Enter Taweet.  Learn how to schedule future tweets!

There are a few tools I’ve come across that allow you to schedule posts for the future. Taweet is here to hopefully change the way we think about Twitter and tweeting from “thinking about the past” to “what’s going on in the future.” Twitter asks “What are you doing?” Taweet asks “What are you doing IN THE FUTURE?”

Taweet, as you can probably tell, majors on the art of the future tweet.  It allows for, amongst other things, talking about what’s going to happen, such as events or plans.

Taweet actually offers several perks that can enhance your Twittering: tweet scheduling, threaded discussions, AND multiple account management. Let’s see what these are all about!

Taweet provides you with a way how to schedule tweets for the future. There are several reasons someone would want to do this. If you want to create a buzz or get the word out about something in the future, a properly timed tweet could play a decent role. Also you can use Taweet as a kind of social calendar, letting your followers know what you’ve got going on.

Taweet has an interesting way of posting future tweets. The user interface makes it quite simple to choose the date and time.

When the tweet is posted,it gives the time and a link to the post on Taweet.com, allowing the viewer to comment.

This is where threaded comments come in. I for one like the idea of having the comments threaded directly beneath my tweet so I can get a handle on the conversation. Taweet does this for you and the result is something similar to what Facebook does with its updates and comments.

Taweet also gives you the option to add multiple Twitter accounts. This makes it easier to switch between them. Hey, if you like tweeting in the future with one account, why not all of them?

Signing up is really easy.  If you’re on the front page, you’ll notice the “Sign in with Twitter” button. Hit it.

Next you’ll have to be willing to allow Taweet to connect to your Twitter account.  If you want to use Taweet, you’ve got to hit “allow.”

You’re then asked the question, “Would you like to link this account with one previously used on Taweet?“  If you’re new to Taweet, the obvious answer is “I’m new to Taweet.”

After you enter your email address, a confirmation email is sent to you.  Before progressing any further, you have to check your email and click on the confirmation link.

Finally you’re given the controls!

So there you have it; yet another Twitter tool emerges filling yet another void!  There is obviously more to Taweet, such as searching other users’ future posts to find out what’s going on in the future.  To me, this tool seems simple enough to use but it also has the possibility to change the way we think about and use Twitter.

Now you too can learn to tweet for the future!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Two Undercover Twitter Clients That Don’t Let Others Know You Are Tweeting (17)
• Tools, Apps and Bots to Improve your Twitter Experience (31)
• Send Tweets & Make Video With The New & Improved Twhirl (12)
• Manage Multiple Users on One Twitter Account with TweetFunnel (8)
• Hoot! An In-Depth Look At Online Twitter Client – HootSuite (21)

First off, a company could want multiple users on one Twitter account in order to share from different departments, etc. or to just split the time it would take to run a successful company Twitter account.  A ministry may want multiple users on one Twitter account, too, to help communicate with the world about what’s going on.  MAYBE a multi-writer blog would want each of the writers to contribute tweets so their Twitter stream remains active.  There could be MANY reasons for what I call a “muli-twit” Twitter account.

There are several issues that could arise from assigning multiple users on Twitter accounts.  A company or organization may have hesitations about relinquishing access to employees.  There should be some kind of control over an organization’s brand.  You’d probably want specific people or a specific department in control of PR or public relations.  It only makes sense that those same people (or that same department) should be in control of what goes out in a company Twitter stream.  So, how can we reconcile the need for a “multi-twit” Twitter account and the PR nightmare it could impose?  Check out TweetFunnel (free while in beta)!

I like how TweetFunnel works.  In fact it reminds me of how a multi-author blog operates.  Basically TweetFunnel allows you to have three levels of twits: an Administrator, a publisher, and a contributor. The administrator creates the account and has the abilities to create users and review and publish tweets. The publisher can review and, you guessed it, publish tweets.  And then there’s the contributor who only had the ability to write and submit tweets to the administrator or publisher for approval.

A publisher or Administrator has several options to choose from when a tweet is submitted by a contributor: approve and post, approve and schedule the tweet to be posted at a later time, hold until later posting or scheduling, or outright reject the tweet.

Let’s take this opportunity to see how this tool works!  First, hit the “try out our free beta” button from this page.

Then, fill in the form.

You’re then offered the opportunity to sign into your newly created account.

The obvious next step is to add a Twitter account.  You are offered two options — to use Twitter’s authentication method (recommended) or enter your Twitter account user name and password.

Once you add the Twitter account, you are now ready to get things set up.  You’ll want to do things like activate the scheduler (it’ll ask for your timezone so timed tweeting will work right) and add bit.ly or bud.url URL shortner accounts (so you can track clicks on links tweeted).

Once that’s done, you can go ahead and hit the settings tab at the top right-hand corner of the site.  Here you can make changes to your profile, manager users and their roles, and manage Twitter accounts including their credentials and scheduler settings.  If your profile and Twitter account is already setup, hit the link to edit users and roles.

From here you can either invite a new user or add a new user.  When you add a new user, just fill in the fields, choose the role, and choose the Twitter account the user will tweet on.

Once your user is set up, the screen will look like this when they log in.

For the sake of demonstration, I went ahead and added a contributor to my account so I can demonstrate how tweeting and moderating tweets works.  When a contributor tweets, here’s what they’ll see.

As an administrator (or publisher if I had one set up), I’d head to Review Queue button to find the tweet awaiting moderation.  You are then given the option to post immediately, post later, or to reject the tweet altogether.

As of right now, it seems as if you can designate a specific time for the tweet to be published.  You can set at which increments future tweets are published.  I’m hoping they’ll eventually allow administrators and publishers to edit tweet times, perhaps the order of future tweets, and if there’s a typo it would be nice to be able to go and fix it before it’s published (it seems once scheduled, there’s no editing possible).

