Well, it isn't something from the Romulans or even from Harry Potter, it's Sign in as Invisible. After we integrated Lifestream into AIM, our goal was to add in features that our users have requested and continue to work on improving the user interface.
As with our previous release, you can just go to AIM>Check For Updates... or click the download link on AOL Beta Central.

New Features & Changes in AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 2: Fixed Issues: Update AIM for Mac today and leave a comment below and let us know what you think!

Thanks,
Lee Givens
AOL Mac/iPhone Product Lead

Say you're out and about and you don't have your MacBook handy. You can still log into AIM Lifestream and check out what your social network is doing. You just need a web browser and you're all set. Lifestream is also integrated into AIM Express, the web version of AIM that will run nicely on your friend's Mac. While you're at it, ask your friend if they've upgraded to AIM for Mac and they can enjoy Lifestream too!


Head over to http://lifestream.aim.com and log in with your AIM screen name and password. From here, you can access your Lifestream, change your Lifestream Settings, leave feedback or view our Help page.

Thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac/iPhone Product Lead

I'm guessing what you're thinking - "Didn't AOL release AIM for Mac 2.0 just last month?" We sure did, but we're not going to stop until we make AIM for Mac the IM leader on the Mac. Since we're done with Lifestream (well, we'll be working on new versions of Lifestream too!), we're going to focus on stability, bug fixes and features our users have asked for over the past year. Head over to AOL Beta Central to download AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 1 today!

Here's what's new in AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 1:

• Added "Email..." to the Buddy List contextual menu and "Gear" menu to allow for easy webmail message composition.

• Added Apple Menu Item under People > Send Email...
• Added Edit > Paste and Match Style to the Menu Items.
• Single-sign on for AIM to AOL Webmail.
• Camera icon has been added to the Buddy status on Buddy List if a photo has been published in Buddy status.
• Improved accessibility (VoiceOver) feature for Group Row Theme button (will now read button description).
• Various user interface improvements.

Fixed Issues in this release:

• Fixed issue where user is logged off and results in AIM rate limiting.
• Accessibility: Fixed various labeling bugs that resulted in ambiguous or empty text when using VoiceOver.
• Fixed issues with Away Message reporting to users on your Buddy List.
• Fixed issues that prevented opening AOL webmail.
• Fixed IM conversation window scrolling that made long conversations hard to read.
• Added Font Scale to IM conversation preference (under IM Preference pane).
• View Buddy Feed has been changed to View Lifestream.
• Various bug fixes and improvements.

Enjoy!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac/iPhone Product Lead

AIM for Mac 2.0 is now available! We've spent months integrating Send messages to your friends and family instantly. We've gotten a lot of feedback from our AIM for Mac users wanting to get a better idea of what a "Lifestream" really is and how it can help you on a day-to-day basis. What's really cool, we launched AIM Lifestream across our entire product line, from Mac to Mobile (iPhone and Windows Mobile) and to Windows and AIM Express.
Lifestream helps you stay in touch with your AIM, Facebook, Twitter friends and more. This means that you can click once and view status from your favorite social networks without having to launch a browser. You can view up-to-date status messages, get a count of new social networking notifications right on the Lifestream tab and you can even post photos or comment directly under the Lifestream tab. While we were at it, we made AIM faster and lighter with an all-new Buddy status area.

You can also head over to AIM Lifestream (http://lifestream.aim.com) on the web to access your Lifestream, the settings page or post a comment.

Everyone at the AOL Dulles campus is very excited. A brand new Apple Store will be opening in Reston, VA. For those of you outside the No. Virginia area, Reston is a planned community located a few miles from Dulles Airport. If you're not busy and would like to spend your Saturday morning with a few hundred fellow Mac & iPhone fanatics, swing by the Reston Town Center before 10am on Saturday, August 15th.



I will be there with some very cool, limited edition AOL Running Man giveaways. Hint: Make sure you install your favorite AOL iPhone apps :)



This must be my eighth or ninth Apple Store opening and my second as a member of the AOL Mac & iPhone team.

thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL iPhone Product Lead

The AOL Mac Team has worked very closely with a large number of our users and we're tackling one of the biggest issues reported by our users - mail performance. AOL Desktop for Mac 1.6 is focused mainly on performance. You'll see improved mail perfomance and a new Mailbox Activity panel that will tell you what's going! As usual, please leave a comment below and we'll make sure we answer your questions.
Head over to AOL Beta Central to get a copy today!

What is fixed in 1.6?

