twitterrific posts

Yes, it's that time of year when we empty out the TUAW swag vaults and pass the savings on. Our candidate today: He's avian, he's blue, and he might be coming to you....

Yes, it's the icon come to life who chirps his way into your heart, Ollie the Twitterrific bird. The Iconfactory's chatty quasi-mascot has been rendered into toy form (both in regular and limited-edition flocked versions) by designer David Latham and Strangekiss Art Toys, and we've got four of the wee blue birdies to give away to our lucky readers.

Leave a comment below telling us about your favorite childhood toy, and you'll be entered into the giveaway. One entry per person please! We'll ship out the birds after the first of the year, so they won't make it under the tree, but they'll keep you company for all of 2010. (Bonus geek cred to anyone who rigs their Ollie up with a USB speaker and Growl to announce incoming tweets.)

The rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment describing your favorite childhood toy.
• The comment must be left before Wednesday, December 23, 11:59PM ET.
• You may enter only once.
• Four winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One of four Ollie dolls (regular or flocked). Doll type selected at random. ARV of prize: $19.95 regular, $26.95 flocked.
• Click Here For Official Rules.

The Iconfactory is giving you the chance to help a worthy charitable cause this holiday season, and own a rare collectible in the process. The company has placed an original set of 4 Vinyl Toy Prototypes of its Twitterrific icon mascot, "Ollie," up for auction on eBay. These figures, designed by StrangeKiss Art Toys, vary in color and style, and include the first production run model -- meaning you will own one before anyone else. The auction bundle also includes a $250 gift certificate for Strangekiss.com merchandise.

The deal is that all proceeds from this auction (at about $300 this morning) will benefit the American Cancer Society. In addition, the Iconfactory will be contributing up to $500 of its own money for the cause. If that doesn't warm your heart, you might be the Grinch... in which case you probably have no interest in Twitter or toys. Those of you with hearts not three sizes too small may go bid on these items.

Thanks Talos

As Kevin pointed out on Wednesday, MacHeist has a new bundle for us at the moment -- but this one is what they consider a "nanoBundle" and it's free. I can't speak for everyone here at TUAW, but when I see the word "free" next to software, I horde it.

They've decided to just give away this bundle of apps in what appears to be a move to encourage their users to come back for more. 6 great mac apps for zero dollars. That's my kind of deal. There are only 6 more days to download this bundle, so go grab it after checking out the loot:

• Shove Box -- An awesome reminder, organization, gotta-get-it-done application that sits in your menu bar. You can then drag things like text, URLs, images... possibly anything to the menu bar app and it'll save it for later. When you get some free time, you can go back through and see what you have. There's an iPhone companion app as well.
• WriteRoom -- A simple writing application that removes all of the typical distractions from your writing sessions. It makes the text window full screen, completely cutting off the rest of the world from your mind -- if you so choose. It still has simple tools like word count, background/text color adjustments... but definitely keeps you focused. We've covered it quite a bit.
• Twitterrific -- One of my favorite apps on my iPhone as of late. The desktop version is similarly simple. Set up your Twitter account and tweet away with the easiest solution imaginable.
• TinyGrab -- Is a screen capture maniac's dream. It allows you to use the standard command-shift-4 and select part of your screen or hit spacebar to capture a specific window. The kicker: it uploads it directly to your own FTP server and puts the URL in your clipboard so you can paste it in Facebook, Twitter, email, IM... whatever your pleasure.
• Hordes of Orcs -- I'll admit, this is the real reason I'm downloading the bundle. I've heard nothing but great reviews about this game even from our own Mike Schramm. It's one of the most innovative desktop tower defense games I've seen. Everything is in 3D, there are 6 different game variations and let's not forget tower defense.
• Mariner Write -- This is a word processor with features you need but none of the "bloat" found in other applications *cough* Microsoft *cough.* Of course, it will open and save Word documents, as well as other formats.

