The good folks at Skype have just gone gold with the 2.8 update (link) (previously in beta) of the popular VOIP client for Mac OS X. As TUAW previously noted in the beta release of 2.8, the update brings with it support for screen sharing and Skype Access, the company's pay-as-you-go Wi-Fi service.

With screen sharing support, you now have the ability to share presentations, documents, and slideshows with that Windows friend of yours that you would otherwise ignore -- you know, that guy whose PC tower is so well-decorated with neon lights that you'd think you went to a rave when you walked into his room. Yes, that guy.

A host of other features are also included in the update. Improved chat management provides the ability to sort and prioritize chats, a quicker way to add people to chats, and mood messages for chats. Larger profile pictures (now up to 256x256 resolution) are now supported; and if you want to hide your profile pics from incoming contact requests, this is now supported as well. And for those of you that can't keep track of who you're talking to, or what you last talked to that person about, you are now given the luxury of a notes field for each contact.

Skype 2.8 is available for download (link) at the Skype website, or via the "Check for updates" option within the Skype app.

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I had a quick chat with the folks from Pinger Phone while we were at Macworld 2009. I hadn't heard of it previously, and it turned out to be exactly what I needed to bring together my various forms of communication. It's an iPhone/iPod touch app that provides a contact list combining email, phone, SMS and IM info for all of your contacts. One of the neatest features of the app is its ability to handle text-to-IM chats, which I find useful because I have terrible AT&T coverage around my house; it lets me carry on a text-message conversation using just my wi-fi connection.

Pinger Phone lets you stay online with various IM services, and can notify you of incoming messages as long as the app is open. It also supports (requires, actually) horizontal keyboard mode in text and IM chats, and interfaces well with the phone and email capabilities of the iPhone. The "Contacts" view allows for as-you-type searching of your consolidated contact list (very speedy). iPod touch users can enter any mobile phone number to be notified of incoming messages from a text-to-IM chat.

Read on to see the video from Macworld, and check the support page for more info. If it sounds like something you've been looking for, you can grab it for FREE in the App Store.

Beejive IM [iTunes link], the Swiss army knife of instant messaging on the iPhone, was recently updated to version 2.0. Beejive allows you to connect with many different instant messaging services including: AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN/Live, Myspace IM, and Yahoo messenger. This application was already top-notch in the previous versions and this new version just makes things a lot better. Let's take a look at each of the changes to Beejive.

You are now able to send photos directly from your iPhone and have them show up in-line with the body of the chat. In addition, you can now easily see photos sent to your iPhone. Probably one of the coolest new features is the ability to record and send voice notes to your fellow chatters. Tapping on the toolbar at the top, which lists the current chat name, gets you four options. One of those options is a small microphone; tapping this icon makes your iPhone show a recording view, and instantly start recording audio. When you tap the stop button, your recording will be saved. You can play or record your voice note over again; if you want to send the voice note, tap the "Send" button and your voice note will be directly transferred to the current chat.

In addition to being able to send/receive audio on your iPhone or iPod touch using Beejive 2.0, you can also receive and open multiple types of files, including:

- Most image, audio, and video files
- PDFs
- Word documents
- Excel spreadsheets
- PowerPoint documents

I found that once you receive these types of files, you can also forward them to another person on your buddy list. Once you accept the file transfer, you will get a small blue button that will give you more details about the file that you just received; when you are in this view, you will be able to tap the forward button and find another person to forward it to.

By default, Beejive will use the default sounds for incoming/outgoing messages. These sounds are very similar to the sounds that iChat ships with; however, if you get tired of them, there is an option for you in this new version. You are now able to change the sounds in the Beejive section of Settings.app. Under "Sounds," you are able to change between default, AIM, and Yahoo sounds.

I found that there were two settings for transferring files, and both are useful. Under the "File Transfer" section of Settings.app > Beejive, you are able to choose between two ways of sending files: post a link or direct send preferred.

In my testing, version 2.0 of Beejive seemed extremely stable, and included features that made a big difference. I especially liked the ability to send/receive files right from the device. Beejive is available from the iTunes App Store for $15.99. While the price is high, this application is definitely worth it when you consider all of the capabilities you gain.

Gallery: Beejive 2.0

• 24/7 connectivity, but easy on battery life
• Get notifications via email even if the application is closed (you will need push email for this to work properly)
• Works with AIM, MSN, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, ICQ, Jabber, and MySpace IM (What? There's no FaceBook support?)
• Unicode support for chatting in any language
  
• Landscape typing supported
  
• Saves chat history, which you can email
  
• Send SMS messages through AIM or Yahoo
  
• Complete management of buddy lists
• Configure alerts, sounds, vibration, etc.
  

Flying out of beta status, Adium 1.2 made a full-fledged public release today. And we were just talking about the beta release right before Christmas... Starting with an improved menubar item and account management features, the new features and bugfixes in 1.2 get too numerous for this post, so be sure to head for the Adium blog to find out what's new.

I will go ahead and mention one improvement that I'm personally excited about: AppleScript support has been improved in the new build and we'll be seeing outside projects interfacing with Adium more easily now. Non-U.S. users will also want to take a fresh look at 1.2 as it now sports over a dozen localizations.

Adium 1.2 is free and available for download!