• Overall improvements and optimizations for Mail. Mailbox optimization process has been added and will improve mail performance.
• Fixed embedded mail graphic issue for Safari 4 users.
• Fixed attachments using AppleDouble encoding.
• Fixed in-line attachments to mail messages.
• Fixed various memory issues to improve stability of application.
• Fixed a mail duplication issue when mail is moved from Inbox to a folder and back again.
• Fixed naming of folders with special characters.
• Fixed an issue when attempting to rename a mail folder.
• Emoticons will now render correctly when viewing AIM logs.

There are some new Known Issues as well, make sure to check them out.

---

Important Notes:

• Users with large mailboxes may experience increased Mail Activity on first sign-in while we optimize your mailbox. Optimization time depends on the speed of your Macintosh, your Internet connection and number of mail messages in your mailbox. You may continue to read and send mail while mail optimization is running. You can view the status of the mail optimization by viewing the Mail Activity progress in the lower left side of the mailbox.

Other Beta User Notes:

• Both the GM version of AOL Desktop for Mac 1.5 and AOL Desktop for Mac 1.6 Beta 1 will coexist on the same Macintosh.
• When we released AOL Desktop for Mac 1.0-1.5, we changed the mail folder structure so that you can try out new betas of AOL Desktop without changing your GM setup. You can move your mail folder between Beta and GM by moving the mail folders located under ~User/Application Support/ on your Mac OS X user account.

Lee Givens
AOL Mac/iPhone Product Lead

We want to thank the thousands of AOL customers who have downloaded AIM for Mac 1.5! We are working very closely with our various teams to ensure that authentication/connectivity issues are being fixed. If you're having an issue with logging in, please download and try AIM for Mac 2.0 (Beta 2) to see if it fixes any of your connectivity issues. (You can rename your 1.5 version and AIM for Mac 2.0 (Beta 2) will co-exist nicely with the shipping version). Also, please leave a comment below if you're having connection issues and would like to help us dive deeper into your specific issue.

We're working as fast as we can to address user feedback and get any bugs or issues resolved in our Beta process. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming.

New Features:

• We've redesigned the Buddy List to make adding photos or status to your Lifestream easier than ever. You can click the Add Photo button (roll over the status field) and post your photo to your Lifestream.
• Buddy Status field has been expanded to 3 rows to allow you to give your Buddies the full scoop on what's going on.
• 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).
• Hide AIM Expressions Wallpaper (Preference)

Fixed Issues:

• Improved connectivity for some AIM users who had issues logging in.
• Allow user to select their mode transition from to Cube, Flip, Slide or no transition.
• Added new menu items to support the new Lifestream features (add Photo to status, add status message, etc.)
• Users can delete status images by clicking the close button when hovering over the Lifestream status.
• Lifestream settings link is now available in the application preferences.
• Hyperlinks are now active in the Buddy flyout.

Known Issues:

• ICQ users may have issues logging in with the beta client.

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

Attention Safari 4 users!

We have identified an issue for users who have upgraded to Apple's Safari 4.0 browser, which shares the web component with AOL Desktop for Mac. Safari 4 users have reported that images embedded in mail messages are not displaying (see image below), even if you have the preference selected.


Here's the workaround provided by AOL Member Services and Scott B., our superstar QA Engineer.

Please follow these four steps:

1. Launch & Sign into AOL Desktop for Mac.

2. Open AOL Desktop for Mac Preferences - from the menu items, go to
AOL Desktop->Preferences->Mail

3. Uncheck the box that says "Notify me before opening new mail with pictures".


4. Then when you restart AOL Desktop your mail images should load.

Please leave a comment below to let us know if this worked for you.

Thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

The AOL Mac Team has been busy. AIM for Mac 1.5 was delivered at the end of June and today, we are pleased to announce AIM for Mac 2.0 Beta 1. Our next version of AIM for Mac builds on AIM for Mac 1.5 and adds AIM Lifestream. AIM Lifestream is a new view that allows you to keep tabs on what's going on with your Buddies. You can add Facebook or Twitter services so never miss an update!


On the Lifestream selector, you'll see the new Lifestream event badge, to let you know how many Lifestream updates are available since the last time you took a peek at the Lifestream view. The Me view will keep you posted on any comments or changes to your Lifestream.

Check out what's new in AIM for Mac 2.0:

• AIM Lifestream view is now available by clicking Lifestream on the view selector. Lifestream will display status updates, photos and comments posted by your friends and family in your lifestream. For more information, please visit http://lifestream.aim.com.
• AIM "Me" view, shows you your current Lifestream status along with any lifestream posts that are directly connected to you. You can see your "Me" view by clicking Me on the view selector.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Other changes from 1.5:

• Improved AIM registration flow web site that is included on the AIM for Mac sign-in window.
• Added animation to the Edit Buddy Icon label.
• Fixed various bugs and improved performance.

You can view the Known Issues by clicking this link.

