The News

I'm pleased to share that my friends on the AOL Instant Messanger (AIM) social media team have created a custom chat room for the deaf community. You can access this room conveniently within AOL Desktop or via an external browser. All you need is an AOL or AIM screenname to chat.

The room is called "Deaf Friends".

We'll be hosting a Beta team chat today at 4 pm Eastern for those on Nexus.

Join other Beta testers and talk with leads on the team about your questions and comments. We're particularly interested in any observations you have about quality and crashes!

Here's the link to get to the Beta chat room at 4 pm today: http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=chat

Thanks,

Laura

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Laura Peterson

Product Lead, AOL Desktop

Fraudulent email alert

A valiant AOL Beta tester just alerted me to a fraudulent spam email that appears to come from AOL, but is actually spam. I'm passing on what the email looks like, how to tell that it's fraudulent, and some more information for reporting fraudulent emails that appear to come from AOL.

The sender's address is "update@aol.com" and the subject is "AOL Notification: [ Account Update Needed ]". If you see an email with this sender and subject or any other fraudulent email that appears to be from AOL, forward it to TOSReports@aol.com. Below is a screenshot of the email.

Phishing and how to detect it

Attempting to obtain financial and other sensitive information by pretending to be a trustworthy organization via email is called "phishing". "Phishing" is when a spammer literally tries to "fish" for information by baiting an unsuspecting person with an email that looks reputable at first glance.

The good news is that many phishers leave themselves open to detection by including spelling errors and other dumb mistakes on their emails which valid corporate communications would never include. The trick is to be sensitive to these things so you don't get dragged in, just as you would be alert to a possible pickpocket or con artist on a street.

Case in point: spammers hope that you'll just quickly glance at the email and click on the link they've embedded without a further thought. By adding the blue AOL graphics that make the email look fairly professional, they're trying to distract you so you won't notice all the errors that the email contains.

A good rule of thumb: even if you're sure the email is legitimate, read it carefully before taking ANY action! Additionally, AOL would never threaten to suspend your account if you failed to verify your details. (Your account would only be at risk if you violated the AOL terms of service by failing to pay for your dial-up, or, for example, by using AOL to spam other members. You would in most cases be given an opportunity to immediate rectify the situation via a pop-up linking to an official AOL website.)

Here's that email in question with some tips to show you why it's spam and not a real email from AOL.

As we head into the summer family roadtrip season, the prices at the pump are a bigger budget factor than ever. Minimize the costs of filling up by checking out MapQuest Gas Prices (gasprices.mapquest.com) before you refuel to find the cheapest gas rates in your area. Once you've found the station you want, use the familiar MapQuest layout to get directions to the station and other information.

Below is a quick tour of MapQuest Gas Prices:

As RSS feeds become more common, you can now access these constantly updating headlines and articles already associated with many of your favorite websites directly from your AOL Desktop toolbar.

Find a website that has an RSS feed associated with it. A website featuring RSS feeds has the orange RSS icon in the right side of the URL field (circled here in blue):

Hi Everyone,

AOL's Voice team, based near picturesque Halifax, Nova Scotia, has always offered some neat phone call management capabilities -- AOL Voicemail, AOL by Phone, and AOL Call Alert.

I've asked Corilee from the AOL Voice team to tell you more about the latest product, AIM Call Out (which works in the latest AOL Desktop Beta), as well as AOL Call Alert, which has always been a great way of tracking and managing incoming calls while you're away from your phone or on a dial-up connection.

To celebrate Mother's Day, all calls made on May 10th and 11th will be FREE!

Hi all,

Want to know what features will be included in the next AOL Desktop Beta? Got a question for the team about AOL Desktop? Looking for help or information?

If so, join me and other leads on the AOL Desktop development, design, and testing team for another open chat this coming Monday, May 12th, starting at 4 pm Eastern.

As always, we'll be taking questions and feedback about the latest AOL Desktop Beta (codename Nexus), which you can download here: http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=nexus

Here's a direct link to the Beta chat room, where the AOL Desktop and Beta teams and Beta testers will be congregating for another lively session starting at 4 on Monday. http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=chat

See you there!

Laura

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Laura Peterson

Product Lead, AOL Desktop

Today we released our third AOL Desktop (codename: Nexus) build with a brand new look designed especially for the AOL Beta Community. It's AOL like you've never seen it before.

