Since there's no public build of Trillian Astra available yet, I decided to try the new Gaim v2.0 beta to consolidate my AIM and Google Talk accounts for the time being.

[Sidenote: I'm still running Windows Live Messenger separately since I frequently use features like Shared Folders that are only supported by the official client. WLM is actually still my favorite IM client overall, despite some of the minor gripes that I had with it.]

Anyway, Gaim 2.0 has been holding up well so far. The default layout still includes many of the same old boxy, Linux-like widgets and graphics, which are a bit of an eye-sore, especially on Windows Vista. Fortunately, I find most of these buttons and toolbars redundant and just hide them anyway. Also, most of the graphics are just PNG images stored in the Gaim directory, so they're easy to replace with better looking ones. With a little bit of Photoshop-fu, I've customized mine so that it's pretty minimalistic and clean, and I'm quite happy with it so far. :)

Cerulean Studios has just launched a new site showcasing Trillian Astra, the next version of their multi-protocol IM client.

Astra includes a whole bunch of new features, and a complete UI overhaul. At the same time, Cerulean claims that performance and resource usage has been greatly improved. In fact, performance was one of the main reasons why I stopped using v3.1 - the splash screen that came up everytime Windows started, and stuck around until the client slowly loaded in the background always drove me up the wall. It's good to hear that a lot of work has gone into this area.

The new default UI is pretty interesting, although I'm not sure how usable things like the "Tile view" for the contact list are going to be. I think I'd need to see it in action when a public build is released before I can comment any more on the new layout and design.

It does look like something I definitely want to try out though. It's been a while since Cerulean has released an update, and this looks like a big one. :)

The final Windows Vista bits have appeared on MSDN and TechNet Plus at last, one day before the planned release date. Office 2007 also appeared on both sites earlier this week. I've got my copy of Office burned and ready, and Vista is steadily coming down the pipe as I type this. :)

But more interestingly, Microsoft is offering one free copy of either Windows Vista Business or Ultimate Edition to every beta tester who reported at least one bug during the course of the technical beta program. Unlike MSDN keys, which can activate up to 10 different PCs, the keys being handed out on Connect are single-machine licenses. Very cool, nonetheless. Just sign in to Connect and you should see the final survey asking you which key you would like.

My desktop, currently running RC 2, is all ready for a final migration to the gold bits. The question now is whether I should pick the x86 or x64 version. One would hope that third-party driver and application support for Vista x64 will be better now than it was for XP x64; that remains to be seen. x86 would be the "safe bet" for now, but where's the fun in that? ;P

ReviewMe.com, a recently launched site has been making its rounds on the web during the last few days. Dave also blogged about it a couple of days ago. The basic purpose of the service is to connect advertisers to bloggers and publishers who are willing to review products in return for monetary compensation.

Since I tend to post opinion-pieces and mini-reviews of new software, web services, gadgets and electronics every so often here on e-piphany anyway, I decided to sign up for the service to see what it's all about.

The sign-up process is quick and simple. Registration is open to anyone who maintains a blog, but your blog needs to be approved before you can start using the service. I initially thought it would take a day or two for a manual approval process, so I was pleasantly surprised when my blog was approved immediately. It looks like ReviewMe automatically checks how many subscribers your RSS feed has, and what your blog's rankings are on Technorati and Alexa, based on inbound links and other factors. Your blog is then assigned a "Ranking" (x out of 5 stars) based on these factors, which is also used to determine how much you get paid for the reviews you post. In effect, publishers with more popular blogs get paid more.

Once you've signed up as a blogger, advertisers can see your blog in the repository and offer to pay you to review their product or service. If you accept, you are given a certain amount of time to post your review. The only real requirements are that your review should be at least 200 words long, and that you need to post a disclosure stating that you're being paid for your post. The latter, along with the fact that you're not compelled to write positive reviews of any product if you don't want to prevents bloggers from introducing bias into their posts. Bloggers who write glowing review for terrible products are bound to lose credibility (and lots of readers, probably), since they can't avoid having to disclose the fact that they're being paid for the review - nobody likes paid shills, after all. :) But for those of us that are willing to post honest reviews, this is a nice way to potentially earn some extra cash (to pay for web hosting, for example) while doing what we enjoy anyway.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what types of offers I receive. Needless to say, I won't be reviewing irrelevant stuff that is of no interest to me and all of you.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by ReviewMe.com

The Photosynth Technology Preview is a taste of the newest - and, we hope, most exciting - way to view photos on a computer. Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and then displays the photos in a reconstructed three-dimensional space, showing you how each one relates to the next.

In our collections, you can access gigabytes of photos in seconds, view a scene from nearly any angle, find similar photos with a single click, and zoom in to make the smallest detail as big as your monitor.

If you're into photography or imaging, you're going to love this. Make sure you check out the San Marco demo collection. The Tech Preview currently works only in Internet Explorer, so fire it up and take a look.

At long last, Google Talk supports offline messaging.
I don't really like the idea of having to enable chat logging in order to get offline messages, but I guess it's better than nothing. Speaking of which, the number of people on my GTalk contact list has actually increased (although it's still no match for my MSNM...err...WLM list). Either this means that GTalk is starting to pick up a bit of steam, or it just means that I've met more geeks during the last few months. Somehow, I think it's the latter. :P

Meanwhile, Windows Live Messenger raises the bar again with the latest v8.1 beta by adding support for roaming identities (among other things). This means that your display picture and personal message follow you when you sign in from different locations - a welcome change for me since I frequently switch between my desktop and Tablet PC. Now if we can get support for multiple sign-ins like GTalk, that'll be even better.

I'm also back on the AIM network since last week, thanks to the AIM Lite client. This is an official client from AOL that's meant to be a cleaner, leaner alternative to the regular app. I don't like the UI too much (it feels out of place), but a lightweight, basic client that allows me to send and receive messages to and from my AIM-loving buddies is just what I needed to get back on the network after having tried and disliked just about every third-party, multi-protocol IM client out there.