Windows/Mac/Linux (Adobe Air): MeeBone, an Adobe Air implementation of chat aggregation service Meebo, makes the previously web-only chat service feel like a standard instant messaging app, complete with a skinny buddy list and pop-up chat windows. You can sign into AIM, GChat, MSN, ICQ, or any other service supported by Meebo, and you'll get all the integrated video and voice chat options offered on Meebo's website. It doesn't have all the options of dedicated desktop clients like Pidgin, but it is slick, easy to use, and adds simple video. MeeBone is a free download, requires the Adobe Air platform to run.

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Jailbroken iPhones/iPod touches only: Agile Messenger isn't the only multi-client app available for the iPhone, but it makes mobile messaging seriously convenient, and it's pretty slick-looking, to boot. Agile supports the AIM, GoogleTalk, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, and Jabber protocols, can run in the background and update its home screen badge for messages, and places your multiple conversations easily-navigable tabs. What's really intriguing is its copy/paste function—simply select some text with your finger, click to copy it, then paste it into your text field. The app also makes sending pics from your iPhone camera a one-click process. Agile Messenger is a free download (at least while in beta), available through the Installer program on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch.

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All things Mac web site Macworld details how to set your instant message privacy status on a schedule to help you stay productive during your busy times. Unfortunately there are no IM clients that allow for privacy scheduling, so the article details how to adjust your privacy settings on a schedule using AppleScript. The script, which works with the popular Adium instant messaging client, focuses on the privacy settings, but you could just as easily tweak the script to change your status on a schedule as well. Whatever your preference, scheduling your visibility and status in your IM client could make a huge difference in your productivity and help cut down significantly on interruptions.

Tele-commuter and IBM "social computing evangelist" Luis Suarez writes in the New York Times that he was able to cut down his weekly incoming email by 80 percent—seriously—by responding to messages that would normally start a chain reaction through wikis, blogs, and instant messaging instead. He also started picking up the phone more often to add a personal touch when needed:

I have had continuing support from my management in this effort, because I've been able to prove how much more I can accomplish by answering a question, and posting it on a blog, for example, than I can by answering the same question over and over. I still help people, but in a more open and collaborative fashion. Other people can join in the discussions — maybe they will have a better idea than mine.

Assuming you could convince your superiors to install the needed tools and let you give it a try, could you see yourself benefiting from internal social networking instead of endless email replies? How would you divvy up responses between the various outputs? Let's hear the pros and cons of your theoretical (or real-life) work flow in the comments.

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Windows only: Dexrex, a free set of plug-ins for most popular IM clients, lets you store transcripts of your IM conversations from any system online for later reference. Dexrex's plug-ins work with Digsby, Pidgin, AIM Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and many more—see the video below for a demonstration. You can even import older, locally-saved chat logs onto the site for a complete archive, or sign into chat directly through Dexrex's site, while automatically saving transcripts. Whether or not you trust your chat logs to an online storage site is up to you, of course, but it's definitely helpful if you trade a lot of links and important info through chat. Dexrex's extensions are free downloads for Windows chat clients only. Hit the jump for a video showing off some of Dexrex's features:

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Multi-IM-client mobile phone app Palringo, previously available for Windows Mobile and Symbian, has now added the BlackBerry to its list of targets. The release works on Pearl, Curve and 8800 series models, and supports eight IM services, including Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, allowing you to combine contacts in one single interface. Palringo is freeware.
Palringo

Most of the initial hype around the new 4.0 beta version of Skype centres around the improved video quality and the amount of space the revised client takes up on screen. However, the most interesting new feature in the long term may be the fact that multiple conversations -- video, voice or text -- can all be managed from the central screen. Alternating between numerous discussions is a major nuisance in earlier releases, so this might be some compensation for the crowding that'll be inevitable on ultra-portables like the Eee with the new triple-width client. Skype 4.0 is currently a Windows-only beta, but Skype hopes to get the gold version out the door later in the year and follow with Mac and Linux versions. (Personally, I'm too scarred by the bugs in 3.8 to test 4.0 just yet, but I'd love to hear any reader experiences in the comments.)

Windows/Linux: The Facebook Chat for Pidgin plug-in connects the popular open-source chat application Pidgin with the new Facebook Chat instant messaging service. Facebook integration is one of the marquee features of Digsby, an up-and-coming IM app with an emphasis on social networking sites, but if you're a part of the majority who still prefers Pidgin, this plug-in will bring you the Facebook integration you want and you won't need to change horses to get it. The Facebook Chat plug-in is free, works wherever Pidgin does. Want to beef up Pidgin even more? Check out the ten must-have Pidgin plug-ins. Thanks Larry, Donal, and Jacob!

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While we've covered how instant messaging can make you more productive, but all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Freshly-launched beta Digbsy Themes lets users of the multi-platform instant messaging client Digsby customise their client to their hearts' content. The MakeUseOf blog offers a handy tutorial on replacing both the themes and the emoticon packs for a fresh new interface.

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A new article in Business Week looks at a familiar and not very convincing theme -- the amount that time-wasting and stuffing around can cost a business. But in an unexpected twist, it also looks at how technologies can also be used to help prioritise our activities at work, assessing the potential cost to productivity of a given interruption and perhaps sending an IM for truly urgent and useful tasks. It's an interesting concept, even if you can't help thinking that no human being could be expected to be productive 100% of the time whatever the state of their office Internet connection,

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