Technorati Tags: im,instant messenger,pidgin,open source,skype,voip,8hands,integration

All-in-one IM messenger, Email and Social Network application Digsby emerges out of private Beta and is available to the public, includes Twitter support. I really hope this is just the beginning of Digsby, it could grow on me…

Whilst looking for a way to integrate Skype into a messenger (I was actually hoping to find something that’ll allow you to use Skype within Gchat, but no luck as of yet), I found a Pidgin plug-in.

The Skype API Plugin. It adds your Skype contacts plus phone numbers to your buddy list inside Pidgin, but doesn’t let you take or make phone calls though and both applications (Pidgin as well as Skype) have to run at the same time anyway…This feature works best for people who use the VoIP service mainly for instant messaging. So um, “a bit” obsolete I guess… but it’s a step forward!

8hands, which at first glance, looks neat and more focused on Social Network (consolidates MySpace, Facebook, Blogs, Flickr, YouTube etc.) than Instant Messaging. I’m going to give it a try! (thanks, Dave!)

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Technorati Tags: aggregator, application, chat, community, desktop, download, social, email, software, im, instant messenger, all in one,

How excited I was to finally get to try the nouveaux chat and social network application Digsby. As a long time Pidgin user, I got used to having my instant messengers all aggregated in one place… However, in the age of web 2.0, everyone’s socializing like there’s no tomorrow.

Even though I have a MySpace and Facebook page, yes just like pretty much every other living (or deceased, or non-living) being, but I just hardly ever find the time to check back on my accounts.

Emails – I hate having email applications running. It distracts me. Too many windows, browser tabs and unread virtual letters can seriously drain your productivity. Having said that, back to the actual topic of this post: Digsby.

I love it. Simple. The interface reminds me of Pidgin, which is open source – Digsby is not, and the changeable skins make me think of Trillian, but, Digsby is a better choice by a mile.

It covers all major instant messaging service like Yahoo, MSN, ICQ or AOL and brings you all the latest updates of your MySpace and Facebook profile. In addition, Digsby lets you add virtually any POP or IMAP account for email as well as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail.

The application is currently in private Beta and in order to use it, you’ll require an Invite (which you can easily obtain just by sending them an email or searching the web).

I haven’t regretted downloading the all-in-one client yet and I can truly recommend it as stable software to consolidate IM’s, Email and Social Networking. Thumbs up!

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Technorati Tags: google,pagerank,pr,google pr,googlepagerank,parameter,application

PageRank (short PR) is Google’s numeric value that represents the importance of a site on the Internet. The higher the better. PageRank plays an important role when it comes to advertising and monitizing websites but generally there is a lot of debate on the subject.

It is safe to say that Google’s PageRank can be deceiving and isn’t as important as quality traffic and actual rankings in search engines.

The most common ways to determine your site’s PageRank is to install the Google toolbar, which includes a PR checker and will put it on display, or to search for online PR checkers. There are plenty around.

Both options will force you to open an Internet browser and here’s where PaRaMeter might come in handy for people who prefer a desktop application.

PAge RAnk Meter is a free Google PageRank software to be used for checking and monitoring PageRanks. The big advantage here is that PaRaMeter allows you to enter your URL’s once and simply leave it running. It also features an Update PR button helping you keep a close eye on your PR.

Another thing worth mentioning is the Trend column. Apparently it tells you how your PageRank has changed since the last update. As you can see, PaRaMeter makes it fairly easy to track each change in one’s (or your competitor’s) PageRank and if you want you can also export the PR data to either Windows clipboard or to a CSV file.

Not just a useful tool to manage and keep an overview on your PageRank, but also a nifty application to spy on other sites and we all do, don’t we!?

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If you are a Windows user like me, you would be used the odd Windows error messages that pop up at a strange regular rate.

You’re faced with “You have encountered error 40587″ or something like that which doesn’t tell you anything at all. Even more annoying when you are in the middle of something.

Windows isn’t particularly user friendly when it comes to error alerts because all you get is the error code as the sole description of the problem. How on earth are you supposed to know what exactly the code means?

Basically you have several choices when this happens: you either use Microsoft’s database or Google for an explanation or… you try Gregory Braun’s application. The software is called Error Messages for Windows and available at gregorybraun.com/MSWinErr.html

Error Messages for Windows is a small utility that will allow you to look up MS Windows error code numbers and display a descriptive message explaining what the numeric code actually means. If you have software programs that produce numeric error codes now you can find out what they really mean.

Error Messages for Windows also provides a facility to display and print all of the error codes and messages defined for your version of MS Windows.

Error Messages for Windows will run on MS Windows XP, Millennium Edition and 98 as well as MS Windows 2000 and 95/NT systems.

The program is rather small at 225 kilo bytes and may be a good solutions for quick look up of Windows error code messages. The application comes with a list of error codes, so if you encounter one, you simply enter it and you’ll get a brief description. With that you may or may not be able to fix whatever is causing the problem or if you’re like me, still look it up in Google.

Unfortunately this nifty little tool doesn’t offer any info on how to resolve the errors.

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Technorati Tags: pdf,html,converter,htm2pdf,convert,tools,online,tool,generator,graphics,cool,conversion

This site is rather useful: It lets you convert html pages to pdf online for free. All you really need to do is enter the URL into the address box and hit the convert to pdf button.

You can also include Flash Movies and keep the links from the page you want converted. I tried it on DuLess and it works like a gem!

Step 1

at htm2pdf.co.uk choose the Website you want converted to PDF

Step 2

Hit Convert to PDF

Step 3

The site has now been converted and can be downloaded.

This works really well and best of all, it’s free. Adobe couldn’t do it any better, so it’s worth bookmarking.

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