digsby | kyleabaker.com

Digsby Performance Update

Digsby released a much intended performance update to the now very popular instant messaging client today.

Overall performance of the instant messenger has dramatically improved cutting CPU and Ram usage down up to by up to 75%!

There have been a number of stability fixes and general messenger improvements as well.

Major changes in this release include:
RAM Usage: We optimized from the ground up and fixed memory leaks to lower RAM usage by almost 75%. This has been the number one complaint since our launch and we are proud to introduce this massive improvement.
Performance: User interface elements draw twice as fast for better performance. We have made changes to the architecture that will improve GUI responsiveness and CPU utilization across the board.
Connectivity: Every IM protocol automatically tries multiple connection methods and ports to improve the odds of getting through restrictive firewalls and proxy servers.
LinkedIn: Digsby now supports LinkedIn in addition to the other social networks. Functionality includes a full newsfeed, alerts when new messages arrive, and the ability to set status right from Digsby.
Bug Fixes: We have fixed hundreds of bugs, making Digsby more stable than ever. There have been almost 3,000 revisions in our codebase since the last release so there are too many fixes to list in our changelog.

If you haven’t noticed the update yet and would like to update Digsby now then the easiest way is to close Digsby and reopen it. Upon reopening, Digsby will search for updates and apply them automatically. 😀

If you noticed major improvements and didn’t know why, then now you know! 😉

UPDATE:

Apparently the update is only automatically pushed to people using the test builds. All others will need to manually download and install the update. Thanks Jeffrey for clarifying that in the comments.

Just to clarify: digsby will automatically update for those users who were on the test builds. Everyone else must actually download and reinstall to get the latest version. The easiest way to find out is by checking your Digsby version by going to “About -> Digsby”. If the build is 15142 or lower then you must download and reinstall manually.

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How-To: Digsby+Wine

How-To: Digsby+Wine

After getting back into the Digsby scene again I decided it was time to get Digsby running in Ubuntu. I grabbed the latest installer and was well on my way.

I’ll just break down the steps so you can follow along. Depending on the distro that you are using, these steps may vary.

Install the newest version of Wine that you can (in my case I just went with Wine 1.0).
Open up a terminal window and enter the following lines (one at a time 😛 ):
wget http://kegel.com/wine/winetricks
sh winetricks corefonts dotnet20 gdiplus
As a safety measure (it may not make a difference at all) I opened the “Configure Wine” application and set the default settings Windows Version to “Windows 2000”. This has seemed to help make applications work in Wine in the past.
Now download Digsby. I used the latest version which was for testers and should be released very soon. So for now just grab your installation from here.
Install Digsby. In most distros of Linux you can just right click on the install file and click Open with “Wine Windows Program Loader”. Follow the steps through the installation and launch Digsby. Everything should be working now!

Basically all you had to do was install the .NET 2.0 framework and gdiplus. I’m not positive on corefonts, but they will only improve compatibility.

Everything seems to be working great! I notice some odd behavior here and there, but the application itself is working great! The only thing that is a bit annoying is that Facebook will occasionally disconnect, but it immediately reconnects. 😀

Twitter’s down yet again: Twitter is over capacity.

For all of you Twitter fans out there, I’m sad yet not surprised, to tell you that Twitter is down yet again.

As if it isn’t bad enough that Twitter has been the target of much critism lately due to their poor site stability, they are down again!

Twitter went down tonight at approximately 1:00 AM EST without warning. I personally am not a major fan of Twitter, mainly due to the fact that it is down a large percentage of the time when I would use it lately.

Thanks to Digsby, I was able to see exactly when my Twitter connection was lost and am able to tell you about the poor uptime that Twitter offered us tonight.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to find an alternative!

UPDATE: Twitter is now back online. My last check was at 1:40 AM EST.

Zenbe: Everything you need in your email!

Zenbe is an exciting new e-mail service! Zenbe makes an effort to push the limits of email as we know it today.

Zenbe’s goal is to pull web services that we use everyday into one easily accessible window. If you’ve every used Digsby (an instant messaging client that I blogged about earlier) then you’ll love using Zenbe.

Zenbe can pull all of your other email accounts into one, allowing you to check them all from Zenbe instead of logging into each email service individually.

Zenbe sports a side panel that you can show or hide any time you want, which features an Agenda or Calendar tab, Address book tab, To-do list tab and a Facebook tab! The Facebook tab gives you a quick overview of what’s happening with all of your friends!

ZenPages allow you to easily share calendars, task lists, files, even email, with whomever you like…whether they use Zenbe or not. They’re also customizable, allowing you to add a map, a slideshow, a video, an RSS feed, nearly any kind of embeddable widget.

Zenbe also includes a tab at the top of the page that contains all of the files that have been emailed to you for a quick overview and makes searching for attachments a piece of cake! You can also upload files to this section to email to others or just save for later use!

Zenbe is current in the popular web 2.0 private beta stage, but you can request an invitation from the homepage! If you jumped on the Gmail bandwagon when Gmail was new then you’ll enjoy testing Zenbe and seeing the cool new features that Zenbe has to offer! Take the tour and see what you think!