Other than those issues, TweetFunnel could be an amiable competitor so some of the other web-based twitter applications such as HootSuite or PeopleBrowsr.  Remember, they ARE still in beta so I’m sure there’s still some work for them to do and I’m sure they’d appreciate your feedback!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Hoot! An In-Depth Look At Online Twitter Client – HootSuite (21)
• 3 More Cool Twitter Tools To Do Your Tweeting With (9)
• Two Undercover Twitter Clients That Don’t Let Others Know You Are Tweeting (17)
• Twitip.com – Solid Twitter Tips To Help You Get Started (10)
• Trillian Astra – Is It the Best Instant Messaging Client Now? (16)

If you have no idea of what I’m talking about, check these posts out: 9 Ways To Use Twitter – No Website Necessary, 4 Tools for More Productive Twittering, 3 More Cool Twitter Tools To Do Your Tweeting With, 4 Good Alternatives to TweetDeck & Seesmic Desktop (Twitter Desktop Clients).

One such web-based tool is HootSuite. Yes, it’s web-based, meaning you can sign in almost anywhere there’s an Internet connection, unlike TweetDeck which is a desktop program. These days, there are many different web-based Twitter clients being made so I want to go through what perhaps sets HootSuite apart from the rest.

The first thing that makes HootSuite worth trying out is how easy it is to personalize.

There are so many ways you can tweak HootSuite to make it suit your needs such as the ability to have personalized columns. Adding columns is as easy as hitting the “Add Column” plus sign.

And up pops the option box!

You can have columns for almost anything you can think of including DMs, mentions, sent tweets, and even keyword tracking and  searches.

Keep an eye on your brand! If you ever want to know what people are saying about you, your business or your brand on Twitter, you’d probably head over to search.twitter.com and run a search for your company’s name, your name, or your brand. You’ll then get a list of the latest tweets containing that information. HootSuite makes it a whole lot easier! By setting up a column searching for your name or brand, you can keep an easy eye out for those tweets!

One cool way columns can help you organize all of those twits you want to follow is groups. Adding twits to groups is as easy as clicking on the avatar and dragging it into the desired group!

Want the columns in a specific order? No problem! It’s as easy as dragging them to the desired slot!

Another cool thing you can do with search columns (columns you are running a search for keywords, etc.) is you can embed them into you website or blog!  What I see as a downside is that this option seems to only be available for search columns. I’m not sure why. Still cool anyway, right?

Just look for the code symbol.

Customize the widget to your liking.

Copy and paste the code into your site.

Viola! You’ll have an updating Twitter search widget for your site or blog!

There is only so much screen real estate that we have to deal with. If you are like me, you’ll end up with many different columns and there’s just not enough room! That’s where tabs come in!  Help organize groups of columns with personalized tabs!

How refreshing like a warm spring breeze blowing in the window! Organize groups of columns with tabs, naming them any way you want! You can have a friends tab and have columns such as “hometown”, “college”, and “church”. Then you can have a news tab with columns such as “local”, “regional”, and “national”.  Whatever you want.

HootSuite also makes working as a team really easy by letting you do things such as assigning others to access and tweet and control several different Twitter accounts, all in one HootSuite account!

You can choose which twitter account you want to tweet a message with, or you can tweet the same message across several, reaching all of your audiences at once!

I only have one Twitter account, but you get the drift!

There is so much more that HootSuite allows you do such as, URL shortening using Ow.ly, click statistics to see how many clicks you get on links tweeted, and the infamous Hootlet for your link posting pleasure!  It even allows you to set a future time for your tweet to be tweeted! Give HootSuite a whirl! You may actually be able to get a handle on what’s going on in this Twittersphere we keep hearing about!

What tools do you use with Twitter and why?  What makes it better, worse or different from HootSuite?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Seesmic – Like Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku Or Pownce But With Video (9)
• Psst…Do You Plurk? (21)
• Manage Multiple Users on One Twitter Account with TweetFunnel (8)
• Kwippy – Social Networking…Revised. (BETA Invites Included!) (5)
• Five Tantalizing Twitter Tools To Tickle Your Tonsils (8)

There are several reasons why this may be a preferred way to use Twitter:

• Running a separate Twitter desktop client application (usually with Adobe AIR) takes up additional system resources, which can slowdown your system.
• Integrate Twitter smoothly in your workflow, since you don’t need to switch between the browser and an application.
• You don’t need to download anything and are always using the latest version automatically.
• If you wish, you can switch between different web apps easily and swiftly.
• Web apps provide some special features not available in common desktop apps.

Which web-based apps should you use? What are their unique features when compared to the common Twitter desktop clients? In this article, we will look at four Twitter web apps and highlight their unique features so that you can choose the right one to make use of.

HootSuite

HootSuite is an easy-to-use but powerful Twitter application. The interface is very flexible and you can create nice layouts just the way you want them. You can have multiple tabs, with each tab showing up to four columns of tweets. You can drag and drop columns and tabs, change width of columns, and set individual refresh intervals for each tab. Columns can be used for Groups, Mentions, DMs, and Searches just like other apps.

The unique features of HootSuite are:

• Co-workers can tweet from the same Twitter account
• You can track the number of clicks on the links you tweet
• You can schedule tweets for later
• You can feed any RSS/Atom feed to your Twitter account
• You can use Ping.fm with HootSuite to broadcast tweets to other networks
• The Hootlet is a bookmarklet for your browser toolbar to tweet about a web page

Brizzly

Brizzly is the newest web app for Twitter, at present in beta for which you can quickly get an invite just by signing up. It is extremely easy to use, has an uncluttered, clean look, and you will find yourself tweeting within minutes. You can use up to 5 Twitter accounts and create up to 5 groups.

