Chapter 17. iChat AV and Bonjour

iChat makes it incredibly easy (and free) to have text chats, audio chats, and video conferences with buddies almost anywhere in the world. You can even do multi-person audio and video chatsup to ten people in an audio chat, and up to four people in a video chat (if your computer and Internet connection are fast enough).

iChat provides Buddy Groups for organizing your iChat buddies, iTunes integration that lets you show the currently playing tune in your iChat Status (your buddies can preview the track with a single click), Jabber support for your friends who chat in the Jabber IM network, and improved video quality.

Bonjour automatically detects and connects users and devices (such as printers) on a local area network. Amazing. Bonjour makes it a snap to text chat, audio chat, or video chat with others on your local network. Bonjour integrates with iTunes and iPhoto so you can share music and photos over local networks. Or even Address Book contacts.

iChat AV requires a .Mac buddy name or an AIM (AOL Instant Messaging) buddy name. AIM buddy names are freego to www.aim.com to sign up for one. When you sign up for a .Mac membership, your .Mac member name becomes your buddy name. If you don't want a .Mac membership, sign up for the free 60-day trial membership. When the free trial is over, you can keep your .Mac buddy name.

If you're not sure what your Internet connection speed is, do a Google search for "speed test." You'll find many web sites that provide free tests and all you have to do is click a button.

Text messaging needs only a low bandwidth connection, such as a dial-up modem. Audio and video conferencing requires a broadband connection, such as cable or DSL. To perform multi-person audio or video chats, you must have a faster computer and a faster Internet connection. Minimum requirements for initiating or participating in different kinds of chats are listed on pages 510 (audio chats) and 513 (video chats).

Look for a test page that provides results for both download and upload speeds, such as http://nyc.speakeasy.net