Twitter App War

So, there isn’t really a battle of epic proportions between software dev’s, but there certainly is debate over what Twitter apps get the job done for Android powered phones.  It seems that every app has something that’s keeping it from being the “cock of the walk.”

So, here are my reviews of my top three Twitter apps for Android:

Twidgit Lite (http://disretrospect.com/twidgit/)

Twidgit Lite is a nice widget that sits on your home screen and allows you to view new tweets, tweet, re-tweet, reply, send a direct message, mark favorites and navigate to links in an external browser.  Overall, it has a very sleek UI that is very user-friendly.  Its settings allow you to choose whether you want notifications on the arrival of new tweets and how frequently you want it to refresh.

Although it is a useful widget, it does however lack some key features.  You can’t view or link to profiles, see your direct messages, or upload media to Twitpic, Yfrog, or other services.  Also, it only uses one account, and when you remove the widget from the home screen, it removes your user data.  So, you must provide your login data every time you have to re-populate it to your home screen (Which isn’t too bad, at least you know it’s not storing your personal info).

So, it’s Twitter at the core, without all the bells and whistles.  But for what it can do, it does it fairly well.

7/10 

Swift (http://www.swift-app.com)

Swift is a Twitter app that has most everything that you could ask for.  The essentials are all there (tweet, re-tweet, direct message), and you can even see your latest mentions, your direct messages and view profiles.  You can even search key words in the Twitter world and it shows you the trending topics on start up.  Swift’s preferences allows you to set optional notifications, data encryption, what service you want to use for media uploads (pictures and video), and gives you the option to open links and hash-tags within Swift (instead of the external browser).

With all the customization Swift has to offer, there a few things that hold it back.  I find the load time to be sluggish and not very “swift” at all.  It could be my local T-Mobile service, but I have seen it commented on by others.  With its loading style, it loads the timeline, mentions, and direct messages all separately when you view them.  Swift also has no multi-account support, which for me isn’t a clincher, but some Android-users have this as priority for their Twitter apps.

Despite protracted load times, Swift has a very high functionality if you use it on Wi-Fi and loads of features.

8/10

TwitterRide (http://twitterride.net/)

My top pick for best Twitter app is TwitterRide.  TwitterRide is a nice, neat Twitter app for everyone.  Just like Swift, it covers all the basics (tweet, re-tweet, reply, direct message) and view all your messages, mentions, post images (TwitPic), follow links, trending topics and hash tags.  Within the app settings you can choose (just like the other two) to add notifications on new tweets, new mentions, new direct message, and couple other features.

As far as flaws, TwitterRide is lacking a multi-account support and ability to upload videos.  Which really isn’t key for my needs, but some would enjoy.

I thoroughly enjoy Twitter ride, its quick load times and all the capabilities.

9/10

All there are my picks for the Top 3 Twitter apps for Android.  All these apps can be downloaded from the Android Market, and more information can be found on their developer-dedicated websites.

Got a pick that I didn’t list?  Comment and let everyone else know what else is out there.

Google to Android Developers -- It's Not All Open Source

The open source community has been watching the wrestling match between Google (s goog) and Cyanogen, open source developer Steve Kondik, with rapt attention. Kondik is the developer who has been producing enhanced CyanogenMod, an Android ROM build for months. CyanogenMod is based on the “open source” Android build, with special functionality cooked in. Recently, Google created a hubbub when it sent a “cease and desist” order to Kondik, drawing the ire of the open source community. The move surprised the community given Google’s professed love for it, and especially given that Android has been open source from the beginning.

Google has stated that there are apps inside the Android builds that are in fact not open source — Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube chief among them. The fact that these are commercial apps and not open source, means they cannot be incorporated in a free, open source build such as CyanogenMod. Kondik has indicated he will produce the mod without these apps, making a utility for users that aids in the removal of them before modding, and easy re-installation after his mod has been applied. The end result is the modding process has gotten more complicated, and the community is understandably unhappy.

A new Android developers alliance has been formed, the Open Android Alliance, that intends to produce open source versions of the restricted apps included in the standard Android build. These versions could then be distributed within mods distributed as open source. This seems to be a big task, so we’ll have to see how well it goes. I can’t see open source versions of Gmail and Google Maps in particular that will replace the commercial Google versions.

