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OS X Businesses Operating Systems Software Upgrades Utilities (Apple) Apple

iChat AV 2.1, iPhoto 4.0.1 Released 74

Posted by pudge from the happy-update-tuesday dept.
Milanek writes "Apple has released final version of iChat AV 2.1. It's available on Apple's iChat site or via Software Update. It adds support for video conferencing with the new AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows." Also available this week is an update to iPhoto, to version 4.0.1. Apple says it has performance, stability, and organization enhancements, including faster importing, smoother image viewing, easier Rendezvous sharing, and improved thumbnails.
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iChat AV 2.1, iPhoto 4.0.1 Released More

iChat AV 2.1, iPhoto 4.0.1 Released

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  • Ahem (Score:5, Funny)

    by daeley ( 126313 ) * on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @07:49PM (#8650714) Homepage
    Apple says it has performance, stability, and organization ehancements

    Not to be a spelling nazi, but that should be eHancements. ;)
  • I sure would like faster image prview in the Finder.
    • Agreed. An improved icon preview would be great. I never really liked to use iPhoto much because I simply prefered to keep things simple and organize my own photos in folders named by date/event whenever I download them from my camera without an application to get in my way. If we could speed up the loading of all those icons, this would be all the more nicer for (retentive)folks such as myself.

      I'll likely get flamed to holy hell for saying so, but I always liked the "Filmstrip" view of picture folders und

    • And I'd like it to share with Windows! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MarcQuadra ( 129430 ) * on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @09:46PM (#8651693)
      I'd like the thumbnail cache to be cross-platform and open. Why on earth can't someone publish a simple RFC for thumb caches. If bill broses his home folder on Windows, the generated thumbs should work for KDE/GNOME/OSX and whatever else, it's just common sense and it would be an 'everybody wins' sort of thing.
      • Because some dumb-ass open source developer would then be unsatisfied with the "openness" and "freeness" of the thumbnail cache and then design his own, apparently "superior" one and try to ram that down everyone's throats.

        Kinda like the whole MP3/Ogg Vorbis thing.
        • wow, that's so out-of-line with how things really work that it hurts.

          First off: Nobody's 'ramming OGG' down anyone's throats.

          and now to the beefier point:

          If there was an official RFC posted and a standard written there wouldn't be anyone 'unsatisfied with the "openness" and "freeness"' with it because it would be a FREE AND OPEN STANDARD.

          I'm sure KDE, GNOME, Apple, and maybe even MS would be more than happy with a simple standard for little stuff like this. Is it too hard to cache thumbs in a hidden '.t

  • Small but very nice updates (Score:3, Informative)

    by pafmax ( 462211 ) on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @08:40PM (#8651181) Homepage
    I've ran them both, iPhoto is indeed a little bit faster and it renders the thumbnails in a different way. But... it took me about 15 min. to update my 2000+ photo lib!!
    As for iChat, it seems like the beta version, but final. I can't wait to try the video tomorrow with a friend... She coulden't make it work the last time with aim 5.5 beta, so I gess I'll have to go to her house and do the aim config myself :-) It would be great to have a good PC-Mac compatible video chat...
    Now, if only MSN Messenger for mac would be *close* to the PC version I would not have to try to convince 99% of my friends to change to AIM in order to get vid...
    BTW, I must thank the people of the aMSN sf.net project, for giving me a reason to continue to use MSN... Keep it up!!! (and pleeeeeeeeeeease, gimme some more use for my iSight, if M$ doesn't! ;-) )

    • Re:Small but very nice updates (Score:5, Funny)

      by Quobobo ( 709437 ) on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @09:07PM (#8651408)
      15 minutes to plow through over 2000 photos is pretty good if you ask me.

      As for iChat, it seems like the beta version, but final.

      I don't even need to say anything about this sentence.
    • it took me about 15 min. to update my 2000+ photo lib

      Same here, but it did give the option to do it later, and even while running it gave the option to stop and finish later.

      Haven't had a chance to play with the update much, but I can't really tell any difference in the thumbnails. What is it that other people are seeing?

    • I had no problem video chatting between iChat 2.1 Beta and AIM a few nights ago. I suspect there's a firewall to blame. Could the built in XP firewall interfere?

    • I'm frustrated that Apple have only addressed the photo quantity problem iPhoto 2.0 and earlier has (in that it begins to slug after the first few thousand photos) in a new commercial release. Is it worth paying for 4.0? Will I notice a difference?

  • Ummm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bfg9000 ( 726447 ) on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @08:49PM (#8651239) Homepage Journal
    ... video conferencing... performance, stability, and organization ehancements, including faster importing, smoother image viewing, easier Rendezvous sharing, and improved thumbnails.

    These things are all good, but wouldn't it be much simpler to accomplish all these performance improvements by releasing THE NEW G5 POWERBOOK!! COME ON, APPLE! I'M DYING HERE!

    Thank you.

