Gus What?!

Here is a rule that lets you IM someone a link to a Wiki page that they might want to see.

What you do is type an IM message that starts with “/wiki ” followed by the search term, e.g. “/wiki AOL Instant Messenger”

The rule will convert the text that follows “/wiki ” into a link that says “Wiki page on …”. where … is the text that followed “/wiki “.

Click here to import the ‘EZ Wiki’ rule into your RX-Plugin settings

NOTE: When you import a rule, it is placed at the bottom of the order. This means that it is the last rule the plug-in will convert. Since this rule consumes all of the text following the “/wiki “, I recommend that you move it to the top of the order. (Highlight the “EZ Wiki” rule and press the up button until it’s at the top. You can also highlight the rule and press CTRL + UP ARROW to move it via the keyboard.)

Here is is sample message to send: (after clicking on the above rule and clicking the apply button, click the link below and send it to yourself.)

/wiki AOL Instant Messenger

Here is what you and your buddy will see:

Enjoy. Let me know if you need help creating and sharing your own rules.

This build includes a few bug fixes and a slight change in the idle icon colors.

I also incorporated a suggestion from a fellow beta tester to provide an option to suppress the balloon tips in the tray icon when you return from idle while Idle Lock was passively activated and when Idle Lock is deactivated on an IM sent.

I am always open to suggestions on how to improve this plug-in. You can leave a comment or e-mail me at gus at this domain.

BTW, the spam comment filtering plug-in I recently installed has been 100% effective. Go Hash-cash!

Today was the first time I actually bought a TV episode online. I never thought I would need it. But I figured, hey, its available, not too pricey, and I just had to make sure I didn’t miss the previous episode of Battlestar Galactica. Bought it on iTunes for a $1.99. Downloaded and watched it commercial free. Is it me or is it truly sold in wide-screen format? What fun.

Why did I break down and buy an episode? Well, my DVR box failed to record it when it first aired. Was it programmer error? I’d like to think no, but I am not sure what happened. I have been too busy to QA my own DVR I guess. Luckily, iTunes saved me.

AOL released this on Friday. You can download it here. This beta has significant UI changes and some cool new features, like offline IMs, IM logging and more. See the official release notes here. Now that this is out in beta, I thought I would point out three things not mentioned much but are new to this release.

One change you might not notice is that AIM 6.0 now installs in its own directory. This means it is not part of the shared Open Client Platform (OCP) installation and has its own data stores (where it keeps your local preferences, address book data and more) and copy of core services (software). The end result is that AIM 6.0 can be installed and run separately from any other AOL software. This also means that the IM Control Panel I wrote back in February will not work with AIM 6. I will be updating it soon.

I strongly believe that it’s the details that matter most. AIM 6.0 now has several window types and one detail that has been addressed in this release is that most windows now have unique icons that make it easier to tell which window is what. Here is a capture of the Alt-Shift window where you can see an IM, Talk, and Buddy List window respectively:

Another item not mentioned in the release notes are the updated smiley showers. We now have animations for all of the smileys—very professionally done I might add. You can even turn them off in your expressions settings by un-checking the “Display smiley showers”… option. Here is a screen shot:

In all this is a big beta with a lot of new stuff. This is a good time to try it out and tell us what you think.

A new version of Gus Verdun’s RX-Plugin has been released. This release includes a new feature called Idle Lock, which I hope you will all enjoy. I welcome all questions and comments. See this link for more details.

I encourage you to try out the latest AIM 6 Beta. We have some great things in the works this month and I would really like to hear some of your feedback. So, if you have some spare time, please give it a try.

Wow. What can I say? A real class act has left the “building”. Justin, we will miss you. I can not wait to see the great things coming out from your efforts at Google. Good luck and farewell!

In case you have arrived here on a recommendation by Justin’s blog, welcome. I will do my best to pickup from here. We have a lot of great things in the works for AIM 6.0. Some of this is in beta now. Please check it out, let us know what you think and thank you for coming.