News

New NewsWireless feature: how to flame the Editor live, online!

Wouldn't you like the option just to press one button, bang! and be talking to the Editor online? Well, we think we can give it to you.

For some time, we've offered the option of joining our Internet Relay Chat server, which the Hunky Mouse operates. That's there, still.

Many people have said this isn't good enough. They pointed out that IRC is not universally available, nor easy to set up for someone in a hurry. Well, we thought it was pretty simple! - we recommend the easy option of installing Firefox as the browser, and then adding the Chatzilla plugin. But could it be easier...?

Axod, at Mibbit, thinks it can be... specifically, for people on corporate networks. There, IRC is seen (quite plausibly!) as a security risk. Powerful scripting features mean it's much easier to simply block the port through which IRC travels, than to try to guard against all exploits. So desk workers simply can't log on to IRC servers.

Well, Axod's technology involves hosting IRC on his own servers, and then allowing browser access.

You open up a page to his site. You tell it what server you want to connect to, and what channel (here, it's irc://hunkymouse.co.uk and channel #flames) and he connects you. No risk to your IT department: you're using a browser, and any exploits are trapped by Mibbit.

Give it a go...Flame us live! through irc.mibbit.com (popup)