Gizmodo: instant message

iBuddy Meatspace Instant Message Notification Guy Now On Sale

Jason Chen — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:40:00 EDT

That iBuddy MSN emote guy we caw back at CES is now on sale at Brando for $20. If you don't remember, you can set up notifications on your MSN buddies, so that when they sign on, the iBuddy goes nuts and flaps its wings. It also recognizes up to eight emotes and blinks/flaps/explodes accordingly. Sucks that it's only MSN-compatible out of the box, but should be easily hackable to support just about all networks. [Brando]

iBuddy Brings Cyberspace IM Emotes into Meatspace

Jason Chen — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:07:17 EST

The Availbot was a neat prototype, but this USB i-Buddy we just saw takes instant message emote representation to the next level. When one of your pre-specified MSN buddies signs on, the little monarch man blinks its lights, flaps its wings or twists its body in a way that can only be described as incredibly spastic.

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.

Samsung Patents Illustrated Mobile IMing

Jason Chen — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:00:38 EDT

Samsung's just filed a patent for a cellphone IM program that illustrates chats with either talking heads or full-bodied figures. Look how saucy that Antonio Banderas is in the middle. "Wherrrre shall we meet on Thurrrrrsday".

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]