messaging posts

Filed under: News, Apple, iPhone, Mobile

AT&T: iPhone software update with MMS coming Sept. 25

by Jay Hathaway Sep 4th 2009

The most embarrassing thing about having an iPhone is its lack of multimedia messaging. MMS is a feature that even old-school candybar "dumbphones" have had for years, and this supposedly cool, revolutionary device has been around for years without supporting it. Well, that's about to change. On Sept. 25, Apple will release a software update (presumably iPhone OS 3.1) that will enable MMS, according to AT&T.

The phone company goes on to explain that they've been building out the network infrastructure that well be necessary to handle the unprecedented levels of data transfer they expect MMS to bring with it. iPhone users will believe that when they see, as AT&T has historically caught a lot of flack for providing inadequate service for the iPhone. In fact, a recent piece in Time magazine points out the carrier's deficiencies. Given all that, as an iPhone owner, I'm cautiously excited to start using MMS later this month.

Tags: att, iphone, messaging, mms, multimedia messaging, MultimediaMessaging

Filed under: Internet, Features, Windows, Open Source, How-Tos, Social Software

How to add Twitter and Facebook IM support to Pidgin for Windows

by Lee Mathews Jan 18th 2009

Pidgin is a great multi-protocol IM client. Out of the box it provides support for 15 different protocols, including most of the important ones: MSN, Yahoo, Gtalk, ICQ, and XMPP to name a few. Two glaring omissions include Facebook IM and Twitter - both of which are built-in to Digsby by default.

Thanks to the developers of two plugins, a couple quick downloads and some simple instructions can remedy the situation with minimal effort. To top it off, the finished product only uses about 20mb of memory - under half what Digsby consumed on my machine.

If you want to see the actual screens, skip to the gallery now.

Clarification: Ping.fm does not do this. Yes, it will update multiple statuses for you via IM, but it won't let you chat with Facebook friends or send you Twitter updates for people you follow.

Let's start with Twitter.

If you don't have a Gmail account, go sign up for one so you can add a gtalk buddy later on. You'll also need to go to Twitter and follow twitter@twitter.com.

Tags: im, messaging, pidgin, plugins, twitter

Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Social Software, Web

Notifu: group messaging to help you make plans

by Jay Hathaway Nov 3rd 2008

If you've ever been in the situation of trying to make plans with a group of people who are all communicating via different methods (SMS, IM, email), then you know how much of a pain it is to keep track of what everyone is doing. Notifu tries to make it easier, with a web app that can send messages to your friends via email, IM or text message, and let you know when they've received them.

On Notifu, you can set up a contact list, complete with groups. You can also set up polls, so your friends can text back a single number to indicate what they prefer to do, and Notifu will count them up for you. Notifu's developers are also very savvy about web platforms, with an iPhone web app available and an OpenSocial app in the works.

Tags: im, meeting, message, messaging, Notifu, sms

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Social Software, Beta

Mozilla brings Twitter, RSS, other messages to Firefox with Snowl

by Brad Linder Aug 7th 2008

Mozilla released a plugin for Firefox called Snowl yesterday that has the potential to completely change the way you use your web browser. Or it could just frustrate the heck out of you. Here's what it does: it brings messages from various sources (Twitter, RSS feeds, and eventually instant messaging services) to your browser.

The concept is interesting. Why rely on pop up notifications to let you know that you need to switch browser tabs or applications to keep up with conversations on Twitter, FriendFeed, or other locations when you can just see everything on one screen? Snowl lets you browse the web while keeping an eye on all of those conversations.

But the truth of the matter is it just sort of makes a browser screen look crowded. If you've got a 24 inch display, that might not matter. But if you've got a 15 inch, 1024 x 768 display, this is not the plugin for you. Snowl does present a few interesting ways of looking at your messages. There's an Outlook-style 3-pane view with contacts and sources on the left, headlines at the top and full text in the bottom. Or you can use a "river of news" style view that shows a newspaper-like list of updates.

Snowl is still in the early beta stages. Mozilla admits that there are a ton of known bugs, but the developers wanted to see if there was any real interest in the project before continuing. Thus the public release. What do you think? Is Snowl useful or just another distraction?

Tags: addon, firefox, messaging, mozilla, mozilla-labs, plugin, snowl, twitter

Filed under: Internet, E-mail, AOL

Homer Simpson impersonator attacks fans' computers

by Danny Mendez Jul 14th 2008

Earlier this week, a Homer Simpson impersonator began instant messaging fans with a link to an "internet-only exclusive Simpsons episode." This -- like many things spawned in the dark corners of 'net -- turned out to be a PC virus. But how did this impostor gain Homer's identity?

It turns out Mr. Simpson has a legitimate, real-world e-mail address: chunkylover53@aol.com, which appeared in the episode, "The Dad Who Knew Too Little." Before airing the episode back in 2002 for the first time, Simpsons writer-producer Matt Selman registered the address with AOL. As soon as the episode finished airing, Selman's inbox filled-up instantly. Selman began replying to emails under the guise of Homer, and fans got to enjoy a short conversation with the cartoon star

Six years later, the email account is no longer active, but fans begin receiving AIM messages from Chunkylover53. Fans forgot that an AIM screen-name can be tied to an email other than its AOL email counterpart, and Selman never registered it or abandoned it at a later time -- leaving it open for hijack.

[via TECH.BLORGE.com]

Tags: AIM, aol, email, homer, impersonator, imposter, impostor, instant, instant message, InstantMessage, message, messaging, simpson

Filed under: Internet, E-mail, Mozilla

Mozilla Messaging to work on Thunderbird 3, the future of communication

by Brad Linder Feb 19th 2008

A few months back, Mozilla announced plans to create a new organization responsible for development of the Thunderbird e-mail client. While Mozilla's Firefox web browser has been getting a lot of attention in recent years from both developers and the general public, Thunderbird has sort of been living in the shadow of its big, more popular sibling.

