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Mac 101: Auto-join rooms in iChat
Welcome back to Mac 101, our series of tips for new and novice Mac users.Earlier today we saw a tweet that inspired this post. Patrick Burleson asked how he can stop iChat from automatically joining chat rooms he visited during an earlier session. It's possible, but you won't find the fix in the preferences.First, I'll describe how to join a room automatically whenever iChat is launched. From the File menu, select Go To Chat Room.... A window appears. From there, select the correct account and add your room to the Room Name field. Next, click the "+" in the lower left-hand corner to add it as a favorite and select the "Autojoin" check box. Now, iChat will join that room each time it's launched.To disable the autojoin, simply de-select that box. Why would a person want to automatically join a chat room, you say? Some folks collaborate with far-flung coworkers via AIM all day.There you have it, Patrick (and TUAW readers). I hope this helps.
Revised AIM app for iPhone hooks into new Lifestream service
There's a first time for everything: while the updated premium version of AOL Instant Messenger for the iPhone [iTunes link] was scheduled to arrive later this month, CNET reported that it actually went through the approval process early (no!) and as such it represents the first of the AIM clients to support the new AIM Lifestream multi-service status update capability. If you check out the landing page for the service at lifestream.aim.com, you'll be able to update and monitor your posts and pictures on Delicious, Digg, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter alongside your AIM status (and with your AIM buddies in the mix). The Mac and Windows clients for the service are expected on 9/22; it's not known yet when the Lifestream goodness will make its way to the free & ad-supported AIM client for iPhone. Although you can certainly handle multiple social services from several Mac apps (EventBox, Tweetdeck, MoodBlast), and the iPhone has multi-chat tools like Nimbuzz and Beejive, having the flow of statuses pouring in for AIM users will up the ante considerably. We'll keep an eye out for the official Lifestream launch next week. Forgot to mention: Can we please, please have an AIM client for iPhone that supports group chat? If we're going to pony up $2.99 for the premium AOL client or even more for Beejive, it should have this bit of functionality, don't you think? [via DLS] Note: AOL is the parent company of Weblogs, Inc. and TUAW.
iPhone push on unlocked phones sends AIM message to unintended recipients
Update 7/22: AOL has responded to the reports of misdirected push notifications, and has confirmed that the issue is due to the use of a workaround for push notifications on unlocked phones. -- If you want to have a hot and steamy exchange with your sweetheart via AIM on the iPhone, you might want to think again -- if you have an unlocked or jailbroken phone. CrunchGear reports that Till Schadde with Equinux has discovered an iPhone bug where AIM messages could be sent to random people without you even knowing it. Schadde discovered this when he was notified that a message he had sent to his iPhone version of AIM got intercepted by someone else. That person proceeded to contact Schaddle, sharing the screenshot shown at right with him. Schadde posted the screenshot and detailed the bug on Twitter after testing it once more from his computer. The bug is being blamed on iPhone 3.0's push notification and seems to be limited to unlocked/jailbroken iPhones at the moment. Edit (12:20 PT): Schadde has tweeted that he was contacted by AOL via phone this morning, and they are currently investigating the issue. [Via CrunchGear]
First Look: Agile Messenger with push notifications
Agile Messenger was recently updated to support iPhone OS 3.0's push notifications. The obvious comparison will be to BeejiveIM, since they both do the same thing: provide a multi-client chat app offering push notifications on your iPhone. We'll have a hands-on with Beejive later, but this is how Agile Messenger (iTunes link) works. Oh, and we're giving away five promo codes so you can try it yourself, just check the end of this post.The first screen in Agile Messenger is a series of switches for each protocol supported. These switches make it easy to see what you're connecting to when you tap the Connect button. There's support for ICQ, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Jabber and Google. You can only log in to one account per service, however, so if you have 2 Google accounts, you're going to log in to one at a time. I'm told they are working to change this.Once you are connected, Agile sets your status to "Available." If you close out of the app the defaults will set your status to "Away," although I soon changed it to keep me available even if I close out the app. In addition to your status, Agile adds the "Mobile with AgileMessenger" message, which I could do without. You can change this behavior in the app's preferences but you can only toggle it off. If you want to change your status, you have to change each account separately, instead of one global change. That's a bummer. There's a setting to auto-connect in the preferences, if you'd rather skip a step.Agile's menus use rounded rectangles everywhere, and pop up like the old VH-1 series, Pop-Up Video. It's a nice visual touch, and if you want to back out of a menu just tap anywhere else on the screen but in the menu -- slightly faster than a dedicated Back button. By using the pop-up menus you can drill down into anything, but mostly contact management and preferences. Once in preferences, the buttons become standard iPhone UI, which is good, because there are bunches of switches. Pictures of the preferences in the gallery.Read on for more on picture messaging, chatting and push notifications. %Gallery-68199%
WWDC Video: AOL's Christina Wick on developing for Macs, iPhones
I had a moment to talk to Technical Director Christina Wick at WWDC. She told us about the Mapquest app, plus a cool lifestreaming feature coming soon to AIM. Christina was featured in a video by Apple about developing on the iPhone, and it's clear AOL has embraced the platform, with several apps performing exceptionally well on the store. We've covered AIM, DailyFinance and MapQuest in the past, but there are others as well (and we think a certain blog will get one someday...). Christina's team has been working hard not just on the iPhone, but polishing up the old AOL client for Mac too in a push called "Back to the Mac" -- it has been completely re-written and is much more Mac friendly than... well, it just wasn't Mac friendly at all 3 years ago. We can't wait to see what apps and desktop software her team releases in the future.Note: AOL is also the corporate parent of TUAW & Weblogs Inc.
