There have been some important upgrades to Agile Messenger [iTunes Link] since I last wrote about the multi-client chat app. Notably: a "walk and talk" feature that uses an iPhone camera to give you a view in front of your phone if you want to chat and walk at the same time. That's useful if you're going to type and walk around, but the under-the-hood upgrades are worth a mention as well. The biggest update for me was the ability to search contacts. If you have dozens of contacts, being able to search by name is essential; scrolling a huge set of lists is a chore. Searching works great in Agile Messenger, I'm happy to report. Push notifications work exactly as they did before.

There are some cosmetic tweaks and performance tweaks, and I noticed the performance seemed snappier overall. Still, BeeJive recently added (somewhat limited) chat room support, which Agile still lacks. The iPhone IM wars are still on!

Agile Messenger is only $1.99 for the next couple of weeks, which is a steal for the normally $9.99 app. If you use IM a lot, it's a great experience.

We're a pretty AIM-based blog around these parts. The fact that Weblogs, Inc. is owned by AOL may or may not play a role in that. Regardless, we TUAWians spend a lot of time in AIM chat rooms. The App Store's lack of AOL chat room support has been a real burden when we're out on the road with iPhones.

I was delighted when a recent tweet put me in contact with Björn Teichmann, author of the iPhone IRC application Rooms [iTunes link]. Rooms, claimed Teichmann, could bring AOL chat rooms to our iPhones.

Teichmann sent over a promo code for his app, which normally retails for $1.99, and spent a few hours getting me up to speed on AOL chat rooms using his software. Let me explain: It's not that setting things up ended up being difficult to accomplish, but rather there weren't a lot of clear and available instructions for doing so. What Teichmann worked out over those hours was a somewhat reliable way to access AOL chat rooms via IRC.

Read on to learn more about his solution...

For the past several weeks I've noticed some rather strange behavior with Adium, the free and open-source multiservice IM client. On random occasions I suddenly appear invisible or offline to contacts in my buddy list while logged into my AIM account. And I'm not alone. Not a day goes by that I don't find myself asking a friend or co-worker why they are not online, only to learn they share the same problem. Either that or they're all making this up in effort to avoid conversing with me -- I have that effect on people.

The only cause to this problem, or pattern to its occurrence, I can come up with is a loose theory that it happens during periods of inactivity. My hunch is that when you appear "idle" AIM somehow misinterprets this as a disconnect. Locally you remain logged in, but AIM thinks otherwise. Luckily I may have discovered a workaround.

Launch iChat (quitting Adium is not required) and go into Preferences. Click on Accounts. Make sure your AIM account is selected, then click on the Security tab. Changing any of the settings in this options panel, then returning them to their original state, somehow magically vexes the problem, at least so far as I can tell.

I don't know whom to point fingers at in this case; AIM or Adium. Both begin with the letter A, so that makes each of them equally culpable in my opinion. Wherever the guilt may lie, I just want the problem fixed ASAP.

Imagine that you're at home one night and want to send a message to your partner or roommate or someone else, but you really don't want to get out of your chair, and you don't want to yell loudly enough for them to hear you. So pick up your iPhone, but you don't want to send an SMS or call them. Surely there's an app for that...

Actually, there are several; some better than others. Take Texter for example. For 99¢ you can send messages back and forth with other people on the same Wi-Fi network. Sounds promising, right? After all, SMS costs are ridiculously expensive, so why not pay a $1 fee to buy an app to send messages back and forth.

The idea isn't bad, but the implementation is. First of all, Texter only works over Wi-Fi. And not just any Wi-Fi. Both users must be on the same Wi-Fi network. But maybe everyone in your family has an iPhone or iPod touch, so you're still willing to give it a try. Well, don't open your wallet just yet, because there's one more detail that we need to mention -- Texter doesn't support push notifications. Since Apple doesn't allow third party apps to run in the background, the end result is that you can only communicate with other Texter users if they already have the application open on their iPhones.

I can't even imagine a "use case" for this application. Who would sit around with their iPhone on, running an application in the hopes that maybe someone in the same home/office with the same application might want to chat with them? It simply is never going to happen.

If you want to avoid SMS charges, but still want to send quick messages to other iPhone users, why not use AOL's free (ad-supported) AIM iPhone app? It works over EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi, supports push notifications, and also allows you to connect with a slew of other people besides iPhone users.

Maybe you don't like AIM or SMS. Maybe you really like the idea of having an iPhone app that is quick and easy and doesn't require any login or giving away your cell phone number (like SMS does). If that's the case, checkout the 99¢ Ping! app for iPhone. It also works over EDGE, 3G, and Wi-Fi and supports push notifications. You'll also have that healthy self-satisfaction of knowing that you are only communicating with other red blooded iPhone/iPod touch users.

I'm sure there are a slew of other alternatives to SMS for the iPhone that work over EDGE/3G or Wi-Fi and support push notifications. Tell me about your favorites in the comments (bonus points for including an App Store link).

