Pinger Desktop - The Best Desktop Texting Application [Mac OSX & Windows]
Over a year ago, I introduced MakeUseOf readers to Textfree. Since then, a lot has changed. I still use Textfree to this very day, and the entire application has been rebranded as Pinger. If you didn't get to read my article or don't know what Pinger or Textfree can do for you, it's a great way to send and receive free texts in the US, Canada, and 30 additional countries.
Tap Notify: Contact Your Buddies With Just One Tap [iPhone]
You're caught up in a roaring wave of busy airport travelers, and stopping for even a minute to jot down a text will get you trampled. What's the best way to quickly contact your ride in this situation? Tap Notify has the solution, and all it will take is a few seconds of your time. Granted, you will have to briefly pull out your iPhone, but it's much more convenient than writing an entire book with Messages.
Viber: Call & Text Other Users For Free [iPhone]
Free calling and texting for your iPhone. Yep. It's real. With Viber, that's exactly what you get since it works through whatever WiFi connection you happen to be using. This gives you one more reason to mooch off the neighbors! Despite a few reasonable hoops to jump through, the app is quite functional. It says it offers free calling and free texting, and it does. Nothing can beat that. As far as I can tell, Viber is a wonderful app with a variety of practical uses.
Send Self-Destructing Risqué Photos & Videos With Snapchat [iOS & Android]
So you want to text someone a private flirty or goofy photo or video of yourself, but you know that images and videos can be shared and circulated on the Internet very quickly. Well it seems that a very popular iPhone and Android app called Snapchat might be a simple solution for texting your kinky photos without them being released to the wider public.
Make And Monitor Your Phone Text Messages With MightyText For Chrome
It's a little more "instant" than e-mail but not as intrusive as a phone call. It's convenient, but it's not annoying if managed right. And most of all, it's one of the most highly addictive forms of communication in the world. It's for all of these reasons that I went out in search of a way to continue sending text messages with my phone even when my phone is nowhere near me, and that's when I stumbled across the MightyText extension for Chrome.
Empathy: Use One Application to IM Chat on All Networks [Linux]
There are still plenty of people who use instant messaging networks to talk with each other, as it's very quick to exchange messages or ask a simple question. In fact, there are plenty of corporations who run their own networks, to make communication between employees a snap. Therefore, it's good to have a capable instant messaging client by your side so that you can keep in touch with just about everyone.
Neat Facebook Chat Hacks to Keep You Enjoying IM via Facebook [Weekly Facebook Tips]
Facebook chat is one of those things that's fantastic when everything is going well, yet very annoying when something's not right. Sadly, most people don't have the time to navigate all of the options and set their preferences just so. There's also a number of useful tricks you can do with Facebook chat messages that many people just don't realise is possible.
Better Than Text Messages & Free - WhatsApp For Android Reviewed
A moment of introspection, please: What do you do more often - call people using your phone, or text them? I would bet it's the latter. For many people, texting is more convenient than calling. It's discrete, so you can do it on the bus (unless you happen to be the driver); it's asynchronous, so the other person doesn't have to be immediately available, and more.
Stay Connected With All Your IM Accounts Using Trillian [Android & iOS]
We have an unlimited amount of means to communicate with each other using common gadgets found in practically every household. We can call, text, email, post on walls, and instant message. No matter what you may believe, there are still a large number of people who use instant messaging, especially when you include everyone who uses Facebook Messages, which can be used with many IM applications.
Adium - The Ultimate Instant Messaging App [Mac]
Start using the best instant messaging client out there for Mac. It's called Adium, it connects to everything and there's no reason for not using it. Okay, there's one reason - Adium does not support Facetime. But if that's not an issue for you, Adium is a piece of software you should install. Combine all of your conversations into one great interface, then customize that interface to work exactly the way you want it to.
How to Chat on Any IM Network From Within Gmail
Google Talk, which powers Gmail’s built-in chat feature, isn’t a proprietary instant-messaging network. It’s built on top of the XMPP standard, also known as Jabber, so you can connect Gmail’s chat feature to any IM network. Some networks like AIM are interoperable with Gmail, while some like MSN and Yahoo require special Jabber transports.
Combine All Your IM Accounts In One Application With Pidgin [Windows & Linux]
Pidgin is a free instant-messaging client that combines all your IM accounts in one simple application. Instead of running several different IM clients that display ads and eat up memory, just use Pidgin. All your chat contacts across every network will be combined into a single buddy list, and all your conversations can be combined into a single tabbed chat window – or multiple windows.
Set Up A Quick IM System On Your Intranet With EZIM
Everyone is pretty familiar with all of the major Internet IM services, but companies and small businesses across the world have a similar need to allow people connected to a protected internal LAN with the ability to communicate via chat, without the need to connect to such outside IM services.
The 5 Top Windows Phone Instant Messaging Options
One of the most important uses for a mobile phone is messaging. Whether you’re thinking of SMS text messaging, email or online instant messaging networks, being able to communicate with others by typing rather than speaking has been an essential feature since the 1990s. Windows Phone has several instant messaging options available.
Send Text Messages From Your Browser With MightyText & MobiTexter [Android]
One of the main differences between a phone call, text message and messenger bird is the so-called deadline of reply. That's in an ideal world. In the real world, people forget their cellphones at home, or are prone to ignore them in favor of some other — more interesting, or more pressing — activity. That's one motive behind synchronizing text messages with your computer.
Make Your Plaintext Emoticons Snazzy Using Emojicons
Whether our IM client or SMS interface converts them to graphical smilies or not, every single one of us has typed out an emoticon before. There's so much more possibility when it comes to textually expressing those feelings. It's time for you to learn how to show some real, unique emotion online!
TextPort: Send Free Text Messages To US Phones, Get The Reply Via Email
Easily send a text message to any phone in the United States, free of charge, regardless of where you live. You will get the responses in your email, and can even respond to responses using email. It's all at TextPort, a site that makes sending SMS messages from your computer easy. It offers a few other worthwhile tools as well, including a reverse number lookup.
The Top 7 Best Free IRC Clients for Windows 7
For most of us, chatrooms might seem like a relic of the past, but they're still around. If you're interested in that sort of thing, you’ll want to look into the IRC protocol. For those of you who are already familiar with IRC, you can jump past the next section to the list of awesome IRC clients for Windows 7. For those of you who have never heard of IRC, here’s a quick crash course.
How to Automatically Join IRC Servers and Channels With HydraIRC
Last week, I made my attempt at welcoming newbies to the wonderful world of Internet Relay Chats. This week, we're going to step things up to the next level for those of you who have decided that HydraIRC belongs in your taskbar. If you're anything like me, you feel it's necessary to be in 50 different channels at once. It's time for you to learn how to save yourself a lot of time at every startup.