Well, that is not quite what has happened in the real world. The webcam, sparing a select few business applications like long distance interviewing, has been degraded to a pretty much strictly social tool, becoming the tool of choice for teenage girls to talk to one another when ten feet away and long distance lovers to visit from miles apart. While some remote areas do indeed utilize webcams for doctor visits, most of its other applications have been limited to the less savory sections of the web. In short, the web cam never met its full potential.

There is, however, a quiet company that is attempting to capitalize on this social focus of webcams and utilize it for the better. They call their product line “Rounds,” and it can be applied in several different settings to add a webcam element to different parts of the web. To use the products you do, of course, have to have a webcam set up, and for optimal usage you need a microphone as well.

The main tool in their line is a simple Facebook application that allows you to do various things while sharing them with a friend. Not only can you both watch a video at the same time, but you can watch each other watch a video at the same time. The Facebook application can be found here – it is probably the least practical but most widely used option Rounds offers

The second option takes several functions that can be done using other websites and applications – like ChatRoullete and Skype – and puts them in a prettier interface. It comprises an entire social community that Rounds would like to flourish, although so far it has not done anything too incredible. It does, however, present some pretty neat things that other networks like Facebook do not, all of which center around webcam activities. The social community website can be found here.

Rounds offers two other options for utilizing webcams in new ways. The first is through a webcam connection service that operates directly through Chrome, allowing you to create contacts and have video conversations just like you might in Skype or a similar program but all through your Chrome browser as an extension. This is probably the best option the company offers – it really does seem to make a quick chat easier. The final is a gadget for the failed Google Wave project. Most people will not find it too useful, but if they are already involved in the project they may want to fiddle with it. The Chrome extension can be found here and the Wave gadget here.

The webcam may never accomplish what we hoped it would. We might as well enjoy what it can do instead.

Features

Although not a HUGE list, the features of iptux are really impressive.

• Auto-detect other iptux users.
• Create shared resources (send files).
• Password protect resources.
• Change your online information.

What I like most about iptux’ shared resources is that you can password protect your shared resources. And you can easily add/remove files to the resource management. This way you can add files to your shared management that have a password, share them, remove them, and then add files that do not have a password. A nice feature would be to enable the ability to have both password protected and open files in the same manager. That’s not there yet, but would be very handy in a company environment.

Installation

The installation is simple. Just follow these (fairly standard) steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software utility.
2. Search for “iptux” (no quotes).
3. Mark iptux for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.
5. Close your Add/Remove Software utility.

Usage

Figure 1

To start up iptux click Applications > Internet > iptux. This will fire up the main window (see Figure 1) where you will quickly see anyone who happens to be on line and also using iptux. As you can see iptux gives you the “Pals” name and ip address. An unconfigured “Pal” will only list their username. Naturally you can configure iptux to display any name you like. But first, let me show you how to send a message and set up resources.

Figure 2

To send a message double click on the Pal you want to communicate with to open up the chat window (see Figure 2). The actual chatting is fairly straightforward.  Type and click Send.

To create resources to share with users click Tools > Shared Managment. In this new window

Figure 3

(see Figure 3) you add files and/or folder to your shared resources. If you want to password protect your shared resources, click Set Password and enter your password.

To request shared resources from a Pal simply right-click the Pal in your main window and select Request Shared Resources. NOTE: When you accept a shared directory, you download the full directory. You can not traverse the directory and choose only particular files. So choose wisely when you share a directory.

Figure 4

When you request shared resources that are password protected, you will be prompted for the password even before you see the listing of files and folders. Once you reach the shared resources window (see Figure 4) you can select what you want to download and where you want to download it to.

Final thoughts

The iptux application is an ideal little tool for collaborating with fellow workers. It’s simple to use, allows you to create shared resources, and is very unobtrusive. Take advantage of this handy application to make your work life much easier.

Now there might be some light at the end of the tunnel.  Social networking giant Facebook is planning to drop support for chat on their site  for IE6 when the beta for IE9 appears next month.  This will be as part of a wider overhaul of their chat service.

They say…

Since its launchtwo years ago, Chat has grown from a small feature into one of the most widely used tools on Facebook. People around the world use it to share quick updates with people nearby and to stay in touch over long distances with friends and loved ones. And the more that people chat, the more we need to do to keep the application running smoothly.

