messenger

Fresh off her appearance on MSNBC, Caroline McCarthy replaces Justin today to talk Net neutrality, iPhone users getting laid more than Android owners, Fallout New Vegas, and a Web-surfing contest.

There have been a lot of misconceptions and misstatements about Net neutrality. Usually on The 404, we strive never to talk about real issues, but the Net neutrality debate has really stirred up the emotions with Jeff, Wilson and Justin. Caroline helps explains some of the issue from her appearance on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" on MSNBC, and if it means a lot to you, be sure to check out Wilson's rant yesterday about the issue.

But ultimately, there are several competing interests involved, and we just want make sure that the next Google or Facebook that comes down the road won't have to pay to get priority access. The stakes are high here, people! Everything will be delivered over the Internet in the coming years, from books, to newspapers, magazines, blogs, social networks, video channels, radio, music, etc.

Rant over. Moving on.… Read more

Instant messaging may be a fun, convenient way to communicate, but how well these chat apps are structured is serious business. Luckily, Yahoo for Android possesses most of the ingredients necessary to make a great IM experience.

It's visually lush, not to mention easy to navigate, to update a status message, and to add new contacts. Crucially, there are also multiple ways to launch a conversation, and the app offers a combination of audio alerts and visual cues to help manage simultaneous chat conversations.

In addition to basic chatting, Yahoo has made sure to include favorite Yahoo features like … Read more

Android users who want to to keep tabs on their Yahoo mail and learn more about their favorite movies should welcome the addition of a couple of new apps to the growing mobile marketplace.

Yahoo announced Thursday the launch of Android apps for its Mail and Messenger programs topped off by a new mobile-search widget. Available free at the Android Market, the new apps support Android 2.0 or higher and are optimized for the Motorola Droid, HTC Incredible, and Google Nexus One, according to Yahoo.

The Yahoo Mail app offers a variety of enhancements optimized for Android, said Yahoo. … Read more

Today in tech news, Hulu launches its subscription service and we're thinking about going over the top (maybe next year). Also, FarmVille is apparently so prevalent that it forced a Firefox update ... or, put another way, Firefox gets a little bit broken so that FarmVille people can be happy. Sheesh. Steve Jobs sends more email, Kindle for Android arrives, and we fight for a while about Froyo.

Buzz Out Loud: the podcast that carries you through your formative years and even into college. We've got a great email about it, in fact. Also, we were totally right about the e-book price war--Kindle is now down to $189. Also, Apple will now collect your precise geographic information and share it with its partners. You can't opt out or anything, but hey, at least they let you know. Also: a Molly rant. Like, a real one. It's at the end. Enjoy!

It's taken Microsoft a long time to produce an IM app for the iPhone. Now it has, hours before Apple released the fourth version of its iPhone operating system, we might add.

Windows Live Messenger for iPhone has many of the features we'd expect to see in an IM app, plus other social networking and e-mail extras. One screen is devoted to Windows Live, for example, offering space to update your status, follow friends in your network, and change your profile picture. A small button also take you into your e-mail in-box.

In the chewy center of the … Read more

If it isn't enough to chat with friends from Google, MySpace IM, Skype, and Facebook, as well as AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, and IRC on Trillian't multinetwork IM app, you can comfortably count the app's deep hooks into Twitter and Facebook alerts and checking e-mail (both POP3 and IMAP varieties) as reasons for switching from your current messenger.

Among its best social networking traits, Trillian will automatically shorten URLs in your tweets, and handle direct messages, re-tweets, and replies. Twitter Trends can show up in your contact list, and you can get tweets to appear in tooltip … Read more

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is giving a sneak peek at the next version of Microsoft's instant messaging program.

The new Windows Live Messenger will add a number of features, including tabbed conversations, the ability to do video chats in HD quality, share Web sites, search results and other content types, as well as pulling in updates from other social networks.

"The new Messenger will provide a great way to have more meaningful conversations with the people you care about most while also bringing together your social networks and sharing updates, cutting through the clutter, and staying up to … Read more