Marc, Seth, and Rene iterate through Google's Project Glass, upgrade pricing, and Instagram's sale to Facebook, and interrogate Tweetie creator Loren Brichter of Atebits. This is Iterate!

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• Quasar jailbreak concept for iPad windowing
• BlackBerry 10
• Dev Rocket
• Sketch 2
  • Daniel Cooper tested Sketch 2 and found some fairly significant rendering issues Illustrator rendering issues when working on screen art (web and apps)?
• Keith Lang tested Fireworks and found an issue with inner shadow. Marc added Photoshop to the test
• What can you do in one layer in Photoshop?
  
  • 1 Layer Chainsaw by Marc
  • 1 Layer Portal Gun by Jared Sinclair
  • 1 Layer iMac by Daniel Cooper
  • 1 Layer Mona Lisa by Marc
  • 1 Layer Burger by Matt Kelsh
• Adobe CS6

• Loren Brichter of Atebits

Hosts

• Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) of Bjango
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford) of Nickelfish
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) of iMore.com

Feedback

• Email: podcast@iterate.tv
• Twitter: @iteratetv
• Facebook: Iterate page

If you're one of the best-of-the-best-of-the-best in mobile design for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, or Windows Phone, we'd love to get you on the show, or if you've found a drop-dead gorgeous app on any platform and really want us to talk about it, contact us and let us know.

Today was my last day at Twitter. Taking some time to figure out what’s next. Really proud of the way the team has grown.

Source: electronista

Twitter recently purchased Tweetie, the widely popular iPhone and Mac Twitter client, and the iPhone version was renamed Twitter for iPhone. The big question on everyone's minds has been if there will be a "Twitter for iPad" any time soon. The answer is Yes!

Loren Brichter, the designer of Tweetie and now employee of Twitter, has confirmed that Twitter for iPad is coming to the iPad, it's coming soon, and he's very excited about it. He claims that "the goal is to exceed the Twitter iPhone app in the iPad."

Tweetie also has a Mac client that has been seemingly neglected for almost a year. Users have expected an update for quite a while now, but no such update has arrived. Loren has now spoken and promises to get back to working on Tweetie for Mac in the coming weeks. He had to put it on hold after accepting the position at Twitter to focus on the release of Twitter for iPhone.

TiPb is very excited for Twitter for iPad and an updated mac client. What about you? Are you looking forward to some Tweetie goodness on your iPad? Are you a MacHeist user who as been patiently (or impatiently) waiting for the promised Tweetie for Mac update?

Sound off in the comments below!

[ars technica]

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iPhone live turns 100! Also: iPhone OS 4 goes beta 4, iPhone HD/iPhone 4G goes white, Wi-Fi sync goes jailbreak, and Tweetie goes Twitter for iPhone. Listen in!

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Twitter for iPhone (aka Tweetie 3.0) is finally here and... it's pretty much the same as before with a few interesting tweaks up front and behind the scenes. Here's the full change list:

• Search has been reorganized, now you can search all tweets and find users in the same spot, view Top Tweets and Browse Suggested users.
• Search results now include Top Tweets, try it with Trends...winner combo!
• You can now use Twitter without an account! Search, Browse uses, view trends and top tweets.
• Sign-up is now availabile within the application as well, complete with Suggested user list.
• More tab has been re-organized to accomplish all this. Users with one account can add a second account under the Accounts and Settings button here.
• Actions we’ve found people use most, like Retweet have been moved to the main actions bar.
• Minor tweaks were made to tweet rendering so they match Twitter.com tweets

No new-fangled OAuth, so there will have to be an update before Twitpocalypse 2010 renders current logins inopperative. No push so you'll still have to use a middle-app like Boxcar if you want that. But it is free and it is Twitter owned now.

So what do you think? Will it be your (new?) default, go-to Twitter client? If not, why not?

[iTunes link]

Twitter for iPhone, aka Tweetie 3.0, is showing as an available update now in iTunes, though the link currently leads to an "application unavailable" popup. We take this to mean that, yes, Tweetie 2.0 was pulled from the iTunes App Store last night because the newly rebranded version is on its way... now-ish.

How long it takes for now-ish to become now depends on entirely on the wanton tease that is iTunes' international propagation system. If/when you manage to grab it, let us know in comments and tell us what you think. (Especially if you spot any nifty new features!)

UPDATE: Here's the iTunes link for Twitter if you want to keep trying it

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Looks like Tweetie 2 is gone from the App Store and that could mean its anticipated renaming and relaunch as Twitter for iPhone is nigh.

Atebits's Loren Brichter, the developer behind Tweetie, announced just over a month ago that Twitter was buying Tweetie as their official iPhone app and he was joining their mobile division, and that not only would the Mac version continue (users are eagerly waiting for Tweetie for Mac 2), an iPad version was also on its way.

TechCrunch teases that a new Twitter for iPhone, if it is indeed launched today-ish, could even be a universal binary that works for both iPhone and iPad.

While we wait and see, let us know if you're not a current Tweetie user, will it going all official (and free) prompt you to switch or at least give it a try? (And what will that mean for the existing Twitter app market?)

[TechCrunch]

Hot off the presses from the official Twitter blog, we learn they're buying Atebit's Tweetie, renaming it Twitter for iPhone, and making it free. Atebit's founder, Loren Brichter, will become a key member of their mobile team. What brought this on?

Careful analysis of the Twitter user experience in the iTunes AppStore revealed massive room for improvement. People are looking for an app from Twitter, and they're not finding one. So, they get confused and give up. It's important that we optimize for user benefit and create an awesome experience.

Twitter also states they will eventually launch Tweetie for iPad with Brichter's help. The Atebits blog presents his thoughts on his journey so far and the future ahead.

Congratulations to all involved, we look forward to it.

[Thanks to our Jonathan for the tip!]

Tapped on App Store and what did I see? Updates for Tweetie, Loopt, Foursquare, and Flickr -- and a couple of those say iPhone OS 3.2 (aka iPad) right there in the What's New listing. (Yeah, that doesn't mean 3.2 is coming to the iPhone or these are 1024x768 versions, likely just that they're built using that SDK for maximum blackboxing on the iPad).

Tweetie [$2.99 - iTunes link] has just hit version 2.1.1 and brings iPhone OS 3.2 compatibility(!), Foursquare (4sq.com) integration, Vodpod video uploads, Post 'message' parameter to TwitPic, and Instapaper Mobilizer. See our previous Tweetie coverage for more on the app.

Loopt [Free - iTunes link] expands the product’s Pulse feature to include tens of thousands of local events, and allows check-in to events, public Tips, and the ability to RSVP to events posted on Facebook. It's also got you covered for SXSW, and adds content from SonicLiving, Zvents and Metromix.

Foursquare [Free - iTunes link] brings a whole new look and feel (see below), faster, better checkin, and categories for Places view. Also, it has history for Places, and uses Tweetie-style pull-to-refresh.

Flickr [Free - iTunes link] iPhone OS 3.2 support (!)

Tweetie 2 and Twitterrific 2 aren't just two of the best Twitter clients for the iPhone, they're two of the best mobile micro-blogging interfaces on the planet and now both WordPress and Tumblr are taking advantage of them -- which is ridiculously awesome for iPhone users.

WordPress now lets you "Post and Read via Twitter API", and they have a complete walkthrough posted on how to set it up.

We’ve enabled posting to and reading of WordPress.com blogs via the Twitter API. Any app that allows you to set a custom API URL will work. This project came out of our Quebec meetup and was developed by Team 55 (Andy, Terry, and Raphael).

Inspired by WordPress, Tumblr has also jumped on board:

The really cool thing - because our following models follow a lot of the same principles, we’ve been able to take advantage of a ton of native features:

• Retweeting = Reblogging
• Replying = Reblogging w/ commentary
• Favoriting = Liking
• “@david” = ”http://david.tumblr.com/”
• Conversations = Reblogs

So if you use Tweetie or Twitterrific, and WordPress or Tumblr, the API elves have given you an early present. Let us know how well it works for you.

[via @roustem]

Tweetie 2.1 [$2.99 - iTunes link] -- a FREE upgrade for Tweetie 2.0 users -- brings support for Twitter's new Geotag feature (so everyone will know where exactly you're tweeting from), Twitter lists (what lists you have, what lists you subscribe to, though not the likely less-wieldly lists you're on), and the controversial new-style re-tweets (where you see the original tweeter in your timeline, not the person you're following who re-tweeted it).

There are other additions as well: report spam (via API), tweet-stream "gap" detection (looks like a torn gap in your timeline), and a tone of other stuff (including disable pin-stripes for the pixel-haters).

So how does Tweetie 2.1 handle all this new stuff? With Atebit's trademark buttery-smooth UI. Geotag is a new icon under the tweet-count drop-down menu. Twitter lists can be accessed via the More (...) icon on the bottom navigation bar, and you can view, manage, and even add new lists right on-device. New-style re-tweets get a small pink corner icon on the top right, and tapping on it brings up the original tweet with text on the bottom telling you which person you follow re-tweeted it.

Also, yes, still no support for Apple's Push Notification Service. If you want push, you'll need to get a third-party app to handle it for you. (Or use SMS support).

If you decide to give it a try, let us know how you like it. (Or help me try it out via @reneritchie)

Screenshots galore after the break!

Tweetie 2.0 [$2.99 - iTunes link] is the second generation release of one of the iPhone's most popular Twitter clients. According to developer Atebits, it's also a ground-up re-write -- it even has a snazzy new gray, single, cut-out bubble icon to prove it -- the only thing 2.0 having in common with 1.0 being the name. I'd argue that point -- they're also both darn good Twitter clients, and they both share a price of $2.99.

