Did you know that iPhone backgrounds make great backgrounds for chat windows in Adium?  See for yourself.

It’s really simple to do too.  Here’s how.

1 - Grab a cool iPhone background.  Here is the blue iPhone background I’m using.

2 - Open Adium and go to the preferences and click on the messages area.

3 - See that area for a custom background?  Check the box and drag and drop your iPhone background in there.

Wa la.  You’re done!

There are a few things to keep in mind.  

Recently I’ve been noticing more and more applications that are standing out from the crowd. It seems that we are no longer bound to the basic aqua look and feel that we’ve been in for so long. As the horizontal stripes disappear, new and custom interfaces are making their way onto the Mac. But why aren’t more applications taking advantage of this? And where are we going?

Here are a few Mac GUI examples.

Aqua - Firefox
The basic aqua look and feel is nice and white. This is pretty much where everyone under OSX started out and quite a few carbon apps still support this interface.

Note: I wrote this post at the beginning of the year. Since then Adium 1.0 has come out and my use of Skype and Gizmo has unfortunately ended. However, I’d still choose Gizmo over Skype if I startup doing VoIP again.

My love for Skype has been fading so I’ve been checking out Gizmo and I quite like it.

I’ve been mainly using Gizmo for incoming calls as my Skype number has stopped ringing for some odd reason. The call quality has been just as good and it’s a worthy alternative to Skype.

The only chat application necessary on a Mac has just hit 1.0. Adium is the duck of all trades as far as instant messaging is concerned.

It works with AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ and many more services. It comes with a great tabbed interface and the best option of all, customization!

Adium is fully customizable. From message list styles to contact list styles, colors, fonts, icons and even smilies. It’s got almost everything. Well almost everything.

Critics will argue that it doesn’t do voice or audio chat. Which it doesn’t, but neither do I or most of the people I talk to.

To fill sometime between now and my next ‘announcement’, I thought I’d share five nine free Mac apps that make my day easier.

1. Firefox - Customizable web browser. I love it.
2. Thunderbird - For work Email.
3. TextWranger - Great all around text/html editor.
4. AOL Radio - XM Radio for free and almost commercial free. Sweet.
5. Adium - The only chat application worth having.
6. Journler - Best everything app. Text, Video, Audio and much more.
7. Quicksilver - Sweet HD search. Like Spotlight only prettier.
8. Skype (on a good day) - I use this daily for my work phone however I’m having issues lately.

Incase you missed it, Yahoo released beta version 1 of their Yahoo Messenger 3 for the Mac. Overall, it’s an excellent leap forward.

Now, most reviews you might read about Yahoo Messenger Mac 3.0 Beta 1 will end up saying that Adium rocks and is superior in most ways. Were as I can’t deny that, I can stick to reviewing just Yahoo Messenger.

The old messenger was just that, old. It looked like it was built in the 90’s and it was simply lacking in most ways. The new messenger however brings style and usability back.

Myself, I haven’t tired this, but it looks cool! Portable applications are just applications that store all your preferences and related files together. It could be on a USB drive, Zip disk or iPod. Perfect for taking your bookmarks, mail and setting with you when you go.

Sounds like a great idea to me. Use portable Thunderbird and you’ll always have your inbox with you. Use portable Firefox and have your bookmarks and your setting with you at all times. At the library, school, hotel or moms house!

The applications just run off your external media and save all program files there too.

Proteus instant messenger has has gone from a paid application to a free application.

Proteus can connect to almost any IM service such as Yahoo, Google and MSN. It’s a great idea and this was a cool program a few years ago. That was until I found Adium.

Adium does the same thing only it’s been free much longer and has more customizable features. Plus, Proteus doesn’t directly support GTalk yet.

Proteus is a great alternative though. It feels more complete in some aspects yet not as good in others. I’m glad it went free as I think that’ll help the program stay alive and get better.