Google is understandably taking heat over this situation, but as is often the case in these open source arguments things may not be as they seem. It is very possible that Google has commercial contracts prohibiting them from allowing these apps to be included in open source versions. Stranger things have happened. Allowing the inclusion of these apps to continue, could set dangerous precedents for them going forward. Only Google knows.

I suspect that if CyanogenMod included the HTC Sense interface used on the Hero I am currently evaluating, that HTC would follow Google’s example. It is the same principle.

It seems to me that Google should not be including commercial apps in an open source OS in the first place. It is ultimately their responsibility to remove them, not the developers. They could have avoided a lot of grief if they had done so, and not thrown it on the backs of the developer community. That’s what doesn’t sit well with me over this whole situation. You can’t give a cupcake away and tell the recipients they can’t eat the sprinkles.

Google gave our buds at GigaOM this statement to clarify their position:

The power of open source is that the community can shape it as they see fit. One thing we know for certain — innovation doesn’t come from a single source. Google supports and encourages developers to make Android better.

It sounds good, but we’ll have to see how things progress going forward.

That Was Close, Google

The open-source/Android world went into a frenzy last week when Google hit Android modder Cyanogen with a cease-and-desist letter, but it seems that this situation (unlike the Apple/Google Voice debacle, which nowadays seems like it’s been going on since THE BEGINNING OF TIME) is turning around.

For those not up on the actual issue at hand, Cyanogen makes custom ROMs for Google’s Android phones – that is, he rewrites the operating system with a few tweaks. Google’s point was that, although the Android OS is technically open source, the apps that come with the “Google Experience”  phones, such as Gmail, GTalk and Maps, are not. And, since Cyanogen’s mod installs copies of these apps, he’s essentially distributing things he doesn’t have the right to (many refer to this as stealing – a concept that has all but disappeared from the brains of the under 25).

After this, an Android-hungry world of hackers went cuckoo bananas, calling Google such names as “jealous” and “liars” and “Apple” (oooh, that one hurts). But no one was apparently able to just take a damn breath. Yes, this does pretty much defeat the purpose of Android itself being open source. And yes, a cease-and-desist might have been a little overboard (diplomacy, Google!) But you really can’t blame Google for their argument, however poorly made. I would assume that some of that stuff is not fully under their control, that it’s the carriers who decide what has the “Google Experience,” and could care less about open source. Sucks, but that’s business.

But as all this was going on, I was just sitting there  wondering why one couldn’t just back up the proprietary apps, install the ROM, and then put the closed apps back on? It seem like the simplest thing in the world, yet no one seemed to be asking this question – or at least, it wasn’t the first thing they said when they heard the story (yet it was the first and only thing that popped into my head – it’s called logic, people!). Everyone just wanted to yell at Google. Suprise, surprise, the internet is filled with idiots.

Well, it turns out that this is not really an issue anymore. A new blog post by Cyanogen says that you can, in fact, just back up your closed-source apps and re-load them onto a modded Android. Go freakin’ figure. A recent Twitter post of his says that he might still have to deal with stuff from carriers and hardware manufacturers, but at least this is a step in the right direction. A step, I might add, that took a total of three days to happen – which is apparently long enough to act like it’s World War III and it is ON.

Just another example of how the internet fosters idiocy on a level that man had not known before it’s inception. *sigh.*

