Open AIM Blog

We Have Our Winners!

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-15T17:15:00+00:00

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the $100,000 Open AIM Developer Challenge! Here are the nine $10,000 first place winners, and the 20 $500 second place winners as determined by the 5 categories of TopCoder Community Favorite, "Most Innovative" and "Best use of API" as judged by the competition staff, AOL staff favorite and usage.

Congratulations to all of our winners, and T-Shirts are on the way for everyone! Remember, that the $100,000 Truveo Developer Challenge is underway now. If you liked OpenAIM, you're going to love the Truveo Challenge!

$10,000 FIRST PLACE WINNERS

Submission	Handle	TC	Inn.	AOL	Best use	Usage
IM Remote	dhbellol	10	1	1	1	10
IM Loud	dhbellol	18	10	1	1	2
IM Whiteboard	dhbellol	25	1	1	1	4
LinkPreview	roma	9	1	1	10	13
Free2IM	snguyen	3	10	1	10	17
infomess	amiune	10	10	10	10	1
Share-a-Map	dhbellol	8	1	1	1	33
PopsChat	Pops	6	1	10	1	31
FeedReader	velorien	28	10	10	1	7

$500 SECOND PRIZE WINNERS

Submission	Handle	TC	Inn.	AOL	Best use	Usage
IMSpellCheckBot	sb99	18	10	10	10	20
MathSolverBot	jal278	7	10	10	30	11
AIMySQL	novar	4	30	10	10	18
Insta-Sketch	ValD	16	30	10	10	8
LinkProcessor	roma	10	10	10	1	44
QuizBot3000	jal278	23	10	10	30	5
Flaim	novar	23	30	10	1	16
Retyper	roma	33	30	10	10	3
Professional IM Client	sb99	33	1	1	10	42
MathBot3500	amiune	4	10	30	30	14
AlbumShare	amiune	14	10	10	10	48
CodeRemote	velorien	14	30	10	10	28
NewsKibitz	Eeyore	43	10	10	10	23
HotBlueChessPlugin	hotblue	40	10	10	10	27
AnimalSound	aminallam	18	10	10	30	35
MyBot	amiune	18	10	30	30	15
ZhAssist	novar	50	30	10	10	6
BuddiesMap	jacksuyu	17	10	1	30	49
Font Corrector	Gluk	1	30	30	10	40
Gundoff	Rizvanov_de_xXx	2	30	30	10	41

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3...2...1... It's Over! Now Go Vote for Your Favorites!

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-06T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: news

VOTE FOR YOUR TOP 5 HERE!

The submission phase for the $100,000 Open AIM Developer Challenge is now closed!

I'd like to thank everyone who participated, I can honestly say we are all overwhelmed at the quality and quantity of great apps that have been submitted here over the last two months.

We received a total of 53 passing submissions, nine of which will be awarded a $10,000 first prize, another 20 will earn a $500 second prize, and everyone who submitted here (even non-passing submissions) will be sent a TopCoder/Open AIM T-Shirt.

We'll be crunching the numbers over the next week, and will announce the winners at the TCO (and on this blog) in Las Vegas on May 15th.

A reminder of the scoring breakdown:

Usage (20%): Usage will be determined based on usage statistics. It is strictly prohibited to manufacture or attempt to manufacture usage in any way. Usage and activity shall be subject to audit by TopCoder and/or AOL.
Innovation (20%): Determined by the Competition judges
Best Use of APIs (20%): Best use of the functionality provided by the Specified Technology
AOL favorite (20%): Popularity among AOL staff
TopCoder Community Favorite (20%): Popularity among the TopCoder Community

Voting for the TopCoder Community Favorite will take place on the site, ~~and will open later today. I'll update this post with the link when it's up.~~

VOTING IS OPEN HERE - CHOOSE YOUR TOP 5 FAVORITE APPS BEFORE MAY 13

Congratulations to all who participated, you've displayed once again that the level of talent and ingenuity in the TopCoder community is second to none!

Good luck!

dh

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Discuss the News with other AIM users at "NewsKibitz"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-06T11:48:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, web applications, social networking

Application Title: NewsKibitz
by Eeyore

"NewsKibitz is a place to discuss the news and to connect with people through Web AIM. Stories are selected from Wikinews, edited by NewsKibitz, and published next to a dedicated bulletin board for each story. You can post on the board after logging in to the on-site Web AIM interface. Are you a kibitzer?"

Visit the URL here: http://newskibitz.com/

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Instant Language Translation with "Free2IM"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-06T11:37:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, translation

Plugin Title: Free2IM
by snguyen

"Free2IM (aka AIM Translator) is an AOL AIM plugin that help you chat with the buddies who speak languages you are very weak or even you do not know at all. It's useful for you to practice your foreign languages as well. This first version it supports 13 languages."

How to get it?

1. Download this plugin here.

2. Unzip and execute the installer

3. Restart AIM

Full information & instructions here.

(Prerequisite) Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is installed.

How to use it?

After installing Free2IM, we'll see the option "Free2IM Settings" in the actions menus. A page will be appeared after you click the option and will help to adjust the settings. We can enable/disable the translator in both directions incoming and outgoing, as long as we can select the language pair which will be translated.

