It works on Windows and OSX and supports SOCKS5, HTTPS and HTTP proxies. You do have to manually add a proxy to each IM client and if your IM client is already using a proxy or behind a firewall then OTRProxy won’t work. Users are authenticated by generating private keys but if you ever lose them, none of your previous conversations would be compromised. OTR also has plugins created specifically for clients including Pidgin and Miranda.

Features:

• Encryptes conversations made through any IM client.
• Ensures authenticity through private keys.
• Works on Windows and OS X.
• Similar tools: CryptoCat,OneTimeSecret, Encipher.It, File-Encryptor and Encodor.
• Also read related article: Five Online Encryption Tools to Protect Your Privacy.

Download from @ www.cypherpunks.ca/otr

CryptoCat is a free to use web app that offers users an encrypted chat interface. The site is quite easy to use: the chat host creates a room by naming it. He is then taking to the room’s URL and picks a nickname for himself. Next he shares the room’s URL with friends who then join the room by choosing nicknames for themselves.

Your messages are encrypted inside your own browser using AES-256 and 4096-bit asymmetric keys. After one hour of inactivity, conversations are automatically wiped by the site.

Features:

• A user-friendly web service
• Offers secure chatting interface
• Encrypts your chats
• Deletes messages after 1 hour of inactivity
• Similar sites: OneTimeSecret, Encipher.It, File-Encryptor and Encodor.
• Also read related article: Five Online Encryption Tools to Protect Your Privacy.

Check out CryptoCat @ www.crypto.cat (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)

Talkwheel has some interesting applications for work groups who are looking to keep their discussion more organized. They can create a private conversation and easily go back and forth, and have their conversations stored for other members of the work group to see and add their thoughts to.

Talkwheel wants to change the way we communicate on the Internet. By having all the conversations linked it makes for a different way of looking at conversations. You can quickly see all the comments made by a user, and because they are all linked in a wheel, you can see the person they addressed.

Features:

• Innovative new take on sharing publicly.
• Private chat for work groups to organize their discussion.
• Ability to see all of a users comments and who they were for with the wheel feature.
• Real time communicating.

Find Talkwheel @ www.talkwheel.com

Chit Chat for Facebook is a wonderful freeware application for Windows computers. The app’s setup file is sized less than 3 MB and installs in a jiffy. Once the app is installed, you sign into your Facebook account using your Facebook-registered email address and password. A list of your Facebook contacts is loaded up and you are able to chat with them, like in any other desktop IM clients. Notifications for friends coming online and going offline are provided in the bottom right of your screen.

In the app’s preferences you can control numerous options such as whether or not save chat conversations, disabling notifications, setting keyboard hotkey shortcuts, and adding date-stamps to messages in the chat window.

NOTE: With AVG and a few other antivirus software, you might receive notifications that the Chit Chat app is malware. These notifications are false positives and should be ignored.

Features:

• A user-friendly freeware app.
• Compatible with Windows computers.
• A desktop app to let you chat with Facebook friends.
• Supports multiple languages.
• Offers notifications, chat logging, and numerous other modifiable options.

Check out Chit Chat for Facebook @ www.chitchat.org.uk/english (by MOin from Thumb Press)

Blither is a Twitter client that is absolutely free to use. The tool lets you chat with your Twitter friends in a simple way. When you first visit the tool’s website, you start by authorizing it access it to your Twitter account. You can then create a chat group from within Blither’s interface by typing in the names of people you want to chat with and typing in a subject for the group. Once you have authorized access to the app, you can also initiate this group by tweeting “!b” and adding @names of the people you want to chat with. Your resulting tweet will include a link to the chat group that others can join and start chatting on. It is all very simple and gets set up quickly.

Features:

• A user-friendly web tool.
• Lets you add chat to Twitter.
• Provides its own interface.
• Lets you create multiple chat groups.
• Lets you use Tweets to create chat groups.
• Similar tools: Bonfire, TodaysMeet and Tagch.at.
• Also read related article: How To Chat On Twitter Hashtag Topics With Joint.