The biggest improvements come from changes that aren’t supported on older web browsers. After evaluating the alternatives, we’ve decided to make rapid improvements and provide the best Chat experience possible, which means we will no longer support Internet Explorer 6 browsers.

This news is certain to be welcomed in all quarters, not the least by Microsoft who are forced to continue supporting the browser because so many of their corporate volume-licence customers are still using it.

Oddly, the removal of Facebook chat might help these companies upgrade to newer browsers when their employees begin to complain about not being able to access a service they use all the time.

Still though IE6 hangs on by its fingernails, avoiding death at every stage and instead just having the longest and most drawn-out demise in tech history.

If you’re still using IE6 and want to use Facebook chat you have until September 15th to get yourself a new browser.  After this time it’ll all be quiet with your friends.

The basics are always the same to write a heart or other symbols in chat, text editors and practically any place with text input on the Internet. Hold down the ALT key on the keyboard, press a number on the numeric keypad afterwards and release the ALT key again. Laptop users often need to press Fn instead for the same effect.

Special characters are available on numbers 1 to 31, here is the complete list.

1. ☺
2. ☻
3. ♥
4. ♦
5. ♣
6. ♠
7. •
8. ◘
9. ○
10. ◙
11. ♂
12. ♀
13. ♪
14. ♫
15. ☼
16. ►
17. ◄
18. ↕
19. ‼
20. ¶
21. §
22. ▬
23. ↨
24. ↑
25. ↓
26. →
27. ←
28. ∟
29. ↔
30. ▲
31. ▼

The number in front refers to the keys that need to be pressed to create the special character. Desktop users need to use the numeric keypad for this, laptop users without a numeric keypad need to locate the blue keys on their keyboard which substitute the keypad.

The easiest way to test them is to click in the address bar of the web browser, and start testing the characters in there. To write a heart symbol one would press ALT, then the 3 on the numeric pad before releasing ALT again. The character appears after the ALT key is released.

Empathy is a messenging program built upon the Telepathy protocol which is based on Gossip. With the help of Telepathy, Empathy can easily communicate with other GNOME applications, for a seamless, integrated desktop experience. Empathy supports: Multiple protocols, file transfer via XMPP and local networks, voice and video support, limited IRC support, conversation theming, sharing of location, conversation logging, and much more. In this article I will walk you through the installation and setup of Empathy.

Installation

Empathy is quite easy to install. But before you go on with the attempt at installing, you should first check your Applications > Internet directory for the Empathy entry. If it’s there, you need not bother with the installation. If it is not there, continue on with this section.

To install Empathy follow these steps:

• Fire up your package management system (Synaptic, Ubuntu Software Center, gnome-packagekit, etc).
• Search for “empathy” (No quotes).
• Select the Empathy entry and mark for installation.
• Click Apply to install.

No you will find Empathy in Applications > Internet.

Adding your first account

When Empathy is open click on Edit > Accounts to open up the accounts editor. In this window follow these steps to create a new account:

1. Click the New button.
2. Select the type of account you want to create from the drop down.
3. Click the Create button.
4. Enter the credentials for the account you want to create.
5. Click the Connect button.

Figure 1

Once you click the Connect button you will be immediately taken to the main window (see Figure 1) where your buddies (if you have any) will all show up.

Figure 2

Empathy should behave precisely as you would expect it. After you create your account(s), one of the first things you can do is edit the personal information for each account. You can change your alias as well as your account avatar for each account you have configured. To do this click on Edit > Personal Information which will open up the PI Window (see Figure 2). You can change the information for different accounts by selecting the account to change from the drop down. To change the Avatar, simply click the icon button and locate a small image to use.

Connecting to IRC rooms

You can do away with your IRC client by using Empathy. To connect to an IRC room follow these steps:

1. Click Edit > Accounts
2. Click the Add button.
3. Select IRC from the account type drop down.
4. Click the Create button.
5. Select the server from the network drop down.
6. Enter any credentials you need to enter.
7. Click Connect.
8. Close the account creation window.
9. Click on Room > Join from the main window.
10. Select IRC from the dropdown.
11. Enter the room name you want to join.
12. Click Join.

A new window will open dedicated to your IRC chat room.

Gotcha

One of the issues you might come across with Empathy is that you can only send files to buddies on Jabber, Google Talk, and People Nearby services. All other accounts are out of luck.

