21.3. Sherlock

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21.2. iChat

iChat is a combo communications program that does three things:

  • Instant messaging . If you don't know what instant messaging is, chances are there's a teenager near you who does.

    It's like live email. You type messages to friends and colleagues in a chat window, in real time, and they type replies back to you. Instant messaging can be a great way to converse with the privacy of email and the immediacy of the phone.

    In this regard, iChat is a lot like AOL's popular Instant Messenger (AIM) and Buddy Chats. In fact, iChat lets you type back and forth with any of AIM's 150 million members (it speaks the same "chat" language), which is a huge advantage. But iChat's visual design is pure Apple.

  • Free long distance . If your Mac has a microphone, and so does your buddy, the two of you can also chat out loud , using the Internet as a free long-distance telephone. Wait, not just the two of you ”the ten of you, thanks to Tiger's beefed-up audio conferencing features.

  • Free videoconferencing . iChat's old name ”and still its full name , as it appears in the About box ”is iChat AV, where AV stands for audio-video. If you and your buddies each have broadband Internet connections and a FireWire camera ”like Apple's own iSight camera, or (if your Mac has a G4 or G5 chip) even a digital camcorder ”up to four participants can join in video chats, all on screen at once, no matter where they happen to be in the world. This arrangement is a jaw-dropping visual stunt that can bring distant collaborators face-to-face without plane tickets ”and it costs about $99,900 less than professional videoconferencing gear.

21.2.1. Three Chat Networks

iChat lets you reach out to chat partners on three different networks:

  • The AIM network . If you've signed up for a .Mac address (the free kind or the paid kind) or a free AOL Instant Messenger account, you can chat with anyone in the 150-million-member AOL Instant Messenger network.

  • The Jabber network . Jabber is another chat network, whose key virtue is its open -source origins. In other words, it wasn't masterminded by some corporate media behemoth; it's an all-volunteer effort, joined by thousands of programmers all over the world. There's no one Jabber chat program (like AOL Instant Messenger). There are dozens, available for Mac OS X, Windows , Linux, Unix, Palm and PocketPC organizers, and so on. All of them can chat with each other across the Internet in one glorious frenzy of typing.

    And now there's one more program that can join the party: iChat.

  • Your own local network . Thanks to the Bonjour network-recognition technology (which Apple called Rendezvous before the Attack of the Trademark Lawyers), you can communicate with other Macs on your own office network without signing up for anything at all ”and without being online. This is a terrific feature when you're sitting around a conference table, idly chatting with colleagues using your wireless laptop (and the boss thinks you're taking notes).

These three kinds of chats operate in parallel. Each network (AIM, Jabber, and Bonjour) has its own separate Buddy List window and its own chat window. You log into each network separately.

Otherwise, however, chatting and videoconferencing works identically on all three networks. Keep that in mind as you read the following pages.

21.2.2. Signing Up

When you open iChat for the first time, you see the "Welcome To iChat" window (Figure 21-8). This is the first of several screens in the iChat setup sequence, during which you're supposed to tell it which kinds of chat accounts you have, and set up your camera, if any.

An account is a name and password. Fortunately, these accounts are free, and there are several ways to acquire one.


Tip: The easiest procedure is to set up your accounts before you open iChat for the first time, because then you can just plug in your names and passwords in the setup screens.You can input your account information later, though. Choose iChat Preferences, click the Accounts button, click the + button, and choose the right account type (Jabber, .Mac, or AIM) from the Account Type pop-up menu.

Figure 21-8. The iChat setup assistant gives you the chance to input your account names and passwords, if you already have them. Only one of these screens ("Set up iChat Instant messaging") offers you the chance to create a chat account, in this case a free .Mac account. Otherwise, you're expected to have a name and password (for AIM or Jabber, for example) already. Finally, if you have an iSight camera or camcorder attached, you get the chance to test it out. The volume meter at the bottom bounces in response to your Mac's or camcorder's microphone.


21.2.2.1. How to get a free .Mac account

If you're already a member of Apple's .Mac service (Chapter 19), iChat fills in your Mac.com user name and password automatically.

If not, you can get an iChat-only .Mac account for free. To get started, do one of these two things:

  • Click the "Get an iChat Account" button that appears on the second Setup Assistant screen.