That's right. Since Apple doesn't (yet?) provide a mechanism for upgrades (which to many developers means incentive and to many users means discount), and since in-app purchase can only add content, not replace an entire app, Atebits is packaging Tweetie 2.0 as a whole new app. And they're charging the same price. In other words, whether you bought the first Tweetie or not, you'll have to buy Tweetie 2.0.

Is it worth it? Let's take a look...

Add Account

There's pervasive landscape mode, so rotate between portrait and landscape as the mood strikes you. Once you've decided on your orientation of choice, you need to add an account, and Tweetie 2.0 supports multiple accounts, of course. There's also a cog icon for Advanced options, where you can enter an API Root and Search API for Twitter proxy servers (if Twitter.com is not directly available to you).

Not something many users will likely have the need for, but great, specialized option.

Accounts

From the Accounts screen, you can select which account you want to access (if you have multi accounts set up), with Edit, Add, Settings, and Refresh buttons in the corners.

Settings lets you toggle Display Name between username and full name, Date Format between Relative and Absolute, and Font Size from anything between 13pt and 20pt.

Yes, Tweetie 2.0 has done the un-Apple and placed settings in the app, and not in Apple's Settings app. We'll leave the in-vs-out, settings-vs-preferences debate out of this walkthrough, just know where to go if you need to make changes.

You can choose your preferred Image Service from yFrog, TwitPic, TweetPhoto, Mobypicture, Twitgoo, Posterous, or img.ly, or set a custom option (by setting the image service API endpoint). Video Service options (for iPhone 3GS users) include yFrog and TwitVid. URL Shortening options include j.mp (bit.ly), TinyURL, is.gd, i.pr, u.nu, or Linkyy, or again, a Custom option. Read Later offers Instapaper or Read it later support.

Advanced Setting offer a host of additional configurations. Quote Syntax can be set to "..." -@user or "..." (via @user). Auto Rotate (the ability to rotate between portrait or landscape modes discussed above) options include Always, Compose Screen Only, or Never (would that Apple offered this system-wide on the iPhone!).

Enable TextExpander can be toggled between on and off, as can sound effects.

User Services can likewise be toggle for Tweet Blocker, Follow Cost, Favstar.fm, Favrd, and Tweeteorites.

API Keys are available for jmp login and key, and for Tagal.us.

There's also an Install Safari Bookmarklet, which creates a browser link that you can use to send URLs from the Mobile Safari browser to Tweetie 2.0. (A webpage with full, step by step instructions show you how to set it up). It's not as necessary post cut-and-paste in iPhone 3.x, but it's handy.

All in all, an amazing array of choices and enough configurability to make a settings junkie very, very happy.

Timeline

Once you've chosen your account, Tweetie 2.0 takes you to your timeline, presented as a fairly standard list view of the tweets of all the people you follow. It's also the first tab along the bottom of the app, represented by a word bubble which gets brighter, and gets a little triangular pointer on top, when active. Also, if you have any unread tweets, a small glowing dot will appear beneath the icon, much like how the Dock in Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard denote active apps. These indicators are consistent for @Mentions and Direct Messages as well.

Just like Apple's Spotlight enabled apps, you can scroll up to reveal a search box. In timeline view, typing in the search box filters the contents of the tweets (i.e. typing in iPhone results in only tweets containing the word "iPhone" to show up).

Instead of a Tweetie 1.x-style refresh button at the top of the list view, Tweetie 2.0 uses something more fun, if less iPhone-like. Pull down even further, past the Spotlight box, and you get a downward arrow that tells you to keep pulling if you want to refresh. Keep pulling and then, spring-like, the arrow flips up and the text changes, instructing you to release to refresh. Boom. New tweets.

Like Tweetie 1.x, swipe a tweet and you slide it away to get quick access to several options: deal with links in tweets (which gives you additional options like Open, Mail Link, Repost Link, and Read Later), go to user's profile, star tweet, and perform an action (like Retweet, Quote Tweet, Post Link to Tweet, Mail Tweet, and Translate).

Tapping on a tweet takes you to a view of only that tweet which includes information like full name and username, which client was used to post the tweet, and surfaced buttons offering the same options as the swipe detailed above. There are also up and down triangle arrows, like you get in Mail, so you can go to the next or previous tweet, saving you having to hit the Timeline (back) button, and essentially letting you browse in single tweet mode if you like.

Tapping on the avatar/name bar brings you to the user's profile which adds in the Twitter user number (order in which you joined Twitter -- i.e. @biz and @ev are early joiners and so have low numbers, most of the rest of us are not and so have high numbers).

On the right there's a button to add the user to your iPhone contacts, (with the URL of their Twitter page, and their Bio as a note) or share that info like you would any iPhone contact.

The Profile page also shows the user's Twitter bio, their location, and web site URL. Tapping on Location will open an embedded Google Map. Tapping on web will, of course, open an embedded browser and pull up the web site.

