AirTalkr is another multiple IM client application immediately available in its beta version for Windows, Linux , Mac OSX as well as on Web-based version.

IM supported protocols are MSN, ICQ, GTalk, Yahoo and AIM but AirTalkr also connects you to your YouTube and Flickr accounts. In addition, AirTalkr creator Hu Shunjie comes with an interesting concept called "AirCards". AirCards are profiling cards where you can add of your buddies information such their Twitter and blog updates, their photos on Flickr as well as their profiles on MySpace and Friendster.

AirTalkr is a very light application but requires the installation of Abobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) which enables developers to use Flash, Flex, Ajax and HTML to create rich interface applications.

 

The AirTalkr version is still beta and some bugs have been reported but I personaly like this very smooth application and really looking to see what will come next (Skype, more social networking plateforms supported, etc..)

It definitively worth a try. Did I mention that AirTalkr is free and totally Ads-Free (Thanks Hu!). 

Download AirTalkr here and Abobe AIR here.

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Whisher, a Spanish start-up, backed by Switzerland’s leading phone company, Swisscom, and the venture firm Benchmark Capital Europe is apparently very active for few month now. The principle of Whisher is that Wireless Access to the Internet should be free and accessible from everywhere which is basically the same concept than FON Movimiento, except that you don't need to purchase any specific hardware.

Whisher' users are requested to download an application through which they can share their wireless access (works also with WEP or WPA connections) with other Whisher members 

The newly released version 2.0 beta of the software offers more than just storing and encrypting connections' passwords such:

• Wireless connection manager
• WiFi sharing
• Chat with other users connected on the same wireless access point.
• Multi Instant Messenger support (Yahoo, MSN, AIM, ICQ, GoogleTalk, Twitter, Jabber)
• File Transfer (with users sharing the same wireless AP)
• LAN Support
• GeoLocation
• Other Networks connections (access via commercial access; hotspot, etc..). FON is supported too.
• Around You. Gives you informations about coming events, restaurants around the wireless connection you are currently using.

New services that should be available soon :

• Voice Support
• Global File Sharing 

Plateform supported : Windows XP, Linux, Mac O/S. Vista not available yet.

The software is still beta and some stability and registation problems have been reported. More information on their Blog

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Mashable has established a +90 list of most Instant Messaging (IM) tools available with respectively

• 30 single IM system clients
• 15 Multi-Networks applications
• 20 Web-based solutions (ideal to bypass corporate firewall ?)
• 15 IM solutions for mobile terminal running on Symbian, Windows Mobile and even iPhone.

Despite of a large quantity of different software to be used on most common IM network, it is interesting to notice that most multi-network solutions provide access to most popular IM networks (Yahoo, MSN, GoogleTalk, ICQ) but only very few have added Skype in their supported network list.

In resume difficult to sort out 2 or 3 solutions which would make a real difference with others. For my own use, I would narrow my final selection on some of the following ones:

• Multi-Network: Pidgin, Trilian
• Web-Based : eBuddy (w/mobile support), Meebo
• Mobile : Fring, Agile

Tags: 2007, access, agile, blog, ces, ebuddy, fring, google, ia, icq, im, instant messenger, iphone, lan, list, meebo, mobile, Mobile Communications, msn, network, nomadcom.net, phone, pidgin, resume, skype, space, symbian, Telecommunications, term, trilian, web, windows, WM5, WM6, wp, www, yahoo