About Greg C.

I am passionate about building awesome user experiences, working closely with publishers and watching people "get" technology.

Tim O’Reilly waxes philosophical about beer apps and sheep

Last week while I spoke at the Future of Web Apps in London, Tim O’Reilly decided to throw out a challenge to developers to get serious about software.  I guess the timing of this fits with the state of the economy as well as the numerous “silly” apps we are seeing pop up around the web and mobile spaces.  (The “I Am Rich” app for iPhone probably holds the top prize at this moment.)

O’Reilly is never one to beat around the bush, and in this case the challenge to developers is pretty direct:

“O’Reilly argues that Silicon Valley has strayed from the passion and idealism that fuel innovation to instead follow what he calls the “mad pursuit of the buck with stupider and stupider ideas.”

I appreciate what he is asking, but Twitter, one of the sites he mentions for doing good innovation, did not start out as a place where first responders can go for information updates, it was merely a way for friends to connect with short status updates.  The other issue with all of this is the fact people are paying for beer applications and other useless apps.  As long as that happens developers will keep making them.

Over the years AIM has contributed to connecting people separated by continents as well as becoming a way to instantly communicate with people.  During 9/11 when all phone lines were tied up in the New York and DC metro areas, AIM was one of the best tools to use to communicate with friends and family since the internet was still up and running.

Tim’s passion toward developing applications that change the world is important, but sometimes the applications that are most impactful do not necessarily start out that way.  YouTube has broken down barriers of information sharing and gathering and come November 4th, we will see the results of the influence of the internet and social networks had on the election here in the United States.

AIM for Mac

This morning we just pushed live a new beta AIM client for the Mac.  You can check out all the details here, but needless to say we are excited to share this application with you.  This builds on our commitment to developing software for Apple hardware, whether it be AOL on Desktop, AOL Radio or the AIM iPhone app.  Here are some of the features for client:

  • AIM Experience: Users can customize their AIM for Mac experience with AIM Expressions – Change your AIM sounds, wallpaper, emoticon set or Buddy Icon.
  • Favorite AIM Features: AIM File Transfer, Tabbed IM conversations, friendly names, AIM Groups, AIM Blast groups are supported.
  • Easy Access to Mail: With a single click, you can view your mail in AOL or AIM webmail.
  • Speed: Download, install and launch AIM for Mac in seconds.

AIM for Mac is built on top of the Open AIM platform, using the Mac SDK.

Download AIM for Mac here.

As always we appreciate feedback.

AIM Express 7…It’s Flashing Awesome!

I have been getting tons of feedback on the new AIM Express we launched last month.  The new application is really a great step forward for AIM.  Built on top of Adobe Flash and our ActionScript3 library, AIM Express gives you a rich messaging experience without having to download any software.  Since it is web base, you can use it on any supported browser (IE 6.0+, Firefox 2.0+, Safari 3.0+) with Flash 9.0.  The best part is when we want to upgrade the application, we can do it without popping annoying upgrade dialogs, etc.

If you are a developer, you can see the ActionScript library we used to build the application here.

If you just want to check out the client, it is here.

Cisco + Jabber = Enterprise Fun?

Today Cisco bought Jabber, Inc., which is an open source messaging and presence protocol that is supported by Google Talk and is the backbone to services such as Twitter.  For Cisco this is the second major acquisition of a communications company, with WebEx being that company.

Cisco seems very intent on going after the enterprise communication space and eat into Microsoft’s Office Communication Server (OCS).  As the enterprise space becomes a more diverse land of Macs mixed with Windows boxes and LINUX boxes, this move may help Cisco accomplish those goals.  In the enterprise space, Jabber is used by some investment banks on Wall Street as well as an internal messaging service at companies like AT&T.

Open ICQ Xtraz

Back in August, ICQ launched a new developer program called ICQ Open Xtraz.  Xtraz have been a part of the ICQ client for many years but have been limited to partners and internal customers.  Xtraz are web applications that extend and embrace part of the functionality of the ICQ client.  ICQ Xtraz can easily be shared between buddies (similar to the AIM Modules we released in June) and can be uploaded to the ICQ Xtraz gallery.

Making an ICQ Xtraz is really simple thanks to a developer tool and template creator.  These tools make it easy to develop and test your Xtra before uploading it to the gallery.  We have tons of documentation and samples.  Also, make sure you have the latest ICQ 6.5 client, available here.

Check out the development site here.

Check out the gallery here.

Amazing Satellite Photos of Storms

There was a great series that the Boston Globe ran yesterday of very cool photos from satellites, the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle over the past few years showing the hurricanes and tropical storms.  The first thing that caught my attention was how large these storms are and the second is the amazing clarity of the storm details.  Pay particularly close attention to the eye of the storm, you can actually see the ocean below.

I Go On Vacation and Alot Happens

Tel Aviv Sunset
Going on vacation with the family and having no internet accessibility is always a challenge.  Awaiting my return was about 1000+ email I had to catch up on, then there were all my feeds to read, I also could not prepare adequately for my fantasy football draft this week which could hamper my fun over the next 18 weekends.

Apparently we did a whole bunch of releases while I was gone, so for now I will just post a summary, and get into more details in follow up posts.

  1. AIM Express 7.0 is now live and released.
  2. AIM 6.9 Beta 1 is available on our beta website
  3. AIM for Windows Mobile is out of beta and available for everyone to try.
  4. AIM MusicLink 4.0.0.0 has now over 1 Million users in just 25 days.
  5. AIM MusicLink now supports AOL Radio and Shoutcast Radio, for details check out the AIM MusicLink homepage.

I will dive into details on these releases over the next few days.

AIM MusicLink version 4.0.0.0

Download AIM MusicLink version 4.0.0.0 here.

I have just posted the latest version of AIM MusicLink, version 4.0.0.0.  As always you can get the latest information on AIM MusicLink via the AIM MusicLink homepage.  I have made many significant changes in this latest version based on feedback from people as well as some long standing features I wanted to add.

Here is the change log:

  • Added support for Foobar2000 version 0.9.5.4+
  • Added auto-upgrade support.
  • Updated the AIM MusicLink preferences
    • Added a preference to turn off checking for AIM MusicLink Updates
    • Added a button to check for update immediately
    • Added a button to reset status, this can be used to clear stale data when a player crashes or closes at a bad time

  • Fixed bug where log folders where being written even when user did not want logging.
  • Added support for writing current song to the AvTrack object in OpenAIM.
  • AIM MusicLink is now injected into the buddy feed.

AIM MusicLink works on all versions of AIM 6.0+, but official support for this version is for AIM 6.8+.  AIM Music Link Supports the following players.

This release is a major one, so enjoy it.  Download AIM MusicLink version 4.0.0.0 here.

Software Engineer’s Lament

I have been writing code, albeit not always well, since I was in 1st grade.  There are things that we get right (AIM plugins and modules) and some we don’t (AIM Triton).  It funny sometimes to step inside the world of developers in other industries to realize that they have some great successes and failures.

As someone who has owned just about every version of Madden football and basketball game through the years, an article on ESPN caught my attention where Pat Hruby went through his own personal pet peeves of every sports video game ever made.  It is amazing how good sports video games have gotten over the years, but its still not a perfect world.  At the end of the article, a software engineer laments on a recent game play experience he had, with his own game.

“The other day, I’m playing [against the Lakers], up one with 30 seconds to go,” says a basketball game developer. “The CPU fouls me, sends me to the line. Why would it do that? Play out the clock, get the ball, call timeout, take the last shot. Anyway, I make the free throws. The AI rushes the ball up the court, shoots as quickly as it can with Pau Gasol. And it’s an 18-footer. I get the ball and win.”

The developer sighs. He’s talking about his game. And it makes him crazy.

“For the past five years, we’ve set aside time to make sure the AI makes the right decisions at the end of the game. But either our engineers are stupid or our designers are stupid or I’m stupid, because we still haven’t gotten it right.”

I know the feeling.  Perfection takes time and a little luck along the way.

AIM Express 7 Beta 4

Hot out of the oven, we just posted AIM Express 7 Beta 4.  Here is the list of changes:

  • Test out the new character counter when you IM a mobile buddy or number in your Buddy List
  • Express yourself with spankin’ new Emoticons that display in your IM window
  • Rollover your Buddy to see their screen name, buddy icon, and status message with a quick glance
  • Use the new sound icon to toggle your alerts on/off

The client was built using Flash, so make sure you have the latest version of Flash 9.  The client also takes advantage of the OpenAIM ActionScript3 library, otherwise known as wimas3.  As always we appreciate the feedback, so make sure you share it with us.