I think the instant messaging applications are starting to get big again, or perhaps it is just because I am starting to use instant messaging apps more frequently. Either way, there are quite a few of them out there so it is always important to be a little different than the others. How much more different can you be messaging a friend? Two words: Goober Networks.

Goober is an instant messenger developed by a team of Germans based in Delaware that’s going up against the big guys (Skype, MSN, ICQ, etc.) with a desktop client that overflows with features. Available for Mac, Linux, Windows, and cell phones, you can practically use Goober anywhere. In addition, like many of the instant messaging apps, Goober incorporates their network, MSN, ICQ, and Jabber. Interestingly, AIM is not part of the protocol group. 

The application comes equipped with voIP, so making and receiving calls is a nice addition. Users can also send text messages, and MP3s. Unfortunately, video is not yet included but I am sure that will be added in the future. Still, it seems like your normal application, right? Look a little closer and you’ll find that Goober differentiates itself primarily by providing a suite of widgets that can be used to communicate through the client. 

An email widget can be placed in the signature of messages and a “portal” widget can be placed on social network profiles and other webpages. This is rather cool because instead of the other person getting the application, they can instead go to your site, Facebook, or wherever else you placed the widget and chat with you. Both options present buttons for one-click instant messaging, VoIP calling, and file transferring with the user. An additional “classifieds” widget assists those trying to conduct business online who want to be reached through more synchronous means than email.

There is more – if you are looking to listen to a little music while you chat, so be it. Like AIM, Goober has also integrated entertainment music and video into the client. Goober scours the internet for free video channels and radio stations found on the internet and allows for the playback of them at the bottom of the client. I love this feature but unfortunately, the quality is subpar. 

Overall, Goober is a pretty decent IM client. Unfortunately, I won’t be a switcher quite yet. AIM is not included. However, those who regularly communicate across several protocols should check it out, especially once Goober adds AIM and Gtalk support. It is currently in beta, so many features and changes will be taking place. Fortunately, your phone and other computers won’t be left out to collect dust with their multi-platform upgrade system. Speaking of phones, if you own an iPhone, I was told that there are more great features coming soon in conjunction with the iPhone so stay tuned. I do application reviews at iPhone Matters so be on the lookout when this feature is released.

I have tried a large number of social networking tools, and have remained unimpressed. Twitter’s desktop tools fail to astonish me, and selections for other tools are even more sparse. I have also tried a number of combined IM clients, such as Trillian, Pidgin, and Miranda, and have remained unimpressed. Although, Trillian Astra may be a whole other story. Now, I have found a new tool, called Digsby, and this one has impressed me.

So what is Digsby? Disgby is a instant messenger client that not only combines all other messenger clients into one (except a few), but also combines social networking, email, and the new Facebook chat. Currently, there is no combined email monitoring/social network monitoring tool apart from Digsby, but that will likely change soon. Most combined clients focus on the IM system, allowing one tool to connect to multiple networks. This is nice, because then you can view all your friends and such in one location.

Instead of segregating each service to its own area, like the other tools do, Digsby mixes them together, removing barriers. You can still tell who is on what network, by a symbol added to their picture, but they are all listed in one large contact group. You can easily start chats with people on multiple networks by double clicking their name, no need to change windows or panes. Furthermore, if your friend is on multiple networks, you can combine all their contacts into one. Clicking that will allow you to start messaging them on whatever networks of which they are online.

One thing that one client does (AIM) that is quite nice is that it pops up messages when you get a new message, and has an input box on those messages so you can reply to the message. Digsby does this as well, but for every network. In addition to IM, these popups work for social networks and email, so you can catch that message as it hits your inbox. Very cool. However, sometimes they can be annoying. When you have all the networks, email monitoring, and Facebook, the popups can be constant and fill your screen with updates. This can easily be changed though.

Many people have Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc accounts. Updating these can be a chore, usually involving cellphones or browsers. Digsby integrates with many of these, allowing you to update your status, see your friends’ status, and much more. This is one of the nicer features, and allows for quick status updates, so you can let your friends know exactly what you are doing. Something I really enjoy about Digsby is its email integration. AIM, Google Talk, and Yahoo Im offer alerts for when you get new emails, but unless you see the alert when you get it, you miss information about it. Digsby shows similar alerts with its popup, but also allows you to view the summaries of your unread messages, and perform various quick actions on them.

