IMSmarter - advanced IM (really advanced?)
by Ragnar Schierholz
I just came across an article on /.: Enhanced Instant Messaging with IMSmarter. I went to the site, signed up for the service and for now, I must say I seem to like it. Let's see how this evolves over time.
What does it do? It basically is an IM proxy. You configure your IM clients to use IMSmarter's proxy server and it forwards all your messages. As such, no big deal.
But it also stores your conversation logs centrally (unless you tell it not to by simply typing [secret] in a chat window which will delete the last 4hrs of log and stop logging until you sign off) so you can access them from anywhere.
Also it has a (somewhat simple) blog interface. A bot-buddy will be available for being added to your buddy list. Just send that contact a message "blog" and the next message will become a blog entry's subject, the subsequent messages become content until you type "end" alone in a message.
Also, there is a reminder service. Just send 'Remind me in {xy} [minutes/hours/days] to "reminder message"' or 'Remind me at {time} to "reminder message"' and the bot will send you the reminder message after or at the specified time.
Comments
Sounds like a big fat eavesdropping facility...
Certainly, some privacy concerns have to be raised.
But you always have the option to stop the logging (and that deletes everything from the past four hours). Plus, you can of course use encryption features such as SecureIM as offered by Trillian (and if I'm not mistaken ICQ as well).
Encrypted chats aren't logged currently, probably because the encryption is done with symmetric, one-session-only keys. Thus, you'd have to store the key somewhere to decrypt it later on.
BTW: To me it seems like the have been slashdotted... the proxy times out since about half an hour after I posted the original entry.
You can have the multi-IM features in your Jabber server, almost out-of-the-box. Central log storage is a good idea, when it is on »my« harddisk (as opposed to »your« harddisk, hehe)
About the reminder feature: we got iCal, haven't we?
Regards,
/k
About reminders in your calendar... I actually would like to have some short term notifications without having to enter anything into my electronic calendar from where it would be synchronized to wherever my calendar gets synchronized to. Those little items like "Remember trying to call {whichever line was busy at an attempt}" would just make the already full schedule a complete mess.
And who was talking about mutli-IM features? Ok, IMSmart does proxy multi-clients, but it doesn't try to integrate them.
And Jabber, well, I do have a Jabber account, but so far I hardly use it, there are no contacts of mine using that client and that kind of spoils the whole idea. Which Jabber client would you recommend to IM with users on ICQ, MSN, AIM and Yahoo!IM?
Which Jabber client would you recommend to IM with users on ICQ, MSN, AIM and Yahoo!IM?
Adium X is an instant messaging client for Mac OS X which supports multiple protocols.
It supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, Rendezvous, Yahoo! Japan, Gadu-Gadu, Jabber, Napster, Lotus Sametime (via the Meanwhile plugin, and Novell GroupWise.
http://www.adiumx.com/index.php
Psi is an instant messaging application running on Microsoft Windows XP, Apple MacOS X and GNU/Linux/KDE3.
Jabber technologies are highly extensible, so Psi is able to interoperate with other, proprietory messaging systems such as AOL's ICQ and Microsoft's Messenger. You can keep in contact with your friends, regardless of whether they use AIM, ICQ, MSNM or YahooM. It's even possible to use Internet Relay Chat!
http://psi.affinix.com
Both applications work very well.
Another hint:
Verschlüsseltes GnuPG mit Jabber und Psi (Mac OS X):
http://www.web-blog.net/index/P169/
Plus: Trillian, which I am using...
Not overlapping in the functionality of IMSmart though.
P.S.:
Both applications (Adium X and Psi) are freeware!
Weitere Diskussion: http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2004/11/08/imsmarter.php
Volker -- have a look at Proteus ( http://www.proteusx.com ). It's a Mac IM client that has most of the features listed in the comments here (minus Sametime, I believe), but it has the ability to run as a client/server application.
You have one proteus client act as a server and connect to it via the second -- it's all VERY seamless and quite impressive. :D
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