Leopard: Broadcasting Apps Over iChat

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Appleinsider (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/04/23/apple_details_leopards_expanded_instant_message_framework.html) points to a Leopard Developer page (http://developer.apple.com/leopard/overview/imframework.html) which details Leopard's upcoming Instant Message framework which allows developers to take advantage of Leopard's new "iChat Theater" functionality.

iChat theater was first described when Apple first released details of Leopard (http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/ichat.html) last year:

Why wait for a darkened room and a projector to present vacation photos or Keynote slides? With Leopard, you can do it all remotely, from the comfort of iChat. Use new iChat Theater to present photos from iPhoto, slides from Keynote, or content from any iChat-enabled application with any iChat or AIM buddy. And do it in style — full-screen, accompanied by a video feed of you playing host. iChat’s virtual presentation room makes a big impact.

The Instant Message framework opens this functionality to any Leopard application. According to the preview document "your application can present a slide show, a video feed, or even 3D graphics, complete with sound, to one or more conference participants".

More details about Leopard are expected at WWDC 2007 which takes place between June 11-15, 2007.

[bigbossbmb]

this seems like a really cool feature that might get me to actually use ichat...

[Lito]

and: iChat with iPhone? Go on Apple - ya know ya wanna!

Well I do anyhow...

:apple:

[Yurtra]

So...how long before we can stream entire hi-def movies across iChat to all our buddies?

[WildCowboy]

Saw this at the MWSF Leopard demo...very cool. Great for video-conferencing with a Keynote presentation and your smiling face.

73016

[Texas04]

I am confused as to what this actually means....

Does this mean that I can take Final Cut projects and stream them to a buddy across the world? Or my own movies?

If so that gives a new meaning to "drive in theaters" we could just sit back with a friend and watch movies "together".

[Bosunsfate]

Well, given the amount of remote support I perform and use of WebEx, I'd like to think I can save some costs.

However, the catch with this is that the other users also have to have Leopard and iChat.

I really like the concept, but feel it might take awhile to gain any type of traction.

After all, how often do any of us have three way iChat video session?

[twoodcc]

this seems like a really cool feature that might get me to actually use ichat...

yes it does. looking forward to seeing this at WWDC

[blueflame]

Make it a really integrated device and application.
and: iChat with iPhone? Go on Apple - ya know ya wanna!

Well I do anyhow...

:apple:

[eenu]

oh come on this is poor. We already knew about this it was in a keynote!

[Peace]

I am confused as to what this actually means....

Does this mean that I can take Final Cut projects and stream them to a buddy across the world? Or my own movies?

If so that gives a new meaning to "drive in theaters" we could just sit back with a friend and watch movies "together".


If you and your buddy have the available bandwidth I'd say yes.

[Bern]

Sounds great !

Now if only I could get pc'ers to use something other than MSN I might actually have a chance of trying out iChat..... one day.

[BornAgainMac]

I am more excited about the ability to remotely control a person's computer (on their request). Sometimes I have to show beginners something on their Mac and it would be nice to do it online and I can talk to them while I am doing it. That is the killer feature of iChat that I want. The other stuff is nice too if the quality is good.

[Clive At Five]

and: iChat with iPhone? Go on Apple - ya know ya wanna!

Well I do anyhow...

:apple:

ya know ya wannaaaaaaaaaaa have 3G for that. :-P

Oh well.

So...how long before we can stream entire hi-def movies across iChat to all our buddies?

With my lame 6 kbps connection speed with Comcast, not for quite some time.

Lo-Def XviD via QT? No problem! ;)

I am more excited about the ability to remotely control a person's computer (on their request). Sometimes I have to show beginners something on their Mac and it would be nice to do it online and I can talk to them while I am doing it. That is the killer feature of iChat that I want. The other stuff is nice too if the quality is good.

I know these programs have existed for both Macs and PCs for years, but it's nice to be able to bring that down to a consumer level (not to mention adding audio!). Now if only my parents would give in and buy macs, I, like you, could show them how to do certain tasks!

