Tech Shout!

AOL users will no be able to see the locations of friends and contacts on their AIM Buddy List, for AOL has announced the availability of a next-gen location-based plugin for its AIM users, which is available as a free download. The AIM Location plugin is powered by Skyhook Wireless and allows desktop AIM users to share their current or future location with AIM buddies by using Skyhook’s Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS).

The AIM Location plugin delivers location-based presence data to users of the AIM instant messaging service. AIM users can share their location at any given time. Besides, they can also see the locations of friends on their AIM Buddy List who are also using the AIM Location plugin.

A group called “Near Me” has also been added so that AIM users can identify those buddies who opt to share their location and who are within a set distance from the AIM user.

The AIM Location plugin is a user-friendly extension that provides AIM users and their buddies, with a straightforward visualization of the location of their friends and colleagues on their AIM Buddy List.

The “Get Location” feature clearly displays the location and distance of AIM buddies on an easy to read MapQuest map. Users can also customize their location, based on where they are or what they are doing. For example, users can set their location as ‘Work’ or ‘Library’. This tends to add an even more meaningful context beyond just location.

The AIM Location plugin requires that AIM users have the AIM 6.0 software, which is available as a free download from the AIM website. AIM 6.0 requires Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2000. To access the Skyhook WPS technology in the updated Location plugin, AIM users must opt in when downloading the plugin and access AIM from a Wi-Fi enabled computer.

According to Marcien Jenckes, Senior Vice President, Messaging and Social Media, AOL, “By working with Skyhook on this next-generation AIM Location plugin, we are expanding the social networking capabilities available to our AIM users. At any given time, AIM users can now see where their buddies are, map their location and quickly find out how far they are from each other so they can meet in person.”

And here is what Jed Rice, Vice President of Market Development for Skyhook Wireless, had to say on the partnership with AOL, “Adding location-based presence to AIM allows users to easily bridge the gap between the digital and the physical. Working with a leading innovator like AIM, we are helping to take instant messaging beyond a communications platform to enable richer and more meaningful face-to-face connections, interactions and exchanges.”