  • Choose iChat Preferences, click the Accounts button, click the + button, and click Create New .Mac Account.

Either way, you go to an Apple Web page where you can sign up for a free iChat account name. You'll also get 60 days of the more complete .Mac treatment (usually $100 a year) described in Chapter 19. When your trial period ends, you'll lose all of the other stuff that .Mac provides, but you'll get to keep your iChat name.


Note: If your .Mac name is missingmanualguy , you'll actually appear to everyone else as missingmanualguy@mac.com . The software tacks on the "@mac.com" suffix automatically.
21.2.2.2. How to get a free Jabber account

You can't create a Jabber account using iChat. Apple expects that, if you're that interested in Jabber, you already have an account that's been set up by the company you work for (Jabber is popular in corporations) or by you, using one of the free Jabber programs.

For example, at www.admiumx.com, you can download a great chat program for

Mac OS X that presents you, the first time you open it, with a Preferences:Accounts screen. Click the + button, choose Jabber, type in any screen name and password you like ”and when you're told that your account doesn't exist, mutter "I know, I know," and click Register. Your account is now created (your account name is Francis@jab-ber.org , for example), and you can plug that screen name and password into iChat.

21.2.2.3. How to get a free AIM account

You can't create an AIM account in iChat, either. If you're an America Online member, your existing screen name and password will work; if you've used AIM before, you can use your existing name and password.

If you've never had an AIM account, you can sign up at my.screenname.aol.com . Click "Create one FREE now" to make up an AIM screen name.

21.2.3. The Buddy Lists

Once you've entered your account information, you're technically ready to start chatting. All you need now is a chatting companion, or what's called a buddy in instant-messaging circles. iChat comes complete with a Buddy List window in which you can house the chat "addresses" for all your friends, relatives, and colleagues out there on the Internet.

Actually, to be precise, iChat comes with three buddy lists (Figure 21-9):

  • Buddy list . This window lists all of your chat pals who have either .Mac or AIM accounts; they all share the same buddy list. You see the same list whether you log into your .Mac or your AIM account. (You can't log into both simultaneously .)

    Figure 21-9. The buddy lists are where you store the names of everyone you know who uses iChat, AOL Instant Messenger, or Jabber. Click the + button to add a new buddy, either by connecting your buddy to the name of someone in your address book or by adding a brand-new buddy from scratch (by clicking New Person). If you've used AIM before, you may find that you've already got buddies in your list. AIM accounts store their buddy lists on AOL's computers, so that you can keep your buddies even if you switch computers.


  • Jabber list . Same idea, except that all of your contacts in this window must have Jabber accounts.

  • Bonjour . This list is limited to your local network buddies ”the ones in the same building, most likely, and on the same network. You can't add names to your Bonjour list; anyone who's on the network and running iChat appears automatically in the Bonjour list.

21.2.4. Making a List

When you start iChat, your buddy lists automatically appear (Figure 21-9). If you don't see them, choose the list you want from the Window menu: Buddy List, Bonjour, or Jabber. (Or press their keyboard shortcuts: c-1, c-2, or c-3.)

Adding a buddy to this list entails knowing that person's account name, whether it's on AIM, Mac.com or Jabber. Once you have it, you can either choose Buddies Add Buddy (Shift-c-A) or click the + button at the bottom-left corner of the window.

Out slides a sheet attached to the Buddy List window, offering a window into the Address Book program (Chapter 20).


Tip: As you accumulate buddies, your Buddy List may become crowded. If you choose View Show Offline Buddies to turn off the check mark, you'll only see your currently online buddies in the Buddy List ”a much more meaningful list for the temporarily lonely .

If your chat companion is already in Address Book, scroll through the list until you find the name you want (or enter the first few letters into the Search box), click the name, and then click Select Buddy.

If not, click New Person and enter the buddy's AIM address, .Mac address, or (if you're in the Jabber list) Jabber address. You're adding this person to both your Buddy List and Address Book.