Since this is a significant update to AIM for Mac, we're hopefull that our users will leave their comments and impressions below. We hope you enjoy it!


Thanks,
Lee Givens
AOL Mac/iPhone Product Lead

For all the AIM for Mac 1.5 Beta 3 testers, you should start to receive your automatic update AppCast soon (if not, you can always use the "Check for Updates..." under the AIM menu item.


As we wrap up development for AIM for Mac 1.5, here's a list of features we delivered in the past 3 Beta releases:

• AIM conversation logging (saved AIM conversations) with Mac OS X Spotlight searching
• Growl notification support
• You can also see if your Buddies updated their social network status from a variety of social networks and RSS feeds
• Custom Buddy Icons from your iSight camera or a graphic file on your Mac
• AIM for Mac Welcome Window
• Custom Group Row colors

We've even optimized AIM for Mac's file size (it's now 30% smaller than AIM for Mac 1.1) and fixed a bunch of bugs and resolved connectivity issues. Please take a look at the Fixed Issues and Changes list (below) and please continue to send feedback.

Note for Beta 2 Users: Users testing Beta 3 will be able to use the automated upgrade system (AIM>Check for Updates...). Users moving up from Beta 2 will need to download AND install Beta 4 directly using the 'Download Beta 4' button above.

Bugs Fixed
• Fixed group renaming issue. You can now rename AIM Blast groups (http://blast.aim.com/).
• Fixed error message when encountering an issue during file transfer.
• Fixed occasional crash when inviting users to Buddy Chat.
• Fixed bug when displaying Buddy Icon image in AIM conversation logs.
• Various bug fixes and optimizations.

Other Changes
• Updated Welcome Window.
• Improved the Edit Buddy window user experience.
• The screen name, password, save in Keychain, and auto sign in fields are disabled during sign in.
• Inline group name editing was enabled.

Stay tuned for info on the next release of AIM for Mac!

Thanks...
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

Hey, what's all the growling about? After many requests from AOL users (and a bunch of employees), we've added Growl support to AIM for Mac 1.5 (Beta 3).

Growl is a user-controlled (go to http://growl.info to download growl) notification system that works with a variety of great Mac apps. You can control the look and placement of your notifications for all apps that support Growl.


We've also added the ability to see what your Buddies are doing on some of the most popular social networks and RSS feeds (Twitter, MySpace, Delicious, YouTube, Flickr, etc). To use the new AIM Buddy Updates feature (replacing Buddy Info), all you have to do is go to Buddy Update and add your accounts. Now when you update your favorite social network, your Buddies will see a new icon next to your Screen Name on their Buddy List.

We've also heard from a number of users having issues with connection issues. We spoke to a bunch of our loyal beta testers and the connection issues are fixed.

Note to all users of AIM for Mac Beta 2: The AOL Mac team has made changes to the automatic update system we introduced in Beta 1. With the new changes, you may see the following error when using the "Check for Updates" in Beta 2: "Update Error! The update is improperly signed."

If you've encountered this issue, please download AND install Beta 3 directly using the 'Download Beta 3' button on the AIM for Mac beta site. The automatic update mechanism will work properly when upgrading from Beta 3 to the next version.

Wait, there's more! We've added a new AIM Welcome Window that will give users a quick snapshot of what's new in that version of AIM for Mac. Stop by AOL Beta Central and download AIM for Mac 1.5 Beta 3 today!

Here's our Fixed issues and change list:

Bugs Fixed
• Fixed various connection issues.
• Fixed various crashing issues reported by our Tiger users.
• The Offline Buddy group is now sorted alphabetically.
• Reduced and optimized overall application size by 30%.

Other Changes
• AIM for Mac now supports Growl notifications (built-in translucent notification window will be available if Growl is not installed)
• When your buddies have a new update from Twitter, Flickr, or AIM, we display an icon (favicon) next to their screen name on the Buddy List.
• Changed the name (title) of the Buddy List window to AIM.
• AIM for Mac Welcome Window will now launch at startup to promote new features and services (Welcome window can be disabled via checkbox)

Thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

If you're a regular visitor to the Mac@AOL Blog, you will notice that the AOL Mac Team spends a great deal of time reviewing comments and requests from our users. Today, I would like to be the first to announce that we have added one of our top requested features - Custom Buddy Icons to AIM for Mac 1.5 (Beta 2).

Just adding a feature to drop in a graphic would have been worked, but the AOL Mac team wanted more. Here's what you can do with the new Customer Buddy Icon Editor:

• Use the built-in iSight Camera (or a Mac OS X supported USB camera) to take a snapshot that will be converted into your new Buddy Icon.

• Upload an image from your Mac (JPEG and PNGs are nice).
• Stylize your Buddy Icon with any of the built-in special image effects.

