We just pushed a new release (Build 51, r21152 r21307 r21316) to all users. We have gone through several alpha releases since our last major update so there are are quite a few changes. This release includes all the features, bug fixes and enhancements in Builds 46 – 51 on our Change Log.  Notable changes include:

• Added a “Local Mode” which saves all account info on your machine and uses that if Digsby is unable to connect to our servers to synchronize preferences.  Next time Digsby is able to log in, everything is synchronized.
• Fixed Hotmail message actions such as Delete and Mark as Read, which broke due to a protocol change
• Yahoo Protocol now uses their load balancers for more reliable login
• Added auto-update capability for Windows 2000 users (if you are the admin account) and fixed several bugs that prevented some users from auto-updating
• Fixed an issue that caused buddy list data (ie: merged contacts, nicknames) to not save and made preference saving more efficient
• Changed the default port for AIM and ICQ to 443 since it is more likely to succeed in many firewall situations

So, what’s next?  We are currently wrapping up a few projects that will dramatically reduce Digsby’s CPU usage.  We’re also improving the reliability and speed of file transfers.  These changes will be pushed out to Alpha testers over the next week or two.  Once we make sure these updates are stable, we will push them out as the next major release.

While our alpha testers help us hunt down bugs, we’re switching gears into feature mode!  We have done a lot of work to improve stability and performance over the past few months so we’re going to take some time to work on all those features you have been requesting. We will focus on the most commonly requested features but we also have some plans of our own. Let us know what you want most in the comments!

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 Digsby, here are some ways you can help:

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

If you experience any bugs in this release, please use “Help > Send Bug Report” in the main menu to submit a diagnostic log or email us.

Update 1 (04/01/2009 11:15am EST): We just pushed out a small patch fixing two issues.  First, a bug that was introduced that caused some users to receive an “Invalid Username” error on login.  Second, there was a small change in the Facebook API that caused the newsfeed functionality to break for some users.  This should now be fixed as well.

Update 2 (04/01/2009 2:20pm EST): One more small patch was pushed bringing the release number to 21316. This patch fixes an issue that caused “contact signed on” popups to show for all your buddies who were online at the time you sign on and affected a small portion of users. Thank you to everyone who reported bugs in this release and helped us hunt them down!

We just pushed a new release (Build 47, r20382) to all non-alpha users.  This release is a small patch, which adds support for the new Hotmail.  Another release will go out later today to ALPHA testers with these fixes.

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: The alpha release will go out tomorrow morning.

We just pushed a new release (Build 45, r19635) to all users.  This release includes all features, bug fixes and enhancements in Builds 44 and 45 on our Change Log.  Notable changes include:

• Added support for the new Yahoo Mail Platform. Those who have switched over and are using the “Yahoo Mail Classic” interface should now have email notifications again
• Completed full support for the new Gmail authentication system including auto-login to multiple accounts

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.

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, 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.

We just pushed an update (Build 34, r18219 r18250 r18269) which introduces support for the new Windows Live Mail that some of our users have already been switched over to along with a few critical bug fixes. As always, you can read the entire list of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements on our Change Log. Notable changes include:

• Added support for the new Windows Live Mail that some users have been switched over to
• Fixed a bug that caused social network accounts to disappear for a small portion of users
• Fixed a bug that caused MSN to disconnect and not know about it so the buddy list was still populated and it did not reconnect
• Fixed a bug that caused Digsby to get stuck on “Connecting…” for a small portion of users.  If you are experiencing this you do need to reinstall using the latest installer on our website

As Digsby continues to grow, more and more people depend on our product 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.

With that in mind, we are going change our development process in  the near future – most likely the next release we do.  We are going ask people to sign up in order to become “alpha testers”. These users will continue to receive 1-2 updates per week while the rest of the userbase 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.

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 (10/12/08 6:30pm): An update was pushed to fix a bug that was causing the buddy list not to appear.  This is exactly why we are switching over to a two-tier release cycle.  The bug was not detected here prior to release because it was an edge case that affected about 1% of users. However, that still adds up to a lot of unhappy people and we want to avoid this in the future.  The new build number is 18250.

Update 2 (10/13/08 1:30pm): Another update was pushed fixing the buddy list issue for (hopefully) the rest of the people it affected. Also, we fixed a bug that caused new IM windows to take focus even if your preferences were set for that not to happen.  Lastly, we fixed the most common cause of the remaining crashes we have been seeing! Keep submitting crash reports so we can see what is left and what is most common.  At this point, Digsby is crashing for less than 0.5% of daily users so it is almost solid. The new build number is 18269.