Digsby is also nice enough to include widgets, so if you have a website of Facbook account, you can install that widget to your pages, and people can come and chat with you, without having to use Digsby. The chat client is flash based, so it is speedy and easy to embed, as well as offering several color choices and customization options. If someone you do not wish to talk to starts annoying you, you can block their IP address. Simple as that!

Digsby is currently in open beta, and they are doing a phenomenal job. They are constantly pushing updates to make Digsby even more compelling. The latest update includes Facebook Chat and other fixes. Overall, Digsby is great, and some of the other multi-network messengers should take note. Trillian Astra has been in private beta for years and I am begging to think it will never be released, but when it does, Digsby may have something to fight for, but until then, look no further than Digsby.

As the battle continues against the ultimate online backup solutions, HP has stepped forth with its service called HP Upline. It is a decent backup product at a good price point, but it has a few frustrating limitations.

The software is simple to get started with and the paid plans provide unlimited storage for your documents, photos, music, and video files. The system checks for new files by default every 15 minutes, and uploads your data to the HP servers in a quiet background process. There is a free version that gives you 1GB of online storage for a year, but if you are serious about backup (like me); you will want one of the paid versions. The least expensive “Home plan” ($59.00/year) gives you the unlimited storage and allows up to three PCs. Family plans and small office plans give you individual storage bins, and the business plans also give you an administrator’s dashboard.

Something I really like is that the product allows for web-based access to your backed-up files, which is very useful if you want a file and not by your computer. You can also share files via e-mail or the publish files for public access. Upline can also back up files to a local device, such as a second hard drive, a server, or a PC on the local network. This is a cool feature and I do not think there is a service out that that does both, local and remote storage options, but I could be wrong.

Now there are some cons to this service. Firstly, if you want to back up your emails, you will not be able to. Not yet, anyway. Secondly, this service is focusing on backing up only and not restoring your system, so if you happen to crash your hard drive, you cannot use Upline to restore the system. Although I think this is a feature that is likely to come in the future. Thirdly, the application does not offer PC-to-PC sync. I feel this is a very important feature, and I would suggest looking at a few of my favorites, FolderShare, BeInSync, and SugarSync.

Lastly, HP Upline is not compatible with Mac. I think it is important to offer for both platforms, especially today, since there seems to be a mixed variety of Mac and PC users. Regardless, HP Upline is a great, promising service and in the onward battle of backup solutions, it is also important to keep a nice price point and at $59/year for unlimited backup, I think they have secured themselves in the battle.

CEO of Gizmoz, Eyal Gever, has done quite well with impressing the online community with this 3D avatar site.  In the current social networking craze, Gizmoz offers an interesting way to spice up your current Myspace or other SN site and it seems numerous online surfers are searching for more to make their page unique.  You can view Eyal Gever’s (Gizmo CEO) Myspace page here.  If you are one of these users, chances are you’ve delved into the glitter comments, funny pictures or YouTube videos but all of these can be accessed and used by others.   If something truly exclusive is what you search for, then Gizmoz is a good option for you.

Gizmoz offers a variety of options for your 2D headshot such as 3D stickers, videos, pre-recorded or personally recorded audio with many options to customize.   Contrary to many current beliefs, Gizmoz has competitors that offer the same type of service.  Fix8, noted by VentureBeat, is similar and has raised a few million by supporters.   This is slightly behind Gizmoz.  TechCrunch reported that Gizmoz has ‘risen $6.5M in Series B financing from a round led by DoCoMo Capital, a subsidiary of the largest cell phone operator in Japan.’  Gizmoz’s funding totals in upwards of 12.8 million dollars which is a significant chunk of change considering the premise of the site.

