As you know, 8hands is all about social networks – that's why the only thing you MUST do in order to really dig 8hands, is to add your online profiles (facebook, MySpace, YouTube, blogs etc.). Here's why and how:

After adding your locations you'll notice how quickly 8hands does its magic:

1. Your latest section will fill up with all your recent updates from your various profiles, like friend requests, private messages, event invitations, new comments and more. This way 8hands can also help you to clean up your inbox from all those mails notifications from your various locations.
2. Your friends list will fill up with all of your friends from all your different locations so that you can IM them and check their different locations.
3. The media gallery will import your videos, photos and feeds and you can easily drag them into an IM window chat.

So you see, while 8hands starts off with its own default locations, it's your own content which really makes it shine. The more locations you add, the better 8hands gets.

Here's how to add your locations:

Click on the small "plus" icon in your scorecard or, open the "Options" menu and chose "Edit Locations". Then, click on "Add a new location" and choose the location type that you want to add.

You can always change and modify your locations by clicking on "Edit Locations".

click on the plus icon to add your locations

For more information on how to add a location check out our video tour or

click here: http://www.8hands.com/help/using8hands/locations

Enjoy!

Video killed the help section star! That's why we recorded a guided video tour – so you could learn about 8hands by staring at a screen. Forget about all that reading nonsense, let's watch and learn baby!

You may have noticed that the Media Gallery in the latest 8hands alpha version has been improved. Now, when you see the thumbnail at the bottom of your 8hands, it comes with many more details than it used to.

Because the Media Gallery is a pure-fun section of 8hands, we wanted you to have it your way, so when you glance at it you'll see exactly what intrests you.

For that we've setup three different viewing modes for the Media Gallery: Full, Medium & Minimal.

The full mode is the default mode, and it gives you lots of details, like the item's network icon, the item's title, the uploder's name & the uploading date.

When the Media Gallery shows a Flickr photo that is marked as a favorite by someone, the full mode is kind enough to let you know.

The Medium mode shows you a lot less text, and let you in only on the crucial info - the item's network icon, and the name of the uploader.

The minimum mode is similliar to the old classic Media Gallery of the older 8hands versions. It features only the thumbnail and the item's network icon - some of us don't need more than that.

So how can you choose one of these modes for your 8hands? It's easier than reading this post! To customize your Media Gallery viewing mode go into 8hands' "Settings" and choose the "Media" Tab. Then go to drop down menu and choose your desired view.

A smoother, more stable, prettier new 8hands alpha is available as a free existing download.

We are exhausted, because some of us didn't sleep for weeks – it's hard being a super hero with eight hands. But we are also proud, because we end up having a great product in our arms - version 0.8.031 alpha isn't just new, it's a huge improvement, and we are sure a lot of people will find it useful & fun.

Some of the 8hands loyal users must have noticed a user interface change and lots of added features in the version that's been floating in our site the past two weeks – but we kept it quiet. We knew we had lots of fixes to make and a lots of tweaks to add, and we wanted to make the announcement of the new version at the right moment – the moment that we felt that 8hands is a damn good app.

Check out the main improvements & add-ons in version 0.8.031 alpha:

• Facebook support: that's right! Facebook iz in da house! Now you can add your Facebook account right into 8hands, get instant notifications about messages, wall writing and such to your tray, IM your Facebook friends and more.
• Private Flickr & YouTube support: until now, 8hands only supported public Flickr & YouTube locations, meaning that you could enter your user name or screen name and get the public events from these profiles (the public media & comments). Now it's all gone better! You can enter your Flickr & YouTube passwords and get everything you got until now, as well as friends import, private messages and other events instantly, without even opening the browser.
• Public Flickr & YouTube improved support: it's easier now to keep track of beloved profiles. Enter a Flickr or Youtube profile, and 8hands will import it's media to your media zone and will notify you upon new photos & videos upload.
• A complete user interface remake: 8hands is now cleaner & smaller. The old fashion tabs are replaced by designed combo boxes and every part of 8hands can now be minimized and expended. check it out:

• Location icons & links: now it's easier than ever to visit all of your online profiles. The icons at the scorecard are now clickable, meaning you can jump into each one of your profiles in a heart beat, and even better than that – you can see all of your 8hands' friends locations as well, just by clicking on their buddy pic.
• Many bug fixes: the fixes are all over the place – from the IM and the media zone, to the latest, history & MySpace support.

We also made a sweet flash 8hands tour so u'll know what everything in the app stands for. here it is:

So give 8hands a try & let us know what you think. IM us if you feel like chatting, or send us an e-mail to info (at) 8hands (dot) com

We are here for you all, just as always.

If you know what's hot around the net these days, then you definitely have a Twitter profile.

Because 8hands is here to handle your online social life and make it easier for you to control all your profiles at once, you can update your Twitter profile via the 8hands tagline.

This is actually easier than you think: After adding your Twitter profile into the 8hands locations, tick the "connect Twitter to 8hands tagline" box, now use your tagline (it's right under your screen name at the scorecard) to update your Twitter profile: Everything you'll write in the tagline will appear in your Twitter and vice versa!

Oh and while you're up there don't forget to add us as your Twitter friends: http://twitter.com/8hands