Giganews Releases Mimo Client with Usenet Search

Giganews is rolling out their new Mimo Usenet browser today.   Diamond members will have free access to the new client and Golden Frog Usenet search beta.  Other subscribers will need to upgrade to a Diamond account to gain access to Mimo.

We wrote about the Mimo technology preview back in June and will be providing more coverage on the final release in the weeks to come.

In addition to the Mimo release Giganews is revising some of their pricing plans on January 1, 2011.  Here is a summary of the changes:

Diamond accounts will increase in price by $5 to $34.99 a month and include extra connections, VPN access and the new Mimo newsreader.
Platinum accounts will include SSL encryption for the same $24.99 monthly price.  Where SSL excryption is currently a $5/mo. add-on.
Silver accounts (50 GB/mo.) will include SSL for $14.99 a month
Bronze accounts (10 GB/mo.) will include SSL for $9.99 a month
Pearl accounts (3 GB/mo.) will include SSL for $4.99 a month

It will be interesting to see the impact of the new pricing.  Those who want Usenet-only access with SSL from Giganews will save $5 a month while new Diamond members will see their memberships increase in price.  New Silver, Bronze and Pearl members will pay $2 more a month and gain SSL encrypted newsgroup access.

The new pricing will roll out on January 1st, 2011.  Current Diamond account members will continue to pay $29.99 a month while new members will pay $34.99.  If you have been considering a Giganews Diamond account we suggest you sign up by December 31st for the savings.  In addition Giganews is offering 50% off your first month.

Mimo Usenet Browser : Giganews Technology Preview

Giganews has teamed up with Golden Frog to bring Diamond customers Mimo and Golden Frog Usenet Search.  The Mimo Usenet browser is currently being offered free of charge to a select group of loyal Diamond customers as a technology preview meaning that Mimo is still in the development stage.  The preview is meant for functionality testing and to gather user feedback.

We don’t know that much about Mimo or the related Usenet search engine yet but Giganews has a page available for those included in the Mimo preview and others who would like a future invite.

From previewing the Mimo page we can see that Golden Frog has packed some nice features into their Usenet client.  They mention its optimized for faster downloads, browsing and searches.  The client includes Giganews accelerator technology.  It supports thumbnail images, includes search functionality and allows you to filter based on binaries, text and images.  Auto unRAR and PAR features are also part of Mimo.

The Golden Frog Usenet search engine supports searching binaries across all groups.  Since Giganews is offering the technology preview we assume it can handle their industry leading 700+ days of retention.

Were you invited to the Mimo technology preview?  If so let us know what you think of the new Usenet browser.  Better yet let Golden Frog know as I’m sure they’d appreciate the user feedback.

If you would like to receive a future invite to test Mimo then click the “Request an invite” link at the top of the Mimo preview page.  It will direct you to login to your Diamond account via a special invite page.  Doing so will automatically add you too the Mimo tech preview waiting list as shown below.

Read our Giganews review to learn more about their Usenet services or sign up for a Giganews Diamond account and request an invitation to test Mimo.  Assuming they send out future invitations based on request date you might want to sign up soon!