March 8th, 2010 — Development
We don’t ordinarily promote user power or smiley suggestions via our blog or Twitter feeds. In fact, other than promoting our own suggestion once before, on the off chance that Xat staff will stumble upon it, we promote exclusively and only on our homepage (feeling the build up?).
Today we break that rule (there it is!). XatBlogs user Charles has what we (our gut actually) think is one of the more interesting power ideas that we’ve come across lately.
Idea: Hide authored Xat smiley codes
Explained: Xat is full of talented smiley gurus (“Ten”, wonderful “Mihay” (Hi Mihay!), etc…). They spend hours of their time coming up with interesting smiley/power code combinations only to have them ripped by other users once they’ve published the idea. Anyone and everyone can simply mouseover the smiley and take their code. So much for their hard work and originality.
Charles’s suggestion puts the power of “Copyright” into the hands of each author. When activated, this new power would disable the mouseover text that is typically displayed to each user; in essence protecting the long hours that went into creating the smile in the first place. So, when you do finally create you Mona Lisa of Xat smilies, no need to worry, you simply activate your power and whamo! Curious eyes will be met with absolutely zilch, zero, zippo, nil, nada, and nothing (err, or maybe some clever graphic)!
If you’re still not convinced of the genius behind the idea… don’t vote… don’t do anything… but do remember… everytime you copy someone else’s smiley code, a kitten somewhere is sacrificed.
March 6th, 2010 — Powers
March 6th, 2010 — Xat World
Operation Audies in now in full swing! In an effort to help draw more attention to this often overlooked, sometimes cryptic Xat feature, we present to you our “new” and slightly improved Xat audies page.
No longer do you have to test out every Audies effect within a chatbox before finally finding the one that best makes your point. Using our Xat audies page, you can now preview every/any Xat sound effect beforehand.
For those unfamiliar with Xat audies, they are simply a way to add sound effects to your chatbox messages. You type in a code, hit enter, and the chat plays the corresponding sound byte.
Look for more Xatworld eco-friendly Xat features!
March 5th, 2010 — Other stuff
Mate (pronounced Mah-teh), a popular drink amongst South Americans, has finally made its way to Xat in the form of a Smiley (mate) by way of user suggestion.
Those unfamiliar with the beverage can simply imagine a hollowed out gourd filled with a dried herb. Hot water is poured into the gourd and it’s contents are then sipped through a metal straw called a “bombilla”. More than just a drink, mate is often served in gatherings of two or more people (primarily as an excuse to socialize); each taking their turn (yes with the same straw!) as the mate emptied, topped off, and passed around.
Those wanting to try out the new smiley can either head on over to the Xat test chat (AS3 needed) and type (mate) or play around with the Xatworld smiley generator.
Nice to see Xat making everyone happy!
February 26th, 2010 — Powers
If a picture really is worth a thousand words, we think that this one more appropriately demonstrates the significance of Blueman than anything else.
For those that still don’t get it (err… it took us awhile too), you only need to look as far as Xat’s own tweet:
Next power is blueman, think pink only blue.
Blueman really doesn’t have anything to do with user rank. In fact, if you get a chance grab a teste, knock him over the head and drag him off if you have to, and have him/her show you what Blueman looks like next to a member pawn. The difference is subtle but it is there; Blueman being just a touch darker than member. It literally is just like Pink only Blue. Maybe this is Xat’s answer to what has seemingly always been thought of as a “girly” color (Pink). Doesn’t it make sense then, that if Pink equals Girl, that Blueman should equal Boy? Could this be the making of Xat’s first (or second) gender oriented power?
Just a thought 
Update: ACKirbachu was nice enough to submit this comparision showing the difference between Blueman blue, and member blue…
February 26th, 2010 — Powers
Xat’s power Wiki has been updated with the following Blueman information:
Turn your pawn dark blue. When this power is enabled you will show as dark blue on the user list if you are a guest or member. NOTE: YOU MUST BE A GUEST, MEMBER OR OWNER IN $TEALTH MODE TO USE THIS POWER!
Source: http://util.xat.com/wiki/index.php/Powers
February 26th, 2010 — Powers
Naes, over at xatBlogs was the first to post about the new Blueman power that Xat, only minutes ago, announced on their Twitter feed. We know very little at this point; just that it appears to be like the Pink power, only Blue.
Update: Brian is currently testing Blueman and has posted a screenshot of blueman to his own blog.
Update2: Here is Blueman in all its glory (taken directly from our Big Smiley Generator (type blueman)
February 25th, 2010 — Other stuff
Users that follow our Xat blog will recall our post on Xat’s planned smiley overhaul; brought on in effect by Xat migrating to Action Script 3. Last weeks unscheduled testing of new smilies removed the shroud on just a few of Xat’s newest AS3 features. Of course, with any new platform, glitches, bugs, and various surprises are bound to exist.
Enter Xat.com with an interesting proposal. Users that are willing to help document and point out suspected glitches, will be rewarded for their efforts in cold hard xats. You heard right! Depending on the severity and or complexity of each find, users can expect to receive anywhere between 50 and 500 xats. Just be sure and check the Xat “Help us test” Wiki for more specific details and information.
February 20th, 2010 — Development
Xat staff was on xat.com/help this morning for “unscheduled testing” of new features and smilies.
Some of the few new smilies submitted to us from xatblogs.com user iJayy are:
contempt, fedup, horror, look, ribbon, spin, tipsy
All of which are currently viewable on the Xatworld smiley generator.
Those users lucky enough to be in the chat were witness to both user defined colored smilies AND powers, num with capital letters, the ability to add both hands and hair to things like pig (not just yellow smilies), and a few other things.
Pay particular attention to the blog posts streaming into xatblogs.com right now. Many people were able to take excellent screenshots of what was going on.
Stay tuned for more and try out the Xatworld.com smiley generator now while it lasts.
February 20th, 2010 — Other stuff
For a very limited time Xat short names (those registered ID’s that are less than 10 characters in length) are being offered at half off.
xatBlogs.com user Spellchecker (yep he’s back!) posted the great news only minutes after Xat’s own twitter feed had been updated. Anyway, if you’ve ever thought of getting a short name, now would be the time to do it; the special last this weekend only.