Brizzly’s claim to fame is for the following:

• Inline view of pictures, maps, and videos from a variety of sources
• Save drafts of Tweets like just like email drafts
• Temporarily “mute” prolific tweeters to hide their updates in your stream
• Easily view or edit explanations of Twitter’s trending topics
• Keyboard shortcuts for power users
• Upload pictures directly via Brizzly and track their number of clicks

TwitHive

TwitHive is a different breed among these Twitter web apps. TwitHive uses the term “channels” to describe what essentially become columns once you create them. You can have a highly customized Twitter client because of the flexibility you have in defining channels.

A channel, or column, can be made up of Tweets, Groups, DMs, and Search. The Tweets column can additionally be filtered to display Conversations (tweets with an @reply), Questions, ReTweets, Links, or Keywords. In the example above, I have 3 columns set to display ReTweets, Tweets with Links, and a Search column for Facebook. Also, it is easy to track keyword or brand mentions with TwitHive.

Seesmic Web

Seesmic Desktop’s web-based cousin is not as powerful, but has a few nifty features you won’t find in its desktop version. It is easy to use and offers a choice of two different color schemes. At present, it does not support multiple Twitter accounts and does not allow you to create groups. While these features are just around the corner, Seesmic Web is an attractive option if you are following a limited number of people from a single account.

Seesmic Web has the following standout features:

• Gmail-like interface that lets you view large number of tweets instantly
• Inline previews of pictures, maps, and videos on mouseover
• Threaded DM conversation view (as shown below)
• Support for French, German, Chinese and Romanian languages

Did you find the post useful? Did we miss your favorite Twitter web-app? Tell us in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Two Undercover Twitter Clients That Don’t Let Others Know You Are Tweeting (17)
• Tools, Apps and Bots to Improve your Twitter Experience (31)
• Send Tweets & Make Video With The New & Improved Twhirl (12)
• Manage Multiple Users on One Twitter Account with TweetFunnel (8)
• How To Schedule Future Tweets with Taweet (10)

But then there are considerations of not wanting to be seen tweeting while at work. Now we surely encourage you to do your work with all the required zeal, but it is always nice to know a tool or two that may be used in such a situation or are simple and plain fun to use otherwise as well.

Here are two of the ‘Undercover Twitter clients’, which give you an interface that people don’t generally associate with Twitter.

SpreadTweet

SpreadTweet gives you a Microsoft Excel-like interface to access Twitter. Your tweets are nicely listed as the contents of the spreadsheet and you can use the ‘formula bar’ to send out a tweet.

There are different versions available to match the look of Excel 2003, Excel 2007 or to match the Office OSX look and feel. Most of the buttons and options of the ‘Excel interface’ are non functional, but you can check replies, direct messages or refresh.

The desktop version of this Twitter client requires Adobe AIR. There is also a web version which defaults to Office OSX look. With all the browser toolbars around, it may not be the best disguise ever, although full screen mode would look convincing if you are on a Mac. Overall – SpreadTweet looks convincing and does a good job at replicating the Excel interface, although the taskbar button gives it away easily.

Quitter

Next up in line is Quitter. Quitter is a Twitter client that’s like tweeting from the command line. While this may seem archaic, Quitter offers some really cool features:

First and foremost, its only 43 KB in size and you don’t need to install it (though it requires .NET framework). Just double click the file and you are ready. Quitter then creates an XML file containing the configuration details. Quitter requires you to grant access to your Twitter account, it would take you to the Twitter page and generate a pin should you choose to allow it. Enter that pin in Quitter and you are ready to tweet.

Quitter can do most of the things that you would expect from a Twitter client. It allows you to:

• Read, post, reply and retweet.
• Organize the people you follow into groups and read tweets by group.
• Filter tweets from specific users or that contain certain #hashtags.
• Shorten URL’s
• Easily open tweeted links from other users in your default browser (no copy/paste needed)
• Send and receive direct messages
• Follow or unfollow other users

All this is of course achieved via simple commands like:

Quitter is surprisingly functional and fun to use, although I am still wondering why it was named Quitter. Any guesses?

Both SpreadTweet and Quitter are handy applications that don’t look like Twitter clients. While SpreadTweet gives you an Excel-like interface, it offers limited functionality. Quitter offers nice features and a geeky command line interface that some of us cherish better than others!

Do you know of other Twitter clients that offer unconventional interfaces?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Tools, Apps and Bots to Improve your Twitter Experience (31)
• Send Tweets & Make Video With The New & Improved Twhirl (12)
• How to Use Twitter with Multiple Accounts with Seesmic Desktop (10)
• Find Tweeters in Your Area with TwitterLocal (7)
• 4 Tools for More Productive Twittering (10)

Here I will discuss 3 of my favorite latest discoveries.

Twi.tt

Twi.tt is a service that allows you to create and share pictures, videos, documents, audio and even polls. When you go onto Twi.tt you firstly need to sign into your Twitter account. Twi.tt uses the OAuth method for logging users in so it is secure and Twi.tt do not store your Twitter username and password.

If you have never logged into a Twitter service using OAuth before it is as simple as two clicks. First click the Sign in with Twitter button and then click Allow when you have been taken to Twitter.

Twi.tt allows you to upload pictures, videos, documents and audio from your computer, link to it via a URL or capture pictures, videos and audio straight from your computer. They are also planning on adding support for emails in a few days.

When creating a poll you have 112 characters for the poll question and there is no limit for the number of poll answers. You also have the option of disallowing repeated votes and not posting your poll to Twitter.

When your poll has been created you will be given a link to it and a link to it will also be posted on your Twitter feed if you did not select the option to not post there.

The profile page that Twi.tt creates for you is almost identical to your Twitter account as it has your background image and your profile image. People also have the option to comment on content that you have posted.

Tweepler

Tweepler is a service that was created by @coryschop that lets you organize people (also known as tweeple) that are following you and who you are following.

To login in to Tweepler you must enter your Twitter username and password at the top of the site. When you hover over Why? next to the login form you will see that they state your details are encrypted and not stored.

