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From Brandon De Hoyos,
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IM Speak Designated Language of its Own

Long debated as dangerous to the English language, the many acronyms and shorthand practices of instant messenger users could once day find a designation as its own language, if Kent State University researchers have their say.

A team of four undergrad researchers, under the direction of Drs. Pamela Takayoshi and Christina Haas, both associate professors of English at Kent, are currently examining the language of IM to find, among other things, whether Gen Y usage of IM speak could create language problems in the future.

The results, Takayoshi said, are more promising than problematic.

"Instant messaging, or IM, is not just bad grammar or a bunch of mistakes,” Takayoshi said. "IM is a separate language form from formal English and has a common set of language features and standards."

Using IM chats produced by college students, the group has identified what formerly looked like nonstandard features of standard written English are actually standardized features within the IM langage.

The language of instant messaging was consistently informal, explicit and playful in nature, researchers said, emphasizing "meaning over form and social relationships over content."

"When we look at the kinds of technology young people are using today," Haas said, "we see that many of those technologies — IM, blogs and Facebook — are writing technologies. Even the phone is used for writing now."

The research will continue as the group extends their analysis to Facebook, where the social networking site recently launched its own IM client.

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Do you think IM Speak should be considered a language of its own?
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Thursday May 15, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

Facebook Works to Open Playing Field

After the successful launch of its social-IM client, Facebook announced yesterday the company is building a Jabber/XMPP interface in an effort to expand usage of its Facebook Chat.

The end result, developer David Reiss said, is a wider playing field for new and seasoned users of Facebook's instant messaging feature.

"In the near future, users will be able to use Jabber/XMPP-based chat applications to connect to Facebook Chat," he said.

Once complete, users would be able to utilize a third-party client to communicate with their Facebook contacts, view online contacts, profile information and status messages. Currently, Facebook Chat only works upon signing-in to their social networking website.

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What is your take on Facebook Chat?
E-mail Brandon now or consider posting for our expert readers on the IM Forums! (Membership is free, but required to post.)
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Wednesday May 14, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

Facebook Gives IM A Good College Try

After months of waiting, Facebook IM has finally arrived on the social networking scene and is situated to become a must-use application for its users. But, just how well does Facebook perform versus its social competitor, MySpaceIM?

Check out our head-to-head preview of Facebook IM and then, decide for yourself!

Bonus for Digsby Users: Just announced, Digsby is the first third-party IM to feature support for FacebookIM. Now, rather than signing in to Facebook, Digsby users can use their favorite client to access all their Facebook friends! Sweet!

Thursday May 8, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

AIM Offering Free Calls to Mom

Haven't been able to find that perfect Mother's Day gift yet? Why not skip the materialism and go for a good conversation, like the ones AIM is offering for free this weekend?

AOL announced this week registered AIM users can make free calls to all their favorite moms (whether it be your own, your mother-in-law or other matriarch) using AIM's Call Out service.

Typically a pay-per-call service, AIM Call Out will allow users to make unlimited calls to more than 200 countries between 6 a.m. EST Saturday, May 10 and 4 a.m. EST Monday, May 12. Users must have at least $5 in non-refundable call credits in order to take advantage of this offer.

Tuesday May 6, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

IM Translator Makes Multilingual Chats Possible

In this week's Reader's Mailbag, one reader seeks to bridge the language barrier via IM to find out more about her heritage.

Q: This is a weird question, but is there an easy way to translate IMs from one langage to another? I found kin living in France while researching my family tree and would love to communicate with them (their website provides screennames!) but I am not very fluent. --Heidi S., Florida

Dear Heidi,

I never really considered the language barriers over IM until your letter and luckily found a pretty neat application you can use to IM with your family in France.

IM Translator 3.0, for AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, provide a pretty seamless experience for translating from a multitude of languages into English and back. With this application, you can select a message and with a single keystroke, IM Translator changes the text, such as "Parlez vous Anglais?" into "Do you speak English?"

Download the application for free or try the web-based version for quick translation without a download.

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Have a question, comment or concern regarding IM or this site?
E-mail Brandon now or consider posting for our expert readers on the IM Forums! (Membership is free, but required to post.)
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Monday April 28, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

The Year's Best Instant Messengers

Dedicated to the year's best, brightest and most efficient instant messengers, IM on About is proud to present this year's winners of the IM Best Awards.

More than 22,000 votes were cast by readers from across the globe, from California and New York to as far as Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. And now, we're proud to share the results!