(And yes, I even like the pinstripes. They work. Apple uses them, and as such they do their job without drawing attention to themselves -- which is a big part of their job. So I'm in the pro-pinstripe camp. There, I said it).

The next section shows the number of people the user is following, the number of followers the user has, the number of tweets the user's posted, and the number of tweets the user has favorite'd. Tapping on any of those counters will bring up lists of the respective users or posts.

There's a big Follow/Unfollow button for convenience (and you can choose to follow/unfollow from multiple accounts if you have them set up), and a services button which lets you access Tweet Blocker, Follow Cost, and Favstar.fm.

A More button lets you set Block Option and Notification Options (via Twitter's built in SMS support -- no support (yet?) for Apple's Push Notification).

At the end, text informs you as to the user's Twitter join date.

Along the bottom are icons for Profile (the page described immediately above), Timeline (a list view of that user's tweets), @Mentions (a list view of that user's mentions), and Favorites (a list view of that users Favorite'd tweets). Very convenient.

Mentions

Mentions functions similarly to the Timeline view, though of course is restricted to the tweets that contain your @username. Like with Tweetie 1.x, you can tap on @usernames to go to that user, on URL's to open the URL, etc.

One element that's been improved is reply chains. Now, when you tap on a reply, there's an "in reply to" button beneath the tweet and tapping on that brings up a list view of all the linear tweets in that conversation. It's not a very Apple-like button, mind you, and I raise that only because Tweetie has always been the most Apple-like of the Twitter clients for me, but it's useful and it's conceivable even Apple hasn't figured out every usage case yet.

Direct Messages

Direct Messages also share much of the functionality of the Timeline view, though the "pull and release to refresh" doesn't seem to be included here (and I'm not quite sure how to refresh that right now?).

Direct Messages are those tweets sent privately so only you and the sender can see them, and unlike the simple list view used for @mention reply-chains, these get the more chat-like bubble treatment. It's an interesting visual differentiator, and the bubbles themselves make Apple's look a little Aqua-dated.

Composing Tweets

There's a nice, Email-style Compose button at the top right that's consistent across all the major tabs -- big points for that. Tap it and you get a writing pad view similar to Tweetie 1, but with a widget-ized character counter. The counter not only tells you how much more you can type before hitting the 140 character limit, but if you tap on it, it unveils a host of additional options: Camera, Photo Library, Geotag, Username, Hashtags, Shrink URLs.

Camera lets you take photos (or video on the iPhone 3GS) to add to your tweet, and Photo Library lets you choose from images already on your iPhone. Geotag adds your GPS location. Username and Hashtags bring up a search box that lets you quickly find other users or trends to add to your tweet. For example, if you reply to @friend1, and want to add @friend2 and @friend3, or #topic4, just search, tap, and it's inserted at the cursor point. Shrink URLs will use your shortener of choice to compact a link and save you precious characters.

Other Twitter clients have had some of these functions already, but it's great to see them implemented with Tweetie's characteristic clean, simple interface.

Also, if you decide to Close a tweet without posting, Tweetie will now offer to let you save it to Tweetie's new drafts manager, save it to the excellent Birdhouse app for further crafting, or to simply abandon it via Don't Save.

Search

Search gives you the option to Search for content or username, and yes, you can save searches. Awesome.

You can also search Nearby (location based), which again includes embedded Google Maps with pins for nearby Twitter users. Tapping a pin brings up the user's name, and tapping on that takes you to their profile page.

Also included on this screen is a handy list of currently trending topics on Twitter (no four letter words this time, luckily!)

More

More gives you access to your own Profile -- and yes, you can now edit it right in Tweetie 2.0!

You can also get a list of your Favorite'd tweets, Go to User if you know a specific Twitter ID and you want to jump directly to that profile, and access the Drafts manager (which has a handy "send all" option).

Persistence and Offline Sync

If you're using Tweetie 2.0 and you exit the app, it saves the exact state of the interface and the next time you launch Tweetie 2.0, it brings you back exactly to that state. So, if you were browsing your @mentions, you come back to those exact @mentions. Composing a tweet, you come back to that composition, already in progress.

It's hard to express just how awesome this feature is, and other apps should adopt it immediately if not sooner. Yes, sure, it's still not multi-tasking, but it makes the lack of multi-tasking far less annoying.

Equally awesome is that, if you're offline for any reason (no WiFi or 3G/data available), Tweetie 2.0 will still let you go about performing actions, and will then send them to Twitter when you resume your online connection. Sublime.

What's Missing

Yeah, no Push Notification. Atebits is currently happy with Twitter's built in SMS feature, so it's not on the current agenda. If you want Push Notifications, you'll need a middleapp like Boxcar, or you'll need to look elsewhere.

Also, while I personally never use them, there's aren't any themes yet for those who like to switch up their experience. No dark theme. No blubbly theme. No themes.

