Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone
Twinkle: location-aware Twittter client for iPhone
According to Installer, Twinkle from Gogo Apps is "Twitter plus Location." It's a Twitter client that adds photos and geolocation as well as clickable URLs and Follow / Stop Following control within the app. With it, you can find people twittering near you -- in fact it seems to be using my findme utility to power its location-awareness. And no, I have no financial interest in this thing -- I gave permission for them to use the utility so long as the app remains non-commercial.
I logged in, entered my Twitter account info (yes, the account information is stored in clear text in ~mobile/Library/Preferences) and within seconds, it found tweets within 50 miles of my location.
You can tweet directly from Twinkle. Tap the pencil button at the top-right corner (it's the one that for quite a while I mistook for a mis-shaped lower-case "i"). From there, you can enter your tweet, specify whether to tag with a location and optionally snap a photo.
Twinkle offers a professionally designed interface and good ease of use. The only negative occurred after I mistyped my password. I ended up in an infinite loop of authentication errors and had to force-quit the application.
Gallery: Twinkle
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
punkassjim said 2:19PM on 4-22-2008
The "professionally designed interface" looks alright until you realize two things:
1) it's virtually unreadable from more than 12" away from the screen.
2) Tweets are only 140 chars. Why in hell can't they show the whole tweet in the list view? I shouldn't have to tap and go to a new screen for a twoosh.
I'm a big fan of TouchSafari's "tap the top to scroll to the top" function, and I'd miss it pretty quickly. Also, since the Twitter API still doesn't allow paging, there's no real benefit, in terms of basic functionality, to a native app. The anchored toolbars are a step in the right direction, but the creators of Twinkle and MobileTwitter need to read Gruber's posts on iPhone web apps for Twitter.
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punkassjim said 2:22PM on 4-22-2008
And actually, since Apple is readying the "web apps without chrome" functionality for 2.0, they may also start allowing fixed positioning within that functional spec. That'd totally blur the line between web apps and native apps.
lilbyrdie said 2:24PM on 4-22-2008
Apparently I missed the follow, unfollow functionality. Not sure where it is...
I definitely like the look of the app, though. I just wish there was some other way to get to the images and location data that they track. A "check out this pic" tweet through it just doesn't quite work for very many yet.
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Aron Trimble said 2:31PM on 4-22-2008
It would really be nice if the photo option uploaded the photo using Twitpic or Tinypic or SOMETHING that way they could provide a link that others can see the photo even if they aren't using Twinkle
I can't tell you how stupid I felt tweeting: "This is my so-and-so: " on the assumption that everyone could see it and not just users of Twinkle.
MobileTwitter does this, but you have to take the picture first and have it already in your photo library. It's an extra step but definitely worth it compared to Twinkle's route.
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Tom said 3:20PM on 4-22-2008
They JUST fixed the images in twitter thing 1 hr ago:
http://twitter.com/twinkleking/statuses/794481657
And I agree, I like being able to attach pics too. If it had both, that'd be great. And if the location aware info could maybe be attached as a comment to the twitpic, that would be _awesome_. As is, the location aware is crap:
1. Twitterlocal.net can find people near a location with the location field, Twinkle can't
2. Reversa (but seriously, adding maybe 20-30 chars of location might be bad, but twitter used to support more than 140 chars, only you'd only be able to see it on the website and through the API, it just wouldn't go to phones)
JTWG said 1:15PM on 4-25-2008
Yes, I felt that same sense of stupid this morning when I realized none of the photos I posted with Twinkle were visible .
Dom said 2:40PM on 4-22-2008
Twinkle looks great and has lots of potential, but I can't find the follow/unfollow functionality either.
Also, the "locate me" stuff doesn't work on the iPod Touch (the feature on Google Maps works just fine, so I assume it's possible to do.)
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Ronald Distor said 3:13PM on 4-22-2008
The new version of Twinkle has the new features. Version 0.75. Make sure you update via Installer.
In order to follow people in Twinkle, you tap their tweet, and there's a button that says "Follow".
This new version also adds a snipurl link to the picture you attach. Keep in mind that the picture/link will take 25 out of your 140 character limit of your tweet.
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Tom said 3:21PM on 4-22-2008
That's _really_ lame, and there's still no main website for this app, just a twitter account. Twitpic.com is the same length as snipurl, but xrl.us is even shorter (and has an API, too). However, twitpic.com uses 3 character shortcuts at the moment, and I think snipurl has much longer ones due to it's popularity.
Stephen Roberts said 3:38PM on 4-22-2008
Twinkle is great. Not the most perfect twitter client (no favorites or following/blocking users), but the location awareness is a great trick. Creates a regional chat room almost out of local tweets.
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drphred said 4:41PM on 4-22-2008
Doesn't work on a touch. Crashes when you try to locate.
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Libb said 5:31PM on 4-22-2008
Erica, the "Locate Me" on Twinkle doesn't work on my Touch - I know for a fact that my home AP has been mapped by Skyhook*, but Twinkle refuses to provide a location. Doesn't crash like someone else had, but doesn't work either. A shame too, because it's a cool idea, but without working location, its limited functionality and the fact that it doesn't show the whole text of longer tweets, I've gone back to MobileTwitter for now, because it just plain works.
*Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the giant antenna covered monstrosity of a van they use to map the APs pass by my house - they should have it play music like an ice cream truck so people can look and stare in horror as it rolls by...
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Karl said 7:43PM on 4-22-2008
Professionally designed? by who?
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LittleJoe said 9:10PM on 4-22-2008
Twinkle pretty much rules my life at this point.
It's a great tool for meeting new people in your area and posting pictures/status when you're out and about.
Brought me back to life from a Twitter-free coma.
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Ryan said 9:51AM on 4-23-2008
On my Touch, it crashes every time I try and login and then I get can't authenticate issues every time i try and load my tweets. Looks like they have some work to do.
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Titus said 6:48PM on 4-23-2008
Enough about social networking apps. You should check out this application here. It lets search the search engines by just taking a picture of anything with your mobile phone. No typing! Just clicking! Here's a link to an Apple Ipod demostration of the application:
http://www.thetidy.com/blog/2008/04/23/vipr-visual-search-engine-on-the-apple-iphone-and-other-mobile-phones/
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