There is an option to skip translating if the other side is also using Free2IM.

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Total Buddy Domination: "HotBlueConquest"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-06T11:19:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, games

Plugin Title: HotBlueConquestPlugin
by hotblue

"Play HotBlue Conquest with a buddy on AIM! The goal is domination. Control a block by being the last person to close a block. A player who closes a block keeps his turn, allowing him to close more blocks. The player with the most blocks occupied wins!"

REQUIREMENTS: .NET Framework 2.0

URL: http://www.hotblue.com/HotblueConquestPlugin

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Our 50th Submission: "PictureofWhat"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-06T08:05:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, web applications, games, photos

Application Title: PictureOfWhat
by Eeyore

"PictureOfWhat is a game of mystery pictures with interactivity powered by AIM. You are shown photographs of curious animals, people, places, and things. The game is both simple and hard: try to figure out what the heck you're looking at! Then tell other users what you thought about the picture or the answers. Anyone can play, but only AIM users who log in to the integrated Web AIM interface can post comments."

URL: http://pictureofwhat.com/

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YouTube, mp3's & More in AIM with "LinkProcessor"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-05T23:58:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, video, music

Plugin Title: LinkProcessor
by roma

"Do you want to see YouTube video right in your AIM window once your friend send to you link? With LinkProcessor you can do this. And it's not only thing that you can do. How about listen music that your friend send to you again right from your AIM window? With LinkProcessor you can do this"

"You can set up LinkPreview to process any kind of links. So, with LinkPreview you can listen radio, listen music, see video, see images, and it's only default settings. And you can configure it to anything that you want."

Download & Install the plugin here.

Full Instructions here.

Works for YouTube links, mp3's, .xspf, .gif and more.

And don't forget that you can setup other types of links as well, check out settings form for this plugin. But in order to do this, you should be familar with JavaScript regex and HTML. And if you create super cool settings for this plugin and you would like to share it with your friends, just copy APPDATA\acccore\nss\linkprocessor.b64 file to your friends computer.

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Square Off Against a Buddy in "Hotblue Chess"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-05T23:15:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, games

Plugin Title: HotBlueChessPlugin
by hotblue

"Play chess with a buddy using the HotBlue Chess Plugin.
Chess is the most popular, two-player board game in the world. with countless players from all walks of life. Play chess for fun with your buddy any time using AIM."

REQUIREMENTS: .NET Framework 2.0

URL: http://www.hotblue.com/HotblueChessPlugin

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Google Maps + Facebook + AIM = "BuddiesMap"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-05T21:44:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, web applications, maps, mashups, Facebook

Application Title: BuddiesMap
by jacksuyu

"BuddiesMap is a Facebook app, which shows your friends' face on the google map, and when you click on the face, you could use AIM to chat with your friends.

The screenshot shows two user, Jack Su (Jack Testertwo) and his friend chat use this Open AIM based Facebook app and AIM client. "

To add this app, use this link: http://apps.facebook.com/buddiesmap/start6.php

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Translate a Mess of Letters with "Ltteer Mses"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-05T14:32:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, games, translation

Plugin Title: Ltteer Mses
by roma

"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

LtterMses plugin for AIM6 allow you to check this statement by yourself.

And don't forget to challenge your friends in your native language.

Use 'Enable LtterMses' command to enable letters randomization.

Use 'Disable LtterMses' command to disable letters randomization. Go to settings form to change probability of randomization.

Download the plugin here.

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Secure AIM Sessions with "SecretGuard"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-05T12:19:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, security

Plugin Title: SecretGuard
by roma

"SecretGuard is an AOL AIM6 plugin that lets you share secrets safely with your friends. It's allowing you to encrypt messages with password using TripleDES algorithm."

To start using it, just install plugin, restart AIM messenger, and send message 'password=yourPassword' in order to set up password protection for conversation.

To remove password protection, simple send message 'password='.

Be sure to see message, that you set up password before share any secret information."

DOWNLOAD THE PLUGIN HERE.

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Build Vocabulary through Word Games with "AIMVocabBot"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-05T11:20:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, games, bots

Bot Title: AIMVocabBot
by Winner5

"This bot can be used to increase your vocabulary skills. Get to know new words and their meanings."

To Use: Just send an IM to AIMVocabBot to start playing.

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Surf the Web Safer with "Gundoff"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-04T08:22:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, security

Plugin Titile: Gundoff
by Rizvanov_de_xXx

There are a lot of web sites in the internet that may harm your computer. Links on these sites are transmitted via internet messengers frequently. The Gundoff plugin can help you to prevent visiting a lot of them...

You can download the plugin here

Please send all feedback to gundoff.aim@gmail.com

.NET Framework 2.0 is required

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Set Up Custom Auto-Replies with "MyBot"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-03T20:49:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, bots

Application Title: MyBot
by amiune

"MyBot is an AIM custom client that allows you to create your custom bot. With MyBot you can create a bot that automatically responds for you when you are away (or when you just don't want to answer :)"

Download & full instructions here.

