I think the poster is asking what makes a good IM client, not which IM client we happen to prefer. Related questions to be sure, but not the same.
Contrary to folk wisdom, IM clients can be specialized, they're not all trying to outdo each other at the same tasks. So it's important to ask yourself what you're looking for. Fun & features? Try Yahoo's 'IMvironments' (or whatever silly thing it's called), sharing pictures? 'Hello' has some picture oriented, well-designed UI affordances in their chat client.
Personally, I look for the following things in a client:
- Simplicity (I want to think about IMs as little as possible) - Universal compatibility (I don't want to run more than 1 client, I don't want to ask my friends to get xyz client in order to talk to me) - Configurability - No ads
I haven't tried every available client, but Gaim fits the bill for me. It's small, simple, highly configurable and speaks pretty much every lingo out there. It's not strong in its file-transfer capabilities and its ability to send pictures, but those features are not as important to me.
A large part of succeeding in this space will be about technology - there are storage and bandwidth issues aplenty. But if your users need to find someone who thinks prancing around the room with their polka-dot boxers on their head is funny or artistic or... original, they'll need community. And flickr has succeeded in building a community around images, where many others have failed. It's no small feat.
I've been suffering through the terrible performace of a DLink DWL-650 card for about 6 months. It has a miserable range that gets spotty through a singele wall at 10 feet, difficult at 30 feet and unusable at 50 feet. I finally ordered Proxim's Orinoco Gold card and found out why it's a cause celebre among those in the know. Seventy feet from the base station, sitting on my deck, my new card offers a high speed, uninterrupted connection, whereas my old card used to cut out every minute or so at that same spot-- rendering any internet use impossible. The Orinoco Gold takes a licking -- perhaps lowering its throughput a bit -- but keeps on ticking, never losing the connection.
I used to think that the bad performance I experienced was a limitation of the 802.11b protocol, but I was mistaken -- it's only the implementation of the protocol on the DLink card that was terrible. I think your readers may want to know that before they plop down $$$ to dot their house with Airport stations a la Paul Butin's suggestion, they should give a quality WiFi card a shot.
I'm glad they caught this guy based on the black-box evidence.
It's important not to confuse protections agains self-incriminating testimony with protections against evidence that may implicate you.
The reason we have safeguards against compelled confessions is because they can often be false. Interrogation can greatly reduce the veracity of the obtained information. Protection against self-incrimation is actually protection against abusive interrogation, not a protection against aiding in your own conviction.
Obviously, a black box preseents no such interrogation difficulties. So if it helps convict someone, great. As long as the information is correct.
Privacy is not really an issue, either -- since a black-box is non-intrusive, until an actual accident or crime occurs.
I've had RSI -- missed a semester of college b/c of it, and I have these two simple tips to offer for the long term health of your wrists and hands:
1. Don't rest your wrists on wristpads. You should be sitting so that your forearms are level with the keyboard, perhaps a bit above it, floating so that only your fingesr are touching the keyboard.
2. Make sure that the keyboard itself is flat. Many keyboards have legs to prop them up at an angle -- don't use those, killer.
Good luck...
Hubbah
That pr0n and warez are the most popular downloads on the internet. In fact, for every download of Kazaa, there are are thousands of pr0n and warez downloads.
And that tells you why people are clamoring for DSL and cable modems. Which, in turn, raises interesting questions about the market drivers of the broadband infrastructure in the US.
"Pr0n, Warez Leading Drivers of Consumer Broadband Market"
Now *that* would be an informative Reuters headline.
Health Admin: "I'm sorry, we're squeezed for cash, so you'll only be able to see your psychiatrist once every three months... But rest assured, he'll have a Klingon interpreter standing by each and every time."
Patient: "[in Klingon]Phew..."
------ If you thought this was funny, visit Stinky Shorts just to see how mistaken you are.
I can also confirm this.
My friend in high school got abducted by aliens (during the lunch period). She was returned by gym class, but a few months later she bore an alien baby -- and it look just like Bill Clinton.
And you know what? The Weekly World News picke this up, and reported it very accurately.