Welcome back to Mac 101, our series of tips for new and novice Mac users.

Earlier today we saw a tweet that inspired this post. Patrick Burleson asked how he can stop iChat from automatically joining chat rooms he visited during an earlier session. It's possible, but you won't find the fix in the preferences.

First, I'll describe how to join a room automatically whenever iChat is launched. From the File menu, select Go To Chat Room.... A window appears. From there, select the correct account and add your room to the Room Name field. Next, click the "+" in the lower left-hand corner to add it as a favorite and select the "Autojoin" check box. Now, iChat will join that room each time it's launched.

To disable the autojoin, simply de-select that box. Why would a person want to automatically join a chat room, you say? Some folks collaborate with far-flung coworkers via AIM all day.

There you have it, Patrick (and TUAW readers). I hope this helps.

There's a first time for everything: while the updated premium version of AOL Instant Messenger for the iPhone [iTunes link] was scheduled to arrive later this month, CNET reported that it actually went through the approval process early (no!) and as such it represents the first of the AIM clients to support the new AIM Lifestream multi-service status update capability.

If you check out the landing page for the service at lifestream.aim.com, you'll be able to update and monitor your posts and pictures on Delicious, Digg, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter alongside your AIM status (and with your AIM buddies in the mix). The Mac and Windows clients for the service are expected on 9/22; it's not known yet when the Lifestream goodness will make its way to the free & ad-supported AIM client for iPhone.

Although you can certainly handle multiple social services from several Mac apps (EventBox, Tweetdeck, MoodBlast), and the iPhone has multi-chat tools like Nimbuzz and Beejive, having the flow of statuses pouring in for AIM users will up the ante considerably. We'll keep an eye out for the official Lifestream launch next week.

Forgot to mention: Can we please, please have an AIM client for iPhone that supports group chat? If we're going to pony up $2.99 for the premium AOL client or even more for Beejive, it should have this bit of functionality, don't you think?

[via DLS]

Note: AOL is the parent company of Weblogs, Inc. and TUAW.

Update 7/22: AOL has responded to the reports of misdirected push notifications, and has confirmed that the issue is due to the use of a workaround for push notifications on unlocked phones.

--

If you want to have a hot and steamy exchange with your sweetheart via AIM on the iPhone, you might want to think again -- if you have an unlocked or jailbroken phone.

CrunchGear reports that Till Schadde with Equinux has discovered an iPhone bug where AIM messages could be sent to random people without you even knowing it. Schadde discovered this when he was notified that a message he had sent to his iPhone version of AIM got intercepted by someone else. That person proceeded to contact Schaddle, sharing the screenshot shown at right with him. Schadde posted the screenshot and detailed the bug on Twitter after testing it once more from his computer.

The bug is being blamed on iPhone 3.0's push notification and seems to be limited to unlocked/jailbroken iPhones at the moment.

Edit (12:20 PT): Schadde has tweeted that he was contacted by AOL via phone this morning, and they are currently investigating the issue.

[Via CrunchGear]

Agile Messenger was recently updated to support iPhone OS 3.0's push notifications. The obvious comparison will be to BeejiveIM, since they both do the same thing: provide a multi-client chat app offering push notifications on your iPhone. We'll have a hands-on with Beejive later, but this is how Agile Messenger (iTunes link) works. Oh, and we're giving away five promo codes so you can try it yourself, just check the end of this post.

The first screen in Agile Messenger is a series of switches for each protocol supported. These switches make it easy to see what you're connecting to when you tap the Connect button. There's support for ICQ, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Jabber and Google. You can only log in to one account per service, however, so if you have 2 Google accounts, you're going to log in to one at a time. I'm told they are working to change this.

Once you are connected, Agile sets your status to "Available." If you close out of the app the defaults will set your status to "Away," although I soon changed it to keep me available even if I close out the app. In addition to your status, Agile adds the "Mobile with AgileMessenger" message, which I could do without. You can change this behavior in the app's preferences but you can only toggle it off. If you want to change your status, you have to change each account separately, instead of one global change. That's a bummer. There's a setting to auto-connect in the preferences, if you'd rather skip a step.

Agile's menus use rounded rectangles everywhere, and pop up like the old VH-1 series, Pop-Up Video. It's a nice visual touch, and if you want to back out of a menu just tap anywhere else on the screen but in the menu -- slightly faster than a dedicated Back button. By using the pop-up menus you can drill down into anything, but mostly contact management and preferences. Once in preferences, the buttons become standard iPhone UI, which is good, because there are bunches of switches. Pictures of the preferences in the gallery.

Read on for more on picture messaging, chatting and push notifications.

