Posted 11/20/09 at 12:40:01 PM by Paul Lilly

Better late than never, and while it took a long time, iPhone and iPod touch users can now download Trillian, the multiprotocol IM client, through Apple's App Store.

The $4.99 app comes with many of the same features as its desktop counterpart, including grouped and sorted contacts. Tabbed chat windows also find their way onto the iPhone and iPod touch version, and so does the ability to copy and paste, which is more a credit to Apple than Cerulean Studios, the company responsible for Trillian.

Users can also synchronize content across multiple IM clients, so that changes made on the iPhone version will appear in real-time on the Windows client.

In a nod towards cloud computing, Cerulean Studios says that all chats are stored on the company's server, which means they won't be lost if you suffer a dropped connection. The app can also be set up to send IM alerts when Trillian is shut down.

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Posted 10/05/09 at 12:00:00 PM by Veronica Belmont

Some of my favorite early Internet memories came from visiting chat rooms: I started out using Microsoft Comic Chat and graduated to AOL chat rooms early on. When the Internet was young (and there wasn’t as much to do), it was pretty easy to become entranced by the number of random topics in which one could instantly discuss in real time. It was all honest fun, but I won’t lie, there was definitely that underlying sense of “OMG, I can totally lie about who I am, and no one will be the wiser.” This, of course, being a choice that many Internet users make to this day.

Having grown out of AOL, I moved on to vanilla IRC, where everything changed. Finally, an actual sense of community (and that desire to please the channel ops for some mod privileges). Yet somewhere along the line, ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger came along and usurped IRC by simply establishing presence: if you wanted to talk to someone, you just sent them an IM -- no more waiting around in the chat room to see if they’d pop in.

But the chat culture that we once knew and loved hasn’t disappeared completely, although its shape has changed significantly. IRC is still widely used, but these days it tends to be a tool too raw for use outside the geek set, where it’s frequently employed in conference “back-channels” or listener discussions for podcasts such as This Week in Tech. IM has become a de-facto mode of communication amongst friends and co-workers, so ubiquitous Google has begun to merge it with email (first with Gchat, and now with Google Wave). But for that random and serendipitous sense of discovery, where can the chat-hungry turn?

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Posted 09/18/09 at 10:14:57 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Phishers have added another trick to their copious arsenal. RSA, the security division of EMC, recently discovered a new type of phishing attack targeting online banking customers. It discovered phishing sites that contain fake live chat support for plausibility’s sake. RSA put its appellative faculties to good use to come up with a name for this new form of phishing attack: “Chat-in-the-Middle."

The attack proceeds in a routine way with unsuspecting online banking customers being led to a phishing page designed to extract their account details. After these gullible visitors are through with the first page, instead of being sent to another phishing page or to the genuine website, they are lead to a fake live-chat support window. The fraudster at the other end, posing as a customer support personnel, then tries to extract more account details from them through social engineering.

According to RSA, the fake live chat support window is powered by Jabber, an open source instant messaging protocol. “While at this point RSA has witnessed only a single instance of this attack, we are recommending extra vigilance to operators of all online banking websites and other websites where user credentials are targeted,” RSA wrote on its blog.

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Posted 09/18/09 at 08:09:24 AM by Paul Lilly

We have a love-hate relationship with Digsby. On one hand, we love the multi-protocol instant messaging app, which not only covers all the major IM clients, but also keeps us connected to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking services. But we hate the stockpile of bloatware Digsby stuffs into its installer. On top of it all, Digsby had come under fire recently for its hidden distributed computing research module, which hijacks CPU cycles to make the company money.

You spoke, and Digsby listened.  In a blog post on Thursday, the company announced a new version of Digsby sporting a new "user-friendly installer." Gone are all the adware solicitations replaced by a single option to install the Digsby Ask Toolbar, though it does make a last ditch attempt to toss in couple of search options after it's finished installing. And this time around, Digsby is being upfront about its research module, both during the installation process and with a new tab to the preferences window.

"Blasting ads all over our product is the last thing we want to do so we will keep experimenting with unique, non-intrusive models like these," Digsby stated.

