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Found Footage: Conan on iChat
If you're a dedicated Conan watcher, you'll know that Conan O'Brien's normal bandleader, Max Weinberg, is often out on the road playing on tour with Bruce Springsteen, and away from the show for long periods of time. Conan misses Weinberg as much as we do, apparently, and so last night he decided to get back in touch with none other than Apple's own iChat video conferencing.Sure enough, it's not a fake -- while there are lots of audio and video cables coming off of Conan's MacBook Pro, when they show the desktop (Leopard) and later on bring in a third person, you can see that it really is iChat, running as normal -- the cables are likely just to grab the audio and video for the broadcast.Unfortunately, this also shows off iChat's limits -- while the technology is cool, it won't necessarily make the people you call any more interested in talking. Odds are that "drummerboymax08" isn't that interested in chatting with you either.Thanks, Sabi! Video via Macenstein
Four reasons to get your parents to use Leopard
I held the phone tightly in my right hand. With my left, I rubbed my dry, tired eyes. I looked at the clock in my Mac's menu bar. I had been on the phone for forty-five minutes, with no indication that I'd be hanging it up any time soon."OK," I said in a slow, deliberate tone. "Let's start from the beginning. Click on the Mail menu. A list should appear. Do you see it?"A pause. "Yes," my mother said."What do you see in that list?" I said."File ... About Mail ... Preferences ....""Good. Do you see 'Quit'?""Yes." "Excellent. Click on 'Quit' and we'll start again."Welcome to my personal hell, circa 2006. Pull up a chair. Get comfortable. We're going to be here for quite a while.
Apple TV patent filing boasts video chat, widgets, broadcast capability
No stranger to the odd patent filing, Apple has once again delved into the dark waters of the unknown with an application for an Apple TV-like device with iChat-esque functionality, amongst others. In the patent, the company suggests a number of uses for widget overlays during video, including those triggered by content and timing, as well as widgets used for menus and navigation. The patent demonstrates how real-time widget updates may coincide with live broadcast television -- such as a scorecard overlay for a sporting event -- and also showcases a video chat function which can be used simultaneously during the playback or broadcast of content. Additionally, the filing shows a new remote which would have hot buttons for quick access to widgets, navigation, and the automatic milkshake mode (we might have wishfully made up that last one). Sure it looks good, but we'd happily take the latest Apple TV update until this comes along.
Show floor video: ecamm networks with iLidz and more
The gentlemen at ecamm networks have a slew of products already in production: iGlasses, Call Recorder, and plenty more. Watch the video for demos of iLidz, iPhone Disk, and an unreleased video hack for the iPhone that's got to be seen to be believed. Video moved into the continuation for faster home page loading.
iPhoneCam streams video from your iPhone over WiFi
A fancy mirror contraption not quite what you had in mind for video conferencing on your iPhone? Fret not, friends; Ecamm Network is back at it, this time devising a way to stream video from the camera -- at 30fps, no less -- to the Mac of your choice over WiFi. Even better, the clever cats hooked it up with Bonjour, so the Mac just sorta sees it as a camera without any configuration needed. The possibilities are pretty endless (or limited, depending on your point of view), but we suppose it's nice for iPhone owners to instantly have a free, remote cam for iChatting, if nothing else. The download isn't available yet, but Ecamm is teasing that they just might be willing to demo it at their Macworld booth this week.[Via TUAW]
Using Data Detectors in Leopard's iChat
I'm always, well, tickled by the things that can happen when you use Terminal commands that begin with "defaults write" -- thus changing the preferences for applications, the Finder, and more, often in ways that you can't accomplish via GUI pref settings. I also get a certain warmness from Leopard's Data Detectors, but I have to confess I rarely use them. It's fun to watch the things that Mail can pick up on, and I've often tested to see what exactly iCal will make of it, but I guess some people just get better emails than I do. Strangely, I do get dates and info via instant messaging on a more regular basis. You can enable Data Detectors in iChat with one simple command in Terminal: defaults write com.apple.iChat EnableDataDetectors 1 You can disable it using the same command, but change the '1' to a '0.' Now you get the fun job of calling your closest Mac-using relative and explaining Terminal so they can use a feature that Apple hid from public view for what I can only assume were valid reasons. I hope your aunt has her screen-sharing figured out. [via Mac OS X Hints]
More iChat Effects
I've got two toddlers who love video chatting with grandma and grandpa. It starts out cute, but quickly deteriorates into the two of them jumping around in front of the different effects and backgrounds. More iChat Effects has made it worse.This free download adds 48 new effects to iChat, including outer space, a mildly disturbing cube effect and a pretty cool hologram. More iChat Effects is a Universal Binary and includes an uninstaller, just in case you don't want to chat as the Mona Lisa.Thanks, Grant!
Leopard killed these freeware apps?