Figure 21-10. You're being invited to a chat! Your buddy wants to have a typed chat (top left) or a spoken one (top right). To begin chatting, click the invitation window, type a response in the bottom text box if you like (for text chats), and click Accept (or press Enter). Or click Decline to lock out the person sending you messages ”a good trick if someone's harassing you.



Tip: Using the pop-up menu just below your name, you can broadcast your status to other people's buddy lists. You can announce that you're Available, Away, or (by choosing Custom or Edit Status Menu) Drunk.Better yet, if you have music playing in iTunes, you can tell the world what you're listening to at the moment by choosing Current iTunes Track. (Your buddy can even click that song's name to open its screen on the iTunes Music Store.) This new feature has single-handedly pushed at least one Mac fan over the edge into buying Tiger.

21.2.5. Let the Chat Begin

As with any conversation, somebody has to talk first. In chat circles, that's called inviting someone to a chat.

21.2.5.1. They invite you

To "turn on your pager" so that you'll be notified when someone wants to chat with you, run iChat. Hide its windows, if you like, by pressing c-H.

When someone tries to "page" you for a chat, iChat comes forward automatically and shows you an invitation message like the one in Figure 21-10. If the person initiating a chat isn't already in your Buddy List, you'll simply see a note that says "Message from [name of the person] ."

21.2.5.2. You invite them

To invite somebody in your Buddy List to a chat:

  • For a text chat, double-click the person's name , type a quick invite ("You there?"), and press Enter.


    Tip: You can invite more than one person to the chat. Each time you click the + button at the bottom of the Participants list, you can choose another person to invite. (Or c-click each name in the buddy list to select several people at once and then click the A button at the bottom of the list to start the text chat.)Everyone sees all the messages everyone sends.
  • To start an audio or video chat, click the microphone or movie-camera icon in your Buddy List (shown in Figure 21-9).

To initiate a chat with someone who isn't in the Buddy List, choose File New Chat With Person. Type the account name of the person and click OK to send the invitation.

Figure 21-11. As you chat, your comments always appear on the right. If you haven't yet created a custom icon, you'll look like a blue globe or an AOL running man. You can choose a picture for yourself either in your own Address Book card or right in iChat.


Either way, you can have more than one chat going at once. Real iChat nerds wind up with screens overflowing with individual chat windows. Juggling them all, and keeping them all current, is just part of the fun.

21.2.6. Text Chatting

A typed chat works like this: Each time you or your chat partner types something and then presses Enter, the text appears on both your screens (Figure 21-11). iChat displays each typed comment next to an icon, which can be any of these three things:

  • A picture they added . If the buddy added her own picture ”to her own copy of iChat, a Jabber program, or AOL Instant Messenger ”it will be transmitted to you, appearing automatically in the chat window. Cool!

  • A picture you added . If you've added a picture of that person to the Buddy List or Address Book, you see it here instead. (After all, your vision of what somebody looks like may not match his own self-image.)

  • Generic . If nobody's done icon-dragging of any sort , you get a generic icon ”either a blue globe (for .Mac people) or the AOL Instant Messenger running man (for AIM people).

To choose a graphic to use as your own icon, click the square picture to the right of your own name at the top of the Buddy, Jabber, or Bonjour list. From the pop-up palette of recently selected pictures, choose Edit Picture to open the pop-up image-selection palette described on Section 12.2.2. Feel free to build an array of different graphics to represent yourself ”and to change them in mid-chat, using this pop-up palette, to the delight or confusion of your conversation partner.


Tip: When you minimize the iChat message window, its Dock icon displays the icon of the person you're chatting with ”a handy reminder that they're still there.
21.2.6.1. In-chat fun

Typing back and forth isn't the only thing you can do during a chat. You can also perform any of these stunts:

  • Open the drawer . Choose View Show Chat Participants to hide or show the "drawer" that lists every person in your current chat. To invite somebody new to the chat, click the + button at the bottom of the drawer, or drag the person's icon out of the Buddy List window and into this drawer.

  • Format your text . You can press c-B or c-I to make your next typed utterance bold or italic. Or change your color or font by choosing Format Show Colors or Format Show Fonts, which summons the standard Mac OS X color or font palettes. (If you use some weird font that your chat partners don't have installed, they won't see the same typeface.)

