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Windows Live Messenger Finally Arrives For BlackBerry
Posted by Matt Hickey at 10:30 AM on July 23, 2008
Many companies use Windows Live Messenger for corporate IM because it's free and comes with pretty much any Windows computer they purchase. Windows Mobile users have had mobile IM love for awhile, but BlackBerry users have been left out, at least as far as official messengers go. They had already been promised an official client, and today Microsoft published it. Also included is live Hotmail support, for those who still use it. Go and download it, BlackBerry addicts, if you haven't already. [Download, via Ars]
Google's brand new Gtalk webapp for the iPhone is as crappy as I expected it would be. It has a nice design, and sending messages was easy, but at the end of the day it's still running in Safari—which means if you get a call you are signed out of chat. And unlike other web-based IM apps, Gtalk doesn't work in the background, so interruptions as simple as going to the home screen sign you out too. Also, there are no preference settings, so you are stuck looking at your whole contact list, online and off. Gtalk's AIM support is also curiously absent from this release. In short, this program sucks. If you're looking for a solid IM solution before the App store opens, I strongly recommend Agile Mobile's AM client recently released on Installer, which I've been playing around with.
Move over 
Apple's filed a patent on their upcoming iPhone instant messaging app, detailing exactly what it's going to look like and how it's going to behave. While most of the images show an iChat-esque (and current SMS-like) interface, there are some interesting tidbits we picked up from the text. One, there's mention of "graphics, photos, audio files, video files and/or other attachments as are supported in a MMS and/or Enhanced Message Service," which points to possible MMS support in the future. At the very least, it might mean that their IM app will be able to transfer files. Two, there's also a reference to the user receiving "an instant message while the user of the device is in another application," alleviating fears that we wouldn't be able to IM in the background. Both these snippets are after the jump.
The Vtech IS6110 is the little cordless telephone that could. There is a lot of functionality packed into one tidy little package. It is a fully featured DECT 6.0 cordless phone that includes a full QWERTY keypad and lays claim to being the first cordless phone to deliver instant messaging capabilities. All you do is plug the base station into your PC and you will be able to roam around your house instant messaging to your heart's content.
We absolutely love it when cyberspace and meatspace intersect, which is why we're enthused over this Online Notification Picture Frame. It's a DIY project that connects via some interface (the guy doesn't say) to a computer, which feeds online status information back to the display. If a person's online, the LED next to his photo lights up. We'd prefer it if this were a more digital solution like an actual photo frame that dynamically displayed the pictures of people who were online, but this is a good start. [
The enthusiastic high-fives of future 
In an attempt to revitalise Thunderbird in version 3.0, Mozilla has announced "Mozilla Messaging" which promises significant improvements to the email client—like calendar integration, better search, and a chat app. While the core focus will still be on email, Mozilla seems committed to developing a product that will offer a broader range of communications tools. Whether or not it will be good enough to get Thunderbird back on track remains to be seen. [
Blogger (and early iPhone adopter) Jordan Golson just got this text message on his iPhone this morning:
