After a summer of non-stop feature releases, we are taking a little time to clean up the bugs, enhance performance, and tweak the usability of new features.  Thanks for all the great feedback you are providing!

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 71, r24743) which introduces lots of fixes and interface tweaks.  As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Fixed several of the most commonly reported crashes
• Fixed several significant memory leaks introduced in the last release
• Added diagnostic info to hunt down remaining crashes – please submit diagnostic logs if Digsby crashes

If you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

If you would like to become an alpha tester and get new releases before everyone else, download this file and place it in the main program folder. Keep in mind that as an alpha tester you may get a release with a few bugs every now and then.  We are looking for people who are proactive in reporting these issues so we can fix them before builds go out to all users.

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 69, r24489) which implements many of the usability enhancements and you have recommended over the past week along with a bunch of bug fixes. As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Numerous Twitter Enhancements
• Possibly fixed a crash when returning from hibernate
• Possibly fixed a bug that caused AIM to disconnect a lot while sending IMs

We are close to pushing the release to all users so if you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

If you would like to become an alpha tester and get new releases before everyone else, download this file and place it in the main program folder. Keep in mind that as an alpha tester you may get a release with a few bugs every now and then.  We are looking for people who are proactive in reporting these issues so we can fix them before builds go out to all users.

Update 1 (9/29/2009 10:45am EST): Today we’ve got some fixes for the Twitter issues from last night’s release. The new build number is r24497.

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 68, r24416) which has a few new log statements to help us hunt down a crash that a few people have been reporting.

Update 1 (9/25/2009 1:55pm PST): Thanks to some of the changes from the previous alpha, we have a potential fix for the crash that we’re hunting down. There’s also a few usability enhancements for Twitter and some Hotmail bug fixes that you can read about on our changelog. The new build number is r24440.

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 66, r24212 r24269) which has a new input box that will be capable of handling multi-formatting.

It currently only does per-message formatting and not per-character formatting but we are adding per-character support right now.  If you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

Update 1 (9/18/2009 3:25pm EST): Rolled this back for now – not ready for prime time.  Thank you for the bug reports and crash reports.

Update 2 (9/19/2009 1:00pm EST): Fixed the reported issues and taking another stab at it.  The new release is r24269.  Please let us know if you run into any bugs with the new input box.

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 65, r24127 r24143) which is primarily focused on ironing out bugs and usability issues from the last alpha. As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Fixed a critical bug that caused social network accounts to disappear on login for some users
• You can now flip through entire Facebook photo albums in the newsfeed instead of just the pictures you see
• The Facebook newsfeed is now filtered to match the rules you set up on the Facebook website
• The research module now has its own section in preferences with info and options

We are close to pushing the release to all users so if you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

If you would like to become an alpha tester and get new releases before everyone else, download this file and place it in the main program folder. Keep in mind that as an alpha tester you may get a release with a few bugs every now and then.  We are looking for people who are proactive in reporting these issues so we can fix them before builds go out to all users.

Update (9/17/2009 10:30am EST): We just pushed out a small patch fixing a bug with incoming Yahoo unicode IMs showing incorrectly and a bug that caused Facebook to get stuck in the Authenticating state.  This brings the release number to 24143.

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 64, r23944 r24046) which introduces many new features and enhancements. As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Facebook: A completely revamped Facebook Newsfeed that brings the full Facebook experience to Digsby.  Now you can post your status, comment on friend activity, “like” status updates, and even browse through photo albums.
• MySpaceIM: We added full support for MySpaceIM to our arsenal of protocols.
• Achievements: Share your achievements within Digsby with friends via Facebook Newsfeed.  There is more info about this feature on our FAQ.

This release is packed full of new features so we are expecting some new bugs to pop up. If you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

If you would like to become an alpha tester and get new releases before everyone else, download this file and place it in the main program folder. Keep in mind that as an alpha tester you may get a release with a few bugs every now and then.  We are looking for people who are proactive in reporting these issues so we can fix them before builds go out to all users.

Update 1 (9/15/09 1:09pm EST): Small patch to help track down an issue with disappearing accounts.  If you notice that any of your accounts have gone missing, please submit a bug report immediately.

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 61, r23296 r23311 r23319 r23406 r23428 r23447) which introduces many new features and enhancements. As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Brand New Look: We released a sleek new default skin called “Windows 7″ (by Derek Erdmann). If your skin is set to anything besides the default, this will not override your preference.  If you prefer the old look, go to Preferences > Skins and choose the “QuickSilver” skin.
• MySpace Newsfeed: In Build 60, we switched the Infobox over to a full blown web browser (WebKit).  We said that the change would make the Infobox much more versatile and this is the first example of that.  We are introducing a completely redesigned MySpace newsfeed which now includes a full Activities Stream, status updates, and the ability to browse through photos.
• Global Status: A new Global Status dialog makes it easy to set your status across social networks and IM accounts. You can access it from the status dropdown on the buddy list or by double clicking any social network.  The Global Status dialog also makes it easy to share links (via digs.by) and pictures (via pic.im)
• URL Shortener: We are launching a URL shortener just for Digsby users under the domain http://digs.by. In the future you will be able to access a history of links you shared and statistics about how many times they were clicked.
• OneRiot: We partnered with OneRiot to make it easy for you to search the real-time web. Just hit “Ctrl + F” on the buddy list to search.

This release is packed full of new features so we are expecting some new bugs to pop up. If you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

If you would like to become an alpha tester and get new releases before everyone else, download this file and place it in the main program folder. Keep in mind that as an alpha tester you may get a release with a few bugs every now and then.  We are looking for people who are proactive in reporting these issues so we can fix them before builds go out to all users.

Update 1 (8/3/2009 6:30pm EST): We just pushed out a small patch fixing a few issues that have been reported.  This brings the release number to r23311 Please keep the bug reports coming so we can make this build solid and release to all Digsbies!

• Fixed a bug that caused auto-update to not work for some people behind restrictive proxies
• Potentially fixed a bug that caused MySpace login to fail (if you were having trouble please confirm this fix)
• Fixed a bug with the global status dialog to fail when using it to reply to a tweet and also setting the status elsewhere
• Fixed a bug that caused the status dropdown to scroll backwards
• Better error messages for network errors in the global status dialog
• Removed timestamps from self status on MySpace because they were inaccurate due to incorrect timezone info

Update 2 (8/3/2009 7:45pm EST): We pushed out a small patch fixing a bug that caused Digsby to freeze or crash when setting your Facebook status. This brings the release number to r23319.

Update 3 (8/5/2009 5:15 EST): One more patch fixing a few bugs that all you wonderful alpha testers have reported. One feature was tossed into the mix as well.  The new release number is r23378.

• Added spell check to the global status dialog if you have spell check enabled in Preferences > Conversations
• Fixed a bug that prevented you from using non-English (unicode) characters in your MySpace status
• Fixed a bug that caused pressing “Enter” in the global status dialog to close it instead of setting status
• Fixed the “reply_to” bug in the global status dialog
• Fixed a bug that prevented you from adding two MySpace accounts
• If your clock is wrong, this prevents MySpace from authenticating – new error dialog is more clear about the cause instead of just saying “Authentication Error”
• Added the ability to set a blank status, which will clear Facebook and LinkedIn statuses (Twitter and MySpace will do nothing)
• Better error messages for Twitter errors in the global status dialog

Update 4 (8/6/2009 1:30 EST): Another day, another patch for bug fixes. The new release number is r23406. Thanks again to our alpha testers!

• Fixed a bug causing MySpace accounts to get stuck in the “Connecting” state
• Fixed a bug causing MySpace to show a count for “Alerts” when there weren’t any.
• Fixed a bug that caused excessive account data syncing

Update 5 (8/11/2009 11:15 EST): Small things can make a big difference. The new release number is r23428.

