Aim 6.5.4.16 launches with Text Ads!? Plus News on Aim Security Exploit!

Aim 6.5 Nearing Completion

AOL has released Aim 6.5.4.15, this newest version doesn’t add anything major in terms of features, which means Aim 6.5 is very very close to being Gold Master. The most notable new feature is new skins, now there are 20 skins to choose from for both light and dark themes. You can now stream music with Aim Tunes, and other UI edits and enhancements. The Buddy info now displays buddy updates on the side in its own little box. To the left you will see the regular buddy info. Sometimes the buddy updates do not load so the buddy info is displayed in full width. Aim has added the newest annoyance, Text Ads!, but when you think about it, Text Ads aren’t as annoying as music ads. So lets hope AOL decides to remove that large ad box at the top and give us back the buddy list we so desire!

AIM Security Hole

I’ve been asked on the situation of the “AIM Virus” that the major news companies have been reporting. I’ll cover this briefly. According to AOL’s statements, if you have Aim 6.5.4.16, you should be immune to any attacks that rise up. However Aim 6.1, 6.2, Pro, and Aim Lite are still affected. AOL has silently patched these versions for the majority of attacks, however according to the security research findings, these versions are still vulnerable to attacks. It seems AOL wanted to avoid releasing a new version AIM that patches this and just monitor IM streams for suspicious activity. Right now they don’t have any reports if Aim 6.5.4.16 is vulnerable right now. AOL at the time said that the next AIM beta version will patch this hole. Now that Aim 6.5.4.16 has been released, it should be safe to use.  

Skins in My Aim?

Well lets thank the developers for not changing the UI so drastically, this time my work converting skins to was less stressful. About 2 new IDs were added and they actually help make dark themes look better. Even though there are 20 skins to choose from, why not have 4 more colors just for fun. As promised, new skins will be on the way, Windows Vista Aero Basic Themes are coming up. Oh and one more thing, 4 more colors just for fun means FOUR MORE COLORS! Now all 4 colors are included in the download, so you can switch between any of them as much as you like. If you need skins, just click the Aim Skins category on the left. As always, check the FAQ for help on what version your supposed to be using.

Myspace Now on your Cellphone for Free!

Myspace has just launched a mobile wap version of their site which you can use at http://mobile.myspace.com from your cellphone. You can look up new friend requests, send messages, and read their profile.

This works on any cellphone carrier in the U.S as long as you have a mobile web browser also known as WAP. For now, photos are not showing up for some reason, maybe its a bit too early?

Cities Unlimited Site Launches in October

Well its safe to say that the most highly anticipated simulated city game has to be Cities Unlimited. Simcity Societies is expected to be released sometime soon and as far as I can say, I’m not  really that interested in buying it. So a new challenger appears from the game developer studio, Monte Christo. They are most notable for the creation of the 2nd ranked simulation game: CityLife.

With staff all across the globe, their job is to create the most realistic and lifelike simulation where Simcity4 left off. Although personally they won’t admit to having competition between the two games, (but we know whats going on anyway…) Monte Christo has released some new screenshots of what to expect. They revealed a few new details about the game. You have the ability to use different types of landscapes, like the beaches in Rio, or the snow covered mountains in Aspen. These locales will add to the variety of the different types of locations you can make, instead of the usual generic city.

Map Selection Screen

Lets Ski in Aspen!

Cities Unlimited website will launch sometime in October, and will be featuring developers blogs, webcasts, and a forum. So join in once the website launches to be further closer to the action. The Official Cities Unlimited site is now at http://www.cuplanet.com.

You can check out Simphoni and Simtropolis for other details.

Aim Tunes, Listen and Share Music Through Aim

Yes, you read right, this is far more than just displaying music in your profile. Some people have asked if there was a way to be able to listen to what your buddy has on their computer, and now you can! The "sharing" of music, lies within its iTunes-like interface. Users can stream but not download any song you have listed. It allows people to listen to any track you have within your music folders, and play them instantly. You can also download a playlist to play it within your own MP3 player as a streamed file. Mind you, this is not the actual downloading of the song, think of it as a personal radio station shared only to your friends.

