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IRC on the iPad: Colloquy and Linkinus
I was originally going to do a "TUAW Smackdown" for iPad Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients, but after testing both mobile Colloquy and Linkinus, there's not a lot of smacking to do. Both apps are well-written, solid offerings that I can wholeheartedly recommend. They allow you to set up your connections, enter your credentials, and easily hop into and out of chat rooms as needed. Using IRC chat is a big deal for Mac and iPhone developers. It's a great way to find peer-to-peer support. Sites like Freenode and OSX86.hu give you access to hundreds of other developers to consult with in real time. Engineers from a major fruit-named corporation frequent popular chat rooms, offering unparalleled technical access. Having a useful IRC client on the go can be golden, so it was important to me to find a good one for the iPad, and both of these clients are excellent. When it comes to price, Colloquy is the clear winner. The iPad version of Colloquy sells for US $1.99 at the App Store. Linkinus costs about four times more at $7.99 for its iPad version. In terms of bang for your buck, both are good buys, though. I don't think you'll be dissatisfied with either one. %Gallery-93852%
Check out Snak for free today only
A new President, free software, and a look at an IRC client you probably haven't used yet -- what more could you ask for? Snak is giving out their IRC client today (and there's only a little bit of time left in the day, sorry about that) for free to celebrate the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States. Whether you support that choice or not, no one would vote against free software, right? Go check it out, enjoy the free download (to get a license, you've got to drop an email note to Obama2008 AT snak.com), and leave the Obama drama for your mama.Personally Colloquy does pretty much everything I'll ever need in an IRC client, and it's already free (although they do appreciate donations if you enjoy the 'ware). But Snak looks like it's got some cool features too, including an "Mp3 list" for... erm... backup downloading, and an "address book" for all your IRC friends. Seems worth trying out, and today at least, you can't beat the price.Thanks, Alex D!
Linkinus 1.3 brings split chats, embedded videos, and a performance boost
Linkinus is the preferred IRC client for a lot of our readers, I know (personally I tend towards Colloquy, but only because I'm a cheapskate and it's donationware), and they kindly dropped us a note to let us know they'd updated to version 1.3. The new build includes the ability to split chat windows (as seen above), in addition to a revamped UI, "major" performance upgrades, plaintext and Spotlight support for logging, and a whole slew of fun things to play around with, including, we're told, a "Whisper" style that will actually embed images, audio files, and YouTube and Google videos right into your chat windows (a la Campfire). Apparently IRC isn't just text anymore.In fact, at $20 for all these features, Linkinus really is a steal for anyone who spends any amount of time in an IRC channel. Colloquy still does everything I need it to when I jump into IRC periodically, but if you want to chat like a pro in there, Linkinus is a great choice.
