Fit-and-Finish and Addressing User Feedback

We're now on our fourth Beta for AIM for Mac 2.0 and we're now working on fit-and-finish and addressing issues reported by our Beta testers. If you haven't set up your Lifestream, you can set up your social networks under the Lifestream tab (on AIM for Mac 2.0) or by visiting http://lifestream.aim.com. Please download and try AIM for Mac 2.0 (Beta 4) today.

Features Released in Previous AIM for Mac 2.0 Betas

• Consolidated mode selector. Just click the "Running Man" pull-down menu to select Available, Away, Invisible or Mobile. If you have created Away Messages in a previous version of AIM, you will see them as a sub-menu at the bottom of the pull-down menu.
• Away toggle, invisible toggle, group row color picker and Find Buddy have been moved to the new Search Toolbar in the Buddy List. You can open or close the new toolbar by selecting "Show Search Toolbar in Buddy List" or pressing Shift-Option-F.
• A new, streamlined AIM registration is now integrated with your AIM for Mac sign in window so you can create new screen names to be used with AIM or AIM Mail.
• Buddy List Builder has been added to AIM for Mac 2.0 to help new users find and add Buddies (even from Address Books on other services).
• Find out who calls you a buddy. But you'll need to open your Buddy List up too. "Buddy Lists I'm on" is now available on the Me tab, just click the number to see details. For your privacy, this feature is set to private ("Just Me") by default but will be available for you to manage in the next AIM for Mac beta (this feature is not yet available on iPhone). See privacy tab in AIM for Mac 2.0 preferences.

AIM for Mac 2.0 (Beta 4) New Features and Changes

• Enabled the dragging of text clippings, images, and links from the IM conversation history view.
• We are no longer going to close a sheet when a new IM conversation is started. Also, we will no longer change the tab selection when a sheet is displayed.
• Updated Buddy Icon sizing to accommodate additional sizes.
• Users can now open a window to display Buddy Lists I'm On.
• Added VoiceOver compatible text for IM window button bar.
• Improved support for languages (Japanese and other languages).
• General bug fixes and optimizations.

AIM for Mac 2.0 (Beta 4) Fixed Issues

• Users can use the auto-update engine if the Beta has been blocked for a mandatory upgrade.
• Fixed Growl button in preferences not working in certain version of Growl.
• Fixed an issue if the user resized the IM window to minimum size, the knock-knock window will be displayed.
• Fixed various memory leak issues that may lead to application crash.
• Fixed an issue if a Buddy Icon is not returned from the AIM network, which caused an issue with the Buddy Flyout.
• Fixed an issue that will always use the default location for application preferences.
• Pressing ESC from the keyboard will Cancel the sign-in process.
• Fixed an issue when the assigned Buddy Icon to a new AIM screen name is only 12 x 12 pixels.
• Fixed an issue when the Away Message was sent when the user was available.
• Fixed an issue where different font/size defaults were not uniform across all text input fields.
• Fixed an issue when your status was updated to say "Check out my photo!" even if the user cancels the upload.

As always, I appreciate your support and drop by the Mac@AOL blog to find out what's going on at AOL!

Thanks!
Lee GIvens
AOL Mac/iPhone Product Lead

If you cannot Sign In and you see this message, "Unconfirmed User Name", or "Unconfirmed Screen Name", or "Account Not Confirmed", it means that you registered your email address as a screen name, but have not clicked the confirmation link in the confirmation email. Before you can Sign In to AIM, you must first click on the confirmation link to confirm your account.

In the confirmation email sent you by AOL (Screen Name Service), you will see this link:
"Yes, I made this request and I want to reserve this email address as part of the AOL Screen Name Service". Click on that link to confirm your screen name. You will be asked to enter your password again to complete the confirmation process. That's it! Now you are ready to Sign In to AIM.

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

We added support for Growl in AIM for Mac version 1.5 so users could get notifications when new IMs arrived, and when buddies went online and offline. There are a few other Growl events as well. To see these events and more, display the Growl settings where you can enable and disable each Growl event separately.

1. Run the System Preferences application.
2. In the Other section at the bottom of the System Preferences window, click on Growl.
3. On the Growl settings window, click on the Applications tab.
4. Click the AIM application in the list and then click the Configure... button at the bottom of the page.
5. Click the Notifications tab.
6. There you will see a Notification pop up button that is displaying Alerts. Click on that pop up button.
7. There you will see a list of all of the notification events that are supported by AIM.
8. Select the event you want to configure, like "Buddy Signed In".
9. You can click the check box next to Enabled to turn on that notification. The change takes place immediately.
   

We hope you enjoy the usefulness of Growl notifications. Take some time to get familiar with the other Growl settings to make your Growl experience more pleasing to you.

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

Focus on Features - AIM for Mac

One of the nice features of the Buddy List® is placing your buddies into groups for better organization. The default set of groups include AIM Bots, Buddies, Family, Co-Workers, Recent Buddies, and Offline. You can also create new groups to better categorize your buddies.

The order of the groups in your Buddy List can also be changed. However, the Recent Buddies and Offline groups will always remain at the bottom of your Buddy List.

To move a group in the Buddy List, just drag the group row to a new position. You can do this by clicking on the group row and holding down the mouse button as you move the cursor. As you move the cursor below other groups in the list, you will see a blue line indicating a valid drop zone. The cursor must be moved over the triangle disclosure buttons in order for the blue line to appear. When the blue line is in the location where you want to place the group, release the mouse button. The group row will then be moved to the new location.

This may seem a little tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will find that moving groups is very easy.

Thanks for trying AIM for Mac!

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

** Republished **

Focus on Features - AIM for Mac

Here are just a few of the keyboard shortcuts available in AIM for Mac.