Mashable reported back in May 2007 that Gizmoz released a second, updated Beta offering a more sturdy application.  Now in 2008, Gizmoz is progressing steadily and is gaining momentum among critics.  Following the TechCrunch 2007 Conference, Gizmoz approval rating was an average of 4.3, rating best on “idea” and “execution”.  Only six people took the poll but I guess that’s better than zero.  Compete offers site analytics for Gizmoz.com and it seems the site was doing its best between June and July 2007.  Since July 2007, the site has been on a slow decline in visitors, yet still placing in the 40K range. 

Gizmoz has also partnered with AOL’s instant messaging service AIM called Gizmoz Expressions .  Other IM services are compatible as well.  As an AIM user myself, it is nice to see something other than little smiley faces.  The AIM WeeMee is a pretty cool service but does not compete with the current ability of using your own picture.   Except many people may be hesitant to use their own picture, especially if they use AIM at work as I do.   

Crunchbase points out that, “Gizmoz also has several celebrity avatars that can say recorded phrases.”  I think that once Gizmoz gets rolling out of Beta – there will be several creative individuals cranking out JibJab/SmashMash type videos using these excellent 3D celebrity avatars.   Gizmoz has a great idea and I think many people have found it to be a quality application.  I do hope they add more options to use the avatars for such as less flashy skins and more hair styles.  Also, I would like to see a bit more clarity in the facial movement.  Overall, I think Gizmoz has a chance to be very successful.

This YouTube video shows a Gizmoz head making demonstration.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=-6iPP6T2xak[/youtube]

 Photoshop Plug-in FaceShop

Have you ever secretly wanted to be a comic hero?  Many of us grew up on reading the famous comics such as Peanuts, Dilbert & Calvin and Hobbes.  You can see these plus many more on comics.com if you are up for a flashback to your child or maybe young adulthood.  You can also subscribe to Marvel Digital Comics, however, money calls for true and crazy fans.  If you Google for comics – it is overwhelming how many suggested links you will get to people’s comic creations.

Yet, many of us are quirky, witty and creative.  There is a comic hero that lies deep inside most of us that is just waiting to be developed.  Maybe it’s our humanly self-righteousness that makes us prefer to tout our own work before others.  Whatever it is, we want to make people laugh, we want tools that help us waste our time and we want to star in our own comic for once!

Recently released Bitstrip, an online comic showcase, seems to be taking quite a center stage amongst users.  It contains a nice application for building characters, as you can see the one I created below.  It doesn’t look like me at all so the app isn’t exact but that’s ok.

Bitstrip is designed with the social networker in mind.  The main page features cool characters, top strips, recently discussed strips and allows you to make friends and build your own comic community.  Mashable recently talked about seeing the Bitstrip group at SXSW – check it out. 

I started searching for other comic making sites and there are several others that are equally as awesome.  The first one I clicked on, Toonlet, had their entire beginning overview and instructions in a comic and I found myself reading the whole darn thing.  It was addicting and fun.  And, yes, I am going to start making some comics – why not?  Toonlet is currently in beta form and offers several options to make your characters unique.

This is YeahMan – I made him on Toonlet.

Pixton is another interesting comic site that is relatively interesting.  Many of the comics that I have read on the site so far have been funny.  I prefer a bit more flexibility when choosing characters because sometimes the comics tend to look similar at first glance.  Pixton appeals to many individuals because if you can’t draw anything but stick figures, this is the best way to transfer your paper sketches into electronic copies.

Comiq is one site that I found to be very cool.  The site revealed itself as a way to use ‘comics as a communication tool.’  I think this can be beneficial to bloggers when trying to verbally illustrate a tool, site or application.  Comiq allows you to take any photo and add words to better describe or tell your point.  I often use Picnik for this, which I still love and just released a completely free version, but Comiq focuses strictly on this tool and does a good job.

Basically, this comic world is really gaining momentum.  I never read comics and I enjoy these sites.  With as many unearthly creative artists in this world, I don’t think we’ve truly seen anything yet.  I look forward to seeing what users create on these various sites and I think there are many hours of laughter to come as well.

If you are a comic book fan, this is an excellent YouTube video

‘Heroes? Countdown? The WORST of 2007 in Comics “

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=JkY834hg2o4[/youtube]

Marvel Comics multicolor polyester ties

  Amazing Spider Man Complete Comic Book Collection