Digsby has it all. Connect to AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! networks. Check your e-mail from Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail or any POP/IMAP accounts. For social networking, get updates for Facebook or MySpace! Who needs MySpace though?
Some of you may notice it looks similar to Pidgin, except Pidgin doesn’t include all of the features that Digsby does. Digsby is still in beta and currently doesn’t support audio/video chats. For some, that might be a deal breaker.
Unfortunately, the social networks don’t include Twitter and Pownce access. Hopefully it will support those in the future. Of course, the temporary fix for Twitter is to setup up Twitter to send notifications to your Google Talk account.
I love Digsby’s notifications. They aren’t like notifications from similar applications. Besides the common status notifications, Digsby alerts of you a new message with the option of typing in a response in the little notification popup.
One unimportant feature that I would like to see is skinning of the notification popup. Right now it has an almost bulky appearance to it. I would like it to have customizable transparency and the option to choose other background colors.
Another feature I want is removing the grouping by network. I just want my contacts listed without groups and without moving them into a single group, because then if I login someplace else, it will change how I see them.
Something that does need to be fixed is the memory usage. I’ve found it reach almost 100MB. When the contact list is minimized and there aren’t any chat windows open, it can use about 60MB. Since Digsby is still beta, it’s okay for now and that is something they are working on.
If you like using applications like Trillian, Miranda, or Pidgin, check out Digsby!
Others discussing Digsby and offering invites to try out the beta:
- Lifehacker: Consolidate IM, Email, and Social Networking with Digsby
- BizzNtech: Digsby- A Perfect Blend of IM, Social Networking and Email
- Mashable: Digsby Invites: Centralize Email, IM, Facebook and MySpace
- UNEASYsilence: Digsby - Manage Your Online Life
Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 10:25 am
It’s a great idea, but it just way too bugy at the moment.
Nothing seems to work, and as written, the memory leak is impossible to deal with.
I’m sticking with my 8hands which offers some of its features.
The IM in 8hands is limited to social networks friends, but the notifications are way better and it supports all social networks, not only Myspace and Facebook.
Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I haven’t noticed that many bugs. There is one annoying bug, that I can live with for now. When chatting to someone on Yahoo, it doesn’t display what I’ve said, only what the other person has said.
I have not even noticed a memory leak, so I don’t know how that is impossible to deal with. It does use more memory than it probably should, but I haven’t seen a memory leak with it.
I’ve never heard of 8hands, but it sounds nice if you want something for just social networks. And it appears that it’s buggy as well. Digsby brings instant messaging, social networking and e-mail together. It’s not limited to just social networking, which is why I like it.
I will definitely check out 8hands though, since it offers support for more social networks at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
In my opinion though, if 8hands is only for social networks, and Digsby is bringing everything in one place, Digsby will come out on top.
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I found this post/comment while searching for “digsby memory leak” and since you doubt the veracity of “Amy’s” claims, I thought I’d share this screenshot.
http://img186.imageshack.us/my.php?image=digsbymemleakhv0.gif
(I suspect HTML tags won’t work but figured I’d try.)