When you log in you are shown a list of people that are following you but you are not following back. These are listed as Unprocessed Followers. If you do not want to add a person you can move them to the ignore bucket by pressing the arrow to the right. If you want to follow a person back you click the arrow to the right of their name.

You will be able to see everyone’s username, name, website, location and their bio. But if you click on more details you will get

• Information on the average number of tweets they post per day.
• The total number of tweets they have posted.
• Information on the number of followers they have
• The number of people they are following along with a ratio of following:followers. Their three latest tweets are also displayed.

It is possible to sort users by newest followers, oldest followers, name and username. If you don’t want to bother going through all of the Unprocessed followers you can click the Follow All or Ignore All button at the bottom of the page.

Tweetboard

Tweetboard is one of the most unique Twitter tools I have came across to date. What Tweetboard allows you to do is add a Twitter conversation for your site so that viewers can post messages and others can reply all in an easy to follow nested view.

Tweetboard is still in alpha but you can grab an invite by requesting one on the Tweetboard website by clicking the “Request a free alpha invite!” button. When you click the button it will take you to Twitter where you must send the message that is entered upon load.

When your account has been set up you will be notified. From the Tweetboard you can then grab the javascript snippet of code that will be placed on your website for Tweetboard to function. On certain content management systems and blogs the code may not work as intended to so some tweaking may be needed.

Tweetboard is a really good way of increasing traffic to your website and also a great solution of getting to know what your visitors think of your website.

If you have a favorite Twitter tool or service then post a comment below and share it with us.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Manage Multiple Users on One Twitter Account with TweetFunnel (8)
• Hoot! An In-Depth Look At Online Twitter Client – HootSuite (21)
• Wakoopa – Find Out What Software You (And Others) Use Most (10)
• Two Undercover Twitter Clients That Don’t Let Others Know You Are Tweeting (17)
• Twitip.com – Solid Twitter Tips To Help You Get Started (10)

Without wasting any time, let’s start it off! Here are 10 really cool free Blackberry applications.

1. Pandora Mobile

Pandora, reviewed in the past by MakeUseOf, has a great free Blackberry application which allows you to do almost everything you can do on the desktop version except right on your phone. You can create new stations, listen to already created ones, rate songs and more. Download it from your Blackberry’s browser here: http://www.pandora.com.

2. Neosistec CarFinder

Can’t remember where you parked your car in that large parking lot? When you leave your car, open CarFinder’s simple menu and mark your location through your Blackberry’s GPS. When you need to find your car (or another specific point) again, pull up CarFinder and it will guide you back via a compass or the Blackberry Maps application. You can also send your marked location to a friend. Download it from your Blackberry’s browser here: http://www.neosistec.com/carfinder.

3. Qik Mobile

As I’ve reviewed before on MakeUseOf, Qik, which allows you to stream live video from your phone to the internet for free, has a great mobile application for Blackberry. With it, you can stream video online from your device for anyone to see, or limit access with a password. But as the service implies, your Blackberry must be a model with a camera for Qik to work. You can download Qik by going to their website on your Blackberry’s browser here: http://qik.com/m/dl/brands.

4. Google Maps

Just like the popular online maps site, Google Maps offers a great Blackberry application which allows for most of the same features on their site, except again, its running on your phone. You can get directions, get maps in satellite view and watch traffic and see your location (which can work even if your Blackberry doesn’t have GPS, but works better if it does). View a real-time online demo of Google Maps Mobile here or download it from your Blackberry’s browser here: http://m.google.com/maps.

5. Palringo

If you like instant messaging, you’ll love Palringo. It is a mobile instant messaging client which supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk and more, all in one piece of software. You can also chat with other users of Palringo (on a desktop, Android, iPhone/iPod Touch, Windows Mobile or Symbian phone) via text chat, voice or pictures. Palringo’s voice capabilities make it a great almost push-to-talk (PTT) software and a great piece of software to talk to your friends online or on their mobile phones due to its wide compability. Download Palringo from your Blackberry’s browser here: http://www.palringo.mobi.

6. Boopsie

Through way of different “channels”, Boopsie lets you intelligently search for content or articles on sites like IMDB, Wikipedia, Amazon and more. When you use the application, you can pull up your favorite channel and then search for content on it and live results will appear on your screen for the content you selected. You can view an online demo at their website, or you can download Boopsie from your Blackberry’s browser by going here: http://www.boopsie.com.

7. Viigo

Viigo is a feature-rich application which lets you view news & RSS feeds, audio clips & podcasts, stocks & money data, weather and more. From the one application, you can do a lot of things and browse many blog RSS feeds, see sports scores, view local weather, and even read books. Viigo also bills their software as “the one app you’ll never want to be without” because of its wide range of features it makes available to you. You can download Viigo from your Blackberry browser here: http://www.getviigo.com.

8. Blackberry Appworld

Made directly by Blackberry, Appworld allows you to browse through a wide variety of many other Blackberry apps and download and install them on the spot from the application. Many different developers contribute their applications to the library that’s available for download. The limitation to this application is that you must have a free PayPal account in order to get through checkout of some apps. You can download Appworld from your Blackberry’s browser here: http://www.blackberry.com/appworld

9. Facebook For Blackberry

We all know what Facebook is- the online utility which lets you share pictures, messages and online applications with friends.  Well, now they have a handy Blackberry application which lets you do almost anything you can do on their desktop site, on your Blackberry. A really neat feature of this app is their recent update which allows you to automatically link Facebook profile pictures of your friends with their contact entry in your Blackberry’s address book. You can download Facebook for Blackberry on your Blackberry’s browser here: http://www.facebook.com/blackberry.

10. Twitterberry

If you use Twitter and have a Blackberry, then Twitterberry is for you. With it, you can send out Twitter updates quickly and easily as well as see your friends timeline, view replies to your Tweets and direct message your friends. Download Twitterberry here: http://orangatame.com/ota/twitterberry/.

