AIM Users Furious over Ads in Buddy Info

As Randy Falco, CEO of AOL, gets closer to his dream of making AOL the most profitable advertising network, users were treated with a brand new ad inside the buddy info. These ads now take up a considerable amount of space at the bottom of the buddy info. The window is now stuck at a much larger width than before

This did not set off well with the AIM userbase, as there have been complaints about this new ad system:

“THANK YOU PEOPLE FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THIS IS!!!  I HATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THE BUDDY INFO BOX, I CAN’T STAND IT!! ITS ANNOYING AND POINTLESS AND MAKES THE BUDDY INFO LOOK LIKES ITS NOT ABOUT BUDDY INFO AT ALL” ~DanceStar

“EPIC FAIL FOR AIM.” ~nj

“AIM MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO WAKE UP” ~a concerned mother

” SUCH A SMALL CHANGE AND I WANNA RIP MY EYES OUT >> GET RID OF THE ADS !” ~Robby

“Your actually doing negative advertising for these companies.  SCREW VERIZON…the first company to buy the ad.  I make a point to never buy any product of people you advertise for.  STOP ALREADY.” ~jimmy

As you can see from all those CAPS LOCKS, people are enraged over this! I did notice that there was not much complaints against the text ads AOL placed in the buddy info, maybe they should reconsider implementing that instead.

In other news, AIM has added more integration with AIM profiles by adding a “Profile Buddies” tab in the Buddy Info.

Also Note AimAdHack now removes these Ads.

Suggestions for Google Talk Chat Widget

Google released a little web application called Google Talk Chatback Badge, where can chat with everyone who visits your website. Google hasn’t added any robust new features against its current competition. We might as well call it the Charlie Brown of chat widgets. Unlike MeeboMe, and Aim Wimzi, you have to click on it in order to initiate a chat session, and there are tons of useful features left out to give that could give this Plain Jane a boost. Its only shining quality is how neat and tidy it looks with the rest of your site.

Color Schemes

It could use some colors. white and blue reminds me of the old days of the web. At least the quote bubble is curvy.

Flash Embed Option

It needs a Flash version. iFrames are too exploitable, and I’d even advocate for web browsers to ask whether to load content in an IFrame just to reduce javascript attacks by a considerable amount. Since its iFrame, there is no anyway to put this on your Myspace page, so people please don’t ask about it.

Badge Saving For Later Use

Currently, it just generates a code everytime you visit the page, which defaults to your real first and last name, or whatever name you set up in your Google Account. If you had previously set up a nickname, it will get lost if you need it again for whatever reason. You’ll have to retype the nickname again to generate the code.

Guest Names For Each Person

Guests should be able to set their nickname and each Guest should be assigned a unique number. Currently all Guests respond as Guest, making it confusing at times.

Thats about it. Knowing Google, these suggestions, if they do consider them, will get added quietly.

Deleting an AIM or AOL Screen Name Account

Many people ask if its possible to cancel or remove your AIM or AOL screen name and account.

Depending on which account you have, you may or may not be able to completely cancel your account

If you have..

• A Free AIM Account: You MIGHT be able to cancel.
• A Free AOL Account: You WILL be able to cancel.
• A Paid AOL Account: You WILL be able to cancel.

Cancelling your Paid AOL Screen Name

• Head over to Cancel AOL
• Look for “Cancel My Billing” on the right sidebar
• Press Continue.

Cancelling your Free AOL Screen Name

• Head over to Cancel AOL
  
• On the sidebar, click on “5.How do I cancel my free member account” 
• In the message box that pops up click the blue link that says “here”
• Click on Cancel on the next page.
• Be sure to checkmark “…you do not want your account to be converted to free“
• Alternatively download the AOL Cancellation Form (mirror) and follow it’s instructions.
• You can mail the form to:
  AOL LLC, PO Box 65100 Sterling, VA 20165-8800

New method of Cancelling your AIM screen name

We are currently testing a new method of cancelling your AIM screen name. According to commenter Mike, there is a website which details instructions on terminating your AOL account, it seems this might also apply to AIM screen names. Head over to AOL Termination UK and follow the instructions there. If you sent them an email and can not login to your AIM account after five days of waiting, post back in the comments section.

