Ultimate Twitter Client

 Twitter Icon

Over the past 4+ years Twitter has transform to become one of the most popular social network/research/marketing/communication tool available. The latter is arguable as it depends on how one uses the service.
Using Twitter for business or personal purpose is equated to using tools like: email, IM, SMS (mobile texting), telephone conversation and face-to-face meeting. Due to the significance Twitter plays in our modern technological life, a striving 3rd party client ecology has develop. Part of this development is due to the openness and foresights of the Twitter founders, to release an API for the service at the beginning.

This Twitter API allows third party developers to create clients with many more features than Twitter’s simple web site. These clients come in two favors: web based services or native OS clients. Although many of these clients have more features, not all are able to present them in a logical or usable way in one application. One iPhone native client that fail badly is TweetStacks. Fortunately, the only way you can learn about this application now, is to read my review of the app.

For web based Twitter services they further split into two general types: for personal and business/multi-accounts use.

The following is a list of these clients in no particular order.

Native OS Twitter Clients:

  • EchoFon (iPhone)
  • EchoFon for Mac (OS X)
  • SimpleTweet (iPhone)
  • Seesmic Desktop (Adobe AIR)
  • Seesmic for Android (Android)
  • TweetDeck Desktop (Adobe AIR)
  • TweetBird (iPhone)
  • Tweetie (iPhone)
  • Tweetie for Mac (OS X)
  • Twitterberry (Blackberry)
  • Twitterific (iPhone)
  • Twitterific for (Android)
  • Tweetbot (iPhone/iPad) 

Web Base Twitter Clients:

  • Seesmic Web
  • Twitter.com

Multi User Twitter Client:

  • CoTweet
  • Houtsuite

Review: Seamless for iPhone

Imagine this scenario, you’re listening to your favorite music track on your Mac and had to leave the house, don’t you wish your iPhone or iPod touch can seamlessly carry on playing the track from where you were at in iTunes on your Mac? Or if you were deeply engaged in a podcast just before you had to head out, so you have to wait for the iPhone or iPod touch to synch using iTunes before you leave. This happens to me often especially the latter.

Fortunately, Five Details, the 2008 Apple Design Awards winners and maker of Flow, has a solution and it is called Seamless.

Continue reading “Review: Seamless for iPhone”

Smartone-Vodafone & iPhone Personal Hotspot

After Steve Jobs’ announcement at the “iPad 2 Event” that the Personal Hotspot feature will be available in iOS 4.3, people have been wondering if their mobile carriers will allow the feature to work, and how will these carriers charge for the usage of this feature on their network.

Like these users I wonder about it for my current mobile carrier, Smartone-Vodafone (SMV) in Hong Kong. So right after the iPad 2 Event I posted a question on Smartone-Vodafone’s Facebook Page asking them to comment on the feature’s use on their network and the charges if any. All SMV has to say is “We do not have any information regarding Personal Hotspot at this time, please stay tuned”.

Continue reading “Smartone-Vodafone & iPhone Personal Hotspot”

Review: Localscope for iPhone [Updated]

I was made aware of the iOS app, Localscope, by Cynapse of India.

Initially it looks to be yet another local search app like, Yelp, Foursquare, Google Places, etc., fortunately after a closer look I finds out that is not the case.

The app allows you to search among various categories for places mentioned in one of the services: Google, Bing Maps, Foursqaure, Twitter and MacVisions Wikimapia, it is “partnering” with. By partnering, I mean the app utilizes API from the respective services to display search results to the user. During these searches it takes into account the user’s location, either specified manually or by the built in GPS of the iOS device.
Continue reading “Review: Localscope for iPhone [Updated]”

How is Verizon iPhone 4 Significant Outside of USA?

Or is it?

This morning as anticipated for the past 3 years, Verizon (USA) announced the availability of the iPhone 4 on their network. They will begin pre-ordering for existing Verizon customers on February 3rd and the phones are available for pickup on February 10th.

There are only three differences between the iPhone 4 (CDMA) announced by Verizon (a mobile carrier in the US) and the previous model of iPhone 4 (GSM)

  • Supports CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz).
  • Mobile hotspot capability like the MiFi.
  • A change in the slit at the top of the GSM iPhone 4 has been move to a slits on the left side.

Continue reading “How is Verizon iPhone 4 Significant Outside of USA?”

Review: BlogPress for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch [Updated]

If you are a blogger you are most likely using a blogging platform to host your blog. These blogging platforms will come with web based interfaces for users to compose blog posts. When these web based interfaces are accessed from a browser on the computer this works well, but may not be the case from mobile devices like the iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. Of course there are exceptions, which I will discuss later.

It is hard to find an app that takes advantage of the capabilities of these mobile devices while supports the functionalities of the blogging platforms. There are two blogging platform specific apps for the iOS devices: WordPress and SquareSpace. The former is the first of its kind and its functionalities are fairly complete, but there are bugs that will sometimes cause the lost of blog posts. The latest version (2.6.3) is even worst, so this is not an app that I will recommend. On the other hand the offering from SquareSpace is very well designed. It has set the standards for all blogging apps in the iTunes App Store.

Then there are blogging apps that support multiple platforms, like BlogPress. It supports the following blogging platform/services: Continue reading “Review: BlogPress for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch [Updated]”

Pre-paid Stored-value SIM in Hong Kong

People overseas have asked if I can recommend a stored-value SIM package for them during their stay in Hong Kong, so instead of repeating my answer over an over I’ve decided to create a post.

Before reading this post one needs to understand one thing about the mobile market in Hong Kong. It is very competitive and the rates and packages change frequently; around every six months. So aside from the following recommendations you should also verify my information when you arrive in Hong Kong.

Continue reading “Pre-paid Stored-value SIM in Hong Kong”

North Point’s iBand Amazed with iDevices

The North Point Community Church’s “iBand” used apps on their iPad and iPhone to deliver an impressive performance of “Carol of the Bells“, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Feliz Navidad“.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9XNfWNooz4

Although they are not the first to use iOS devices in a performance, they are one of the first to use so many apps at the same time. They even use Apple’s Logic to multitrack the arrangements before they perform the songs.

Continue reading “North Point’s iBand Amazed with iDevices”