Almost all of these applications require an unlimited data plan from your Blackberry data/phone provider due to the amount of bandwidth they consume while in use. You may also read other MakeUseOf posts on Blackberry here.

Do you have a favorite Blackberry App? Let us know in the comments, or share your experience with any of the ones posted here! MakeUseOf also has a mobile site where you can view this article and more at http://m.makeuseof.com.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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But any hesitations about going back to my ex were finally swept aside when it was announced that a new beta version of TWhirl was in town with snazzy new features. I foam at the mouth like a rabid dog for snazzy new features! Hold me back!

It has to be stressed right away that the new version is NOT on the TWhirl homepage but rather here and you have to put your name and email address in the required boxes. You will then be immediately emailed the download link. Yes, you are signing up for an email newsletter list but you can easily unsubscribe afterwards.   But you might want to stay subscribed because a couple of days after I subscribed, they came out with a new improved version of TWhirl with some bugs removed and another download link.

So after using the new version for a few days, let’s take a look at some of the new features, which I have to say are extremely impressive.

An Easy To use Search Tool That Keeps On Searching

This was the feature that really struck me about the new TWhirl as I do a lot of searching on Twitter to see what people are saying about MakeUseOf stories and this really is a remarkable feature.

Let’s say I enter the search term “makeuseof”

Once you get the results, you can then “activate” a tab at the top of the app.

Doing this, you can make a line of tabs at the top of the app for various search terms.  I made a few, one for MakeUseOf, another for Open Culture (a favourite website of mine) and another for my own blog, Better Than Therapy. You can then easily click between tabs to see the new Twitter search results coming through for those search terms. If you want to make more tabs, just expand the app by dragging it with your mouse.

What’s even better is that you will be notified by TWhirl when a new Tweet comes through which matches your search term. So it constantly monitors your search terms for you and returns results, just like Google Alerts.

Post To Ping.FM And Jaiku

I don’t see why Twhirl added the Jaiku option since Google recently announced that they were trashing Jaiku.  But there is the “post status updates to Ping.FM” option for people who use that.

Since I don’t use the service, I don’t really have much to say about this aspect of TWhirl but I’m sure that people who do use it will find it useful. As for the Jaiku part, I’m sure it will disappear pretty soon once Google gives the service the ol’ heave ho.

Add Other Accounts To TWhirl

As well as Twitter, you can add four other accounts to your TWhirl app (see screenshot above). I briefly added my Friendfeed account but I swiftly removed it again because there was too much noise and I was unable to keep up with all the updates pouring through the app.

With Seesmic, you can record videos from the app itself as well as view your inbox, listen to videos, follow people and look people up.

All in all, this is a pretty sweet app and I think I am now firmly back in love with TWhirl. Oh and in case you think that lime green is totally gross (or “watermelon” as they like to call it), you can change the colour to a variety of others including black, orange, purple, blue, grey and red. So don’t fret about the decor, luv.

So goodbye TweetDeck and thanks for all the tweets.   I’m now sticking with TWhirl and I recommend you to switch too if you’re into Twitter. This little baby is one hot app. Remember, it lives here, NOT on the TWhirl homepage.

If you decide to give it a go, remember to come back and let us know what you think about it in the comments!

UPDATE (31 January): there is now a new version of TWhirl (8.8 K) which has a spell checker built in. So if you previously subscribed to the mailing list, downloaded the older TWhirl and then unsubscribed again, you’d better sign up again to get the new download link!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Two Undercover Twitter Clients That Don’t Let Others Know You Are Tweeting (17)
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That’s why I’m still on Windows Mobile, along with a massive portion of the rest of the world. Windows Mobile is one of the most-used mobile operating systems, but it’s been largely pushed aside as the iPhone has become more popular. The iPhone has all its great applications, but there are a number of fantastic, useful, fun and plain cool Windows Mobile apps as well.

Here are five free applications for Windows Mobile, many of which have iPhone counterparts, but that do their job at least as well as they do on that Apple-thing.

Evernote

My favorite “external brain”, Evernote helps you remember everything. With Evernote for Windows Mobile, all you’ll need on you is your cell phone. Just fire up the app, and you can create notes from pictures, text or voice. Search and browse your notes, share and edit them, and manage your head right from your Windows Mobile phone.

Unlike the iPhone (as best as I could tell), there’s also a link to upload a file, which means you’re able to send files to and from your Windows Mobile phone. It’s perfect for when you need to remember to buy something, how much something costs, something you need to do, or just about anything that comes into your head that you’d rather not fly right out.

Fring

Fring is the mobile IM client to end all mobile IM clients. It connects to most major instant messaging networks- AIM, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and the like. If you’ve got a Wi-Fi enabled phone, there’s even another killer feature- Skype. You can make VOIP calls with your cell phone, using Fring’s Skype support, and not use your minutes or plan, but simply by picking up a wireless signal.

Even without Wi-Fi, though, Fring’s a killer application for instant messaging, and can even update your Twitter status for you.

Tiny Twitter

Even though Fring can update Twitter for you, odds are Twitter users will want a bit more. That’s where Tiny Twitter comes in. It’s a Twitter cleint for Windows Mobile that also works on any Java-enabled device which covers some serious ground. Using Tiny Twitter, you can tweet without hitting your SMS bill (though you will incur some data charges without a data plan).

Tiny Twitter allows full access to your Twitter timeline, makes replying and messaging easy, and the “Inbox” view gives you a simple way to see and respond to tweets directed at you. Tiny Twitter’s the perfect Windows Mobile app for tweeting on the go, and is actually better than anything I’ve found for the iPhone.

The Core Pocket Media Player

TCPMP, as The Core Pocket Media Player is known, is the best way to watch movies and listen to music on a Windows Mobile phone. You can use it to stream media (again, watch the data charges), or to play a huge variety of formats of both video and audio. It’s a no-frills application with a small memory footprint that’s dead simple to use, and one road warriors won’t want to be without. Especially when you add the use of a memory card, TCPMP works with your phone to make it a killer media player- small screen or no small screen.

Kevtris

What fun is a phone you can’t play with? The iPhone has a ton of great games, but let’s be honest – there’s never been a game as wonderful as Tetris. The blocks, the twisting, the narrow misses that leave you tearing your hair out – it’s just glorious.

If you have a Windows Mobile phone, you needn’t ever be without Tetris again. It’s a free download called Kevtris, and is a blast to play. There are three levels of play, and several different games you can play as well – all similar to Tetris. It’s a fantastic time-waster, and a game I like better than anything the iPhone’s thrown at me.

I’ve been a Windows Mobile user for a while now, and thanks to these applications and more, I don’t plan on changing anytime soon. There are applications to do everything that I need, for free, and plus – I just love having an actual keyboard.

Are you a Windows Mobile user? What applications do you have, and which do you envy of the iPhone?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Despite all that though, I continue to dislike the way Twitter works, or used to work. For a long time, you had to go to the website, log in, type your 140, submit it, and then leave. Getting to the update was often longer than the update itself.

That got me looking for faster, simpler ways to update my Twitter status and read others. In my searching, I found a pretty huge number, but narrowed it down to the eight fastest, simplest, and most robust ways to update my Twitter status without ever typing “twitter.com”.

Here they are :

1. BeTwittered

My homepage, in any of the browsers I use, is iGoogle. Especially with the new canvas view, which a lot of people aren’t fans of, I’m able to access Gmail, Reader, the news, and a bunch of other great things all in one place. One of my favorite iGoogle gadgets is BeTwittered, where you can update your status as well as see other people’s updates and replies.

2. Digsby

Digsby is my IM client of choice, for a whole bunch of reasons; not the least of those is the fact that I can update and view my Twitter info right from it. By creating a new account under the “Social Networks” menu in “Accounts”, I can update my own status, as well as see others and write and view replies, all from within Digsby.

3. The Twitlet – Post to Twitter Bookmarklet

This one’s probably the simplest of the bunch: Just drag Twitelt bookmarklet to your bookmarks bar, or bookmark it in any way you want. Then, anytime you want to tweet, click the bookmark. It brings up a tiny window asking what you’re doing. Type your 140, and then close the box. It really is that simple.

4. IMified

Even if you don’t have Digsby, you can still update your Twitter status from any IM client, by adding IMified as your friend (Mark did an article on Imified here). You can interact with IMified to do things like add to Google Calendar, your blog, your task list, and yes- Twitter. It’s as easy as sending an IM to either imified@imified.com or IMified, depending on your instant messaging program.

5. Your cell phone

With a simple text message, you can update your Twitter status. You’ll have to connect your phone to your account, which you can do in the “Settings” menu at the top of your Twitter page. Once you set it up, just send a text message from your phone to 40404, and update away! You can also send a direct message by typing “d whoyou’resendingitto your message”. I use this all the time, because I always have my cell phone on me.

Careful, though- this is an easy way to rack up big texting bills.

6. Twhirl

There are a ton of desktop applications out there for managing your Twitter account, but Twhirl seems to be the best and most popular. A free download, Twhirl lets you manage your Twitter account as well as several others, like Friendfeed and Seesmic. It offers several other features, which you can see on their website, but it does the basics- reading, writing, and following- really well. Being an Adobe Air app, it works on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

7. Ping.fm

If you’re a social network heavyweight, Ping.fm ought to be a huge timesaver for you. You can use it from almost anywhere- phones, iPhones, IM, email, and their website, among others.

Ping.fm works with all your social networks, including Twitter, and you can post new stuff to one or all of the networks you choose. If you’ve got multiple micro-blogs, blogs or social networks, Ping.fm’s a great way to go.

8. Twitterbar

This one’s another easy one for someone looking to update Twitter without all the hassle involved. Using an extension called “TwitterBar,” you can tweet just by typing into your Firefox address bar. Instead of pressing enter, you click a green button the extension puts in your address bar, and off to Twitter it goes.

It’s also great for tweeting links- just click the green button, and the address of the page you’re on goes right to Twitter.

9. Twitterific

This one’s just for people with iPhones and iPod Touches, but it’s worth mentioning. There are several applications for the iPhone and Twitter, but Twitterific is definitely the best. Boot it up, and all your Twitter information is right there, presented in an easy and attractive way. You can tweet pictures and text, mark tweets as favorites and view user information, as well as send and view replies.

Typing your 140 should be the longest part of using Twitter – now, with any of these nine applications, it can be.

Which ones do YOU use? Or do you use one not seen here? Why do you like the one you use? What features make it a keeper?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Tools, Apps and Bots to Improve your Twitter Experience (31)
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But then let’s face it, Twitter’s not the only micro-blogging platform out there, and it’s definitely not the only program that lets you have status updates. That’s why having a Twitter-only client doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. I was using Twitux before, but since then I joined a fully open-source micro-blogging platform called Identi.ca. Probably by virtue of being open-source software, it has a large Linux-user population, so I had to join. And Twitux doesn’t work with it. Enter Gwibber.

Gwibber is a status-update client for a lot of services. I’m just using it for Twitter and Identi.ca, but it also works for Digg, Jaiku, Facebook, Pownce, and Flickr. It’s actively developed, and the developer (Ryan Paul of ArsTechnica) seems to be listening to user input, so that’s definitely a plus.

Right now, though, I just really like its flexibility. It uses WebKit for rendering, so it can get pretty fancy. Take a look at the screenshot below. I configured it to use dark blue for Identi.ca updates and light blue for Twitter updates, so they match each site’s theme. You can pick whatever color you want for each, but I thought it was easier to remember this way.

You can also see that where someone replied to me the message is outlined in red. That’s pretty useful. New messages are outlined in light blue to highlight them.

