Webware

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--For almost all of its existence, Mozilla Messaging has been known for Thunderbird--e-mail software with the traditional view that a person's PC is the center of their computing existence.

Now, though, the Mozilla Foundation subsidiary's scope is expanding beyond the confines of the computer under your desk or on your lap. In the near term, the new Thunderbird 3 is becoming more integrated with the Web. And in the longer term, the Raindrop project has the potential to lift your inbox all the way to the cloud.

"For us it's really important to have Thunderbird. It's also important to not stay in the blinders of that scenario," Mozilla Messaging CEO David Ascher said in an interview at the company's headquarters here. With Raindrop, "We're focusing on best experience for messaging in a Web application."

Mozilla Messaging CEO David Ascher

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

The change reflects the changing nature of computing. Where Thunderbird's chief competition once was now software such as Microsoft's Outlook, it's now also got to reckon with Google's Web-based Gmail service and its ilk, Ascher said.

Thunderbird is still a priority. Thunderbird 3 is set to arrive next week in near-final form--though nearly a year later than had been planned--but Mozilla Messaging has high hopes the new version will be faster, easier to use, and more versatile through the addition of third-party extensions.

Universal inbox
Raindrop is something of an ultimate inbox in the company's vision, a Web application that draws not just from e-mail but from other communication conduits such as Twitter, Facebook mail, and instant messaging. Its goal isn't just to consolidate today's overabundance of communications channels, it's to help prioritize what's important and put off what's optional until a more convenient time.

"We're breaking the notion of one list coming in, in chronological order," he said. What just arrived isn't necessarily the most important thing to do, though human minds are prone to thinking it is.

Some aspects of Raindrop's future are more certain than others. It's way to early to say when the company might release its first version of the actual software, but one thing that's settled is that Raindrop won't be a service Mozilla offers. Instead, the software will run on others' servers--at Internet service providers, for example.

"Hosting a messaging system for the world is not something we can afford right now," Ascher said. Still, it's revealing that the company chose to create Raindrop as a server-based technology accessible through a Web browser rather than as PC-based software.

Will Raindrop rule the roost?
In the longer term--say 2015--might Raindrop replace Thunderbird as people's messaging interface of choice? Perhaps.

"I suspect some people will and some people won't," he said. "I think desktop software still has a bunch of user benefits that will last for quite awhile."

Persuading everybody to freely cooperate with Raindrop could be tough. Sites like Facebook like their central positions in people's electronic lives and like to serve ads next to their content. In time, though, Ascher believes they'll come aboard.

"I think in the long term, openness wins," he said.

Even without Raindrop, Thunderbird 3 will integrate with the Web. It's got Firefox's engine built in for displaying Web pages, a fact that means the software can display Web content.

That ability means Thunderbird can, for example, show Yahoo and Google calendars in separate tabs. There's little in the way of integration with those services today, but it can be added, Ascher said. He expects plenty more add-ons will bring it closer to the cloud, too. He didn't mention it, but even Raindrop could be added in its own compartment.

Mozilla Messaging smells money
Mozilla Messaging is part of a peculiar organizational structure. In the beginning the non-profit Mozilla Foundation oversaw the open-source software that was the core of Netscape Communicator. Eventually, that software split into two main components: the Firefox browser and the Thunderbird e-mail software.

The foundation set up two subsidiaries to oversee the two projects, first Mozilla Corp. for Firefox in 2005 and second Mozilla Messaging for Thunderbird in 2007. Ascher has since 2007 led the latter, which employs six engineers and nine others.

It also draws on the expertise of many volunteers in the open-source world who translate the software, write add-ons, and help debug it. Because of this help, Mozilla Messaging gets by with only one quality assurance employee and one marketing employee, and Thunderbird 3 will arrive in more than 40 languages.

The subsidiary today gets its funding from its nonprofit Mozilla Foundation parent, which in turn receives the lion's share of revenue from search advertising revenue that results from searches Firefox sends Google's way. Ultimately, Ascher wants Mozilla Messaging to be financially self-sustaining. But how?

"I'm not sure yet. I think what we're looking for are rev models like Firefox--revenue models where the user benefits and doesn't have to pay anything, and somehow enough money flows into Mozilla Messaging to fund development long-term," Ascher said.

