Aim 6.9: Connection Timed Out Workaround

Connection Timed Out

Periodically throughout the year, AOL’s servers may be down or blocking connections. When this occurs, every time you sign on, you’ll receive the message: 

“Connection Timed Out.”

The details of why a server may be down is never revealed, because of this, only AOL’s staff can fix it.

AOL Staff usually calls this an “AOL HOST ISSUE”. This means it is an internal problem occurring inside of AOL’s facilities.

Since I and everyone else does not work for AOL, its unlikely you’ll be able to do anything to fix it. In the meantime you can comment below whenever you receive this message. If its a big server outage, others will join in and comment about a similar experience.

While a server is down, you may be unable to connect to AIm 6.9, Aim 5.9, Aim Express, AOL.com, and AOL Forums. However, you may have other screen names that can connect. Don’t panic! Some AOL servers may be down while the rest are up. All you can do in the meantime is wait until the server comes back online. You can think of these server outages like a rolling blackout.

Workaround to connect to AIM

Try out these suggestions when you receive this error message:

• Try signing onto another screen name
• Try signing onto another AIM client like Aim 5.9
• Try signing onto another AIM service like Meebo, E-buddy, and others.
• Try checking your firewall if it’s blocking connections to AIM
• Try contacting your IT department to allow connections to AIM

AOL Launches New AIM Chatrooms

The final integration between AOL and Userplane is finally here. AOL has launched Aim Chatrooms today that can be accessed through chat.aim.com. Each chatroom features audio and video capabilities allowing you to watch up to four people at the same time. Currently there is no way to create any chatrooms but you can however create a small private chatrooms within them.

I also was able to speak to an AOL Journals staff about what they thought and if there were any plans along the way. She did state that they do plan to add the ability to create your own private chats but was unable to tell us when. She did hint that there will be a few releases before that happens. The chatrooms will be moderated by admins randomly for the time being, each chatroom has a notify AOL feature that will be sent to staff. For now chatrooms are pretty much empty and sparse but that will change once it gets more publicized.

How to Stop Aim Invite Messages

Hi We’re Back! So some of you have been receiving messages about some buddy inviting you to their buddy profile. Its not such a terrible thing to do but if you get many invites you might get annoyed. There are two sets of messages, follow the one that pertains to you:

AIM: Hey! Good news! Somebody says they are your buddy and wants you to show up on their AIM Profile.

• Visit Aim Profile Edit
• Uncheck Notify Me Via IM If I have Buddy Requests…
• Click Save!

AIM Pages Invite: Someone has invited you to be a Buddy on their profile. Want to become a part of their network? Find out who it is now.

• Visit My Buddies Settings
• Uncheck Notify me of AIM Pages Buddy Requests

NiGHTS Journey of Dreams Videos & Music Extravaganza

1up.com this week did a week long peice of all the new information spilling out with Nighs Videos galore. Finally we have a glimpse of what to expect from the game that sticks really close to the original. They also showed off some new features like platform levels where the kids run around throwing ideya balls to enemies.

So far I must agree with 1up, their running animation looks very odd. She looks as if she really really needs to go to the bathroom. The graphics might not be exceptionally outstanding on the Wii compared to Super Mario Galaxy, but its definitely better than Nights into Dreams.

This desert filled theme park looks pretty barren in the backgrounds. The music is pretty much stays towards the safe side, it doesn’t really go off to be as creative as the first game. Still we don’t know if the music will be dynamic changing its melody based on the Nightopians you have killed. The music follows the style of the Sega’s previous Daytona USA game from Sega Dreamcast. It is a very smooth jazz album, taking your hand as it guides you through the air.

So far we have only seen 3 levels. If this game remixes all the dreams from the original, we are still left with a dense jungle with tall trees (as seen in the artwork), a museum of some sort, and a snow covered mountain. 1up.com has provided an Mp3 of Aqua Garden which you can listen to here.

Psst… By the way, you can download the Mp3 from this link:

http://www.1up.com/flat/Features/NiGHTS/Theme-of-Aqua-Garden.mp3

Invite or Request Timed Out Error for Aim Chatrooms

History

During the week of November 11, 2007, the first case of this issue popped up where there were numerous complaints of users unable to join AIM Chatrooms. Now in 2009, this issue has not been completely fixed. It affects a small  amount of screen names and may pop up for time to time similar to the connection failed error message.  Unfortunately after two years of waiting for a solution, we will have to place this issue: “Invite or Request Timed Out” as unsolved. Our observations over the past 2 years of this issue occurs when:

• Joining a chatroom using a non official AIM client.
• Joining a chatroom using an official AIM client.

As these two issues contradict each other, the point here is that if one client doesn’t work you use another client. If you can’t join through Aim 7, use Meebo. If you can’t join through Meebo, use Aim 7. If no matter what you do and you still receive this error message, you will have to test out creating a new screen name.

Suggested Workarounds

Meebo.com has AIM chatroom capabilities. In order to use chats follow these steps

• Login to Meebo With Your AIM Screen Name
• Click on Start A Group Chat At the Top Right of Buddy List
• Type a Name for the Chat
• Click Join Chat Room

Aim 6.8 Skin: Leopard OS X

Introduction

OS X Leopard is a skin featuring a design similar to Apple’s OS X Leopard.

OS X Leopard is a part of the OS skin pack which includes five skins:

• AimXP
• AIMXP Blue
• Vista Basic
• OSX Leopard
• OSX Leopard White

Each skin is included in the pack, you do not need to download them separately.

read more

How To Remove Status Messages or Away Messages In The Buddy List from Aim 6.5

Does your Buddy list have extra words below the screen names? Are you tired of seeing what song your buddy is playing?People have asked how they can remove these status messages so here is what you need to do.

 To Remove Status Messages or Away Messages

1. Click View

2. Click Status Messages

Now your Buddy List will be clean like in previous versions.

Adsense introduces Manage Ads; Referrals still Prehistoric

Adsense added a new feature to their advertisement platform that now allows you to set up an ad template. You can change the colors, the corners, and the format (text and images) while still at the site. What it does not do is allow you to change the size of the ad, you’ll have to create a new ad template each time you want a new size. This is great and all, but the referral ad platform needs some serious work. One of the most annoying things about Adsense Referrals is the inability to save a bunch of ads into one unit. Each time you add or subtract your ad, you get a brand new code and will have to paste the code to your template each time. I can easily do this in Commission Junction and take out any ads without repasting the code. Referalls also do not have the curved corners, so the ads look pretty cramped trying to fit inside the block. 

OS X Leopard Skin Preview

Aim 6.5 Skin: OS X Leopard

= Download This Skin =

So anyway the skin will be included in an OS pack which will include, Windows Vista, OS X Leopard, and Windows XP skin. If you have any OS skin requests speak now or forever hold your peace!

AIM OS Skin Pack:

–Windows Vista Basic [Blue] + Windows Vista [Black]

–OS X Leopard [Frost] + OS X Leopard [Grey]

–Windows XP Royal Blue