Trillian Astra Build 78 and Digsby Build 28 in CrossOver 6.2

I recently tried to install Trillian Astra in Ubuntu using Wine 0.9.61 with no luck. I ran into several errors and am still working on straightening them out, but I think this could take quiet a bit of time.

After googling for some clues and solutions, I came across a program called CrossOver and decided to give it a trial run. The test cases were Trillian Astra Build 78 and Digsby Build 28. I’ll go a bit into detail on the whole experiment with both test cases and let you know what does and doesn’t work.

Trillian Astra Build 78:
I’ve been wanting to get Trillian Astra running on my Linux box for a while now (since I was invited to alpha test with them), but have had little to no luck. The issues seem to almost always be related to the rendering of the application more than the functionality of it.

Please don’t ask me to send you the installer, for a link to the installer, or for a crack. If you want to use Trillian Astra then you can get in line like the rest of us have done to alpha test or you can wait for the public beta and final releases 😛

I started by downloading the latest version of Trillian Astra and right clicked the installer file and selected the option to ‘Open with “run with CrossOver”‘ (I know that sounds weird, but that’s what the menu option says, lol). During the installation process, I noticed that the graphics and overall rendering of the installer were a bit slow and delayed. Everything rendered in the installer, but you could see images load almost like watching an image load on a web page.

I was able to move through the installation steps with errors. Everything seemed to run fine with the installer, however, the installer is the type that is used by several different software developers who just bundle their software with this type of installer. So basically, the installer probably gets used more and therefore debugged more in order to run smoothly than individual applications that are installed with the installer program.

After the installation, Trillian Astra launched the log-in window. First off, the graphics were a bit off and rendering was a bit ugly, but it did work fine. I was able to enter my credentials and successfully log-in to the Astra service.

I think the over-all rendering was better when I tried this with Wine as I mentioned earlier. This window just looks terrible in it’s current state!

Now that I’ve successfully signed into the Astra service, Trillian went a head and grabbed my contact list and loaded the list into the messenger. This was all good and great, but the window turned out to be in a frozen state. I was unable to move the window, select any elements on the window, etc. It was basically a part of my background image.

After spending a few minutes trying to do something with Trillian Astra, I gave up and closed the application. I feel like, even though there are more elements that are visible on the contact window in CrossOver than there are in Wine, that it will be easier to debug and fix this application in Wine. It just seems like Wine was at least a little helpful with the errors it returned.

That’s as far as I could get with Trillian Astra in CrossOver. If you can get further and have any suggestions then please post them in the comments!

Digsby Build 28:
This was a rather disappointing installation. I opened the Digsby installation file with CrossOver and moved through the installation process with ease, except for a simple error message that warned about the python.dll library or something. I clicked “OK” and the installation continued and finished successfully.

Successfully completing an installation, however, doesn’t guarantee anything will work in Linux. 😛 After the installation I attempted to launch the Digsby application, but I was prompted with two different error prompts that were familiar.

Both of these errors were back to back and Digsby did not load at all. This was a mission failed sign. If you get past these error messages and at least get the log-in window then please post your steps in the comments and versions of applications used!

I immediately wanted to remove the application since it appeared that there was no hope, so I found the “Windows Applications” menu that CrossOver made for me and navigated to the uninstall menu item in the Digsby folder. I was impressed that the uninstaller seemed to work flawlessly and even opened a web page in my already open Opera browser upon completion. The page that was opened was the typical uninstall survey web page.

Conclusions:
CrossOver is developed pretty well, however, the applications that you come across and want to install have to be very popular applications, apparently, to work properly. Trillian was much closer to working in CrossOver 6.2.x than Digsby, but neither messenger was in a state worth suggesting to a friend to try.

For now, I’m unfortunately forced to stick with a messenger that is decent, but has never been cutting edge at anything. That messenger is of course Pidgin. Pidgin really isn’t a terrible messenger at all, but when you compare it to the messengers that are available for Windows and do a feature comparison…well, it’s just sad to say the least.

digsby: IM, Email and Social Networks all in one!

I recently came across a new application called digsby which is basically the Instant Messenger that everyone wants! It’s free! At the moment it is still a private beta product, invite only. However, I have some ways that you can go ahead an get it now!

Source: http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9871784-2.html
If you would like to try out the multisystem instant-messaging and social-networking client Digsby before it’s released to the general public, we can help you out. Go ahead and download the application here. Once you do, use the code CNET to unlock it. There are several thousand invitations reserved.

Basically, go to digsby.com and download the the application. During installation you’ll be prompted to create a new account and also enter an invitation code. After googling for a bit I came across three codes that you can use:

CNET
techmalaya
techzilo

After installation you can add all of your Instant Messenger accounts and chat with all of your friends from one account. You can also add all of your email accounts and keep an eye out for new mail. On top of that you can also add you Facebook and MySpace accounts and keep another eye out for messages and news from those services! It’s great! Give it a try and let me know what you think! You should also let them know what you think if you get a chance. Tell all your friends!

Screenshots: http://www.digsby.com/screenshots.php

UPDATE:
The invitation codes are no longer needed! Digsby is now open to the general public, so just go to digsby.com and download this awesome application for free!