The darling of hardcore iPhone twitter users comes to the iPad, but how does Tweetbot measure up on the big screen compared to Twitterrific and Twitter’s own app?

Twitter may not be as big a social network as Facebook, but you can’t turn on a television, let alone visit a website, without seeing an endless stream of @usernames and #hashtags. While smartphones are great for Twitter on the go, the iPad is perfect for sitting back and really getting engaged. But which Twitter app for iPad is the best to engage with? Not only do you have Twitterrific, the original iOS Twitter app, but you have Twitter’s official Twitter for iPad app, and now you have Tweetbot to consider as well, one of the most popular iPhone Twitter apps, just released for the iPad.

We’ve often said iOS and Twitter and like chocolate and peanut butter, two great tastes that taste even better together. And it’s true. Time after time, platform after platform, the best developers and designers always seem to gravitate towards making Twitter clients, and nothing proves that more than Twitterrific, Twitter, and Tweetbot.

So which one is best, or more importantly, which one is best for you?

Caveats

We’re going to be using a lot of Twitter-specific jargon here. If you’re not already familiar with Twitter and are reading this as a way to decide which app you should start with, be sure to check out our Twitter and social networking slang dictionary so you can get up to speed on also the latest terms. (Or just skip to the conclusion to find out which one you should get.)

Also, Twitter for iPad is currently still the version that began life as Tweetie for iPad by Loren Brichter of Atebits but was bought and rebranded by Twitter before release. Twitter has since redesigned the iPhone version of Tweetie/Twitter, and we expect will be redesigning the iPad version soon as well. When that happens, the pros and cons listed here will change dramatically, and we’ll do an update.

Similarities

Since Twitterrific, Twitter, and Tweetbot are all Twitter apps for iPad, there are a great many similarities. They all have timelines to see the tweets of the people you follow. They all show you mentions, lists, and direct messages. They all let you search and see favorites. They all let you compose new tweets and direct messages. But the way in which they go about doing this varies greatly.

Reading Experience

Twitterrific puts everything in one place with a unified timeline, full sidebar, and lots of popovers

Twitterrific has a combined timeline, so you see all the tweets of the people you follow listed alongside your @mentions and direct messages. You can read @mentions and direct messages as separate lists, but there’s no option to separate view just the tweets of the people you follow. The sidebar contains those tabs, as well as search, recent searches, lists, and current trends.

Twitterrific makes extensive use of popovers (a combination of popup and dropdown menu that Apple introduced alongside iOS for the iPad), but it can also make you feel boxed in, unable to expand content like pictures and lists to fill the screen. All this makes Twitterrific a good reading experience, but not a highly scalable one.

"Twitter for iPad uses sliding panels like something out of a sci-fi movie. It's innovative, even inspired, but it's not for everyone.

Twitter for iPad uses an almost futuristic feeling, highly table-optimized sliding panel user interface that’s also deeply divisive. Some love it, some loathe it. Everything you tap causes a new panel to slide in from the right, layer after layer, and you need to swipe them all away to get back to where you started. You can also pinch to zoom out on a tweet to bring up a user’s profile, and pinch to zoom in to fold it away again. Twitter’s sidebar contains a list of all your accounts (if you have more than one), and timeline, mentions, messages, lists, your profile, and search are shown for the currently active account. Overall, Twitter manages to feel scalable and spatial, but still simple to some, while annoying and needlessly fancy to others.

Tweetbot for iPad looks a lot like Tweetbot for iPhone, which lets them pack in the features while still keeping things clean, though not always immediately accessible.

Tweetbot has a charmingly distinct user interface that some adore and others feel is overly loud and heavy. Instead of popovers or sliding panels, Tweetbot simply replaces the main window content with whatever you tapped on, be it timeline, user, or picture. That makes it harder to quickly refer back to something, but also removes a lot of the visual clutter that can otherwise build up. Tweetbot’s sidebar presents tabs for timeline, mentions, messages, favorites, search, your profile, lists, retweets, and mute filters (so you can temporarily suppress people, hashtags, and even certain clients and services). The web view also has a toggle to switch between standard and Readability views.

Despite the distinctive design and gesture actions for more advanced users, Tweetbot behaves a lot like a standard iOS-app, making it easily accessible to new users as well.

Writing experience

Twitterrific keeps your tweets alive until you say to kill them, but doesn't offer as many auto-complete options.

Twitterrific’s compose window is unique in that the content persists, even after you close it. If you start typing a tweet, then close it to go do something else, when you tap compose or hit reply again, your text will still be there. (You have to tap the counter and then hit Reset Text to clear it.) There are no auto-complete buttons, but if you type an @ (at) symbol it will start offering username suggestions. If you type a # (hashtag), however, it won’t start offering trend suggestions, and you can’t change which account you’re replying from once you’ve begun to reply. Also, if you add a picture or video, no thumbnails are shown so if you come back later, you’ll need to go to the link if you want to remind yourself what it was.

Twitter for iPad keeps an enormous amount of information immediately at your fingertips, though it approaches visual overload

Twitter’s compose window can quickly start looking like an unruly stack of papers, one piled atop the other. However, it means you have instant, same-screen access to the contents of your timeline and of any conversations you’re joining, which makes checking references while you type a breeze. Twitter supports drafts, and offers auto-complete for both @mentions (which, ironically, brings up a popover in one of the few places Twitterrific does not) and #hashtags. If you add a photo or video with the camera button, you can preview it by tapping the camera button again, and there’s a location button to toggle your coordinates on and off as well.

Tweetbot is crisp and clean with great auto-complete options, but you have to exit out if you want to refer back to something.

Tweetbot has a clean, clear composition screen but, aside from the tweet you’re replying to, you lose out on the ability to reference any other content unless you cancel, save as draft, and come back later which is more cumbersome. There are buttons for auto-completing @mentions and #hashtags, and toggling location, and any photos you add are placed in the menu bar as thumbnails you can tap to view or remove.

Bells and whistles

Twitterrific's settings aren't found in Twitterrific but in the built-in Settings app. The dark theme is one of the standouts here.

Twitterrific doesn’t yet support native iOS Twitter integration, which means you have to authenticate through the web the first time you set it up. (I’m guessing this will be updated in the not-to-distant future). Twitterrific also doesn’t support push notifications, which means unless you have email or SMS alerts set up, you won’t know if you get any mentions or direct messages until you open the app.

Twitterrific’s settings are found in the built-in iOS Settings app, and there you can enable the Dark Theme for night-time use, set up Tweet Marker to sync your timeline position between different clients, like iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and toggle and customize services, including read later (called bookmark) and advanced features like custom media uploads as well.

Twitter for iPhone doesn't have a ton of options, but it does have push notification.

Twitter for iPhone supports native iOS Twitter integration and push notification, but not Tweet Marker. Despite having been on the market for a significant amount of time, it never got all the power features Twitter for iPhone enjoyed, and likely won’t given the almost certain redesign in its near future. You do have control over which image, video, and read later services you use. However, there’s still no pull-to-refrsh direct messages and while it marks messages as unread, frustratingly, there’s still no way to quickly mark them all as unread.

Tweetbot has an almost dizzying array of powerful options, and will even pause push notifications while you sleep.

Tweetbot supports a ton of features, including native iOS Twitter integration, push notifications, and Tweet Marker. For notifications, it not only has options for mentions and direct messages, but retweets, favorites, follows, adds to lists, and subscribes to lists. It’s almost too many, but they can be mitigated by sleep options that suppress them at night (just pick your start and end times).

You can also customize services, including read later and mobilizer (like Safari’s built in Reader feature, but with your choice of provider). Literally, the options threaten to burst out of their popover.

Cost

Twitterrific is free but requires a $4.99 in-app purchase to turn off ads and turn on tweet translation and multiple account support. A universal binary, it supports both iPad and iPhone.

Twitter for iPad is free and also universal for iPad and iPhone.

Tweetbot is $2.99. It’s not universal so the iPhone version will cost you another $2.99.

Conclusion

That part about there being an embarrassment of riches when it comes to iPad Twitter apps wasn’t fluff or filler — it was truth. Twitterrific, Twitter, and Tweetbot each come from brilliant designers and developers with sometimes very different visions for what the ideal Twitter app entails.

Twitterrific is great for new users who want a simple, stable experience, where everything is easy to find, and often all in one place. It doesn’t have as many features, and lack of push notifications might be a show-stopper for some, but those who have been using it since the beginning and like the way it works and syncs consistently across iOS and OS X will also do well to stick with it.

Twitter for iPad, in its current form, is great for those who want fast access to literally layer upon layer of information. It’s an audacious, inspired interface that’s likely going to be replaced with something much more like the Twitter.com website, which also makes it very difficult to recommend to anyone who isn’t already using it.

Tweetbot might feel over-designed to some, but it’s well-designed. It has a ton of features for power users, including the best push-notification implementation in the business. As far as general purpose Twitter apps go, Tweetbot hits the best balance for the widest range of our readers.

Twitterrific could update any time now, and Twitter for iPad will be going through a substantial change soon, but as of right now, if the $2.99 price tag — less than the cost of a fancy coffee, mind you — doesn’t give you pause, Tweetbot should be your go-to Twitter app for iPad.

- Twitterrific – Download now

- Twitter – Download now

- Tweetbot – Download now

TwitkaFly allows you to tweet from virtually anywhere with a quick swipe or tap on your jailbroken iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. It will add a Twitter shortcut to your notification center pull down and allow you to program a quick gesture for composing straight through Activator. The interface is clean and very iOS 5 like. It isn’t bogged down with too many buttons or cheesy graphics either.

The utility supports the following features –

• Tweet right from anywhere using Activator
• QuickReply to Twitter, Tweetbot, and Tweetings push notifications
• Retweet tweets
• Tweet Photo
• Open links from tweets
• Custom animations/transitions
• Amazing notification UI
• Tweet #NowPlayingTrack
• Landscape mode in iPad
• 100% retina display support
• Blacklist users and more

Twitkafly ties into your existing Twitter app so you can handle notifications through it once you choose your client through Settings. Currently TwitkaFly supports the official Twitter app, Tweetbot, and Tweetings. I’m assuming more clients will eventually be added. It’s compatible with any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 4 or higher. The only issue I’ve had so far is when I link it with Tweetbot. Whenever I click a notification it re-springs my device. If I link it with Twitter or Tweetings, it works fine. Hopefully that’s just a bug that’ll be hammered out pretty quickly.

If you’re using LockInfo or IntelliscreenX you shouldn’t have any compatibility issues and it should just tie straight into your existing notification program. You’ll just notice the addition of a QuickTweet button in the bottom left or right hand corner of notification center.

TwitkaFly is already available for purchase in Cydia. They’ve got a lite version available for free and a paid version for $1.99. Hit the link below to check it out and then let us know what you think! You can also check out more jailbreak apps and utilities in our apps, hacks, and themes forum.

