Digsby is a social networking and instant messaging tool for Windows that has does so many different things it's hard to describe them all. Arguably, it's not the best at any one thing. For instance in AOL Instant Messenger it doesn't support chat rooms, and the Twitter client is a bit simple compared to fuller featured applications like Twhirl or TweetDeck.

But you know what? That's part of what I like about Digsby. I can use it to chat with my friends and contacts, keep up with Twitter activity, and receive notifications when new email messages come in. But it doesn't absorb all of my attention the way fuller featured Twitter clients do. I don't have to pay attention to every single tweet from the 150 or so people that I follow. I can just glance at the last few messages when I have a free moment and move on. If I want to see @replies or direct messages, I can easily do that without missing any.

And that's why I'm a bit conflicted about the news that Digsby is amping up its Twitter client. The new client opens in a new window, unlike the current version which is integrated into Digsby. But that's one of the only things that the new Digsby will have in common with other Twitter clients. Here are a few things Digsby will do differently:

• Messages will be posted in chronological order, instead of reverse chronological order
• Digsby will keep track of unread message counts
• When you open the Twitter window Digsby will pick up where you left off reading
• Users will be able to filter users and groups
• You'll be able to reply and retweet directly from the notification pop up window
• Automatic URL shortening when you paste a URL into the message window

In other words, the new Digsby Twitter client will be designed to make it harder to miss messages, and let you treat Twitter almost like email. For Twitter junkies, it sounds awesome. For me, it sounds like information overload. I'll give it a try and see how I like the new client, but my guess is that I'll either start unfollowing Twitter users or I'll give up on Digsby and go back to using Pidgin and a desktop email notifier.

You can see a picture of Digsby's new Twitter timeline view after the break.

Palringo, the multi platform rich messaging client for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (via WINE), Windows Mobile, Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry and Java (phew!), that we first covered back in 2007, has just received an update to it's Windows and Windows Mobile iterations.

Palringo is an IM client with a twist - as well as supporting a multitude of instant messaging services (Windows Live, AIM, Yahoo IM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, iChat / MobileMe, QQ, Gadu-Gadu and Facebook chat), Palringo provides some features not seen in competing products such as chat groups, location sharing, picture sharing and push-to-talk speech.

Changes in the new release include support for contact avatars (although these can be disabled if required), flick / kinetic scrolling, the ability to toggle the status bar (useful for devices with small screens!), variable font size, the ability to set online-status for all services at once, an improved installation process and many other improvements and fixes.

The Symbian client was also updated last week, adding a host of new languages, reduced data usage which also results in a speed increase and a number of bug fixes including improved compatibility with the Samsung i8910.

Palringo is free to download (a premium version is available on iPhone) from the Palringo website or from your mobile device's application store.

We all went ga-ga over Google Wave when it was announced back at Google's I/O conference in May, but except for a very fortunate few, we really don't know what it will be like to use. Today online productivity suite developer ZenBe released a new product called Shareflow, which has a number of similarities to Google Wave.

Shareflow is a collaboration tool that ZenBe says is not email, IM, social networking, or instant messaging, but has elements of all of them. Sound familiar? The idea is that you can organize conversations around topics by creating "flows" and inviting people to collaborate on them. This maps directly to Google's concept of creating "waves" and inviting people to them.

Obviously Shareflow and Wave are not identical, and as with anything their respective implementations will have many differences. Beyond implementation differences, there are three fundamental differences between Shareflow and Wave that are worth noting:

1. Wave will be a free and predominantly open-source product, while Shareflow is a closed-source commercial product (albeit with a free account as one of the various plan levels)
2. Wave has the strength of Google behind it
3. You can't use Wave today, but you can use Shareflow

You can sign up for a free account, or use the promo code FREE30 to get 30 days free of either their Basic, Plus, or Premium plan.

I've blogged about it before, and I'll blog about it again.

Back when I was just a wee lad of the Internet, I found a most wonderful concept: instant messaging! At the time, I thought MSN Messenger was the coolest thing since the automatic bread slicer. Of course, my best friend preferred Yahoo! Messenger, and the majority of everyone else I knew would use nothing but AOL Instant Messenger. So, I had two choices: have three relatively bloated instant messaging running simultaneously on my computer, or lose electronic touch with the rest of the world. That is, until I found Trillian.