Interested in shaping the next version of AOL Desktop? Have questions about the current AOL Desktop Beta? Want to talk to the team behind it all?

Chat with the AOL Desktop team, other Beta testers, and the AOL Beta community managers tomorrow afternoon as we launch our third open chat session on the heels of the second AOL Desktop (codename: Nexus) Beta release.

What: AOL Desktop Beta Chat #3

Who: AOL Beta testers, AOL Beta community managers, AOL Desktop team, and YOU!

When: Wednesday April 16 @ 4:00 pm Eastern (1:00 pm Pacific)

Where: All details can be found at http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=chat

A new build of AOL Desktop Beta (codename: Nexus) was posted yesterday!

Here are some of the key features of Beta 2:

• AIM Call Out lets you make phone calls from your AIM buddy list, or even set up a VoIP session between two phone numbers.
• More customization includes the ability to set rotating desktop background pictures and choose from millions of window color options.

Below is a picture of my customized AOL Desktop (Nexus) Beta. More feature announcements to come soon.

Cheers,

Laura



Tile background royalty-free image courtesy of Stock Exchange sxc.hu.

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Laura Peterson

Product Lead, AOL Desktop

Hi all,

The AOL Desktop team wants to chat with you!

After our successful Beta chat two weeks ago, we're hosting another session to give you the opportunity to get to know the team behind AOL Desktop, ask questions, and provide feedback on the current Beta and the product in general.

What: AOL Desktop Beta (codename Nexus) Chat #2

Who: AOL Beta testers, AOL Beta community managers, AOL Desktop team, and the general public

When: Tonight, Tuesday April 8 @ 9:30 pm Eastern (6:30 pm Pacific).

Where: All details can be found at http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=chat

If you can't make this one, the next chat will be coming up in a week or two.

Talk to you tonight!

Laura

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Laura Peterson

Product Lead, AOL Desktop

Hi Everyone,

Happy Monday! I don't know what the weather's like in your part of the country, but here in Virginia, the end of March is decidedly not like a lamb: it's in the 40s and rainy.

No matter -- there's some neat stuff going on that's making me forget the weather.

Firstly, last week the AOL Help team published some AOL Desktop FAQs. The team and I looked at all the member feedback submitted over the past few months, and we distilled and answered the most common questions in one convenient location.

Check out the AOL Desktop FAQs: http://help.channels.aol.com/topic.adp?topicId=ART_223666

Secondly, this past Wednesday we had our first Beta chat for "Nexus" (the codename for the next version of AOL Desktop). It included about 16 testers and 4 of us from the team, including me and our Beta, development, and quality assurance managers. We'll be holding another one next week around 4/9. I'll post more details a little closer to the time. You're welcome to join us to ask questions and share feedback.

I'll also be back to normal this week in terms of posting and responding to comments. I took a few days off last week.

More to come soon,

Cheers,

Laura

Hi all,

For the first time in a long time, the quick access panel for the Finance spot in the AOL Desktop toolbar is full of green in response to today's good news from the stock market.

Below is a screenshot commemorating the good news -- the panel is called out by me with the red rounded rectangle.

This is also a good time to show those of you new to AOL Desktop that these quick access panels, which act like a "sneak peek" of many of the AOL content areas, are available when you hover over the toolbar spots with your mouse. (Not all the toolbar spots have these quick access panels, but the main ones do.) Then, you can click on the actual quick access panel itself and go directly to the headline or stock quote.

(Fun fact of the day: internally at AOL, these quick access panels are abbreviated to "QAPs", which we pronounce as "kwap" to rhyme with "snap". It can get a little confusing for newcomers or those not on our team!)

Hi everyone,

Happy Friday! To celebrate the end of the week, we launched a brand new Beta version of AOL Desktop called "Nexus". It's got AIM 6.5 among other things. More features to be announced soon.

Be sure to check it out at http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=nexus.

Have a great weekend!

Laura

Hi all,

We've just released a new Beta of a slightly enhanced version of AOL Desktop. It includes an updated Favorites import system as well as a few edits to the way you manage and access your Favorite Places in the browser.

Your feedback on the changes we've made would be greatly appreciated.

Please go to the AOL Desktop Refresh Beta site and participate in the focus test questionnaire.

http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=helix