Ten Highly Unique Instant Messenger Add Ons

The Internet has tons of fun, hilarious and unique add ons you can use with your MSN Windows Live, AIM or Yahoo! instant messenger application to express exactly what you’re feeling at any given moment. Are you feeling moody, sexy, happy, sad or angry? There is an emoticon for you. Have you recently met someone special, fell in love or had your heart broken? Express it in your instant message conversations. Are you simply too drunk to find the letters on the keyboard? Send an animated wink that says “I’m drunk!” Whatever you’re feeling, don’t be afraid share it with your friends. Below are ten highly unique instant messenger add ons.

Jim Carrey’s Great Funny Laughter – Most of us know him for his breakthrough performance in the 1994 hit comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and who could possibly forget his indistinguishable laugh? If you’re a Jim Carrey fan who can’t get enough of his peculiar facial expressions and sinister cackle, you will definitely love this unique SweetIM.com instant messenger add on. Download the free SweetIM software now and gain additional access to tons of emoticons, winks, nudges and display pictures for total customization of your current instant messenger application.

World of Warcraft Add On – Are you among one of the 10 million mighty heroes trekking adventurously through the magical and mythical World of Warcraft? If so, then you will especially appreciate this popular and highly unique instant messenger add on. Only the finest WoW players understand the skills and tactics it takes to excel in the treacherous land of Azeroth. It’s time to let everyone know how dedicated you are to leveling your warriors and conquering the evil Horde. Never send an IM again without the power and passion of WoW at your fingertips.

Baby Emoticons – The baby emoticons available at SweetIM.com are a great way to send out a warm welcome to a friend or family member with a newborn baby boy or girl. These baby emoticons laugh, smile and cry and there are several different baby emoticons to choose. However, as a rule of thumb, you should always remember that sending a baby emoticon through an IM is hardly a valid excuse for skimping out on a baby shower gift.

HiYo Instant Messenger Add On – HiYo offers a unique and versatile Windows Live Messenger add on software that automatically generates a variety of winks, talking animations, emoticons and sounds based on the conversations you are having. The software creates an incredibly easy way to keep the conversation flowing without having to sift through layers and layers of content. The HiYo instant messenger add on serves as a friendly reminder that you should never underestimate the power of mindless, effortless conversation.

“I’m Drunk” Emoticons – We have all fallen victim to the drunk-n-dial phenomenon after a night at the bar, but SweetIM.com offers a new way of informing your friends that you are absolutely hammered. “I’m Drunk” emoticons are the perfect instant messenger add on for people who love expressing their giddy and pleasant inebriation. Although this emoticon may be extremely annoying to most of your friends, it still tops our list as a hilarious and highly unique instant messenger add on.

IMSpellchecker XP – This instant messenger add on has everything the perfectionist with writing aspirations needs to produce flawless content in every single message. The easy-to-use software combines spell checkers, word suggestions and auto-corrections with an array of useful tools commonly found in any English professor’s office including dictionaries and thesauruses. IMSpellchecker XP also serves as a great method for businesses to make a good impression when dealing with clients over instant message applications such as MSN Windows Live Messenger.

113Tools Utility 1.00 – 113Tools Utility 1.00 is a unique IM add on that prevents AOL Instant Messenger windows from popping up while you are typing. 113Tool Utility 1.00 also hides IM windows and applications by hotkey but prides itself on its ability to help people avoid accidentally sending a message to an unintended person. This software application is great for people who like to stay organized and perfect for teenagers who frequently get caught spreading online rumors behind their friend’s backs.

DeadAIM – DeadAIM is a popular add on that works within AIM Instant Messenger to tweak transparency, keep all conversations in a single tabbed interface and hide unused elements in the main AIM window. DeadAIM also incorporates some of the main characteristics of Windows Live Messenger, including pop up notifications when buddies sign on, sign off, set away messages or return to their keyboard. With this AIM Instant Messenger enhancement application, users realize a more customized and better overall online chat experience without switching to another app and losing their contacts.

eFaces – eFaces is an IM add on that is compatible with AOL, Yahoo! and MSN Windows Live Messenger services making it possible to send your favorite emoticons with just the push of your function keys. Twelve emoticons are included in this software application and you can send them rapid-fire to friends and co-workers each time you experience a change in emotion. In today’s fast-paced and stressful world, there is just no telling just how many different emotions will run through you in a given day, but at least you will be prepared to share them with everyone.

SmartButler- SmartButler enables users to listen to their incoming instant messages, as opposed to the traditional method of actually reading them. SmartButler can read messages from users in different voices and languages, as well as speeds, volumes and tones, all of which you can set so that you can identify which one of your friends, family members or co-workers is trying to communicate with you without visually referring to the chat window. SmartButler also supports voice commands so that you can stay in touch with the people in your life while giving your fingers and eyes a well-deserved rest.

