We just pushed Build 43 to all users.  This includes all users who are running extremely old releases that have not been updated since last May.  If you have trouble with the auto-update, download the installer directly here:

http://update.digsby.com/install/digsby_setup.exe

The release pushed out today to all users includes all the features, bug fixes and enhancements in Builds 38, 39, 40, and 41 on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Implemented a completely new method of load balancing and authentication.  This will help us continue to scale reliably.
• Fixed Gmail/ICQ connectivity due to protocol changes. Gmail will not have auto-login for now but we will bring back the functionality
• Implemented a new version of TokBox for a better audio/video chat experience.  Just click the “Video” button at the top of the IM window
• Added support for complex languages such as Arabic and Thai
• Fixed numerous crash causing bugs, memory leaks, and performance issues

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

As always, thank you for all the feedback and enjoy the new build. Remember to invite your friends to use Digsby via Email or Facebook.

Update 1 (12/13/2008 5:45pm): We just pushed a small update fixing an issue that caused a portion of users to get stuck in “Loading Contact List” when logging into AIM or ICQ.

Update 2 (12/13/2008 10:45pm): We just pushed another small update with a complete fix for the AIM/ICQ issue.  Thank you to the alpha testers who helped us test this fix on a Saturday

ICQ deprecated an older version of their client earlier today and Digsby users were not able to get presence info for their buddies.  An update was just pushed to all users (r19460) and alpha testers (r19442) fixing the issue.

We just pushed an update (Build 38, r19187 r19212) which is a small patch to bring back MySpace social network functionality. A protocol change earlier today caused users to no longer see status updates in the MySpace infobox.

On another note, the second annual “Crunchies” are here! The Crunchies is an award ceremony organized by TechCrunch, GigaOm, and VentureBeat to honor the best startups of 2008. Last year’s winners included Facebook, Digg, Twitter, Netvibes and many others.

We’ve had an amazing year since our March, 2008 public beta launch and hope you can help us bring home a trophy or two! You can nominate us in as many categories as you want using the links below:

• Best Overall
• Best New Startup of 2008
• Best App
• Best Technology Innovation Award
• Best Design
• Best Startup CEO (Steve Shapiro)
  

We want to thank you all for your ongoing support and wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Update (11/24/08 5:35pm): We pushed a fix for a crash, bringing the revision to 19212.

We just pushed Build 37 (r18938 r18955 r18971) to all users. This is our first public release since switching to an alpha release cycle. We want to thank the 3,000-ish alpha testers who helped over the past few weeks. The release pushed out today to all users includes all the features, bug fixes and enhancements in Builds 35, 36, and 37 on our Change Log.

On another note, Mashable is holding the second annual Open Web Awards. Please show your support by nominating us for the “Social Networking Applications” category using the widget below.

Voting has ended - thank you for your support!

As always, thank you for all the feedback and enjoy the new build. If you experience any bugs please email us at bugs@digsby.com or use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log. If you have any suggestions, please email us at features@digsby.com.

Update 1 (11/12/2008 7:30pm): We just pushed r18948 to all alpha testers in order to test a fix for a crash we just hunted down.  If all goes well it will be pushed to all users shortly.

Update 2 (11/13/2008 9:45am): We just pushed r18955 to all users, fixing a few small bugs.  It does look like a crash was introduced that is affecting a small portion of users.  We’re working on hunting down the cause now.

Update 3 (11/13/2008 7:00pm): We just pushed r18971 to alpha testers in order to test some crash fixes we implemented. If you would like to help us find crashes, see the instructions here: http://blog.digsby.com/archives/62

Update 4 (11/14/2008 9:50am): We just pushed r18971 to all users - tons of crashes were fixed thanks to the debug testers. There may be a few edge cases left so if it crashes for you with this new release somewhat regularly, please run the debug release for a day or two so we can get a crash log and fix it!

We just pushed an update to alpha testers (Build 37, r18882 18890 18907 18923) which introduces several bug fixes and enhancements. As always, you can read the entire list of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Fixed a crash and a couple of bugs that were introduced in the last alpha release

These should be the last touch ups on the new release and if this alpha release does not introduce any new issues it will be pushed to all users later this week. Please let us know if any bugs were introduced.

If you would like to become an alpha tester and get new releases before everyone else, follow the instructions here:

http://blog.digsby.com/archives/57

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.

As always, thank you for all the feedback and enjoy the new build. If you experience any bugs please email us at bugs@digsby.com or use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log. If you have any suggestions, please email us at features@digsby.com.

Update 1 (11/10/2008 2:15pm): We just pushed a small update fixing a bug that affected Hotmail accounts with no emails in their inbox at all.

Update 2 (11/11/2008 10:30am): We just pushed a small update fixing a few minor bugs - please let us know if there are any remaining newly introduced issues so we can resolve them before releasing this build to all users.

Update 3 (11/11/2008 7:45pm): One last bug fix before tomorrow’s public release.

We need your help! As Digsby continues to grow, more and more people depend on it for their communication needs. While we are still a beta product that is very young, our user base has expanded from the hardcore beta testers to average users who require stability.

As we mentioned in a previous blog post, we are making a change in our development process. We are looking for a select group of people  to become “alpha testers”. These users will continue to receive 1-2 updates per week while the rest of the user base will receive updates after we confirm that a release is stable and ready to be pushed out to the masses. This will allow us to consistently release a stable product while maintaining our rapid development cycle.

In order to become an alpha tester, you’ll need to install the alpha version of Digsby. Once you’ve installed it, download this file and place it in the Digsby program folder (otherwise the program will update to the current “released” version).  You can always delete the file or reinstall Digsby in order to leave the alpha tester group.  Keep in mind that with great power comes great responsibility. We are looking for people who will be proactive in reporting any new bugs that we introduce so we can fix these issues before a release is pushed out to the entire user base.  Just use “Help > Send Bug Report” right after an issue happens.

Today, we begin testing Build 35 (r18546) which introduces many critical bug fixes and improvements. We will keep a list if changes in the current alpha on our Change Log. Good luck in testing and thank you for your help!

As always, if you experience any bugs please email us at bugs@digsby.com or use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log. If you have any suggestions, please email us at features@digsby.com.

The new Digsby is here!  We just released Build 32 (r17926) which is the culmination of a massive effort to improve performance, improve connectivity, fix most of the remaining bugs, and add some new functionality to boot. Major changes in this release include:

• RAM Usage: We optimized from the ground up and fixed memory leaks to lower RAM usage by almost 75%.  This has been the number one complaint since our launch and we are proud to introduce this massive improvement.
• Performance: User interface elements draw twice as fast for better performance. We have made changes to the architecture that will improve GUI responsiveness and CPU utilization across the board.
• Connectivity: Every IM protocol automatically tries multiple connection methods and ports to improve the odds of getting through restrictive firewalls and proxy servers.
• LinkedIn: Digsby now supports LinkedIn in addition to the other social networks.  Functionality includes a full newsfeed, alerts when new messages arrive, and the ability to set status right from Digsby.
• Bug Fixes: We have fixed hundreds of bugs, making Digsby more stable than ever.  There have been almost 3,000 revisions in our codebase since the last release so there are too many fixes to list in our changelog.

We will keep pushing to make Digsby even better and want to thank all of you for your continued feedback and support.  If you want to tell the world about the new Digsby, here are some ways you can help:

• Post the news to sites like Digg, Reddit, Mixx, or Facebook
• Invite your friends to try Digsby
• Write a review of Digsby on your blog
• Use the “ShareThis” and “Buzz” widgets below to share the news

We just pushed a small update to everyone.  It allows you to log in to Facebook if you have switched over to the new design. The release number is still 15142.  In other news, we only have a few crashes left in the new release we have been working on and as soon as those are fixed it will be pushed to everyone.

