Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

marypcb pointed out that the new version of ICQ comes with a soundtrack by Infected Mushroom. I suspect I worried her with my knowledge of the Israeli psychedelic trance scene...

Global psy-trance group Infected Mushroom, ranked number 12 globally by DJ Magazine, teamed up with ICQ for the newest version of ICQ 6. "We wanted to give our newest messaging service a whole new spin, and integrate a revolutionary sound system into the ICQ experience" says Ronen Arad ICQ's VP of product and marketing. "For that, we asked Infected Mushroom to help us."

[...]

Armed with plastic bottles, sticks and live instruments, Infected Mushroom started on the project of creating the sounds for ICQ 6. Sitting in a conference room at ICQ Headquarters, Duvdev explains their strategy: taking everyday sounds and creating a new spin for it. "It was a nice project to take on, I grew up using ICQ, and most people in the music industry rely on ICQ not only for chat, but for file transfers, so it was exciting to be part of ICQ 6."

I probably worried her more when I told her I had some of their Shpongle remixes.

If you've got a jabber IM client - like AdiumX, Gaim, or Trillian, you can now connect to LJ's own jabber server.

One of the more interesting features, is that it lets you work with your mutual LJ friends list as your jabber roster/buddy/contacts list:

your Jabber Roster ("buddy list") is integrated with your LJ friends list. If you friend bob and bob friends you, both of you can see each other online. It has to be mutual. Friends that haven't friended you back show up as "pending subscription" in your jabber client, kinda grayed out, depending on the client.

This looks to be quite, quite useful.

Still, err, somewhat alpha.

Here's my first piece for the FT's Digital Business section - looking at just how businesses can get the most from instant messaging...

Glue that can help teams bond and gel

It is all to easy for office communications to disintegrate into endless telephone tag or firing e-mails to colleagues who are away from their desks.

So it is hardly surprising that instant messaging quickly moved from the consumer world into the enterprise – the mix of quick text chat and knowing who is logged on and ready to respond (“presence” information) was an answer to perennial problems.

But instant messaging (IM) is not just about quick conversations. IM technologies can be a social glue to help hold business communities together, allowing teams to communicate and share information without being tied up in more formal channels.

Read and enjoy!