Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

For best results, select an even, neutral background. A white wall works well. Make sure
your clothes have sufficient contrast from the background (unless you want to look like a floating
head). If you see spots where the background shows through, select Video ➤ Reset
Background (Option+Cmd+R) from the menu bar and try again. It also helps if you don’t move
around too much.
All in all, the background effects are probably not going to convince your boss you’re hard
at work at the office while you sip margaritas on the beach, but it may certainly add a fun flare
to your Friday meetings.
Variations on Video Chat
Clicking a buddy’s video icon always launches video chat, even if all you want is audio chat. Fortunately,
there are several other ways to launch audio and video chats, the most obvious of
which is to select Invite to Video Chat or Invite to Audio Chat from the buddy list’s contextual
menu, or from the Buddies menu in the menu bar.
If a buddy does not have audio or video chatting enabled, these menu items will become
Invite to One-Way Video Chat and Invite to One-Way Audio Chat. That means, for example,
you can still originate a video chat with them, and they will be able to see you, but you won’t be
able to see them.
You can also click the telephone and camera buttons on the bottom of your buddy list to
launch that type of chat with the selected buddies. Pressing the text button is equivalent to
double-clicking; it will launch some kind of text-based communication, depending on context.
iChat also works with other AIM video chat clients, most notably AOL Instant Messenger
for Windows, assuming the users have the appropriate hardware. At this time, however, AIM
doesn’t have a separate audio chat feature that works with iChat.
Mobile Text Messaging
CHAPTER 12 iCHAT 237
Most mobile phones support text messaging via the Short Message Service protocol, also known
as SMS, or simply “text messaging.” iChat has two ways to participate in text messaging. First,
you can send a text message to a buddy by selecting Send SMS... from the buddy list contextual
menu, or Buddies ➤ Send SMS... from the menu bar.
In order for the Send SMS... command to be enabled, you must have a phone number set for
your buddy in Address Book, and that number must be labeled as “mobile.” If the number is
labeled as anything else, including home, main, pager, or a custom label, it will not work in
iChat.
Sending an SMS message will launch a chat window just like sending an instant message. If
your buddy sends a response, it will show up in the chat window, as expected. If you have since
closed the window, iChat will open a new one. However, this is not a true instant message, so if
your buddy tries to respond after you’ve closed iChat or logged out, they will receive an error
message.
Another way to communicate with iChat from your mobile phone is to enable mobile forwarding
on your AIM account. This is done online, but you can get to the appropriate web page
by clicking the Configure AIM Mobile Forwarding... button in iChat’s account preferences. The
process is simple; you enter your phone number and AOL sends a confirmation code to your
phone. Enter the code on the activation page, and you’re done.
With mobile forwarding enabled, you will never go offline. If anyone sends you an instant
message, it will be converted to an SMS text message and sent to your phone. Your responses
will be returned in the chat window, much like the Send SMS feature.