We had two people on HTC EVO devices and two on iPhone.  There was no distinct difference once we were all connected. From talking about it, there was slight UI differences in adding connections.  What you are looking at above is the HTC EVO screenshot. Your own picture is always on the bottom left.

Wifi would be recommended but 3G was used for at least two of TheSocialGeeks.  Audio quality had a distinct echo if you did not wear headsets.  I believe it was Jeff that said it sounded like a bunch of high pitched buzzing bugs with the feedback.  Fring fires up the speaker and mic if no headset is connected so audio feedback was to be expected.  You can easily switch between the front facing and rear facing camera on your device with the second button above.

Now one thing I did not like was the automatic adding of friends based on my local phone book.  Just because they are local contacts does not mean I would want them as Fring contacts.  That should be an option.

Adding users not in the local contacts was simple and flawless if you knew their username. I did not have the chance to add someone that I didn’t know a username and only had a phone number for.  A SMS is then sent to that user inviting them to join Fring.

Keep in mind Fring supports other chat services like Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, AIM.  Voice calls are not supported on AIM and Yahoo, but the hooking of multiple social contacts and layering group video calls makes this a great application for that instant communication when everyone doesn’t have Facetime.

This app will move into the keep stack for a while to see how many people begin using it.

Following is how we should appear in the windows on the iPhone or iPod with Skype using the front facing cameras.

(Carl could warn me next time I am blinking before he snapshots)  So that is his front facing camera on the iPhone 4 while we video conference test.  All is well, as he appears in the smaller window and me in the larger.

Next he switches to the back facing camera so he can conference and walk around  and you will see below how the iPhone and iPod Touch 4 both have flipped the video picture in picture (PIP).

I am now in the smaller one and he sees his own camera in the larger portion.  Would would anticipate that this would be reversed and act as the front facing.

We both also suffered freezes ending calls and having to reset the Skype client to get back for more tests.

For enjoyment, we also record his dog Jessie doing tricks like dead and electric food.  Enjoy the demo and get your client updated!  You can also watch this video in HD on YouTube on the new Spiked Studio channel.

The idea is simple.  Pull together your social army (oh so close to Mafia Wars).  There is:

• levels
• experience points
• attack points
• battles
• wins
• losses
• weapons
• and more …

To start a war, either use one of your mayorship locations, or just pick something.

# How do I attack an opponent?
# You can select a target from nearby venues or friends’ venues. After you select a target, you choose a weapon from your arsenal and tap “Attack” button to attack. Your attack may hit or miss, depending on the accuracy of the weapon and the distance to the target. For every attack, there is always a counter-attack from your opponent. The counter attack may hit or miss as well.

From there you just battle.  Now you do not get mayor rights to their location, but I think this is more virtual turf wars.  To gain supporters they must click a link in Twitter.  So the more followers that click your links the better.  this becomes more of who will click over how many followers.

So if you just cannot spend enough time checking in and need to protect your fiefdom, this might be the game for you.

We, as in tech writers and early adopters, quickly jump to the tear-down of each part of the device and capabilities.  The reader of these very articles we write are other tech journalists and early adopters.  Not the consumers seeing this device being shown on morning shows and CNN all day.  Or witnessing the lines at the stores.

No matter what we hate about the device, or what is missing, hand this to anyone on the street and they can work it.  If you own an iPod or iPhone in the house, this is the stepping stone, not a MacBook.  Simplicity and similarity make the iPad itself an easy decision.

Just as you are taught more difficult steps in math, writing skills and even your favorite hobby, Apple has taken that concept to the technology and created the Rosetta Stone of devices.  Easy to use, multimedia capable, adapted games, no controllers and limited real need for accessories.

I watched a YouTube video tonight of a 2.5 year old handed an iPad.  She had played with the parents iPhone for some time and understood the basics.  Click the Home button to get to the screen with the fun stuff to do and slide your finger.  She took off once handed the iPad.  No input from the parents required.

I watched a video of a grandparent that hated computers (said verbally) and was handed the iPad.  Seconds later they were reading and playing a game. Any device that traverses ages and demographics within days of launch was the right move by Apple; no matter if it has a camera or cheap enough applications.

This is only one of many portions of the iFad that Apple created.  Think everyone will have a Facebook account soon that can get connected?  I bet Apple continues to flourish by making devices people want, not what technologists say it should be.

Well an invite I received today for Stalqer changed that whole theory.  The URL invite came from a Facebook friend with http://Stalq.me/useridentity and clicking it asked me immediately to launch iTunes and install the application.  So the hunt was on.  many of you know I also run the site SocialStalking, so I took particular interest in this.

The application relies on you being connected to the person via Facebook and will even attempt to gather their location without them loading the app or having an iPhone.  It pulls recent postings, notes, pictures and whatever else it can on the person to help guess or establish their location.  If they have the application on their iPhone, it runs utilizing email services.

What transpires, is that the iPhone will automatically check for email about every fifteen (15) minutes or so.  When this happens, the Stalqer application takes the email connection it makes and attempts to locate where you are when connecting based on GPS, cell tower or wifi connectivity.

From there you are able to see where others are on a map and even some augmented reality.  While they have privacy controls that allow you to protect who sees your location and to what level, the unsuspecting person would not have any idea it was there.  Quite the spy tool for someone stalking someone that had access to their iPhone/iTunes to load the application.

Compliments of TechCrunch

This is different from all other location based services and games, such as Brightkite/FourSquare/Loopt and others in that those requir you to launch into the application and check yourself in.  Stalqer is a means to have a built in task (email) show where you are every 15 minutes down to a very pinpointed level.

The social graph of your friends is the deciding factor of who sees the data itself.  If the person is not on your Facebook friend list, they cannot see the application data.

However the remainder stands true also.  If they are on your friend list, have had access to your iPhone and are now in some flux level of friendship, or a bit nuts, I would make sure you are aware what mail services are running and what applications have been installed.

While location services are fast becoming the hot topic of 2010, from a strong appearance in 2009, it can be turned quickly against someone as well in forms of advertising and real life stalkers.