Perhaps my favourite feature is the duplicate detection. See that plus sign on my message? Here’s what happens when you click it:

It detected that I tweeted and dented the same thing and displayed the status update only once. This happens when I post from within Gwibber or when one of my friends that uses both does so. It just helps tidy up the interface a bit, I think. And then of course there’s the requisite “Reply” button in the bottom right corner of whichever notice has focus.

If you’d like to try it out:

• Fedora: in 8 & 9’s testing repositories
• OpenSuSE: It’s in 1-click
• Ubuntu: Directions on wiki to add repositories

Please note, though, that Gwibber is still in Alpha. I haven’t noticed any issues with it, but being alpha software does mean there are big changes happening fairly often. I think duplicate detection was added last week. I’m with everyone that’s requesting a “Replies” tab. Ryan says he’ll make it a priority.

Windows and Mac users? You’re out of luck. This application is only supported for Linux, but if you get it to compile and run on other Unix-based OSes, let me know.

[rating=4]

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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• Update all your Social Status Messages with Ping.fm (14)
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While we have previously covered some of the cool AIR applications, most of them are meant for the Windows/Mac platform. For Linux users who are constantly looking for AIR applications, here is a list of 8 useful AIR applications that we have tested and found them to be working in Linux.

1. TweetDeck

TweetDeck is an interesting Twitter client that allows you to organize your tweets into more manageable levels. It enables the user to split their main feed into topics or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets.

There are several useful features in TweetDeck. One of them is the auto-updating of the Twitter status so that you know when Twitter is down. The next feature is that you can continue to send tweets even when you are offline (or when Twitter is down). Tweets and direct messages are queued and then sent automatically when you are back online.

2. WebKut

WebKut allows you to take a screenshot of any Web page easily. It loads the page in its own viewer and you can screen-capture the page the way you like it. This is so far the easiest and simplest screen capture tool that I have come across.

3. Snackr

Snackr is a RSS ticker that pulls random items from your feeds and scrolls them across your desktop in an unobstructive way. It is easy to hide/deactivate it when you find it annoying and when you see a title that looks interesting, you can simply click on it to pop up the item in a window.

4. Xdrive Desktop Lite

Xdrive is an online storage service provided by AOL. It’s free and you get a whopping 5GB of online storage space to backup all your data, video and music. The AIR application Xdrive Desktop Lite is to allow its users to easily transfer and backup their local files to Xdrive online storage.

5. AirTube Video Downloader

Using the AirTube Video downloader, you can easily download YouTube videos to your desktop simply by dragging or pasting the video’s URL. After the downloading is completed, the application will playback the video in its viewer. A useful tool for someone who downloads videos very often.

6. Destroy Flickr

There is already a full review on DestroyFlickr, so I shall not say anymore about it. But it is definitely a good thing that a great app like this works on Linux too.

7. Klok

Klok is a time management application that allows you to monitor the time you have spent on projects, tasks and any other stuff. You can view the timeline in Weekly view, Project view or get it to generate a report and display in pie-chart format. There are some very well-thought features such as setting up a template for new projects, creating sub-projects, drop-down calendar and a zoom in/out function for the timeline. If you are looking for a good time management application, Klok is definitely the one I would recommend.

8. UVLayer

If you have watched the movie ‘Minority Report’, then you will find the interface of UVLayer very similar to that in the movie. When you search for a video via the search bar, UVLayer will instantly fetch a list of videos from YouTube and Truveo and display them in a big window. You can then drag the video onto anywhere in the canvas. It is also integrated with Google Talk, Facebook and AIM so that you can share the videos with your friends easily.

Are there any more Air applications for Linux that you want to add?

(By) Damien Oh is an all-out technology geek who loves to tweak and hack various operating systems to make life easier. Check out his blog at Make Tech Easier where he shares all the tips, tricks and tutorials.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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It’s also a good idea to look at Mark’s Twitter Tools Apps & Bots article as well as Jason’s Twitter tools article.

Twhirl – Desktop Twitter Client

Twhirl is an Adobe Air application which we have already mentioned here on Make Use Of, and I love it so much I have only used the web interface about twice.

Once you install it you can send direct messages, view replies, simply tweet away or you can view friends, followers, in short, everything you can do on the web.

In addition, the interface is beautiful, with icons displayed just the way they should, interface behaving intuitively and a boatload of skins right out of the box. Minimizing the application puts it on your system tray where it notifies you of Twitters and lets you send with one click.

Alternatively, if Adobe Air isn’t your particular cup of tea, take a look at Twadget, a Vista sidebar widget for Vista (obviously). The functions it offers are considerably less, but development is active, so you can expect new releases soon.

Twist – Twitter trends

Both a tool for fun, but also a serious potential marketing tool, Twist brings you the lowdown on trends on Twitter. Since so many people are Twittering, getting a glimpse of what they are saying could give you loads of information on anything really. You can find out about breaking stories before anyone else, create some interesting statistics for an essay or post, or find out which topic is hottest right now.

Bloggers and website owners can use this tool to track their hype, but also to determine the hottest topics to write about, or upcoming topics they should be researching soon. You can take a look at the list on the left for hot topics, but you can also go into minute detail and look at exactly what people are saying about the topic you entered.

TwittyTunes – Post music and websites to Twitter

If you know FoxyTunes, you will be familiar with the look and feel of TwittyTunes, a Firefox extension which lets you post a number of things to Twitter with just one click.

Basically it’s a simple Twitter client with some pre-defined text available inside Mozilla. You can use it in conjunction with FoxyTunes to send a tweet with the song your listening to in three clicks. You can also easily share the page you’re viewing with others, and this is a feature I personally welcome more, since it saves me a lot of copy-paste time. If you have a blog but don’t like the Twitter Tools Wordpress extension (see below), you can easily let people know about your new posts with this little addon.