Hubbah
LOS ANGELES, April 11 -- The one and a half inch piece of pink plastic, familiar to television viewers throughout the world as Michael Jackson's nose, is to host its own talk show on the Fox channel.
The star of "The Nose", set to run in May
The diminutive artificial limb, which has been known by the aliases "Holy shit, is that his nose?!" and "Oh my god, what is that thing?" is hitting the big time after starring in wildly popular television specials on Britain's ITV, as well as on ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX in the United States. The ABC broadcast alone pulled in 27 million viewers.
The new show, tentatively titled "The Nose," will provide "unprecedented, personal access to Michael's nose, in a timely, touching, personal manner, in a format that is a first for network talk shows," Fox said. Doing away with guests and talking altogether, the show will travel to a different city each week, where studio audience members will be allowed to take photographs with Jackson's nose, and in some cases, will be "invited to come up and actually poke it and squeeze it," the network said. Squeamish guests will be provided with six foot poles to use, if necessary.
"The Nose" will begin running sometime during the May television sweeps, possibly at the onset of the spring allergy season. While final arrangements are still being ironed out, as of last night Michael Jackson was said to be loosely attached to the project.
Many thousands of people use this model right now in a wide, free beta test of Counter-Strike on the Steam platform. It works nearly flawlessly over a high speed connection -- and why Steam hasn't been able to find distribution partners and implement a real subscription service is anyone's guess.
I don't think the technology's 5 years too early -- the infrastructure and technical know how is present. Perhaps the difficulty lies in changing the current business model for game distribution overnight.
Oh honey! Google me again and there's no telling what I'll do... no wait, keep googling, yeah, yeah, even find my old high school pictures. Damn, you google better than anyone I know, how did you turn THAT up?...Oh wow... I promise, I'll google you next... oooh baby, oooh your results are amazing...I think I'm gonna google...phew...
Damn, that was the *best* google I ever had. Promise.
All captured spam is sent to a giant warehouse in Arizona for processing. There, through amazing manipulation by ex-Netscape engineers, the messages are turned in AOL free demo CDs -- it takes about 15 messages to make a single one-billion-hours-free CD -- and then shipped for distribution to all 50 states and overseas. Thus, each piece of spam is repurposed and recycled. They try not lot a single go to waste, but quite obviously, they can hardly keep up.
The primary assumption of the cited article is that robots wouldn't be useful on Mars. Why is this so easily dismissed? Each of Benford's arguments about the difficulty of putting humans on Mars is a vote for trying to make it work with robots. It certainly seems easier to me, and not at all something to be dismissed out of hand.
After all, if robots can go cave hunting in Afghanistan, why can't they do the same on Mars. Sure you need some AI and some autonomous decision making, but still, it doesn't seem more difficult that getting human up there. Especially now.
The US is considering the use of 'cyber warfare' -- disabling the enemy's computer infrastructure through the use of viruses, hacks, and other methods -- in the near future. But get this, the issues being weighed are similar to those involving nuclear weapons. Do we want to set a precedent? Can we control collateral damage? Will we have to buy even more Microsoft licenses? Etc...
Voiceover: The machines will RISE this July... Screenwriters: But we're completely out of ideas! Voiceover: Please watch it on July 2nd. Ahnuld: I'm old. Screenwriters: Bigger explosions, more tits... We were on a deadline! Voiceover: Pretty please... There are more explosions... Ahnuld: I'm old and cuddly. Hear me whimper! Voiceover: At theatres everywhere.
Hey, what if there was a movie about aliens coming from the future to prevent Ahnuld from becoming the outspoken governor of California some years on? Oh, wait... this is that movie. Spoiler/Prediction: The aliens blunder by immediately ending Ahnuld's already-tepid acting career, thereby inadvertently hastening his political ascendance.
Slashdot Mirror
For those of us walking around sans trekkie-suits, it's actually quite easy.
I think the poster is asking what makes a good IM client, not which IM client we happen to prefer. Related questions to be sure, but not the same.
Contrary to folk wisdom, IM clients can be specialized, they're not all trying to outdo each other at the same tasks. So it's important to ask yourself what you're looking for. Fun & features? Try Yahoo's 'IMvironments' (or whatever silly thing it's called), sharing pictures? 'Hello' has some picture oriented, well-designed UI affordances in their chat client.