Final thoughts

Empathy is an outstanding chat client that can be used for multiple and various services. Give it a try and you’ll find yourself never going back to your old client.

Installation

Take a look in your Applications > Internet menu. Do you see an entry for Xchat? If not fire up the Software installation tool you use (be it Synaptic, gnome-packagekit, or Ubuntu Software Center), run a search for “xchat” (no quotes), select xchat for installation, and click Apply to install.

Once installed you should find the Xchat menu entry in the menu listed above. If, for some reason you do not find it there you can issue the command xchat to start the program.

Connecting to a server

Figure 1

For the purposes of this tutorial, I am going to instruct you how to add the irc.freenode.net server. When you fire up Xchat click on Xchat > Network List. From this new window (see Figure 1) you will need to click on the Add button. When you do this a new listing will appear, under the Networks section, as New Network. Replace that with irc.freenode.net. Once that server is added, select it and click Edit.

Figure 2

In this window (see Figure 2) you might want to add a favorite channel and, if you know you will always connect to this server, select it to Auto connect at startup. You can also add the command for joining your favorite classroom (for example /join #ubuntu-classroom. If you configure Xchat to automatically log into a server and to automatically join your favorite room (in this case #ubuntu-classroom) you can get into that classroom as soon as Xchat starts up.

That is really the only options you need bother with for now. Go ahead and close this window and go back to the main Network List window (Figure 1).

I suggest adding your nick name under the User Information section. Add a couple of choices, but we are going to now register a username on the irc.freenode.net server. By doing this you can ensure that no one on this server will be able to spoof your username.

Registering a username

Figure 3

Go back to the main Xchat window (see Figure 3) and enter the command /server irc.freenode.net. NOTE: What you are seeing in Figure 3 is a live chat. You won’t see this dialog until you are actually logged into a room.

The first thing you need to do now is to choose a nickname (username). Once you have chosen your nickname enter the command /nickname NICKNAME (Where NICKNAME is the actual nickname you want). You have temporarily changed to that nickname. Now you need to send a message to the server to register your nickname. Do this with the command /msg nickserv register PASSWORD EMAIL_ADDRESS (Where PASSWORD is the password you will use for your nickname and EMAIL_ADDRESS is the address the registration instructions will be sent to.

After a moment you should receive an email with a command like:

/msg NickServ VERIFY REGISTER NICKNAME fkibvcovlllo

Where NICKNAME is the nickname you chose and fkibvcovlllo is a random string sent to you as a registration code.

Once you have done this your nickname is registered. Anytime you log onto the server you have registered with, you will want to first send the command:

/msg NickServ identify PASSWORD

Where PASSWORD is your registered nickname. You will issue this command AFTER you have connected to your server.

Final thoughts

If you have never used an IRC chat application you will be surprised how handy they are. If you can find a good “classroom” to join (such as the #ubuntu-classroom) you will discover some outstanding resources for support.

I used to use MSN exclusively in the good old days, but now I mainly use a combination of Skype and Meebo and in some cases,� Digsby. I am not permanently signed on to any network, I do not like distractions, and I either see most of my friends every week, or email them or call them. For clients and firends abroad we also usually use email, or Skype, if any other networks come up, I use Meebo.

However, I like Digsby a lot, since it supports a lot of networks, has email and twitter built in and some nifty added extras which make it the best all round IM client out there in my opinion. Overall though I am a solitary kind of guy, especially when I’m working, so I don’t really need it a lot. Which is your favorite client, how do you use IM networks? Let us know in the comments!

The download comes with both the server and client of the chat program. All that needs to be done to establish a chat is to start the chat server and connect to it. The chat software works both in a LAN environment and on the Internet. The core chat functionality of ChatX reminds experienced users of IRC which uses a similar layout and /commands. The software does support private chats and file transfers as well.

It does not come near the functionality of a fully grown Instant Messenger client but that’s not something that the software developer is after. ChatX has been specifically designed for situations where a basic chat is needed instantly. The chat software is compatible with all editions of the Windows operating system.

Gobby was released in 2005 by the Ox539 developer group and features a client/server architecture that allows for easy remote connection between two peers. Gobby contains its own server (Sobby) so there’s no secondary installation or configuration.

