and be sure to include your username and location. Maybe your question will be chosen to be asked during the show!

For more information about the chat, visit: paltalk.com/hollywoodnow

-Jake

1. Go to your PaltalkScene Pal list and open an IM session with the red "Paltalk" buddy.
2. In the Paltalk IM window, type: myroom stats and hit 'Enter':

For one hour these girls will compete in various categories to be selected as a K-ROCK GIRL!

Click here for more info.

-Jake