No group hacks either, though hopefully when Twitter rolls out Lists, Tweetie will add support in a future update.

Lastly, still no unread counts (like Mail's little red dot that tells you how many new messages you have.

Conclusion

All the above, and we've only just scratched the surface of Tweetie 2.0. It's an amazing upgrade, easily worth $2.99 for Tweetie 1.x users, if not more for new users. Either way, if you liked Tweetie 1.x, you'll fine a whole lot more love for its bigger, better brother.

Bottom line -- Tweetie 2.0 brings so much to the table, so simply and elegantly, and with such discoverability that it earns not only a high place among the iPhone's crowd of Twitter clients, but among its apps in general.

As always, if you give Tweetie 2.0 a try, let us know what you think, and if you find any features we missed, let us know in the comments!

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Join Chad and Rene for 2 billion apps, Tweetie 2 and TomTom pricing, the latest on the iTablet and Light Peak, AT&T MMS redux, Orange and Vodafone UK, plus your questions! Listen in!

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Tweetie 2.0 is one hotly anticipated Twitter client update, and developer Atebits has finally let the lid off just what features users can expect:

• iPhone 3.x only
• Full persistence
• Full offline mode
• Drafts manager
• Send drafts to Birdhouse
• Link Twitter contacts to Address Book
• Threaded conversations
• Nearby integrated with imbedded maps
• Geotagging support
• Saved searches to sync with Twitter.com and Tweetie Mac
• @people picker
• Recent hashtags
• Multiple attachments manager
• Peek gesture for replies
• Landscape support
• Profile editing
• Improved gesture shortcuts
• imbedded email
• New-style re-tweet support
• Refresh all on launch
• TextExpander support
• Read it Longer and Instapaper integration
• Go-to-User, searches autocomplete
• In reply TwitLonger
• Reply chain list view
• Short URL preview
• Tweet translation
• Block/follow from multiple accounts

And -- wait for it -- Atebits claims it's kept Tweetie's trademark iPhone-like UI concept:

Every single one of these features fits naturally into the user interface, none adds unnecessary complexity. It’s arguably even simpler than Tweetie 1, all while being vastly more powerful.

While Tweetie 2 for Mac will be a free upgrade, Tweetie 2 for iPhone will be offered as a new app for $2.99. It's in its final beta now, with plans to submit it to Apple this week. After that, all that's left is the approval process.

Boxcar [$1.99 - iTunes link] is almost more enabler than app. It only does one thing, but thus far it does it very, very well -- it sends Push Notifications for Twitter @mentions and Direct Messages (DMs) that then open in either Tweetie or Twitterrific.

Setup is straight forward; you log into your account through an in-app view of Twitter's website, and authorize Boxcar. You can select whether you want Push Notification for either @mentions, DMs, or both, and which of the aforementioned apps you want to open them in (hopefully support for more options will be forthcoming, such as Tweetdeck, Birdfeed, Twittelator Pro, etc.). You can also choose to automatically tweet them a shout out.

Like all Push-enabled apps, you can exit to the iPhone Settings to turn on or off Sounds, Alert (text boxes), and/or Badges.

That's it. Sit back and enjoy Push Notifications so you can immediately know when anyone talks to or about you on Twitter. Even when you're watching a movie on your iPhone. Or playing a game. Or writing an SMS. Or even taking a phone call -- if anyone still does that...

In other words, it works so well, you may have to learn to better manage your Twitter interruptions.

Now the crux: is a couple of bucks a lot to pay for an app that arguably only extends the usefulness of other apps that you already paid a few bucks (or more) for? Depends on how badly you want Push Notification for Twitter, whether you're willing to wait for full-on Twitter clients to add it themselves (however long that takes), and if you realize a couple of bucks is very little, and partly going to support the developers servers that are handling the Twitter calls and passing them on to Apple's notification servers.

I bought it without a second thought. You'll have to weigh the value (which is more important than cost) yourselves, and let me know what you think in the comments -- or @reneritchie and I'll get it right away via push

More pics after the break!

Apple.com has posted up the winners of the WWDC 2009 Apple Design Awards (APA), and specifically for our interests, the iPhone winners. Like last year, a lot of our favorites got the nod. Here they are, with iTunes links where available:

iPhone Developer Showcase:

• MLB.com At Bat 2009 v1.0.1 / MLB.com
  
• Postage v1.0 / Rogue Sheep
• Topple 2 v1.1 / ngmoco:)
  
• Tweetie v1.3.1 / atebits LLC

Best iPhone Student App

• Wooden Labyrinth 3D v1.2.1 / Elias Pietil

Best iPhone OS 3.0 Beta App

• AccuTerra v1.0.0 Beta / AccuTerra

Congrats to everyone and thanks for the great apps!

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they're fair game.

So who's on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad's Pick: Google Mobile App.