• You can show the Buddy List window using the keyboard shortcut Shift-Command-B.
• You can switch between tabs in the conversation window using the keyboard shortcuts. Just press Shift-Command-Right Arrow or Shift-Command-Left Arrow.

• You can display the Preferences window using the keyboard shortcut Command-Comma (,) as in most other applications.
• To Sign Out of your AIM session just press Option-Command-S.
• When you want to add a nickname to a buddy just display the Edit Buddy window by using the keyboard shortcut Command-E.

Thanks for trying AIM for Mac!

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

Focus on Features - AIM for Mac

When you are in a conversation with a buddy and you send a message, that message is displayed in the upper portion of the window in the conversation history. Likewise, when your buddy sends you a message, it is also displayed in the conversation history. The conversation history provides a nice chronological listing of the messages of your conversation.

You can remove the time stamps from the messages in the conversation history by un-checking the "Show timestamp" option in the IM Preferences tab. This will make the history area narrower and will allow you to make the entire conversation window narrower.

Sometimes during a conversation you wait and wait for your buddy to respond and you might wonder if they are actually responding to you. Luckily, there is a typing indicator displayed next to your buddy's name in the tab well on the left side of the conversation window. It is a little pencil icon that is only displayed when your buddy is actually typing. See the screen shot below.


There are many more features of the conversation window that make instant messaging fun and easy with AIM for Mac. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Thanks for trying AIM for Mac!

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

Focus on Features - AIM for Mac

With the AIM for Mac beta you can quickly and easily transfer files to your buddies. There are two ways to start the file transfer. The easier way is to drag a file from the Finder to a buddy on your Buddy List. Another way is to use the menu "People > Send Files" which displays a File Selection window where you can choose a file and click Send.

Either method for starting a file transfer works well, but the drag and drop feature is the fastest method. You can drop a file onto a buddy in your Buddy List, or drop a file in the compose area of an existing conversation. The file transfer will start immediately by sending a message to your buddy asking for approval to send the file. As soon as your buddy approves, the file will be sent.

When the file transfer begins you will see a File Transfer Strip appear in the history area of the IM Conversation window. This strip displays the name of the file and provides controls to Reveal the File in Finder and to Cancel the Transfer. You can also immediately open the file by clicking on the file name in the strip.
During the transfer you will see a spinner icon on the strip to show the progress of the transfer. When the transfer is complete you will see the word "Finished" to indicate a normal completion of the file transfer.

When you receive a file transfer from a buddy you will see the same File Transfer Strip with the same controls. The only difference is that the icon on the left side of the strip will be a green down arrow, instead of the green up arrow.

Folders can also be transferred just as easily as a file. Just drag the folder to your buddy and that folder and all files and sub folders will be sent.

We have found the File Transfer feature in AIM for Mac to be very reliable and fast. We hope you enjoy it as well.

Thanks for trying AIM for Mac!

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

Focus on Features - AIM for Mac Beta

By default your buddies in the Buddy List are displayed in groups, with the last one being the Offline group. You will initially see all of your buddies in the Offline group, and when a buddy comes online, they will immediately be moved to their pre-assigned online group.


You can hide the Offline group by clicking on the View menu and selecting Offline Buddies > Do Not Show. Then, your Offline group will disappear.


You can also show your offline buddies within each of the groups by clicking on the View menu and selecting Offline Buddies > Show in Groups. You will still not have an Offline group and all of your offline buddies will be displayed.

Experiment with these offline settings to find the display the suits you the best. To find more configuration options for the Buddy List, look in the application preferences.

Thanks for trying AIM for Mac!

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

Today AOL released AOL Desktop for Mac 1.2 that resolves mail and AIM issues our customers have reported for the past few weeks. This is our second update to AOL Desktop for Mac which was launched in early May, 2008.

Changes in AOL Desktop for Mac 1.2:

• Fixed mail display issues where addressee/subject did not match
• Fixed various issues with AIM that may lead to crash on some systems

During first-run of AOL Desktop for Mac 1.2, your online mail folders will be re-synchronized. This is a one-time operation that will increase performance on subsequent launches of AOL Desktop for Mac 1.2. You can continue to use AOL Desktop for Mac 1.2 during the re-synchronization.

Please report any issues using the Feedback button on the application toolbar. Any specific information about connection type and speed, whether you are using wireless, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

Try out the new update and let us know how it works for you. You can download it from discover AOL in the Free AOL Downloads section. We will try to respond to comments that have an email address, but rest assured, every comment is read and evaluated by our team.

Thanks...
Larry Aasen
Developer, AOL Desktop for Mac Team

The AOL Desktop for Mac Development Team (2007-2008). Seated left to right: Christina Wick, Abhi Patwardhan, Todd Brannam, Scott Tury, Larry Aasen, Bob Ward, Keith Malkin, and Ron Anderson. Not pictured: Dan Gilliam.

We would like to thank all of the AOL Beta testers for the hard work and dedication. Stay tuned for more cool Mac applications in the future.

The Address Book in AOL Desktop for Mac is a great place to store all of your contacts for email, IM, and cell numbers. It can easily handle thousands of contacts and is easy to use. It also continuously syncs to the host so your entire Address Book is available wherever you go online.

To view your Address Book in AOL Desktop for Mac, click on the Window menu and select the Address Book menu item.

You can also create mailing Groups where you add multiple contacts to one list. Then you can send one email to everyone on the list at the same time. This can save you valuable minutes if you're managing the softball team or school PTA list.

There are many other great features in the Address Book including quick searching, email to contact, IM to contact, and drag and drop. Try the Address Book in AOL Desktop for Mac today and keep yourself organized.

Larry Aasen
Developer, AOL Desktop for Mac Team