I had a moment to talk to Technical Director Christina Wick at WWDC. She told us about the Mapquest app, plus a cool lifestreaming feature coming soon to AIM. Christina was featured in a video by Apple about developing on the iPhone, and it's clear AOL has embraced the platform, with several apps performing exceptionally well on the store. We've covered AIM, DailyFinance and MapQuest in the past, but there are others as well (and we think a certain blog will get one someday...). Christina's team has been working hard not just on the iPhone, but polishing up the old AOL client for Mac too in a push called "Back to the Mac" -- it has been completely re-written and is much more Mac friendly than... well, it just wasn't Mac friendly at all 3 years ago. We can't wait to see what apps and desktop software her team releases in the future.

Note: AOL is also the corporate parent of TUAW & Weblogs Inc.

Note: AOL Instant Messenger is a product from AOL, which is also the corporate parent of TUAW & Weblogs Inc.

We're getting tips from multiple sources that Apple has invited a group of iPhone developers to test drive AOL's updated Instant Messenger app for the iPhone -- complete with push notification -- in an effort to see how Apple's servers will handle the traffic. The invitation included the following:

"As a developer actively working with iPhone OS, we would like your help in a private test of the Apple Push Notification service. For this test, we have selected AOL's AIM Developer Preview for iPhone OS 3.0 to create a high-volume test environment for our servers."

Does anyone still actually use AIM to sign in to their AIM account? I've found the AIM Express client useful occasionally when I happen to be on a strange computer (though nowadays I mostly use the AIM iPhone client when I'm AWOL), but on the desktop it's been Adium for longer than I can remember.

Still, if you'd rather do the official way, AIM for Mac 1.1 is out now. There are a few bugfixes -- ICQ accounts had an issue signing in, apparently, and there were a few font and display issues fixed. And there aren't too many new features, though you can now leave notes in "Edit Buddy" fields and the Buddy List search got improved. Unfortunately, it looks like, according to the screenshot they posted, the Buddy List will also blur out all the names on your Buddy List, which seems really inconvenient.

The app itself is still in beta, though you can't really go wrong with instant messaging -- either your messages get through or they don't, right? You can download it now, or if you're already using the 1.0 client, you'll get notified automatically.

Disclaimer: TUAW is owned by Weblogs, Inc, a division of AOL. We were kidding about that blur thing, AOL -- we know it's just for the screenshot.

Today Twenty08 released a new instant messaging client for the iPhone/iPod touch. MobileChat (iTunes Link) allows you to connect to multiple IM services, including:

• AIM/ICQ/.Mac/MobileMe
• Windows Live/MSN
• Yahoo
• GTalk
• Jabber

In many ways, this application for the iPhone looks like a cross between Adium and AIM for iPhone. This application is feature rich, allowing you to take and send images or IM a phone number from any of your 10 supported IM accounts, Most notably, MobileChat allows you to use Apple's forthcoming "Push Notification" system for notifications when the application is closed. This feature is built into this release, but will not be active until Apple "flips the switch." You can download MobileChat today from the App Store for $2.99 (USD).

[via MacRumors]

More Mac 101, our ongoing series of tips and tricks for new and returning Mac users. If you're an iChat user with a need for immediate attention, AIM Blasts makes it easy to add social networking groups to iChat.

When you want to have a conversation with a group of people, blasts let you IM everyone in your selected group at once, without having to invite them to a special chat room. For example, you might have friend groups, work groups, or, thinking of Scott McNulty, your special D&D buddies. MobileMe users can take advantage of AIM blasts, since all .Mac and MM users are automatically AIM users as well. Just log in to AIM.com as yourname@me.com (or mac.com) -- you'll be able to take advantage of all of AOL's instant-messaging hospitality.

You don't set up your blast in iChat. Instead, point your browser at blast.aim.com. There, you'll be able to invite your friends and establish your new group. All joining and messaging is done from inside iChat itself. Blast groups appear in iChat as a separate group in your Buddies list -- scroll down in the buddy list if you have trouble finding your blast groups. It may help to give them names that are distinct from any buddy groups you already have, or perhaps prefix your blast groups with a "B-" to help them stand out.

When setting up your blast group, you decide whether all members or only admins (i.e., you) can send messages and/or invitations. Blast recipients have to accept your invite to be part of a blast group, so you may want to give them a heads-up in advance (especially if your blast group's name is obscure or edgy).

Just so you know: TUAW and Weblogs, Inc. are part of AOL.

Personally, I'm an Adium user at heart -- iChat is super nice (especially for a built-in chat program), but it just doesn't have the features and customizability that that Adium does. But if you have to use iChat for whatever reason (easy video conferencing comes to mind) despite your love for Adium, then this mod, sent to us by reader Philipp, will probably come in handy.

It's called iChat Pro, and it basically simplifies your iChat window, squeezing out the borders and cutting the buttons at the bottom. I don't think you can change the colors and design of the display the way you can in Adium (it's been a while since I used iChat, and a quick browse through the preferences didn't reveal any options for that), but at least it looks a little more professional than the, let's admit it, a little goofy, default iChat GUI. iChat Pro is a free iChat mod from Infinise Design.