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After the sophistication of desktop chatting, mobile instant messaging services often tend to look like rough, rickety wire frames. Not so for AOL's first house-made application for mobile phones, a rich AIM client for Windows Mobile phones versions 5 and 6.

Released earlier this month, the IM application is in beta stages and there are plenty of known issues, including the one that number-locks the keypad on T-Mobile Dash phones and made for a dead-end first attempt. Past that obstacle, AIM for Windows … Read more

Instant-messaging power users, rejoice: a barrier between two previously isolated realms of online chat is coming down.

A minor sidelight in the Yahoo-Google search ad deal announced Thursday is that the two companies "agreed to enable interoperability between their respective instant-messaging services, bringing easier and broader communication to users," the companies said. They're not sharing further details at this stage, but it's safe to bet that means people on Yahoo's IM network will be able to chat with those on Google's and vice-versa.

That's a big step in the right direction.

IM is … Read more

AOL plans to launch a new program called AIM Money on Tuesday that lets programmers write applications that run in the AOL Instant Messenger buddy list--and lets programmers get a cut of any resulting revenue.

The move is made possible through use of an open interface in AIM 6.8, another new development. Version 6.8 also includes "mini-applications" that run at the bottom of the AIM buddy list window; 150 new CBS radio stations in AOL Radio; and restoration of the ability to save and import buddy lists, a feature that helps move a to a new … Read more

Your mother uses AOL Instant Messenger. Your spouse prefers MSN. Your office insists on Yahoo. Your ex is on MySpaceIM (shudder). What are you going to do? You could run all those chat clients at once, or you could use the multichat protocol app formerly known as Gaim: Pidgin, available for Windows, Linux, and in a portable Windows version. Like Trillian, Fire, and other third-party IM clients, this open-source messaging application lets you access multiple IM networks from one window, including Google Talk and ICQ as well as lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu.

Pidgin's IM features are … Read more

AOL said Tuesday it has opened the interface to AIM Call Out, a move that will let programmers more easily build products that tap into the service for making calls over the Internet to mobile or landline phones

The Open Voice API (application programming interface) is freely available. Building it into a device, such as a phone with Internet access or with support for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), can let people call using AOL's network and bypass much of the ordinary telephone infrastructure.

AOL charges fees for using the Call Out service, but the rates are compelling, the company … Read more

BigString just released "Self Destructing Instant Messaging," a plug-in for AIM that lets you convert an ordinary IM discussion into one where the messages literally vanish from the screen moments after they are sent.

To initiate a self-destructing thread, you have to start from AOL's IM client and install the BigString software add-on. Then, from within AIM, you get an option to "Go BigString," which if the company were not so enamored of its branding, would say instead something useful, like "launch secret IM window." At any rate, once you select this option, … Read more

AOL Instant Messenger, known commonly as AIM, is one of the most popular and oldest instant-messaging services around. It lets users chat with one another, send files, and have multiple conversations tabbed together in one window.

Like similar instant-messaging protocols, users get their own identities, complete with usernames and short profile. Users can add all sorts of links and text, which other viewers can browse. AIM users can also add their buddies with just a username, instead of having to remember e-mail addresses or real names.

The latest version of AIM takes a page from microblogging service Twitter, letting people … Read more

A Canadian start-up is offering a way to do local searches from within AIM or Live Messenger through a free service called Poynt.

Multipled Media's Poynt service lets you search for local businesses and view listings on a map all within the IM window. Last week, the company added the ability to search for movie listings and watch trailers.

It wasn't immediately obvious to me why I would want to do a local search in IM rather than toggle over to a Web browser, and an analyst agreed with me to some extent.

"It addresses a big … Read more

We were lucky enough to get a chance to play with one of AOL's works-in-progress, a version of the company's popular Web mail service done entirely in Microsoft's Silverlight. It was briefly shown off at Mix '08 last week, but is not due to get into your hands for another month or two--where it will be an opt-in alpha before going out to everyone else when Silverlight 2.0 leaves beta.

In its current form it doesn't look a whole lot different from the regular version of AOL's mail. The big difference is in the … Read more