• Fixed a possible memory leak related to keepalives for xmpp-based accounts that get disconnected.
• Fixed another bug that caused excessive account data syncing

Update 6 (8/12/2009 11:25 EST):  The new release number is r23447.

• Fixed a bug preventing Twitter authentication errors from showing
• Fixed a bug causing the status dialog to be populated with HTML escaped text when re-tweeting
• Fixed a bug that caused a ‘connection failed’ error to be suppressed for MySpace accounts

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 60, r22406 r22438 r22453 r22501 r22523 r22564) which introduces a few more bug fixes as we prepare for the next public release. As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Fixed a few major memory leaks
• Added more diagnostic info to help us hunt down memory leaks – if you see Digsby using a ton of RAM (ie: over 200MB) please submit a bug report

We are hoping (once again) that this alpha becomes the next public release so if you run into any new bugs please let us know so they can be fixed before the build goes live for all users.  If you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

Update 1 (6/12/2009 11:45am): We just pushed out a patch (r22438) fixing a few minor issues:

• Fixed a bug with conversation previews in preferences
• Fixed message unread counts for LinkedIn
• Fixed a bug with setting different status messages
• Fixed a bug that caused your status to reset after doing a buddy list search
• Brought back the “Promote Digsby Status”

Update 2 (6/12/2009 5:45pm): We just pushed out a small patch (r22453) fixing a bug that was introduced in today’s release that prevented you from changing your status in some cases.

Update 3 (6/17/2009 5:00pm): We just pushed out a patch (r22501) fixing a few issues:

• Fixed the major memory leak we’ve been hunting down
• Fixed a bug that was causing Digsby to crash for some users
• Fixed a bug that caused the groups “Root 0″ and “Root 1″ to appear on login
• Added a separate notification type for messages received which are hidden to icon tray

Update 4 (6/19/2009 11:55am): One more patch (r22523) fixing a bug and adding a feature:

• Fixed a bug that caused other “paged” popups to fade out while you are interacting with one of them
• Added Retweet to Twitter

Update 5 (6/23/2009 11:30am): We just pushed out a patch (r22564) fixing a few issues:

• Fixed two significant memory leaks (thank you alpha testers for your help hunting these down)
• Fixed a bug with buddy list rearranging where the visual indicator was incorrect

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 59, r22273 r22291 r22310) which introduces fixes for the (hopefully last) remaining known bugs in this series of alpha releases. As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Fixed a bug that caused saved status messages to be lost when switching between the alpha and public release
• Fixed a bug that caused AIM and ICQ accounts to disconnect regularly

We are hoping that this alpha becomes the next public release so if you run into any new bugs please let us know so they can be fixed before the build goes live for all users.  If you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.

Update 1 (6/3/2009 4:00pm EST): We just pushed out a patch fixing a few new issues that were reported in this build as we prepare for the next public release. Fixes include:

• Fixed a small bug with AIM login
• Fixed a small bug in the preferences window
• Fixed a bug that caused your status message not to highlight when clicking the orb to change status
• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to exit even if you click no when multiple tabs are open

Update 2 (6/4/2009 4:20pm EST): We just pushed out one more small patch fixing a bug that caused the buddy list to show groups “Root 0″ and Root 1″ on login along with a fix for a CPU spin related to IMAP and AOL Mail accounts. The new release number is r22310.

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 58, r22238) which introduces fixes for the remaining known bugs in this series of alpha releases along with a fix for AIM/ICQ login. As always, you can read the entire list of enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Fixed a bug that caused offline merged contacts to get stuck in their original group instead of moving to the “Offline” group
• Add support for a change in the AIM/ICQ protocols that broke login
• Added new diagnostic info to help us hunt down memory leaks – if you see Digsby using a ton of RAM (ie: over 200MB) please submit a bug report

We are hoping that this alpha becomes the next public release so if you run into any new bugs please let us know so they can be fixed before the build goes live for all users.  If you experience any issues please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us at bugs@digsby.com.