The instant messaging I’m referring to is the traditional old-school way, that being you download a proprietary client, sign up for a free account and then run the client, add buddies/contacts as need be, etc. Such examples are AIM, Yahoo! IM and Windows Live Messenger. The main reason why people aren’t too fond of IM’ing anymore is mainly...

NNTR means No Need To Reply. Where this originated from I haven’t a clue, but it’s something that has been dormant for years that I believe needs to be used again. Were I to hazard a guess, I believe NNTR came about due to one of two reasons. Either the fact email used to actually cost something, be it time and/or money, or to discourage useless...

For a few years now, the way in which Yahoo! and Windows Live does public profiles is nothing short of ridiculous. There are way too many options, way too many things to turn off, and the real sad part is that most of you who read this didn’t know about all the crapola that comes with a profile from Y! or WLive. This is mainly due to the fact that both...

VoIP is Voice over Internet Protocol. It’s a general term used to describe voice communications over a packet-switched network (such as the internet). In this article I’m going to touch on the several different ways you can use PC-to-PC VoIP. Important note: Yes, VoIP obviously includes the ability to communicate via PC-to-phone and vice versa. But...

Putting instant messaging on your web site has never been easy. The only way people could get any messaging on their web sites was to use IRC. The popular way to do it was to embed a channel such as with PJIRC. And later on there was the ability to create an IRC chat "widget" with Mibbit. Both methods are so-so at best because they rely on IRC servers...

AIM is the primary instant messenger I use. Out of all the IM services I’ve used over the years, it is the most reliable. In addition, it runs flawlessly on any operating system. Whether you’re on Windows, Mac or Linux, you can run AIM. The latest client offering on the Windows platform is AIM 7 Beta 2. Short review: It’s awesome. If you use...

Lots of us have more than just one computer in the home. And with instant messenger apps, that unfortunately means only one computer can use a single IM account at a time. For example, if you use Yahoo Messenger and login to one PC in the home, then use the same account to login with on another, it will "kick off" the first one. You can have multiple...

Web-based instant messaging is something some people swear by while others (like me) still prefer the client. Meebo, one of the better multi-service web-based IMs, now has a Windows app called Meebo Notifier that can run the service without having the browser running, sort of. I say "sort of" because while it is a legitimate app that takes care of...

The long (and I mean long) awaited Trillian Astra from Cerulean Studios was made available to those who were willing to sign up for testing purposes. I downloaded it today and installed it. Currently it’s just Windows-only for testing purposes. Trillian was the first multi-protocol instant messenger I ever used years ago when they were at version 0.74,...

In most enterprise environments the mail server used most often is Microsoft Exchange. This has been the de facto standard for many years. Corporations like it a lot because not only does it do mail but a ton of collaborative features as well. When connected via the Microsoft Outlook client, it is truly a powerhouse setup. Wondering if there was any Linux...

AOL Instant Messenger, better known as simply AIM, is my preferred way of instant messaging simply due to the fact it’s the most reliable chat network. Out of all the things AOL does wrong, AIM is the only thing they do right. Windows Live (formerly MSN) and Yahoo both have routine small outages on their networks that can get really irritating really...

I’ll answer that question even before I start this article: Yes, you are. And you always have been since the first time you used text messaging on a mobile wireless network. The reason you’re getting screwed is because those who are computer savvy even to the most basic degree understand that when you charge 20 cents for 140 bytes of data or less...