aim

Good news on the IM front: AIM (Free Edition) and BeejiveIM 3.0 are among the first instant-messaging apps to support push notification, meaning you'll get alerted to new messages even when the apps aren't running.

If that sounds a bit familiar, it's because we reported on AIM's use in push-notification stress-testing about a week ago.

It also follows the news that uberpopular texting app TextFree was first out of the SMS gate with push support, allowing users to get new-message notifications while the iPhone is off or doing other things.

AIM offers a fairly robust … Read more

Apple recently sent out an e-mail to developers testing the latest iPhone OS 3.0 software. Apple wants to put the Push Notification system through one last stress test before releasing OS 3.0 to consumers on June 17. The app picked for this second test was the AOL AIM $2.99 instant messaging application. (Previously, Apple tested the Associated Press application, AP Mobile Free.) We assume that Apple chose news and instant messaging apps because these applications will be using Push Notification the most.

Push Notification is a system Apple developed to work around the fact that Apple does … Read more

If your children ask you what profession they should go into when they grow up, tell them "relative non-commerce."

You see, according to a study in the Classified Intelligence Report, a publication of the AIM Group, a media and Web consultancy organization, Craigslist's 2009 revenue is projected to rise above $100 million.

The New York Times reported that the AIM Group regards the conclusions of its study, which show a projected 23 per cent revenue increase over last year, as "conservative." AIM Group counted how many paid ads there on Craigslist in a given month … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Although the video games industry has begun to take some hits--suggesting it may not be recession-proof after all--Nintendo has managed to maintain a solid financial performance.

Its sales are up 19 percent year-over-year, according to the company, which would be impressive in any year, but is particularly so in the current economic climate.

At E3 here this week, Nintendo made a few bold moves, but tended to play it relatively safe. It unveiled a new version of its mega-hit exercise game, "Wii Fit Plus," and showed off the next-generation of its motion-sensitive controller, the Wii Motion … Read more

After a ton of hype and much deliberation, we finally get the official Palm Pre review from CNET Editor Bonnie Cha. She lays out all the pros and cons of the device, including the keyboard, app switching, battery life, and much, much more. Also, Jeff finally decides whether or not to buy one; tune in to hear the verdict!

We've been talking about the Palm Pre smartphone for a few weeks now, building up hype and getting excited about the release like everyone else, so we're especially excited to have Bonnie Cha come on today's show to give us her final review. If you have the time, be sure to check out her written review as well. So it turns out that she really likes the software. The multitouch is responsive (albeit with a slight lag), app-switching and push e-mail worked flawlessly, and the contact integration with Facebook, Outlook, etc. all impressed Bonnie, but don't rush out to buy it without hearing the negatives.

She also has a few complaints: as expected, the keyboard is pretty tiny and requires a rather long learning curve depending on the size of your fingers. In fact, Bonnie's got pretty small hands and even she had problems typing on it, so be sure to check one out before you buy. Next, the battery life pooped out after only one day of usage, which can be attributed partly to a faulty AIM client, but it's still something to keep in mind.

Overall, Bonnie fully recommends the phone to Sprint customers, including Jeff, who's been calling her at home to get insider's secrets since the phone was first announced. In the end, Jeff finally decides to at least go check it out on opening day, Saturday, but with no guarantees that he'll buy. No matter what phone he gets, we'll still have a great time with a live smashing of his old HTC Mogul on next week's show, so make sure to look out for that as well. Leave a comment below, though, and let us know what you think about the Palm Pre. Are you going to buy it? Is it worth the money to upgrade? Do you hate the phrase "iPhone killer" as much as the Bonch? Let's hear it.

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AOL continues its push to stay relevant with the latest upgrade to its chat program. In version 6.0, we saw the incorporation of tools that were mostly old hat to other chatware. This time around we get Twitter support, two built-in plug-ins, expanded mobile messaging, an easier way to switch skins, and a new Status message feature.

The two plug-ins are the biggest upgrades, with mixed results. Neither the QQ Games nor the AIM Tunes plug-ins worked in Vista, although they were fine on an XP machine. They both allow full control from the Buddy window, which is especially … Read more

Even though it's been around almost as long as the modern Web, instant messaging is still a great way to send short communication bursts without tying your ear to a telephone. But with great utility comes buckets of options: Do you use Yahoo IM? AOL IM? MSN? Google Talk? ICQ? What do you do if your parents are on one service, but everybody at your office uses a second, and your friends are all on a third?

Nobody wants to be logged in to half a dozen different chat programs simultaneously, which is where multiprotocol apps come in, to … Read more

In an attempt to capitalize on the success of the iTunes App Store AOL has decided to split its iPhone chat client AIM into a free, ad-supported download version called AIM Free (iTunes Link) and a paid version called AIM Paid.

Both versions of AIM have some new features, including the ability to use SMS notifications, multiple account support and access to the GPS for location services. Contacts from your iPhone address book can be accessed inside of AIM and then reached via IM or SMS text message. Login time for an account can last up to 24 hours, persisting … Read more

AOL has been fairly criticized for its purchase of Bebo in 2008 for $850 million. Since the acquisition, Bebo has been rolled into a group at AOL called People Networks. As we wrote yesterday, Bebo now has spiffy new features. But that doesn't make it worth $850 million.

I sat down with Joanna Shields, president of AOL People Networks, about the division's longer-term strategy. Shields was brought in by Bebo's venture investors to "package and sell" the company, she told me. She obviously did that, and quite capably.

"We sold at the top of … Read more