Gary Chan 2.0

UPDATE: Lifehacker also has an invite code.

Digsby just launched in private beta this week, but we’ve got 5000 invites to give away to Download Squad readers. Keep on reading to find out how to get yours.

Digsby is a desktop client that lets you chat with contacts no matter which IM service they use. It also includes an e-mail notifier, and a pop up screen for keeping track of Facebook and MySpace updates. You can even add a Digsby chat window to your Facebook page so that anyone viewing your profile can send you instant messages which you can reply to using Digsby.When you first run Digsby, you’ll be prompted to add accounts for each service you want to use. Under IM, you can choose AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, and Jabber. For e-mail, you have a choice of Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, or any POP or IMAP e-mail service.

If you want to take Digsby for a spin, just download and install the application and enter “dlsquad” when asked for an invite code. Digsby supports Windows XP and Vista at the moment. Mac and Linux clients are under development.

downloadsquad.com

The DataPortability Workgroup announced this morning that representatives from both Google and Facebook are joining its ranks. The group is working on a variety of projects to foster an era of Data Portability - where users can take their data from the websites they use to reuse elsewhere and where vendors can leverage safe cross-site data exchange for a whole new level of innovation. Good bye customer lock-in, hello to new privacy challenges. If things go right, today could be a very important day in the history of the internet.

readwriteweb.com

This morning Facebook launched a new “Friend Lists” feature that will make the problem of organizing your hundreds of Facebook friends a little easier.

Facebook wants their “social graph” (your friend list) to represent the real-world as accurately as possible. However, previously there had been no robust way to distinguish between your best friend and someone you just met at a conference (except for listing “how you know this person”). While this is a complex problem, users are clamoring for more efficient ways to set different boundaries with different types of “friends.”

insidefacebook.com

Facebook Beacon is a severe privacy violator and Facebook is not the only guilty party. We have covered the fault that is on Facebook’s side as well the fault that is to be shouldered by partner sites who choose to share your purchases and usage with anyone who is reading your Facebook News feed. Often times, this is contrary to the privacy policies of the same companies utilizing the Beacon technology.

technosailor.com

The two companies said on Wednesday that Microsoft would invest $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook. The investment values the three-year-old Facebook, which will bring in about $150 million in revenue this year, at $15 billion.

nytimes.com