AIM and BeejiveIM updated for push support
AOL has updated both its free (download link) and paid versions (download link) of its AIM client for the iPhone. Besides push notification support, the paid version brings with it the ability to message in landscape mode -- although AOL says that the free version will gain this ability in a later release. And if these updates alone aren't enough to fill your Monday iPhone app updating appetites, multi-protocol (which also includes support for AIM) BeejiveIM has also been updated (download link) to support push notifications. Note: AOL Instant Messenger is a product from AOL, which is also the corporate parent of TUAW & Weblogs Inc.
Apple invites iPhone devs to test AIM/push notification
We're getting tips from multiple sources that Apple has invited a group of iPhone developers to test drive AOL's updated Instant Messenger app for the iPhone -- complete with push notification -- in an effort to see how Apple's servers will handle the traffic. The invitation included the following: "As a developer actively working with iPhone OS, we would like your help in a private test of the Apple Push Notification service. For this test, we have selected AOL's AIM Developer Preview for iPhone OS 3.0 to create a high-volume test environment for our servers." The test run of the new AIM app is only available on iPhone 3.0 Gold Master releases. Final release date is unknown at this point.Edit (6:30 PT): Additional word from developers chosen for the test shows that this beta version of AIM will cease to function after seven days. Thanks to all who submitted this!
AIM for Mac releases version 1.1
Does anyone still actually use AIM to sign in to their AIM account? I've found the AIM Express client useful occasionally when I happen to be on a strange computer (though nowadays I mostly use the AIM iPhone client when I'm AWOL), but on the desktop it's been Adium for longer than I can remember.Still, if you'd rather do the official way, AIM for Mac 1.1 is out now. There are a few bugfixes -- ICQ accounts had an issue signing in, apparently, and there were a few font and display issues fixed. And there aren't too many new features, though you can now leave notes in "Edit Buddy" fields and the Buddy List search got improved. Unfortunately, it looks like, according to the screenshot they posted, the Buddy List will also blur out all the names on your Buddy List, which seems really inconvenient.The app itself is still in beta, though you can't really go wrong with instant messaging -- either your messages get through or they don't, right? You can download it now, or if you're already using the 1.0 client, you'll get notified automatically.Disclaimer: TUAW is owned by Weblogs, Inc, a division of AOL. We were kidding about that blur thing, AOL -- we know it's just for the screenshot.
Use your AOL or AIM screen name to leave comments
Have you noticed? We've upgraded our comments system to make it just a little bit easier for you. There are now three tabs for you to choose from: New Readers, Returning and a fancy new AOL button. Returning readers will be able to use their existing log-in information as usual. However, there's a bonus for those of you that have been too confused by our comments system in the past.If you use AOL or AIM, you can use your existing screenname and password to leave comments on the Joystiq network. The first time you use your AOL/AIM name, you'll get an e-mail sent to your account with a temporary password. This will let you change your avatar and info on our sites. To access your account, simply click on your avatar on your previous comments. We really hope that this new system will make it easier for you to participate in our community -- especially if you haven't left a comment before!If you're new to the comments section, why not give it a try? You'll be surprised at how easy it is!
