Why BigBlueBall?
BigBlueBall provides news, tips, tricks and support for all major instant messengers including AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, Trillian, and many more. Read on...
Recent Forum Posts
Get Our Feeds
Help
Help
Instant Messaging
Alternative Instant Messengers
Tired of using the big corporate instant messengers, or just looking at what else is out there? Either way, you've come to the right place. Here is a list of some other instant messengers that are out there. Some are even compatible with the big corporate instant messengers, which means you can still talk to your friends on AIM or Msn instant messenger. Check out the Interoperability chart to find out what messengers they are compatible with.
General Instant Messaging News
Vyke - Call and SMS Free US, UK and Canada
Vyke – one of the pioneer in VOIP service has started its service in India. The Cricket Legend - Sourav Ganguly has been signed as a Brand Ambassador Vyke is a Voice over IP telephony company with a focus on mobile VoIP and IP SMS without the need for additional hardware. Vyke allows users to make telephone calls and send SMS over the internet via their mobile-handset, computer or a normal fixed or landline.Vyke offers free calls and SMS between connected users by utilizing existing WiFi and wireless zones, existing mobile phone provider internet networks and proprietary software. Additional services available to Vyke subscribers and customers include more traditional VoIP technology such as computer–to-phone calling, callback (where two nominated numbers are connected by Vyke via SMS, computer-initiated or callback number request), computer-based SMS and several other initiatives. Vyke offers free calls with only a one time connection charge to countries such as the United States, Canada and most countries in Europe. Hence it falls under the free or almost free VoIP providers.
Enjoy Vyke's cheap international phone calls using PC-to-Phone, WIFI enabled mobile phones, SIP devices or Callback. Get a free dollar when you sign up for free, and it is no hidden charges or extra cost, just pay-as-you-go calling and sms. 4 US cent per call connection charge to free landline destinations with Vyke PC-to-Phone, Mobile VoIP and VoIP Phone.
So Get Shopping And Be Connected.
www.vyke.com
Posted by payalsh - 0 comments
Eyeball NAT Traversal Solution to be used in CableLabs®’ PacketCable™ Application Lab
Vancouver, November 12th, 2008: Eyeball Networks, a leading developer of VoIP, NGN, and IMS software, provides servers and endpoints for STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT), TURN (Traversal Using Relays around NAT), and ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) to CableLabs®’ Packetcable™ Application Lab. Eyeball’s AnyFirewall Server and Engine will be used for performance and compliance testing of VoIP NAT-traversal based on PacketCable 2.0 specification."Cable MSOs lead the residential VoIP market in North America with aggregate market share of more than 70%, and CableLabs plays a key role in this success by developing common industry specifications and facilitating demonstration and interoperability tests," said Dr. Shahadat Khan, CTO of Eyeball Networks. "We are looking forward to working with cable MSOs and third-party VoIP solution vendors in the PacketCable Application Lab to guarantee 100% completion of VoIP calls through NATs and firewalls."
NAT traversal is critical to the success of VoIP, and CableLabs has been the pioneer in adopting IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) STUN, TURN and ICE technologies in the PacketCable 2.0 specification to enable this. Eyeball AnyFirewall Server is a scalable, carrier-grade STUN and TURN server ready for mass deployment. Eyeball AnyFirewall Engine is the industry's leading NAT traversal Software Development Kit (SDK) for guaranteed VoIP and video call completion across NATs, firewalls, and web-proxies. Together these two products provide a comprehensive and standards-based NAT traversal solution that can be readily deployed by cable MSOs and other VoIP service providers.
About CableLabs PacketCable Project
The PacketCable project is a CableLabs-led initiative to develop interoperable interface specifications for delivering advanced, real-time multimedia services over two-way cable plant. Built on top of the industry's highly successful DOCSIS® cable modem infrastructure (version 1.1 or greater), PacketCable networks use Internet protocol (IP) technology to enable a wide range of multimedia services, such as IP telephony, multimedia conferencing, interactive gaming, and general multimedia applications. Working with CableLabs member companies and technology suppliers, the PacketCable project addresses issues such as device interoperability and product compliance with the PacketCable specifications.
About Eyeball Networks
Eyeball Networks is a pioneer and world leader in VoIP and NAT traversal software enabling service providers, application developers, and device makers to deliver carrier-grade communications solutions in a cost-effective and timely manner. Today, over 19 million users and over 100 service providers and device makers benefit from Eyeball’s innovations, including its patented AnyBandwidth™, AnyFirewall™, and AntiSPIT™ technologies guaranteeing the best possible VoIP and video experience – over any Internet connection, across any NAT or firewall, and on any device. For more information, please visit eyyball.com or call 1.604.921.5993
Media Contact:
Brian Ellis
100 Park Royal, Suite 500
West Vancouver, BC V7T1A2
604.921.5993 Ext. 114
press@eyeball.com
All names and trademarks are copyright of their respective holders.