Getting and Installing

As Gobby is very common, it is generally in repositories for every distribution. This makes installing Gobby simple. Open up your distributions’ Add/Remove Software application and do a search for “gobby” (no quotes). Once you find Gobby, select it and click Apply.

Once Gobby is installed you should find the executable entry in the Internet menu.

Starting a Gobby Session

When you first start Gobby you will see an empty Gobby window. From this window you can either “Create session” (become a host for a session) or “Join Session” (join a remote Gobby host).  Click on the “Create Session” button which will open up a session configuration window.

Create Session

If you don’t enter a password anyone starting up Gobby can join your session. If this is a “private” collaboration, it’s best to set up a password.

Now for those wishing to join an already running click on the Join Session button and the Join Gobby Session window will open.

Join Session

You can select your Gobby server from the list or you can enter the Host manually. Once you have entered the correct information click OK and you will join the session.

Once you have joined the session you will want to open up two extra windows: Document List and User List. The Document List window will show you all available Gobby documents available to you. If you are not the creator of a document you can click on a document and subscribe to that document. When you subcribe to a document a new tab for that document will open in your Gobby window.

Gobby Session

As you can, in the image above, Gobby does syntax highlighting. If you click on the Edit menu you will see a Syntax submenu. From that submenu you can select from any of the 65 different types of syntax highlighting.

Another nice feature of Gobby is that it includes a chat window. With a chat window you can actually communicate as you collaborate.

Gobby Chat

After you have done all of your work you have to  save  each document individually and, if you want, you can save the chat session. To save a single document just click on the tab of the document to save, go to the Session menu entry, and click Save Document. To save the chat session go to the Gobby menu entry and select Save Session.

Final Thoughts

Gobby has a number of possible applications from development collaboration to document collaboration. If you have a need for an easy to use, free collaboration software, this is what you want.

The client Coccinella takes the second path by adding new features like a whiteboard to the Instant Messenger. It can connect to any Jabber/XMPP messaging server (including MSN, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk). But first the basics. The client has all the usual standard features like client lists, group chat, file transfers, avatars, emoticons and secure connections.

Besides that Coccinella supports Voice over IP connections and the previously mentioned whiteboard. Take a look at the screenshot below to get an understanding of how the chat whiteboard works.

That feature comes in pretty handy if you want to visualize information or just draw a nice heart to your loved one. The chat client comes with installers for Windows (Windows 98 to Windows XP, no Vista support yet), Apple Macintosh and Linux. The source is also available at the download page of the website.

Given the growing number of social networks, chat addresses and email accounts I had I found it a brilliant solution to keeping it all under check. I also liked the simple but effective design and of course there was that warm early adopter glow of being there to support a growing service from the very beginning.

6 months later and I started to use Pidgin.

This wasn’t a deliberate choice at first, I started dual booting Ubuntu and of course Pidgin is the default chat client. I was immediately impressed by what I saw, it was fast, a lot faster then Digsby and supported a whole lot more chat networks while additionally having some great plugins available.

While Digsby is great in the way it keeps track of social networks like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter the reality is I wasn’t actually using those features very much at all. When I did use them it was through Flock. It did have the very real advantage of Facebook Chat integration which I did use a lot, however I quickly discovered that Pidgin also had a plugin available to achieve this.

Also I found Pidgin had support for IRC Chat which is something I have begun to use a  fair bit lately.

The fact was I was using Digsby, a IM client which was way too resources heavy and susceptible to RAM spikes when Pidgin would do the job better.

I felt a little guilty, but I’m not writing Digsby off at all. I still think it’s great and I really like the direction it’s going in, but I just found a better alternative for my needs at this point in time. Digsby is still a very young client and has a lot of potential. A promised update is coming up to address lots of performance issues and hopefully introduce some new features and I’m looking forward to that.

For now however Pidgin is my stop-gap.

Hydra IRC is another client that I heard about only recently and it works pretty well. It does come with all the features that one would expect from an IRC client like DCC file transfers, multiple server connections, multiple user identities, channel monitoring and a wealth of other features.

Some would say that the initial layout of the IRC client is a bit messy with lots of information panels everywhere. At start you have the following windows: Server List, Channel List, Channel monitoring with three additional tabs, event log with three additional tabs and the main channel window. Another window is added to the mix when the user connects to a server. This one displays the connected users that are currently in the channel.