  • Insert a smiley . When you choose a face (like Undecided, Angry, or Frown) from this quick-access menu of smiley options (at the right end of the text-reply box), iChat inserts it as a graphic into your response.

    On the other hand, if you know the correct symbols to produce smileys ”where :) means a smiling face, for example ”you can save time by typing them instead of using the pop-up menu. iChat converts them into smiley icons on the fly, as soon as you send your reply.

  • Send a file . Choosing Buddies Send File lets you send a file to all the participants of your chat.

    Better yet, just drag the file's icon from the Finder into the box where you normally type. (This trick works well with pictures, because your conversation partner sees the graphic right in his iChat window.)

    This is a fantastic way to transfer a file that would be too big to send by email. A chat window never gets "full," and no attachment is too large to send.

    This method halves the time of transfer, too, since your recipients get the file as you upload it. They don't have to wait 20 minutes for you to send the file, and then another 20 minutes to download it, as they would with email or FTP.

    Note, though, that this option isn't available in old versions of the AOL Instant Messenger program ”only new versions and iChat.


    Tip: If you've opened the Participants drawer, you can drag files from the Finder onto individual participants' names in this drawer to send files directly to them.
  • Get Info on someone . If you click a name in your Buddy list and then choose Buddies Get Info (or Control-click someone's name and choose Get Info from the shortcut menu), you get a little Info window about your buddy, where you can edit her name, email address, and picture. (If you change the picture here, you'll see it instead of the graphic your buddy chose for herself.)

    If you choose Actions from the Show pop-up menu at this point, you can make iChat react when this particular buddy logs in, logs out, or changes status ”for example, by playing a sound or saying, "She's here! She's here!"

    GEM IN THE ROUGH
    The Chat Transcript

    Every now and then, you'll wish you could preserve a chat for all time ”a particularly meaningful conversation with a friend, lover, or customer-service agent.

    On the iChat Preferences Messages panel, you can turn on "Automatically save chat transcripts." From now on, the text of your conversations is automatically saved in your Home Documents i-Chats folder. To view a chat later, double-click its icon. It opens within iChat, compete with all colors and formatting.

    Even if you don't turn on this "Automatically" checkbox, you can save individual chats in progress by choosing File Save a Copy As.


  • Send an Instant Message . Not everything in a chat session has to be " heard " by all participants. If you choose Buddies Send Instant Message, you get a private chat window, where you can "whisper" something directly to a special someone behind the other chatters' backs.

  • Send Direct Message . A Direct Message (Buddies Send Direct Message) is exactly like an Instant Message, except that it's exclusively for sending notes to other people using iChat. It sends a message Mac to Mac, rather than via AOL's central server (which is what happens during an Instant Message session). That is, Direct Messaging is a more private channel.

    Figure 21-12. iChat can look like almost anything. Here, for example, is what a chat looks like with the balloon effect turned off (giving you colored rectangles instead), and with balloons and pictures turned off. You can even hide the names, if you like. You make these changes for a chat in progress using the View menu. You can also change the color and typeface settings in the iChat Preferences Messages panel.


  • Send email . If someone messages you, "Hey, will you email me directions?" you can do so on the spot by choosing Buddies Send Email. Your email program opens up automatically so you can send the note along; if your buddy's email address is part of his Address Book info, the message is preaddressed.

  • Send an SMS message to a cellphone . If you're using an AIM screen name, and you know somebody whose cell phone can get SMS (Short Message Service) notes, try this wacky variation: Choose File New Chat with Person. In the address box that pops up, type +1 and the full cellphone number. For (212) 555-1212, you'd type this: + 12125551212 .

Press Enter to return to the chat window. Type a very short message (a couple of sentences, tops) and then press Enter.


Tip: If iChat rudely informs you that your own privacy settings prevent you from contacting "this person," choose iChat Preferences, click Accounts, click your chat account, and turn on "Allow anyone."

Obviously, you can't carry on much of an interactive conversation this way. The only response you get is from AOL's computers, letting you know that your message has been sent. But what a great way to shoot a "Call me!" or "Running late ”see you tonight!" or "Turn on channel 4 right now!!!" message to someone's phone.

