Digsby!

"IM, Email, and Social Networks in one easy to use application."

A friend of mine commented that she kept 18 AIM screen names alone (what a ridiculous idea). I, on the other hand, have 2, comprising of a single AIM account and another Gmail account. What would be great, though, would be a program that managed all of your contacts and email accounts. I have been toying with Pidgin for a while, and although I like it, it has a way of being annoying (like flashing every time you get an email). However, recently, I found a program (through a friend, who may in fact soon be a guest contributer to this blog) that allows you to manage your email, instant messaging, and social network accounts from one window. Its called Digsby, and it promises to be a huge step forward on the simplicity scale. Unlike previous instant messengers, it allows you to customize its appearance greatly by giving you various style options. It incorporates your Facebook or Myspace account and gives you news updates or new messages. It is also less intrusive: when you get a new message, it pops up as a mini chat box in the corner of your screen, where you can reply directly to a chat before going back to whatever it is you were doing. I really like it, and I can't wait until the public beta is released so I can see how popular it becomes. It is currently in private beta, but if you would like to try it out, ArsTechnica is offering 5,000 free registration keys. It is on a first-come first-serve basis, so I'd hurry up and click here to read their review of Digsby and get your own activation key.