MobileChat now available in the App Store
Today Twenty08 released a new instant messaging client for the iPhone/iPod touch. MobileChat (iTunes Link) allows you to connect to multiple IM services, including: AIM/ICQ/.Mac/MobileMe Windows Live/MSN Yahoo GTalk Jabber In many ways, this application for the iPhone looks like a cross between Adium and AIM for iPhone. This application is feature rich, allowing you to take and send images or IM a phone number from any of your 10 supported IM accounts, Most notably, MobileChat allows you to use Apple's forthcoming "Push Notification" system for notifications when the application is closed. This feature is built into this release, but will not be active until Apple "flips the switch." You can download MobileChat today from the App Store for $2.99 (USD).[via MacRumors]
Mac 101: Using iChat with AIM Blasts
More Mac 101, our ongoing series of tips and tricks for new and returning Mac users. If you're an iChat user with a need for immediate attention, AIM Blasts makes it easy to add social networking groups to iChat. When you want to have a conversation with a group of people, blasts let you IM everyone in your selected group at once, without having to invite them to a special chat room. For example, you might have friend groups, work groups, or, thinking of Scott McNulty, your special D&D buddies. MobileMe users can take advantage of AIM blasts, since all .Mac and MM users are automatically AIM users as well. Just log in to AIM.com as yourname@me.com (or mac.com) -- you'll be able to take advantage of all of AOL's instant-messaging hospitality. You don't set up your blast in iChat. Instead, point your browser at blast.aim.com. There, you'll be able to invite your friends and establish your new group. All joining and messaging is done from inside iChat itself. Blast groups appear in iChat as a separate group in your Buddies list -- scroll down in the buddy list if you have trouble finding your blast groups. It may help to give them names that are distinct from any buddy groups you already have, or perhaps prefix your blast groups with a "B-" to help them stand out. When setting up your blast group, you decide whether all members or only admins (i.e., you) can send messages and/or invitations. Blast recipients have to accept your invite to be part of a blast group, so you may want to give them a heads-up in advance (especially if your blast group's name is obscure or edgy). Just so you know: TUAW and Weblogs, Inc. are part of AOL.
iPhone SDK apps: AIM and others headed your way
Apple wasn't just loving on gamers and enterprise types with its app announcements today. Other hot softwares to get the iPhone treatment include AIM, Epocrates and Touch FX. It probably wouldn't be much of a stretch to call AIM the most requested app for the iPhone, and while we would've liked to see it included out of the box, it's better late than never, right? Epocrates is a medical app, which sounds very very interesting for all five people out there planning on using it. Touch FX is quite a bit more fun, developed by Apple in a couple days and featuring realtime picture manipulation with multitouch.
iChat Pro makes iChat look like Adium
Personally, I'm an Adium user at heart -- iChat is super nice (especially for a built-in chat program), but it just doesn't have the features and customizability that that Adium does. But if you have to use iChat for whatever reason (easy video conferencing comes to mind) despite your love for Adium, then this mod, sent to us by reader Philipp, will probably come in handy.It's called iChat Pro, and it basically simplifies your iChat window, squeezing out the borders and cutting the buttons at the bottom. I don't think you can change the colors and design of the display the way you can in Adium (it's been a while since I used iChat, and a quick browse through the preferences didn't reveal any options for that), but at least it looks a little more professional than the, let's admit it, a little goofy, default iChat GUI. iChat Pro is a free iChat mod from Infinise Design.
VTech launches IS6110 instant messaging phone
Let's just get this out of the way: VTech packed a lot of ugly into the IS6110. That said, the phone isn't too shabby, using DECT 6.0 for call clarity, and supporting AIM and Windows Live Messenger instant messaging. To set it up you just plug the phone into a standard outlet, plug a USB cable into your PC and start LOL'ing all your buddies with abandon. The full QWERTY keyboard and color LCD should make the IM experience passable, but we're guessing this is going to be a price of quality scenario, with parents viewing the phone as a $99 solution to getting the chilluns off the PC for an hour or two so they can get some real work done on Bookworm Adventures. The phone is out in February.