Twitkafly – $1.99 – Cydia Search Link

The TomTom App for iPhone and iPad will be the first to use social networks as a source for turn-by-turn navigation. It can automatically plan routes based on information from Facebook events, places and friends. Drivers can also use the App to share their destination and arrival time on Twitter, Facebook, by email and SMS text.

Source: TomTom PR

Marc, Seth, and Rene iterate about the Windows 8 app store, Twitter 4.0, and Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich multitouch tracking, and interrogate Global Moxie’s Josh Clark about the future of gesture-based interfaces. This is Iterate!

• Our podcast feed
• Download Directly
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• Window Store announced. Has some great rules that favour developers and customers alike
• New new Twitter, iOS app, Android app, website etc
  
  • Brent Simmons’ take
  • Mike Rundle’s take
  • John Gruber’s take
  • Ross Rader’s take

• Josh Clark of the Global Moxie

Hosts

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

What better New Year’s resolution to start with than to check out all your in-app privacy settings, especially where Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are concerned? We know how it goes; you get a shiny new iPhone or iPad app and you just want to use it so you log in through Twitter of Facebook or Google because it’s easy, quickly tap through all the set up pages, granting who knows what permissions and for how long, and then forget about it the moment the next shiny app comes along.

MyPermissions.org thinks you should take a few moments to review your settings, revoke or reduce access for those apps that no longer need full, free access to your personal, sometimes private data, and get 2012 off on a saner, more socially secure start.

(I just did mine and I was startled how many old apps still had access to my stuff.)

Source: MyPermission.org

My most used apps of 2011 include an endless list of Twitter apps, ‘video streaming apps’, and of course, the default apps like Safari, Mail, Messages and YouTube. When I do download apps from the App Store, I immediately store them into folders: “Games, Utilities, Utilities 2″. However, there are a select few apps that live outside of folders, because I use them so often. Here are the top 5 that I’ve used this year.

Twittelator Neue

I’ve used a few Twitter apps this year. I used Tweetbot, TweetTime, Tweetings, but most of the time I ended up reverting back to the official Twitter app, but when Twitter updated their iPhone app to #dickapp, I went on a search for another Twitter client. That’s when I found Twittelator Neue. Its gorgeous and was made for iOS5. Its got most of the features you’d expect from a Twitter app and is definitely the app that I will be using in the foreseeable future. So what if it doesn’t have push support yet? It’s so pretty!

$1.99 – App Store Link

BBC iPlayer

The iPlayer app is on both the iPhone and the iPad, however I love them both for different reasons. The iPad version is my No.1 source for my BBC content. Its easy to navigate and lets you save a list of favourites, so I never miss a show. Its so convenient for watching my favourite BBC shows in bed before I go to sleep. The iPhone version wins me over because it has 3G support and live channels, so I can watch TV, while I’m out and on the go.

FREE – App Store Link

Tiny Tower

Tiny Tower is an annoyingly addictive game. I’m constantly checking my tower and improving it. It’s almost become part of my everyday routine. ‘Wake Up, Have Breakfast, Play Tiny Tower’. It’s an endless game, as there is no limit to how tall your tower can go, so I’ll be playing this for many more years to come.

FREE – App Store Link

Wikipanion

When I need to look something up on wikipedia, I always use Wikipanion, not just because it’s a full featured, easy to navigate wikipedia app, but because it has multiple wikia support, which is great for viewing topic-specific wikis as well as the standard wikipedia.

FREE – App Store Link

Checkbook HD

I like keeping a close eye on my money, however, My bank doesn’t have an app (yes, I should leave them.). Checkbook HD, allows me to keep a close eye on all my spendings offline, so I can see at a glance how much money I have at any given time. I’ve got multiple accounts, and the app adds up all my money to tell me how much I have altogether. Time to save for next Christmas.

$0.99 – App Store Link

My most-used apps of 2011 consist of some of Rene’s favorites, and for good reason. Like Rene and Leanna, I’d also prefer to list some of the great default apps included in iOS like Mail, Reminders, Safari Browser for iPhone and iPad etc., but that would just be boring. Instead, here’s a list of some of the most-used iPhone and iPad apps I spent the majority of my time with this year.

Reeder

Reeder is how I consume my news day in, day out — it’s really as simple as that. It’s one of, if not the best news and RSS feed readers available for the iPhone and iPad (there is also a Mac version available in the Mac App Store). Reeder incorporates a stylistic ZEN-like design with multi-touch gestures making news consumption something I consider to be fun, when previously I used the default Google Reader webapp layout from the browser — and I think we all know what kind of experience that can be like. With Reeder, I can jump in and jump out and get the job done quickly and efficiently, while also having a fluid experience at the same time. I prefer the iPad app, but when I don’t have my iPad handy, the iPhone app is top-notch and has the same look and feel of its iPad counterpart. If you’re looking for a better way to consume news, look no further than Reeder for the iPhone and iPad.

• $2.99 — iPhone App Store Link
• $4.99 — iPad App Store Link

Netflix

Netflix has definitely been a lifesaver for me on more than one occasion. Whenever I’m out and about or just at home in bed dying of boredom, I whip out my iPad and jump into the Netflix app to watch my favorite TV shows, movies or documentaries. The great thing about Netflix is the content, in that it has the best-of-the-best content (at least in my opinion) and beats out competitors like Hulu with ease. They’ve recently updated the iPad app with a better layout, making it easier to navigate to your favorite content and start streaming away. Diving into what I love to watch and forgetting about my worries wouldn’t be possible in certain scenarios without Netflix on my iPad 2, and even when I forget to pack up my iPad with the rest of my gear, I always have access to the content they provide via my iPhone 4.

• Free — App Store Link

Tweetlogix for Twitter

I know there are a number of really great Twitter apps out there, but my personal favorite is definitely Tweetlogix for the iPhone. Developed by Onloft Software, Tweetlogix is probably one of the fastest Twitter apps I’ve ever used, which is probably of the main reasons I ended up switching back to Tweetlogix from Echofon Pro in the middle of the year. I wouldn’t be able to say it’s a straight-split between the two, because Tweetlogix excels in too many places where other Twitter apps are simply lacking. You have the ability to adjust font size, view inline images in your stream, mute people you follow who you don’t want cluttering up your stream, and a whole lot more. And again, when I say this app is fast, I mean it’s really fast. Sending a tweet — even over 3G or edge — takes what seems like milliseconds. Just tap the ‘Tweet’ button and you won’t have to deal with the dreaded loading wheel ever again!

• $1.99 — App Store Link

Navigon

I’ve been using Navigon as my main GPS app all year, and then some. It’s one of the best GPS navigation apps available for the iPhone and can even run on the iPad 3G. Navigon provides quick access to Google search, subsequently making it a breeze to search for your desired location (restaurant, gym, grocery store, gas station, whatever) and it also offers in-app purchases for things like 3D terrain mapping in a panoramic view, live traffic and even police radar location information. I’m sure some of you have personal prefecences for other GPS apps, or maybe even prefer a standalone device, but for me, Navigon does the job perfectly.

• $38.99 (North America Only) — App Store Link

Evernote

Want to make sure you never forget anything? Enter Evernote, the best note-taking app available for the iPhone and iPad. Just snap a photo of whatever you need to remember, add a label, tag or just leave it blank, and you’re good to go. Evernote will sync that information across all your iOS devices (even your Mac!) making it easy to access no matter where you are or what you’re doing, and they update the app with added value and additional features on a regular basis. Although the layout has changed significantly over the past couple of years since its debut in the App Store, the basic concept remains the same. iChadman put together a great How To on getting things done using Evernote, and after going through some of the pro-tips in that post, it’s easy to see why Evernote is one of the best apps for getting things done (and remembering things, too!).

• Free — iPhone App Store Link

• Free — iPad App Store Link

My most-used apps of 2011 are probably the built in iPhone and iPad Safari browser, Mail client, and anything and everything Siri can now easily and instantly manage for me like Reminders, Calendars, Alarms, etc. But that’s mundane, boring, and way too Spock for a list like this. So if I take the defaults off the table and focus only on the App Store fare, here’s what I spent most of my time with this year.

Tweetbot

I use Twitter a lot. I try every new client that comes out and I use several at a time for different things. I read a lot in Twitterriffic due to the unified timeline. I still occasionally compose in Birdhouse for things I’m mulling but haven’t completed yet. I love just scrolling through Twittelator Neue for the sheer eye candy of it. Instagram is also good for sharing pics to Twitter. But for most of the year I stuck with Twitter for iPhone for my heavy lifting — checking @mentions and quickly firing off replies. Recently, when Twitter remodeled for what I can only imagine is the new, Britney Spears-following user, I remodeled as well — to Tweetbot. While it looks significantly different from Loren Brichter’s Tweetie, the original basis for Twitter for iPhone, Tweetbot works in a similar enough way that’s it become my go-to Twitter app.

Netflix

I’ve always watched a ton of TV. I leave it on while I work as background noise, and if there’s anything that competes with gadgets for my geek love, it’s story — characters through conflict coming to conclusion. Like many others, I cut my cable TV off this year and went all in on apps. I use Air Video to watch almost everything I already have on my hard-drive, automagically transcoding it on the fly and beaming it over AirPlay to my Apple TV. I use a bunch of Canadian TV network apps for watching new shows, namely Global, CTV, and Citytv. Despite their inexplicable spiral into business insanity this year, however, I’ve been watching more and more Netflix. It’s older stuff, but it’s a lot of stuff, with no annoying ads, and a lot of complete seasons of shows. In addition to re-watching the best of Buffy and Angel, I’ve plowed through Mad Men, The Unit, and a bunch of other great shows.

Instacast

I don’t listen to as many podcasts as I used to. The more time I spend writing the less time I have to read, and now the more time I spend producing and hosting podcasts means the less time I have to listen and watch them. That’s not entirely a bad thing; several of the shows I used to listen have grown to the point where they now seem a tad out of touch with the subjects I enjoyed, or the personalities have somehow decided that interrupting with lame jokes is more important than letting the interesting, informed guest actually finish a sentence. (And yeah, I’m as guilty of all that as the next podcaster — we often find most annoying in others the traits that we find most annoying in ourselves). But I do have to keep track of all the Mobile Nations shows and make sure all the feeds have the right episodes, all the downloads are working, all the art is showing up, etc. etc. and when I do have time to listen to something like Hypercritical or The Sci-Fi Cast, I use Instacast and now Instacast HD

Reeder

Twitter has replaced a lot of what I used to use RSS for — finding interesting stuff to read and post about — but it hasn’t replaced everything. I still check RSS daily. I’ll use The Early Edition when I want to sip latte and skim the news, or Flipboard when I want to check out a social stream of news. For churning through a ton of feeds, however, Reeder for iPhone and Reeder for iPad are still my workhorses. They sync with Google Reader quickly and the interfaces are nearly frictionless. Anything that’s super-interesting gets mailed off or saved to [Instapaper], and I get back to work.

1Password

Whether it’s on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Windows, whenever I’m setting up new a device or computer — which I do often — the first thing I do is log into iCloud, then install Dropbox, then install 1Password, and then I’m pretty much done. 1Password hooks into Dropbox to keep all my logins, credit cards, accounts, and other information secure yet easily accessible. It also generates super-strong passwords when I need them. I have to keep track of so many accounts that there’s just no way I’d be able to do it without 1Password. Once that’s done, I’ll get Screens, Skype, and my other go-to utilities up and running.

As we light the fires and pour the cocoa, as we curl up in our easy chairs and pass the plates of cookies, as the news slows, the apps freeze, the accessories lay wrapped and waiting, and the podcasts stay warm in their queues, Team TiPb is still here to help you and the iOS Nation through the holidays. Free to follow along with us right here, on the forums, on Twitter, and on Google+. You’ll get advanced word on what editors and writers, contributors and podcasters, administrators and moderators are doing and where we’re going, and… you might just score some fun holiday giveaways.

• TiPb: @TiPb | +TiPb
• Rene: @reneritchie | +Rene Ritchie
• Georgia: @GeorgiaTiPb | +Georgia TiPb
• Leanna: @llofte | +Leanna Lofte
• Chris O: @chrisoldroyd | +Chris Oldroyd
• Ally: @iMuggle | +Ally Kazmucha
• Andrew: @andrewwray | +Andrew Wray
• George: @jorjlim | +George Lim
• Chris P: @bla1ze | +Chris Parsons
• Michelle: @phishgirl3 | +Michelle Haag
• Jared: @jdipane | +Jared DiPane
• Seth: @sethclifford | +Seth Clifford
• Cory: @cstreater | +Cory Streater
• Adam: @azeis | +Adam Zeis
• Alli: @alli_flowers | +Alli Flowers
• Leo: @garz76
• Chris V: @skeetobite | +Chris Vitek
• Jessica: @JBaby_9783 | +Jessica Moss
• Justin: @justin_horn | +Justin Horn
• James: @jamesus | +James Barry
• Kevin: @CrackBerryKevin | +Kevin Michaluk

Phew! If you made it to the end, please throw your Twitter and/or Google+ ID in the comments below. We’ll pick a dozen or so of you at random and give you a #FollowFriday of your very own later tonight!

Rene, Seth, and Jon Fingas of Electronista talk iPhone 4S 2 months later, Galaxy Nexus competition, Nokia hipsters, iOS 5.1 beta 2, PhotoStream, fake iPhone strings, Netflix, Microsoft apps, newnew Twitter, UI, and more. This is iPhone Live!

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Hosts

• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Special Guest

• Jon Fingas of Electronista

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @TiPb, or you can email us at podcast@tipb.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live.

We’re here every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT, and our companion show — iPad Live! — is at the same time, on the same channel, on Sunday nights. www.TiPb.com/live

For all our podcasts — audio and video — including iPhone and iPad Live, ZENandTECH and Superfunctional, Iterate and Girls Gone Gadget and more… see MobileNations.com/shows

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

pod2g has posted a video showing off an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5. When and if it will be made public has yet to be said.

hello. No it does not rely on [Charlie Miller's code signing vulnerability]. Next step do the same on iOS 5.0.1. Should be quick.

According to later a tweet sent out by pod2g, it looks as if it will work on iOS 5.0.1 which is great news for all the folks that already updated.

Tons of questions from my nice followers. Too early to answer. Will work on iOS 5.0.1, will try iPad 2 and 4S after others are ready.

I’m secretly (ok, not so secretly) crossing my fingers that an untethered solution will follow (heck, I’ll take tethered at this point) for the iPhone 4S.

An untethered jailbreak is one that doesn’t require an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad be plugged via USB dock cable to properly reboot, and typically seems harder and takes longer to achieve than tethered jailbreaks. While tethered gets the job done, an untethered solution is always preferred.

• Jailbreak Starters Guide
• Jailbreak Forums

The official Twitter 4.0 for iPhone has a radically overhauled user interface which, while it might potentially make tweeting more discoverable and approachable to new, mainstream users, could also annoy and alienate long time, power users. Luckily, if you’re one of he annoyed, the alienated, there are a variety of alternative Twitter apps in the App Store for you to choose from. These are some of our favorites, the ones we consider the very best, most must-have third party Twitter clients for iPhone and iPad.

Note: This has been updated and expanded from our previous, post #dickbar list of recommended Twitter app alternatives and includes several new picks.

Tweetbot

Tweetbot by Tapbots is it a beauty. A text review can hardly do this app justice because it is impossible to put into words how beautifully Tweetbot is made. Sure, I can describe how, at your touch, a tweet slides up revealing a navigation bar while simultaneous emitting the perfect sound. I can explain that swiping a tweet to right reveals the conversation and swiping to left displays related tweets. I can tell you about smart gestures, multiple timelines, and customizable navigation. I can even spew out a concrete list of every feature that Tweetbot includes. What I can’t provide you, however, is the experience.

Tweetbot is different. It’s innovative and refreshing. Tweetbot isn’t an app you use, it’s one you interact with. Everything has an animation, a sound, a beautiful interface. And true to Tapbots’ style, the sounds are subtle and pleasant – enriching the experience. For those who are suckers for design, innovation, and dare I say, personality, Tweetbot will rock your world.

Includes support for iOS 5 Twitter integration, Push Notification, and TweekMarker sync. Does not have an iPad-specific version or a PC version.

• $2.99 – App Store link

Twitterrific

Twitterrific by the Iconfactory was the very first Twitter application for the iPhone, even predating Apple’s official App Store. It is full-featured, award-winning client with a beautiful and intuitive UI. Twitterrific supports link shortening and tweet translation in addition to the ability to filter your timeline for specific tweet types and trends. It’s clean and elegant and color-codes your timeline so you can see tweets, @mentions, and DMs all in the same stream.

Twitterrific supports Tweetmarker and includes both iPhone and iPad optimized version in a single universal app, as well as a Mac app. It does not support iOS 5 Twitter integration or Push Notifications.

Available as an in-app purchase for $4.99, you can upgrade to Twitterrific Premium which will remove ads and enable multiple accounts.

• Free – App Store link

TweetDeck

TweetDeck, now owned by Twitter, is a desktop powerhouse that tries to bring the same multi-column, quick filtering functionality to the iPhone. Favored by social media marketing, analyst, and engagement types because of the ability to sort, organize, manage, and push out tons of Twitter material, the approach translates down to the much smaller screen with okay but not great results.

Still, for people who live and swear by TweetDeck on Windows or Mac, especially those with a TweetDeck account allowing for fast and easy setup, you might want to check this version out.

TweetDeck does not support iOS 5 Twitter integration, Push Notifications or Tweetmarker.

• Free – App Store link

Echofon

Echofon is a full-featured twitter client with a very clean interface and welcome features like a mute option to squelch users, clients and hashtags. Additionally, Echofon previews media directly in your stream which helps you decide if it’s something you’re interested in. If so, a quick tap of the thumbnail will open the photo or video.

Echofon supports Push Notification, had both iPad and iPhone versions in a single universal app, and will sync with Echofon on the desktop (their own service, not Tweetmarker). Echofon does not support iOS 5 Twitter integration (and actually has a slightly more complex, but secure web + pin authorization scheme in place.)

There are both regular and pro versions of Echofon in the App Store. The regular version is free, the pro version is $4.99, and you can update from regular to pro via a $4.99 in-app purchase as well.

As an in-app purchase for $4.99, you can remove the ads and upgrade to Echofon Pro.

• Free – iTunes link

Osfoora

Osfoora is a lot like the official Twitter for iPhone app was before the recent changes in version 4.0. That is to say, anyone who liked the original Tweetie will be immediately familiar with most of Osfoora. But Osfoora doesn’t just stick to conventions, it jams a lot more features in as well. There’s everything from a “home screen” with big icons for major functions to unread badges on the major sections.

If Tweetie/Twitter for iPhone pre-4.0 “just worked” for you and fit the way you used Twitter, and you don’t want to change, give Osfoora a try.

There are both iPhone and iPad versions of Osfoora but they’re not universal — you need to buy both separately. While Osfoora supports a ton of features, iOS 5 integration, Push Notifications, and Tweetmarker aren’t among them.

• $2.99/$3.99 – App Store link

Tweetings

Tweetings is an excellent Twitter app with a clutter-free UI. It let’s you search who’s nearby and find out what’s trending at the moment or see who’s around you with Augmented Reality. Tweetings also allows selective or automatic updates to Facebook as well as support for TwitLonger, Twtmore, and URL shortening.

Many of the big features, like push notifications, are stripped from the free version of Tweetings, but you can individually choose which features are important to you and purchase them for $0.99 or upgrade to the full version for $2.99.

• Free – App Store link

Tweetlist

Tweetlist offers an excellent way to view lists and quickly switch between them. The Tweetlists tab is quick to access and you simply swipe left and right to view different lists. This client is very snappy and has excellent Voice Over accessibility support. Tweetlists also offers support for Twitlonger, Instapaper, and Read it Later. Another fantastic feature of Tweetlist is that conversations open automatically – if a tweet is part of a conversation, the entire conversation will be displayed upon tapping on the tweet.

• $2.99 – App Store link

Twittelator Neue – @reneritchie

Twittelator Neue is pure eye candy. There’s a new wave of apps that are trying out new layering effects and physics, new animations and interactions. Twittelator Neue is one of those leading the way. This is not Apple’s Twitter client. It’s not flat and utilitarian like Mail or overly skeumorphic like Find my Friends. It’s glossy, it’s polished, it’s fresh, and it’s refreshing.

It doesn’t have the functionality of some other clients. It picks and chooses its battles carefully. More functionality will likely follow in future updates but I hope they keep curating it, keep it simple.

iPhone only, no push notification support.

• $1.99 – App Store link

Tweetlogix

Tweetlogix offers tons of functionality, including support for themes and a bevy of additional services, all wrapped up in an elegant, easy to navigate interface. Inline images, active links, and more make it a good choice for power readers.

iPhone only, no push notification support.

$1.99 – App Store link

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is another one of those Twitter — and Facebook, LinkedIn, and Foursquare — apps that seems aimed more squarely at social network and social media marketing types rather than average users, but if you have a brand to push and love you some stats, especially if you’re already all in with Hootsuite on the app, the app is a great companion.

Supports both iPad and iPhone in the same universal app. Requires a Hootsuite account.

• Free – App Store link

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 5 best alternative Twitter apps for iPhone and iPad. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

Twitter had begun rolling out a massive new design overhaul focused on consistency, which calling #letsfly, and is available now in a freshly updated Twitter for iPhone.