5 Websites That Could Rival Digg

Digg.com is one of the Web’s most popular social media sites for people to discover, select, share and discuss content such as images, videos and newsworthy material. The website operates around a user-generated ranking system where community members are the ones with the power to decide which submissions deserve to climb to the top of the list (however many can argue that it is hardly democratic when it comes to this). Digg.com also offers an outlet for users to engage in conversation about the topics they are passionate about and to determine the value of the content found on the site. However, Digg.com is not the only website currently offering these types of services to community members. Below are five social media sites that are rising in popularity and could arguably rival Digg.com.

1. WhosYourChampion – The Internet phenomenon known as “Who’s Your Champion?” is an extension of the infamous and ever popular “Wall of Champions” that was created some time ago. According to legend, the Wall of Champions began one late summer evening in the basement of a man’s house when he stumbled upon a powerful cover photo of Ted Danson from the weekly TV Guide. The man saw something so deep in the eyes of the former bartender from “Cheers” that he was left with no choice but to take that photo and turn it into something spectacular. The original Wall of Champions, once held together by thumbtacks and Scotch tape, covered walls upon walls, and is now sweeping the Web. Since it was founded in 2006, the “Who’s Your Champion” website has become the ultimate place for fans to submit photos and videos of their favorite Champions. The founding fathers of the WhosYourChampion.com, who remain anonymous, stand behind their motto that “if you don’t know what a Champion is, you may be one!” The creators of the site also believe that users will be able to figure out the qualities a true Champion possesses just by visiting the site. Champion fanatics have the freedom to submit photos and videos of their favorite champs from a variety of categories including athletic Champions, celebrities, local Champions, “Champs of the Day” and the legendary “mustache” category. Users can then help their favorite Champions rise to the top or fall in despair through a voting and rating system, with the option of commenting on other user’s picks and interacting with the rest of the “Who’s Your Champ?” community. Users can also search for Champions or other users, explore “Champion News Links” and vote on the “Who’s Your Champion?” “Weekly Poll.”

2. Reddit – Reddit.com is another source for users to discover what is new and popular on the Web. The website gives users a chance to review links submitted by other users and vote for whether they thought the content was “hot” or “cold.” Users can click the “up arrow” to help the submission get closer to the “front page” and the “down arrow” will bring it further down. Users are free to submit interesting links for other community members to read while gaining karma and impressing their friends in the process. The theory behind Reddit.com is to “democratize” the traditional model of obtaining newsworthy material by “giving editorial control to the people who use the site” and not the ones who run it. Therefore, all of the content on the site comes from users who are rewarded for submitting “good content” and punished (by their peers) for “bad content” by a system of promotions and demotions. “Redditors” are not only presented with the newest and most popular material on the Web but all of the material on the “front page” will be a personalized page that is both filtered for quality by fellow Redditors and filtered for relevance by you!

3. Yahoo! Buzz – The mere fact that Yahoo! Buzz is an extension of Yahoo!, “the Web’s most popular starting point,” makes it an automatic Digg competitor with some serious potential. The website reveals some of the hottest and most timely content from across the Internet covering everything from politics and breaking news to entertainment, viral videos and personal blogs. All of the content found on Yahoo! Buzz is ranked according to a unique voting (or “buzzing”) system where, like Digg, users become the “editors” with the freedom to submit content , engage in conversations via commenting and “buzz” content up or down on the rankings based on relevance and importance . Buzz with higher rankings (also known as “Top Buzz”) shows up more prominently on the website and reaches this status in relation to the number of votes and comments the buzz receives, the popularity of related search terms on Yahoo! Search and the number of times users share the buzz with friends over email from Yahoo! Buzz. The top searches and stories on the site update every hour providing users a fast, simple way to keep up with their fast-paced worlds.

4. Plime –Plime.com is an editable Wiki-like news aggregator that also relies on community members to add and edit the weird and interesting links found throughout the site. Each individual user can rate any post or comment based on its value to the community, hence the philosophy behind this Digg-esque link forum that it is “controlled by everyone and no one.” Plime is also a great place for people to meet other members who share similar interests, otherwise referred to as “Plimates” in the Plime community, or a group of people commonly believed to be “very cool, ultra-attractive and extremely intellectual.” The key responsibility of each Plimate is to submit a variety of posts containing links to news stories, images and videos that are “interesting, funny or otherwise entertaining,” in which other Plimates can “upvote,” “downvote,” comment on or edit, assuming they have reached the required “karma” level. Plimates earn karma points when other users vote on their actions, adding or subtracting points based on the feedback and level the commenter is on. Higher levels give Plimates the option of editing other member’s posts as well as features of the site including categories, subcategories and color schemes with the added ability to change user’s access levels. To put it simply, the more karma you have in Plime, the more power you possess.