That may sound like a lot of hand-waving, but Ascher points out he has no investors looking for a big and quick return on the money they invested, so Mozilla Messaging is a relatively cheap operation to run.

Ads? No thanks
One route the company won't take is advertising, the approach that's vital to Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail, as well as to Firefox.

"I don't think people benefit from advertising in mail," he said. "One reason it works for search engines is people often are searching to buy. They're happy to see ads. It helps them. I don't think that works in e-mail."

Today, there are probably somewhere between 10 million and 20 million Thunderbird users, said Rafael Ebron, Mozilla Messaging's director of marketing. That's a far cry from Firefox, whose users total more than 300 million, Mozilla says.

But both projects can punch above their weight. Just being a freely available alternative--whether with Thunderbird or with Raindrop--can steer other products and services, Ascher believes.

"Firefox had an influence over people greater than its market share," Ascher said. "I don't think we'd need to manage everybody's e-mail servers for us to have an influence over the e-mail landscape and make sure everybody has a better experience."

Multiprotocol-messaging client Digsby has announced new features at DemoFall focusing on a completely revamped Twitter interface.

At the time of writing, users must download Digsby build 65, which will then auto-update to build 67, which includes the new features.

The new Twitter timeline window in Digsby features new posts at the bottom, plus a Favorites option.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Once logged in, users, set to follow Digsby on Twitter by default, are given two ways to manage their tweets. The tweet timeline is a single-window column that starts with the oldest ones at the top. It is accessible only by double-clicking on the Twitter bar in the Digsby Buddy List pane.

Running the oldest tweets on top runs counter to the Twitter Web site, as well as just about every other Twitter client around, and already, there's a heated debate over the tweet order in the Digsby blog post announcing the new feature.

Most recently received tweets and the status update box reside at the bottom of the timeline window, but every time you open the timeline window, it will go to your most recently read new tweet. Mouse over a tweet, and Twitter functions such as Reply, ReTweet, and Direct Message will appear.

There's also a new option that should be familiar to Internet Explorer users: Favorite. Mark a tweet as Favorite, and when you switch the view to Favorites--accessible behind the drop-down arrow at the top of the window--you'll see a list of all your Favorite-marked tweets. Other options include a History view that shows off only your tweets, as well as group creation and editing.

Digsby's mouse-over Twitter stream.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Mouse over the "quick look" Twitter pop-up window that's part of the Digsby Buddy List, and the tweet timeline runs in the traditional direction. Although Reply, ReTweet, Direct Message, and Favorite are also available from this view, forcing users to switch tweet stream directions depending on which pane they're using doesn't strike me as particularly logical. There's no option for altering the defaults in the timeline or the quick-look pane.

Twitter account options in Digsby.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

In Digsby build 67, users get two methods for updating their tweets. They can use the text field at the bottom of the Twitter timeline pane, or use the global status updater available from the drop-down menu at the top of the Buddy List. It comes with a character counter, useful, even though the global updater can be toggled to work for other social-networking statuses. The Twitter timeline text field and the global-status updaters will both automatically shorten URLs and automatically upload photos. Auto-shortening can be toggled in the drop-down menu by clicking on character count.

Some users have been complaining about stability problems that are probably related to the untested nature of programs that debut at DemoFall. If you don't mind the unusual flow of the timeline window, or if you're a Digsby user to begin with, this Twitter implementation isn't perfect, but it's a strong step forward for a program that already supports MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About a month ago, multi-protocol instant messaging client Digsby found itself at the center of a user conflagration, sparked by how it notified people about their installer's bundleware. Digsby build 65, today's update, addresses some of those complaints and throws in feature enhancements, too.

Users can finally opt-out of Digsby's grid computing system before they install the program.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

However, this doesn't mean that Digsby has changed its business model. The program still comes bundled with several opt-out changes to your browser. To avoid them, users must opt out of several bundled add-ins. One will change your default home page to a Digsby-branded Google search, and another will add eBay and Amazon.com to your search bar. A third installs the Ask.com toolbar. Note, however, that none of these are new to this build, and have been in Digsby for quite some time.

The Plura network uses your CPU cycles when idle for both nonprofit and for-profit ventures, and users could only deactivate it after they had installed the program. While it will probably upset some that Digsby still participates in Plura, at least now Digsby is being more fair about it by giving you the chance to opt-out before the CPU cycle usage begins. Also, the one ad for the Ask.com toolbar is all that's left of the five ads that users had to opt out of--again, it's still annoying, but now it's less so. Some users might not see the Ask.com ad, depending on whether the installer detects that it's already installed or if it determines that installing it will be difficult.