Fake “Cancelling” your Aim Screen Name

• Open AIM 6
• Click Aim then Sign Out (If your Online)
• Click on a Screen Name
• Uncheck Remember Me
• Uncheck Remember Password
• Press Delete On your Screen Name

For Aim Users only: If you followed the first step, your screen name will now be removed from Aim’s drop down list. However, there are few important things you should remember. Screen names will eventually become deactivated due to inactivity. This means you should never log into the screen name at all. This includes checking Email and posting on AOL’s message boards. Each time you sign on, you initially reset the clock for the screen name to become deactivated.

Another way to getting your AIM Screen Name deactivated is a bit more nefarious as it requires you to do a Terms of Service violation. Essentially once you have done a Terms of Service violation your account will most likely become suspended and nobody will ever be able to sign on or use it again. This is until AOL dumps the inactivated and suspended screen names, which can take years before its placed back into rotation. Most of the time this never happens for suspended screen names.

PepsiStuff: Five bottle caps per mp3, too expensive?

The Pepsi Stuff contest launched a while ago. The sweepstakes cooperates with Amazonmp3, by allowing you to spend points to download a free mp3. I not really a big deal downloading free mp3s, but its a new frontier for major record labels making up for their mistakes with the RIAA.

Each mp3 costs 5 bottle caps. If you were to buy Five (2 Liter) bottles that would equate to $7.59 per mp3. It may be likely that a 2 Liter Pepsi bottle is on sale, which would typically end up with 1$ per (2 Liter) Bottle equating to $5 per mp3.

Now lets check the price for a (24oz.) 6 pack of Pepsi. The total price equates to less than $5.99. The twelve (12oz) cans costs around $5.49, but they only nets you 2 points.

Pepsi Cola Price Summary

• $7.59 per 1.00 mp3 (2 Liters)
• $5.99 per 1.20 mp3 (24oz 6 pack)
• $5.49 per 0.20 mp3 (12oz 12 pack)

If we decide that $1 should equal 1 point, then the only purchase that makes most sense in this chart would be the 24oz 6 pack, which appears to be the best deal in this situation. Now why is there such a dramatic decrease in points with the 12oz 12pack? Maybe they are secretly promoting their 6 pack bottles?

Points per Product

• 20 oz or 24 oz = 1pt
• 1 lliter or 2 liter = 1pt
• 12oz can 8 or 12 pack = 2pts
• 16.9 oz 12 pack = 4pts
• 24oz 6 pack = 6pts
• 32oz cup = 1pt

Now the question to you is:

Do you think these points are unfair, and will you be participating or boycotting this promotion and why?

There are others who agree with me. Maybe Pepsi should increase the points on some of them.

Creative Zen 32GB Mp3 Player Now Available for Purchase (Fo Reals)

Creative has just informed their customers that the Creative Zen 32GB MP3 Player is now available for purchase in the Creative Store. This release comes days after Apple iPod Touch which will also be available for 32GB. Conspiracy? Hmm… Even though Creative announced this 32GB player a few months ago, it was only available for purchase outside of the U.S. Interestingly enough, lots of news sites reported it as being available, even though most stores listed it for preorder. 

The iPod Touch 32GB retails for $499 to cover the costs of the enhanced touch screen and wifi capabilities. Creative Zen retails for $299, a slight price decrease from the expected $349. Creative Zen supports a more wider range of video, and has an expandable SD card slot for storing pictures and music depending on firmware. Zen’s only setback is its firmware update. The firmware update on the original Zen models has caused numerous bugs and WSOD (white screen of deaths) where some were forced to  downgrade their firmware.