Firstly... has the AIM team just thrown in the towel on AIM for Mac?
In addition to iChat (which uses AIM), we have a new desktop suite for Mac, which includes a new AIM mac client: AOL Desktop for Mac. The Mac team at AOL's blog is here
Second... I've found the iPhone client to be horribly glitchy when you close the app without signing off. If messages are sent to me while it's closed, I just get blank messages upon reopening the client.
Yeah, we noticed that on the first day of release, too. There seems to be a difference between the developer OS build and the OS build that was sent out to consumers on Thurs/Fri. We're definitely looking into it. Do you get it every time you re-open the client? or sometimes you get it as blank and sometimes not?
It's not going anywhere as far as I know. I'm one of the developers of AIM for iPhone, and frankly we're glad that it's been discovered and slashdotted:)
Sending IMs to a mobile number is a feature of the AIM service, and there's no reason that we shouldn't have it for the iPhone. In fact, our data API (which is open sourced here) doesn't distinguish between mobile numbers and buddies.
Here's one reason: Microsoft dropped support for the gameport.
Before I say why this means a lot, let me say that I've been playing a lot of Battlefield 2 lately, a game in which using a joystick makes it much easier (and more natural) to flying all the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft in the game. I've dug up my MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro joystick to play the game and let me say it's every bit as good as it was when i first got it.
IMHO, the Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback joysticks are some of the best joysticks ever made. Their force feedback system used cables rather than springs and rubber bands so they are extra sturdy and hard to break. Anyone who's owned one of these joysticks knows what I'm talking about.
Obviously, the normal reply is "Get a new joystick!" Maybe it's just me, but I can't deal with the fact that all current joysticks look so ridiculous (*cough* Saitek), with all their colored plastic bits etc. Hell, owning a joystick is nerdy enough, but why does it have to scream "Don't come near me!!!" ?
Here's an interesting thing. So the gameport *is recognized* by Vista, and when it tries to find drivers for it, it locates "Creative Game port" (I have a Sound Blaster card) and starts installing it when it fails by saying that the INF file is incorrect.
Anyway, that's why I'm still dual-booting into XP:)
Download Process Explorer. It's like task manager on steroids. One of the things you can do is put "delays" on the list of running processes when the list changes, like with the addition/removal of a process/window.
Go to Options > Difference Highlight Duration, and set it like 15 seconds or whatever. New processes will show up in bright green for 15 secs, and killed processes will show up as red for 15 secs.
one should also look at AOL's web-based mail. It offers drag & drop, and uses Ajax to reduce the number of page loads. Combined with FF + Adblock, it's not that bad. A little slow perhaps to load your mail, but I definitely wouldn't call Yahoo Mail Beta's drag & drop a "new" feature./*Ducks*
So, as unlikely as it sounds, AOL does have a huge ace up its sleeve. It is one of the only companies that signed a deal with its bandwidth providers which is *not tied to the amount of bandwidth* being used. It is one of the last large companies that was able to secure this kind of deal until (for obvious reasons) this kind of service is no longer offered. However, AOL is grandfathered into it from the mid 1990s.
This means that it does not face the same $1-2 million / month bandwidth charges that companies like YouTube are facing. Provided that they could build up their UnCut video (get past the AOL brand negativity, get rid of that VideoEgg uploader, make the site more user/video centric), they could have a gem in their hands.
I really can't tell you guys how much I wish this existed a year ago. Planning my wedding was a nightmare when it came to having to send excel files back and forth between my wife, mother-in-law, and I. It wasn't just the fact you had to e-mail it; it's that the world doesn't work like CVS does. Doing a "merge" means looking through the rows trying to find what was added/removed. There's no such thing as "checkout."
So I, for one, am happy that we're headed in this direction.
I haven't tried out the 770 but I've been a long time fan of Nokia and their products. However I currently have the Nokia 9300 (usa version here), and it suffers the *exact* problem which TFA describes with regards to Opera crashing. Granted my nokia does not run Linux (it's series 80 symbian software), but I find it interesting that Opera crashes on both systems with moderatly complex website or if you have multiple windows open for a long time.
I thought it was because of the flaky EDGE signal I am getting (and it still could be that), but I think Opera is partially to blame for the lackluster internet browsing experience.
Slashdot Mirror
Firstly... has the AIM team just thrown in the towel on AIM for Mac?
In addition to iChat (which uses AIM), we have a new desktop suite for Mac, which includes a new AIM mac client: AOL Desktop for Mac. The Mac team at AOL's blog is here
Second... I've found the iPhone client to be horribly glitchy when you close the app without signing off. If messages are sent to me while it's closed, I just get blank messages upon reopening the client.
Yeah, we noticed that on the first day of release, too. There seems to be a difference between the developer OS build and the OS build that was sent out to consumers on Thurs/Fri. We're definitely looking into it. Do you get it every time you re-open the client? or sometimes you get it as blank and sometimes not?
It's not going anywhere as far as I know. I'm one of the developers of AIM for iPhone, and frankly we're glad that it's been discovered and slashdotted :)
Sending IMs to a mobile number is a feature of the AIM service, and there's no reason that we shouldn't have it for the iPhone. In fact, our data API (which is open sourced here) doesn't distinguish between mobile numbers and buddies.
Compared to text-only ads , Flash ads makes it easier for Adblock to detect and block them :)
Site's already down?
Here's one reason: Microsoft dropped support for the gameport.
:)
Before I say why this means a lot, let me say that I've been playing a lot of Battlefield 2 lately, a game in which using a joystick makes it much easier (and more natural) to flying all the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft in the game. I've dug up my MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro joystick to play the game and let me say it's every bit as good as it was when i first got it.
IMHO, the Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback joysticks are some of the best joysticks ever made. Their force feedback system used cables rather than springs and rubber bands so they are extra sturdy and hard to break. Anyone who's owned one of these joysticks knows what I'm talking about.
Obviously, the normal reply is "Get a new joystick!" Maybe it's just me, but I can't deal with the fact that all current joysticks look so ridiculous (*cough* Saitek), with all their colored plastic bits etc. Hell, owning a joystick is nerdy enough, but why does it have to scream "Don't come near me!!!" ?
Here's an interesting thing. So the gameport *is recognized* by Vista, and when it tries to find drivers for it, it locates "Creative Game port" (I have a Sound Blaster card) and starts installing it when it fails by saying that the INF file is incorrect.
Anyway, that's why I'm still dual-booting into XP
To me, this guy seems to be mis-attributing his excitement to Fiber, when he's ready just excited to be getting HDTV for the first time.
That said, getting an HD feed is always great (especially the first time you see your new HDTV the way it was meant to be displayed).
Download Process Explorer. It's like task manager on steroids. One of the things you can do is put "delays" on the list of running processes when the list changes, like with the addition/removal of a process/window.
Go to Options > Difference Highlight Duration, and set it like 15 seconds or whatever. New processes will show up in bright green for 15 secs, and killed processes will show up as red for 15 secs.
one should also look at AOL's web-based mail. It offers drag & drop, and uses Ajax to reduce the number of page loads. Combined with FF + Adblock, it's not that bad. A little slow perhaps to load your mail, but I definitely wouldn't call Yahoo Mail Beta's drag & drop a "new" feature. /*Ducks*
So, as unlikely as it sounds, AOL does have a huge ace up its sleeve. It is one of the only companies that signed a deal with its bandwidth providers which is *not tied to the amount of bandwidth* being used. It is one of the last large companies that was able to secure this kind of deal until (for obvious reasons) this kind of service is no longer offered. However, AOL is grandfathered into it from the mid 1990s.
This means that it does not face the same $1-2 million / month bandwidth charges that companies like YouTube are facing. Provided that they could build up their UnCut video (get past the AOL brand negativity, get rid of that VideoEgg uploader, make the site more user/video centric), they could have a gem in their hands.
Picasa? Flickr? KeyHole (google earth)?
I really can't tell you guys how much I wish this existed a year ago. Planning my wedding was a nightmare when it came to having to send excel files back and forth between my wife, mother-in-law, and I. It wasn't just the fact you had to e-mail it; it's that the world doesn't work like CVS does. Doing a "merge" means looking through the rows trying to find what was added/removed. There's no such thing as "checkout." So I, for one, am happy that we're headed in this direction.
AOL's UnCut Video? It launched a few weeks ago
http://communityvideo.aol.com/Main.do/
I haven't tried out the 770 but I've been a long time fan of Nokia and their products. However I currently have the Nokia 9300 (usa version here), and it suffers the *exact* problem which TFA describes with regards to Opera crashing. Granted my nokia does not run Linux (it's series 80 symbian software), but I find it interesting that Opera crashes on both systems with moderatly complex website or if you have multiple windows open for a long time. I thought it was because of the flaky EDGE signal I am getting (and it still could be that), but I think Opera is partially to blame for the lackluster internet browsing experience.