The new features in Digsby 65 include a revamped Facebook news feed that pulls in all Facebook feed content, not just your friends' status updates, and support for MySpaceIM. Digsby seems to have corralled its RAM issues for good, maintaining around 35 to 45 MB RAM even when running multiple tabs from multiple protocols over the past several program updates.

Because Digsby has allowed users to opt out of all its bundleware, if you can tolerate the opt-out nature of it, then it looks like it's worth a second glance.

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 if you're a heavy user. But how well does it work?

In short, it does a decent job, but it still experiences some of the typical pitfalls found in other speech-to-text tools. If you've used Google's search app on the iPhone you know all too well that it can handle some words better than others, and that it works slightly faster when you're on Wi-Fi. The same can be said of IM+.

The app managed to get a few sentences without flaws, but I regularly found myself going into make a quick edit to one or two words each time. That wouldn't be so bad if it didn't take so long to do all the processing. Over 3G, small quips like a four- or five-word reply took around 15 seconds to process and get sent back, whereas full messages took up to 24 seconds. These times were cut a few seconds shorter when on a solid Wi-Fi connection, but still on the long side.

The updated version of the app is in Apple's review queue, meaning it could be out later this week, month, or be rejected outright (although not likely since it's using standard APIs). Besides speech-to-text, the update also adds animated emoticons for whatever service you're using. It's a small touch, but sure to make IM enthusiasts happy. We take a quick look at that and the speech-to-text feature in the video below. Worth noting is that processing times have been sped up for the sake of time, although we make note of that when it occurs:

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.

This screenshot of the Astra beta looks identical to the final version of the program.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

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 included, but it requires the program to be running before it can be accessed through Astra--just as Skype does with other multichat applications. It includes POP3 and IMAP account notifications rolled in alongside the Facebook and Web mail notices.

Perhaps most importantly, the Cerulean Studios team promises that Trillian Astra will be updated more frequently than Trillian 3 ever was, with regular maintenance patches.

Editor's note: There is a bug currently on the Download.com product page that indicates that the program is only available to buy. This is being worked on and should be fixed Monday. The program can be downloaded for free.

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 the program is not legitimately changing a directory or installing somewhere you don't want it to be.

The section of Digsby's EULA where they tell you they're going to use your idle CPU cycles.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

However, what's made clear in this Lifehacker post, and I've verified, is that popular multi-protocol instant messaging client Digsby will grab your processor cycles when you're not looking and use them without giving you a say in the matter. Whether Digsby is using your CPU for cancer research, the hunt for Yoda, or to help marketing agencies crunch their numbers is irrelevant. By not giving you the opportunity to choose to do so, they are distributing malware. Before you think that's too harsh of a comparison, a botnet like the notorious Conficker does the same thing: it grabs your processor, and gives you no choice about it. Digsby is merely polite about it, giving notice in the EULA and waiting until your system is idle. Of course, nobody is forcing you to install the program, but they're not exactly making this information prominently available.

To be fair to Digsby, they called out this behavior in a blog post back in December 2008. However, it's not noted in the installation process itself, whereas the other opt-out choices have been made easy to see and decide upon. This is abusing a user's trust, because--like the mention in the EULA--the information is essentially buried and inaccessible unless you know to look for it. As the comments to the Digsby blog post indicate, it's been receiving negative feedback about this since it announced it. To take no steps to rectify the situation except to give users more choices on promoting Digsby is unethical.

In light of all this, and the Digsby team's reluctance to address what we consider a serious flaw in the program, the Download.com editorial team has decided to lower the ratings score for Digsby.

I've requested comment from Digsby about their policies, and will update this post when I have a response.

Users looking for alternative multi-protocol IM clients should look at Pidgin, Miranda, Trillian, or VoxOx.

UPDATE: Digsby representatives have commented on the situation, both in a new blog post and directly to me. I found this new blog post to be somewhat disingenuous. It starts off by saying, "Several months ago, we started testing two unique revenue models to help us keep Digsby free and ad-free for all our users," and then the next sentence points to the above-cited blog post from December 2008. That's eight months ago, not exactly the standard definition ascribed to "several." It's a minor point, but one I found emblematic of Digsby's reaction to the situation because, as you'll see, nothing's changed.

