ichat posts

Filed under: Internet, Macintosh, Podcasting, Apple

Leopard's new iChat features are actually useful

by Ted Wallingford Oct 16th 2007

iChat was once a leader in the instant messaging and VoIP space, but players like Gizmo and Skype arrived on the scene and just absolutely buried Apple's offering in quiet mediocrity. So it's good to know that Apple's still peppering iChat with new features as they release their OS updates... and this time, with Leopard, some of iChat's new features are actually worthwhile. And while several of these have been available on third-party chat clients for a while, we've never seen them in quite this combination:

Background images. You can now appear to be sitting in front of one of your iPhoto photos, so a really cool landscape like the Great Wall of China could be the venue for your next video conference. What can we say; that's just neat.
Tabbed chats. 'Nuff said.
SMS forwarding. OK, we admit there could be a time when we might use this.
Quick Look support. This is Leopard's extensive new document-previewing feature. Now you can show a Keynote slideshow or a QuickTime movie remotely through an iChat conference. In fact, you'll be able to share anything that adds Quick Look support.
Recording. You can now save audio and video conferences. This is ideal for podcasting.

Really, we aren't using iChat much these days, but we might have to dust it off. Our AIM buddies will be happy to hear from us after so long when Leopard is released in ten days.

Tags: aim, ichat, im, voip

Apple previews Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard at WWDC

by David Chartier Aug 7th 2006

Apple today previewed the next major update to Mac OS X, version 10.5 (aka: Leopard), at their annual World Wide Developer Conference in California today. Our sister sites Engadget and TUAW covered the event well, but there are some great new features in this next version that are definitely worth a look here at DLS.

The big 10 new features (with more secret ones promised) can be previewed at Apple's new Leopard preview site, complete with video tutorials. If you're not down for watching all those videos though, I'll summarize some of the big ones for your shortcut pleasure.

Tags: demo, ichat, leopard, mac, os x, OsX, preview, spaces, time machine, TimeMachine, update

Filed under: Internet, Video, Macintosh, Apple, VoIP

Apple VoIP? It better be good...

by Ted Wallingford Jul 13th 2006

People have been wanting Apple to turn iChat into something MORE for years. When iChatAV first arrived, it was quite awesome, and certainly unique on the Mac platform at that time--voice conferencing and video chat plus instant messaging, all in a free download. But now that iChat's competitors have surpassed iChat in features and wow-factor, what can Apple really do to restore iChat's luster? We know that Steve Jobs *must* read this blog, so Steve, here are a few ideas for you to ponder regarding iChat's future:

Make its voice and video features to work properly and consistently with Google Talk and AIM and you'll gain a slew of potential users who, right now, have no choice but to use Gizmo or Skype.
Give away free voicemail! Heck, voicemail should be built in to iChat.
Hold music! Any MP3 file will do. But when I mute my iChat calls, shouldn't my call partner get to hear some Van Halen?
Is there any reason each entry in the iChat buddy list needs to take up THAT much room?
Better click-to-call support from other Mac applications.

I'm sure you can complete this list with your own set of iChat gripes. So what would YOU add to iChat? Rumor has it, Apple will be adding Mac-to-phone calling in the iChat that slated to ship with Leopard, the next edition of the Mac OS. 464x363

Tags: apple, ichat, mac, skype, Ted Wallingford, TedWallingford, voip

Filed under: Internet, Video, Macintosh, Freeware, Open Source

This webcam doesn't work with the Mac, or does it?

by Ted Wallingford Apr 6th 2006

So, you're strolling through CompUSA or your favorite box store electronics retailer, and you walk down the aisle full of webcams, yearning to use an Internet video-conferencing tool like Sightspeed or iChat to talk with some buddies or family on the other side of the planet. You carefully examine the packaging of each of the web cameras and realize, "hey--none of these support Mac OS X!"

Well, don't fret. I just found a great piece of software that brings driver support to Mac OS X for a large number of webcams that claim they only work with Windows. It's called macam, and version 0.85 just hit Sourceforge. This version claims support for dozens of cameras, and you can grab it here.

Tags: compusa, driver, ichat, os x, OsX, sightspeed, sourceforge, tuaw, webcam

Filed under: Audio, News, Macintosh

iChatStaus a thing of the past

by Vince Veneziani Jun 30th 2005

iChatStatus used to be the hip iChat plug-in that let you display your current iTunes track in a number of ways (albeit small, but a number). But since Tiger's version of iChat (3.0) has

been out, many people have just simply stopped using iChatStatus. iChat 3.0 comes with the option of displaying your iTunes music track while you're chatting. Plus, iChatStatus hasn't been updated in quite awhile. Sorry iChatStatus. You were good to us before you got mauled to death. We salute you!

Tags: Apple, Audio, Display, iChat, iChatStatus, iTunes, Message, Status, Tiger

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