Pidgin is a great GTK2-based instant messenger application that supports a bevy of protocols, including ICQ, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber, and AIM. It's a terrific app in its own right, but when you add some of these power tools, Pidgin is even better.

pidgin-hotkeys - Use this plugin to assign global hotkeys to quickly perform regular tasks like fetching messages, toggling the buddy list, or opening the preferences pane. Also available in German and Swedish.

Everyone's favorite multi-platform instant messaging client, Pidgin, got a major update last week that includes support for voice and video. Pidgin 2.6.1 also includes more than 200 bugfixes and patches, plus a few additional new features that may not be as sexy as voice and video but are still great to have.

Other cool new features include:

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