How to Send Free SMS from your Gmail

We have been receiving emails from Chikka users who want to know if there's a way to send SMS from their email accounts. Here's a neat trick for Gmail users and those who like to send free text. ;)

While logged in to Gmail:

1. Add your mobile buddy@chikkatalk.com

Click on Add Contact on the embedded chat client in your Gmail account. Type in your buddy’s mobile number followed by “@chikkatalk.com” (for example: 639178218787@chikkatalk.com). Your friend's mobile number will then appear in your GTalk buddy list.

2. Click on your buddy’s name or mobile number and fire away! :)

Chikka buddies offline? No worries! Your messages will be forwarded to their mobile phones.

P.S. You can also do this in your GTalk chat client if you downloaded one.

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Chikka's Lunch for 2

What happens when you put together a hundred kids and 20 Chikka employees in one room?

Loads of love and Jollibee meal packs, that's what. :)

Last Thursday at around 8PM the Chikka Social Action committee and a bunch of mighty volunteers trooped to Barangay Pineda, where we joined a hundred (yes, you read that right) kids from the Kinilian community in their bi-weekly Catechism session with members of the Living Hope Community.

Minutes after we were introduced to the kids, I found myself dancing to "Father Abraham." Instructions and lyrics are here in case you are curious about the dance. :)

Last Thursday's theme for the Catechism session was "Noah's ark." After the dance, the kids were given coloring materials and sheets of paper. They were asked to draw animals that they would save had they been Noah.



We didn't have the heart to tell these kids that riding the ark with wild animals and dinosaurs may not be the best idea... (especially if survival is your primary goal)

Meanwhile, Chelo convinced some kids that a rooster is a safer bet in the ark.

Michelle and Chara were busy helping kids draw their favorite animals...

Everybody's favorite part.

Ready...

Dino, Ana, Chelo, me and Sandy working it.

Get set...

Ate Chey made sure each child had table napkins before their meal.

Go!



THANK YOUs and High fives...

to all Chikka peeps who supported 'Lunch for 2' and made this possible; Jam Mella for the fantastic menu layout; virtual chest slams to the Social Action Committee and our awesome volunteers --- Chelo, Chara, Michelle J., Jaykee, Chey, Kathy, Sandy, Anjoy, Niel, Sir Sherwin, Erickson, Michelle D., Carla, Jan, Francis, Dino, Ana, Riel, Mang Shan, Karla and her friends from the Living Hope community --- Lia Pastrana, Mel Vergel de Dios, Resty and Cecilia Bautista.See yah at the next Social Action Committee project! :D

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Chikka on Tekzilla!

Just a few days ago, I received this video from Daryll Bumanlag of our UI team. Veronica (one of the hosts of Tekzilla) mentioned Chikka as an alternative to sending free text to supported countries from a computer to mobile phones worldwide.

A Tekzilla viewer named Raymond, sent in rave reviews about Chikka! Thank you Raymond! People like you keep us driven to provide really neat mobile applications and services. Check out the video!

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Hello World!

Hi everyone. Welcome to the official blog of Chikka! It's about time, huh?

We've been on the Internet since 2001 with our flagship product, the downloadable Chikka Txt Messenger. It was the first instant messaging client to offer real-time two-way PC-to-mobile chatting,

It's now 2008 and we haven't been idle. We've since made improvements on the original Chikka Txt Messenger, released new versions, assembled a whole slew of other mobile services that go beyond free text messaging, and brought them all to a global audience. We've accomplished a lot, yet there's still so much stuff we're working on.

Still, most of you only know Chikka as that program that lets you send free text messages in the Philippines. We've set up this blog to tell you about all the other stuff we do. Subscribe to our feed to get not just the latest news and updates on Chikka Txt Messenger, but also information about our other services, our company, and our people, as well as tips and tricks on text messaging.

This is also a way for us to stay in touch with the Chikka community--the users, the fans, even the haters. You! We want to hear from you! So don't be shy. If you got something to say, leave a comment. We're listening.

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