The #letsfly update aims to make your Twitter experience faster and simpler. Your main timeline is now called “Home” and your mentions are now “Connect” and they added a quick way to access hash tags and searches which is called “Discover”. It certainly does look fresh and clean, and may be more accessible to new users.

On the down side, Direct Messages (DM’s) have been buried under the “Me” tab, as has account switching. (Though you can swipe up to get DM’s and left to switch accounts, slightly speeding up the process.)

Notably, this is the first major update since Loren Brichter — the innovative developer behind the original Twitter for iPhone and Mac (called Tweetie before it was bought out) and iPad — left Twitter a short time ago.

The #letsfly update for Twitter for iPhone is available now in the App Store.

• Free – App Store Link

Adult star Jesse Jane took to Twitter to let everyone know her purse — including her iPhone — was stolen, and that she was going to use iCloud — and presumably Find my iPhone — to hunt it down!

After tracking the phone to Hollywood, she took some guys with her and went to get her stuff back from the people who stole it.

Don’t mess with the power of technology!

• Free – Find my iPhone

Source: @JesseJane

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

The folks over at Red Pepper Land came up with an ingenious way to get Siri to pour you a cold glass of beer, completely hands free, using Twitter, an Arduino controller and an R/C toy car. They call it Beeri, and I want it..

When Beeri sees a new Tweet containing the word “pour” she triggers the sequence of preprogrammed pour commands (go, stop, adjust) that interface with the truck’s circuit board to control her movement. Her route is preprogrammed (drive straight) until her two proximity detectors sense her moving away from the puncture wall after impact. This allows her to halt the driving sequence and adjust to a 6 inch depth in order to get the beer to enter the funnel. With a clean pint glass underneath to collect the liquid gold, the only thing left to do is enjoy your tasty beverage.

Hey, no one promised you the cool new future wouldn’t be a little messy, right?

Source: Red Pepper Land

If you’re new to iPhone or iPad and have just gotten started with iOS 5, you might be wondering how to set up the new Twitter integration feature. It gives you the ability to tweet directly from Photos, YouTube, Safari, Maps, and any other third party applications that request access to your twitter settings. It’s also easy to set up. Here’s how.

1. Go to Settings

2. Enter the Twitter Settings

3. Enter your @username and password

4. Select which apps you wish to have access to the twitter settings.

5. Now, you’ll be able to share from Photos, YouTube, Safari, Maps and other third party apps that support the twitter integration.

Bonus: When you’re in Twitter settings, you can install the official twitter app, directly from settings.

Optional: You can merge your twitter friends with your contacts. Twitter uses phone numbers and email addresses to match twitter names with your friends, and adds a link to their profile to their contact.

You’ve now got Twitter set up on your iPhone, allowing you to tweet straight from some of Apple’s native apps, as well as some third party apps. You can also login to select Twitter apps, without having to re-enter your login.

Apple hasn’t (yet?) added posting to Twitter to the tricks in Siri‘s bag, but if all you want to do is tweet out a quick status, you can add it yourself.

It’s simple: Navigate to Twitter from Mobile Safari, jump into the mobile settings panel and make sure you have your mobile phone number setup with the service. Twitter will then spit out a number for you to text message Twitter updates to. For confirmation’s sake, send a quick status update to the number to make sure the text is pushed to your Twitter timeline.

For more, see Clay Russel’s write up below.

Source: iPhone Addict

The official Twitter app for iPhone and iPad received an update, today, that includes the ability to upload photos to Twitter’s picture hosting services (pic.twitter.com) and a new UI for Direct Messages on the iPad.

• Enhanced sign up experience
• Upload photos to Twitter (pic.twitter.com)
• Updated Direct Messages design on iPad
• Tap a location on iPad to show Tweets nearby
• Bug fixes and minor enhancements

Twitter is available on the iPhone and iPad for free.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Tweet Speaker is a new, unique Twitter app that reads your tweets to you. This is a great way to stay current with Twitter during times that you can’t look at your iPhone, like when driving, jogging, cleaning the house, or shopping. It’s got a fantastic user interface, and integrates cutting edge voice technology that’ss really smart about expanding Twitter slang like RT into “retweet”, and @ usernames into the associated real names.

You can hear the developer, David Barnard of App Cubby, talking all about it on the latest episode of our Iterate podcast.

Enjoy Twitter while on a walk, stuck in traffic, in the kitchen, or on the go. Tweet Speaker lets you listen to news, sports, humor, and the musings of interesting people on Twitter – a sort of live podcast of your Tweets.

• Beautiful user interface
• Speech tailored for tweets
• Tweet Marker support
• Adjustable reading speed
• Airplay

Tweet Speaker is available on the iPhone for $2.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

The popular Twitter client, TweetCaster, now has a Breast Cancer Awareness version – TweetCaster PINK. OneLouder will donate 50% of all proceeds to the Feel Your Boobies Foundation.

“Breast Cancer Awareness month is a great time to recognize those who have been impacted and raise awareness by sporting your pink gear,” said Evan Conway, President, OneLouder. “With TweetCaster PINK, you can tweet in style, show your support and help save lives by spreading the word.”

When you buy the TweetCaster PINK app you get a distinctive “pink” version of the leading TweetCaster Pro (ads-free) app and you are helping to spread hundreds of life saving ‘feel your boobies’ reminders. TweetCaster PINK also enables you to easily dedicate your download to someone by sending a customized tweet.

• Peekaboo Links – Link Preview
• Multiple Account Support
• Facebook Integration
• In-App Notifications
• Tweet Power Swipe
• Timeline Search
• iTunes Music Sharing and purchasing integration
• Geolocation/Nearby functionality
• Advanced Profile Editing
• Multiple Themes
• Custom Backgrounds
• Follower Management
• Long tweet Support
• Draft Manager
• Lists
• Twitter Trends
• Instapaper/Read It Later Integration
• Threaded Conversations
• Standard features such as Search, URL shortening, Photo/Video Uploading, Retweets (with or without comment)

Tweetcaster for iPhone is available on the iPhone for $9.99.

App Store link

Source: OneLouder

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Apple is now using Twitter to promote the United States version of their iBookstore. Apple already uses Twitter to promote content for App store apps, iTunes music, TV shows, and iTunes movies. Even though the iBookstore account was created quite some time ago, Apple appears to have just started utilizing the account.

The first tweet was actually sent out just today –

Welcome to the Apple #iBookstore on Twitter. Follow us to discover new releases, exclusive book offers, and more.

The last tweet sent from the account is a link to a list of books that are quick reads at good prices. I’ve become a fan of companies using social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with customers. If you’re an avid reader and utilize iBooks you may want to follow the account for new releases, discounts, sales, and recommended picks. Hit the link below to follow iBookstore on Twitter.

@iBookstore

Let’s be blunt — if you’re not in the TiPb Forums you’re missing out on the best darn discussion in iPhone and iPad today, so head on over and register now!

• iOS 5 beta 8 to be released this Friday?

• If you’d like to connect with some TiPb forum members on Twitter, Google+, and/or Facebook hit up the links and share your user names.

• iPhone 5 pricing

• iPhone 5 not seeing a redesign?

See you in the forums!

Facebook for iPhone, which previously took heat for making their Places icon a little too 4-squared, is now being called out by mobile designer Bryan Haggerty for copying Twitter‘s photo sharing UI.

Seriously Facebook? http://pic.twitter.com/0ifNsdY

Ok Facebook, enough with the flattery. http://pic.twitter.com/vSyHdpH

Though TechCrunch points out Haggerty was at LinkedIn when LinkedIn’s mobile app looked a lot like Facebook. Twitter for iPhone is no stranger to flattery, however, as back when it was still Tweetie, it’s “pull to refresh” feature was so intuitive it quickly spread to other apps and even web frameworks.

At a certain point, a “best” way of doing something gets discovered and for the sake of consistency and user friendliness, it makes more sense for that “best” way to become a standard. (See Lotus vs. Excel). Whether or not the Twitter photo sharing UI qualifies as something so good it should become a standard, we’ll have to wait and see.

[@bhaggs via TechCrunch]

Tweetbot – A Twitter Client with Personality has just updated to version 1.6 and with it, brings Tweetmarker support. Tweetmarker is a service that marks the last read tweet in your timeline so that it can be synced between other Twitter clients.

Since its release, Tweetbot has been my favorite Twitter client on the iPhone. Tweetmarker is a great addition to the app and I look forward to what future updates may bring.

Tweetbot is a full-featured iPhone (and iPod touch) Twitter client with a lot of personality. Whether it’s the meticulously-crafted interface, sounds & animation, or features like multiple timelines & smart gestures, there’s a lot to love about Tweetbot.

• Multiple Timelines. Quickly switch between your lists as your main timeline.
• Smart Gestures. Use Twitter more efficiently with time-saving and configurable gestures.
• Native Push Notifications.
• Customizable Navigation. The last 2 tabs are customizable and unused tabs are easily accessible.
• Support for multiple services like Read it Later, Instapaper, Cloudapp URL Shortening.
• Save drafts, add locations and POI’s, attach photos and videos, manage your lists, and much more.

The update includes:

• Improvements to username search in the compose view
• Tweetmarker support (enable in the account settings)
• Location improvements
• Fixed Egyptian timestamp issue
• Bug fixes

Tweetbot is available on the iPhone for $2.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Twitterrific for iPhone and iPad has been updated with Tweet Marker, a new feature that syncs timeline positions across all versions.

This new feature makes me really excited! To me, it’s a no-brainer for developers to include this ability with their Twitter apps and I look forward to it becoming the norm. Now if Twitterrific would just add native push notifications, it’d be pretty darn close to perfect.

Details and screenshots after the break.

[App Store link]

Now a universal app for both iPad & iPhone, Twitterrific is the friendly, award-winning Twitter client that’s beautiful to look at easy to use and full of elegant features. Effortlessly read and compose tweets, search Twitter.com, filter message types and much more.

• Twitterrific now syncs timeline positions across all versions via Tweet Marker
• Universal app for iPhone and iPad
• Simple to use, easy to understand
• Unified display for replies, re-tweets, direct messages, mentions & more
• Timeline syncing of reading position across all versions via Tweet Marker
• Create Twitter-based searches & view lists
• Browse conversation threads between users
• Follow, un-follow and block Twitter users easily
• Filter timeline for specific tweet types & trends
• Helpful actions including: re-tweet, link shortening, email & tweet translation

Twitterrific for Twitter is available on the iPhone and iPad for free with an optional $4.99 in-app purchase to upgrade to premium.

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Facebook is the most popular app on the iPhone and we’ve often said Twitter and iOS go together like chocolate and peanut butter. But social networks rise and fall. Remember MySpace, Jaiku, Buzz… Friendster? And hey, how about Google+ now that it’s expanding beyond the techie early adopters, or LinkedIn which seems to always hover neither here nor there.