Today David Ascher announced that the new Thunderbird project has a new name: Mozilla Messaging. He also outlined a bit of what we can expect to see in Thunderbird 3:

An integrated calendar (right now you have to install the Lightning add-on to get calendar functions in Thunderbird)
Improved search
Easier configuration

In the long term, Ascher says the team will also have to think more generally about internet communication. Many people use instant messaging, IRC, blogs, and VoIP to communicate and not just e-mail. It's unlikely that we'll see all of those services built into Thunderbird anytime soon. But perhaps one or two of them will creep in, or maybe we'll see development of chat add-ons in the future.

[via Mozilla Links]

Tags: chat, communication, messaging, mozilla-messaging, thunderbird

Filed under: Business, Design, Developer, Internet, Web services, Social Software

Kevin Rose launches his Instant Messaging network, Pownce

by Chris Gilmer Jun 27th 2007

It was known that Kevin Rose of Digg fame has been working with a small team on something to do with instant messaging for a little while now. Well, the kittie kat jumped, or should I say Pownced out of the bag on Tuesday night.

Pownce is a way to send anything from messages, files, links and events to friends online. It runs care of Adobe's Apollo runtime platform, taking advantage of its many benefits like building one application for Mac, PC and Linux operating systems, and Amazons S3 file storage. So in order to use it, AIR must be downloaded and installed first.

First thing you do to get started with Pownce is to create a network of friends that you want to share items with, then you can choose whether to send it to the whole list, or specific people. Basically, whoever you want to read or see you item, will be able to. It's free, and ad supported.

Pownce is still in an invite only mode so the system can be monitored and scaled accordingly. Users who want to get in on this application can sign up on the Pownce website. Look out for a full review on DownloadSquad when we are lucky enough to score an invite.

Tags: adobe, apollo, digg, kevin rose, KevinRose, messaging, pownce

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows Mobile

The future of Windows Mobile

by Brad Linder Feb 23rd 2007

Our friends at Engadget got a sneak peak at a new Samsung Ultra Messaging device, set to go on sale soon in the Asian markets. What makes this noteworthy is that the device is obviously running a version of Windows Mobile (check out the telltale soft buttons on the bottom, not to mention the Windows logo), but this is most definitely not Windows Mobile 6. Or if it is, it's one heck of a plugin that makes Spb's impressive Mobile Shell look like child's play.

The best way I can describe the new interface is a cross between Windows Mobile and Windows Media Center. Rather than tapping on the screen or clicking on buttons to go through a series of full menus for each program, you can choose programs by scrolling.

You can zip through your email, contacts, appointments, and music programs very fluidly. As the application comes into focus, you can flip between submenus, all from your devices main menu. I'm going to assume you can then open programs in full screen mode in order to do things that take up more screen real estate, like checking your email. No word on how long we'll have to wait to see this new interface in the Western hemisphere.

In order to get the full effect, check out the video on Engadget.

Tags: engadget, messaging, photon, samsung

Filed under: Internet, Text, Windows Mobile, Freeware

TxtMan brings SMS threading to Smartphones

by David Chartier Dec 30th 2006

Smartphone users jealous of the slick SMS threading that Treos have can turn that frown upside down. TxtMan is a new donationware app that brings SMS threading to Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphones. It's a pretty customizable app, offering a plethora of message layout options and your choice in ringtones and vibration alerts. It can also be set to run at your phone's startup to make sure it catches all of your SMS messages, but therein lies one catch: I may be new to the Smartphone platform, but I've seen some 3rd party apps such as Agenda One that seem to work in tandem with the phone's default PIM databases, whereas TxtMan needs to take over your SMS duties. You either send, receive and store SMSes in TxtMan, or you do it in WinMo5's default Messaging app - it's one or the other. The last catch I've found so far is that it requires Microsoft's bulky .Net Compact Framework 2.0, though that can be installed on an external storage card (it needs a surprising ~5MB of space) if you're limited on phone storage space.

Still, after tinkering for a bit, I think I'm sold, and I donated to Ben Hirashima, TxtMan's developer. I prefer the threaded SMS view, and TxtMan is pretty zippy on my Samsung BlackJack.

[via Smartphone Thoughts]

Tags: donationware, messaging, smartphone, sms, texting, threaded, threading

Filed under: Fun, Internet, E-mail, Web services, Social Software

Blackberry PIN addiction

by Chris Gilmer Aug 29th 2006

If you have a Blackberry PIN addiction, then you aren't alone. Pinppl is a meeting place for Blackberry PIN addicts. You can browse through registered users' profiles and find PIN people that seem interesting to you to chat about your similar interests. When you register at Pinppl, you are given a unique pinppl.com address for your Blackberry PIN. (Check out Paul's profile, pinppl.com/203EAE43, for a sample.)

Pinppl is designed especially for Blackberry access. The only time that you need to access pinppl.com through a computer will be to upload images.

Tags: blackberry, computer, messaging, pin, pinppl

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Freeware, Browser Tips

Meebo sidebar for Flock

by Dan Lurie Jun 27th 2006

Meebo is great. It's full of AJAX-y goodness, connects through port 80 (which is useful when you're on a network that blocks standard IM ports), and works with the big 4 IM protocols. The only real issue I have with it is the fact that opening a new tab or new window hides my buddy list. Some intrepid soul has hacked up an extension for Flock which places Meebo in a persistent sidebar frame that stays visible as you browse. I normally just use Adium and OmniWeb, but the school network won't allow Adium to connect, so this looks like the perfect solution to my problem. As with flock, this extension is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

[Via UneasySilence.]

Tags: ajax, flock, im, instant, meebo, messaging

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