Posted by eyeball - 0 comments
OctroTalk with Real Time Video Conferencing & Video Streaming -- First of its kind
OctroTalk 2.0 for Windows Mobile - this version now has real time Video Conferencing with VoIP, File Transfer, Instant Messaging and Avatar support. You can have video calls if you have OctroTalk running at both ends. OctroTalk desktop version also supports video conferencing.You can also stream live video to Web. Add 3001@switch.octro.net to your buddy list in OctroTalk, and make a video call to this buddy. Users can look at what you are streaming by going to Octro and entering the username as your JID. (Your JID is your Jabber/Gmail ID that you are using to log onto OctroTalk.
Currently the front camera support is for Samsung Blackjack, and not for HTC phones (HTC hasn't opened up their API).
Download at Octro.
To download it directly to your Pocket PC, http://ota.octro.com/ppc/octrotalk.cab
For feedback & support, support@octro.com.
Posted by OctroW - 2 comments
Digsby update is faster, lighter and more LinkedIn
A new update for Digsby has been released, with support for LinkedIn and a much-improved memory footprint. The update to the popular multi-network instant messenger and social networking tool was released today, and I'm impressed. I've been a fan of Digsby since it first came out earlier this year. My only complaint has been the memory it uses. It was -- to put it politely -- a bit of a hog. This new beta is the result of several months of code optimization, bug squashing and even a few new features, and the results are great.
To compare, I checked the memory footprint of the last version of Digsby (build 15142) and it was using 92MB of RAM. The new version of Digsby is using only 49MB of RAM -- a significant improvement. This alone is reason to upgrade, or to check it out if you haven't already.
The Digsby update also adds support for the LinkedIn social network for professionals. Of course, Digsby already supported MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.
I asked developer Steve Shapiro what was next for Digsby. "We worked hard to optimize the code on this version, making Digsby more efficient and faster. Now we're ready to focus on the Mac and Linux versions."
"We're also ready to begin adding more features, including support for more social networks and group chat," said Shapiro.
There's still no public dates on when we'll see versions for the Mac or Linux, but for Windows users, Digsby is a fantastic product. It's free, with no advertisements, and great connectivity.
The update for this version requires you download from the Digsby site. This is because the update size is bigger than the installer, and there are bugs with the previously released updater component that would cause it to fail.
Check out Digsby:
- Official announcement from the Digsby blog
- Official Digsby website
- Direct download link (15.2 MB; Windows only)
Posted by Jeff - 1 comments
Yahoo Launches oneConnect (and free SMS) for iPhone
Yahoo! today launched a new, free application for iPhone and iPod Touch users called oneConnect. oneConnect has a rather ambiguous name which makes sense once you understand it's purpose. oneConnect attempts to give you one application to connect to all your various social networks. Of course, it connects you with all your contacts in your Yahoo! Messenger friends (which can include Windows Live Messenger users), but oneConnect also connects you to your contacts on many of the most popular social networks. Which networks? How about Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Youtube, Bebo, Dopplr, Friendster and Twitter, for starters?
There are a number of interesting features in oneConnect. First of all, the contacts button shows a complete list of all your contacts, regardless of which network they belong to. Your Yahoo! Messenger friends, Twitter contacts and Facebook buddies all show up in one big list. The general idea is that this will make it easier for you to stay in touch, since you can use "one app to rule them all."
oneConnect screenshots
You can see the latest photos from your Flickr contacts, or Twitter updates from that network, and so on. But probably one of the most intriguing features is also the least obvious -- free SMS (that's text messaging, for the acronym-impaired). This is significant because here in the U.S., AT&T does not include text messaging with the new iPhone 3G phones -- you have to pay extra for a text plan, or pay-as-you-go (I call it "pay-through-the-nose").
The SMS feature lets you use Yahoo Messenger to send and receive text messages to any contact in your list using a cell phone with a U.S. number. Sorry rest of the world, this one's just for U.S.
I'm interested in trying this app, since I 1) have an iPhone, 2) have a Yahoo! Messenger account, 3) use Flickr and Twitter regularly. The other networks aren't really so important to me, but I'll give it a try and report back shortly. Meanwhile, iPhone users can get oneConnect now from the iTunes store.
Link to oneConnect (launches iTunes App Store)
Posted by Jeff - 4 comments
SweetIM for ICQ - beta testers needed
We've got some good news, and some even better news:Due to the great success and popularity of SweetIM among MSN, Yahoo, and AIM Messengers users (millions of active users), we've decided that it’s simply wrong to leave so many ppl out there in the world without our cool content just because they are using a different IM!
So the good news is that we’ve decided to develop SweetIM for ICQ as well!
The even better news is that it’s almost ready, which means our Smileys, tZers, Winks, Sounds, Videos, Nudges, and the rest of our cool content will be available for ICQ users soon!
We’re currently looking for ICQ users to participate in our Beta tests.
Feel free to register for it by sending an email to info@sweetim.com with the subject “ICQ BETA tester” and with your ICQ number.
Posted by sweetim - 0 comments
Second Life launches SLim instant messaging
The big differentiator is that SLim also provides voice chat.
Unfortunately for us, it appears that neither ThereIM or SLim will permit cross-network chat with other IM systems such as AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo! or Windows Live Messenger.
What's with all the recent announcements about virtual worlds? Most of this came about as a result of the second annual Virtual Worlds Expo held in Los Angeles last week.
Source: Mashable
Posted by Jeff - 3 comments
Get more instant messaging news Got instant messaging news? Send us your story!
Home