Which social networks do you use regularly? Let us know in the poll up top and give us the details, including which one(s) you prefer, how often you use them, — and your profile link(s) if you feel especially social about it — in the comments below.

iPad users that use twitter.com in safari, instead of the downloadable iPad app, will be getting a new HTML5 web app in the next few weeks

Currently, iPad users who navigate to ‘twitter.com’ are greeted with the old iPhone layout, with an option to switch to the default desktop UI. However Twitter announced on the ‘Twitter Mobile’ twitter account that they have begun rolling out a new HTML5 based web UI specifically for the iPad, which should reach all users in the coming weeks.

We’ve launched our HTML5 version of twitter.com for iPad. It will be rolling out to device owners over the next week or so.

The screenshot above shows that the UI is similar to both the desktop design and the recently updated iPhone design.

I haven’t had the updated web app yet, but I’m interested to know if any of you have had a chance to play with it yet.

[9to5mac] [@TwitterMobile]

Using Tweetbot and wondering how to enable the recently added experimental push notifications? Tapbots just recently opened up tons more slots in the beta program so if you haven’t enabled it, there’s still a good chance you can snag a slot.

The most common question I’ve been getting is how to enable push notifications. Although Tweetbot is a gorgeous Twitter client, the push settings are in a bit of a weird place. Follow along for a quick guide on how to try and activate push in Tweetbot.

1. First launch Tweetbot and click the account icon in the upper left hand corner of your timeline.
2. Then tap Accounts & Settings.

3. You will see a page that lists all your accounts. Tap Settings at the bottom.

4. From the next screen select the username you’d like to try push notifications for.

5. Now select Notifications at the top.

6. Simply turn on the switches for each type of notification you’d like and your’e done!
7. If notifications don’t work for some reason, make sure you have Tweetbot push enabled from your general iPhone settings under Settings and Notifications.

As a side note, Tweetbot push is still experimental and they are only allowing so many users at one time. Most people seem to be getting it to work but if you get an error message, the testing slots could just be filled. Keep trying to turn them on occasionally to see if more testing slots have opened. Hopefully push will be available publicly soon!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

TweetFire – a Twitter client with Speed and Push Notifications – is now available for iPhone.

TweetFire was built with speed and performance in mind. Are you tired of other clients that take forever to load and try to download all of your data at once? TweetFire is perfect for you! Fast loading and smart refreshing means that you can navigate Twitter at lightning speed.

• A unique interface giving you shortcuts to all your favorite views in Twitter.
• Shortcuts for Home Timeline, Mentions, DMs, Favorites, New Search, and User Profile view
• Add more shortcuts for User Timelines, Searches, and Lists
• NATIVE PUSH NOTIFICATIONS for mentions and other Tweeps you want to follow in real-time.
• Multi-account support
• A comprehensive URL scheme so other apps can interact with TweetFire
• Flickr integration for posting pictures and tweeting them
• A bunch of other photo sharing providers
• Instapaper for saving links to tweets and urls
• Kik Messenger for sharing tweets and urls with other Kik users
• Deep Favstar.fm integration for viewing Favstar pages and awarding “Tweet of the Day”
• Other sharing options for Facebook, Pinboard, Read It Later, Email, SMS, etc.
• Save Tweet and DM as Draft, with images
• Instagram integration
• One tap search
• One tap user profile view
• Quickly add users to lists
• Add other people’s public lists to your home screen

I haven’t had the chance to try out TweetFire, yet, but I’ve seen many great things said about it on Twitter – particularly that it’s blazing fast. With a name like TweetFire, it better be!

TweetFire is available on the iPhone for free. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Tweetcaster Pro has been updated as a universal application for iPhone and iPad.

• Multiple Account Support
• Facebook Integration
• “Zip It” (Hide unwanted tweets)
• Peekaboo Links – Link Preview
• In-App Notifications
• Tweet Power Swipe
• Timeline Search
• iTunes Music Sharing and purchasing integration
• Geolocation/Nearby functionality
• Advanced Profile Editing
• Multiple Themes
• Custom Backgrounds
• Follower Management
• Long tweet Support
• Draft Manager
• Lists
• Twitter Trends
• Instapaper/Read It Later Integration
• Threaded Conversations
• Standard features such as Search, URL shortening, Photo/Video Uploading, Retweets (with or without comment)

I really like Tweetcaster’s UI. It has a very nice design and makes good use of popups without overusing them. I’ll likely be using Tweetcaster as my primary Twitter app on the iPad.

Tweetcaster Pro is available for $4.99. Screenshots after the break.

[iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Tweetbot for iPhone has been updated to 1.3 and brings new features and improvements such as the ability to view local trends and translate direct messages.

• Improved multiple account switching
• Local trends (can be set in the account settings)
• Improved recipient selector when creating a new direct message
• Ability to copy, delete, and translate direct messages (swipe on a thread to delete a whole group)
• “Add to List” feature improved and renamed to “Manage List Memberships”
• Added “go to user” feature in people search (shows when typing into the “Search People” box)
• Gaps now load above or below depending on position of gap when button is invoked.
• Compose Tweet from hashtag (by holding down on a hashtag in a tweet)
• Drafts button now displays # of drafts.
• Support for Favstar (hold fav button to invoke ‘tweet of the day’, double-tap profile tab to see your own favstar page)
• Various bug fixes

Tapbots has also put up a blog post explaining why there are no push notifications (they need approval for the beta streaming service from Twitter), why they’re not making an iPad or Mac version any time soon, and why they choose not to support Twitlonger. Check out the link below for the details and if you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

[$1.99 - iTunes link, Tapbots blog]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Reportage was WhereCloud’s insanely creative iPhone Twitter app that let users “tune in” to other users’ timeline — like a radio station for tweets. I say was because Twitter’s swerve away from the developer friendliness that helped them build their platform and their rapid acceleration into ownership plays that may — or may not — help them ensure its future has led WhereCloud to stop development.

Martin Dufort, who TiPb interviewed as part of our Developer Spotlight series two weeks ago, explains it was the the culmination of 4 changes by Twitter that led to his company’s decision:

1. Twitter stopped allowing modifications to the timeline, so ads couldn’t be inserted, and more importantly in Reportages case, their re-ordering to present individual timeline “broadcasts” could be seen as a violation.

2. Twitter’s switch to OAuth and XAuth took considerable time and resources to implement. WhereCloud went with xAuth for the better user experience. (It doesn’t force users to go to a browser to grant permission, then come back to the app.)

3. Twitter’s subsequent switch to only allowing direct message (DM) access via OAuth meant WhereCloud then had to consider redoing authentication yet again, because Twitter clients require access to DMs. Twitter’s timeline for the switch was also originally very, very tight. At the same time, Twitter for iPhone (made by Twitter) wouldn’t be subject to the same terms, making it harder to compete.

4. Twitter’s Director of 3rd Party apps, Ryan Sarver, came straight out and said developers shouldn’t be building their own 3rd party Twitter clients.

Taken together, these are all Good Things for Twitter — they get to control their brand, user experience, and user base, but Bad Things for developers who for years have offered alternatives that arguably helped Twitter grow. It’s a Mixed Bag of Things for users who may get a more consistent set of official clients to use, but will lose out on the creativity and innovation that helped make the now official clients great, and could make the next generation of clients even better.

All of this has led to WhereCloud pulling the plug.

We at WhereCloud, innovated with our own Twitter Radio Tuner: @reportage. To this day, this iOS application is still unique and a very good complement to other timeline-based clients. This last requirement to move from xAuth to oAuth will force us to update @reportage again but at what cost given the iceberg will surely hit again.

You win Twitter, your strategy of squeezing 3rd party developers is working with us. We will not update @reportage to support oAuth. We have no choice but to remove it from sale from the AppStore on June 25th.

Stranger still, iOS 5 will include built-in Twitter integration and authentication, so presumably next fall Twitter developers will no longer need to use OAuth on iOS but the new iOS Twitter auth system. Does that mean they’ll have to change from xAuth to OAuth now, then to the iOS auth before submitting iOS 5 binaries in 3 months or so? Does it mean cross-platform client makers will have seamless auth in iOS but have ugly OAuth on Android?

And which other clients might call it quits while we’re waiting to find out?

[WhereCloud]

@Frankrockz told TechUnwrapped he found some interesting iPad Retina Display sized graphics hidden in the Twitter frameworks of the just-released iOS 5 beta.

As I was going through the iOS SDK I came across some images in the new Twitter .framework. The resolution appears to be 1,536 x 2,048.

That, of course, is the magic 2x number needed to take the 9.7-inch iPad display to Retina levels. Similar 2x graphics were previously found in iBooks before the iPad 2 release, so it doesn’t necessarily mean iPad 3 will be getting Retina Display — depending on costs and production yields it could be iPad 4 — but it does mean Apple is continuing to get ready for it at some point.

Would you be willing to pay more for a 1,536 x 2,048 iPad 3, or would you prefer Apple hold off until they can cram four times the screen into the same price?

[@Frankrockz via TechUnwrapped]

Tweetbot — A Twitter Client with Personality, has received a big update today. It includes support for Twitter Photos, Pinboard, Bit.ly Pro, Instapaper, and much more!

• New User/Hashtag picker in compose view
• View support for Twitter Photos
• Added quote format setting
• Pinboard support in the read later options
• Bit.ly Pro support
• Custom API Endpoint for URL shortening and image uploads
• Google/Instapaper Mobilizer support in account settings
• Option to select absolute or relative timestamps
• Ability to undo a retweet
• Ability to retweet from another account (hold down on the retweet button)
• Tapping on a success/failure message dismisses it instantly
• Added @username/listname for followed lists. (solves the problem of following lists with the same name)
• Pikchur image upload support
• Various bug fixes

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

iOS 5 was recently rumored to have Twitter integration built-in. From what Apple is showing today at WWDC 2011, there will now be a new feature they’re referring to as a “tweet sheet” that integrates into “Twitter friendly apps”.

We aren’t really sure what Apple is considering “Twitter friendly” at this point. I’m only assuming there will be available APIs that make it possible for developers to integrate Twitter into their apps natively (without third party permissions hopefully?). This functionality will be really amazing if it integrates with stock apps like Photos. Say goodbye to having to upload pics to Twitter via third party sites.

Chirpy, the Twitter client for Direct Messages, has been updated to 2.0 and brings with it many new features and enhancements.

• All new chat view with beautiful bubble graphics
• Chat bubble colors are fully customizable
• Profile pictures are displayed in the chat view
• Profile pictures are displayed in the inbox view
• Use Dropbox to share photos privately
• Delete messages
• Email messages
• Search your inbox for messages
• Copy-and-paste messages
• Tap on links, addresses, phone numbers, and dates in conversations to take appropriate action
• Mark all messages as read with a single tap

Chirpy is an excellent app for those who like to use Twitter as an SMS replacement. Everything about it, including push notifications, are super snappy and the UI is clean and clutter free.

