Digsby Beta Update Brings New Look, URL Shortener, Global Status Update, Other Great Features
Great news for all the Digsby users out there: Digsby Build 61, r23447 has been released as a public Beta. This update brings a long list of new features to the multiprotocol instant messaging application that comes with support for popular IM clients such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, and Facebook Chat. Here is what you can expect to get from Build 61:
A New Look
The Digsby IM client comes with a new default skin named “Windows 7.” The new default skin will not be shown if you have set Digsby to display a different skin than the default one. If you do have the default skin and don’t like “Windows 7”, you can switch back by following these simple steps: Preferences -> Skins -> “QuickSilver” skin.
MySpace NewsFeed
The MySpace newsfeed has been completely redesigned and it now includes a full Activities Stream, status updates, and the option to browse photos.
Global Status
Thanks to the Global Status dialog you can easily set up your status across all your instant messaging accounts and social networks (comes with a built-in spellchecker), you can easily share links via digs.by and share pictures via pic.im. The dialog is available in the dropdown menu on the buddy list; alternatively you can access it by double clicking a social network.
URL Shortener
For now, all Digsby users can shrink URLs via the http://digs.by URL shortener. In the future Digsby users will be able to access a shared links history where all the links you shared over time are displayed. Users will also see detailed statistics on how many times other users clicked these links.
A full, detailed list of changes is available here (changelog).
The Digsby team provided an insight into what it plans for the future: “We are going to be making similar upgrades to Facebook and Twitter while also working on per-character formatting and group chat (which are both long overdue). After that, will work on getting the Mac/Linux releases out the door. Unfortunately, we don’t have an estimate on when they will launch but you know where they are on our priority list. We will keep pushing to make Digsby even better.”
In related news, the previous release, Digsby Build 60, r22564 came with some interesting changes – like the fact that it reduces CPU usage by 50% (detailed article on the topic available here).
A New Look
The Digsby IM client comes with a new default skin named “Windows 7.” The new default skin will not be shown if you have set Digsby to display a different skin than the default one. If you do have the default skin and don’t like “Windows 7”, you can switch back by following these simple steps: Preferences -> Skins -> “QuickSilver” skin.
MySpace NewsFeed
The MySpace newsfeed has been completely redesigned and it now includes a full Activities Stream, status updates, and the option to browse photos.
Global Status
Thanks to the Global Status dialog you can easily set up your status across all your instant messaging accounts and social networks (comes with a built-in spellchecker), you can easily share links via digs.by and share pictures via pic.im. The dialog is available in the dropdown menu on the buddy list; alternatively you can access it by double clicking a social network.
URL Shortener
For now, all Digsby users can shrink URLs via the http://digs.by URL shortener. In the future Digsby users will be able to access a shared links history where all the links you shared over time are displayed. Users will also see detailed statistics on how many times other users clicked these links.
A full, detailed list of changes is available here (changelog).
The Digsby team provided an insight into what it plans for the future: “We are going to be making similar upgrades to Facebook and Twitter while also working on per-character formatting and group chat (which are both long overdue). After that, will work on getting the Mac/Linux releases out the door. Unfortunately, we don’t have an estimate on when they will launch but you know where they are on our priority list. We will keep pushing to make Digsby even better.”
In related news, the previous release, Digsby Build 60, r22564 came with some interesting changes – like the fact that it reduces CPU usage by 50% (detailed article on the topic available here).