Here's a list of Fixed Issues and other changes that are in AIM for Mac 1.5 (Beta 2):

• Fixed an issue where the Buddy List gets pushed too far to the right when a laptop closed, unplugged, then reopened.
• Fixed various connections issues.
• Fixed "Invalid Screen Name or Password" problem when entering the correct password.
• AIM log files are now saved in new location after being changed.
• Fixed an issue where the font size increases when copying and pasting text from the conversation.

Also changed in Beta 2:

• Improved log-in mechanism that allows for better authentication.

• Moved the Group Row Theme button from the top of the Buddy List to the Buddy List preference pane.
• Enabled the auto-saving of the Buddy Info window location.
• Added an "Edit Buddy" button to the Buddy Info window toolbar.

thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac & iPhone Product Lead

On this edition of Feedback Friday (ok, maybe I'm a few hours late :) we'll be covering a bit more on Mac OS X System Requirements for AOL's Mac products, AIM for Mac 1.5 Beta and the new iBlog.

Q: I am currently running on 10.4.11. Checked Apple Software updates and I do not have any.

A: Apple provides updates for each major version for free. This means that all 10.3.0 through 10.3.9, 10.4.0 through 10.4.11 and 10.5.0 through 10.5.6 are absoultely free. But an upgrade from 10.3.9 to 10.4 or 10.4 to 10.5 will require a purchase from Apple (usually for $129 per Mac).

AOL is supporting 10.4.8 through 10.4.11 and 10.5.3 through 10.5.6. We currently don't support 10.4.8 or below for AOL Desktop for AIM for Mac.

Q: I am having difficulty logging into AIM for Mac?

A: Our QA Engineer Harry has the following suggestions:

Questions needing to be asked are:
* Do you save your password in the keychain (is the save in keychain box checked...See image below)?

* Have you tried going into your System preferences to remove the keychain?

~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain

Sometimes, even inputting the incorrect password when the correct password has already been saved will allow you to connect, then the keychain takes the incorrect one to replace the correct one. If this is the case, deleting the keychain should resolve the situation for you.

Q: When is A/V support for AIM for Mac coming?

A: Short answer, it's something we would all like to have and it's at the top of our feature request list. We have some near term issues to resolve and we'll have more info this summer.

Q: I would like to edit/change my Buddy Icon.

A: Stay tuned! We'll have more info coming soon (hint, hint)!


Q: How do I find out more info on AOL's iPhone products?

A: Venture on down to the AOL iBlog (http://iblog.aol.com)

I'll be back next week for another installment of Feedback Friday.

thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac & iPhone Product Lead

It's been a fast 2 years. Think about this, 2 years ago, most Mac-fans were looking forward to the iPhone, just announced at Macworld Expo 2007. On March 17th, Apple announced 17 million iPhones and 13 million iPod touches are in the hands of users around the world. This figure represents over 30 million devices that run Mac OS X. It's hard to believe, but the iPhone/iPod touch platform is nearly as big (or bigger!) than the Mac platform. It took Apple 25 years to have a current user base of over 25 million Macs (I'll have to get the newest numbers). Two years, 25,000 apps and 800 million downloads later, the iPhone is the SECOND largest computing platform, with Windows XP/Vista leading.

That's a lot of lead-in for my next announcement - the iBlog. The iBlog will be the central location for all AOL iPhone/iPod touch news. Edwin Aoki, our iPhone leader at AOL along with AOL Mobile Product Lead Darren Austin and Mac/iPhone Development Lead Christina Wick will be joining me on the new blog. Please stop by the iBlog and say hello.

Thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac & iPhone Product Lead

Why does AOL require users to update their Mac OS X systems? We get this question frequently and more noticeably when we release a new update or beta. Our outstanding Mac QA team builds test cases on each of our "supported" OS versions. We run the same battery of tests on current and future releases of Mac OS X.


AIM for Mac 1.5 (beta 1) is now enforcing the minimum Mac OS X system requirement of 10.5.3 or higher due to the following basic reasons: OS and Application stability and faster release schedule. When we encounter an issue with a 10.5.0 or 10.5.1 update, we can either try to fix the bug with a workaround or test it the fix on a future release of Mac OS X. Our goal is to produce the best quality software in the most optimum release timeline.

So, if you're running Mac OS X 10.5, 10.5.1 or 10.5.2, please use the Mac OS X System Update or go to Apple's Mac OS X download site for the most current update. For all future releases of AOL Mac software, we'll be supporting Mac OS X 10.5.3 or higher.

For those AOL users who haven't upgraded their Leopard system to 10.5.4 or higher, could you please drop me a comment below? Is it the size of the download? You like to wait for other to test updates prior to installing?

thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac/iPhone Product Lead