Playback can be initiated automatically or manually depending on your preference, and if your chosen client does not support PTT, the message will be delivered as a link that the recipient can follow. Whether you are into PTT or not, it is a nice addition to an app that won't cost you a dime. [Comunicano via BGR]

There were a handful of multi-client IM apps available via Installer, my personal favorite being Fring, which also has the ability to do VoIP calls over Wi-Fi. You can count on Apple putting the kibosh on Fring in the App Store unless it drops the VoIP feature due to SDK guidelines, which is a shame.

Palringo on its own sports a nice interface (which is a little jerky at times, though), and it tosses all of your new messages via any client into a universal inbox in the bottom-left corner. Like the official AIM client, it vibrates on message receipts, even if your phone is locked (and Palringo is still active, of course, which is another thing the Jailbreak apps had on it). On other platforms, Palringo supports voice chat over its supported protocols as well (not VoIP)—that feature's not in the iPhone version yet, but is forthcoming says the devs. [Palringo, App Review Marathon]

AM is extremely easy to set up and has lots of options so you can choose which contacts you see. It supports Gtalk and AIM protocols in addition to ICQ, MSN, Yahoo and Jabber. AM even logs your IM sessions so you can refer back to old conversations. But best of all, it keeps your IM conversations going, even when you are on a call or out of the program, and sends Mail style notifications alerting you to how many IMs came your way while you were gone. All in all, an extremely good experience for IMing on the go, so jailbreak if you haven't yet, and install this puppy. [Google via Lifehacker]

Best of all, it can recognize up to eight different emotes and act accordingly, meaning you can gauge your sig-other's mood at you ignoring her IMs all the way from across the room because you are tired and at CES and don't have time to talk.

They've gotten rid of problems such as having to hit a key to bring up the keyboard, the editable chat history and the sound/vibration preferences not holding. In short, it's actually quite usable now. You get alerts when the program's in the background, and the whole app's been sped up many times over.

There are still a few things to work out, however.

• No tabbed chatting
• You can't see who IM'ed you unless you scroll down the whole list
• Occasional freezing at sign in
• AIM only (they're adding more IM networks soon)
• Return button doesn't send the message (only inserts a newline)
• Send button too small
• Autocomplete is beneath the words, so it's covered up by the keyboard
• No contact list grouping (doesn't follow the grouping from the server side)
• Occasionally locks up your phone

Once they can get these issues worked out, it's going to be a pretty fantastic AIM client! [Google Code]

Once you do manage to load a chat screen with a buddy that happens to there (thanks, Adam Frucci), there are some amateur features/early bugs like having to hit a button to bring up the keyboard, and being able edit the chat history. This version is a fantastic proof of concept, but definitely a lousy chat client.

Oh, and the first IRC client has been released as well. But unless this is 1999 again, most of you will have no use for this. But you can make IRC commands and chat, so there's that.

You can install both with Installer.app, which you can see how to use here.

[Google Code via TUAW]

You get the standard Meebo IM networks you get on the desktop. You can even log in to the same Meebo account and use the same settings, including away messages and previous messages. Actually chatting is great as well, allowing you to keep the keyboard up while chatting, which is super convenient. They wanted to make this as light as possible, which means some features are stripped out (like adding contacts). But all the important ones you need to hold a conversation are there. [Meebo]

In our own tests, the IMs came in super speedy and in iChat-esque bubbles (like the SMS app). There's even chat icons on the top to represent tabs, so you can cycle between different conversations. It's still in alpha, which explains why there aren't any options for, say, hiding offline contacts, but it's still good enough to earn our recommendation as the best chat app so far. [BeeJive]

We remember playing with something like this on Yahoo chat a few years ago, with comic book characters saying whatever it was we were typing, complete with word bubbles and a frame showing them shooting guns and acting surprised. Man, that was fun. – Jason Chen

Patent [USPTO via w3sh via PDAFrance via Textually]

The better ones: Agile Messenger (an IM app), AudioPod (a podcast app), eReader (for reading eBooks), Kevtris (Tetris), and Skype (VoIP, as if we needed to tell you). Most of these are both free and good, and are almost a necessity if you want to do anything with Windows Mobile, which has a skeletal amount of bundled software. – Jason Chen

11 Killer Freebies for Your Pocket PC [Lifehacker]

Social networkers on services such as MySpace, Friendster, Tagworld, Hi5, Xanga and Multiply will dig this latest version, too, where now they can exchange web-to-phone, phone-to-web and phone-to-phone text and picture messages, with click-to-call (mobile VoIP) and click-to-IM features.

EQO for Skype was already cool, introduced earlier this year, which lets you make Skype calls from your cellphone. But now this new cellphone instant messaging feature is a huge step forward. Those greedy cellphone service providers are going to hate this. – Charlie White

Product Download Page
Press Release [EQO Communications]

Not unlike ourselves, the Availbot falls down when your friends leave. However, instead of falling down in a bar near the river, the Availbot connects to your PC or Mac and can tell when your buddies enter and leave your IM session, giving you a leg up over other's who are unable to tell a little red "Away" icon from a green "Available" icon. – John Biggs

This is Availabot [SchulzeandWebb]

Will chatting over IM during TV even catch on? Most people aren't touch typists, and even more wish to just watch TV while watching TV, becoming irritated with their S.O.'s inane chatter. Yes, we know Elliot on Scrubs changed her hair again dear, I'm trying to concentrate!