The good folks at High Order Bit have given us a few promo codes to give away to our awesome readers! Just leave a comment letting us know why Chirpy would make an excellent addition to your Twitter app collection for a chance to win!

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

UPDATE: Congrats to winners BigTechTony, Pedro, Mike, Andres, and sethsnack. Enjoy!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Twitter today announced improved search, and first-party (i.e. Twitter’s own) image hosting service.

Today we’re starting to roll out a completely new version of Twitter search. Not only will it deliver more relevant Tweets when you search for something or click on a trending topic, but it will also show you related photos and videos, right there on the results page. It’s never been easier to get a sense of what’s happening right now, wherever your curiosity takes you.

The image hosting is an even bigger deal, given the somewhat dubious licensing terms some third party hosts have been putting in place (taking ownership of users’ photos as their own).

Millions of people share photos on Twitter every day. We’re going to make that easier than ever. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be releasing a feature to upload a photo and attach it to your Tweet right from Twitter.com. And of course, you’ll soon be able to easily do this from all of our official mobile apps. A special thanks to our partner Photobucket for hosting these photos behind the scenes.

So expect updates for Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for iPad soon to take advantage of these new features… and perhaps some bigger announcements come the WWDC keynote on Monday…

Video after the break!

[Twitter blog]

BBM is one of the most compelling aspects of the BlackBerry experience — could Apple be set to bring their own instant messaging service to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad… via Twitter? MG Siegler said yesterday that Apple was going to be including Twitter image posting in iOS 5 and John Gruber added that the integration could be much broader, and at the system level. Then Siegler fired back:

While Anil Dash wonders if Apple could make their own Twitter, I just think it would be great if Apple would create (or buy) any type of messaging services that bypasses SMS. It’s such a colossal rip off. And out of date. And it continues to empower the carriers.

There’s a reason why BBM took off. Apple could make it work device-to-device as well. I’m thinking we need a FaceTime without the “Face”.

The big problem with BBM is that, so far, it’s locked to the BlackBerry platform. Twitter is cross platform. Sure, it’s still proprietary, like Whatsapp, Kik, and other BBM alternatives, but the user base is huge. Dieter and I spoke about this, and there are still a lot of questions, of course. Twitter has had problems with scaling and being the BBM of iOS would be a lot of scale. Could Apple’s Data Center help with that? Also, Twitter doesn’t currently have group messages. Would they need them? Would partnering with Apple help Twitter bring those features to market faster? Would it then roll out across other platforms, paving the way for a real, universal communications protocol?

So yeah, there are a lot of questions, but as Siegler points out, Twitter is free, while SMS isn’t. That makes for a rather elegant end run around carriers and their obscene SMS prices.

Apple has relied on Google for Maps, YouTube, and search in the past. Could they rely on Twitter for text communications in the future? Would you want them to?

[Paris Lemon]

Could iOS 5 include deep, system-wide Twitter integration? It could if TechCrunch and Daring Fireball are correct. First up, MG Siegler rumored:

We’ve heard from multiple sources that Twitter is likely to have a big-time partner for such a service: Apple. Specifically, we’re hearing that Apple’s new iOS 5 will come with an option to share images to Twitter baked into the OS. This would be similar to the way you can currently share videos on YouTube with one click in iOS. Obviously, a user would have to enable this feature by logging in with their Twitter credentials in iOS. There would then be a “Send to Twitter” option for pictures stored on your device.

To which John Gruber added:

Imagine what else the system could provide if your Twitter account was a system-level service.

We’ve seen Apple work with Twitter on Ping integration after their initial efforts with Facebook fizzled. If iOS 5 includes Twitter as an option in the Action button, the way it does everything from email to MobileMe to YouTube today, is that interesting? Or is there something beyond even that?

[TechCrunch, Daring Fireball]

Twitter has put up a blog post ostensibly to inform users that, in order to better secure and keep our direct messages (DMs) private, 3rd party apps will now be forced to use the clumsier, web-based OAuth login method rather than the slicker, more native-feeling xAuth most of the use today.

When you first connect an application to Twitter, we’ll give you more detailed information about what you’re allowing the app to do with your account. These activities may include reading your Tweets, seeing who you follow, updating your profile, posting Tweets on your behalf, or accessing your direct messages. If you’re not comfortable with the level of access an application requests, simply say “No, thanks”.

So what this boils down to is, when you get a new Twitter app — anything from a full client like Twitterrific or TweetBot down to apps that simply allow you to share content via Twitter, such as games and Instagram — you won’t be able to simply enter your username and password in the fields like you do today. Instead the app will have to call up an embedded browser window (UIWebView) and load up a Twitter.com page which then presents the more complex screen shown above.

That could be just a little extra mental work for games, where maybe the advantages in making sure a developer doesn’t have permission to see anything they don’t need, like you’re DMs, but for proper Twitter clients, which are supposed to read and write DMs, which power users might have multiple accounts to setup and maintain, it quickly becomes a pain in the butt.

Except for Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for iPad, and likely the newly acquired TweetDeck. Since they’re considered 1st party, since Twitter considers your signing up for their service as granting them all applicable permissions, they still get to use the kinder, gentler, xAuth.

So, by way of dramatic parallel, imagine Apple forced every non-Apple App Store app could only be synced via iTunes, and only Apple apps could be downloaded directly on-device. It would be just as annoying and just as seemingly greedy and unfair.

And that’s what rankles about this. It feels greedy and unfair. Greedy and unfair to the 3rd party developers who created the clients that helped make Twitter what it is today, greedy and unfair to users who get a more hostile experience, and ultimately greedy and unfair to Twitter which had such a good reputation among developers and users, until they started clamping down on 3rd parties and introducing things like the #dickbar.

In iOS when an app wants to use location services or send you push notifications, it gives you a simple yes/no popup. If Twitter is really concerned about user privacy and security — even when users are expressly opting for the convenience of a full on Twitter client — do what Apple does, not what web sites had to do years ago.

Or just ask your Twitter’s own Loren Brichter, who created Tweetie which became Twitter for iPhone. He had OAuth’s number years ago on his Atebits blog (see link, below).

Hopefully Twitter finds a better way to handle #dickauth, and a better way to handle their user and developer relations again soon.

[Twitter, Daring Fireball, Atebits]

Twitter is rolling out a significant redesign to their mobile website, the one you see when accessing Twitter.com via Safari on iPhone or iPod touch, and other mobile device browsers. The new web app layout is molded around the official Twitter for iPhone app and is heavily doused in HTML5 goodness (however the menu bar has been switched to the top instead of the bottom).

We want you to be able to access Twitter no matter where you are; regardless of what device you use; or, whether you prefer to access Twitter through a mobile application or the browser. Today, we’re starting to roll out a new version of twitter.com for mobile devices. This web app allows us to provide a high-quality and consistent Twitter experience on high-end touchscreen devices – whether or not an official Twitter application is available. It was built from the ground up for smartphones and tablets, which have more advanced browsers that support the latest web technologies, including HTML5.

We’re not seeing the redesign on our end just yet, as Twitter has only allowed a small percentage of users to see the new layout. Word around town is that it looks and functions a lot better than the previous design, and judging from the screenshots, we get the feeling we’ll all be in full agreement once it’s rolled out to everyone.

Any TiPb readers out there seeing the update?

[Twitter Blog]

No sooner does Tweetdeck’s new, improved iPhone app hit the App Store than Twitter announces they’ve bought it, and right out from under UberMedia to boot.

This deal is defensive for Twitter, say all the sources we’ve spoken with over the last couple of months. They simply couldn’t allow UberMedia to have so much market share in this space. The company has acquired UberTwitter, EchoFon and a number of other Twitter-related startups. Adding TweetDeck to the UberMedia stable of products would give them too much leverage over Twitter, say our sources, and so Twitter made a strong defensive bid to disrupt the deal. Which succeeded nicely, apparently.

What this means for the Tweetdeck app, the official Twitter app? Could we see a Tweetdeck/Twitter for iPhone hybrid? Both kept on as separate apps? One abandoned completely to go all in on the other?

[TechCrunch EU via TechCrunch]

Business Insider included our own managing editor, the illustrious Rene Ritchie on their Top 25 Tech And Gadget Gurus You Should Follow On Twitter.

Rene Ritchie is the French Canadian master of iPhone apps and news, editing and writing for TiPb.com, one of the most well known iOS blogs.

Follow Rene at @reneritchie

Others included on the list were David Pogue, Adam Dachis, Jim Dalrymple, Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Ben Parr, Harry McCracken, Peter Rojas, Joshua Topolsky, Ryan Block, John Gruber, Whitson Gordon, WonderHowTo, How To Geek, xdadevelopers, Gregory Han, Zach Epstein, Matt Brian, Matt Buchanan, Charlie White, Jackie Cohen, Wesley Fenlon, Kevin Rose, Veronica Belmont, and Leo Laporte.

Woooooooooooot! Congrats Rene! (And thanks BI for this collage!)

[Business Insider, thanks @aaronthered!]

Twitterrific just received a huge update and brings many new features, improvements and bug fixes.

New Features

• Username auto-completion when composing a tweet
• “Report Spammer” option on user profiles (must not be following)
• Tap and hold on a user’s avatar for quick access to report action
• Support for Cloud.app media uploads & URL shortening
• Camera support for iPad 2
• Settings option to toggle Global Trends on/off
• New Advanced settings
• Keep scrolled to top (if already at the top)
• Mentions by Strangers to limit mentions to only people you follow
• Quick View to open links in Safari instead of in-app browser

Improvements

• Timeline views in pop-overs now color coded properly
• Single tap and tap & hold actions re-organized for easier access
• Single tweet view eliminated for faster access to tweet actions
• iPad tap shortcuts: Double tap for conversation, triple tap to fave
• Switching accounts now returns directly to the timeline for faster loading (iPhone & iPod)
• Improved loading of multiple tweets in a conversation when selected
• Automatic updating of the timeline while the app is left running
• User profiles and lists appearances updated to “card style” to match the Mac
• User profiles now include total number of tweets from a user
• Text size settings now also affect text in the compose area and sidebar
• Large font size setting is slightly larger
• Improved error handling via new status bar notifications
• Timestamps now update in real time

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Tweetbot just hit the US App Store and boy is it a beauty. Tapbots has done it again and designed an application that is not only functional and pretty, but an artistic masterpiece that I cannot keep my hands off of. I was an instant critic when I read Tapbots’ claim that Tweetbot is “a twitter client with personality”, but they’re right.

A text review can hardly do this app justice because it is impossible to put into words how beautifully Tweetbot is made. Sure, I can describe how, at your touch, a tweet slides up revealing a navigation bar while simultaneous emitting the perfect sound. I can explain that swiping a tweet to right reveals the conversation and swiping to left displays related tweets. I can tell you about smart gestures, multiple timelines, and customizable navigation. I can even spew out a concrete list of every feature that Tweetbot includes. What I can’t provide you, however, is the experience.