5. FMyLife.com – FMYLife.com provides users an often much-needed opportunity to vent their daily frustrations by speaking out about the pivotal moment that really “ruined their day.” FMyLife aims to prove that misfortunes and uncomfortable circumstances happen to everyone every day and gives people something that is fun to read and enjoyable on a daily basis. Each post on the site begins with “Today,” and ends with “FML,” allowing the user to fill in the space in between and contribute their “unfortunate experience” to a user-generated blog. FMyLife posts climb or fall down the “Top and Flop” charts according to two methods of visitor voting. Posts found on the “Top FML” list contain stories where other users agreed the event was bad enough to screw with someone’s day. The “Flop FML” list, on the other hand, contains posts about people who also had a bad experience but users in this category believed the person probably had it coming. Topics of interest, themes and categories found on the site include love, money, kids, work, health and sex, where users are encouraged to share their misfortunes with a sense of irony and self-depreciation. While this website does not contain "top news stories" as Digg does, it's substantial growth in popularity could result in a grab of some of Digg's market share.

5 Reasons Why Digg Will Eventually Fail

Digg is known as the ultimate social bookmarking website. The #1 when it comes to user-generated content. It has survived over the past couple of years past many imitation websites and through the clutter of other social networking outlets, but will it last forever? In my opinion, the popularity of Digg will die down significantly over the next year or two. Here is why...


1. The Power User - If you're active among the Digg community, you are well aware of Mr. Baby Man, the #1 Digger. Pretty much everything he submits makes the front page of Digg because he is the ultimate power user. There are a select few of these individuals who pretty much rule Digg's front page. I've read stats that have said that Digg's top 100 user's submissions are on the front page anywhere between 50% - 75% of any given time..this doesn't count stories that they are shouting that they have not submitted. The problem with this is that many individuals will submit the same story prior to the power user and will maybe get 2 Diggs while the power user can submit the same story an hour later and will make the front page with great ease. Digg's users have frequently expressed their frustration with this (I've noticed this more and more). If you look at other social bookmarking websites that are similar to Digg such as Reddit, you'll see that the best story makes the front page regardless of who submits it...which is the way it should be.


2. Frequent Banning - Digg has gotten extremely strict over the past year and has alienated a lot of their user base. I understand that every website has their TOS and if you don't play by the rules you'll get banned, but Digg has gotten way overboard. I got banned last month because there were two accounts running from the same computer. I have my own laptop, but when it was busted I started to sign on the desktop computer inside my house which is used by someone else frequently with a Digg account. Digg banned me because they claimed I was running multiple accounts on the same IP (even though we never have dugg each other's stories). After two days of arguing I got "unbanned", but couldn't get over the fact that something like this could get you banned. I know people who have been banned for Digging too many stories in a short period of time (despite the fact that Digg sends out a warning if you're doing this), people who have been banned for using scripts (even the ones that don't Digg other people's stories or do anything that would compromise the integrity of an account).


3. Better Websites Do Exist - One of the reasons why Digg is popular because it was really one of the first websites do incorporate the concept of having user's submit stories and other user's voting on these stories. This doesn't necessarily make it the best. While this is merely a matter of opinion, I personally find the content on Reddit and Plime to be a lot better. An argument can be said that Digg does have a lot more "top news stories" than Reddit and Plime which have more "offbeat content", but then all you have to do is go to a non-social media website such as CNN, CBS, or even Yahoo and you'll find more of these "top news stories" than you would on Digg (and if you want to find another social media website that focuses on top news stories that is always Yahoo! Buzz).


4. Banned Domain Names - If you submit a piece of content that gets buried by a whole bunch of Digg users, there is a good chance that the domain name will get banned by Digg permanently. The problem with this is that it should take more than one occurrence for this to occur. You might submit content that Digg users do not enjoy, but if this was the first time that there were a significant amount of buries related to the domain name, the website should not be banned. Digg is way too quick to ban a website. I do understand that the bury button includes the option of reporting a story as "spam" which usually is the contributor of a domain name being banned, but it should take more than one time for this to result in a ban. This is something else that has frustrated Digg users. If a user is submitting spam frequently ban the user, not the site.


5. Everything New has Been Negative - In order for a website to succeed it needs to grow with their user base. The only changes that Digg have made are negative i.e the message you get when Digging too many stories, how it is a helluva lot easier to get banned, etc. There are a couple of new featrues (such as showing Digg stories based on keywords and showing similar stories based on user's Digging behavior), but they are hardly innovative or even all that noticable where they'd draw a lot of attention. All of the other industry leaders have made significant changes to their website. Facebook went from being a social networking website just for college students to open to everybody. They have added fan pages, groups, and Facebook applications to their website among a dozen other new features. YouTube has included a "Statistics & Data" feature with all of their videos, runs a PPC program similar to Adwords, created their own analytics program (insight), and numerous of other features that listened to the demands of their user base. If Digg continues to stay the same, there will be no room for growth.