Here's an interesting list of applications supposedly killed by Leopard. There's no question that there's a huge amount of functionality in Leopard that was taken care of in Tiger by third-party apps (and this is just a list of freeware-- commenters pointed out last week that Jisho was made almost obsolete by the Japanese dictionary included with Leopard), but I'm not so sure this list is all it promises to be. No amount of tweaking to Spotlight will ever replace Quicksilver, and as good as iChat has gotten, I still like Adium for its easy customization. And apps like CenterStage, who used to have a one goal (an open source Front Row replacement), have now been able to spread out and become more their own program instead of worrying about Apple's missing functionality. As always, the best app for the job depends on both the job and the person doing it, so there are probably more than a few places where Leopard stepped up to fill functionality that users used to trust third-party software for. But it's a stretch at least to say Leopard killed these apps-- replication of one function now built into the OS doesn't mean all the apps other functions are useless. [Via Fake Steve]
iChat Matte eliminates glossy iChat bubbles
Here's a nice piece of freeware. Now that Aqua's shiny buttons are all but history, the glossy balloons in iChat really stand out. If you would prefer something more subtle, check out iChat Matte. It replaces those eyesores with flat, matte bubbles that are more pleasant to look at. Version 2.0 is compatible with Leopard (there is a Tiger version as well), accepts custom colors and includes an uninstaller. iChat Matte is free. Now, if only I could do the same thing with SMS on the iPhone....
Chax returns to Leopard, brings back Growl
Long ago, way back in the days before Leopard, the Chax plugin was a necessity for any serious iChatter. But then lo came the new cat, and iChat 4.0 brought with it many of Chax's headline features already built-in: chief among them the tabbed chat interface. But yet some things are still lacking in the shiny new iChat, perhaps most importantly Growl support. So it was with some satisfaction that I see that Chax 2.0b1 is out and returns the flood of iChat Growl notifications to my Leopard desktop. Though its feature list is, per force, shorter than in the old Tiger days, Chax still adds a handy chat-log viewer (organized by buddy), buddy icons in the Dock, and various other little tweaks to make iChat 4.0 feel like home.Chax 2.0b1 is a free download (donations requested) and is a SIMBL based Input Manager.Update: For those of you having trouble getting Chax to work properly, you may need to reinstall SIMBL. Be sure to uninstall any previous version (particularly any from a previous Tiger install living at ~/Library/Input Managers).[via Infinite Loop]
Use Back to My Mac without .Mac
As far as "Back to My Mac" is concerned, Apple presents it as a .Mac-only enhancement. Melvin Rivera pointed us to his blog post showing how to use Back to My Mac with iChat. This technique isn't for the faint of heart. It involves editing system preferences, modifying AppleScript, and causing your computer to always stay awake. Other than that, it's a great way to get around the Back to My Mac limitations and use your computer remotely.
Leopard Spotlight: Control another Mac with iChat and AppleScript
Rob Griffiths over at Macworld points to an interesting new feature in Leopard's iChat: the ability to run AppleScripts in response to events. If you look in the Alerts tab of iChat's preferences there's a checkbox for running an AppleScript when a user selectable event (e.g. a text invitation) occurs. As you can see above, Apple includes three default scripts that allow for automatically accepting or declining an invitation, and better yet, controlling iTunes. How might this be useful? One obvious way is controlling a music server in a different room just by sending IMs. "You can... send the iTunes-owning Mac these commands as chat messages from another Mac: status, next, previous, mute, unmute, help, play, and pause." A nifty little addition to iChat, I think, and since you can add your own AppleScripts, it opens up the possibility of doing something similar for a variety of other applications as well. (Incidentally, these built-in scripts live at /Library/Scripts/iChat.)
Getting the iChat hologram effect back
When Leopard was released a lot of folks (well okay, just Star Wars geeks, but nonetheless) lamented the loss of the hologram style iChat AV effect demonstrated back at WWDC. Well for those folks, a little birdy told me that the Quartz Composer file for this effect can be downloaded here (download link). Just pop it into your /Library/Compositions folder, restart iChat and it should be available as one of the video effects. This file was apparently taken from one of the earlier developer builds of Leopard.If you want a different take on the same idea, there's also a fan made version over at Mac Rumors.
Apple Insider previews iChat 4.0
Apple Insider continues their series looking ahead to Leopard (boy, it's nice to know next Friday for sure, isn't it?) by previewing the new iChat, version 4.0.As with the Dock review they did last week, they first take a look at the history of iChat, but iChat actually got started fairly late in the world of instant messaging. Apple started it out by working with other protocols (one reason it's worked so well since then, I'd bet). iChat AV was the most significant update so far, adding videoconferencing that, thanks to the built-in iSights on most Macs nowadays, made the feature widespread.To me, iChat 4.0's most exciting new feature is the document and screen sharing. Via VNC, both Mac and PC users have been able to share screens for a while, but the process has always been complicated (in most cases, so complicated that the problem you're actually trying to fix by screen sharing is less complicated than sharing screens itself). But iChat 4.0 is meant to make the process easy. There are also lots of fun video implementations-- including an "Obi-wan" setting I can't wait to try-- to go along with videoconferencing.Day to day, I generally use Adium as an IM client (the look and configurability sells it for me), but the new features in iChat 4.0 will definitely tempt me to check them out, if not switch completely. Just 9 days left!