Whats really amazing about all of this, is how fast it is to search through your songs. You can type a few letters and it will instantly display within each category. If you want only RAP music, you can type in Rap, and it lists up all the songs within that genre that is rap. You don’t have to always listen to your friends music, you can use it as an organizer for your own music to find songs quicker than your own Mp3 Player.  Maybe AOL should have released this at TechCrunch40!

Download the Aim Tunes Plugin.

New: Aim 6 freezing bugs with McAfee Software

A recent update to Mcafee triggered a software glitch in Aim 6.1 through Aim 6.5. Around Monday, AIM 6 users have been reported freezing and disappearing windows. All graphical smileys show up with a red X sifgnifying a missing image. This symptoms occur when all IM sounds suddenly change to the&Windows default beep or a “ding” sound. The advertisements will then show up blank and everything goes completely haywire. One common thread reported by users whom experienced this problem is that they all have McAfee software installed. You can read two threads about it here and here. This affects all versions of AIM 6.x.

How to Fix this Problem

McAfee SiteAdvisor is the root of this problem. Follow the instructions.

Uninstall Site Advisor

• Click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove
• Select Mcafee Site Advisor, OR Mcafee (Remove) OR Mcafee Security Center.
• Checkmark or Continue the Uninstallation of McAfee Site Advisor.

If Site Advisor became bundled with your purchase of McAfee Security Center, please visit here if you want to reinstall it.

Winamp Bento Beta Version 5.5 Impressions

Winamp 5.5 Launched this week with some new features and a new direction. Winamp unveiled a new skin called Winamp Bento, which sort of mimics the style of iTunes and Foobar. Winamp Bento is generally Winamp 5 + Media Library + Album Art. The skin is very micro so senior citizens should beware of tiny hard to read icons.  The skin’s main attraction is its Media Library panes. Although very confusing to control, you can now change the media library to show only album art.

By default, it will show up with the Artist and Track List, and its up to you to figure out how exactly to make it show up the way you want. My dislikes for Media Library is how easily confusing it is to use. In the original Winamp 5, there’s 1 window for the main player, another window for the playlist, and then Media Library’s 4 panes of crazy going at you at one time! Its great for people who keep their music organized by album, but for the majority of users, nothing beats adding songs to the playlist.

Fortunately Winamp Bento has the option to convert the player back into the classic Winamp style, but with a few changes. Now the Playlist, Music Player, and Album Information is shown side by side. No longer will you have to worry about these windows taking up large portions of your screen.

Aquistica Park: Red Social Shopping Layout

Paint Shop Pro Layout Tutorial

Welcome Back! Another PSP Tutorial for you! Aquistica Park is a layout made in PSP9, it is compatible with PSP8 and Up. This tutorial will rely heavily on Vector Tools. It will teach you in the beginning on how to use them, after that you should be able to know what to click to reach there. Each tool will have a bracket with what key you should press in case you cannot find it. For Example with the Text Tool (T), you can press the letter T on the keyboard to select it.

read more

Set up Buddy Aliasing in Aim 6

So you want to change what shows up for your buddy’s screen name in Aim 6.1 but you don’t know how? Read on to find out! First in Aim 6.0 world, we don’t use the term "buddy aliasing" instead we call it a nickname or friendly name. When you change your buddy’s nickname it shows up in quotation marks.

How to Buddy Alias in Aim 6.0

1. Right Click on a Buddy In your Buddy List

2. Click Edit Buddy

3. At Nickname, type in the Nickname you want.

4. Save!

If the Friendly Name Doesn’t Show Up

1. Click View

2. Click Friendly Name

Now your done and you can feel ever so guilty forgetting who people are behind their screen names! Shame on you!