Digsby

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Posted 07/20/09 at 11:30:00 AM by David Murphy

Ding!  If you're still using AOL's default instant messenger (or Google Talk, or Yahoo! Messenger, or...), then you're missing out on a wide range of alternative features--more than you perhaps though possible in a common messaging application.  Or, worse, you're trying to converse with your friends across the various networks by using three or more individual applications at once.  While this might have been the only way to bridge the gap between these services before, you can plead ignorance no longer.  Start the uninstaller--and this article--and by the time you're finished with both, you'll never go back to the antiquated world of official messaging applications.  Third-party is where the real party's at.

What can you expect to find in these open-source and freeware apps?  For starters, an interface that combines a number of common messaging networks into a single program.  In some cases, you can even lump your friends' various online names across the separate chat networks into a single, unifying alias--click a drop-down box to specify which network you want to reach them on.  Beyond that, these programs can bring a number of plugins and external connections to the table.  Combine your Facebook and Twitter feeds into your friends list, find out when people are about to message you before they do so, and call your buddies through your messenger interface akin to Skype.  And that's just the tip of the IM iceberg.

Get a list of your favorite emoticons ready to go and hit the jump.  The competitive world of instant messaging applications awaits!

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Posted 12/18/08 at 10:33:27 AM by Paul Lilly

If ever there was a reason to consider switching IM clients to Pidgin or Trillian, it would be the concept of in-chat IM ads. That's exactly what Yahoo has been experimenting with in its Yahoo Messenger instant messaging software since last August.

"Ads in Yahoo Messenger will allow us to put even more resources behind developing and delivering valuable free features and services," Yahoo said. "Yahoo Messenger is a free service to our users, and our goal is to provide a useful and relevant experience while ensuring this is a profitable business for Yahoo. Yahoo is inherently an advertising-driven business."

The test ends this month, but Yahoo isn't offering so much as a hint as to what it will decide to do once the test is finished. However, it might not take much to convince the search company to implement in-chat IM ads. The company has been struggling financially and recently laid off over 1,500 employees. On the bright side, the ads don't appear to be terribly intrusive. Yahoo claim users will see ads at most once per day.

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Posted 10/27/08 at 06:46:34 PM by Pulkit Chandna

New regulations have made it compulsory for businesses to retain all wireless communications including IMs and text messages. Among the various legislations mandating the archival of wireless communications the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) are most prominent. Also, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) made the archiving of IMs and Texts compulsory through one of its edicts issued in December, 2007.

These legislations have encouraged companies like LiveOffice, Akonix Systems and Onset Technology to offer software solutions to businesses to effectively retain wireless communications. Onset is trying its level best to dominate this niche market segment by standing out from its competition. Onset’s technology can automatically screen messages before they are sent and subsequently block them if they contain something objectionable.

The ability to screen messages can save the blushes for enterprises as it is not uncommon for employees to aggrandize their messages with embarrassingly colorful language.

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Posted 09/24/08 at 04:05:56 PM by Andy Salisbury

This past Tuesday Yahoo released the latest version of their instant messaging program, Messenger 9.0. With the release, they’ve introduced a slew of new features including a brand new interface, chat window, improved spam control, and the Yahoo Messenger Pingbox.

The new interface is more spread out than previous versions, allowing for larger avatars and the ability to post status messages. Also included in the new interface is the ability to import your contacts in bulk from your e-mail, IM, or Facebook contact lists using third party operator TrueSwitch. TrueSwitch will search through your address books and find users already on Yahoo and shoot them a friend invite on your behalf.

The new chat window ups the ease-of-use factor, allowing users to drop maps, images, videos or links directly into the chat box when you want to share them with your friends. Being able to check out videos and images without even leaving your IM client is mighty convenient. Yahoo also made a reversal from their dime-sized emoticons, scaling them down to give them a much cleaner look.

The final big feature is the Yahoo Messenger Pingbox, which is brand new with this release. It allows for web site owners (such as bloggers, eBay sellers, and social networking power users) to chat in real time with anyone visiting their site. This is a step up over lurking your inbox, waiting for a reply e-mail from the site owner that you’re trying to get in contact with. For the owner of the site these Pingboxes are simple to use, and highly customizable. Everything from the aesthetics of the window, to sending out a broadcast message to your site’s users, you’ll be given lots of control.

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