We've tried the integrated MSN chat on Media Center and the Xbox 360 and rate it a solid "meh". It's not great, and it covers up a good portion of the bottom of the screen, which is usually where cleavage shows up. You better move that chat box, Microsoft, if you want this thing to catch on.

Microsoft patents watching TV and chatting at the same time [Ars technica]

By removing the external dependency on the Blackberry software, an enterprise with 20,000 mobile users could save up to $1.5 million just from licensing. It normally takes from 6 to 12 months for mobile operators to test a new OS, so you won't be seeing this until sometime in '07.

Microsoft Developing Next Mobile OS: Crossbow [PC World]

FCC Filing [FCC.gov Via Hiptop3; Image courtesy of AOL Engadget]

Feel My Presence

The phone is a great synchronous communications device. You call people, they answer, you talk—what could be easier or more efficient? But the phone isn't so great at asynchronous communications—that is, communication that doesn't require people to be actively conversing at the same time. If you call someone and that person's not around, you leave a voicemail and the awful game of telephone tag begins. Text messages are a little bit better at the whole asynchronous thing, but there's still the expectation that messages will be returned immediately; when somebody doesn t text you back right away, you wonder why.

One of the big selling points of cell phones has always been that they allow people to be reached at any time. While this initially seemed like a good idea, plenty of people now consider it a drawback; they re tiring of the constant calls from work, the text messages from friends, or the never-ending flow of e-mails to a BlackBerry. Of course, the simplest solution is just to shut the phone off, but that s sort of an all-or-nothing proposition. What would be really useful would be some sort of status indicator with which users could state some current information—their availability, at the very least, but perhaps their location or their mood, too. This sort of user information is referred to under the umbrella term of "presence," and as communication becomes even more pervasive in our lives, it will take on great importance.

The simplest and most basic example of presence is the instant-messaging status message: "away", "do not disturb," "available," and so on. But even these have begun to evolve, with many IM programs letting users customize their message to better fit their current state (such as "in a meeting"). Skype lets users set status to "Skype Me," an open invitation for anybody and everybody on the system to chat. This message isn t just an indicator of availability—it s also a social signal that tells the world a certain user is looking to interact with fellow humans.

Another way IM status messages are becoming better indicators of presence is how they handle interaction with mobile phones. On AIM, for instance, users who have an account set up to forward messages to a phone are given the status message "mobile." This indicates not only that they're away from a computer, but that they can receive messages on a phone, so users on the other end know not to send an image or something else unsuitable for the device. This is how presence goes beyond just being a status message; it provides information so people can better suit their communications to fit the receiver's current context.

But presence can also be used to help people control incoming communications. Say I set my status to "work": this could route calls from my friends straight to voicemail, or defer their SMS or e-mails. Conversely, when my presence indicates that I'm not at work, calls from my boss or co-workers don't make my phone ring. As fixed and mobile telephone networks converge and merge with traditional Internet services, these types of rules will become necessary—not just so we can better control how people contact us, but to ensure that the right types of communications are directed to the right device.

Presence solutions exist today, but so far, few (if any) mobile operators have chosen to implement them. But they'll become more common as these operators shift to all-IP networks and VoIP. Still, there are already several applications available that offer a rough approximation of presence. Nokia's Sensor application for some of its smartphones is one. Users can create a profile in Sensor, which then searches via Bluetooth for other phones in the vicinity running the application. Users can look at other peoples' profiles and messages, then ping them with messages. It's a pretty crude example of presence, as nothing happens without an explicit action from a user (i.e. changing the profile, or scanning for other Sensor users). And, of course, it has a number of shortcomings—it only works on a small number of phones, and it's dependent on a person with such a phone actually having and running the device. Sensor does, however, illustrate what will be one of the top uses for presence services—hooking up.

Dodgeball is another service that shows some of the promise of mobile presence, again in a social setting. Users can broadcast their location to their friends by sending a message to the service indicating they're at a certain bar or restaurant—and, presumably, also indicating they want to hang out. Dodgeball sends the message, then replies if any friends or friends-of-friends are within a certain radius. Users can also add "crushes" who get notified if they check in with a location nearby. While the location element is significant, Dodgeball messages are more than that: they're "here I am, come play with me" come-ons, signaling an intent or a desire as much as a location.

So if you're overwhelmed by incoming communication, help is on the way. With so many devices making it possible to simply communicate more, presence will help us communicate better.

Carlo Longino is a writer and analyst that follows the mobile industry. He's co-editor of MobHappy, and also an analyst for Techdirt. He can be reached at carlo@mobhappy.com.

Read more Airtime. The column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Ultimately, I'll be excited when I can pay Google 1 cent a minute to call around the world via my cellphone. Until then, I'm going to make my own Jabber server and show you all.

Product Page [Google]