instant

Macworld reports that Trillian is heading to the Mac, after being doomed to a Windows existence for many years. I'm not sure how welcome it is since Adium already fills that role (multi-protocol chat client) for OS X, but if it can give Adium a little competition, all the better.

It's still in the early stage of development, but I'll give it a spin when it comes out, and let you know whether it's worth a download.

Social-networking site Bebo announced on Thursday that it has struck a deal with AIM, AOL's instant-messaging arm. Through this partnership, users of either service can now easily invite friends to the other.

More specifically, Bebo users who have provided the site with their AIM usernames will now see an AIM icon displayed on their profiles so that other members can click on it to IM them directly through Bebo's interface. There's also a new "AIM Friend Finder" in Bebo so that members can invite the denizens of their AIM buddy lists to join Bebo, as … Read more

If you're a Trillian Astra alpha tester, the newest build launched this weekend now has a clean and simple profile building tool. You can add a slew of Web services to your personal profile for others to see, including Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Last.fm, and even your LinkedIn account. There are 13 in all, along with quick links to add your blog or personal Web site. The result is effectively a pretty looking link dump to all your online personas and services that others will see when they look at your profile. More importantly, however, it's the beginning … Read more

If an IM link from a friend pops up on your screen, do you click it right away? Most people, like Eivind, do. Most don't end up with a PC-killing worm.

Malicious IM links are a growing threat to users, and Eivind got dished an unpleasant preview of the trend we have to look forward to. Can she warn her friends of the deception before they're compromised too?

Watch the story unfold in this week's tale of Trojan trouble, "Malware's IM hideaway." You can also access the Spyware Horror Story archives for more stories … Read more

A Virginia appeals court has upheld a defendant's rape conviction based in part on an AOL instant message.

The Virginia Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that instant messages were properly used as evidence against Myron J. Turman, who was convicted of raping his friend, a woman called S.J. in court documents. Her real name is not listed.

The incident took place on the evening of October 5, 2002, when S.J. arrived home in Fairfax County around 3 a.m. from a nightclub in Washington, D.C. Turman met her in the parking lot and followed her … Read more

If you want instant messaging without an extra app, there's always Meebo. For those missing out on the desktop experience, however, there's a new solution called AirTalkr that does multiclient IM sans a full installation using Adobe's Integrated Runtime (AIR). The service works with five of the major clients, along with several Web services including YouTube, Flickr, along with Twitter and MySpace. In addition to its AIR namesake, there's also a Web version that has identical functionality sans the install, if you're willing to relegate yourself to the Windows Vista-style virtual desktop it creates in your browser.

The app breaks up IM, photos and videos into three different tabs. The IM is multitabbed and supports something called AirCards, which pull up your buddy's MySpace and Friendster profile, along with Flickr shots, Twitter updates, blog, and profile on LinkedIn from their e-mail address. If it can't find it, there are links to ask your buddy (which will start a conversation) or add it yourself using another e-mail address or a URL.

The photos tab links up with Flickr, and if you're a Flickr user you can authorize your the app to browse your photos, which can be opened up and viewed on your desktop. The Video feature is a little more basic, with four pages full of popular and featured videos from YouTube that play in a small window, along with a search tool. The video player is small and cannot be resized, which is where the illusion of a real app begins to break down.

All in all, Air Talkr is off to a good start, although it's in a very competitive field. Competitors like Meebo have things like buddy list pop-out, file transfer, and public rooms. AIR is also a bit young, and still very much in beta. Keep an eye on this one, though, the AirCard concept is a second layer of convergence on top of multiclients that might make this one stand out.

To see a video of Air Talkr in action, click the read more link below. On a related note, if you're a developer working on a hands-on video with your service, Kelly Clarkson is not the way to go.

[via Mashable] … Read more

The divide between Web IM apps and the software versions is getting smaller, albeit with the help of improved bandwidth and technology like Adobe's Flash. In the same vein, Meebo, the popular Web-based multiclient chat platform is getting a handy update tonight. Users are now able to trade files with each other right in the chat window. It's not just Meebo users, either, it's anyone on your friends list. If your buddy has a file-transfer-enabled client, you'll be able to pass files back and forth freely.

However, unlike software IM clients, the caps for file transfer … Read more

Picking what to watch on TV from the crowd of new season premieres just got more complicated. Webtainment is ramping up in a big way, with content both created by and for the public now playing on various outlets across the Internet. One such notable is the migration of Paltalk from a social network congealed through an IM client, to an online media network.

One with edgy aspirations at that. This fall, Paltalk will show several original series that have been produced to fit the updated chat platform, now called PaltalkScene (download here.) The updated application expands on Paltalk Messenger's existing multimedia capabilities with Screening Rooms--private and public chat spaces of up to 5,000 viewers where users can watch, voice chat, and instant message about uploaded user videos and Paltalk's new shows.… Read more

Yahoo Messenger for Mac 3.0, which remains in beta testing, received new features today. Mac users now have a full set of emoticons to express their inner smiley, monkey, or other faces. In addition to allowing you to save chats to a hard drive, the IM client enables direct access to Yahoo Chat rooms. The Mac-friendly Messenger also organizes multiple conversations within a tabbed window.

And as with the Windows edition, the free Yahoo Messenger for Mac allows users to chat with contacts who use Windows Live Messenger. The application requires Mac OS 10.4 or later. Yahoo hopes … Read more