[Geeky Guide] Digsby Widget in Sidebar

For those of you who visit or read the Geeky Guide directly at www.geeky-guide.com, you may already notice the addition of the Digsby IM widget in the sidebar. As part of my on-going testing of the Digbsy multi-platform IM client, I've decided to test this particular feature as well.

In case you want to chat with me directly and talk about anything geeky like some of the reviews I've posted, a hot technology or gadget currently in development or something else along those lines, feel free to click on the widget to check if I'm online. It's a pretty interesting feature that allows you to connect directly to my Digsby client like any other IM client without the need to add me to your actual IM contact list. Thus if you're privacy-conscious or just have one question and don't necessarily want to add me as a "friend" on whichever IM service you use, this seems like a "safer" alternative.

Then again, if you already have my on IM somewhere, you probably don't need to use this widget, LOL.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys soon!

[Software] Field-Testing Digsby

Image via Wikipedia I've been a longtime fan of the multi-platform IM client Pidgin (formerly Gaim) given it's simple interface, tabbed conversations and of course its ability to access multiple IM platforms from one location. It certainly made my chatting experience a lot easier and helped me maintain accounts on multiple platforms and thus increased accessibility to more friends and contacts regardless of their platform of choice.

The initial test seems promising thus far and I'm liking the increased focus on appearance beyond just function. Let's face it - Pidgin works but has never been known to be the prettiest IM client around. Digsby tries to answer that by offering lots of options like skins and new ways of presenting the chats themselves similar to how Google Talk handles things plus new features like the ability to move conversations out of the tabbed window and into a new window of its own.

Plus Digsby is trying to be a more central location for you to manage more of your services including email and limited social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Beyond mere notification management, you can event go as far as composing new email messages and updating Twitter / Facebook statuses and the like. Plus it also adds in Facebook IM contacts in the list, something that Pidgin has yet to add.

I'm curious as to how Digsby is able to handle audio / video chat since this is something Pidgin still does not support at this time. Once I've done a lengthy enough test, I'll post a more formal review of the current version of Digsby (which is build 15142).