The good news is that every window can be removed or minimized to display only the needed ones. Beginners will probably be a bit lost at the beginning because of the sheer size of options and servers to chose from.

IRC is still a nice way to find information pretty fast. Almost every network has channels for programming languages or operating systems where users can receive help when they need it. I’m not sure about the file sharing scene on IRC though if it is still that active and I did not have time to check this out.

Hydra IRC is definitely a nice client for IRC, best of all it is completely free.

Luckily Adobe Air was built exactly for these needs and a nice person has made us a desktop version of Meebo, called Meebone, which acts exactly the same way, but doesn’t have the rooms, banners, and stuff that have made Meebo a bit less appealing to me nowadays. There’s really not much more to say about this application, log on and use Meebo as you would normally.

To me this is probably the first application which shows the power of Adobe Air. Meebo is a fully browser based application and is taken off your browser seamlessly with it. This means that now people like me who love a browser based apps, but sometimes need desktop power can enjoy the apps they love.

Dark Kosmos thinks “trillian is MUCH better (and looks better)” and I must admit the from the Trillian screenshot he showed it does look pretty good. I used Trillian for a while and wasn’t too taken with it, although that was a while ago now so maybe I should give it another try.

I’ve been using Digsby since it was in beta. I managed to procure a key somehow and I was really impressed by it. I’ve always been a fan of clean chats, like google talk and irc, and Digsby really does well. It used to have a problem a while ago where if you closed peoples chat windows too many times, Digsby just stopped letting you open new ones, but a quick bug report later, and within a few days the problem was fixed. Angelo said “It used to have a problem a while ago where if you closed peoples chat windows too many times, Digsby just stopped letting you open new ones, but a quick bug report later, and within a few days the problem was fixed.”

I would have to say this is something the Digsby developers have been impressing beta testers with, rapid responses and fixes to any reported problems and bugs, and consideration of all suggested features. It’s a great way to build a community up as you can see by Disbies.org which just recently started up.

Digsbies is a place for the Disby community to discuss the application and download new themes and find tools and tips. It’s only small but I’m sure with time and a official public release of Digsby version 1 it will grow.

A couple of my favourite themes are the Digsby Alive theme, designed to match Digsby in with the Windows Live products and the AeRoyale theme to better integrate Digsby with the official Windows Royale theme.

Also find more emoticons, a Wiki and a log converter for transferring all chat logs from all the major chat clients including Trillian to Digsby.

It’s still a beta product but significant changes have been made over the last few months including new features, optimisation and bug fixes. It’s not perfect but it’s very usable. If you’re a fan of MSN for all the ‘nudge’ and ‘wink’ type features then this isn’t for you. If you like the sparse chat style of Gtalk then this is, at the moment Digsby is pretty simple when it comes to chat features.

One great thing about Digsby is that you can chat to people on Facebook Chat through the client, a unique feature for Digsby till a few weeks ago when some other clients began to get it as well. Another great thing about Digsby is the ability to combine contacts different accounts all into one by merging and creating a alias, makes it much easier keeping track of people.It’s also very customizable and you can get various skins and change the layout around to how you like. By creating a Digsby account you can synchronize it across multiple locations and computers and keep all your settings. A very promising application and worth checking out!

I would not say that Skype made a big step forward, can’t see many other changes yet. Sure there are some new emoticons and stuff like that but this is not that important I think. In case you do not know Skype I decided to list the main features of it.

• Support of Windows, Mac and Linux
• Talk or chat with your buddies using Skype and a microphone (for voice chat)
• Video chat
• Cheap calls to (mobile) phones worldwide
• Send files using Skype
• Conference Calls

I’m using Skype mainly to see when my buddies come online. I know that instant messengers do the same but I never got used to one of those.

The 2048 bit RSA key will be created at the initial start of the program, you have to select a password and a username and recieve a key id at the end of this process. Your friends need this key id to add you to their contact list. I suggest you either do this setup by phone with your friends or send them the key id using another IM or email. Adding new users is easy, you enter their key id, click fetch public key and enter a username for that user.

Right-clicking a user in your contact list gives you the option to start a chat, transfer a file or use the remote desktop feature. If you select one of those options the other user will receive a popup window asking him if he wants to accept the connection. Users should recieve those messages even if they sit behind a firewall.

CSpace currently supports Microsoft Windows and Gnu / Linux.