This year's nominees included ten exciting clients, ranging from the venerable Yahoo! Messenger to third-party newcomer Digsby and many in-between. Did your favorite win a title this year? Read on and then, share your reactions with the IM community.

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E-mail your questions, comments, gripes and IM news
to IM Guide Brandon De Hoyos at im.guide@about.com. Most messages will be returned within a timely manner.
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Monday April 21, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

IM Best Awards: Did Your Favorite Win?

We asked and you delivered.
Six categories, 10 IM clients and an impressive 22,000+ votes later, the IM BEST AWARDS 2008 voting period has officially ended, but the fun of this award is just beginning.

On Monday, we will announce the winners of our first reader's survey, honoring the Best IM Experience, Most Improved IM, Best Mac and Third-Party IMs, Best IM Feature and the IM Developer(s) of the Year Award.

Discuss the Awards NOW in our IM BEST AWARDS forum and check back Monday for the final results!

Saturday April 19, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

Is Idesgo the Next Social-IM Phenomenon?

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Vote For Your Favorite Instant Messengers for the 2008 IM Best Awards!
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While Digsby users are clammoring over their six nominations for this year's IM Best Awards on im.about.com, another new client out there might just be planning to stage an upset for the hearts and patronage of the 'social site generation' in 2009.

Meet Idesgo (pronounced "i-desk-o"), a new application offering a laundry load of great features, including an MP3 player, online video services, games, Twitter capabilities and access to instant messaging/chatting with friends from AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN/Windows Live Messenger, ICQ and Facebook.

Reader Robert Anderson, of Pasadena, Calif., who tipped us on this new client, said he was first drawn to Digsby, but chose Idesgo because it offered "several features I like, including integrated Internet radio."

New users are invited to try Idesgo, currently in beta testing, by downloading the new client on their website. The client is currently only available on a Windows platform.

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What do you think of Idesgo?
E-mail Brandon now or consider posting for our expert readers on the IM Forums! (Membership is free, but required to post.)
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Friday April 18, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

Portable Instant Messengers: Just Plug In and IM

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Vote For Your Favorite Instant Messengers for the 2008 IM Best Awards!
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In this week's Reader's Mailbag, one reader seeks help accessing IM after his school blocked his "IM lifeline."

Q: Is there any other way for IM users to access their contact lists where a firewall is present, outside of Meebo? My school just blocked access to this IM lifeline and now, once again, I am without access to my friends! HELP!--Eddie P., Houston

Dear Eddie:

Lucky for you, portable applications are making their way into our computer culture, allowing people like you and I to access a number of great services, including IM, without a download to a computer. In fact, all you need is a decent USB drive.

There are a number of portable instant messengers now available on the World Wide Web, including two great selections, Miranda and Pidgin Portable.

These applications are available for free and are easy to set up and use. Once downloaded and installed to your USB drive, you can run the client at school or anywhere else you may be challenged by a firewall or other obstacle. Happy IM time, Eddie!

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Have a question, comment or concern regarding IM or this site?
E-mail Brandon now or consider posting for our expert readers on the IM Forums! (Membership is free, but required to post.)
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Thursday April 17, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

VTech IS6110 IM User's Dream Phone

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Vote for Your Favorite Instant Messengers for the 2008 IM Best Awards!
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While cell phone-instant messaging integration is now widespread among wireless carriers in the U.S. and abroad, the next big thing in IM-- messaging via a user's home phone-- hits stores today.

VTech's IS6110 looks like a Blackberry with its large digital face and QWERTY keypad and is the first cordless phone to offer free instant messaging capabilities, including access to contacts on AIM and Windows Live Messenger.

In addition to making landline calls, IS6110 owners can also exchange IM or peer-to-peer voice messages, add contacts and carry on multiple IM conversations when the base is connected to a user's PC.

Matt Ramage, VTech's senior vice president of product management, said the new device will make communicating via IM more accessible for everyone, especially for households with a single PC.

"The IS6110 is perfect for anyone who's ever wished they could just IM at home without having to be tethered to a computer, or have found messaging on a cell phone to be unreliable or cumbersome," he said.

The IS6110 is available now at vtechphones.com or at Best Buy retail stores in the U.S.

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Do you think VTech's IS6110 vision has broad appeal?
Tell Brandon your thoughts or share them with all our readers on the IM Forums! (Membership is free, but required to post.)
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Monday April 14, 2008 | permalink | comments (0)

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