While I was writing this, the download total went up 5,000 downloads but it'll take 500,000 for all of us to get the full benefit. MacHeist says that Mariner Write is the unlockable application, so I'm hoping to get a serial and really try it out. Head over to Macheist, and download your nanoBundle. For the first time, I'll be using all of the apps in it -- and it's free!

I didn't really take last week's Twitocalypse that seriously, but as you probably know by now, it turned out a little worse than expected -- we'd been told that Twitterrific (and, we assumed, most other Twitter apps) would be fine, and of course, as Craig Hockenberry explains on his blog, things ended up not-so-fine. Desktop app developers, of course, could publish updates as quickly as they could code them; iPhone developers were in a different situation.

When the Iconfactory's app stopped working, most people (including me) got an API error all weekend. Craig found the bug, then he and his team were able to leverage their contacts at Apple Developer Relations to help expedite the release; in short order, an update was pushed out to the App Store. I downloaded it yesterday, and can tell you that things are fixed... at least until the numerical limit on Twitter's tweet identifier raises its head again (or the Newton flips out, but that's another story).

Hockenberry also has ideas about how to keep issues like this from happening again. Not the actual issue of a variable overflow (that will undoubtedly happen again at some point, on Twitter or any other API that scales way faster than anyone expects it to), but the issue of iPhone apps needing a quick fix. He says that Apple should give every developer a number of "incidents" -- situations rarely used, in which a high priority fix can get sent out to apps in major emergencies. He says, and it's true, that for most developers, it's not a question of if you'll need to send out a critical fix, it's a matter of when. And support by Apple, obviously limited to one or two instances per developer, would help developers, distributors, and consumers.

Of course, it's up to Apple, and it's not like they've smoothed out the approval process so well already that they can start adding wrinkles to it. But clearly, given that the Twitterrific update went through quickly, there's room for exceptions to be made.

[via DF]

I'll be honest, I adore Twitter. I don't mean "Oh it's so cute and Oprah's on it," I mean in a way that is likely unhealthy. It was just another technology I had an account for but only sort of used until I found out that the Iconfactory created an application for my desktop called Twitterrific that allowed me to have a little corner of my desktop devoted to microblogging. So then I used it a little more.

Then I got my iPhone 3G and the Iconfactory made a version of Twitterrific for that, too. Today, here I sit more than sixteen thousand updates later. Twitterrific was among the first desktop and mobile Twitter apps and terribly exciting. Then some other folks came on the scene, having re-imagined what an iPhone Twitter app could look like. We got Twitterfon and Tweetie, and I found myself very disappointed to have bumped Twitterrific from my home screen.

All of that has changed. Twitterrific 2.0 is out and once again I have an Iconfactory app on my home screen. There are loads of changes, but the standout feature is the option to turn some of these off and on as you desire.

Multiple account support was the revolutionary feature of other clients, and it has now been added to Twitterrific. Adding more is a piece of cake, and the nice thing about it is that your account(s) live on a "Sources" page with the public timeline, saved searches and a list of the current trending topics. I really like this view and it makes things very convenient, especially if you want to check the trending topics on the go.

You'll notice you get three views of your timeline: A "mini" view with just a name and a tweet, the "standard" Twitterrific view of an avatar and bold name with a tweet, and an additional "mega" view, with a larger picture and the text a bit bigger as well (including the client). So far I am loving the mini view, since I can scan easily.

In case a black background with lighter text isn't your thing, you also have the option of three different color schemes, Raven (the classic black), Snowy (lighter, with some 3D elements for selected tweets), and Basic (a black and white option). Right now Snowy is the one that's working for me. I really like the way selected tweets stand out.

Now you can also pick your reply method which is one of the most impressive features. If you have a tweet selected when the entry window comes up, you get your pick of whether or not to tweet, tweet a public @ reply, or DM the author of that tweet based on which tab you choose at the bottom of the window. You can also hide the keyboard to peek back at the timeline in case you want another look at the tweet. This is a really elegant method for entry since a lot of times I want to reply via DM to someone who sent me something publicly, or inadvertently have a tweet selected but I don't want to reply to it. Every time I use this interface I am happier with it in a new way.