Meebo releases iPhone web app
Meebo, the reigning champion of web-based chat, has just released their entry into the iPhone app arena. I had a chance to speak with meebo's CEO, Seth Sternberg, earlier today about the release, and they truly do have a surprisingly innovating iPhone app on there hands. Simply point MobileSafari at meebo.com and the site will send you to the iPhone portal (a technique about which our own Scott McNulty had a few thoughts to share) where you can sign into any of Meebo's supported services - including AIM, Yahoo!, MSN and Google Talk - or you can sign in with an account you have already registered with meebo. From there, things get very interesting (note that the screenshot below was snapped in Camino since I'm just not cool enough to get Erica's iPhone screenshot utility up and running). First, if you registered an account with meebo and added your credentials for one or more chat networks, you'll appreciate the fact that everything transfers over to the iPhone app. Custom status messages, your buddy icon, even the history from chat sessions on your desktop computer - they all appear in the iPhone app. Your buddies are listed alphabetically, but any current chats float to the top of the buddy list for easy access, and this is a bit of UI where meebo has some unique innovation going on: the entire iPhone meebo experience centers around a home screen that is your buddy list; it takes up the entire display, and it even rotates and scales gracefully for landscape mode. No tabs here, which can be a mixed bag for the experience. Tapping on a buddy slides over to a new chat window with nothing but an icon to get back to your buddy list, a box to type in and the send button. Chat history (if there is any) populates pretty quickly, even over EDGE, which is an area that Seth said the company focused quite a bit: ensuring the entire app was light on data, simple to use and ultimately fast. Tapping the buddy list icon of course gets you back to the list, and any chats you started automatically float to the top. This is where the lack of tabs can be both a blessing and a curse: while the buddy list is nice and large, making it far easier to to read and navigate than any previous iPhone chat apps, it still takes at least two taps - not including any potential scrolling - to get out of a chat, back to the list and into another chat; more taps if you need to scroll. It's a unique approach to solving this kind of a problem, but ultimately, I think meebo made the right choice.All things considered, meebo's iPhone chat app is hands down my new favorite. I haven't been chatting much on my iPhone yet, but meebo's streamlined experience, fast load times and easy navigation make this a slam dunk that has finally sparked my interest in trying out mobile chat. I was even more surprised about how well they've done on this 1.0 app when Seth shared that this is meebo's first mobile app of any kind. While the company has done web-based chat for years now, they've never ventured onto any mobile device platforms. That said, I think they just about knocked this one out of the park. If you own an iPhone and need to chat, meebo.com is easily one of the best options available.
eBuddy reveals iPhone multi-network chat client
While Meebo is still working on optimizing their web-based chat service for the iPhone, a new player by the name of eBuddy is joining the ranks of FlickIM, JiveTalk and Trillian Astra. Already doing business like Meebo as a web-based, multi-network chat service, eBuddy has just announced an alpha version of their iPhone-optimized chat app that is heavy on the features, though certainly a departure from mimicking the increasingly standard iPhone-ish UI. With support for AIM, Yahoo! and MSN (which I thought was now called Windows Live Messenger?), as well as text styling and the all-too-handy tabbed chatting, eBuddy definitely offers a powerful iPhone chatting experience - if you're willing to wait for the web app to load, that is. Users can simply visit ebuddy.com on their iPhone to access the optimized app. Alpha tester beware though: eBuddy took a surprisingly long time to load even over my AirPort Express Wi-Fi, which makes me worry about testing it over EDGE. Still, it's nice to have options for those times when Apple drops the ball, and eBuddy looks like one of the most feature-packed chat alternatives for the iPhone yet.Thanks Chris
JiveTalk offers nice IM for iPhone
The race to see who will rule IM on the iPhone has begun. Last week, Dave wrote about Meebo. It works, but has flaws (the buddy list is very far from the chat window for some reason, and the chat window can't be resized).Today, I came across JiveTalk, which offers simultaneous login to AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Jabber. The alpha release for iPhone worked pretty well during my brief testing. The UI resembles iChat. I had multiple AIM conversations open, and a small notification window told me when the inactive conversation had received an update. Also, two "chat bubbles" at the top of the screen let me toggle between conversations.It's alpha, as I said, but looks good so far. Check it out.[Via Gizmodo]
Using multi-network Meebo chat service on your iPhone
