Mac@AOL Blog

AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7

Larry Aasen — 2010-11-02T11:00:00+00:00

We have developed a new version of AOL Desktop for Mac in order to provide you with an improved AOL Mail experience. We highly recommend that you upgrade to AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 as soon as possible to ensure that you do not experience any interruptions in your ability to send or receive AOL Mail. Please be aware that during your upgrade, you may experience an initial period where your mail loads slowly. Don't fret though - this should only occur once.

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AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 Beta is now available

Larry Aasen — 2010-09-13T18:45:00+00:00

Filed under: AOL Desktop for Mac

We have been making significant changes in AOL Desktop for Mac to the way your mail is handled internally. As a result of these changes, we channeled the work being done for the AOL Desktop for Mac 1.6 beta into a new effort that fully supports this new mail architecture.

We are pleased to announce that AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 beta is here! We want your help as we rely on you, our member and tester, to provide feedback that can be used to improve the quality of our software.

What you need to know before you get started:

Downloading AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 will indicate you are participating in this test and that you want to be an early Mac adopter for the new mail architecture.
Previous releases of AOL Desktop for Mac (including 1.6) will not support the new mail architecture. You will not be able to use 1.6 or earlier versions to access your mail and there is no migrating back.
If you store mail locally ("On My Mac") in AOL Desktop for Mac, please follow these instructions to move your mail to host storage.

In the event you encounter any issues using the new Desktop beta, including any issues affecting your mail experience, please report them. We ask that that you use webmail as your default email client until all issues are resolved.

Do you want to participate without affecting your current account? You can, but you must follow these instructions carefully.

As always, thank you for your support!

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An update to AIM for Mac (2.1.302) has been released

Larry Aasen — 2010-07-30T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, AIM for Mac

We just released an update to AIM for Mac (version 2.1.302) which fixes various issues reported by our users. Check for updates today.

Fixed a crash that happens sometimes when closing the Welcome window
All users may now edit and change their buddy icon
Fixed an intermittent issue that prevented some users from expanding and collapsing their Buddy List groups
Increased speed typing your username on the Sign In screen
Your status will no longer be reposted when you reconnect after waking from Sleep
IM logging is now a user-based preference instead of a global preference
Passwords can now contain the slash character
New option under Sign in: when you uncheck "Remember me", you now have the option to "Also remove IM logs"

Please stay tuned to the Mac@AOL Blog for information on future releases.

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

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New AIM for Mac Beta

Larry Aasen — 2010-07-21T21:10:00+00:00

Filed under: Beta News, Announcements, AIM for Mac

Great news - we have another AIM for Mac beta ready with changes based on your feedback. Use Check for Updates in the app or download the beta here: http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=aimmac

The AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta provides a number of important changes including:

All users may now edit and change their buddy icon
Fixed an intermittent issue that prevented some users from expanding and collapsing their Buddy List groups
Increased speed typing your username on the Sign In screen
Your status will no longer be reposted when you reconnect after waking from Sleep
IM logging is now a user-based preference instead of a global preference
Passwords can now contain the slash character
New option under Sign in: when you uncheck "Remember me", you now have the option to "Also remove IM logs"

Please continue to share feedback regarding your experience with us!

Best wishes,

The AIM for Mac Team

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AIM for Mac 2.1 is now available for download

Larry Aasen — 2010-06-15T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, AIM for Mac

Upgrade to the latest version of AIM with fabulous new features and an improved user experience!

Don't have an AIM account? No worries, you can simply sign in with your Facebook Login.

AIM is better than ever! Faster, lighter, and with great new features to help you get organized. Now you can use AIM to chat with your Facebook friends - chat with them in AIM whether they're AIM users or not.

The new Lifestream tab lets you get all your social network updates in one place. Say it once and send it everywhere! Comment, like and update your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter status - all from AIM.

Features:

Chat with your AIM Buddies and Facebook friends.
Get your updates from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more.
Comment, like and update your Facebook, Twitter and MySpace status right from AIM.
Let friends easily find you - Add Your First and Last Name.
Sign in as invisible.

Click here to download.

The AIM for Mac Team

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AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 6 is now available

Larry Aasen — 2010-05-26T09:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, Macintosh, AIM for Mac

Great news - we have another AIM for Mac beta ready with changes based on your feedback. Use Check for Updates in the app or download the beta here: http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=aimmac

AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 6 provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

Accessibility fixes including shortcut keys for Add Buddy and File Transfer.
Tweaks to improve the Facebook Chat experience.
Fixed issues regarding the Connection Port.
Improved performance with regards to AIM Sounds.

We hope you enjoy the new beta and thank you for your time and feedback.

Best wishes,

The AIM for Mac Team

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AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 5 is now available

Larry Aasen — 2010-04-30T15:20:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, AIM for Mac

Great news - we have another AIM for Mac beta ready with changes based on your feedback. Use Check for Updates in the app or download the beta here: http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=aimmac

AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 5 provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

unable to edit buddy icon on Snow Leopard and Tiger
outgoing font settings
various crashes
VoiceOver improvements on Sign In window

We hope you enjoy the new beta and thank you for your time and feedback.

Best wishes,

The AIM for Mac Team

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AIM for Mac Beta Performance Issues

Larry Aasen — 2010-02-23T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Member Education, Beta News, AIM for Mac

We recently updated the AIM for Mac with Beta 3 and a few of our users have reported issues with slow performance, especially those with a very long Facebook Friends list. If you are experiencing periods of slow performance or beach balling, try hiding your Offline Buddies.

To hide Offline Buddies, start with the View menu. Then click Offline Buddies and then Do Not Show. After hiding Offline Buddies your Offline group will be removed and you will no longer see offline users.

If you continue to experience performance issues please contact us from the Help > Feedback menu.

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

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AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 3

Larry Aasen — 2010-02-12T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Beta News, AIM for Mac

This is a beta of epic proportions! AIM has teamed up with Facebook, and now you can chat with your Facebook friends - right from AIM!

After you sign into AIM, click the "Facebook Connect" button at the top of your buddy list to set up Facebook chat. When you are done your Facebook friends will be added to your buddy list. You can now chat with your friends who are using the Facebook site!

We hope you enjoy the new AIM as much as we do. AIM with Facebook chat gives you a whole lot more to talk about!

Click here to download from the Beta site.

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

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AIM for Mac Beta Coming Soon

Larry Aasen — 2010-01-15T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: News, AIM for Mac

It has been a while since we last released a Beta of AIM for Mac. Actually, it was almost two months ago. We have been working on our next Beta and it should be out in the next few weeks. We fixed a few bugs and made some enhancements that you will like.

Thanks to all of our loyal users who have provided their valuable feedback to us. We have been reading all of your comments, and while we cannot respond directly to everyone, we are working hard to address your issues and suggestions.

Please stay tuned for this next Beta release by checking in at AOL Beta regularly.

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

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AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta 2 - Now with an Invisibility Cloak

Lee Givens — 2009-11-23T18:41:00+00:00

Filed under: Beta News, AIM for Mac

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:

Added the Sign In as Invisible option to the Sign In window.

Added "Status Sync" buttons in the status text field for Lifestream services so you can choose where you want your status to be broadcasted.
Added the Command+Return key equivalent to the Send button on the IM conversation window.
Added the Extras tab to the AIM preferences window. It includes settings for iTunes status and Diagnostics.
Made some new changes to the Buddy Flyout for a better user interface. Also added Lifestream integration.

Improved VoiceOver accessibility for the Welcome Screen.
Various user interface improvements.

Fixed Issues:

Fixed some Buddy List Font Scale issues.
Fixed multiple issues regarding Status Photos including one where images dragged from a browser could not be uploaded.
Fixed issues regarding hyperlinks launching the default mail reader instead of the default browser.
Fixed a couple of issues with iTunes track info in Status Messages.
Fixed issues where user preferences weren't being loaded correctly after switching Screen Names.
Various bug fixes and improvements.

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

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AIM for Mac 2.0.229 - Now Available

Larry Aasen — 2009-11-12T17:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, AIM for Mac

We just released an update to AIM for Mac (version 2.0.229) which fixes various connection issues reported by our users.

Fixed an issue that was signing out the user when an improperly formatted IM was received.
Fixed an issue that was signing out the user when a linked screen name was not able to be authenticated.
Fixed a few other minor issues.

Please stay tuned to the Mac@AOL Blog for information on future releases.

Larry Aasen
AOL Mac Team

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Lifestream on the Web

Lee Givens — 2009-10-23T16:09:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, AIM for Mac

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

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AIM for Mac 2.1 Beta is here!

Lee Givens — 2009-10-22T15:58:00+00:00

Filed under: Beta News, AIM for Mac

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

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AIM for Mac 2.0 with Lifestream

Lee Givens — 2009-09-30T20:34:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, AIM for Mac

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.

Keep Tabs On Your Buddies

The new Lifestream feature lets you stay on top of what your AIM Buddies are doing by allowing you to add a variety of accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Get status updates from your AIM Buddies, post photos and leave comments to stay connected.

Post Real Time Comments

Leave comments for your friends instantly. When you leave a comment on a friend's AIM Lifestream, the comment will post back to Facebook, Twitter and others.

We've Stepped It Up a Notch

This new version of AIM will run faster and use less of your Mac's resources.

Custom Buddy Icons

Custom Buddy Icon editor made it's debut in AIM for Mac 1.5, but we think it's so cool, we wanted to highlight this feature in our newest AIM for Mac. Use your built-in iSight(R) camera to create a new Buddy Icon or select a graphic file from your Mac. Once you've selected an image, apply a special image effect for a uniquely customized Buddy Icon. You can also browse through our AIM Expressions library.

Check out AIM for Mac 2.0 today and drop the AOL Mac Team some feedback below.

Thanks!
Lee Givens
AOL Mac and iPhone Product Lead

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AIM for Mac 2.0 (Beta 4) - Now Available

Larry Aasen — 2009-08-25T19:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Beta News, AIM for Mac

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

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Apple Store Opening - Reston, VA

Lee Givens — 2009-08-13T19:23:00+00:00

Filed under: Announcements, General

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

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Cannot sign in? Have an Unconfirmed User Name?

Larry Aasen — 2009-08-10T10:32:00+00:00

Filed under: Member Education, AIM for Mac

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

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AOL Desktop for Mac 1.6 (Beta 1) Now Available!

Lee Givens — 2009-08-07T12:31:00+00:00

Filed under: Beta News, AOL Desktop for Mac

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

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AIM for Mac 2.0 (Beta 2)-Now Available

Lee Givens — 2009-08-03T11:57:00+00:00

Filed under: Beta News, AIM for Mac

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

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