To keep from using a lot of screen for the buttons for different views (one each for your timeline, replies, and DMs) there's a little funnel you tap that pops up a bar with those view options in it. As a fan of the mini view this helps me pack even more information on the screen and I like how it's implemented. Next to this icon is a little snowflake/asterisk icon you can tap to get buttons for a link to a selected tweet, retweet, reply to the author, the author's info page, see the conversation thread, email it, or favorite it. You also get a button to mark a tweet. Marking a tweet is like a favorite, but currently those marks are only saved on your phone (it has been mentioned that this will sync with the desktop version eventually).

Other features I really like: the left-handed option made it forward from the previous version, configurable options for tapping an avatar (1, 2, or 3 taps can be set to different actions like show the author or the conversation, add it as a favorite), and there is a notes field on authors so if you are out and about and add someone you can take note of where you met them or how you know them or whatever else you can sometimes want to keep track of.

I love the new version, and I like to think it came about because others came along and innovated which made the Iconfactory step up THEIR game, so now there are a variety of easy to use and nice looking Twitter clients for the iPhone. Now, on to the desktop!

The Iconfactory's Twitterrific was one of the first Twitter applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Since its introduction, The Twitter App Wars have begun in earnest. If Twitter is the Belle of the Ball, there's a long line of suitors who want to be her beau.

The new Twitterrific makes a serious play for her affection. Long-absent features like multiple account support, search and "tweet actions" like re-tweeting are all included, plus new goodies like a gorgeous, color-coded tabbed UI and the Filter Bar. Quickly find your mentions via "@ replies," direct messages, starred favorites or tweets you've "marked," which are like private favorites.

There's so much more to this app and we'll have a full review for you soon. Until then, you can get familiar with Twitterrific 2 on the new "Tweetorials" page. Twitterrific 2 Premium is available now from the App Store [link] for $3.99US. An ad-supported free version is also available [link].

When Tweetie for the iPhone was released late last year, many users begged for requested a desktop version for OS X. Today, Atebits complied and publicly launched Tweetie for Mac OS X.

When it comes to desktop Twitter clients, Mac OS X has a pretty great selection (especially when compared to our Windows and Linux friends). Just off the top of my head, I can list: Nambu (which Mat reviewed last week), EventBox, TweetDeck, DestroyTwitter, Twhirl, Lounge, and of course, the original, Twitterrific. While all of these apps vary in features and interface, the trend seems to be that the more advanced apps all use Adobe AIR, rather than Cocoa. That's not necessarily a good thing.

Adobe AIR has great potential, but when it comes to something like a Twitter client, I prefer native apps that don't hog my memory (and I have 4 GB of RAM, but TweetDeck and others have total Firefox complexes). Fortunately, Tweetie for Mac is both native and feature-rich.

Check out the gallery and read on for more details.

Since it's turned into Twitter Thursday around here... In a moment of sheer frustration with Twitterrific, I sent out a call on my Twitter feed for recommendations of a desktop Twitter client. Several folks replied with a nod to TweetDeck, an Adobe AIR-based client currently in development for OS X, Linux, and Windows.

TweetDeck is a pretty neat program. The selling point is the ability to split your main Twitter feed into subfeeds that you can then organize into different groups. You can have Twitter be as narrow as a single column while you scroll back and forth in it, or you can make it full-screen and have your monitor filled with nothing but tweeting goodness.

There's a lot of features as well. If you go over the 140-character limit, you can hit a "TweetShrink" button that will turn some of the words to LOL-speak in order to fit the limit. You can upload pictures -- clicking on the TwitPic button will upload the image file to TwitPic and give you the URL for your feed -- and you can shorten URLs via your choice of service by clicking the "Shorten" button.