Check out Blither @ www.blether.co (via TheNextWeb) (by MOin from Thumb Press)

Bonfire is a Twitter client that incorporates live chatting within Twitter’s interface. Seeing as how Facebook users were excited about Chat’s inclusion in the social network and continue to actively use it today, the developers of Bonfire felt an instant messaging application for Twitter was direly needed – and they were right.

Now by signing up with Bonfire and authorizing it access to your Twitter account you and other Twitter friends who have activated Bonfire can chat with one another. Bonfire’s interface is incorporated right within Twitter so you can tweet and ‘chat-tweet’ at the same time. All you have to do to start using this service is visit Bonfire’s homepage and request an invite.

Features:

• A user-friendly web service.
• Lets you chat with Twitter friends.
• Incorporates within Twitter.
• Offers a friendly interface for instant messaging.
• Similar tools: t.imo.im, TodaysMeet and Tagch.at.
• Also read related article: How To Chat On Twitter Hashtag Topics With Joint.

Check out Bonfire @ www.bonfire.im/extensions/busy.html (via TechCrunch) (by MOin from Thumb Press)

Call Safely is a phone application for Android devices. The app offers paid and free versions, with the free version carrying 45 cents of credit with it. Call Safely maps your phone number to an actual functional phone number through which your calls and texts are sent. Recipients can call you back on the actual number as long as you keep it active.  Using the app you can obtain multiple phone numbers of virtually every area code in the US.

Features:

• A user-friendly phone application.
• Compatible with Android devices.
• Lets you call and text through an anonymous phone number.
• These numbers are functional and recipients can contact you on them.
• You can get multiple numbers for your phone.
• Similar tools: Numbr and PrivatePhone.
• Also read related article: 4 Really Popular Prank Call Websites & How They Work.

Check out Call Safely @ www.call-safely.com (by MOin from Urban Savior)

The call quality is clear, as if you are using a phone to make the call. You can even add contacts to your Vox.io account manually, via a contact file saved in your PC or through Google Contacts. If you like the service, you can even invite your friends to try out this useful application. The service is still in beta stages so you might experience difficulties while calling.

It’s free to call other Vox.io users but if you want to make any international calls, you must buy Vox.io credit. You can check out Vox.io call rates here.

Features

• Simple and easy to use.
• Call friends through browser.
• Upload contacts from your PC.
• Free calls with other Vox.io users.
• Buy credit and make cheap calls.
• Free calls to other Vox.io users.
• Link Google, Twitter or Facebook account with Vox.

Check out Vox.io @ http://vox.io

Connected2Me is a free to use web service that lets others anonymously chat with you. You start by registering for an account by selecting a username and password for yourself. You are automatically logged in and given a URL to share with others. Visitors to this URL can start sending you messages to which you can reply. Each conversation appears in a new tab in your dashboard and each recipient’s name is coded thus keeping identities anonymous. The entire process is very fast and extremely user-friendly.

Features:

• A user-friendly web app.
• Lets you create chat rooms.
• Lets you chat anonymously.
• Sorts different chats into different tabs.

Check out Connected2Me @ http://connected2.me (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)

SimpleMeet is a free to use web service that lets you instantly create chatrooms for 2 or more participants. The unique thing about SimpleMeet is its user-friendliness. Unlike other sites that require you to register for an account, SimpleMeet assigns a number to all of its site visitors. You can then share this number with friends who can then use it on the site to join your chatroom.

Visitors to the chatroom can choose their own nicknames for interacting with one another. Along with textual chats, the rooms of SimpleMeet also support attaching files to be read by other chatroom participants.

Features:

• A user-friendly web service.
• Lets you instantly create chatrooms.
• Supports 2 or more chatroom participants.
• Supports text chat and file attachments.
• Similar tools: PrivyTalks and NeatChat,

Check out SimpleMeet @ www.simplemeet.me (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)