The problem with Twitter clients these days is that they’re all the same. Yes, the same. Sure, the features vary (slightly) between them and some come with cool themes. The experiences, however, are too alike. I used to get excited when a new Twitter app was released because each app offered something different, something new. Today, they all feel the same. What happened? When users flocked to a particular Twitter app, other devs copied what made that app special. Individualization was lost. Now the App Store is basically filled with slight variations of the same app – with the exception of Tweetbot.

Tweetbot is different. It’s innovative and refreshing. Tweetbot isn’t an app you use, it’s one you interact with. Everything has an animation, a sound, a beautiful interface. And true to Tapbots’ style, the sounds are subtle and pleasant – enriching the experience.

In case you can’t tell, I’m a huge fan of Tweetbot, but it isn’t for everybody. Tweetbot is full-featured, but doesn’t have every possible feature known to those in the Twitter app world. Tweetbot doesn’t have a mute option or display in-line photos. It doesn’t have multiple themes or native push notifications (but it’s compatible with Boxcar). If these features are deal-breakers to you, then Tweetbot isn’t for you. Not yet anyway.

For those who are suckers for design, innovation, and dare I say, personality, Tweetbot will rock your world.

Check out the screenshot gallery after the break!

[$1.99 - iTunes link]

Tapbots, one of the most innovative, user experience-oriented iPhone app developers, has released Tweetbot for iPhone. Tweetbot is a Twitter client with personality and Tapbots claims:

Whether it’s the meticulously-crafted interface, sounds & animation, or features like multiple timelines & smart gestures, there’s a lot to love about Tweetbot.

• Multiple Timelines. Quickly switch between your lists as your main timeline.
• Smart Gestures. Use Twitter more efficiently with time-saving and configurable gestures.
• Customizable Navigation. The last 2 tabs are customizable and unused tabs are easily accessible.
• Support for multiple services like Read it Later, Instapaper, Cloudapp URL Shortening.
• Push Notifications via Boxcar.
• Save drafts, add locations and POI’s, attach photos and videos, manage your lists, and much more.

Tweetbot is still rolling out to all countries and we’re anxiously waiting to download it. It’s currently available in the New Zealand App Store but should start showing up internationally soon. Has it hit your local store yet? Let know when it does and what you think!

[iTunes link, thanks everyone who sent this in!]

Twitter for iPhone has been updated and the much hated #dickbar Quick Bar has been removed.

The intoduction of the Quick Bar infuriated many users, so this was a smart move by Twitter. In fact, many users sought out 3rd party Twitter applications to replace the official one.

Were you one of those users? Will you return to Twitter’s official application now that the Quick Bar has been removed? Or have you fallen in love with a different app, and if so, which one?

[Thanks Ethan for the tip!]

Twitter turns 5 years old today and we thought we’d celebrate by asking you which was your favorite Twitter app for iPhone? Twitter for iPhone (formerly Tweetie) is probably the most popular but ever since the introduction of the #dickbar many users have been experimenting with other options. We’ve posted a massive Twitter app round-up of many of them and Leanna has put up a Top 5 Twitter app alternatives, but we want to know what you’ve tried and what you’ve currently settled on?

Also, be sure to add your Twitter username to the comments so we can follow you from the @TiPb account! If you want to follow us, here we are as well:

@reneritchie, @GeorgiaTiPb, @iChadman, @JFSikora, @llofte, @iMuggle, @andrewwray, @chrisoldroyd, @jorjlim)

So happy birthday Twitter! Now let us know how you’re tweeting!

TiPb brings you a glossary of common iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV social networking terms for Twitter, Facebook and more

Reading up on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Apple TV and wondering what all those social networking terms are? From follower to friend, RT to like, we’ve got you — and every term we can think of — covered below!

For even more iOS and Apple-related terms see our complete iPhone and iPad glossary and our guide to common Internet, SMS Text, and iMessage slang. And as always, if we’re missing anything, add additions and corrections in the comments below!

• @: Used to target specific Twitter users. See Mention.
• #: Used to create clickable search terms in Twitter. Clicking on #iPhone would show a timeline of all other tweets with #iPhone in it.
• +1: A way to “like” something so it shows up in your Google account
• Check in: Submitting your location to Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, or similar location-based app.
• Circle: A way to organize people you want to follow on Google+
• DM: A “Direct Message” or private communication sent from you to another Twitter user who follows you. (You can only DM people who follow you.)
• Follow: A uni-directional relationship in Twitter where you see another user’s updates but they don’t see yours, and they can DM you but you can’t DM them back. (Unless you both choose to follow each other.)
• Follower: Someone who Follows you on Twitter.
• Friend: A bi-directional relationship in Facebook where you connect with another user and they’re granted a connection back to you.
• **Game Center:
• Google+: Google’s social network
• Group: A way to connect Facebook friends into a small community with shared interest (e.g. you could create a Facebook group for your book club.)
• iMessage: Apple’s new SMS/MMS like instant messenger service
• Instagram: A popular photo sharing network
• Like: A way to share content on Facebook. When you “Like” a link (such as a TiPb story) it appears in your Facebook feed and your Friends have a chance of seeing it.
• Mention: A way to make sure a specific Twitter user will get your post in their timeline. Requires you to put an @[username] into the tweet (e.g. @TiPb will make sure we see your tweet). If a tweet begins with an @mention only the specific user mentioned and people who follow both you and the specific user will see the message. If the @mention isn’t at the beginning, anyone following you will also see it. (Previously called @replies.)
• Messages: Facebook’s new hybrid email, SMS, IM platform used to privately communicate with Facebook friends.
• Page: A non-personal profile on Facebook or Google+, typically for clubs, businesses, etc.
• Ping: Apple’s social music network integrated into iTunes
• RLRT: Real life re-tweet, or posting something you hear on the real world.
• RT: A “Re-Tweet” or republishing another user’s tweet to your own followers. Previously you had to copy/paste the tweet and manually add RT: [@username] in front of it. Now Twitter provides an automatic API for doing it (though some users still prefer “old style” manual re-tweets). – Share: Post something you like, such as a link or picture or video, to your social network
• Timeline: A list of a user’s Twitter status updates in reverse chronological order.
• Tweeps: Slang term for Twitter Peeps (People), aka your Followers.
• Tweet: A Twitter posting, limited to 140 characters (so that the entire message and up to 30 character username can fit in a 160 character SMS text message).
• Twoosh: A tweet of exactly 140 characters.
• Via: an alternate form of re-publishing a tweet where, instead of prefacing with RT, a /via @[username] is placed at the end.

Twitter for iPhone has been updated so that the new #dickbar Quick Bar does not overlap tweets in your timeline. Twitter introduced this trending bar last week and users were immediately outraged by its intrusive behavior and the fact that it cannot be disabled. This update still does not allow the user to disable the Quick Bar, but at least it’s not quite as intrusive.

Here’s everything this update has to offer:

• Fixes crashing some users have been seeing on launch and with location services
• Updated Quick Bar default behavior to not overlap tweets in timeline
• Security fixes
• Improved performance for users with many accounts

After last week’s update, did you switch Twitter clients because of the Quick Bar? If so, is this improvement enough to bring you back? Sound off in the comments below!

[Free - iTunes link]

Twitter for iPhone recently updated to include a rather annoying and intrusive Quick Bar that has outraged most of its users. So much so, that it has been coined as #dickbar. One solution is to jailbreak and install Twizzler, a tweek that’ll remove the trending bar from the Twitter app. However, for those of us who are devout members of #TeamPure, we must look towards other Twitter apps.

Follow along for TiPb’s top 5 Twitter apps (not including Twitter’s official app)!

Twitterrific

Twitterrific is the very first Twitter application to ever hit the App Store. It is full-featured, award-winning client with a beautiful and intuitive UI. Twitterrific supports link shortening and tweet translation in addition to the ability to filter your timeline for specific tweet types & trends. As an extra bonus, Twitterrific is a universal app for iPhone and iPad.

Available as an in-app purchase for $4.99, you can upgrade to Twitterrific Premium which will remove ads and grant the feature of managing multiple accounts.

Twitterrific does not support push notifications.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Twittelator

If you’re looking for an overload of features, look no further than Twittelator. In addition to posting to Twitter, you can post to your Facebook wall. One of the unique features of Twittelator is the ability to create and share themes.

For an in-app purchase of $4.99, you can upgrade to Twittelator Pro and unlock over 45 additional features including support for multiple accounts, more customization, Geocoding, and the ability to upload to WordPress and Posterous.

Unfortunately, one of the hundreds of features that Twittelator has to offer is not push notifications.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Echofon

Echofon is a full-featured twitter client with a very clean interface and support for push notifications. One of the unique features of Echofon is a mute option to squelch users, clients and hashtags. Additionally, Echofon previews media directly in your stream which helps you decide if it’s something you’re interested in. If so, a quick tap of the thumbnail will open the photo or video. Echofon is also a universal application for iPhone and iPad.

As an in-app purchase for $4.99, you can remove the ads and upgrade to Echofon Pro.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Tweetings

Tweetings is an excellent Twitter app with a clutter-free UI. It let’s you search who’s nearby and find out what’s trending at the moment or see who’s around you with Augmented Reality. Tweetings also allows selective or automatic updates to Facebook as well as support for TwitLonger, Twtmore, and URL shortening.

Many of the big features, like push notifications, are stripped from the free version of Tweetings, but you can individually choose which features are important to you and purchase them for $0.99 or upgrade to the full version for $2.99.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Tweetlist

Tweetlist offers an excellent way to view lists and quickly switch between them. The Tweetlists tab is quick to access and you simply swipe left and right to view different lists. This client is very snappy and has excellent Voice Over accessibility support. Tweetlists also offers support for Twitlonger, Instapaper, and Read it Later. Another fantastic feature of Tweetlist is that conversations open automatically – if a tweet is part of a conversation, the entire conversation will be displayed upon tapping on the tweet.

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Bonus: Boxcar

Unfortunately, not all Twitter applications offer push notification support. That’s where Boxcar comes to the rescue. Boxcar can send you push notifications for mentions, DMs, RTs, new followers, favorites, and whenever you’re added to a list and you can choose from over 35 different clients to open automatically for Twitter, including the ones mentioned above.

The goodness doesn’t stop there though. Boxcar also offers push notifications for Facebook, Email, RSS, Growl, Github, Google Voice, Google Buzz, App Recommendation, and more.

[Free, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 5 best iPhone Twitter apps to get you going. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

Twizzler, a new jailbreak tweak, will remove the annoying new trending bar in the new 3.3 version of Twitter for iPhone. The tweak was just recently released for free by @chpwn who has contributed several apps including ProSwitcher and had a hand in several jailbreak tools.