Note: This is a test build with bugs and it may crash.  The release will be pushed to everyone once we iron out the kinks.

The new build is almost ready for release and we need your help testing it before it is pushed out to everyone. We are very eager to get it out the door since it includes some highly anticipated improvements:

• RAM Optimization: Many people have reported that Digsby is taking 70MB - 110MB during normal use. If you leave Digsby running for a while, the memory leaks caused RAM usage to climb to 150MB+ on some systems. We completely reworked the architecture to use less memory and also improved the memory management by releasing objects when they are no longer needed.  We also hunted down and eliminated numerous memory leaks.  All in all, these changes lower Digsby’s RAM usage by over 50%. It should now hover in the 20MB - 50MB range depending on how many accounts you have and what you are doing at the moment.  There is still more we can do and our goal is to get RAM utilization down even further!

• Performance: The changes in architecture improved the performance of simple user interface elements like buttons and menus; they now draw 2x - 3x faster!  Digsby should be much more responsive now than ever before. However, while this build focused on RAM optimization, the next 1-2 builds will have a strong focus on improving “perceived performance” even more, including things like GUI response time, CPU utilization, etc.

• Firewalls and Proxy Servers: Every IM protocol now automatically tries to connect using several different ports to improve the odds of getting through restrictive firewalls and proxy servers.  MSN Protocol also falls back to an HTTP-based method of connecting, which makes the traffic look like web page requests.  Those who have not been able to use MSN or other IM protocols due to firewall/proxy restrictions should now be able to connect without any issues.

• Crash Reporter: We still have a few bugs that cause Digsby to crash. These have been hard to hunt down because they are rare, random, and hard to reproduce.  The new release includes a crash reporter that will ask you whether you want to send a crash log to us if Digsby should crash.  This will greatly help us in hunting down and fixing the remaining issues that are causing crashes.  The major changes in architecture in this build may introduce a couple of new crash causing bugs and that is one of the reasons why we want to test the build before releasing it to everyone.

• Bug Fixes + Enhancements: Over the past two months we have added a large number of bug fixes and enhancements.  There are too many to list here but we will include a full Change Log when the release is pushed to everyone.

Unlike previous releases, which were pushed on a weekly basis, this one includes over two months of new code so we want make sure we didn’t introduce any new bugs.  If you run into any serious problems testing the new build, you can revert back to the current release by downloading the installer from our website. No matter what happens, none of your preferences or account information will be lost. There are instructions for getting the test release on our forum:

http://forum.digsby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2116

Update 1 (8/10/08, 2:30pm): Thank you all for the wonderful feedback and the bug reports.  We will knock out the issues as quickly as possible to get this ready for release.  Also, thank you for the crash reports.  The new architecture did introduce a few crash causing issues and the crash logs will help us hunt these down ASAP.  Keep on eye on this blog for updates.  We will most likely push an update with fixes to those testing this new release sometime tomorrow.

Update 2 (8/11/08, 8:00pm): We just pushed an update (r16760) to all that are testing.  We are really close to fixing the issue that is causing most of the crashes but it didn’t make it into today’s update. The air conditioning in the office broke and we are up to 89 degrees so we’re going to call it a night but we will hit the ground running tomorrow (A/C will be fixed at 7am) and are pretty sure the crash will be fixed by end of day. The following bugs fixed in this release are:

• Fixed a bug that prevented buddies from being added because list of accounts didn’t update
• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to get stuck in “Checking for Updates” for some users with proxy servers
• Fixed a memory leak in Facebook Chat that caused RAM to skyrocket when the connection was lost
• Fixed a bug that caused some Hotmail accounts to get stuck in “Connecting…”
• Fixed a memory leak when closing an IM window with multiple tabs

Update 3 (8/12/08, 8:00pm): We just pushed an update (r16808) to all that are testing.  Fixes include:

• Fixed a bug that was causing *most* of the crashes we have seen so far.  There might be a couple more crash causing issues which we are hunting down now.
• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to get stuck in “Digsby needs to restart…” after an auto-update for those who never installed Digsby prior to this test build
• Installer no longer includes the Microsoft VC++ Redistributable (so no more temp files in C:\)
• Fixed a bug that prevented you from deleting Jabber accounts
• Fixed another bug that caused Hotmail accounts to get stuck in “Connecting…”
• Fixed a bug that caused conversation log searching to break
• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to not exit if you had an IM window with multiple tabs open
• Fixed a GDI object leak in popups
• Shaved a few megs off the installer size

Update 4 (8/15/08, 2:30pm): We just pushed an update (r16927) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed numerous crash causing issues! Hopefully there will be far fewer crashes now but we are still hunting down a few that remain
• Temporarily bringing back the VC++ redistributable because our fix worked on Win2k/XP but not on Vista. It will not write files to C:\
• Fixed a bug that prevented the MSN HTTP method of connecting from working in some cases
• Fixed a bug with mislabeled RTF messages
• Fixed a bug that caused Gmail to get stuck in “Connecting…” after a network disruption
• Fixed a bug that caused Yahoo Protocol to say “Failed to Connect” when it should be “Authentication Error” because an invalid username was entered
• Fixed a bug that caused Yahoo Protocol to disconnect when you reject a file transfer
• Fixed a bug that caused no IM window to show if the sound which was suppose to play on incoming IM is missing
• Fixed a bug that broke SMS over AIM
• Very long nicknames now get cut off with a “…” instead of wrapping to multiple lines on themes where wrapping looks bad
• Some conversation themes that looked bad when maximized now look correct
• Crash reporter now confirms that the report has been sent

Update 5 (8/19/08, 11:10am): We just pushed an update (r16998 r17003) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed a crash that happened when you changed conversation themes
• Fixed a crash that happened when one thread tried to get to a file object that was just closed by another thread
• Fixed a crash that was caused by loading Flash incorrectly
• Added more diagnostic information to crash log to help us hunt down the last ones!
• Fixed a bug that caused ICQ unicode status messages to show incorrectly
• Fixed a few bugs that caused MSN not to fall back to HTTP
• Fixed a bug that caused the input box in the IM window not to clear after a tab was dragged out into its own window and then dragged back in
• Added Yahoo Mail support for BTInternet Yahoo mail accounts
• Fixed a bug in deleting MSN buddies when signed in via HTTP
• Twitter rate limit and default update times now based on 100 requests per hour instead of 70
• Fixed a bug that caused problems with the IM window if emoticons were missing
• Fixed a bug that caused some Hotmail accounts not to work
• IM window correctly shows animated GIFs with short delays

Update 6 (8/20/08, 10:30am): We just pushed an update (r17031) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed two bugs that caused Digsby to crash when idle
• Fixed a bug that caused popups to freeze and Digsby to spin to 100% CPU usage before crashing
• Fixed a bug that caused the conversation area not to show when the system locale is set to Japanese
• Fixed a bug that caused MSN HTTP not to work over some HTTP proxy servers
• Fixed a bug that caused MSN not to sign off when you clicked “Disconnect”
• Fixed a bug that caused white backgrounds to show in some conversation themes with the AIM protocol
• Fixed a bug that caused font formatting to stop showing when talking to someone else using Digsby over the AIM protocol

Update 7 (8/22/08, 9:00pm): We just pushed an update (r17139) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• New option to disable emoticons in Preferences -> Conversations
• Google Talk contacts will show Google Talk service icons more often
• Digsby no longer requires the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable
• Fixed a bug that caused MSN to send duplicate SMS messages
• Fixed a bug that caused the input area in the IM window to not remember its height
• Fixed an issue where some MSN messages from Pidgin wouldn’t appear
• Fixed a bug that caused the IM window not to work if the conversation skins directory is missing
• Fixed a bug that caused popups to not fade out
• Fixed an error dealing with offline messages from mobile contacts in MSN
• Fixed an issue with authorizing contacts on Yahoo account
• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to freeze when giving contacts a unicode nickname
• Fixed some more crashes

Update 8 (8/23/08, 12:00am): We just pushed an update (r17142) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to get stuck updating if one of the files failed to download instead of just logging in with the current version
• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to completely break after an auto-update. NOTE: You may get this when updating to r17142. If that happens, please download and run r17142 the installer.