Personally, I look for the following things in a client:
- Simplicity (I want to think about IMs as little as possible)
- Universal compatibility (I don't want to run more than 1 client, I don't want to ask my friends to get xyz client in order to talk to me)
- Configurability
- No ads
I haven't tried every available client, but Gaim fits the bill for me. It's small, simple, highly configurable and speaks pretty much every lingo out there. It's not strong in its file-transfer capabilities and its ability to send pictures, but those features are not as important to me.
Plus, it's open source.
Hubbah
Why can't flickr be the flickr of video?
A large part of succeeding in this space will be about technology - there are storage and bandwidth issues aplenty. But if your users need to find someone who thinks prancing around the room with their polka-dot boxers on their head is funny or artistic or... original, they'll need community. And flickr has succeeded in building a community around images, where many others have failed. It's no small feat.
- Hubbah
who succeed in getting their own build running will learn a lot from this experience. The others will switch to Windows. - Hubbah
Hey sounds good, thanks! I'll give it a shot.
Cool. What's a reflector square, though? Thanks, Hubbah
I've been suffering through the terrible performace of a DLink DWL-650 card for about 6 months. It has a miserable range that gets spotty through a singele wall at 10 feet, difficult at 30 feet and unusable at 50 feet. I finally ordered Proxim's Orinoco Gold card and found out why it's a cause celebre among those in the know. Seventy feet from the base station, sitting on my deck, my new card offers a high speed, uninterrupted connection, whereas my old card used to cut out every minute or so at that same spot-- rendering any internet use impossible. The Orinoco Gold takes a licking -- perhaps lowering its throughput a bit -- but keeps on ticking, never losing the connection.
I used to think that the bad performance I experienced was a limitation of the 802.11b protocol, but I was mistaken -- it's only the implementation of the protocol on the DLink card that was terrible. I think your readers may want to know that before they plop down $$$ to dot their house with Airport stations a la Paul Butin's suggestion, they should give a quality WiFi card a shot.
Hubbah
I'm glad they caught this guy based on the black-box evidence.
It's important not to confuse protections agains self-incriminating testimony with protections against evidence that may implicate you.
The reason we have safeguards against compelled confessions is because they can often be false. Interrogation can greatly reduce the veracity of the obtained information. Protection against self-incrimation is actually protection against abusive interrogation, not a protection against aiding in your own conviction.
Obviously, a black box preseents no such interrogation difficulties. So if it helps convict someone, great. As long as the information is correct.
Privacy is not really an issue, either -- since a black-box is non-intrusive, until an actual accident or crime occurs.
Hubbah
I've had RSI -- missed a semester of college b/c of it, and I have these two simple tips to offer for the long term health of your wrists and hands: 1. Don't rest your wrists on wristpads. You should be sitting so that your forearms are level with the keyboard, perhaps a bit above it, floating so that only your fingesr are touching the keyboard. 2. Make sure that the keyboard itself is flat. Many keyboards have legs to prop them up at an angle -- don't use those, killer. Good luck... Hubbah
That pr0n and warez are the most popular downloads on the internet. In fact, for every download of Kazaa, there are are thousands of pr0n and warez downloads.
And that tells you why people are clamoring for DSL and cable modems. Which, in turn, raises interesting questions about the market drivers of the broadband infrastructure in the US.
"Pr0n, Warez Leading Drivers of Consumer Broadband Market"
Now *that* would be an informative Reuters headline.
Health Admin: "I'm sorry, we're squeezed for cash, so you'll only be able to see your psychiatrist once every three months... But rest assured, he'll have a Klingon interpreter standing by each and every time."
Patient: "[in Klingon]Phew..."
------
If you thought this was funny, visit Stinky Shorts just to see how mistaken you are.
I have a bit to say about the X-10 here, it's really not all it's cracked up to be:
Surveillance Losing Its Fun...
I can also confirm this. My friend in high school got abducted by aliens (during the lunch period). She was returned by gym class, but a few months later she bore an alien baby -- and it look just like Bill Clinton. And you know what? The Weekly World News picke this up, and reported it very accurately. Hubbah
Slashdot: Because who says the bs has to stop on April 1st?