21.2.6.2. Popping the Balloons

The words you might have for iChat's word-balloon design might be "cute" and " distinctive ." But it's equally likely that your choice of words includes "juvenile" and "annoying."

Fortunately, behind iChat's candy coating are enough options that you'll certainly find one that works for you (see Figure 21-12).

You can even change iChat's white background to any image using View Set Chat Background. Better yet, find a picture you like and drag it into your chat window; iChat immediately makes it the background of your chat. To get rid of the background and revert to soothing white, choose View Clear Chat Background.

21.2.7. Audio Chats

iChat becomes much more exciting when you exploit the "AV" part of its name. Even over a dial-up modem connection, you can conduct audio chats, speaking into your microphone and listening to the responses from your speaker.

If you have a broadband connection, though, you get a much more satisfying experience ”and, if you have a pretty fast Mac, up to 10 of you can join in one massive, free conference call from across the Internet. (Specifically, you need a 600-megahertz G3 processor or faster to make audio calls with up to five people. To initiate an audio chat with six to 10 participants, you need a G5 chip, a 1-gigahertz G4 chip, or dual 800- megahertz G4's.)

A telephone icon next to a name in your buddy list tells you that the buddy has a microphone, and is ready for a free Internet "phone call." If you see what appear to be stacked phone icons, then your pal's Mac has enough horsepower to handle a multiple-person conference call. (You can see these icons back in Figure 21-9.)

To begin an audio chat, click the telephone icon next to the buddy's name, or highlight someone in the Buddy List and then click the telephone icon at the bottom of the list, or (if you're already in a text chat) choose Buddies Invite to Audio Chat.

Once your invitation is accepted, you can begin speaking to each other. The bars of the sound-level meter let you know that the microphone ”which you've specified in the iChat Preferences Video tab ”is working.


Tip: Although the audio is full-duplex (you can hear and speak simultaneously, like a phone but unlike a walkie-talkie), there may be a delay, like you're calling overseas on a bad connection. If you can't hear anything at all, check out iChat's Help system, which contains a long list of suggestions.

21.2.8. Video Chats

If you and your partner both have broadband Internet connections, even more impressive feats await. You can conduct a free video chat with up to four people, who show up on three vertical panels, gorgeously reflected on a shiny black table surface. This isn't the jerky, out-of-audio-sync, Triscuit- sized video of Windows videoconferencing. If you've got the Mac muscle and bandwidth, your partners are as crisp, clear, bright and smooth as television ”and as big as your screen, if you like.

People can come and go; as they enter and leave the "videosphere," iChat slides their glistening screens aside, enlarging or shrinking them as necessary to fit on your screen.

Figure 21-13. That's you in the smaller window. To move your own mini-window, click a different corner, or drag yourself to a different corner. If you need to blow your nose or do something else unseemly, Option-click the microphone button to freeze the video and mute the audio. Click again to resume.


Apple offers this luxurious experience, however, only if you have luxurious gear:

  • A video camera with a FireWire connector . That can be an ordinary digital camcorder (as long as your Mac has at least a G4 chip inside), a golf-ball Webcam that connects via FireWire instead of USB, or the iSight, Apple's cylindrical camera-microphone appliance.


    Tip: You don't both need the same gear. If only you have a camera, for example, you can choose Buddies Invite to One-Way Video Chat (or Audio Chat). Your less-equipped buddy can see you, but has to speak (audio only) or type in response.
  • A fast processor . This is miserably picky information, but confronting it now will save you many headaches down the road:

    If your Mac has a 600-megahertz G3 processor or anything faster, you can have one-on-one video chats. To pull off a multi-person video chat, the Mac that initiates the call ”invites everyone else to join ”must contain a G5 processor or dual G4s running at 1 gigahertz or faster. If you want to join a multi-way video chat, you need a G5 chip, a 1-gigahertz G4 chip, or dual 800-megahertz G4's.

If you see a camcorder icon next to a buddy's name, you can have a full-screen, high-quality video chat with that person, because they, like you, have a camcorder or FireWire camera and a high-speed Internet connection. If you see a stacked camcorder icon, then that person has a G5 or some other superfast Mac that's capable of joining a four-way video chat.