Update 9 (8/25/08, 8:20pm): We just pushed an update (r17185) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Added new diagnostic information to help us hunt down the rest of the crashes.  This will slow Digsby’s performance for this build but it is temporary.
• Fixed a bug that caused file transfer request popups to fade out - they should stick until you take action
• Stronger default privacy settings to prevent IM spam. These can be changed in Preferences > Privacy
• Fixed a bug that caused the IM window to notify you that you have an unread IM from the wrong person
• Fixed a bug that caused endless Yahoo authrization requests to show every time you log in even if you already approved or denied them
• Fixed a bug that prevented MSN from falling back to HTTP in some cases
• Pressing “Enter” in the crash reporting dialog puts in a new line instead of sending the report

Update 10 (8/26/08, 8:00pm): We just pushed an update (r17216) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed several more crash causing bugs - thank you for the crash logs today!
• Fixed a bug that caused AIM/ICQ accounts to disconnect without realizing it
• Fixed a bug with spellchecking on computers with unicode Windows usernames
• Performance and functionality improvements for some HTTP operations, affecting favicons and MSN
• Fixed a bug with setting your Twitter status with unicode characters

Update 11 (8/26/08, 9:20pm): We just pushed an update (r17225) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed another crash

Update 12 (8/27/08, 3:10pm): We just pushed an update (r17257) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed two more crash causing bugs
• Fixed a bug that caused HTML to appear in the IM window
• Fixed a bug that caused the login screen to open off screen if you go from multiple monitors to one
• Fixed a bug that caused merged contacts to split if they had Gtalk buddies

Update 13 (8/28/08, 7:30pm): We just pushed an update (r17312) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed another crash

Update 14 (8/29/08, 9:10pm): We just pushed an update (r17348) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Added more diagnostic information to help us pinpoint the last few crashes. This may slow Digsby’s performance but we will remove them as soon as the crashes are fixed
• Fixed a really bad memory leak that we introduced in the last build
• Fixed a bug that caused Google Talk to get stuck if there is an authentication error
• Fixed a bug that caused the CPU profiler to not inform you if Digsby CPU usage spins out of control
• Fixed a bug with rearranging accounts in the preferences window

Update 15 (8/30/08, 7:45pm): We just pushed an update (r17358) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Fixed another commonly reported crash
• Fixed a pretty big memory leak
• Fixed two bugs related to the input box and typing multiline IMs

Update 16 (9/1/08, 7:30pm): We just pushed an update (r17380) to all that are testing. Fixes include:

• Possible fix for another crash causing bug
• Fixed a bug that prevented the buddy authorization request dialog from showing
• Fixed another bug that was preventing CPU usage notifications from showing
• Input box now remembers your RTL preference (right click in input area to set)
• Added a preference to MSN accounts that lets you have the account always use HTTP instead of just fall back to it if the initial attempt fails
• Changed snipr.com link to a music.digsby.com link for the “Listening to” feature so that the link doesn’t look like spam or a virus and also so that it advertises the Digsby brand
• Fixed a bug that prevented the “Refresh” links in the Twitter window from working

We just pushed an update (Build 31, r15078 r15142) that fixes the last of the known bugs with MSN conversations along with a few other bug fixes and enhancements. As always, you can read the entire list of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements on our Change Log. Thank you for all the feedback and enjoy the new build. As always, if you have any issues please email bugs@digsby.com.

Update: We pushed a small fix for Facebook Chat.  A change in the protocol resulted in Digsby disconnecting/reconnecting every 10 minutes.  This will no longer happen.