Hubbah
If I wanted to read crap from people who don't know the differrence between a monitor and a PC, I would just read CNN.
Hubbah
[ from http://stinkyshorts.blogspot.com ]
LOS ANGELES, April 11 -- The one and a half inch piece of pink plastic, familiar to television viewers throughout the world as Michael Jackson's nose, is to host its own talk show on the Fox channel. The star of "The Nose", set to run in May
The diminutive artificial limb, which has been known by the aliases "Holy shit, is that his nose?!" and "Oh my god, what is that thing?" is hitting the big time after starring in wildly popular television specials on Britain's ITV, as well as on ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX in the United States. The ABC broadcast alone pulled in 27 million viewers.
The new show, tentatively titled "The Nose," will provide "unprecedented, personal access to Michael's nose, in a timely, touching, personal manner, in a format that is a first for network talk shows," Fox said. Doing away with guests and talking altogether, the show will travel to a different city each week, where studio audience members will be allowed to take photographs with Jackson's nose, and in some cases, will be "invited to come up and actually poke it and squeeze it," the network said. Squeamish guests will be provided with six foot poles to use, if necessary.
"The Nose" will begin running sometime during the May television sweeps, possibly at the onset of the spring allergy season. While final arrangements are still being ironed out, as of last night Michael Jackson was said to be loosely attached to the project.
Roger that. Got same printer -- very happy with it. I got it for $144 actually - with a rebate on buy.com :)
Hubbah
Many thousands of people use this model right now in a wide, free beta test of Counter-Strike on the Steam platform. It works nearly flawlessly over a high speed connection -- and why Steam hasn't been able to find distribution partners and implement a real subscription service is anyone's guess. I don't think the technology's 5 years too early -- the infrastructure and technical know how is present. Perhaps the difficulty lies in changing the current business model for game distribution overnight.
Oh honey! Google me again and there's no telling what I'll do... no wait, keep googling, yeah, yeah, even find my old high school pictures. Damn, you google better than anyone I know, how did you turn THAT up? ...Oh wow... I promise, I'll google you next... oooh baby, oooh your results are amazing...I think I'm gonna google...phew...
Damn, that was the *best* google I ever had. Promise.
All captured spam is sent to a giant warehouse in Arizona for processing. There, through amazing manipulation by ex-Netscape engineers, the messages are turned in AOL free demo CDs -- it takes about 15 messages to make a single one-billion-hours-free CD -- and then shipped for distribution to all 50 states and overseas. Thus, each piece of spam is repurposed and recycled. They try not lot a single go to waste, but quite obviously, they can hardly keep up.
The primary assumption of the cited article is that robots wouldn't be useful on Mars. Why is this so easily dismissed? Each of Benford's arguments about the difficulty of putting humans on Mars is a vote for trying to make it work with robots. It certainly seems easier to me, and not at all something to be dismissed out of hand. After all, if robots can go cave hunting in Afghanistan, why can't they do the same on Mars. Sure you need some AI and some autonomous decision making, but still, it doesn't seem more difficult that getting human up there. Especially now.
The US is considering the use of 'cyber warfare' -- disabling the enemy's computer infrastructure through the use of viruses, hacks, and other methods -- in the near future. But get this, the issues being weighed are similar to those involving nuclear weapons. Do we want to set a precedent? Can we control collateral damage? Will we have to buy even more Microsoft licenses? Etc...
Voiceover: The machines will RISE this July...
Screenwriters: But we're completely out of ideas!
Voiceover: Please watch it on July 2nd.
Ahnuld: I'm old.
Screenwriters: Bigger explosions, more tits... We were on a deadline!
Voiceover: Pretty please... There are more explosions...
Ahnuld: I'm old and cuddly. Hear me whimper!
Voiceover: At theatres everywhere.
Hey, what if there was a movie about aliens coming from the future to prevent Ahnuld from becoming the outspoken governor of California some years on? Oh, wait... this is that movie. Spoiler/Prediction: The aliens blunder by immediately ending Ahnuld's already-tepid acting career, thereby inadvertently hastening his political ascendance.
Ahnuld: I'm old. Vote for me.