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Twitter for Mac update removes hidden features

by Kelly Hodgkins Jan 12th 2011 at 11:45AM

Twitter for Mac
MacHeist bundle owners may be disappointed to discover that the latest version of Twitter for Mac removes the hidden Super Secret menu, which was covertly added by developers. This backdoor was included as a bonus for disgruntled customers who purchased the MacHeist bundle before Tweetie was acquired by Twitter. Bundle owners were promised a free update to Tweetie 2, but that update never materialized.

The Super Secret menu was enabled by pressing Control, Option/Alt, and Command keys simultaneously, clicking MacHeist Secret Stuff and entering your credentials into the resulting dialog box. These extra settings let you hide the app in the background, type anywhere to start a tweet and more. The latest version of Twitter for Mac disables this feature by preventing users from accessing the initial MacHeist Secret Stuff menu, at least by using the method listed above.

Twitter for Mac users that enabled the Super Secret menu will keep this feature, but new downloads lose the ability activate it using the above method. Though perhaps not desirable, the removal of the Super Secret menu was expected. When this hidden feature was first discovered, we wondered how Apple would respond. Thankfully, Twitter did not have to pull the app from the Mac App Store and was able to push out an update quickly.

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MacHeist bundle owners may be disappointed to discover that the latest version of Twitter for Mac removes the hidden Super Secret menu,...
 

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Christiane R.

hi again! i found the black icon! here is download link:
http://rapidshare.com/#!download|14l33|442131010|Icon.icns

;)

January 14 2011 at 1:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Christiane R.

somebody has the old black icon? I would like to have the black icon back. If possible please can send me by email? (hello@hellparis.com).

thanks a lot! ;)

January 14 2011 at 12:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Olek

Suddenly is this version in EVERY Space now, there is no way to change that behavior. WTF is this???
Is this the new way how apps from can act - do what they want?

January 12 2011 at 3:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Olek's comment
David

Adding a rule to Spaces for Twitter fixes your problem:
https://skitch.com/davejansen/rjrxf/expose-and-spaces

January 13 2011 at 4:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
AppleZilla

My 'Super Secret' options are still there after update, thanks to all who reported it would be. And I copied the black icon before updating then applied it to an alias of Twitter, which is what I now have in my dock. It has an Alias arrow, but what the heck. I prefer the black icon.

I tried to paste it directly into the Twitter app, but it won't let me. If anyone could tell me how...

January 12 2011 at 3:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to AppleZilla's comment
Stealth43

AppleZilla, you can right click on the application, choose "show package contents", then navigate down to /contents/resources and drop the black icon in there. Be aware that you'll probably need to do this every time Twitter is updated (software-wise).

Interestingly, having not yet updated mine, I've noticed that there is an alternate version of Icon.icns (the application icon) labeled Icon_2.icns... wonder why.

January 13 2011 at 5:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David G. Paul

Not really super secret... MacHeist emailed to let us know :s

January 12 2011 at 2:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Todd

Twitter is handling this so sloppily.

January 12 2011 at 12:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeremy

Well, I used the hack to get the secret menu, and it's now gone after the update. However, the settings I changed in the secret menu (e.g. changing the color of links) are still present. Links are blue just as before the update.

January 12 2011 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jaime O.

I've updated and it's still there. However, the icon is blue now. Sucks. Love the Black one better, maybe that should be a super secret hidden feature too.

January 12 2011 at 12:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Roger

Yeah, updated this morning, super secret menu still there, and swanky new blue icon

January 12 2011 at 12:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Keith

If you had it enabled the menu seems to remain in your preferences. I am updated to 2.0.1 and I still have all the options.

January 12 2011 at 11:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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