    My Visa is ready, since I'm pretty sure Steve Jobs reads Slashdot.

  • For those running OS X Server... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @09:10PM (#8651439)
    Also available:

    Applications Server Update 2.0 (95.6 MB)

    The Application Servers Update provides JBoss version 3.2.3 GM, Tomcat version 4.1.29, and WebObjects Deployment 5.2.3. WebObjects Deployment 5.2.3 provides qualification for WebObjects applications running under Java 1.4.2 and improvements to stability and correctness.

    For further information about this update, please see:

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107 869 [apple.com] (doc not found - why do they always update docs AFTER the software is released??)

    RAID Admin 1.3 (5.2 MB) (actually available about a week ago?)
    The RAID Admin 1.3 Update improves over all reliability of the RAID Admin software. This update is recommended for all Xserve RAID users.

    Key enhancements include:

    Solves issue where fibre channel link LED goes off even when link is up

    Addresses condition where management coprocessor does not respond to RAID Admin

    Prevents erroneous enclosure events that caused buzzer and email notification

    Corrects situation where disks have a RED status LED after a RAID controller restart

    Battery modules will now be detected by RAID Admin 1.3 on Xserve RAID systems with firmware 1.1-117

    Addresses RAID Admin Java 1.4.2 compatibility issues

  • Okay, can somebody please explain why an iChat update requires a reboot?
    • maybe the disk reoptimazation has something to do with it. ... i dont know anything.

    • Re:reboot! (Score:5, Informative)

      by ZackSchil ( 560462 ) on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @11:27PM (#8652467)
      Because it updates the private system instant messaging framework. It's good practice to restart after updating a service that possibly more than one app relies on. I just force quit software update when it was done and everything was fine but it could have caused a crash in Mail.app, Address Book or some other app that accesses the framework.

    • Re:reboot! (Score:5, Funny)

      by bsartist ( 550317 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @01:01AM (#8653091) Homepage
      I'll explain that right after you explain why you're using iChat on your mission-critical server that needs five-nines availability.
      • I'll explain that right after you explain why you're using iChat on your mission-critical server that needs five-nines availability.

        Right, because a reboot isn't an inconvenience or anything. Having to close all running apps, stop what you're doing, and then set everything back up the way you had it.

        My linux box has been up for 211 days, and it's fully up-to-date.

        • Re:reboot! (Score:5, Insightful)

          by bsartist ( 550317 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @05:03AM (#8654054) Homepage
          Right, because a reboot isn't an inconvenience or anything.

          I realize you're being sarcastic - but you're right, it's not. Having to schedule some down time for a 24x7 server that's used by an office (or building) full of people is a pain. But a desktop workstation? Puhleeze. You're the only person on that machine - if you choose an inconvenient time, that's your own damn fault.

          My linux box has been up for 211 days

          So? What do you want, a medal or something?
          • "You're the only person on that machine - if you choose an inconvenient time, that's your own damn fault." No, I'm not. It is a multiuser envrionment any my whole family is loged in at once. Everybody has stuff up (web pages they assume will be there when they come back, emails half written).
            • It is a multiuser envrionment any my whole family is loged in

              If your kids have been playing in the family room and didn't put their toys away, do you complain to Hoover because the vacuum cleaner can't magically navigate around them? Of course not - you hold the kids responsible for not cleaning up their mess.

              What makes you think the family computer is any different? Yes, fast login clears away the onscreen clutter - but everything is still there, eating up RAM, and potentially CPU. Leaving a bunch

        • Re:reboot! (Score:3, Informative)

          by TheRaven64 ( 641858 )
          My linux box has been up for 211 days, and it's fully up-to-date.

          Right. Fully up-to-date. I can think of at least one Linux kernel vulnerability that's been found in the last 211 days. Unless I missed something, Linux can't upgrade its kernel without a reboot.

    • system frameworks (Score:4, Informative)

      by wibs ( 696528 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @01:17AM (#8653169)

      Okay, can somebody please explain why an iChat update requires a reboot?

      A lot of iChat is within the .app, but there's an entire framework for it (including code and graphics) within the system files. Ppresumably it gives it a bit of a speed boost, but iChat is also tied with a lot of Apple's other apps (while reading an email in Mail, for example, you can see if the person who sent it to you is online without actually looking at iChat).

      Whatever. It's still not as good (or pretty!) as the nightly builds of Adium [sourceforge.net].

    • If you install it on Panther Server, it doesn't.
    • do we know if ichatav now supports audio only chat with aim 5.5 yet? I had the beta and with a friend on aim5.5 there was no option for audio conferencing on his icon and his client claimed mine didn't support it. we never got video conf working either but I've heard of other ppl who have (and I don't have a cam, only he did, but when he tried to initiate a one way video conf, I got the message I couldn't connect. I'm sure there are nat and port forward issues on his side that need resolving there but if ic

  • AIM video support is nice and all. . . (Score:3, Interesting)

    by the argonaut ( 676260 ) on Tuesday March 23, 2004 @10:04PM (#8651821) Homepage Journal
    . . . but it would be REALLY nice and infinitely more useful (not to mention probably easier from a programming perspective) if they would add support for little things as editing you AIM profile and transparent buddy icons.

