instant

The Internet offers everything from searching to shopping to social networking, but Net users still spend most of their time on plain old content sites, according to a survey from the Online Publishers Association.

In the latest installment from its monthly Internet Activity Index, the OPA reported that Internet users are now spending 42 percent of their time online using content sites, more than any other category. That figure represents a 24 percent jump from 2003 when Net users spent 34 percent of their time on content sites.

Content sites include those that offer news, information, and entertainment, such as … Read more

Supporting eight chat protocols and some neat extras, Palringo Lite can handle Apple iChat, AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber, and Windows Live Messenger. It's a good all-in-one chat app if you're determined to keep it free, but for the real theatrics, you'll need to go pro.

You'll need a Palringo account to get started, but that's easy to create from the application. Like most other chat apps, Palringo Lite organizes by contacts, messages, and groups, with other settings to help fine-tune. Push notification can also alert you to missed IMs, though … Read more

Beejive IM is one of those mobile multinetwork chat clients that's a joy to use--it's fast, graphically rich, and just works. Pricewise, it's at the taller end of the scale, but the feature set and usability will appeal to serious chatters. Pronounced beehive, (believe it or not) Beejive has one of the best methods for handling multiple IM conversations across multiple chat networks that we've seen, from the badge alerts that appear in two places, to the hidden menu that has you switching among open conversations, sending picture and audio IMs, and e-mailing out an archive … Read more

Typing on the iPhone/iPod Touch's keyboard can be arduous. This is never more evident than when trying to bang out messages in several instant-messaging conversations at once. Shape Services, the makers of the popular IM+ instant-messaging app ($9.99 App Store link), have realized this, and are soon rolling out a new version of the app that includes speech-to-text, albeit at a price.

Taking advantage of Apple's recently released in-app payment system, 99 cents a month gets you the feature, meaning that the annual cost of continuing to use it is about $12 a year. Not bad … Read more

More than three years in the making, Trillian is back with a slight name change and a slew of new features. It's keeping the beta code-name Astra as part of its official title, but more importantly it's been updated for the modern IM world. Skinnable but not modular, the chat client now supports Google, MySpace IM, Skype, and Facebook, as well as AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, and IRC. Both POP3 and IMAP e-mail checking see some love here, too.

Trillian now has deep hooks into Facebook and Twitter. It will automatically shorten URLs in your tweets, as well … Read more

The Sony PlayStation is finally getting a price drop, but some dummy retailers in Europe are actually increasing the price of the Xbox Arcade console set. In other news, a Twitter user is offering his followers a line to God, Starbucks says OK to freeloaders, and we also debate the most prolific technology of our time! You'll never guess what Wilson has up his sleeve...

In case you haven't heard, our economy is in a little bit of hot water right now, and while most companies like Sony are slashing prices to keep up with the competition, the geniuses at Microsoft EU are actually increasing the price of the Xbox Arcade from ?129.99 to ?159.99. Furthermore, the five Xbox Live Arcade games will no longer be included in the bundle. The company's excuse is that it is to "counteract the poor pound-to-euro currency exchange rate." Who allowed this to happen at Microsoft? At least fix the failure rate before you increase the price!

In other news, Starbucks is opening its doors to Wi-Fi freeloaders. We reported in the past that several cafes in New York are banning cell phones and laptops, cutting off Wi-Fi access to discourage freeloaders from just hanging out and surfing the Web for free. Starbucks has always been an easy place to gain paid access to the Internet, and it will continue to provide a welcoming environment for customers to enjoy their $68 cups of flavored coffee.

Many more stories to get to today, including a Twitter account that gives followers a direct line to God and a hilarious poem from our buddy CHRISTOPHER WALKEN!

Trillian Astra has finally, officially replaced Trillian 3. Users who experienced the Astra beta will find the final version to be similar, with the biggest change being the features that are limited to the paid Pro version. If you're new to Trillian Astra, this update makes the multi-protocol chat client competitive again.

The differences between the two versions are enumerated here; the short of it is that the extras are nice--but they're merely extras. You'll still get the improved performance, and support for mainstream services like Yahoo, AOL, Google, and ICQ. MySpaceIM is supported, and Skype is … Read more

Updated Friday at 3:17 p.m. PDT with comments from Digsby.

When it comes to program installation, I'm a strong believer in caveat emptor. If a software publisher warns you during the installation process that it will install the Yahoo search bar or a Firefox extension along with its program, and makes it clear that you can opt out of it, then so be it. Nobody's forcing a gun to your head, and it's important to read each of the installation screens no matter which program you're installing--at the very least to make sure that … Read more

On Wednesday, Digsby released a new version of the Digsby all-in-one instant messenger to all users.

Digsby 61 is a medium-size update that concentrates on bulking up Digsby's interaction with social networks. The first addition is a new dialog box that hooks into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace so that any status message set in Digsby can also broadcast to the others. Called the Global Status dialog, it folds in a URL shortener that makes it easier to share links in your status update. The link-shortener hasn't crossed over into the instant message windows; it's current realm … Read more