Last week, meebo introduced v1.0 of an extension for the Firefox Web browser. The extension provides you with numerous features including a dedicated sidebar containing a list of your IM contacts as well as pop-up notifications (similar to new E-mail notifications in Outlook) which alert you as to who’s coming online and/or going offline or to alert you of new IMs you receive. Other notification options include an icon in the Firefox status bar and a blinking taskbar button for when you’re working in a different application
Overall, it’s an impressive release for the meebo team and it seamlessly integrates into the browser – much better than some other sidebar utilities.
I personally shy away from sidebar extensions for two reasons: they take up valuable screen real-estate and they often complicate the browsing experience instead of providing real value. However, the meebo extension is most definitely one that I’ll be keeping in the Firefox arsenal.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with meebo, it’s a convenient, Web-based alternative to programs like Trillian and Pidgin; applications designed to grant you access to multiple IM protocols (AOL, Yahoo!, MSN Gmail, etc.) without having to download an individual program for each service (e.g., AIM to chat with your buddies using AOL or Live Messenger to chat with friends on Microsoft’s service.)
meebo further eliminates the confusion by allowing you to access all of your contacts without requiring you to download ANY application. Instead, just login to the services at meebo.com. You can not only login to each service individually but you can also create a meebo account which can automatically remember your usernames/passwords for each service meaning that you can login just once on any machine and you’ll be able to chat with ALL of your friends, despite which service they’re on.
If you’re gonna go that far, you’ll definitely enjoy the new meebo extension. Download it now or check out some screenshots of some of the features we’ve listed above.
Update: One thing I neglected to mention above is the cost to use meebo’s service: free. Yes, create an account at meebo.com and you’ll be shelling out $0.00 month after month. How, you ask, can the company afford to continue to offer the service at no cost to you? TechCrunch answers that for you in a new post on their site today.
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