  • Needs more functionality, Apple. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Stick_Fig ( 740331 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @12:51AM (#8653036) Homepage
    I like iChat and all, but I really wish Apple would make more of an effort to enhance the general functionality of the program.

    I like tabs. Tabs are such a great benefit when browsing the web. However, if I want to send instant messages to people, my only really option for tabbed IM conversations is Adium, which while it has benefits, doesn't have nearly all the features of a normal client, and suffers greatly because of it.

    On top of this, I wish that iChat had Konfabulator-type features that would allow the buddy list to be docked on the main window. That's a pretty darn cool (though memory-intensive) feature that Adium has that would really add a lot of appeal to iChat for me. I don't wat to have to leave the window open all the time to find out who's online. It should just stay open in a way that is unobtrusive.

    Apple strives on thinking different? Well, they should think less in the AOL mold of instant messaging, because there's some really cool stuff that some of the other indie IM clients have that I really want to see iChat implement.

    I think AOL and Apple have seriously overestimated the market for video IM. Instant messaging should be free to use in the middle of the day, at night, when people are sleeping (because it makes a GREAT replacement for a phone) and any other time when a phone isn't very helpful to have around. Video offers few of those benefits to everyday life.

    Small little details that make IMing easier, however, offer many.
    • I was thinking about this just the other day, actually. Adium's interface is beautiful, and the only thing holding me back from using it full-time is the protocol support.

      I think it would definitely be worth Apple's while to contribute to Adium (and libgaim, which Adium 2 uses as the backend), and rename it as iChat when bundled with the OS. There's honestly almost nothing that compares to Adium as far as interface goes, and I think Apple should really be taking an example from the developers.
    • I just wish that iChat could work with other IM systems besides AIM... like MSN/YIM/ICQ/etc.

      • Re:Needs more functionality, Apple. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Hes Nikke ( 237581 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @04:33AM (#8653941) Journal
        it DOES work with ICQ (just choose new chat with person and type in an ICQ number) and one you didn't even mention - SMS. (just choose new chat with person and enter +1 and the 10 digit phone number of the phone you want to message)

        both of these are actually supported by AOL, so by extension it works with all AIM clients - iChat included
        • I did not know that. :O That's cool, especially the SMS. Thanks for pointing that out. :)
        • does this only work if you have an aol account? i tried it with being logged into a .mac account and it tried to find AOL users - and can ICQ users send back to someone not on ICQ??

          (decent) ICQ support (as in using your icq account) would be much more useful - noone here (australia) uses AOL (tho they do use hideous MSN - only because of its default install on XP damn microsoft!)

          what i like about icq is the fact you can leave msgs for people who aren't online - the essence of paging services! (i wont go i
    • Like Tabs? Check out Proteus. Currently is has some issues with MSN, but there are fixes for those. It has tabbed IM windows and a host of other features. Proteus: http://www.indigofield.com/
    • A single window option would be nice. Buddies on the left, chat area on the right with tabbed interface.

      It would also be nice if iChat automatically put the icon of a cell phone next to the name of anyone who has a mobile phone number in the address book. Click on the button and shoot them an SMS.
    • I don't wat to have to leave the window open all the time to find out who's online. It should just stay open in a way that is unobtrusive.

      Just enable the 'Show status in menu bar' checkbox, in the prefs. One-click access to who's online. I never leave the window open. This is better than Adium's method IMHO.

  • ...via software update. It downloads two programs to your utilities folder which you have to click on to run. I haven't tried the mouse update out yet as my batteries are low and it won't let you run the update in this situation.

  • application locations inconsistency (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BobWeiner ( 83404 ) on Wednesday March 24, 2004 @01:23AM (#8653198) Homepage Journal
    For iPhoto, you have to keep the iPhoto app in the Applications folder for the Software Update to find the app and install the updater. (I had mine in a nested folder called 'Photo apps' under my Applications folder, and the Software Update 'could not find iPhoto.' Yet, for iChat 2.1, which was also nested in a subfolder under my 'Applications' folder, 'Software Update' was able to find the old version and make the update without nary a hitch. Could someone explain the inconsistency as far as why certain apps MUST be in specific places yet others don't...?

  • Don't know if anyone else got caught by this, but note that only iPhoto 4.0 - which can only be obtained in Apple's iLife bundle - is subject to the update

    The latest version of iPhoto that comes free with MacOS X (even 10.3 a.k.a. Panther) is version 2.0. The update installer refuses to install the update if you have this version, and forcing the update using something like Pacifist [charlessoft.com] makes iPhoto unworkable.

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