Tag - iPhone

The iPhone's large high resolution touch screen interface has made it very popular for web applications to take advantage of. Google have continued this trend by today releasing Google Talk for the iPhone and iPod Touch:



The success of the iPhone has meant many popular web services now have specific pages and functions designed for it, including the most popular web messengers.

>> Source: The Google Talk development blog
>> View Google Talk for the iPhone

Technology has been changing in recent years, we are moving away from using applications on our desktops and we are trying to use services when they are convenient to us. RSS updates on our mobile phones, social networking websites working on our palm tops, using the Internet on my gaming console; you get the idea.

All this may seem good but I'm not really into it. I don't check my email on my Nintendo Wii, I don't use Facebook/ MySpace on my mobile phone, nor do I use web messengers designed to be more portable. Well the iPhone has changed this. The screen is large enough to provide a good user experience, just look at the video made by Vincent Manuhuwa using eBuddy below:



You can clearly see using eBuddy is quick, clean and easy to use. Although Trillian Astra for the iPhone may have the charm of a flashy design, I could see myself using eBuddy wherever I am.

>> Visit eBuddy
>> View the andyman's thread on eBuddy for mobile
>> Source: eBuddy blog

There have been several news stories this month which I have felt either didn't need a whole post to themselves or that I haven't had time to write about. There were also several things that I missed while I was away on my holiday and thought I couldn't write about in detail so long after they were first announced. So here is a brief round-up of the news that "got away" this month:

• The eBuddy multi-network web messenger beta has been updated twice in July. Read the improvements of the July 6th update, which include connection and performance improvements and lots of bugfixes, and the changes in the most recent July 19th update, which include the abilities to upload your own display picture and to receive custom emoticons from Windows Live Messenger users.
  
  
• In other eBuddy news, the eBuddy Mobile Messenger beta has now been downloaded over 100,000 times - helped partly, I would like to think, by my tutorial and review of it.
  
  
• Also, for any "lucky" iPhone owners out there eBuddy have released a special version of their web messenger for you to use, offering a convenient and attractive messaging solution for the device. After managing to get hold of one in the US to ship over to their offices in the Netherlands, the eBuddy team started making a modified version for it straight away and ended up with one of the most advanced, AJAX powered, web-based, multi-network chat clients currently available for the iPhone. It is currently an alpha version (so expect more updates and changes in time) and allows you to use your iPhone to connect to your Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and AIM accounts. If you have an iPhone just browse to eBuddy.com and it will automatically take you to the sign-in page for the iPhone version. Find out more and see a screenshot here.
  
  
• Messenger Air Live 2 has been released! Download it here or find out more about the features it offers, including custom alerts, contact cloner, toast flood protection and display picture slideshow.
  
  
• The Messenger content provider Kiwee (which has been offering all of its content for free on its Canadian site for a while now) has relaunched at kiwee.com. At the new address they are offering backgrounds, emoticons, winks and display pictures for free (to any one who creates a free account), as well as 'postCards' to use on social networking sites such as MySpace. They actually seem to be moving away from Messenger content and focusing more on things like these 'postCards' and therefore haven't moved all off the content from their old site over to the new one, but luckily for you their old site is still available and the Canadian one is still free.
  
  
• The official XBOX 360 Messenger Kit has been designed to make it easier to type messages when using the Windows Live Messenger integration on your XBOX 360 and is due to go on sale in the US in early September for about $30.
  
  
• The latest version of Adium, a Messenger client for Macs, has been released. View the changelog for version 1.0.5 or download the latest release now.
  
  
• To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the emoticon Yahoo! Messenger conducted a survey of 40,000 of their users to find out how they use emoticons. See the results at the official Yahoo! Messenger Blog.
  
  
• Although we're now celebrating the birthdays of Windows Live Messenger, some people are still nostalgic and marking the 8th birthday of MSN Messenger which was on July 22nd.

The Apple iPhone has dominated the media over the past couple of weeks, and it even seems to have wormed its way into the world of Messenger (despite it being a Microsoft product designed for Windows). The device is sure to change how those bulky, bloated palmtops are designed but that doesn't stop people getting into the inner working of the phone.

Although web messengers such as Meebo have added temporary support for the iPhone (by adding a submit button, rather than relying on a key press), there is one web messenger that is providing full support and is designed specifically for the iPhone.

Trillian Astra, the highly awaited new IM client, will provide an iPhone web messenger. It has been designed to look like other applications on the iPhone. Unfortunately you cannot get your hands on it yet, but it is suspected that alpha testers will receive a build this week.

It just shows how web messengers are evolving, and becoming much more portable. Just a couple of years ago they were rare, difficult to use and lacked in features. Now they have been seriously popular and huge money making scripts.

>> View screenshots of Trillian Astra for the iPhone in action
>> Learn more about Trillian Astra
>> Source: Cerulean Studios' Blog