Here's the description from the AOL Developer's Network:

Open AIM continues to lead the way with providing the most powerful and flexible platform to power your communication, collaboration, and social networking experiences. We're opening up even more to give you unprecedented access to the best of breed tools and services you need to make your applications a success, while providing you with instant access to the AIM community via the new AIM Gallery!

We've also redesigned our website to make it easier for you to find and use what you need. Take a look around, sign up for the Open AIM newsletter, and let us know what you think. And scroll down for more details on what's new with Open AIM!


If you think you have the skillz (yes, I used a 'z' at the end :), you can enter the TopCoder contest and have a chance to win some serious prizes!

See you soon!

Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

Do you need 5GB of free storage to make backups of your most precious pictures or how about those files you need to share with your friends and family? How about 5GB of online storage that's absolutely FREE? All you need to do is download Adobe AIR (version 1.0 has just been released!).

Adobe AIR is a cross-platform system that will allow Mac or Windows users to run standalone AIR applications that offer a rich-media feel, similar to Apple's Dashboard widgets, but the apps reside in your Applications folder.

AOL's Xdrive team has released Xdrive Desktop Lite beta as an Adobe AIR app. This means you can get to your Xdrive account (you can use your free AOL Mail or AIM account to access Xdrive) quick and easy. No need to use a web browser to upload/download files, just launch the app.

Xdrive Desktop Lite gives you the power to easily manage and organize all of your documents, photos, music, videos and more in your personal online hard drive.

• Set up new folders to organize those pictures of your kids and friends.
• Make extra copies of those tax documents.
• Upload your music files so they're available to you from anywhere, no more CD cases.

AOL previously released AOL Top 100 Music Videos AIR app (back when AIR was still in beta) but you can view the top 100 music videos on AOL's music site.

Enjoy!

Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

AOL Desktop for Mac will coexist with AOL for Mac OS X, so there is no need to uninstall the old software in order to check it out, and it won't overwrite your personal file cabinets or stored data. We're sure you'll be excited about the improvements we've made including these highlights:

• Increased Speed: Installs in seconds and launches quickly- so you can begin browsing immediately, without signing in.

• New Browser: An all new browser allows you to surf all your favorite sites faster than ever before.
• Tabbed Organization: Tabs on browser windows and instant messages offer easy access and an uncluttered, organized view of all windows.
• Integrated AIM: AIM is built right in so you can see which Buddies are online, chat and more.
• Customization: A highly customizable toolbar makes it easy to keep your favorites at your fingertips as well as access them on any Internet-connected computer.

During the Sneak Peek, we will continue to gather feedback from our users and continue working on the final release.

Please visit AOL Beta Central to download AOL Desktop for Mac. For more information on everything AOL is doing on the Mac, please visit the Mac@AOL product blog.

AOL Desktop for Mac-Built for Mac users, by Mac users.

Thanks...
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

The AOL Mac Team is pleased to announce that AOL Desktop for Mac Beta 7 is now available for download. You can get a copy from AOL Beta Central. Just click the Download Now! button at the top-right of the page. As most of you are noticing, no new features, just a whole lot of bug fixes and optimization.


Please make sure you report any issues you're encountering with the beta. You can submit feedback or a bug report. We're bringing back Feedback Friday this week, so please take a moment and leave a comment here that you would like our team to review. We'll try to get as many questions answered on the blog as possible.

thanks...
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

Yes, I'm still recovering from all the travel to CES and Macworld Expo 2008 in January. I will be publishing a record-setting number of posts this week :)

On January 25, 2008, the AOL Mac Team released AOL Desktop for Mac beta 6. You can get the beta from the usual source, AOL Beta Central.

Here's what's new in Beta 6:

• Keyboard navigation support added to AIM tabs
• AIM timestamps added
• AIM urls now supported
• Improved AIM conversation history font styles
• Import AOL Favorites now supported
• Custom smileys now supported

• Mail signatures support addition of images
• Mail message list sorting order remembered across session
• Mail message list navigation using forward and back buttons now follows sorting order
• AIM and mail preferences have been added

Please stop by often for more updates.

thanks...
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

As we prepare for Macworld Expo SF 2008 (5 days and counting), the AOL Mac Team has released AOL Desktop for Mac beta 5. Take a look at the list of new features in the new public beta:

• Offline mail is now supported
• AIM Buddy Chat has been added (chat with more than 2 buddies at one time)

• AIM responds to parental control settings (settings on http://parentalcontrols.aol.com)
• Offline/unauthenticated editing of favorites is now supported
• Users are now warned if closing any window with open tabs or if changes have not been saved
• Mail away message can now be selected

• Send mail to groups now enabled
• User interface clean up in Address Book
• Users can view SPAM mail in parentally controlled accounts
• Delete screenname in preference pane now enabled
• Web browser, AIM, and mail preferences have been added
• Added Save panel for mail attachments
• Bug fixes and application optimzations

Drop by AOL Beta Central and download the new beta and make sure you leave feedback and bug reports!

Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

The AOL Mac Team has just released the AOL Desktop for Mac beta 4. We've been working very hard to get compatibility for Leopard into beta 4. You can download the beta at AOL Beta Central and use the Beta Feedback to let us know how things are going for you.

New in Beta 4 (and Fixed Issues):

• AOL Desktop for Mac is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
• AOL's new AIM Chat (public beta) is now available in AOL Desktop for Mac

• Delete mail is now implemented with Delete Mail folder
• Mail signatures now supported - users can manage signatures in Mail preferences

• Tooltips will be displayed for e-mail addresses in message header
• Mail folders can now be moved/rearranged
• Mail messages can be dragged and dropped to other mail folders
• Print mail message now supported
• Compose, Reply, Forward mail for Leopard now supported
• AOL address book now supports groups and comma-separated mailing lists
• AOL address book will now synchronize with AOL servers
• Better dial up modem support
• Tabs in browser will now display an overflow icon when number of tabs exceeds window width
• AIM invisible mode now supported

AIM Chat is the new, updated chat experience for AOL users. You can now chat with friends using your built-in iSight Camera (any QuickTime compatible webcam) and built-in Mac microphone. As a benefit to our Mac beta community, AIM Chat (public beta) is being offered first through AOL Desktop for Mac. Please review the known issues for AIM Chat public beta before testing.

Stop back next week for a new Feedback Friday article!

Thanks...
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

The AOL Mac Team has released AOL Desktop for Mac - Beta 2. You can download the beta at AOL Beta Central. We're busy adding features and squashing bugs, so please take a moment to download and use the Beta Feedback to let us know how things are going for you.



New Features and Fixed Issues in AOL Desktop for Mac - Beta 2:

• You can now sign in with your AIM account
• Updated UI for application toolbar and Mail
• Closing browser tabs with keyboard shortcut - Command+W will close the last tab opened
• You can now set your Away Message in the integrated AIM client
• Forwarding a mail with an attachment or sending a Saved Mail with an attachment should no longer remove the attached files
• Saving mail you sent has been implemented
• Handling of web links in an IM window are have been enhanced
• Many bug fixes and enhancements
• Display Offline Buddy Settings (Yay!)

We are reading feedback and bug reports closely and will be working to get some of the most requested features out in the near future (e.g., Import Mac Personal Filing Cabinets, Import Favorites, improvements with Leopard Mac OS X 10.5, hide offline buddies).

We will be rounding up comments on the Beta Central message boards and the Mac@AOL blog and posting a new "Feedback Friday" on October 26th (hmm...that day seems to ring a bell?).

Thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac Product Lead

The Mac@AOL Blog is a forum to allow the Mac product team to keep you posted on updates, new applications and some of the fascinating development work going on in other groups at AOL (check out BlueString or CircaVie). The blog can also allow interaction between the Mac community and the people at AOL who design and build the applications you use. We'll be reading your comments and responding, so please let us know what you're thinking.

Building great Mac applications requires a team effort so the entire Mac product team at AOL has been invited to write about interesting aspects of Mac development, designing user interfaces and any interesting topics about the Macintosh universe.

I know some of you may be saying to yourself, "AOL, back on the Mac?" Yes! AOL is committed to the Mac Platform and we have released updates to the popular applications: AOL Radio for Mac, AOL Pictures for Mac and AOL Service Assistant. Did you know you can use your Apple .Mac or free AIM account to log into AOL Radio or AOL Pictures? Both applications are Universal Binaries so they'll run nicely on your new Intel Macintosh.

Thanks!
Lee Givens, Jr.
AOL Mac Product Lead