The post continues, explaining that its relatively new installer is no different from other software publishers that offer a free product but force users to opt-out of installing a toolbar or search results hack. As noted above, I agree with that premise. Although it's unfortunate that you have to opt-out to avoid these changes to your system, they are definitely presented clearly.

Digsby build 61 on the left, and build 62 on the right. As you can see, the only change is a link in the research option to an explanation of what it is and how to turn it off.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

After that, there's an explanation of the "research module," named Plura, which is the bit that borrows your CPU cycles. "Some of the research Digsby conducts may be for nonprofit projects like the ones mentioned above (in the blog post) and some may be for paid projects, which will help us keep Digsby completely free," the blog states, which means that whatever the project is that you're being asked to donate your spare processor time to, you're not going to learn what it is and it's none of your business. At least with SETI, you know what it is you're donating your cycles to. With Digsby, it's a crap-shoot--and hardly a transparent process.

When asked for comment last night, Steve Shapiro of Digsby said, "It's clear from this that a lot of users still weren't aware of it since they don't read the terms of service or track the blog closely," and I think that's a point we can all agree on. He also said: "(W)e will be making a change in the product to make sure that every user we have now and every user who signs up from this point forward is clearly informed of what we do to keep Digsby free and shown how to enable/disable the functionality."

Further e-mails with Digsby's Director of Public Relations Erick Davidson revealed what those changes were: "When it runs for the first time, there will be a pop-up that will stay until the user reads more about it." Despite having left my computer idle for 30 minutes after doing a clean install of Digsby build 62, when the Plura system theoretically would be running, I saw no pop-up warning when I returned to it.

Rushed out overnight, build 62 of Digsby does not include any changes to the installation process. When asked, Davidson stated that this was because the installer is provided by another company, and added in a follow-up e-mail that there is no time line at the moment for introducing a toggle to Plura into the installer.

Users who want to keep Digsby but don't want the Plura system to run can disable it by going to the menu bar Help option, clicking on Support Digsby, and choosing Disable for Help Digsby Conduct Research.

As I've said, the issue for me isn't that Digsby is running Plura, it's that it's doing it without giving users the ability to opt-out before installation. Given that Digsby's competitors are able to offer similar and, in some cases, identical features, and that they're able to do it without burying a bad-faith feature in the EULA or behind a semi-functional pop-up, I'm going to stand by my assessment from yesterday: For now, don't use Digsby.

Multi-protocol messaging and VoIP communication client VoxOx is back with some new and impressive features amid claims of a more stable platform. Available for Windows and Mac, the freeware offers a robust Personal Assistant feature that includes call recording, call forwarding, call routing, and call screening, as well as expanded social-networking features and stronger back-end support to keep its multitude of services from getting disconnected.

VoxOx 2 is a robust communication tool.

(Credit: TelCentris)

VoxOx also has made a new-user sign-up bonus available to CNET Download.com users, which I'll explain at the bottom of this story.

The Personal Assistant feature introduced in the new version underlines VoxOx's attempt to snag users from its competitors. This is a robust, useful feature for anybody who needs to manage multiple phone lines or is trying to mitigate being "on call" all day, every day. In addition to the on-the-fly features mentioned above, the Personal Assistant can be set to answer all your calls, route calls based on who's calling as well as more standard uniform call routing, "eavesdrop" on voicemails as they're being recorded, set personalized ringback tones, and call recording that can be toggled at-will and in the middle of a call.

Combining the Personal Assistant with the individual phone number that VoxOx gives to all users, and the well-planned call forwarding that allows you to switch phones at will, and VoxOx makes clear its desire to be a one-stop communication hub.

Instant messaging support has been expanded in VoxOx 2. Along with current support for Yahoo, AOL, Google Chat, MSN, ICQ, and Jabber, the new version supports Facebook IM, MySpace IM, Gadu Gadu, and Skype. The new version also bakes-in Facebook status updates, and support for Twitter.

E-mail address book support has also been expanded. In addition to being able to import your contacts from Yahoo, you can now do the same for Google, Hotmail, AOL, Mac, and Outlook address books, too. The contacts are then filtered into a single interface. There's a notification icon that tells you which service the contact originates from, but the unified interface should make it far simpler to keep track of who you know and what service you know them on.