Another very cool feature is the ability to translate your tweets into another language. The translation is pretty accurate -- even for more difficult languages such as the Japanese I tested with the application. The program itself is highly customizable, and you can tweak the colors and fonts to whatever you like. You can also set different update times for various feeds: for example, you can have your main friends update every minute, but your private messages every five minutes.

TweetDeck is extremely polished for a beta client and I've yet to get the error messages that plagued me with Twitterrific. If you're searching for a free desktop client for Twitter, it's hard to beat this one.

TweetDeck is in public beta and requires the Adobe AIR runtime, which is a Universal binary and needs OS X 10.4.11 or higher. AIR will be installed during the TweetDeck installation process if you do not already have it.

Twitterrific, from our friends at the Iconfactory, has been updated to version 3.2: the first update for the desktop version of the small-footprint Twitter client in nearly a year.

This new version accurately marks old tweets as read when the software starts, and adds "in reply to" IDs to @ messages so conversations can be more easily tracked.

Also, Twitterrific now uses the more secure HTTPS protocol to communicate with the Twitter servers. Using a proxy server is now more reliable, along with other changes to the network and communication foundation. A complete list of the changes is available on the Iconfactory website.

Twitterrific comes in two flavors: one is free, but supported by ads from The Deck, and the second removes the ads, but is $15. Twitterrific requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later, and a Twitter account (obviously).

The Iconfactory also recently started tweeting themselves, and you can find them at @iconfactory. In related news, remember that you can also follow @TUAW for updates above and beyond what you read on our site, along with tweets from all our contributors, too.

Twitter is arguably one of the most popular social networking platforms in use today. And, one of the most popular ways to use Twitter is via applications for your Mac and the iPhone. In that space, one particular app seems to dominate -- Iconfactory's Twitterrific.

TUAW's own Christina Warren (A.K.A. @film_girl) sat down with Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry (A.K.A @chockenberry) to get all the latest on Twitterirfic, and to find out what else he has in store for Twitter users and elegantly designed icon fans everywhere. Click through to check out the video.

Yesterday, Dave published an awesome gift guide for the Twitter addict. It wasn't meant to be an all-encompassing list, nonetheless, the omission of Tweetie [iTunes link] -- one of the newest Twitter clients to hit the iPhone -- generated a ton of response via the comments, our inbox and of course, via Twitter. Because Twitter is my crack, I decided to take Tweetie out for a spin. Developer Loren Brichter was even nice enough to get me in on the Tweetie beta so I could take a sneak peek at some of the features coming in future releases.

My initial thoughts are very, very positive; I now know why so many of you were so vocal about your Tweetie love. No sooner did I crown Tweetsville the current champion in the Twitter for iPhone Battle Royale, Tweetie shows up with some serious moves. At this point, I don't even know if I can adequately name a "champion."

Another Twitter client?

As I've said before, Twitter and the iPhone are a perfect combination -- they just go together. That said, Dave makes a solid point: the number of available Twitter clients for the iPhone is getting a tad ridiculous. I have tried almost every Twitter application available for the iPhone/iPod touch (see below) and they can tend to blur together.

There are a number of Twitter apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch -- and why not? Much like peanut butter and jelly, Twitter and the iPhone are a classic combination. Tweetsville [iTunes Link] from Tapulous is the newest Twitter client available from the App Store, and it offers up an interface and feature set that really gives the competition a run for its money.

But wait, doesn't Tapulous already make a Twitter application? They do, and Twinkle [iTunes Link] is a neat app. Although the two applications share some interface similarities, the scope and focus are actually very different. Twinkle's real user hook is in its geo-location features, whereas Tweetsville is a full-fledged Twitter application.

I'm a pretty addicted to Twitter, and have been searching for an app for my iPod touch that could help me monitor and manage my stream with ease. Tweetsville appears to be that app. I follow a lot of users and my biggest problem with some of the other Twitter applications (and with the m.twitter.com interface) is that I can't view a large number of tweets at one time. With Tweetsville, not only does it grab the last 200 tweets for me, if I leave the application and come back an hour later, it will pull up what I've missed. That means I can access 532 tweets at once, rather than just the last ten minutes or so. That's extremely handy.

