Do-it-all communication app Digsby (download) put out an important update yesterday that’s made this blogger’s life easier. It took Facebook’s Web-only chat service and integrated it into a desktop application, something that Gabtastik (which I looked at yesterday) did to a limited degree by loading it in a standalone Webkit-powered mini browser.

While residing outside of people’s primary browsers, Gabtastik’s efforts were still running the pop-out version of normal FB chat. Digsby’s solution is far more powerful. Despite the fact there are no API plugs for chat (for now), you can maintain conversations with several folks just like you would in any normal IM app. And because Digsby plugs into other IM networks, you can have chats with your buddies from AIM, Yahoo, and more, all within the same app.

The biggest winners in this situation are power users, who are getting a large leg up over FB chat users who are accessing the app from their browsers if only for the notification options. You can get pop-ups on when your friends come on the web, even if your browser is minimized, as well as view a past transcript of chatter.

In addition to adding FB chat, Digsby also fixed several problems with Yahoo Mail, which wasn’t working because of the two different variations of the mail app that Yahoo’s got floating around. Since we last wrote about it, the service also added an autoupdater so you’ll never have to download a new version with installer each time there’s a new version.

While Digbsy continues to push forward, Cerulean Studios’ Trillian is still not yet at an open beta for its upcoming Astra product (coverage). I’ve been using (and enjoying) it on a daily basis, but services like Digsby have been tempting me if only for the social-tracking features that remove the need for multiple aggregation apps.

Bring out all the best college humor with your Facebook buddies using Digsby's new Facebook chat.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Fore more visit Source: [webware]

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BofA Mulling Options For Disposition Of Some Countrywide Debt Last Update: 5/1/2008 9:59:53 AM DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Bank of America Corp. (BAC) stated Thursday that in connection with its proposed merger with Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC), it is evaluating alternatives for the disposition of the remaining debt of the troubled mortgage lender. Countrywide had outstanding debt of about $97.23 billion at […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net

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As the iPhone continues to march across the globe, Google’s special (and slick) interface that was introduced in mid-December has been limited to English speakers. However, yesterday the company rolled it out to 33 countries in 16 languages, including Chinese–despite the fact the handset isn’t available through any Chinese carriers.

More importantly, Google continues to create special mobile variations of its other pages, which now includes Google News and support for users of Google Apps. Google Apps users can now check their mail using the same interface regular Gmail users have been enjoying, with the added benefit of being signed in to use the other mobile Google services.

The updated news viewer allows users to browse by the front page or by section, and features a built-in search tool. It’s still essentially a link repository to other third-party sites, but it’s now far easier to parse through on smaller screens than its original format.

What really makes the updated News page shine is that it integrates YouTube videos in the related stories. If there are videos for a selected subject, you can view them as thumbnails, which when clicked will jump you to the handset’s built-in YouTube viewer. Short of actually having Flash, this is the closest you’ll get to being able to casually watch Web videos while browsing other news networks. You could also use a conversion tool like vTap or Avot mV, but this new system requires one less step.

I still think most iPhone users will be inclined to use Safari’s built in-search tool, which can be set to use either Google or Yahoo without having to venture to a search page first. With the speed of EDGE, I often find myself skipping any unnecessary page load when it comes time to search on the go, something that won’t be fixed until the purported 3G version of the handset comes out later this year.

iPhone users can now view Google's various device-specific apps in 16 languages.

(Credit: Google)

Fore more visit Source: [webware]

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an On the web Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

I recently wrote about the TreeHugger interview with Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn about their new book. Earth: The Sequel is an engaging look at emerging technology in the fight to stop global warming.

Fred has been getting around quite a bit lately. This week he also was interviewed by Forbes, Newsweek, and Mercury News. Each had a slightly different focus. Here are some excerpts:

On why a carbon tax won’t work, from the Forbes interview:

There’s no example of an air pollution problem anywhere in the world that has been solved without a cap or legal limit on how much of that pollution can be dumped into the sky. A cap gives you that legal limit, where a tax grants people to potentially keep on paying a modest amount and keep on polluting.

On biofuels, from the Newsweek interview:

I think we’ve come to comprehend that the current generation of biofuels has problems and that we need a whole new generation. In the short-term, turning sugar into fuels other than ethanol would have many advantages, given the infrastructure problems ethanol creates. In the long-term, we are much superior off when entrepreneurs develop ways to turn wood and fiber, not food, into energy.

On the power of markets, from the Mercury News interview:

Last night, we were up on Sand Hill Road. Somebody told me he’d been walking around in a kind of funk, a depression. But, he said, now that he’s seen this future, he’s already starting to feel better. It’s not a message that we have the ability to disengage. It’s not a message that technology can solve it. It is a message that if government does the right thing, and if we put that entrepreneurism to work in service of a new profit motive that’s been designed to create the very things we need to have a future, wow, watch what happens, such as a $1.9 billion order for Applied Materials to make solar cells.

For more visit Source:[green.yahoo]

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This post was updated at 11:18 AM PT to correct the date of the announcement.

Yahoo announced Thursday that it has made some minor upgrades to Buzz, the social news service that it launched in February.

Most notably, the company has released a “Top Buzz” widget that site and

…

Source [The social]

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Bank of America Launches Asiana Airlines Credit Card with American Express WILMINGTON, Del., May 1, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Asiana Airlines, Bank of America, and American Express this day announced the launch of the new Asiana American Express(R) Card from Bank of America. The card provides two miles per dollar on everyday buys and access to members-only golf courses […] For more visit Source:www.investment-blog.net

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UPDATE (6:04 a.m. PT): SourceForge’s sites are back up.
UPDATE (1:27 p.m. PT): Comment from SourceForge was added.

On Wednesday morning, there appeared to be some sort of outage at SourceForge Inc., parent company of iconic geek news forum Slashdot and retailer ThinkGeek (among others). …

Source [The social]

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