But Wait! There’s More! Got Plaxo?

If you have set up Plaxo on your buddy list, your imported buddies (from Plaxo) will show up as nicknames, which in most cases you would see your friend’s full name. When you first install and log into AIM 6, Plaxo will pop up asking you to import buddies and if you want to save your Plaxo profile. After you set up Plaxo’s profile, you can then add your friends to your address book and send your address card out to others. You may edit this address card as much as you like. You need to remember three things about nicknames with plaxo

1. Whatever you type as your name in Plaxo  shows up on you and your friend’s buddy list.

2. Your buddies must also be using plaxo to see your full name or Plaxo name on their buddy list automatically.

3. Plaxo Stores Information within your Address Book.

Let clarify it further (1.) Names that are set up through plaxo can show up on your friend’s buddy list, as long as he (2.) registers for Plaxo too, and (3.) has added you to his Plaxo address book.

This doesn’t mean everyone who adds you to your buddy list will see your full name, this is just for people you have exchanged cards with, and they’ll get an email saying that you updated your address card. You can customize who sees what on your address card, everyone will automatically get your business card so be sure not to add your full name.

How to Create Windows Live Messenger Emoticons

Here’s how you can make WLM emoticons, no photoshop needed, but you do have to find gifs.

This will teach you two ways, if you want a more customized emoticon, follow the Hard Way. No Photoshop Needed!

Creating Emoticons [Easy Way]

1. Find an Animated Gif. You can search on Google for some.

2. Save the Gif file.

3. Open Windows Live Messenger

4. Click the Drop Down (Show Menu) Next to Minimize, Maximize, and Close

5. Click on Tools > Emoticons > Create

6. Find the Gif You just Saved

7. Fill out the name and text and your done.

Creating Customized Emoticons [Hard Way]

This is if you want a certain part of the emoticon to show up, like a face, or some part, so it appears much clearer.

1. Find an Animated Gif. You can search on Google for some.

2. Save the Gif file.

3. Upload the Gif to tinypic, photobucket, or another image hosting site. Save the Direct Link because you will need it.

4. Go to SmileyGenerator.

OK now here is what’s going to happen. Depending on the animated GIF file you have, you need to make the gif much smaller than it was before. The best tools are the resize and the crop tool. It can take a bunch of tries to get it right, but if you use the alternate crop tool, you will have no problem getting what you want.

4. Click on Alternate Crop Tool

5. Use the boxes to crop the image, you want to make it sort of small so that it will fit in Windows Live Messenger.

6. After you do that press Crop. A Popup Window should pop up, make sure you allow it the popup to open or you will not be able to save your cropped image.

7. Save that picture to your computer.

8. Open Windows Live Messenger, click Show Menu > Tools > Emoticons > Create.

9. Open your Cropped Gif, and your done!

NiGHTS 2: Journey Of Dreams Japanese Site Launches

Whats even more weird is that the name hasn’t been changed for the english version yet, but the Japanese Game is now called "NiGHTS: The story of the Night of the Falling Stars".  The website will slowly update with new information before its final debut in the winter 07, including the stages section and quite interestingly a "sound" section in the media page. This could possibly mean that the music is once again a very important feature. However, the little snippets of music I’ve heard so far has not lived up to the previous game’s quality, and sounds quite bland. The main page has a new orchestral rendition of the main theme which may imply it will be sticking with the "Disney" inspired style throughout the game, as hinted from the English trailer. There is a little easter egg for NiGHTS fans as they rollover the buttons really fast.

As of now, Nights 2 is under skepticism again from major game reviewers. Even though the buzz for the game is high and the screenshots have proved that the graphics aren’t bad, EGM has rated Nights 2 a So-So. Others are worried if this game will appeal at all to newcomers who are already starting their holiday season with Bioshock and Halo 3.

= Enter The Story of the Night of the Falling Stars =