To begin a video chat, click the camera icon next to a buddy's name, or highlight someone in the Buddy List and then click the camcorder icon at the bottom of the list. Or, if you're already in a text chat, choose Buddies Invite to Video Chat.

A window opens, showing you . This Preview mode is intended to show what your buddy will see. (You'll probably discover that you need some kind of light in front of you to avoid being too shadowy.)

And now, some video-chat notes:

  • If your conversation partners seem unwilling to make eye contact, it's not because they're shifty. They're just looking at you , on the screen, rather than at the camera ”and chances are you aren't looking into your camera, either.

    GEM IN THE ROUGH
    The iChat Spycam/nannycam Auto-Answer Secret

    When you invite another Mac to a video chat, someone has to be sitting in front of it to accept your invitation. That's an important privacy feature, of course, because it prevents total strangers from peeking in on you when you're walking around in your underwear.

    But having to have a live human at the other end is kind of a bummer if you want to peek in on your house, your kids , or your wife while you're away, using your iSight camera or camcorder as a sort of security cam or nanny-cam.

    iChat can accommodate you. Open Terminal (Chapter 16) and type this command, followed by Return:

    defaults write com.apple.ichat AutoAcceptVCInvitations 1

    From now on, iChat will automatically answer incoming video-chat invitations without somebody having to click Accept. (iChat has to be running already, of course.)

    To turn off this feature, repeat the Terminal command but substitute a zero for the final number.


  • Don't miss the Video Full Screen command! Wild.

  • You can have video chats with Windows computers, too, as long as they're using a recent version of AOL Instant Messenger. Be prepared for disappointment, though; the video is generally jerky, small, and slightly out of sync. (That's partly due to the cheap USB Web cams most PCs have, and partly due to the poor video codec [compression scheme] that's built into AOL Instant Messenger.)

  • If you use iChat AV with a camcorder, you can set the camera to VTR (playback) mode and play a tape right over the Internet to whoever is on the other end! (The video appears flipped horizontally on your screen, but looks right to the other person.)

  • You can't record audio or video, or at least not without a screen-recording share-ware program like Snapz Pro X (www.ambrosiasw.com). But you can capture a still "photo" of a video chat by c-dragging the image to your desktop, or by choosing Video Take Snapshot (Option-c-S).

  • This cutting-edge technology can occasionally present cutting-edge glitches. The video quality deteriorates, the transmission aborts suddenly, the audio has an annoying echo, and so on. iChat Help offers a number of tips; the Video Connection Doctor can identify your network speed. (iChat video likes lots of network speed.)

21.2.9. iChat Tweaks

If you've done nothing but chat in iChat, you haven't even scratched the surface. The iChat Preferences dialog box gives you plenty of additional control. A few examples:

  • General pane . If you turn on Show status in menu bar , you bring the iChat menulet to your menu bar. It lets you change your iChat status (Available, Away, and so on), whether you're in iChat or not.

    And if you turn off When I quit iChat, set my status to Offline , then quitting iChat doesn't actually log you out. When someone wants a chat with you, iChat opens automatically.

  • Accounts pane . If you have more than one AIM, Jabber, or .Mac account, you can switch among them here. Your passwords are conveniently saved in your Mac OS X Keychain.

  • Messages pane . The Messages preference panel lets you design your chat windows ”the background color, word balloon color, and typeface and size of text you type.

    If you want to set a special background image for your chats, you can do that as well ”just drag a graphics file into the chat preview box on this pane. You can revert to a white background by choosing View Clear Background.

  • Alerts pane . Here, you can choose how iChat responds to various events. For example, it can play a sound, bounce its Dock icon, or say something out loud whenever you log in, log out, receive new messages, or whatever.

  • Video pane . This is where you get a preview of your own camera's output, limit the amount of bandwidth (signal-hogging data) the camera uses (a troubleshooting step), and specify that you want iChat AV to fire up automatically whenever you switch on the camera.

Figure 21-14. If you are a busy graphic designer with the money to pay for professionally captured, professional-resolution digital images, this channel can be very useful. It's like having the searchable catalogs of several stock-art companies at your fingertips.


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Mac OS X. The Missing Manual
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals)
ISBN: 0596153287
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 506
Authors: David Pogue

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