This application allows you to "ask" Google a search. The app will then translate your voice to text and search your question. The latest version of this app literally fixed the accuracy errors of it's earlier self and so far has translated my queries flawlessly. If you haven't given this app a spin yet you should! Hey, and it's free! [Free - iTunes link]

Dieter's Pick: Palm Pre

Okay, Rene I picked for him, since he lined up, so to speak. Dieter's Palm Pre review has pretty much taken on a life of its own anyway, as has his video Q&A chat. But don't worry, Apple takes the stage back on Monday -- so enjoy it while it last fellas! [$199-ish - Web site]

James' Pick: SBSettings (Jailbreak)

I am constantly toggling bluetooth and wifi on my iPhone. It is a hassle that Apple decided to bury the on/off switches deep within the Settings App. I like the quick access this to these and other toggles (3G, backlight brightness, airplane mode, KeepAwake, processes, iPod and even a quick calculator). Other features that make this a standout jailbreak app is the ability to hide icons, add a quick dock for apps and quickly respring/reboot the iPhone. Best of all its free! [Free - Get it via Cydia]

Leanna's Pick: Nikon D90

I pick Nikon D90 because then I can sync beautiful photos onto my iPhone... [More $$$ than an iPhone - Web link]

[Ed: Um, yeah, okay. Enjoy the vacation Leanna!]

Matt's Pick: Return to Mysterious Island

Myst & Zork fans rejoice! This awesome puzzle adventure combines the ideas of Zork and Myst together and is based on the "Return to Mysterious Island" novel by Jules Verne. The game is a combination of 360 degree panoramas that fade into each other as you move around the island (Myst part) You also have the ability to go abround the island picking up different items and interacting with objects & using them to get around the island or even using them in conjunction with other to do one task (zork part). The graphics in this game are very good and completely worth the price. Highly recommended! [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's Pick: Tweetie

I use other Twitter clients. Some for very specific tasks, some just for fun. But I always come back to Tweetie. It just fits what I want to do, a powerhouse for browsing and responding to tweets. And it works the way I imagine an Apple-built Twitter client would. Totally iPhone-like. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

You're part of team TiPb too, so what's your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us -- and everyone -- know in the comments!

Tweetie, the uber-popular iPhone Twitter application, has a big desktop brother called Tweetie for Mac that's just been updated to version 2.1 and one of the cool new features is support for adding video via the yfrog service (which previously handled static pictures).

iPhone 3.0 contains code that pretty much confirms we'll be seeing video recording, editing, and sharing if not in the iPhone 3G then certainly in the next-generation iPhone expected to be announced on June 8 at WWDC 2009.

Put these two together and what do you get? The potential for not only a pocket video explosion, but a pocket video micro-publishing explosion as well.

A 4K (2160p) RED ONE camera might be drool-worthy, but even most pros won't have it with them 24x7 when they chance upon that one great serendipitous moment. They might just have a video-enabled iPhone, however.

Likewise, sharing that video via MMS, email, or MobileMe, even YouTube is okay to great, but to immediately be able to push it out to all your Twitter followers? (Which suffers not the walled garden of Facebook).

Yeah, we live in interesting times!

(via @atebits and @llofte)

A short time ago we mentioned that Standford's iPhone Application Programming course was being made available as a video podcast via iTunes U. In addition to two lectures a week, the course offers special Friday sessions, one of which recently featured Atebits' Loren Brichter (iTunes link), the developer behind popular iPhone (and now Mac) Twitter client, Tweetie (see our review).

Brichter, though he worked for Apple on the first generation iPhone, had no actual app development experience when he set out to make Tweetie, yet the app has become the most successful iPhone -- and mobile -- paid Twitter client in terms of both revenue and user base, hitting the #6 position in the App Store at one point. How'd that happen?

At the beginning of the lecture, Brichter shares his App Store daily revenue graph (sans actual dollar amounts) for Tweetie, which he says he made simply because he wasn't satisfied with any of the existing clients. Focusing on a mix of functionality and simplicity, and an Apple-like experience, Brichter credits luck, quality, and marketing for Tweetie's success. Part of that marketing, after a small initial sales spike due to friends and family, was the semi-facetious introduction of PEE ("popularity enhancers" like a flashlight and fart sounds) that garnered a lot of media attention and quintupled growth for a while.

Other growth occurred when Apple featured Tweetie on their main page, but the biggest growth-booster -- also thanks to Apple -- was when Tweetie 1.3 was rejected by the App Store due to the term f**kitlist just happening to be a trend on Twitter's search results that day. Press jumped on it and users bought it up. (Apple reversed their decision later that same day).

The final two growth spikes occurred after Twitter itself began highlighting Tweetie as part of their sidebar factoid promotion, and after the press surrounding the recent introduction of Tweetie for Mac.

Being part of the Application Development course, Brichter also touches on some of the things he did from a programming standpoint to boost Tweetie's performance.

