Come July 1, Mac users running various older versions of OS X won’t have the ability to use their mac.com and me.com addresses to log into the AOL Instant Messaging service via iChat.

Apple says that users who want to take advantage of the service must upgrade to at least OS X Lion 10.7.2.

This Cult of Mac Deals offer is for Boom, a sweet little Mac app that both boosts your Mac’s volume and equalizes and enhances its sound. Boom seamlessly integrates itself with your Mac so all you have to do is adjust the volume as you wish. As for the deal….we’ve got it here for just $4 for a limited time.

We’ve been drooling over the next-generation MacBook Pro since Apple unveiled it at WWDC earlier this month, and we thought we knew all there was to know about its gorgeous high-resolution Retina display. However, Apple surprised us with a new FAQ page on its website this morning, which reveals a number of things about the notebooks new screen that we hadn’t heard before, which will help you make the most of your new display.

Here are a few of the things that you may be interested in.

When Apple announced iMessage for iOS 5 last summer we were excited to finally have a universal messaging app that sought to free our cellphones from the slavery of wireless carrier texting plans. Today with the announcement of Messages for OS X it looks like Apple is serious about creating a messaging service that supplants texting and chat services by providing a one size fits all solution that works well on every screen. The new Messages app is pretty awesome and it’s a needed step forward that finally unifies iChat, iMessage, and Facetime, but it is not without its flaws.

I’ve never particularly cared for iChat. It’s less full-featured than free alternatives like Adium, and since it can’t easily be skinned, if you hate all the bubbles and aqua in the UI, there’s not a lot you can do about it. Luckily, over at OS X Daily, they’ve put together a fantastic and simple way to replace the iChat Aqua Text Bubbles with a flatter, less idiosyncratic matte version. Check it out: this is really the way iChat should look by default.

Digging through the bowels of iOS 5.0.1, developer John Heaton found something neat: some code strings that strongly hint iChat functionality will be coming to iOS sometime more or less relativistically soon.

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is bringing cartoon icon Tintin to life in a movie, calling the shots via iChat.

Jackson was unable to trade his native New Zealand for the California set where flesh and blood actors are filming Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

So he told them what to do via iChat.

“Steven was on the set and Peter was in Wellington and he had lots of live links via iChat,” explained English actor Nick Frost, who plays one of the hapless Thomson detectives.

“I’ve never been directed before via iChat, which was an odd and not totally unpleasant way of doing business, just a bit strange.”

“Because of the time difference Peter would stay up all night and tinker and get in the sort of position that he was ready to shoot,” Frost said.

“Peter kind of re-wrote the scripts most evenings because he was in New Zealand, and so you would go in, in the morning with three or four pages of new dialogue and they were like, ‘Shooting this in 30 minutes, so get ready’.”

Also being told how to emote and where to stand via iChat are Daniel Craig, who plays a pirate, and Billy Elliot star Jaime Bell as Tintin.

This is the first of a Tintin trilogy slated to hit theaters in 2011; Jackson will direct the next one solo and team up with Steven Spielberg for the third.

Via Stuff

Meetings at daily news organizations are generally pretty lively affairs. Now journalists at outlying bureaus or on assignment at UK daily The Guardian can participate in the daily pitching and griping — without having the odd pen thrown at them or having to deal with the face-melting scowls of colleagues.

Funnyman Jim Carrey keeps his love alive with wife, former playmate and comedian Jenny McCarthy, by dancing for her on iChat.

McCarthy tells OK magazine (with much enthusiasm!)  that she and her Yes Man text and use iChat to keep in touch while he’s on the set.

Jenny says she and Jim also use a web cam from time to time.

“I haven’t done any dancing, but I make him do that!” she says. “It’s nice! With the iChat, we’re always afraid that there’s a third party watching! We’re a little bit careful, but it’s a great way to have that face connection!”

She also confesses that between the two of them there’s not much ha ha-ing around the house. Somehow I find that hard to believe, especially if he’s shaking his groove thing for her regularly.

Via OK

Comedian Amy Sedaris narrates a three-part PBS series called “Make ’em Laugh” that debuts Jan. 14.

Her companion web video about online comedy provides more than a few chuckles and a nice Apple reference:

“I got a computer maybe four years ago because I have a rabbit and the rabbit got sick. It was too late to call the House Rabbit Society, so I thought I better get a computer because the next time she gets sick, I’ll be able to go on Ether Bunny and find out what’s going on.”

“Then I got iChat because I can just hold my rabbit up, call the House Rabbit Society and say, “Do you see this scab? What does it mean?” And then they can see it. See, I’m getting there.”

You can catch her 30-minute video on “Teh Internets” (sic) online, but put your headphones on — it rightly warns, “The following video contains mature content. Or immature content, depending on how you look at it. But it is not for kids.”

Via After Ellen