Posts from the iTweet category

iTweet: Statistics, Appearance, Follow

Some fun new stuff I've been cooking up...

I've made a couple additions and modifications to iTweet this week, they are lots of fun and add some great functionality!


In the Web interface I've added Statistics to your profile in the top right - so you can see at a glance your number of updates, favorites, following and followers. This updates itself as you tweet, fave and follow.  There is also an "Appearance" preference in the Settings menu - you can keep the default iTweet look OR import your Twitter profile's appearance - background image, font colors, sidebar color and everything!


If you are wondering "where did the nifty follow/notifications/block buttons go?", I have moved them all to the Profile pages to make better use of the API and make these methods more intuitive.  The old method assumed whether you were following a person or not based on the timeline they were found in; this was a little confusing and inconvenient, so I've moved it to the Profile page.  Here the page can tell (via the Twitter API call) whether you are following that person or not, and present the correct options depending on that status.


There's also an "is so-and-so following me?" button so you can see if that person is following you, and a "Twittering Since" date that shows when that person joined Twitter.  That part has been interesting to me as it's neat to see how long someone has been part of the Twitter community.  That data is made available via the Twitter API, although for some reason you can't find that info about a user on twitter.com - another reason to use iTweet!



The Following and Profile methods are the same for both the Web interface and the iPhone interface.  I love hearing feedback from users; that's been an important part of the development process for me and interacting with the community of iTweet fans is really half the fun for me.  So please use the contact section of iTweet or this website to email me your thoughts, feature requests, etc.  And keep on tweeting!


Leave comments on this blog, or let's talk on Twitter or Facebook.

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Following Twitter Trends

There's a great new way to follow hot topics using iTweet.net!

Twitter just made a great addition to their Search API: Twitter Trends!

This method allows you to see the hot topics of discussion across the entire Twitterverse.  This is a neat way to keep up on breaking news, technology trends, political sentiments, or the latest Internet meme that everyone's tweeting about.

When I hear about some fresh news or tech rumor, I do a quick Twitter search before I go to any news website; it's a great way to find a wealth of links to pertinent content across the Web.

I've added the Twitter Trends method to both the iPhone and the Web version of iTweet.net.  I think it will become a fun way to keep up on current events, and to entertain myself when I'm stuck in line at the bank.  ;)   Enjoy!

Leave comments on this blog, or let's talk on Twitter or Facebook.

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iTweet 2 Is Here

A major upgrade to the iPhone version, and an all new app for the Web!

Today I'm releasing a major upgrade to iTweet, an interface for Twitter that is one of my pet projects.  This is a double release: a hugely improved iPhone Web app, and an all-new interface for any Web browser.

Click here to give the new iTweet a try!

Beginning with the iPhone app, there are some key features to note:
  • Tap user pictures to toggle bio information. This section allows you to see a user's location, bio, and URL.  There are quick links to send a DM, view extended profile, turn notifications on/off, block, and follow/unfollow.
  • "In reply to" links allow you to see the tweet a person was replying to, without loading a new page.
  • Built-in search and hashtags via the Twitter Search API.
  • Monitor your remaining API requests using the number in the "refresh" button.
  • Update (and check) your location from the Settings menu.
  • Change your notifications device, get more detailed API usage info, set hashtags preferences, and more from the Settings menu.
  • Vastly improved speed in loading all timelines.


As before, a basic rule of thumb with iTweet goes: tap the avatar to see a person's profile, tap the username to see a person's tweets.

There is also a contact form on the About page, please use this for feature requests and bug reports!  (It sends messages directly to my email so you will get a quick response, especially if you're following me and I can DM you.)   <3


The Web interface has all the same features as the above, but adds some more information that doesn't fit on a tiny iPhone screen:

  • Detailed user info and API limit info available at top right.
  • Speed Tweet mode! Hitting the "Return" key from the text-entry field will send your tweet, more like an IM client than the Twitter website. Give it a try! I love it... if you don't you can turn that feature off using the Settings menu.
  • Really simple method for sending DM's, I use this one all the time too.


Known issues and limitations:
  • Character counter on the iPhone version still slows down typing. This is the biggest problem with the app, by my own reckoning and others' as well. I've tried many, many different methods of doing this. We're talking HOURS of experimentation! Basically I find that inspecting a textarea just kills MobileSafari's performance, especially in a Web page that has a lot of other elements in it.  I'm open to suggestions, as always. I've pared it down to 3 simple lines of Javascript and I don't think it can be any lighter than that.
  • User profile pages are missing information for most users. Also profile information such as "last update" are running behind something like 5-18 hours.  This is due to a bug in the Twitter API which I have reported here. I will post an update when this is fixed. This will allow some very cool functions to be brought back to the Web version especially!
Happy iTweeting! I'm always interested in your feedback, you can contact me here.
Leave comments on this blog, or let's talk on Twitter or Facebook.

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iTweet on Wired.com

iTweet featured in "The Best Web Apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch"

There's no shortage of Twitter clients out there that will work well on your iPhone. Twitter even offers its own: m.twitter.com. But iTweet takes the cake for us. The client offers a great UI, and most importantly, the ability to download only new tweets each time you refresh, saving a lot of time and bandwidth if you're using AT&T's snail-slow EDGE data network.
Wired.com Best iPhone Apps - iTweet.netI just saw this really nice mention of iTweet,  my Twitter UI and iPhone web app, here on Wired.com's Epicenter blog.  Thanks guys! (This article contains a voting system for "best app".  If you enjoy using iTweet, please visit this page and click the green "UP" arrow to vote for iTweet!) I've also received a few requests now for a BlackBerry version of iTweet.  I have never made a BlackBerry app before but how hard can it be, right?  I will try to create a BB iTweet as soon as possible for those of you who don't have iPhones yet.  ;) In other iTweet news, I'm working on a complete rewrite of the desktop app (and the iPhone app pending a review of the upcoming iPhone SDK).  It's lean, mean, and Ajaxy.  My favorite new feature: Speed Tweet mode!  It's so much fun I can't stop Twittering lately. Reminder again: please give iTweet an "UP" vote here.  Thanks!

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Twitter Search on the iPhone

The iPhone version of iTweet.net now offers search and #hashtag support.

iTweet.net - Search Twitter from your iPhoneI've added Twitter search and #hashtag search to iTweet.net's iPhone interface.  I did it before I took off for Macworld last week, so I could see who was talking about what.  Unfortunately, this didn't quite work out as apparently we Twitterbugs got a little excited with Macworld fever and crashed Twitter right down.  The API didn't become usable till about 24 hours later! iTweet Menu with Twitter Search I started tracking "macworld" that morning and my IM sounded like I'd won a jackpot! I had to turn it off 'cause it was way too distracting. Anyway, #hashtag support is in as well, #hashtagged words are green.  Click them to see an archive of words with that tag.  For now I've decided to strip the preceding # off of the tagged word to make the system totally legible. I made the search button in the menu BRIGHT RED just to beat you over the head with it for now. ;) Search is provided by the Terraminds Twitter Search API.

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