While Nik Fletcher at our sister site Download Squad discovered that Meebo works decently on an iPhone, it isn't without some catches. Meebo, for those who have never experienced, is a leading web-based multi-network chat service; in other words - chatting in a web browser is their business, and they've been doing it for a long time. Even though Nik is right, and Meebo might fill in for the lack of any kind of chat in the iPhone, it isn't without some UI quirks that can make the experience less than pleasing. Of course, it is entirely plausible that the Meebo team are already hard at work on getting their product to play nicely with an iPhone, but until then, I figured some tips and tricks were in order for those who are just dying to chat across AIM, Yahoo!, MSN and even ICQ on their iPhones. Save time logging in: You should probably make it easy on yourself and register a Meebo account with a real desktop browser. While you always have the option of manually signing into one or more services each time you visit Meebo, if you want to chat on more than one network, it's going to be a pain in the butt to keep zooming in and out while typing in your login credentials each time. From what I can tell, iSafari (Safari on the iPhone) doesn't properly save your login name and/or password, so it might simply be easier to create a Meebo account and attach all the network logins you want to it so you can simply log into all of them with one master Meebo account. The buddy list works - mostly: I'm no web 2.0 designer, but from what I can tell, Meebo is a pretty complex web-based chat app. Since Meebo is providing some pretty powerful functionality, I'm not surprised that it doesn't work quite right in iSafari, and the quirky buddy list is probably the first thing you'll notice. If you try to tap on any contacts, the entire buddy list gets that dark translucent overlay as if you just tapped on and selected the entire thing. What's worse, you might not even see a new chat window open up, even in landscape mode. Fret not, however: for some reason, Meebo (at least on my iPhone) places new chat windows far, far to the left. If you pinch and zoom out a bit, maybe even scrolling a tad, you should see any and every new chat window you opened by tapping on the buddy list. Handling windows: Once you get over that buddy list hump, the rest of Meebo works fairly well. Tapping in the text field area of a chat window will bring up the iPhone's keyboard, and I find that, given how much space the keyboard takes up, using the iPhone in typical portrait mode (vertically) here gives you a bit more space to see what you're typing and maybe the last word or line of what your buddy said. Simply pressing the Go button in the lower right of the keyboard will actually send your chat message. While windows don't seem to be drag-able, you can tap on their title bars to bring one or the other to the front, allowing you to tap in the text field and get typing. This, of course, is all going to require you to get real comfortable with zooming in and our frequently, because the iPhone will zoom in on the text field area when you want to chat, forcing you to zoom back out to see what your buddy is saying or any other chat windows you have open. It isn't perfect, but it works. Chat junkies will likely rejoice since they won't have to burn through SMS, and Meebo offers a better experience and more chat networks than that AIM-only experimental app we found last month. Aside from waiting for Apple to get on the ball here, keep your eyes on Meebo, as I would not be surprised if they're working on optimizing their web app for the iPhone.
Experimental web app could bring AIM chat to iPhone
While the jury will of course be out until June 29th as to whether web-based chat apps like Meebo could be used on the iPhone to work around the lack of a true, built-in chat app, David Cann has developed an experimental web interface that might bring AIM to next week's highly-anticipated gadget. The service is up and running already, allowing users to log into AIM using Cann's page, but the adjective 'experimental' is used for a reason. First, it's suffering some rocky performance due, in part, to being dugg, but it's also based simply on some JavaScript that Cann is running with his own servers (while this might scare some privacy advocates, Cann promises users that he isn't harvesting any information or chats. Do with that what you will).Cann's iChat for iPhone service, as it's called, is also fairly limited in functionality, at least for now; this definitely isn't your Mac's iChat. Right now there are no groups, no buddy icons and opening more than 4 chats apparently is not recommended. Usage is also limited to only 10 minutes per session also, probably to help Cann sleep at night while he's tinkering with polishing this.Still, if at least some form of iChat is strongly desired or simply a necessity for some iPhone users, this iChat for iPhone could overcome the hurdle for at least a few potential customers. Of course, we're all expecting Apple to provide a more serious solution at some point, but as with so many other Apple-related offerings, we'll just have to play the waiting game.
MyCyberTwin knows why you cry, but it's something it can never do
An Australian company has grand plans to reinvent the lowly chatbot by giving it a little personality -- yours. And no, it's not just for messing with your friends. MyCyberTwin is a chat robot designed to be easily programmable by ordinary users. The 'bot accepts high-level input in the form of detailed questionnaires about politics, religion, and sex, as well as the answers to any questions you might anticipate it being asked, like "What are you doing on Saturday?" The idea is that you'll install the chat widget on your blog or MySpace profile, and then visitors can talk to "you" based on what you've programmed into the 'bot. But besides the thorny problem of managing an army of emo MySpace robots, the MyCyberTwin people seem to have overlooked the obvious name for their product: with endless online relationship questions and politics quizzes plus the thrill of filling out personality profiles, this thing is just begging to be called MyFreshmanDorm.[Via TechnologyReview]
