April 9 - 11:05am EDT   Apple may continue to have an interest in automatic audio or video replies within iChat, a newly-published patent application hints. Under the Apple technology, people away from their computers or simply busy could instruct iChat to play a prerecorded audio or video message to anyone attempting chat. The length of each message could be used-defined. [full story]

December 15 - 1:10pm EST   As anticipated last week, Apple has posted its latest update to Mac OS X, v10.5.6. Available through the Software Update service or direct download, the patch consists mostly of dozens of fixes and performance enhancements, for issues such as sync and graphics. Sync reliability has been improved for Address Book, portable home directories and most notably MobileMe, which should now propagate contact, calendar and bookmark changes within a minute of their being saved. [full story]

July 2 - 3:15pm EDT   Instant messaging can be a great way to communicate with friends and co-workers in real-time. While most Mac users rely on iChat, which comes with every Mac, many PC users rely on Windows Live Messenger (formerly called MSN Messenger). Not only does Live Messenger connect to Yahoo’s messaging network, it’s also the default network for Xbox 360 users. If you want to chat with users on any of the above networks, Microsoft's Messenger for Mac 7.01 might be of interest. [full story]

June 24 - 8:35am EDT   Logitech this morning made one of its rare webcam offerings for Macs with the advent of the QuickCam Vision Pro. A close cousin of the QuickCam Pro 9000, the USB camera is targeted at Mac mini and Mac Pro owners whose computers don't already have built-in iSight cameras but who want a better-than-average replacement for iChat, Skype, or other video apps. The Vision Pro not only has true glass optics from Carl Zeiss, rather than plastic, but also has a voice coil motor for autofocusing which is much faster and more fine-grained than the stepper motors on most webcams. [full story]

March 14 - 4:35pm EDT   TheCodingMonkeys today announced the release of SubEthaEdit 3.1, an update to its collaborative text editing software, adding a number of different features to make internet collaboration easier. The new version adds automatic port forwarding, allowing users to connect easily without manual setup. iChat invites allow users to drag and drop iChat contacts onto the software to invite users to a session. SubEthaEdit 3.1 is available for €29 (~$45). [full story]

February 14 - 12:45am EST   Infinis Design recently unveiled iChat Pro, a reskinning feature for Apple's iChat application that simplifies the user interface to be more compact. Designed for users that are comfortable with using right-click contextual menus to navigate the application's functions, iChat Pro removes the somewhat redundant communication buttons at the bottom of the buddy list, and trims extraneous features from the top. iChat Pro is free to install for all users of iChat. [full story]

February 7 - 5:30pm EST   Among the flurry of Apple patent applications that surfaced today, no less than 10 filings relate to the company's iChat and Time Machine. The Cupertino-based company's Time Machine-related patents cover methods and a computer program for providing a user interface that includes earlier versions of data, true to the software's ability to 'move through time' to prior versions of documents and files via a graphical user interface. iChat-related patents describe video communication systems and methods, as well as sharing graphical user interface output in a chat environment. Another iChat-oriented patent details sharing application output in a chat environment. [full story]

January 24 - 3:15pm EST   Former Apple software engineer Jens Alfke has posted a blog entry about his departure from the company, why he did it, and Apple's perceived cultural/operation faults. Alfke initially worked on the now-defunct OpenDoc project, and later moved into social software, which he found Apple to be less-than-enthusiastic about: "I'm fascinated with social software. Apple isn’t. Despite some promising starts, the most I’ve been able to get accomplished in that vein at Apple was iChat [the IM part; I'm really not interested in videoconferencing], Safari RSS, and the "PubSub" [which turned out to be "RSS and Atom"] framework. There were some very promising prototypes of sexier ... [full story]

January 15 - 9:50am EST   Pleasant Software has released updates to two key programs, Ubercaster and ShowMacster. The former is the company's podcasting tool, which allows users to record, edit and export tracks using only a single utility. Version 1.5 of the software introduces the Autopilot, which displays a list of topics to guide users through their podcasts; the panel can also be used to store detailed notes, in case particular pieces of information are forgotten. Ubercaster now also has an RMS normalizer, support for AU (Audio Units) plug-ins, effect presets and an automatic chapter creation function. The app costs $80, and requires Mac OS X 10.4.4, a 1.83GHz CPU, and 1GB of RAM. [full story]