Adium, one of the best Instant Messaging clients available on Mac OS X, has just added some new features with their latest release. These features include:

1. Complete redsign of the Contact Inspector (formerly the Get Info Window)
2. Added Facebook Chat Service to Adium
3. Added a search field to the Standard Contact List Window
4. Switch to MSN-Pecan, a new MSN library for libpurple
5. Major performance improvements, especially with signing on multiple accounts simultaneously
6. Tons of improvements and fixes

For additional details about the latest updates visit the Adium Version History page.

Most notably of all the changes is the addition of the Facebook Chat Service. Now you can chat with all of your Facebook friends that are checking out their latest social site.

To Add Facebook to Adium:

1. Download the latest version of Adium, or update your current Adium software
2. Select Adium and click File on the Menu Bar
3. Click Add Account and then Facebook

4. Enter your facebook account intformation and click ok

5. Verify that the Facebook friend list has been added to the bottom of your Adium contact list. You should now be able to chat with your Facebook friends via Adium

Check out these other Adium plugins/features that help make it a great Instant Messaging client.

Simplify Media has been around for a while now. Recently, Simplify Media released their very own iPhone app on the App Store free to the first 100,000 downloads. The idea behind Simplify Media is that it expands on the built-in iTunes sharing by allowing you to share your library over the net, including your iPhone. Here’s how it works.

First, download the Simplify Media software that resides on the computer that contains your iTunes library. The software is available for OS X, Windows, and even Linux. Once you have installed the applicaiton, the software will walk you through the process of setting up a screen name and password.

Next, you can choose what you want to share. You can share nothing at all, your iTunes Library, your music folder. Also, you can customize the folders you want to share.

If you have Simplify Media installed on more than one computer (between work and home, my iTunes library is spread accross 3 macs), then Simplify Media automatically connects to those shared libraries.

 Any shared libraries show up in the ‘Shared’ menu on your iTunes sidebar. You can now have one iTunes library but listen to your tunes from anywhere.

Simplify Media for your iPhone

As luck would have it, we here at Maciverse were part of the first 100,000 to download Simplify Media’s iPhone application and we wanted to see if it was as easy and fun as its computer counterpart. For the most part, we weren’t disappointed.

Launching the iPhone app takes you to a screen where you enter your screen name and password.

Just like iTunes, Simplify Media then connects to all of your shared iTunes libraries.

 From there, you can listen to your music or podcasts just like your iPod. But what about when you’re on the go? To test this, we took our little family on a trip to the local Target store for some back to school shopping. While there, I was able to connect to my shared library over the iPhone 3G connection without any problems. The only problem I did have was that my iPhone’s battery was low and the streaming quickly drained it. Other than that, the music came in without a pause or choppiness.

An additional surprise was that you also have the option of viewing the lyrics from the iPhone app.

Drawbacks

You can’t watch your iTunes movies/TV shows, just your music and podcasts. Also, the app depends on being able to connect to Simplify Media’s servers in order to establish a connection. The next day, while trying to test out the application again, I got the following error:

I got the error when I was connected via WiFi instead of 3G. However, after a minute or two, things connected just fine and I was up and listening again. One last issue, isn’t really a drawback, but the application was working well enough that I clicked the iPhone earbuds button thinking it would pause the music. Unfortunately, my iPhone’s iPod library started playing instead. 

Conclusion

Simplify Media lives up to the hype with respect to centralizing your iTunes library and the iPhone application works like a charm at least over WiFI or a strong 3G connection. The iPhone application is priced at $3.99 after the first 100,000 downloads. So if you can snag this app for free, all the better.

Wordpress has released an app for the iPhone/iPod touch that allows you to post blog entries while on the go.

If you use Wordpress, head on over to the Appstore and pick It up and blog away.

Now that you’ve spent all your money on a nice new Mac, iPhone, Apple TV etc., your budget is starting to get very tight. But you still want to run Windows without Bootcamp, or check out that ubuntu thing that your geek friends talk about without spending any more cash. Well, fortunately you’re still in luck with VirtualBox. VirtualBox is a free virtual machine from sun microsystems. While it may not have all the bells and whistles that Parallels or VMWare Fusion offer, its price tag makes VirtualBox an attractive alternative. In fact, VirtualBox can install certain operating systems that Parallels currently does not support (such as the latest version of Ubuntu Linux). If you want to check out VirtualBox keep in mind the following:

• Memory - You’re going to need at least 512MB of ram for the guest OS. That means you will need at least 1GB of ram for your Mac, preferably more, in order to run comfortably. Otherwise, running a virtual machine will be an exercise in slowwwww.
• Intel Mac - You’re gonna need one to run VirtualBox
• Drive Space - If you have a MacBook Air with a 60Gb or 80Gb drive, keep in mind that a guest OS will take up Gigabytes of space. Running out can be painful.
• Patience - VirtualBox runs on many platforms but it is still in Beta for the Mac. Things may not work out the first or second time. Most virtual machines will add additional modules to the Operating System (called kernel modules). Kernel modules can bring the whole system down. But with a little patience you can still have an enjoyable experience.

So if you want try a virtual machine on the cheap, VirtualBox is for you.

iPhoto is a great application for managing your digital photos. The update to the latest version of iPhoto including Events has only made the application more enticing to potential Mac users. The ability to quickly add and share photos with other applications and other users has been a strong point of iPhoto.

But if you don’t have your own .Mac account or iWeb site sharing your photo’s from iPhoto to friends and family may require a bit of outside assistance. One option to quickly share photo albums with others is through using Google’s free Picasa Web Albums.

Picasa Web Albums is available to anyone with a Google Account. Once your account has been setup, you can upload your photos and share the album urls with others.

To make this process a bit easier, Google has provided a plugin to iPhoto to make exporting photo albums that much easier. After downloading and installing Picasa Web Albums Uploader for your Mac open iPhoto, select the photos or album you’d like to share and then click File, followed by Export.

Once the export window has opened, click the Picasa Web tab. From here you can name the Album you’re uploading, write a brief description, and decide if the album is one you’d like to share with the public or keep private to just those you select to share with.

After defining the options for you soon to be shared album, click export and enter your Google Account credentials. The photos will then be uploaded to your free Google Picasa Web Album site and allow others to view and download the pictures you’ve shared.

Picasa Web Albums + iPhoto is a great way to share photos with friends and family. Additionally, Picasa Web Albums look great on the iPhone and iPod Touch.