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All in One Chat APP: "Professional IM Client"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-03T13:52:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, video, desktop sharing, rss, updated

Application Name: Professional IM Client
by sb99

"Professional IM Client has the following special features apart from sending and receiving instant messages and managing buddies and groups

1. Listen to Instant messages.
You can Listen to the received or sent instant messages. If you were away for sometime and you have a lot of IMs in your window, just select all the received IMs text and click on Listen IM button. The software will read out all the text for you !

2. RSS Feeds
The client software has RSS Feed reader that let you receive the RSS feeds.

3. Share your desktop's snap with your buddy
You can now show your buddy how your desktop looks ! You can use this feature for fun or for some serious activity. When you are struck up at some point and you wish to communicate to your buddy where you are struck up, just click on a button and your buddy will be able to see your desktop's snap.

4. Inbuilt word suggest
Word suggest feature lets you minimize the number of keystrokes you hit while sending an instant message. Now, you can type a few characters and the word suggest provides you with the best possible words. Just press Ctrl key to let the word suggest type the complete word for you."

UPDATE 5/5: Address Book
Now add manage your friends' information using the address book functionality. You can store and retrieve the address, contact details along with any personal comments about a friend. The search feature lets you quickly retrieve your friends' details.

If you have any comments please feel free to drop a mail to sb99TC@gmail.com

http://sb99tc.googlepages.com/ProfessionalIM.html

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Help with Chinese from "ZhAssist"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-03T11:35:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, translation

Plugin Title: ZhAssist
by novar

"ZhAssist helps you communicate in and learn Chinese or English in a natural, border-free online environment, opening AIM up to a whole new world of users.

"Suitable for everyone from beginning learners to native speakers needing a quick dictionary now and again, ZhAssist offers a powerful suite of translation tools for conversing in Chinese (Or English!) and hopes to help foster international growth of and open dialog through AIM."

Simply download the easy-install package and run it to begin, ZhAssist will automatically detect and help out when you receive a message in Chinese.

URL: http://novar.3fkumi.net/
Documentation: http://novar.3fkumi.net/zhassist/
Direct app: http://novar.3fkumi.net/ZhAssist-1.0.exe

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Funny Crazy Wise Conversation with "CrazyWiseBot"

Denis Horgan — 2008-05-03T11:15:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, bots

Plugin Title: CrazyWiseBot
by aminallam

Overview: Would you like to make a funny conversation? Send a message to "CrazyWiseBot" containing whatever you like to say in English. CrazyWiseBot is wise, he tells only proverbs and wise sayings. However, he is crazy, what he says does not have any relation to what you say. But "CrazyWiseBot" thinks that it has a relation, so you will get the same response if you tell him the same thing twice. Hmmm, but what is the fun with this? I will not tell you. Try it, and tell your friends about the funny conversations which you will come up with!

You may send feedback to aminallam@aim.com.

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The Language of Emoticons with "SmileLang"

Denis Horgan — 2008-04-30T00:50:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, plugins, translation, emoticons

Plugin Title: SmileLang
by roma

"SmileLang is an AOL AIM6 plugin that lets you translate your messages into image-messages. SmileLang - it's not just new smiles, it's new language, defined by internet users (and by you as one of internet user). To get started, just write 'I like you' to your friend, and see what happens. Go to settings form to change settings. And use Ctrl+Shift+I to translate message or part of it. And check out SmileLang page, using 'Goto SmileLang page' to add your nickname and new words - pictures ;) "

Get the plug-in here.

Check out the SmileLang web-page.

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A Closer Look: CodeRemote

Denis Horgan — 2008-04-29T10:35:00+00:00

Filed under: news, Joel Tulloch

Joel Tulloch at AOL has written another feature on an Open AIM Submission, this time on the bot, "CodeRemote", submitted by velorien.

Aside from the fact that it provides useful functionality, CodeRemote jumped out at me for another reason: it is a great example of a bot which does more than simply send and receive messages. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but one of the key aspects of Open AIM that the Developer Challenge intends to highlight is that it is more than simply an instant messaging protocol. There is incredible potential within the Open AIM platform to power a wide variety of solutions.

You can read the full article here.

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Get TC Data Instantly with "TopCoderFeeds"

Denis Horgan — 2008-04-28T23:53:00+00:00

Filed under: all submissions, bots, TopCoder Arena, coding

Bot Title: TopCoderFeeds
by Pops

"TopCoder Feeds provides access to the TopCoder Data Feeds in a regex searchable AIM bot. You can quickly search a data feed by specifying a regex pattern for any or each field. The TopCoderFeeds bot will then return the matching items from the feed to you in your AIM client.

"Results too large or do you wish to see the physical XML that matches your search? You have the option to download the matching items in the field to a file that will be delivered to you in your AIM client. Want to get information about someone but don't know their TopCoder Coder ID (an internal number used by TopCoder)? No problem - you can search by handle and it will get the information for you (this also applies to Round IDs).

"In addition to searching, you can list both the feeds available and the fields within those feeds for quick reference.

"No need to learn XML, no need to filter the data feed yourself - let TopCoderFeeds bot do that for you. Just send 'help' to TopCoderFeeds to get you started..."

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