New Browser-Based Trillian IM

The popular universal instant-messaging client, Trillian is about to go online. "Astra" is the upcoming web-based version of Trillian. However, unlike competitor meebo, Astra will not require a web browser to run after the initial log in. Instead the flash-based app floats on the desktop, like the pop-out meebo window does, but the browser window can be closed without closing the Trillian Astra app itself. The app can even dock itself in the system tray, like a real software application can. Available for both PCs and Macs, Astra will integrate multiple online accounts, including myspace IM and real GoogleTalk (not GT via Jabber). It seems to me that Astra is another step towards that web OS…eventually, the only thing we will need a PC for is to load up a browser, which is where we will have access to all the software we need. (GoogleOS, I’m ready when you are!)

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Here’s another reason I wish I didn’t have the Brighthouse DVR, and had a TiVo instead: TiVo and Amazon’s partnership, announced last month, has officially begun. Now, TiVo subscribers can buy or rent digital movies and buy TV shows from Amazon’s Unbox service. Those movies and shows are downloaded to their TiVos for viewing. Currently, Amazon offers 1000 videos for sale and around 500 for rent.  You can get movies faster via pay-per-view (like Brighthouse’s iControl), whereas the Unbox movies take about an hour to download. However, the cable company’s offerings are much more limited.

As opposed to being an impulse-buy service, like pay-per-view movies on demand, I can see TiVo owners buying or renting movies at the end of their work day, buying movies from their work PC; as the TiVo owners commute home, the movie and/or shows download and are ready for viewing when they walk in the door.

I love my Blackberry Pearl - it’s great to have the power of a Blackberry in such a small form factor. However, I did just run into one annoying issue lately and I wanted to share it in case any of you run into it yourself. Apparently, if you don’t have a habit of rebooting your phone often (I don’t), then your Blackberry can run out of memory. Emails, browser cache, cookies, ringtones, photos, video, text messages, and call logs can all take up the Blackberry’s memory. Now, considering that list, if you were a software designer, what would you choose to erase first from the phone to free up memory? Browser cache, perhaps? Cookies? Nope, the Blackberry deleted my call log. Nice. The fix was easy enough — remove the battery and put it back in; and to keep the problem from happening in the future, turning on the auto reset feature is key. To access this feature, go into your Options, then choose the Auto On/Off option, set both the weekday and weekend option to "enabled" at the time of your choosing. Poor design? Yes, but at least there’s a workaround.

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First of all, I now have exactly two invitations to Joost. Comment if you want one…first come, first serve. Joost has been too robust to run on my Inspiron 1100 laptop, which means I haven’t played with it much. Once you go laptop, it’s hard to go back. Even though my desktop is more powerful and much faster, I can’t seem to tether myself to it again. What I really need is a new Windows Vista laptop. Say what you want, Vista is cool. Hey, it’s the next Windows, you’ll have to use it one day, so you may as well start now. And Aero — nice! I played with some laptops at Circuit City the other day, and I’m sold.

And call me a girl, but I’d kill for a pink Sony VAIO. PINK! Oh, and the aren’t too shabby, either: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5500, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD±RW Drive, Vista Business…yes please!

Finally, I got an invite to Undo TV. The site is a project created by former TechTV’ers, Leo Laporte and Chris Pirillo. The online TV network will, once again, bring tech televsion content to the people. The shows will feature many former Tech TV hosts, but viewers can also upload their own content. Yay…user-gen. This may be a very un-Web 2.0 statement for me to say, but I wish they had decided to not go the user-gen/digg-clone route with Undo TV and just choose to feature top-quality videos by the former telvesion professionals we knew and loved. At least it’s a one-click deal to filter content from "everyone" to "hosts." Now, where’s the save as default option?

Ruckus, a service that offers free music to college students (anyone with a .edu email address), is really taking off. Many thought that the service would be unappealing because the free music can only be listened to on the PC where it was downloaded; as it turns out, college students spend a lot of time on the PC, and don’t mind the restrictions, considering that the music is free. Besides, if the students really want to put the music on their mp3 players, a premium service is available for a small fee. All the music is free until graduation; at that point, students must pay $8.99/month to keep all the music they’ve downloaded from Ruckus (so, that’s how they get ya!). The question remains, will Ruckus ever open their doors to the rest of us like Facebook did? Or do college students get to have all the fun to themselves?

The ongoing fierce competition between Blockbuster and Netflix has Blockbuster once again eyeing acquiring the Movielink service. Although negotiations fell through last year, Blockbuster’s desire to trump Netflix has brought them back to the table. With an asking price of less than $50 million, Movielink would allow Blockbuster to cover all bases and offer movies in store, by mail, or online. Movielink’s video on demand service offers content from Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Buena Vista Pictures (including Miramax), and Twentieth Century Fox.