Todos contra Google

Google es la Red. Su función de nexo inteligente entre el ciudadano y las innumerables bases de datos de Internet representa el servicio esencial en la era de la información digital. En apenas una década de historia ha conseguido ser la empresa con mayores beneficios, por delante incluso de Coca-Cola o Microsoft.
Nadie podía augurar en 1995 que Lawrence Page y Sergey Brin, los dos jóvenes estudiantes de veintidós y veintitrés años respectivamente que compartían aula e inquietudes en la Universidad de Stanford, crearían Google, un hito tecnológico que les proporcionaría el sueño de todo emprendedor americano: fundar una compañía y una marca propia, hacerse rico y, quizás, cambiar el mundo.
Ahora, apenas una década después de la fundación, Google ofrece a los consumidores servicio de correo electrónico (Gmail), mapas de la Tierra, el fondo marino, la Luna y Marte; almacenamiento de vídeos (YouTube), blogs (Blogger), finanzas (Ad-sense), etc.
Google ha alcanzado un potencial como marca tan enorme que las compañías establecidas en mercados tecnológicos tiemblan ante la posible entrada en su sector del gigante de las búsquedas. Y actualmente, con el desarrollo de los sistemas operativos Android, para dispositivos móviles y Chrome OS, para ordenadores, Google ha roto las barreras establecidas y ha puesto en guardia a las firmas. La guerra ha comenzado.
Google contra Microsoft
Windows, el sistema operativo de Microsoft, es el principal rival de Chrome OS. Las armas de Google son la velocidad, la sencillez y la seguridad de un sistema minimalista, gratuito y de código abierto que no requiere equipos potentes para su funcionamiento. Además, cuenta con el hastío de los indignados usuarios de WindowsVista.

Mas sobre el aritculo…

Fuente: levante-emv.com

El nuevo Intel: Netbook con Moblin

Como todos sabemos, el mercado de la tecnología cambia constantemente y a una velocidad vertiginosa, por lo tanto las empresas ya posicionadas en el mismo deben buscar nuevas estratégias para no perder esa pequeña cuota de mercado que poseen.

Una de estas empresas es Intel, la reconocida marca de la industria de los semiconductores, la cual esta ampliándose al mercado los portatiles y desarrollando softwares para integrarlos en sus productos.

Intel como parte de su estrategia de expansión presento su sistema operativo Moblin 2.1 pero corriendo en un teléfono móvil con procesador Atom.

Obviamente como todo SO para móvil, posee aplicaciones dedicadas a social networks, widgets para escritorio, etc. Lo que si me gusto es que posee la capacidad de correr aplicaciones en segundo plano, lo cual se agradece ya que en el Iphone/Itouch esto todavia no se puede hacer.

El nuevo SO se ve muy atractivo, asi que los que soñaban y ya planeaban adquirir un equipo con Android piensenlo bien.

Además como complemento a este tema, Intel abrira una tienda de aplicaciones para netbooks, yo dije lo mismo que ustedes, ¿existen aplicaciones para netbooks?, bueno la idea es desarrollar aplicaciones similares a las ya conocidas para notebooks pero más livianas y eficientes, lo cual el procesador Atom va a agradecer, pero como opinion propia me da la leve impresión que esta tienda va a ir más dirigida a la version movil de Moblin, para competir con la App Store, no creen ustedes?.

Dejen sus comentarios, adios!!

Via: Bitelia | Gizmología

T-Mobile's new target demographic

Whoopi? Really? So T-Mobile is going for the “Ghost” generation? I can just imagine some hip next-gen phone buyer from the coveted urban youth demographic at the T-Mobile checkout counter saying, “You know, at first I wasn’t sure. I mean, I was going to get an iPhone, but when I found out Whoopi uses a MyTouch I was all like, ‘Shiiiiiit, son, I gotsta keep it realzies like Whoop-ta-tha-izzle,’ ‘na mean? Y’all coulda got some washed up, irrelevant-ass early-90s celebrity that I ain’t ne’r hearda; but I figure if T-Mobile gonna spend they chedda on tha A-list for me, then I finna spend the cheda on thems, boyeeeee, ‘na mean? I mean y’all coulda given me some Miller Lite shit an’ instead you come all up in hea with some Cristal, ‘na mean? Shiiiit.“***

Ten bucks says their next ad features Mr. Bojangles.

***Note: Clearly, the person speaking is a white kid, originally from Connecticut, now residing a hop, skip and a jump from the G train in Williamsburg, who–yes–wears enormous glasses.

What The Peep Is Happening?

Peep – the Twitter Application by HTC was running smoothly since I got the phone on Saturday. This morning, weird shit started happening with my HTC Hero. The weather widget kept showing a moon with clouds despite it being 1pm in the afternoon and Peep kept crashing on me whenever I do a refresh for new Twitter messages. Did a quick search on Android forums and seems like its a global thing. Is this HTC’s doing or maybe the ROM got screwed? Gonna give it a day or two before deciding if I should roll back to the original Malaysian ROM. Tapping fingers while waiting ….