Trillian, like Digsby or Adium, aggregates multiple different instant messaging services into one relatively light-weight application. The Basic (free) version supports AIM, ICQ, Windows Live, and Yahoo! service as well as IRC chat. The Pro version throws in support for Jabber (Google Talk and soon Facebook), Novell GroupWise, and Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous). Also, if you shell out the $25 for the Pro version, you'll get video chat support for the networks that support it.

Besides having a funny name, MyGads allows you to remember things that you might not always have the answer to. This web 2.0 service allows you to input information that you want to remember later, then when you need the information, you can either send the service an instant message or text message from your phone with a keyword to retrieve the information.

For instance, if you want to remember "My Birthday," then you could create a statement similar to "My Birthday - 12/06." You could then text or IM MyGads to retrieve the birthday. This service has unlimited uses and might just get you out of a sticky situation, say, remembering your anniversary or wife's birthday.

While Google's GTalk messaging application is currently Windows only, shankri-la points out that similar functionality can be achieved by using Mozilla's beta project, Prism, to create a standalone web application.

After Prism is installed, run the program and enter the following line as the application URL:

https://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/client

Next, give your application a name like "GTalk," and choose your shortcut locations. You'll then have a GTalk/Prism web application that runs separately from your regular web browser (which is helpful for keeping conversations on a separate monitor or to prevent accidental quitting of the application during web use).

Signing in to your newly-created gadget will present you with your contact list and basic GTalk instant messaging. You won't be able to do fancy things like send files or use the music status functions, but you will be able to group chat, use emoticons, and save your chat history (if you've enabled that preference in your Gmail settings).

We know you could use the Google Talk within Gmail or use a Jabber client for Mac/Linux to connect, but using Prism to create a web app can create a better workflow for some users. You won't have to keep a Gmail tab open for IM, and you won't mistakenly quit Firefox when you're done browsing on another tab (which would close your IM session as well).

Simkl is a web service that saves your instant message history to its servers so that you can access that searchable history from any computer with Internet access. You'll need a Simkl account and some money (1 month of archiving is $2.99 and one year is $24.99). You'll also have to change a setting in your IM client to use Simkl as a proxy (so that it can save your messages).

If the thought of a third party (besides the actual service provider) archiving your instant messages doesn't bother you, you can try out the service for a week for free. The history viewer is web-based, and you can do full-text searches on your IM history.

Simkl supports most of the popular IM clients including Yahoo, MSN, AIM, Pidgin, iChat, ICQ, Trillian, and Adium. Keep in mind that many of these IM clients like Pidgin and Trillian can log your chats individually, but if you use multiple computers with different IM clients, Simkl can unify your IM logging.

Meebo, the online instant messaging platform with support for multiple protocols, has just released the API for meebo rooms and meebo network.

Meebo rooms are customizable spaces that integrate instant messaging with the sharing of web links and media, including videos and images. The meebo rooms API was created for large-scale implementations of meebo rooms for bigger community sites. The API also automates a large portion of the creation and configuration of meebo rooms.

Examples of implementation include:

• embedding a chat room on every "group" page of a social network
• live community groups for an artist or show
• a chat room in the "comments" section of a blog.

So why do all this? Two words: Muh-knee.

Each meebo room built with the API will run ads, and meebo will share 50% of the ad revenue with its partners (if you dry heave at the idea of an ad-supported meebo room, a yearly licensing fee option is also available).

In January alone, 18 million unique users visited meebo widgets distributed across the Web by partners and users. So if you're looking to monetize your website, meebo rooms and widgets might be the way to go.

Ever wanted to see what your friends are typing to you as they type it? You'll get your chance with latest AIM Beta. Now at version 6.8, the newest version of AIM includes support for real-time IM. Unfortunately, Freudian slips are no longer a vocal problem.

The new feature is incompatible with iChat, Pidgin, and other third party IM clients, but if this catches on, it's likely they'll add support to for real-time IM soon. For now, if you'd like to use this feature, you'll need to use the official AIM client.

