IM clients are somewhat boring. They have a specific objective and as long as they do their job, everyone's happy. There are hordes of IM clients out there may have various features and USPs, but they all basically serve the same purpose.

Is there space for another contender in the crowded IM arena? German company Goober certainly thinks there is - and that is what prompted them to develop a new client which goes by the name Goober. So whats new?

Well for one, it still does not support some of the more popular IM services out there. Other than that, it comes loaded with the standard fare - built-in VoIP, Video Chat (still under development) etc.

Goober has also integrated entertainment features into the client. The company draws upon free video channels and radio stations found on the Internet and allows playback at the bottom of the client. So, nothing special? Hold on! Goober comes with a new feature set called a portal widget. This is basically a suite of widgets that can be used to solicit communications through the client. An email widget can be placed in the signature of messages and a so-called "portal" widget can be placed on social network profiles and other webpages. Both present buttons for one-click instant messaging, VoIP calling, and file transferring with the user who distributes them.

Read more about Goober here.

Source: TechCrunch