Update: And like a swift judo chop to the groin for Microsoft, Google has announced a Twitter deal as well.

All Things D got the scoop this morning on two upcoming deals Microsoft has made to integrate real time updates from Twitter and Facebook into their Bing search engine. Their post was later confirmed by an official Microsoft announcement. The deal is a coup for Microsoft because it means they’ve successfully beat out Google from integrating real time updates into their search engine. The two have been trying to court Facebook and Twitter for some time now, with rumors of buyouts floating among all the various deals. While Google remains tops in traditional web searching, the value of real time searching is also becoming more apparent every day. For once, Microsoft has access to something Google doesnt.

Not surprisingly, the implementation of both services into Bing will be very different. All Twitter posts will appear automatically (and I assume private Twitter posts won’t), but Facebook users will have to opt in due to the closed nature of that social network. Strangely enough, the implementation of real time search into Bing seems to be directly at odds with their current marketing campaign, which heralds Bing as the cure for search overload. It’ll be some time before we see these services in action, but if Bing’s real time search results end up cluttering their other results, I’m going to have to call shenanigans.

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Bing Adds Twitter and Facebook Posts to Search Results, Should Google Worry?

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I’m about ready to give up on Digsby. I’ve been a faithful user for the past year and a half, and I’ve written about it positively as well, but it seems as if they have no desire to implement two of the biggest missing features since the beta: Group chat, and in-line text formatting (the ability to bold/italicize/etc. individual letters and words). Instead, they seem content to push forward with more complex social networking features (today, it’s URL shortening and better MySpace Newsfeed support), all the while ignoring what I consider basic features for any IM client.

I don’t think I’m being greedy by asking for these features. Group chat (and chat room) support was a part of AIM since the 90s, and it’s also a feature of every major IM platform that Digsby supports. It’s shocking to me that so long after Digsby’s release, I still need to open up another client or head to Meebo to participate in group chat.

Similarly, I have no idea what’s keeping them from implementing proper in-line text formatting. Currently, if you choose any formatting options in Digsby, it applies that formatting to the entire post. For example, writing a sentence like this would be impossible in Digsby because it would end up bolding, underlining, and italicizing the entire sentence. Somehow, this doesn’t seem like a feature that should be missing from any text-heavy program in the year 2009, let alone something focused on text communication.

This is what happened when I tried to format a single word in this post:

I initially started using Digsby as a replacement to Trillian Pro for aggregating all of my IM services (I was tired of waiting for Trillian Astra), and the fact that it also aggregated social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter was convenient at the time as well. Things are different today. I use TweetDeck to follow Twitter (and occasionally Facebook), and Trillian Astra is finally out in public beta. Trillian actually supports group chat and in-line formatting, and is aiming to compete with Digsby with social networking aggregation as well. And yes, I know about Miranda IM and Pidgin, but both are a bit too simple (not to mention fugly) for my tastes.

I can’t imagine I’m the only one annoyed by Digsby’s shortcomings, but I suppose most users are too dependent on its more advanced features to let these minor issues bother them. I honestly think the Digsby team has done great work on the client since beta as well, but that doesn’t excuse them from failing to implement two fairly basic features.

At this point, I’m going to switch over to Trillian Astra full time to see if it does everything else I need. After criticizing the Cerulean Studios team for so long on their delayed Astra release cycle, I owe them this much. If the Digsby team ever decides to fix these features, I may give it another shot.

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Dear Digsby, Where’s the Group Chat and In Line Text Formatting?!

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This latest release for public beta adds Twitter support, something which I’m going to take serious advantage of, support for video/voice chat, and an inline spell checker. You can find the rest of the updates for this release here.

Since I’ve started using Digsby I find that the only thing I truly miss from Trillian was the plentiful skins available at Deviant Art and other sites. Digsby advertises skins on their front page, but I suppose that we haven’t seen any yet because the product was hidden away in private beta. Now that it’s out in the open I suspect the skinning community to have a field day.

Unfortunately, judging from the screenshots, it appears that Digsby sticks with a fairly standard UI throughout different skins. Skinning seems only to affect the colors used in the application and the background image on the buddy list. I hope this is something that is improved upon eventually. For now, I’ll enjoy their Adium-styled conversation themes–something which I’ve been dying for on the PC side.

I was hoping that Digsby’s release would spur on the Trillian Folks to bust out with a private or public beta, but alas it’s still languishing in alpha hell. I have nothing but love for those folks, and being a former Trillian user for 7 years, I would totally love it if Astra came out and totally showed these young Digsby whippersnappers a thing or two.

Oh well.

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Digsby Opens Up with Public Beta, Adds Twitter & Voice/Video Support

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I’ve been playing around with Digsby today by way of an invite from Ars Technica, and it has quickly become my new favorite IM client. The beauty of Digsby is that it combines the IM aggregation from the likes of Trillian and Pidgin with the social networking aggregation of 8Hands. Oh, and it lets you keep track of all your e-mail accounts as well. Simply put, it’s become my one stop for communicating online.

I’m running it in Vista and overall I’m finding it to be a much more enjoyable experience than Trillian 3 Pro. I’m not sure of the cause, but Trillian 3 has been overwhelmingly sluggish for me in Vista. I would see everything from increasingly long text input delays, to issues with Trillian having trouble with simple tasks like repainting the chat windows when switching between conversations. I’ve tried reinstalling and troubleshooting Trillian many times and nothing seems to have helped.

For me, Digsby certainly couldn’t have picked a better time to launch into beta. I’m tired of waiting for Trillian Astra, Cerulean Studio’s long-awaited upgrade to the Trillian platform which has been hyped up for its IM and social networking aggregation. Honestly, I’m tired of waiting because Astra’s development doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

We first caught word of Astra’s revamped interface and new social features back in November 2006, and its been in private alpha even prior to that announcement. Current word from the Cerulean Studio blog is that there is still no release date for Astra. And of course, the fact that they haven’t even gotten to beta yet is disheartening.

Currently, I’m using Digsby to connect to my AIM, Gtalk, Facebook, and multiple web mail accounts. I’ve been meaning to test it with my work IMAP account to double-check the error reported by Ars, but for some reason it won’t connect to that server. Otherwise, Digsby has been running stably for me and with far less slowdown and headache than Trillian. It doesn’t yet feature Twitter or video chat support, but I’m sure these will come in time.

Digsby also has one of the best auto-updating features of any Windows app I’ve seen. Just before I started writing this post, I launched Digsby and it instantly began fetching and installing an update without my intervention and then proceeded to sign me into my accounts as normal. It didn’t even require a restart of the app! I would describe the upgrade experience as thoroughly Mac-like in its simplicity–a trend Digsby carries over to some of its chat styles which seem to be lifted straight out of Adium.

Overall, I’m impressed with Digsby enough that I’m going to use it as my primary IM application. This marks a deviation from my 7+ year (!) devotion to Trillian. I’ll also start evangelizing it to all of my PC owning friends because, honestly, who wouldn’t want a single app to handle all of their web communication? There isn’t a Mac or Linux client yet, but they have a sign-up form up to let you know when they’ll be available. If you’d like to try Digsby, Ars Technica is sponsoring 5000 invites; just enter arstechnica as the invite code in their registration form.

I’m not sure what’s keeping Cerulean Studios from moving forward with Trillian Astra, but whatever it is I hope they get that sorted out soon. Digsby is here now and has already converted this Trillian devotee. I can only imagine how many more will follow…

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Digsby Gunning for Trillian Astra’s Social/IM Aggregation Throne

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