As a simple Twitter client it also has the ability to send normal tweets. You can choose between normal text and normal text+URL which will allow you to send a regular message, and add the URL you are currently on to it optionally. The URL does take away characters from your tweet though, so if you’re on a long URL, it may be difficult to get some proper text in there.

Twitter Tools for Wordpress

Twitter tools is a plugin for Wordpress made by Alex King, who has supplied us with lots of popular stuff before, like category overlord, popularity contest and so on (see the link). This won’t fail to impress either, it integrates elegantly and efficiently with Wordpress allowing you to use it in conjuction with your Twitter account.

Among its many features is the ability to create tweets out of your entries and entries out of your tweets. You can use it to automatically post the URL of your newest entry, but you can also use it to create entries from your tweets. This may sound a bit stupid, what are you going to do with 140 character long entries?

Well if you create a separate personal blog and record all your tweets, you may have a huge collection of tweets in no time. This means you can log everything you do, organize yourself with it, create a database of tasks you’ve done or want to do, the possibilities here are endless. You can use it to log all the music you’ve listened to by using it in tandem with the TwittyTunes Firefox addon, the rest is up to your imagination.

What is your favourite Twitter tool? You know by now where to write it! Plus if you want to follow the Make Use Of and its writers on Twitter, just go here to find their Twitter usernames.

(By) Daniel Pataki is the writer of Hack Your Day, his productivity blog and founder of Blogtastique, a blog management service. I feel like I’m leading three lives at once, I’m even too tired to continue using third person here!”

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Here’s a prime example of how Twitter has grown into something useful. Before writing this article, I sent a Twitter message saying that I was writing this and I asked people for opinions and input. In a matter of minutes, I was flooded with private direct messages with website links, ideas, tips and much more to consider for this piece.

Therein lies the beauty of Twitter – it is an instant messaging system on steroids. You can use it to promote blog posts (Make Use Of has one) and you can ask people for help, opinions, referrals, links and much more. I’ve even see people hiring consultants over Twitter so it’s now turning into an online recruitment area.

Here for your reference are the cream of the Twitter crop. Find out how to flag words, track phrases and use automated bots to simplify your life. We will also take a look at some of the third party apps out there that remove the need for you to even use the Twitter website.

THIRD PARTY APPS

Most people use the Twitter website or their mobile phones to update their status. But lots of third party apps are suddenly appearing, one of which I am using exclusively.

1. Using Twitter via your instant messaging program :

If you use Google Talk or Jabber, you can use Twitter on these apps by configuring the Twitter Devices page. Google Talk is a good one to use as your Tweets are instantly archived in your Gmail account.

All you need to do is configure the Devices page then add Twitter to your contact list. Then send it an instant message and your Twitter page is updated seconds later. You will also receive the IM updates of all the people you are following (unless you have this switched off).

Alternatively, you can Tweet using Skype. If you’re more of a Windows Live Messenger or ICQ user, you can Tweet using TwitterIM. Apple iPhone users can use PocketTweets. You can even Tweet from Microsoft Outlook. Or if you’re a mega-geek, you can even Tweet from the Windows Command Line.

I have been unable to find Twitter updating tools for Yahoo Messenger and AIM. If anyone can suggest any, please let us know in the comments.

2. TWhirl (Install Twitter on your desktop) :

TWhirl is my preferred Twitter app which can be installed on your PC as it runs on the Adobe AIR platform. Turquoise in colour, it has a very sleek interface and it only checks for new Tweets every 5 minutes which means you are not overwhelmed with new messages. You can also follow people and perform other Twitter functions.

Check out even more Twitter apps on the Twitter fan wiki.

TWITTER TIPS

3. Flag words with a hash :

If you are writing a message, you can highlight certain words with a # to mark them out as keywords that people can track. So if you write “I went to see #Spiderman last night at the cinema“, anyone tracking the word “Spiderman” will be able to find your post. Very useful for SEO and promoting certain words & phrases, especially that Twitter posts are now being indexed in Google and Technorati.

4. Track words or phrases :

Just as you would with Google Alerts, you can now be notified when a certain word or phrase pops up on Twitter. Just go to your Twitter page and write the word or phrase in your update box preceded by the word “track”. So if you wanted to track MakeUseOf, you would type in your Twitter update box : track makeuseof. You will get a confirmation message and you can stop tracking a word or phrase at any time by typing “untrack” and the word / phrase. So untrack makeuseof

This feature is good for monitoring what people on Twitter are saying about you, your business or any of your interests. As soon as anyone mentions your keywords, you’ll be the next to know about it.

BOTS

Not all the accounts on Twitter belong to real breathing humans. Some of them are useful bots that make Twitter even more useful.

5. Breaking News

Get the breaking news headlines. This bot has often scooped CNN and the BBC. In fact I first heard of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and Heath Ledger’s death on Twitter long before it appeared on CNN. Another good news-related person (a real person) is this guy who is a TV cameraman who is often assigned to the White House Press Corps. He tweets relentlessly about what’s going on and where he is.

6. GCal

This really cool bot allows you to update your Google Calendar via Twitter or your mobile phone to Twitter. I use this a lot when I am away from the computer and I need to update my calendar.

7. MakeUseOf – As I have mentioned above, you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Not only you can follow-up on MUO posts but also directory additions and stuff from Geeky Fun.

Other bots which have been recommended to me (but I haven’t tried them) include:

• forecast – for weather forecasts
• Timer – get reminder messages
• Stock – for stock prices
• RUWTbot – for sports scores and TV listings
• Wordbot – for cheating at word games

I have only begun to scratch the surface here so I am tempted to do a part two to this post soon with more that I have found. But if you have any favourite Twitter apps, bots, tips or tricks, please let us know in the comments. Why not also let us know your Twitter name? I am always looking for new people to stalk!

(By) Mark O’Neill is a blogger, English tutor and internet addict. Check out his private blog at www.betterthantherapy.net

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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