iChat goes big-time in Leopard
- Apps, Leopard, dotMac -
Canadian MAD Reader Bill McConkey writes that I never post anything about iChat.
Two major reasons for that oversight, Bill. One is, of the myriad of choices to write about in the Apple universe, I just haven’t gotten to it yet. The other more telling one is that I’m not much of a chatter myself, and it’s not too high up on my list of topics to write about.
I was going to get around to it sometime, but since Bill’s comment, I took a look at iChat AV 4.0 from Leopard, and realize that it’s certainly come a long way. And chatting is really an indispensable part of life for people who need to get in touch with friends and loved ones from far away (like Bill), and it’s high time I wrote about it.
That said, I am amazed at the improvements in iChat with Leopard, and it seems worth the price of the upgrade. Admittedly a lot of the improvements aren’t anything especially new, since they are available elsewhere, but its refreshing to have them all come in the box and work flawlessly out of it.
One of things that bother me about iChat is the profusion of windows that pop up when doing simultaneous chats, and the juggling one needs to do to keep on top of things. The new iChat now lets you do tabbed browsing (and improves the look by sparing the window from the Brushed Aluminum theme we’ve all come to hate). And if you’re afraid of missing out on other chat replies while concentrating on one, little thought balloons pop up when someone says something from other simulchats.
You can now also have multiple log-ins if you have different AOL/dotMac accounts with separate buddy lists. How you keep from getting confused will be the trick.
Visually, there are a bunch of new goodies: you can do the Photobooth trick during a video chat and make yourself look like an idiot from across the miles; you can do the bluescreen trick and change your backdrop as well - pretend you’re chatting from poolside, when in reality you’re in the dark basement of your parents’ house; and you can use plug-in filters that change your look even further - one of the most popular ones (that didn’t make it into Leopard but is being circulated on the net) is the shimmery hologram look that makes you look like Princess Leia saying “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
You can even record video and audio chats now, which are saved in MPEG-4 and AAC respectively. Just hit the red button. You can even do rudimentary audio and video podcasts using this. Apple’s made it so that you can’t hide your recording though - everyone involved will know the chat’s being recorded and needs to give their consent.
A couple of the most useful additions is based on sharing. You can now share any document or file that can be viewed using Quick Look with your chatmate - pictures, video, presentations and the like. More exciting is Screen Sharing, which is essentially VNC without the hassles. You can remotely access and control each other’s screens. This is perfect for teaching or troubleshooting - or snooping, if that’s your thing.
There are other improvements in iChat, and as soon as I get facetime with it, I’ll come back with a more comprehensive report on the new version. Maybe I’ll even chat with you guys.
