VoIP and chat program Nimbuzz fixes Facebook chat name display bug

VoIP and chat program Nimbuzz fixes Facebook chat name display bug

Chat and VoIP program Nimbuzz connects to Skype, standard SIP VoIP, GoogleTalk, Jabber, MSN (Windows Live), Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Twitter, Gadu-Gadu, Facebook, MySpace, orkut, and Hyves. It does Twitter too.

The latest edition fixes some Nokia N97 specific issues, and kills a very annoying Facebook bug which used to bite many phones: many Facebook chat contacts were displayed as numbers, but now Nimbuzz shows the correct names.

• Nimbuzz

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eBuddy: new colors, old ads

Mobile Java multi-network chat program eBuddy connects to MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Facebook chat.

The latest edition uses less data, logs you in faster, fixes some annoying bugs (custom messages work again, no more double Yahoo entries), and it lets you choose the color of the user interface.

Unfortunately eBuddy displays a big ugly advertisement in your contacts list, and it can't send files or voice messages. You're better off with Nimbuzz, fring, Talkonaut, Palringo, or Slick. eBuddy is no longer a suitable choice for phones that run on Symbian 9.x.

eBuddy wants you to do an on the fly install from your phone browser, but you don't need to put up with that. Just select your phone brand and model from the dropdown boxes on get.ebuddy.com, download the jad file, and open it with a text editor to read the location of the corresponding jar file. Or download the jar and jad files from Mobile Castle.

• eBuddy
• eBuddy v1.4 on Mobile Castle
• check the instant messaging label for better chat programs

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Jbak TaskMan

Jbak TaskMan

There's yet another test version of Jbak TaskMan. This program shows the running tasks on your phone, including hidden tasks that won't show up in Symbian's built-in task manager. Jbak TaskMan also displays memory status, disk usage, and detailed task info. When the program is running, long-pressing the menu button launches Jbak TaskMan instead of Symbian's built-in task manager.

The new test version fixes a few bugs, lets you set the font size in pixels, and the menus appear faster. And now Jbak TaskMan has a flashlight too. When you activate it, your screen turns bright white, but BrightLight and Light Control are better at turning your phone into a torch.

Jbak TaskMan v1.00 R16 is not available from Jbak's own site, but if you want to test it you can get it from Mobile Castle.

• Jbak TaskMan site (latest full version and some test versions)
• Jbak TaskMan v1.00 R16 (test version, unsigned) at Mobile Castle

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Talkonaut fixes bugs but forgets Skype, fring twitters faster, Nokia Messaging plays with Facebook, Fake Messages reads your phone book

Still no Skype and Facebook in Talkonaut

Instant messenger and VoIP client Talkonaut talks to Jabber (including Google Talk), ICQ, MSN, AIM, and Yahoo. And it lets you call using almost every VoIP service that uses the SIP protocol.

The latest update fixes some very minor bugs, but the main Talkonaut flaw remains: Talkonaut doesn't work with Skype. It doesn't work with Facebook Chat either.

On the bright side, Talkonaut lets you store multiple SIP VoIP settings, which competing programs Nimbuzz and fring still do not.

• Talkonaut


Faster Twitter for fring

VoIP client and multi-network instant messenger fring connects you to Skype and standard SIP VoIP, GoogleTalk, MSN (Windows Live), ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, Twitter, and social networking sites like Facebook and orkut. Fring is also a GMail notifier, last.fm radio player, Facebook tool, Twitter application, and it includes Wi-Fi hotspot finder WeFi.

The latest fring version adds support for the Nokia E52 and E72, fixes some connection bugs, and Twitter on fring is faster now.

• fring

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Symbian task manager KillMe kills bugs

Symbian S60 task manager KillMe groups the processes (including the hidden ones) that run on your mobile phone according to whether your phone really needs them to keep running.

KillMe is the easiest way to close programs that can't be killed from Symbian's built-in task manager. If a program gets stuck and won't quit, KillMe will make it go away. You can also use KillMe to close non-essential processes to free some memory if you're running low.

The latest KillMe update kills a few bugs.

KillMe doesn't have its own website in english yet, but you can get KillMe in english at Mobile Castle. You'll need to sign the program or hack your phone to install unsigned programs.

If you try to install the new version of KillMe on top of an older version and your phone pops up an "update error," uninstall the old version and try again.

• KillMe v1.36 at MediaFire

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