Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

synapseSynapse is a new Instant Messenger for Linux users, currently in alfa version. It only supports XMPP protocol (so it can "talk" to any other XMPP server/client like Jabber, Google Talk) and Twitter for now and its design is very modern and looks great, and seamlessly integrates with Growl notifications, which arrived with the first alpha of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope.

synapse listAn interesting aspect of Synapse is the contact list, where we don't see our friends as a list like in all usual applications of this type, but in a grid, with images, icons or avatars they choose. On mouse over, we see the additional data (email, name, etc). This is a great new way to display the contact list, but you do need to know your contact's pictures for this.


synapse messenger message window
The message window can appear in various ways in Synapse, either by using the typical chat window like in MSN or ICQ, or in the form of a bubble like in iChat (and with many colors and customization options, like in Mac OS X).

Synapse also includes a search engine for images, ideal for searching Flickr and get a new avatar and Twitter:


synapse twitter

An interesting application, which becomes even more interesting when we think that this is just an alpha version.

Synapse includes download instructions for Ubuntu, openSUSE and Foresight.