Monthly Archives: June 2008

Making some AIM Money

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When we launched Open AIM 2.0 in March this year we shared that we were going to be rewarding developers for building on the AIM network with advertising revenue. The ad revenue sharing program is called AIM Money and it is launching today. Signing up is free and incorporating a little bit of code will show an ad from the web’s most powerful ad network, AOL’s Platform-A.

Getting started is as easy 3 steps.

1. Register (you just need to be logged into the web page with an AIM screen name, same as getting a developer key)

2. Get the AIM Ad Money code and embed it into the app or website

3. Get Paid.

AIM Money is about rewarding developers for their hard work building on top of our platform, and by leveraging the same ad assets that we use at AOL gives developers a great path to make money!

Check out AIM Money here.

Taking AIM with AMO

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In the next evolution of Open AIM client extensions, today we are releasing as part of the AIM 6.8 client a new type of AIM plugin called AIM Modules. These AIM Modules, known as AMOs are client extensions written using HTML and JavaScript. These plugins have full access to the Open AIM APIs that so many of you use today, but it also provides hooks into the AIM client itself, so developers can now get specific information about the Buddy List window (location, height and width of the window) and other AIM application properties.

We have added lots of documentation and samples so you can get started building AMOs. AMOs are simply zipped up packages with an ‘AMO’ extension, instead of ‘ZIP’, so rename the package to ‘ZIP’ and unpack the file to view the code.

We have also helped out developers by adding a secure way of storing preferences via the Open AIM APIs. Developers who need users to enter in their credentials for their plugin can now store those credentials or other data securely.

AMOs are downloadable from the AIM Gallery and require AIM 6.8 or greater.

AIM 6.8 is Live

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Today we launched the best AIM client ever. I say this, and I really mean it. I have been working on AIM since AIM 2.5 in 1999, and I can confidently say we got this client right. AIM 6.8 builds upon the themes of Open AIM of giving users what they want by customizing the AIM experience via a new type of plugin called AIM Modules. I will have a follow up post getting into further details on what an AIM Module is.

AIM 6.8 also supports C++, C#, and VB plugins just like previous clients, so AIM Tunes and AIM MusicLink will still work.

AIM 6.8 also gives users the ability to import or export their Buddy List, a feature that had been a plugin I wrote years ago is now part of the client.

One last thing to point out we have made the black skin on the AIM the new default skin. All the old ones are still there in case you want to switch it up.

Graphing Social Patterns East

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Graphing Social Patterns Conference 2008 As a lonely nation’s eyes turn toward Moscone Center West where Apple is holding their developer’s conference, a smaller conference is flying under the radar here in Washington, DC. Granted most web 2.0 developers would not consider DC to be a natural choice for a conference on social networking, and considering my life is spent going back and forth from San Jose and Dulles, I definitely experience the west coast bias.

This week the Graphing Social Patterns – East conference is being held. This conference is a follow up to the one that was held the first week of March in San Diego and it brings together the top social networking minds and companies. What makes this different of course is the venue. Being on the east coast and particularly in Washington DC, is it possible we will be introducing a more bureaucratic spin to social networks? We know the Federal Government already blogs, but will they twitter or have an open social app, maybe after this conference they will?

Its not all about the desktop for social networking either. After today’s iPhone announcement, social networking on mobile devices will become even more prevalent. This is just one of the topics to be discussed tomorrow at the conference, and yours truly will be up there debating the current and future landscape of social networking via an ever changing mobile world.

Hopefully I will see everyone out there, stop by the AOL booth to pick up some AIM swag too.