Read on for more...

When the App Store opened, I went nuts and downloaded a slew of apps. Two weeks later, I listed the 8 I decided to keep, including Major League Baseball's (MLB) At Bat [App Store link]. This week, At Bat has dropped in price from $4.99US to $2.99US.

It's on sale because it will "expire" when the current season ends (Go, Sox!), meaning you'll have to purchase a new version for 2009. Still, if you're a fan and into the post-season, I encourage you to buy it. It's my hands-down favorite iPhone application.

While using At Bat, I realized how an application's features and benefits affect its longevity. Specifically, the features attract your attention, while the benefits grab you for good.

Here's an example. At Bat provides nearly real-time statistics for ongoing games, including scoring, current batter and pitcher, stats, the count at the plate ... even video clips from a game that's in progress.

You can identify your favorite team to keep their score highlighted, and enjoy an integrated version of MLB Gameday, which provides pitch-by-pitch information and so much more. All of this is presented in an attractive, readable UI.

Those are the features.

The benefit is a feeling of connectedness, even participation, and that's why At Bat is a keeper. As a die-hard baseball fan, I want to watch every game. I know the stats, the players, the standings; who's playing well, who's on injured reserve and who's in a slump. It's tremendously fun to watch a baseball game on a summer evening and get lost in the drama of it all.

However, life interferes (can you say "toddlers"?) and I sometimes miss a game. Yet, those live stats and video clips alleviate the feeling of missing the game, and that's worth a lot more than $2.99 to me.

The same can be said of other applications. Twitterrific [App Store link] puts 1,000 friends in your pocket (leave your adolescent joke in the comments, please). At any time, I can share a funny picture, observation or idea with my buddies, and get a reply just as easily. Those are the features. The benefit is the comfort of friendship.

The benefit of FileMagnet [App Store link] is peace of mind. Yes, I've got that PDF for the meeting. Yes, I've got the photo I have to show my boss. Phew.

Others that I've eliminated went in the other direction - all feature. Cro-Mag Rally's [App Store link] accelerometer-based steering got boring after 10 minutes.

Our friends over at the Iconfactory have a devil of a time protecting one of their more popular icons: David Lanham's blue bird that adorns their Twitterrific software.

Turns out there are plenty of people that think the icon is free for the taking, and have used it in all kinds of projects and web sites.

Of course, this means more work for Ged Maheux, tracking down each person and letting them know that, no, they can't use the icon, because it's for a piece of commercial software.

The good news is that there are, however, plenty of design alternatives to the Iconfactory's copyrighted artwork. Lots of friendly, smiling flyers have come out of the woodwork/birdhouse -- and they're free to use for your website or other non-commercial project. Read on for a rhapsody in bluebirds.

Om Malik posted an interesting piece earlier this week about the growing market of ad-supported software on the iPhone -- due to the strange economies of the App Store (which are still developing), lots of app makers have found the prices on their apps driven way down, as most buyers are pretty wallet-shy when it comes to picking up even quality apps from the store. But as Malik notes, putting ads in the software allows these devs to still get some cash out of their products (and most consumers aren't fazed: Twitterrific, one of the most popular apps on the Store, has had ads in the free version since day one).

Unfortunately, Malik doesn't mention the one problem that Apple didn't think to fix in the first release of the App Store -- trial versions. One of the reasons consumers are blanching at the more costly apps is that they have no options to try them out first, and when people are offered a choice of free unknown versus a paid unknown, they'll always take the free option. If Apple could come up with a way to let users try before they buy (some developers, including iconfactory, have created two different versions of their own apps, which people can then upgrade to if they like the app), I'm guessing you'd see more people pay for the more quality apps in the store.

But even if not, Malik seems right (though even he admits we're all flying blind here, on only a month's worth of data and anecdotes). If the only app you can sell in the App Store is a free one, ads aren't a bad way to make up as much of the dev costs as you can.