Looks behind the app development curtain, especially in academic settings with some back-and-forth questions and answers, are rare enough in the iPhone world that anyone interested should definitely consider checking out the whole session.

We generally don't cover Mac or Windows news on the site, even though most people who have an iPhone will at some point plug it into a laptop or desktop. And we almost never cover software that isn't directly involved with that plug in connection. Why the exception? Tweetie for Mac began as Tweetie for iPhone, one of the most popular and robust iPhone Twitter clients in the App Store, and as much as the iPhone version set the foundation for Tweetie for Mac, it looks like Tweetie for Mac rebuilt that foundation for the next iPhone release.

Everything that's good about Tweetie for iPhone is in the Mac version, including support for multiple accounts, an easy way to trace back conversations and fetch user data, and elegant solutions for tracking your timeline @mentions and direct messages. However, though some have complained about it on the iPhone version, I have found myself missing the big honking refresh button that tops all iPhone list views in Tweetie (you have to use a key combo or go to the menu for refresh or refresh-all on the Mac).

My wish list for the future? Double clicking sidebar icons to collapse or expand the reading panel so the application could be truly tiny but still informative when not in active use. Likewise, -- tip of the hat to lgreenberg) iPhone style numbered badges to count unread replies and direct messages would be swell (though they may not scale nicely if you let them hit the thousands).

Overall, I've never had much use for desktop Twitter clients in the past but it's been a day now and I'm still using Tweetie. I'm not a huge fan of Adobe Air-based apps, so the idea of a native application appeals to me greatly, and one that gives such an iPhone-like experience, with iPhone roots, just seems like such a natural fit to my usage style.

(Note: Tweetie for Mac has just been updated to fix an issue with SSL encryption)

Of course, come iPhone 3.0, Tweetie for iPhone may not just roll up all the re-engineered goodness from it's big desktop brother, but we're hoping it gets some Push Notification love as well.

Meanwhile, if you have a Mac, give the free, ad-supported version a try or take advantage of the reduced, debut-pricing of $14.95.

If you give it a try, let us know what you think. I still haven't found a Windows or Linux client that feels "right" to me either, so if you have a recommendation, drop that in the comments as well!

Was it the outcry on Twitter? The evisceration courtesy of numerous blogs? Or did someone at Apple actually take our advice and wake up? We don't know. But we do know this: according to developer Loren Brichter:

Great news! [Tweetie] 1.3 has now been approved! Alright Apple!

Hopefully this wasn't as capricious a reversal as it was an earlier refusal, and Apple is actually investing some thought in how to get the App Store approval process back on track.

Hey, we can dream, right?

So, who could it be running the approval process for the iTunes App Store at Apple? Hmm. Tough one. Let us put on our little thinking caps here for a moment.... SATAN?!

No, of course, not, nor the Church Lady from SNL, but it must be someone equally cartoonish, how else do we reconcile the App Store rejecting Tweetie 1.3 for containing "offensive language" in search results returned from the public Twitter "Trends" rankings? (via Twitter)

We can search for all manner of unholy pr0n in Mobile Safari, should Apple Reject their own core application because of what it may return as well? Are they expecting developers to become censors and str the fck out of words the way Apple.com does? (see below).

Of course, this could just be one rogue App Store review processor gone horribly wrong, but Apple still bears responsibility for a totally opaque, seemingly capricious review process that creates incidents just like this -- over and over again.

They're likely selling enough fart apps and games to make this a small problem from their end, but they're losing badly when it comes to the good will of truly innovative developers and bleeding edge techies who form the core of any true next-generation platform.

Wake up, Apple. You're better than this.

(And good luck to Tweetie developer Loren Brichter on getting Tweetie 1.3 approved -- as it should be -- and into all of our waiting iPhones quickly!)

Screen shots showing the rejected "language" in Tweetie and others for the sake of comparison after the break (NSFW-L)...

The continuing evolution of Twitter as a mainstream celebrity interactive communication platform powered by Apple's revolutionary internet device, the iPhone 3G, and awesome client side apps Twitterfon and Tweetie, or the end of all things geeky-fringe and techno-pure? Or just a cheap excuse for us to link-bait some celebrities (who are not Stephen Fry) using iPhone's and tweeting on Superbowl Sunday?

Yes!

Does it matter to us if celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore use the iPhone? Do we care if they increasingly make their presence felt on Twitter? And does their choice of iPhone Twitter client influence our own preference? And either way, what does it tell us about the iPhone, Twitter, and the celebrities who choose to use them? (You can answer below, or on Twitter from your favorite iPhone client for extra irony points!)

The iPhone and Twitter go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Okay, maybe not, but they're both darlings of the weberatti and enjoy popularity, prestige and -- when it comes to the App Store -- a growing plethora of choice combinations.

