Skip to Content

Submit your nominations for the Luxist Awards' Best in Decor
AOL Tech

trillian-astra posts

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Web

Trillan Astra chat client leaves beta

Windowsby Brad Linder Aug 15th 2009

Trillian Astra
After years of private testing, Trillian launched a public beta of its updated multi-protocol chat client earlier this summer. This week, the company took off the beta label, and Trillian Astra replaces the company's older chat client.

Trillian Astra lets users chat with contacts on a number of services, including AOL Intant Messenger, Windows live Mesenger, Google Talk, ICQ, and Yahoo! Messenger.

It also lets you update your Facebook and Twitter status messages, which makes Trillian Astra a direct competitor to Digsby. So if you were annoyed with Digsby's heavy-handed revenue generating techniques, you might want to take a look at Trillian Astra. To Digsby's credit, the company did roll out an update that makes the "Support Digsby" section easier to spot and configure, along with a link to a Wiki entry explaining how the Digsby Research Module works.

Trillian Astra is available as a free download for Windows. Mac and iPhone versions are in the works. There's also a web client, which pits Trillian Astra against web-based chat service Meebo.

[via CNET]

Tags: chat, digsby, im, instant-messaging, trillian, trillian-astra

Filed under: Internet, Beta

Trillian Astra beta goes public, multi-protocol chat for everyone

by Brad Linder Jun 10th 2009

Trillian Astra beta
Trillian has launched a public beta of Trillian Astra, the company's updated chat client for AOL, Yahoo!, Windows Live, Google, and other instant messaging service. Trillian Astra also lets you update your status on Facebok and Twitter, something earlier versions of the IM client couldn't do.

The application has been in private testing for what seems like forever, but a few months ago the company started giving out beta invitations like there was no tomorrow. So removing the "private" label was probably just a formality.

Trillian Astra is available for Windows 200, XP, Vista, or 7. The company is working on Mac, iPhone, and web clients, but those aren't available to the public yet. You can sign up to be notified when those versions are available at the download page. Or you could just use Pidgin or Adium.

[via CNet]

Tags: instant-messaging, instant-messenger, trillian, trillian-astra

Filed under: Windows, Beta

Trillian Astra beta invites easy to snag (multi-protocol IM client)

Windowsby Brad Linder Apr 9th 2009

Trillian Astra
Remember the first time you realized that not all of your friends used the same instant messaging service? If you were on AIM and they were using MSN messenger you either had to sign up for a new service and run two desktop applications or shoot them frequent emails. And then came Trillian, one of the first programs to let users interact with contacts on multiple IM networks from a single application.

Over the years, other applications joined the party, including Pidgin, Miranda, and Digsby. And Trillian sort of fell out of the limelight. Two and a half years ago the company began alpha testing its next generation instant messenger called Trillian Astra. But it's been locked away behind an invite-only wall ever since.

And this week Lifehacker noted that pretty much anyone who signs up for a beta invite is being sent one almost immediately. That means two things. First, if you want to check out Trillian Astra, you can likely do it now. Second, a public release is probably coming soon. I could be wrong on the latter point, but I don't think so.

The latest version of Trillian Astra adds support for social networking services including Facebook and Twitter as well as instant messaging services, which means it could give Digsby a run for its money. Right now only a Windows version of the chat client is available, but OS X and iPhone versions are in the works as well. If you sign up for a beta invite, you may get a notice one of these days letting you know that those versions are available for download.

Tags: instant-messenger, trillian, trillian-astra

Filed under: Weekend Review

Download Squad Week in Review

by Brad Linder Jul 5th 2008

DLS logoBeen so busy trying to think of world records that aren't in the Guinness Book yet that you haven't had time to read about this week's software news? Don't worry, we've got you covered. Here are some of our favorite stories from the past week:
  • Whipping your website into shape
    You run a small business. And you have a small website. And no offense, but it kind of looks like you let your 6 year old design it. We've collected some of our favorite tips for making your web site a thing of beauty. Oh yeah, and it'll be far easier for people to find what they're looking for too.
  • Do you know what your hard drive has been up to?
    CrystalDiskInfo is a handy little Windows utility that spits out all sorts of information about your hard drive state, including its temperature, the number of power cycles, and even how many hours you've been running the drive. So if you run this free application every now and again and save the data, when your hard drive inevitably fails, at least you'll have an idea why.
  • Mozilla breaks non-existent world record, nobody cares
    Look, we hear what you're saying. Mozilla scored a world record for the largest number of downloads in a 24 hour period when the company launched Firefox 3. That's be pretty awesome, except nobody had ever bothered to compete in this category before. So it's not exactly shocking that Mozilla holds the record now, is it? And no, we have no plans to fire Drew Olanoff for writing this post which has been the subject of much debate.
  • Windows XP goes by bye
    This week saw the retirement of Windows XP. Kind of. Microsoft will no longer let end users pick up a standalone license. But you can still get a copy of the venerable operating system if you really want it. Some of them are even legal!
  • Trillian turns 8, no astra beta birthday gift quite yet
    Multi-protocol chat client Trillian turned 8 years old this week. The program has been downloaded over 35 million times so far. And while we were crossing our fingers hoping that the new version, called Trillian Astra, might poke its head out for the anniversary, the upcoming version of Trillian is still in private alpha.
  • Windows Steady State bulletproofs your system
    Ever wish you could throw caution to the wind and click on obviously dangerous links, download files that are likely to contain trojans, and otherwise muck up your system without actually mucking up your system? Windows Steady State creates a large cache file that essentially lets you save all of your activity in a temporary location. When you reboot your system, anything you did while running Steady State should be removed.

Tags: crystaldiskinfo, steady-state, trillian, trillian-astra, web-design, windows-steady-state, windows-xp

  • Tweet this!
  • Comments (0)

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Most Commented On (7 days)

Recent Comments

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio