New Leopard iChat feature surfaces
updated 11:25 am EDT, Thu April 26, 2007
New Leopard iChat feature
Apple has unveiled a new iChat feature that will make its way into Mac OS X Leopard when the operating system ships in October, noting that 'iChat Theater' will enable applications to communicate with audio and video during an iChat conference. "Since its introduction iChat has become the de facto Instant Messaging client on Mac OS X, allowing users to communicate using text, audio, and even video chat," writes Apple. "The new version of iChat in Leopard opens up these capabilities to other applications on the system, allowing those applications to provide content through an iChat session." The company offers examples, such as a user displaying a photo slide show while chatting with parents and two people collaborating on a document, discussing the details as one person makes changes and the other observes the result. The new features are made possible by a new Instant Message framework that ships with Leopard, allowing developers to access iChat 4.0 features from within applications, according to Apple.
But
04/26, 11:38am reply
didn't this surface at WWDC last year during the keynote?
MhzDoesMatter
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2002
it
04/26, 11:45am reply
does sound familiar. I'd like to see some small freeware ichat games, that 2 or more players could play over the internet. Like games.com kind of games, but built in, free, and with no ads :-)
l008com
Professional Poster
Joined: Jan 2000
surfaced
04/26, 11:48am reply
I think ait was posted on the WWDC 2007 list of session descriptions. Certainly old news tho.
more deceiving headlines from MacNN. Are they a subsidiary of FOX maybe?? :P
eldarkus
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Joined: Feb 2004
Different...
04/26, 12:13pm reply
I don't remember this being mentioned. I remember iChat theatre being mentioned but not OTHER APPLICATIONS being shown over video. That could be pretty cool as you can do a demo of an application over ichat... Assuming i'm reading it correctly...
migs647
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2005
mentioned
04/26, 01:07pm reply
Unless we all had the same dream, this feature was already mentioned last year during or shortly after WWDC when Leopard was first previewed. I think it was part of the screen sharing function they already talked about. I distinctly remember seeing an example very much like the one mentioned here, showing an iPhoto slideshow while chatting. A nice feature no doubt, but nothing new here. Move along.
nativeNYer
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Joined: Apr 2005
old news
04/26, 01:31pm reply
Steve (and Phil) demo'd this feature at WWDC, but using only Apple applications such as iPhoto and QuickTime. AT THE TIME, they said that they were encouraging devs to hook into this (the WHOLE POINT of the demo!).
The fact that some devs may have done so is not really "news." If MacNN had found a specific third-party product that now works with iChat, THAT would be news.
chas_m
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Joined: Aug 2001
Dee Da Dee
04/26, 02:42pm reply
Little slow on the uptake there aren't you Macnn, this was news a long time ago.
Tins
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Joined: Feb 2007
once again...
04/26, 06:25pm reply
macnn blows the biggest goat.
a really poor source of news.
adrian_milliner
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2005
how about these features
04/27, 03:00pm reply
make it work with yahoo and msn messenger
make video chat work without port forwarding behind my router
and why doesn't osx just share the desktop, so I can show any application... not just ichat-enabled apps?
poulh
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2000
good question
04/28, 06:30pm reply
On other UNIX GUI environments, including NeXTstep, the application's relationship to the display is client-server, and the display server doesn't need to even be on the same computer. Anything that implements the display protocol works.
You should be able to do the same thing in OSX/Aqua, it's a descendant of NeXTstep.
(personally, I don't actually like iChat, I use AdiumX instead)
resuna
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Joined: Jan 2005