One such iPhone Twitter app enjoying attention lately is atebit's Tweetie, now on release 1.2. The nice thing for iPhone tweeters is that each Twitter client seems to focus on something different, giving us a good amount of diversity and choice. Tweetie, for example, excels at functionality. You can do a lot with it, perhaps more than any other Twitter client currently shipping. What kind of functionality? Where do I start!

Not only can you create an account, you can create multiple accounts. Awesome for those who want to tweet under, say, a personal name, a blog name, a work name, and a club name, for example.

Once logged in you can see Tweets, which includes all the posts of those you follow, Replies, which includes @(username) posts flagged your way, messages, which includes direct (private) posts just to you, Favorites, which are any posts you've flagged with a star, and More, which includes additional options.

Tweets

In Tweet view you can scroll to the top if you tap the title bar, just like in Safari. From there you can hit the inline refresh button to get the latest updated. If you get to the end and of the list want to see older tweets, you can tap on Load More.

To write a tweet, tap the new tweet button (looks like the new message button in Mail, but is top right in this interface).

Tap on a Tweet and you get a single-screen view of it along with an info button to see the user's profile, and if it was a reply, a button at the end of the tweet to follow it back up-stream. Handy feature that.

For quick actions, you can swipe from left to right over it to reveal Reply, User, and Star controls.

Favorite'ing

Simplest first: Star lets you toggle on or off favorite status for the tweet.

Replying

Reply will open a new Tweet composer with an @(username) at the ready, as well as buttons to attach a photo or share location. (If you're a new user, Tweetie like any other location-aware app will ask permission to use your location several times -- and you can always revoke that permission later if you become concerned). If you choose to cancel, you also get the option to save a tweet-in-progress as a draft -- very nice.

User Info

The user screen gives you an amazing amount of options: you see the @(username), the number of followers, the profile description, and web URL, and can follow or stop following right there. Beneath the general info are options to view Recent Tweets, to Search Twitter for that @(username)'s replies, to see who they're Following and who their Followers are, to Send a Public Reply (@ reply), to Send a Direct Message, and to Block and Unblock a user.

Replies

The Reply tab is similar to the Tweet tab but constrains the list to those who have sent you @ replies.

Messages

Messages lets you see any tweets sent directly and privately to you, or conversely private messages you sent directly to others. Unfortunately and counter-intuitively, you can't swipe on direct messages to reveal the same controls you get when you swipe on a tweet -- please add this feature! You can hit the Reply button at top right, but there's no "d (username)" that typically signifies a direct message, and the lack of a visual cue makes me paranoid that I may be responding to someone else, or to the public. You can also tap on the message itself to reveal the single message view (along with the option to Mail Link to this Tweet), and the tiny info button top right to load the user profile.

Favorites

Favorite view constrains the list to only your starred (favorite'd) tweets.

More

More gives you a metric ton of additional features, including your Profile, the ability to Go to a User, a list of other twitter users Nearby (based on location), popular keyword Trends on Twitter at the moment, and the ability to Search Twitter. Some of these are really nice to have, though both Profile and Go to User failed for me when I tried them.

Options

Some of the finest -- and foulest -- Tweetie functionality is hidden away in the iPhone Settings panel. Exit Tweetie and hop over there to change the default Theme (bubbles is currently the only alternative), increase the font size, and toggle Display Name between full and screen names,

If you use Instapaper and want to save web pages for later viewing, you can toggle support on for that as well.

Advanced settings let you turn Multiple Accounts on and off, control Image Compression via a slider, toggle Landscape Keyboard (which is a full screen landscape keyboard, but the app only remains in landscape when it brings up the keyboard. I'm not a big fan of the landscape keyboard in general, but for those who like it, this alone is a killer feature.

Popularity Enhancer is either a stroke of comedic genius, or is just a really sad essay on the state of the App Store. Suffice it to say, if you loves you some flashlight and fart sounds, turn this sucker on.

Lastly, you can set the amount of tweets that Tweetie loads at launch, either making it start faster, or with a greater amount of data.

Conclusion

Tweetie is simply the most functional Twitter client I've used to date. However, functionality does not always equal usability. Many software designers will tell you what is left out is at least -- if not more -- important than what is put in. Tweetie doesn't fall victim to this completely, but all that functionality does come at the expense of some usability and discoverability. Some users will inevitably prefer simpler, easier to use clients. Others will simply enjoy the power Tweetie provides.

At $2.99, it's more expensive than the free Twitter clients but considerably cheaper than other, paid clients (which can reach $9.99). For my money, the feature set alone makes it a must-have for serious iPhone Twitter users.

If they could make it a tad more consistent (i.e. swipe private messages the way you can tweets), and really give it WebApp class features (can I delete a Tweet? I can do that on the web, couldn't find a way on Tweetie), it would be darn-near invaluable.

Pros

• Supports Multiple Accounts
• Incredible Feature Set
• Can has fart sounds

Cons

• User experience could be more consistent
• Can has fart sounds

TiPb Review Rating