One of the more unusual features in VoxOx 2 is its fax support. Both inbound and outbound faxes are included as part of VoxOx's free feature set. The program automatically converts text documents to fax-appropriate signals when you're sending out. Incoming faxes are received as PDFs. The fax feature does not come with a usage plan limitation.

The useful SMS callback feature from the first version of the program is back, this time with stronger foundational support. VoxOx says that stability and failed callback issues should no longer happen with their new servers.

All outbound phone-based features in VoxOx are based on the number of minutes you have with them. Users are provided with 100 minutes when they sign up, and can earn more points for free via referrals and occasional VoxOx promotions like surveys. CNET readers can take advantage of a limited-time offer to gain more minutes for free.

The first 200 CNET readers who sign up for VoxOx 2 will receive 1,200 free VoxPoints, which equals 1,200 free U.S./Canada calling minutes (or free texts). VoxPoints are also redeemable for international calling and texts at various rates. In addition, CNET readers to sign up within the first 48 hours of the VoxOx 2 launch will receive 200 VoxPoints--double the standard amount of free points given to new users upon sign-up. New users must sign up and SMS verify in order to get their free VoxPoints. To take advantage of the special CNET deal, go to http://signup.voxox.com/cnet2vox.

I'll be writing a hands-on later today, but you can read previous coverage of VoxOx here and here. Mac users should note that the publisher, TelCentris, has discontinued support for older PowerPCs and OS X 10.4.

With the economy still in shambles, landing an internship might be the best way to get a foot in the door of a company that might hire you someday. But finding even an unpaid internship can be difficult. So here's a list of resources that are designed to help prospective interns achieve their professional goals.

If you're just looking for job search engines, check out our roundup from earlier this year.

Get your internship

BuddingUp: BuddingUp is a site that helps interns and recent graduates find the jobs they want. The site is broken into two sections: a job board and a career page listing. The former lists all the jobs the site has found across the Web that might be of interest to prospective interns. Unfortunately, you can't search it easily, so you'll be forced to scroll through the pages to get what you're looking for, which is not very convenient.

But the career pages listing is a fantastic resource. Instead of wasting your time going to individual company sites trying to apply for an internship, BuddingUp provides it all for you. So if you want to check for all the openings at Wal-Mart, Sony, or General Electric, the site will provide you with direct links to those individual career listings pages.

BuddingUp provides a job board to help you find your next internship.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Enternships: Enternships is a unique site that helps you find internships at Web start-ups. It requires start-ups to list their gigs, which can then be searched for by interns who can apply directly on the site.

Since Enternships was started in association with Oxford University's Oxford Entrepreneurs program, many of the jobs listed on the site are located in the U.K. There are some listings for the U.S., but if you're in the States, Enternships shouldn't top your list until more listings are added to the site.

Enternships has some growing up to do before it can make the big time.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Intern Abroad: Intern Abroad is a really neat site. Instead of helping you find an internship in North America, the site lists all the open internships listed all over the world. So if you want to work as an economics intern over the summer in China, you'll find all the open listings (13 as of this writing) for those jobs.

Intern Abroad doesn't list individual jobs on its site, though. Instead, it provides search results of companies and organizations offering internships in the country you designate. That can get annoying, since you'll be forced to jump from site to site to get what you want, but considering it's a unique service, that downside can be overlooked.

Intern Abroad helps you find internships all over the world.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

The new version of AIM notifies you when a new instant message arrives.

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 feature set for a free app. It supports multiple screen names and works with AOL, ICQ, .Mac, and MobileMe accounts. It keeps you logged in for 24 hours and gives you the option of receiving notifications via SMS for those times when you're logged out.

I particularly like how you can finger-swipe between different chats. Of course, those features have been around for a while. The big news here is push, and in my tests it worked flawlessly.

I haven't been able to test BeejiveIM 3.0 yet, which is notable for its cross-platform support of AIM/MobileMe, Facebook, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, and just about every other chat service known to man.

Thankfully, the developer lowered the $15.99 price tag, though it's still on the pricey side at $9.99.

Of course, when you take into account the money you stand to save on SMS charges, that might just be the deal of the century.

Are you geeked about push-enabled IM? If so, what's your favorite app? (Feel free to list those that haven't received the push treatment just yet.)