-Clive

[pederg]

this info has been on their site for weeks... its not exactly macrumours material is it?
PG

[darwen]

I cant believe nobody has said anything about the :apple: tv. This feature must be worked into it somehow. You can have an :apple: tv in the confrence room and everyone can just sync their mac to it for their presentation. Does this not make senese?

[eenu]

I cant believe nobody has said anything about the :apple: tv. This feature must be worked into it somehow. You can have an :apple: tv in the confrence room and everyone can just sync their mac to it for their presentation. Does this not make senese?

no it doesn't! You can only sync one mac and share files from 4 others. Hardly coporate material

[Clive At Five]

I cant believe nobody has said anything about the :apple: tv. This feature must be worked into it somehow. You can have an :apple: tv in the confrence room and everyone can just sync their mac to it for their presentation. Does this not make senese?

I agree with eenu. Does not make sense. Plus, :apple:tv doesn't have an iSight so it's only 1-way.

-Clive

[entropys]

.....However, the catch with this is that the other users also have to have Leopard and iChat.

I really like the concept, but feel it might take awhile to gain any type of traction.
.......

Why is this necessary? it is only a video transmission. Surely the other end could be AOL, or whatever additional standards apple chooses to add (please be skype!).
I could understand the need to have leopard and ichat if it was the feature that will allow remote control of the client mac through ichat, but not for the video feed.

[kuebby]

no it doesn't! You can only sync one mac and share files from 4 others. Hardly coporate material

I love all the multimedia features on macs but I'm not sure this is "anyone" material. I really don't see anyone setting this up to actually use productively.

Especially if Apple wants to go more mainstream they should add more features that make PC buyers really envious.

[WildCowboy]

oh come on this is poor. We already knew about this it was in a keynote!

this info has been on their site for weeks... its not exactly macrumours material is it?
PG

I'm sure the only reason this is posted here is because of the AppleInsider article that came out today. News or not, the topic is going to see increased discussion due to the AI visibility, so MacRumors might as well focus the discussion here in our forums to a single area.

[phillipjfry]

Well, given the amount of remote support I perform and use of WebEx, I'd like to think I can save some costs.

However, the catch with this is that the other users also have to have Leopard and iChat.

I really like the concept, but feel it might take awhile to gain any type of traction.

After all, how often do any of us have three way iChat video session?

If your friends aren't using Leopard, then they really aren't your friends ;)
:)

As cool as this might sound, I still hope it isn't one of the "secret features" in Leopard. I want something that everyone can benefit from, not just the "chatters" :)

[nxent]

it's good to see apple become more versatile with it's applications. unfortunately this is a functionality that's been built into windows msn messenger for a while. if apple wants to break into the corporate world of teleconferencees, etc, this is def going in the right direction. if they want to, that is...

[ShaneM]

which really makes me not want to buy the current ACDs or MacPros.
And I need one really bad. Pro users need iSight capabilities in order to take advantage of these new iChat features (obviously). Many think that pros don't, but I am a pro user and I refuse to buy a new mac without an iSight camera and I don't want to settle for a discontinued unit on top of an over-priced under-specced display. And I don't want a Dell or BenQ monitor either.

Videoconferencing is a must. People seem to forget that the technology was invented for business users not macbook users talking to their parents from college (no offense, I am and always will be a student too).

:mad: Come on apple.

[Diatribe]

Imagine playing Chess over iChat where you can see your opponent, etc. There is a lot of cool stuff you can do with that.

[dukeblue91]

How can people vote this as a negative :confused:
This is a cool feature with many other possibilities to be build upon.

[Gosh]

Try as I might I could never get iChat to work, whereas Skype works fine ...err straight out the download image!

See alot of people in forums with similar problems and the AppleCare boys are no help!

Let's hope they get the basics right and maybe the fancy stuff can be - Pro!

[JonDann]

Scraping the barrel after the Leopard delay and no news in forever! This was at MWSF 2006!