iGlasses goes 2.0
If you want to customize your iSight output for chatting or video recording, there's a quick and cheap way to do it: iGlasses from ecamm network, only $9.95 for a whole kit bag of adjustments, colorizations, exposure controls and pan/zoom options. The 2.0 version was released earlier today (a free upgrade for previous licensees) and adds exposure lock for the built-in iSight camera among other new features.I find myself using the exposure control a lot to manage iChat video in poor lighting conditions; you can check it out for yourself by downloading the demo here.Thanks Glen & Ken
MoodSwing multi-status utility: Now in convenient menubar dosage
Attention all ye users of Adium, Skype, iChat, Twitter, Facebook and Jaiku - Brett Terpstra has struck again with MoodSwing, his excellent utility for updating your status across all these apps and services. Why do I call it a utility instead of just a Quicksilver action, you ask? Because Brett is now providing both the original action and a new full-blown menubar app - at the request of TUAW readers - called MoodBlast. Both now live on the same download page at Brett's Circle Six Design blog, and they both allow you to update your status across all the aforementioned services at once. While MoodSwing is an action you set-and-forget to work with Quicksilver (though you can reconfigure later), an advantage of the MoodBlast menubar app is that you're presented with the UI you see above every time you activate it, with any services you used previously already selected for updating. The other advantage of the MoodBlast app, of course, is that you don't need Quicksilver in order to minimize the effort spent for online socialization.As with his other excellent projects, Brett Terpstra provides MoodSwing and MoodBlast as donationware.
CamCamX: Spice up your video chats and get more out of them
For those who want to spice up their video conferences and would like to use their iSight (or other webcam) with more than one application simultaneously, CamCamX might just be the app for you. Offering an old-school UI for mixing movies and images into your video conferences, CamCamX allows you to play digital broadcaster with most of the webcam-enabled apps for Mac OS X. In addition to mix-master-iSight with your video and media, CamCamX also allows you to use more than one webcam app at once, allowing you to, for example, hop into a video chat while also providing a live webstream or recording yourself with QuickTime (though, for some strange reason, you apparently need to purchase iChatUSBCam if you want iChat to fit into your CamCamX workflow). While the UI isn't the most beautiful thing this side of the HIG, it's a powerful concept that mimics Apple's upcoming iChat Theater in Leopard, but seems to open a few more doors since it works with apps like Yahoo! Messenger, Skype and even Flash.A watermarked demo of CamCamX is avaialble from VJ Software, while a license costs $29.00, with 3-year and lifetime upgrade memberships available for $59 and $99, respectively.
MoodSwing 4 multi-status Quicksilver script has come a long way, baby
If it seems like it was only last week that Brett Terpstra introduced his side project MoodSwing, a clever script that allows users to change their status message across multiple apps with Quicksilver - well, it was. People loved it, so Brett quickly began updating, tweaking and adding a slew of new features and services that MoodSwing could manipulate. The script is now up to v4 with a dedicated page at Brett's Circle Six Design blog, listing out all the features and supported services: Supports Adium, iChat and Skype Supports Twitter, Jaiku and Facebook Automatic Qurling of long URLs Word Count Send current weather (international) Send current iTunes track Encryption of passwords stored in preferences Easy-to-edit defaults, can be overridden by command syntax In a surprisingly short time, MoodSwing has become an incredibly powerful Quicksilver action that can simplify the process of letting your friends across many services know what you're up to. The action is pretty easy to set up and configure to your bidding, but be sure to check out the MoodSwing page for instructions to get the ball rolling. As with so many of Brett's other excellent offerings, MoodSwing is provided as donationware, so scroll down on Brett's Downloads page and show him some appreciation.
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.
Adium 1.1 released with new tabs, iChat importing and much more
Adium, the reigning king of 3rd party multi-network chatting on the Mac, has been updated to v1.1, but don't be fooled: even though it appears to be a minor x.1 update, there's a pretty significant list of changes here. Tabs seem to be all new, with the ability to move the tab list to any side of the chat window (top, left, right, etc.). Customizing Adium's menubar icon has also gotten a lot easier, now that it is an official xtra for which you can download new icons from AdiumXtras.com. DirectConnect over AIM - the feature that allows you to simply drag pictures into iChat windows and have them display in-line during a chat - should also work more reliably, and it is automatically initiated when needed now. Rounding up the list of major changes is a new ability to import iChat accounts, statuses and chat transcripts, helping Adium to become your central chatting hub.Of course this isn't all, so knock yourself out with the complete list of changes if you're feeling adventurous. Otherwise, simply start up Adium to receive the auto-update notification or head over to Adiumx.com to download a fresh copy, and be sure to donate to the Adium crew (check the bottom of the page) for their fantastic work on a great chat app.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
