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Heidi and her avatars take on the giants of instant messaging
You might think that starting up yet another Instant Messenger service is a mug’s game, considering that you are setting yourself up against the likes of Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and Google.
But a German company called Combot is confident that its new service has enough new features to attract users. These include the ability to have the service live on several machines at once, keeping them all in synch, and guaranteed delivery of messages whether or not the target is online. It also supports large attachments and files transfers.
The service's main selling point is a selection of animated avatars, many franchised from film companies, that can express a range of emotions. The service is free, though you have to pay for some of the avatars. These include characters from Lord of the Rings. Some, like Heidi, who is pictured above, are free when you sign up.
Clearly the service is aimed at youngsters, and as a dotard I don’t feel qualified to judge whether this is a winner. When companies at Cebit started pitching novelty ringtones as a money spinner a few years back I thought they were crazy.
The service has been on beta test for the past few months but has now gone live. Most of the interface is graphical but apparently there is an English version where words are necessary.
Posted by Clive Akass on March 14, 2007 | Permalink
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http://www.TwoPics.com offers a free digital photo software to help you design and share your Yahoo! Instant Messenger avatars.
You can use your own photos or select popular ones from their image library.
First go to http://twopics.com/create.php and choose the TwoPics you want to use. Then upload them using the form on the TwoPics homepage. The small image is the one your friends will see when they look at their contacts lists while big image is the one your friends will see when they point to your name in that list.
Twopics.com's photo editor software will resize the digital photos you want to use and optimize them for Y! Messenger. You can use jpeg, gif or png file formats.
Posted by: MataseAlba | 18 Mar 2007 22:01:59
