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.

In a statement for Microsoft, Michael Chang, Group Product manager for Windows Live Messenger said…

“While Messenger for iPhone is relatively new, for many connecting with Messenger friends on your mobile phone is not new. In addition to the more than one million iPhone Messenger users, there are over 24 million people who connect with Messenger friends from other mobile phones through a client application, their phone’s browser, or SMS. Along with Messenger Connect, Messenger IM in Hotmail, and the coming integration with Xbox LIVE, the new iPhone app is just one more way that we are bringing Messenger to you across the web and on your phone. We’re very excited about the new Messenger beta available now and thank you for being part of the Windows Live family.”

The release came as part of Microsoft’s new Windows Live Wave 4 launch, some aspects of which, such as the new Hotmail rollout have hit problems.

It was reported yesterday that so far only 1% of Hotmail users have received the update to the web interface they can use to access their email.  Other products, such as the beta for the new Windows Live Essentials Suite have gone smoothly.

1 Million downloads doesn’t necessarily mean 1 Million happy customers and we’ll be keeping an eye on the reaction to the new iPhone software from consumers.  So far though it looks like Microsoft is still firmly still in the game when it comes to Internet communications and social networking.

However, I really, really don’t care what people are doing right now. The people who I do care about are very limited, I would follow about 3 Twitter users, even then I wouldn’t read all the tweets. Twitter can be cool if you find something funny or interesting on the net, you can send the link to your firends without needing to create an email. However, I really don’t care when someone gets up, when they brush their teeth.

Call me anti-social, but I just can’t see the “addicivity” behind all this. In fact, following a lot of people would clog up my twitter clients, so I would miss a lot of valuable stuff. I am not criticizing you guys who follow hundreds of people, I completely understand that we are different. Regardless, Twitter is an awesome idea and a well-implemented service. So do you like Twitter? What do you use it for?

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!

Some IM networks can easily be adapted to run on a LAN. One example is Jabber, where numerous clients and servers exist. This article provides simple instructions on how to set a Jabber server – for LAN use – under Linux.

Using Bonjour, Apple’s auto-discovering networking tool, is another option. The beauty of using Bonjour is that no server is required and, to my knowledge, all communication is peer-to-peer. Bonjour is available on OS X, Linux and Windows (nb Windows users will have to install it). Pidgin provides for instant messaging via Bonjour. iChat can work in a similar fashion on OS X, and Miranda supports Bonjour if a plug-in is installed.

netsend is another method of sending messages between machines with Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP and 2003 installed on them. To use netsend, go into command prompt and simply enter net send recepient_name text_of_the_message. Recepient name is the user’s account on the network or the computer’s name. netsend is not polished and requires a little more effort to actually communicate, as a recepient must be specified every time (making it slightly slower to use than other IM solutions).

Another option is BORGChat, although that looks increasingly aged and is not really developed, not having left beta since it started being developed in 2002.

It is worth noting the above options are all free and will not cost $1000s like some enterprise internal IM tools available!

That many features have its price though which observant users will notice after taking a look at the computer memory that the VoxOx processes uses. A little bit less than 100 Megabytes on Windows leaves surely some room for improvement.

The client is available for Windows and Macintosh with a Linux and mobile client in the making. The first step after installation is the account creation which is done easily in the interface. The program reminds the user that an email will be send for verification purposes. That message however seems to have been a leftover from the past because it was possible to login right after signing up to the service. An email was send but it did not contain a verification code but only information about the service itself.

A wizard will pop up after logging in that can guide the new user through adding accounts to the unified messaging software. It is possible to add AOL, ICQ, Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN or Jabber Instant Messaging accounts or other accounts such as Yahoo Email. Some of the options are grayed out which seems to suggest that these networks have not yet been implemented fully in the software.

The interface looks shiny and modern but poses a problem for users who like to change the sizes of their applications. The size of the application’s window cannot be reduced indefinitely which means that it will look huge on smaller monitors. It can be minimized though which reduces the memory usage tremendously as well.

The website and client are missing some vital information though, especially about pricing. There is no information whatsoever on costs for calls, text messaging or video conferencing. Business users should probably wait until those information are published on the developer’s website and in the client before they start evaluating the unified messaging software.