Real-time IM requires one of the users to activate a direct connection. The other party may choose to decline, so at least it's optional. Though it may seem "regular" and "bland", the ability to edit instant messages is a blessing. Maybe we're just a bit geekier and a little more old-fashioned than the average person, but we've been caught in way too many awkward, verbal situations because of something as minor as a forgotten name (it's hard to remember everyone from high school, dammit).

[via CyberNet]

Do you use multiple IM programs? Do you wish you could save your chats in one place? IM History may be for you.

This application saves your IM history across multiple computers and heck even multiple operating systems. IM History currently works with AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Skype, Trllian, and a few others. Using their web interface, IM History users can easily pull up their archived messages.

Think about the usefulness of this utility. Remember way back when one of your IM buddies gave you a link you're dying to get access to, weeks later? By using a tool like IM History, you can easily pull it up and be on your way.

[via LifeHacker]

The Pew Internet & American Life Project just posted its findings on teens and the web, and it seems to have uncovered much of what we already know about the internet. Here's a bullet point summary of the major findings. With each point, we'll try to name site/service who's users would stereotypically match.

• AIM: 93% of American teens (ages 12-17) use the web. Many of them use the web to interact with others.
  
• YouTube: 64% of online teens create online content, up from 57% in 2004.
• Livejournal (bad poetry): 39% of online teens share their artistic creations online.
  
• MySpace: 27% of online teens keep a personal web page.
  
• LOLcats?: 26% of online teens "remix" content they find online.
  
• WoW: 49% of online teens play games online.
  
• America: Teens are more likely to own desktop computers over any other type of "gadget." This one was almost surprising.
  
• Facebook: Social network communicators are more "intense" communicators.
• Facebook: Girls eclipse boys in photo posting.
• Nintendo Wii: 31% of teens spend time time with friends outside of school every day.
  
• High School: 34% of teens spend time with friends outside of school several times a week

To be honest, a lot of this is pretty obvious. We shouldn't need a study to find out chat rooms suck, teens tend to own computers, and girls are more likely than guys to post photos online. Regardless, there's a lot more information where that came from, so if you'd like to learn more about the online habits of today's teenagers, make sure to check out the full study.

[via TechCrunch]

Pretty much every major chat client includes a way to transfer files along with instant messages. If you're using AOL, MSN, or Yahoo! instant messenger to catch up with a friend and want to send a photo or MP3, you can. But if you're using web-based IM client meebo, it's been a different story... until now.

Meebo has just rolled out an update that includes a few new emoticons, and oh yeah, support for transferring files. Don't expect to send huge videos over the service though. There's a 10MB size limit on files you transfer, and a 30MB per user limit per month.

Meebo is using Amazon's S3 storage service and EC2 scaling service to facilitate file transfers. So don't expect those file size limits to go away anytime soon. But this is definitely a step in the direction of making Meebo a complete replacement for desktop-based instant messaging clients.

What IM do you use? Google Talk and Meebo have been growing with leaps and bounds, and so has IMVU.

Meebo, the online instant messaging system has experienced growth rates of 354% in the past ten months, and Google Talk, both web based and desktop based, has grown 149%. IMVU is another Instant messaging application that you might use if you are a Second Life of Habbo fan. It lets users create a custom virtual characters complete with clothes and 3D scenes. They have experienced a 154% since last year.

A shocking result came from Skype. The eBay owned company saw only a 20% increase in users since last August.

[via VentureBeat]

UPDATE: Check out CenterNetworks who link to a Nielson study reporting that Meebo is the fastest growing IM destination.

The Internet is all about communication; getting the information we need, when we need it. What's the best tool to use? IM! Instant gratification....if the person is online that is.

MiniMobs is a newer entry into the messaging world, however, like typical IM tools, they don't have an application or service that they specifically run on. MiniMobs lets users chat online with buddies from social networks such as Facebook or MySpace, by embedding an applet in personal pages. It's just another way to stay in touch, all the time.

The MiniMobs concept and cell phone widget designs are cool, but the ads littered about the "corporate" site can get really distracting. I realize MiniMobs might have to make a little cash for servers and development, but please, lay off the distracting ads, and focus on product development. If you have to, sell some top level banners and don't blend the ads in.