But still, easy to implement in an app. But you try doing it on an older model, my iMac G4 1GHz is pretty, but probably won't handle the realtime H.264 encoding it needs. Its getting to the end of its life in terms of 'can handle the new stuff that gets thrown at it'.

[Bosunsfate]

If your friends aren't using Leopard, then they really aren't your friends ;)
:)


Well put. :D

Why is this necessary? it is only a video transmission. Surely the other end could be AOL, or whatever additional standards apple chooses to add (please be skype!).
I could understand the need to have leopard and ichat if it was the feature that will allow remote control of the client mac through ichat, but not for the video feed.

Good point. I have noticed that for straight video or voice chat you don't need the other person to be on iChat. However that's only been for the one2one.

I haven't seen a situation where I could do the multi-person video chat and could be wrong. My assumption was that a similar unique feature like that would be limited to only iChat users, and only Leopard users at that.

Note that everyone has to have Tiger to multi-video chat....

[wmmk]

Interesting...
If Adobe adds iChat Theatre support in Lightroom, I will be a happiest camper. Somehow, however, I doubt that this will happen.

[Darkroom]

Imagine playing Chess over iChat where you can see your opponent, etc. There is a lot of cool stuff you can do with that.

you can already do that with Big Bang Boardgames Chess...

[GregA]

I cant believe nobody has said anything about the :apple: tv. This feature must be worked into it somehow. You can have an :apple: tv in the confrence room and everyone can just sync their mac to it for their presentation. Does this not make senese?Well, those other 2 said it made no sense, but I think it's a useful feature.

Technically it wouldn't be syncing - but the ability to display your slideshow or quicktime presentation (or even your whole desktop) directly on an Apple TV would be useful for some people. You'd basically be treating the AppleTV as an external monitor.

I'm really not sure if this is an "iChat theatre" application or something else though. Just being able to bring your laptop out and show friends whatever by clicking "show on AppleTV" is good though.

Anyway, perhaps for business presentations that's not enough to warrant buying an AppleTV instead of just plugging your laptop into the projector. Add synchornisation of quicktimes & keynotes to the AppleTV and the usefulness expands.

[MacBram]

oh come on this is poor. We already knew about this it was in a keynote!

At MWSF we knew you could present iPhoto, QuickTime, Keynote; but this is implying there is support for developers to make it so they can present all their apps inside iChat too, with the presenter's face in the corner. Maybe that is the news.

[JonDann]

At MWSF we knew you could present iPhoto, QuickTime, Keynote; but this is implying there is support for developers to make it so they can present all their apps inside iChat too, with the presenter's face in the corner. Maybe that is the news.

It's not the Stevenote we're referring to. The developer sessions had a whole session on how the API for iChat Theatre is public. :apple: told devs to get going on it.

[Diatribe]

you can already do that with Big Bang Boardgames Chess...

Yeah, I know, but now you have an official framework for it, so there'll be all kind of apps supporting that.

[grimmace]

Get ichat to work cross platform and they got something. I dont need this cinema to chat with mac pals. Nice to actually use ichat video with a PC user for once!

[ghall]

Didn't we know this from the last WWDC? :confused:

[bryanc]

This is the killer App for distance education.

I podcast all my lectures, and students love it, but if they could 'attend' without having to drag their lazy butts out of bed, they'd be even happier. And if they can do that, why take courses from you're local college or university, when you can just as easily take the courses from the best professors at the best universities in the world? The only limitation will be student evaluation.

I foresee a big change in the way large-enrollment undergraduate courses are offered as these technologies mature.

Cheers.

[Diatribe]

This is the killer App for distance education.

I podcast all my lectures, and students love it, but if they could 'attend' without having to drag their lazy butts out of bed, they'd be even happier. And if they can do that, why take courses from you're local college or university, when you can just as easily take the courses from the best professors at the best universities in the world? The only limitation will be student evaluation.

I foresee a big change in the way large-enrollment undergraduate courses are offered as these technologies mature.

Cheers.

I am not a student anymore but if I were I'd be all over this. Especially the lazy butt and the bed part. :D