Is there anything Mozilla doesn’t create that facilitates your web surfing experience? Firefox 3 came out back in June, yet Mozilla is still working hard to provide its users with top end interactivity for its interweb softwares. Now, Mozilla wants to take its browser to the next level with instant messaging integrated into your web browsing. It’s called Snowl, that’s Snow and Owl combined for the less observant. Mozilla Labs lists a few key ideas behind their design phase:

• It doesn’t matter where messages originate. Whether they come from traditional email servers, RSS/Atom feeds, web discussion forums, social networks, or other sources, they are all the same.
• Some messages are more important than others, and the best interface for actively reading important messages is different from the best one for casually browsing unimportant ones.
• A search-based interface for message retrieval is more powerful and easier to use than one that makes you organize your messages first to find them later.
• Browser functionality for navigating web content, like tabs, bookmarks, and history, also works well for navigating messages.

As of now, Snowl is still in its prototype phase but is free to download at the link provided below. It supports two sources of messages: RSS/Atom feeds and Twitter. No word on whether or not Ogio will make a Snowl backpack. If they did, I’d rock it. Hit the jump for more information:

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At long last, Apple has finally equipped some of its developers with the tools needed to begin authoring iPhone background applications. This will eventually remedy problems with the iPhone regarding running applications in the background. The same thing could happen to a drug dealer trying to convert ounces to grams. He/She suddenly gets a phone call then, BAM, all that hard work leaves business dry and sales at a stand still. Apple is fixing this by adding the “Push Notification Service” they mentioned at the WWDC.

AppleInsider writes:

Instead of allowing potentially dozens of third party services to simultaneously access an iPhone directly, the push service would funnel all transmissions from developers’ servers through a central Apple server, which would then relay the data to iPhones through a single persistent and well-managed background connection.

This is the best news on the iPhone we’ve heard all week. Wait a minute, this is the only news on the iPhone we’ve wrote all week. That’s not like us at all. It’s because Vince got that new Sierra Nevada Sidekick, which pretty much renders any other phone pale in comparison.

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My buddy JC sent me these pics of his iPhone 1st gen running the new iPhone 2.0 software and running the official AOL AIM client from the App Store. Enjoy!

Apple originally expected around 200 applications to launch with the iPhone 3G on Friday. Now that number has blown up to over 500 apps and developers are still working. According to Apple, response from developers has been tremendous and by the looks of some of the available apps (some of which are already available on iTunes), customer response should be equally pleasing.

With AOL releasing a free AIM app, Facebook following suit and other big players like eBay, SEGA, MySpace joining the fray, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the iPhone 3G surpass sales of the original iPhone. 24 hours from now, we’ll find out.

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T-Mobile has posted some previously unknown information about its D-Wade Sidekick release announcement, confirmed to be coming within the next few hours. If you don’t already know, heres some background information on the D-Wade. It’s designed 2006 NBA Finals MVP, Dwayne Wade, as a special edition and new model of the Sidekick line of phones.

Wade happens to be avid user of the Sidekick and was a “integral” member of the design team for the D-Wade. T-Mobile describes the design:

The T-Mobile Sidekick 3, D-Wade Edition is presented in the crisp white color of Miami’s South Beach and paired with tan and copper accents that emulate the luxurious look and feel inspired by high-end automobiles. Wade’s signature “3� stands out as the only detail in gold, symbolizing the elegance of winning an NBA championship trophy, which Wade hopes will be the first of many. Last but not least, the device debuts another Sidekick first, a realistic basketball-textured backing for added grip and comfort.

To advertise the new Sidekick, special greeting parties will be located at the 2007 NBA finals, including a humongous wallscape that will be 250 feet high by 250 feet wide and will cover 56,250 squared feet of the Mandalay Bay with Wade’s image with his Sidekick. There will also be a special two leveled exhibit for the phone.

The D-Wade will also have built-in support of three messenger services. AIM, Yahoo, and MSN Messenger. EDGE technology makes for a faster download speed with its mobile web capabilities. Also included will be a 1.3 MP camera, Bluetooth technology, an MP3 player, a trackball for navigation, and the slimmest Sidekick size yet.

Release date is set for February 21. We might just consider watching the NBA now, despite how much we envy their athletic prowess. Take the jump for more pics. (more…)

That infamous color pink… it makes guys make sure that they choose a very different color scheme, but it always seems to draw the female crowd in. The leading Web 2.0 instant messaging client Meebo has just added a pink theme to its increasingly popular application. Meebo allows users to make their own Meebo account and tie in each of their AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and Google Talk together and talk to buddies/friends in each protocol all at once. It sounds a bit like the application Trillian, but Meebo is strictly an online client. So who knows, maybe this new pink color scheme will attract more people to Meebo, maybe it won’t, but it will definitely brighten up some user’s boring blue Meebo screens. — Nik Gomez

Pink IM from Meebo [ShinyShiny]