I’m still baffled as to why Twitter did not give us the option to choose whether or not we wanted it in settings. Either way, you’ll have to be jailbroken in order for this to work. Simply download the tweak for free from Cydia and it should just work. If you go back into Twitter and the trending bar is still there, close Twitter out of the multitasking tray and relaunch it. It should be gone after you do that.

This reason enough for anyone to jailbreak? (I’m looking at you Chad!) If you guys try it out, let us know how it worked for you! Another point for #TeamJailbreak!

Thanks @RobT43 for the tip!

Twitter for iPhone has been updated to 3.3 and includes a new Quick Bar to show trends without leaving your timeline.

• Quick Bar, shows trends and other important things without leaving your timeline! Swipe the Quick Bar left/right to cycle through trends
• Trends based on your location
• Cleaner, redesigned Tweet compose screen.
• Autocomplete @usernames and hashtags
• Easier photo uploading
• Find friends using your phone’s contacts
• Improved DM conversation view, now works similar to SMS/Chat
• Cleaned up preferences
• Bug fixes

The mystery is knowing which bugs are fixed. One of the biggest bugs I’ve experienced and seen others complain about is the incorrect badge count – the notification badge always says “1″ regardless of how many new mentions or DMs you have. The other big one is that DM’s show up as new even though they have been read. Hopefully these bugs have been fixed.

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

[Free - iTunes link]

Twitter recently suspended all Twitter clients supported by Ubermedia. Among the clients suspended are Twidroid and UberTwitter, which are both insanely popular on Android OS and Blackberry OS. They also operate and support the popular TweetDeck client which is available on iOS and several other platforms. They’ve also acquired Echofon, another popular Twitter client for iOS.

According to Twitter, they’ve been working with UberMedia since April of 2010 when they were operating under the name TweetUp, which also apparently violated some copyright issues. Currently Twitter is claiming that Ubermedia has changed the content of tweets in order to generate revenue for themselves. They’ve also pulled the clients due to privacy issues concerning direct messages over 140 characters.

When asked about the suspension, Twitter spokeswoman Carolyn Penner had this to say:

We ask all developers in Twitter ecosystem to abide by a simple set of rules that are in the interests of our users, as well as the health and vitality of the platform as a whole.

We often take actions to enforce these rules; in fact, on an average day we turn off more than one hundred services that violate our API rules of the road. This keeps the ecosystem fair for everyone.

Some of the allegations being held against UberMedia are pretty serious. For the full letter Ubermedia received, hit the break!

Dear xxxx,

Regardless of how you access Twitter, we are dedicated to making Twitter better, faster and more reliable for you. As part of this effort, we ask applications that work with Twitter to abide by a simple set of rules that we believe are in the interests of our users, and the health and vitality of the Twitter platform as a whole. We often take actions to enforce these rules.

We are sending this email today because we suspended twidroyd for violating our policies.

Every day, we suspend more than one hundred applications that are in violation of our policies. Generally, these apps are used by a small number of users. We are taking the unusual step of sending out this letter because today’s suspension may affect a larger number of users.

We are committed to helping you continue to use Twitter during the disruption of this application. You can download Twitter for Android and other official Twitter apps here. You can also try our mobile web site or apps from other third-party developers.

We appreciate your continued support of Twitter and regret any inconvenience to you.

Updated: Jerry over at AndroidCentral reached out to UberMedia to see if they had any response to the whole thing and this is what we received back:

STATEMENT FROM UBERMEDIA REGARDING TWITTER’S SUSPENSION OF SERVICE TO UBERTWITTER, TWIDROYD AND UBERCURRENT

PASADENA, CA – February 18, 2011 – Early Friday morning, Twitter shut off access to its service by several of our Twitter client applications: UberTwitter, Twidroyd, and UberCurrent. Twitter then notified us that they believed we were in violation of several provisions of their terms of service.

We were immediately in touch with Twitter, and the changes they asked us to make were very small. As a result, we have completed the changes, and new apps are currently being posted to their respective stores. Twitter has assured us that as soon as those changes were complete, they would reactivate our applications.

Twitter also asked us to modify the name of UberTwitter. We began a process of changing the name three weeks ago by polling our users, and we’ve decided based on their input to change the product name to UberSocial, which we completed today.

To our millions of loyal users, we appreciate your patience during this temporary period. We look forward to continuing our innovations on the Twitter platform.

Bill Gross, CEO
UberMedia, Inc.

It appears either UberMedia is playing down the issue or it really wasn’t that big of a deal in the first place. What do you guys think?

TechCrunch

Twitter have added iTunes App Store previews to their integrated services. Previously, Twitter had added Apple’s Ping service to their integrated services, to allow you to preview songs before opening iTunes. It seems that Twitter have now added App Store integration as well. When someone tweets an App Store link, you will get a similar preview pane, which will show you, what app the link goes to, the price, a description and screenshots

This will only work on the new twitter website, won’t work on the old website or on the official apps. Interestingly this new App Store integration only works with the iOS App Store and doesn’t show any previews for Mac App Store Links right now.

Anyone appreciating this new functionality? Does it make you want to use the new website more?

[MacGasm]

Apple has opened the twitter account @AppStore and posted the following first tweet:

Welcome to App Store on Twitter! Follow us to discover new apps, get exclusive offers, and share with friends. #appstore

It’ll be interesting to see what Apple does with this account, particularly with exclusive offers. The iTunes Twitter accounts are currently used to announce new releases and sales, so we will likely see something similar. There has been a second tweet from @AppStore promoting Nike Training Club.

Motivation. Full-body workouts. On-demand instruction. It’s all available on Nike Training Club. http://tw.appstore.com/4zo #appstore

If you’re on Twitter, follow @AppStore and let us know what you hope to see from Apple’s newest Twitter account!

[@AppStore via MacRumors]

If you use MobileMe, Windows Live, Yahoo!, or AOL for email, then you can have Ping search your contacts for friends who are also using Ping as well as send annoying invites to those friends who are not using ping. Here’s how:

1. Go to Ping in iTunes and in the “Find People” box in the right column, click “email” in “invite friends by email”
2. A box will pop up asking you to list out the email address of those you would like to invite. Ignore this and notice the logos for MobileMe, Windows Live, Yahoo, and AOL at the bottom of the box.
3. Click the appropriate logo.
4. Sign in.
5. The window will divide into two sections: the top will list your contacts who use Ping but whom you don’t follow, complete with avatars, and the bottom will list the names and email of your contacts who do not use ping.
6. Use the checkboxes and deselect/select all links to send follow requests to those you’d like to follow and email invites to those you’d like to invite.

Ping has been off to a rocky start and this may help, but probably not enough. Personally, I only found 8 more friends using this search feature. Ping is also integrated with Twitter, but I don’t see Ping even having a chance to take off until Facebook jumps on board.

What do you think? Does the email search help make Ping more relevant?

[Apple]

Flipboard for iPad just received a fairly big update, including the ability to add feeds from Google Reader, Flickr and more! One new feature of note is the option to post photos and status updates to Twitter, Facebook and other real-time social networks.

Flipboard was initially released back in July and received a lot of early buzz. The app offers a dynamic and unique interface for browsing your social media feeds in a magazine-like format, flipping through “pages” of real-time content from your friends on Twitter and Facebook — a first of its kind.

Now that they’ve added more streams of content, the app has far more reach and usefulness for users. Take a look at the full update list after the break, and let us know what you think of the update in the comments below!

[iTunes - free]

• Be informed. Sync with Google Reader to read your feeds, folders and friends’ shared items. Star, share and comment on stories.
• Be amazed. Browse all Flickr has to offer, including photostream, favorites, groups, your contacts’ photos and interesting photos of the day .
• Be fulfilled. Read full content right away with more beautiful layout. Flip through gorgeous Flipboard Pages from Washington Post, Bon Appetit and more.
• Be social. Flip through your Facebook groups, fan pages, and photos from your feed. Browse your tweets, Twitter favorites, @mentions and lists.
• Be expressive. Post photos, status updates and even Flipboard pages across Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader.
• Be faster. Switch between sections faster using our instant section selector. Enjoy faster performance throughout your Flipboard.

WeeMee Avatar Creator [iTunes], the quick, easy way to make a fabulous looking new profile pic for Facebook, Twitter, or just to spice up your contacts, is back with an even more fabulous update filled with Christmas and Hanukkah items to really deck yourself out for the holidays. What could be better than that?

Getting it for free!

Well, the kind folks at WeeMee have given us a ton of promo codes to give away for the update and now they’re international!!! You can win in Canada, the UK, Australia, and pretty much everywhere there’s an App Store with WeeMee in it!

If you want one, here’s all you have to do:

• Follow @weemeeapp and @TiPb on Twitter
• Re-Tweet this on Twitter:
  • Follow @TiPb and @WeeMeeApp for great holiday give-aways! Details here: http://bit.ly/eCVX2g

Now some of our writers have the codes (we’re not saying which!) so make sure you follow them as well to double, triple, quadruple your chances of winning! If they can’t DM you, they can’t give you free stuff! (Yeah, there might be other stuff as well!)

• @reneritchie (Rene)
• @GeorgiaTiPb (Georgia)
• @iChadman (Chad)
• @JFSikora (Jeremy)
• @llofte (Leanna)
• @iMuggle (Ally)
• @andrewwray (Andrew)
• @Brian_Tufo (Brian)
• @chrisoldroyd (Chris)
• @farbod_21 (Farbod)
• @jorjlim (George)

Give away starts now and we’ll be DM’ing the codes throughout the week.

Ready, set, Tweet!

Just get a new iPad and curious which are the best, most must-have apps and games you need to install first? Want to really show off that 9.7-inch screen or take advantage of multitasking? Well read on for TiPb’s top 10 most recommended, most must-have iPad apps to get your started.

Social apps: Flipboard

Flipboard takes all the stuff you care about — articles and pictures shared by your Facebook and Twitter friends along with the latest relevant headlines and presents them, with content and social comments, in a gorgeous, tactile iPad interface. You can customize it to your hearts content and share your own comments back. It’s the closest we’ve come yet to a communal magazine. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Friendly for Facebook is the next best thing until Facebook makes an official iPad app. [Free - iTunes link]
• Twitter for iPad lets you get your tweet on with a futuristic interface and growing set of features. [Free - iTunes link]

Casual games: Angry Birds HD

Angry Birds HD takes the undisputed king of casual gaming, the breakthrough addictive puzzler in the best tradition of the genre, and paints it across the bigger screen. The premise is the same, evil green pigs have stolen your eggs and your birds aim to get them back — with slingshots, explosives, boomerangs, and other manner of weaponized avian fury. Kill all the pigs to clear a level, do it with style and earn the elusive 3-stars. It starts off easy but ramps up quickly as the minutes turn to hours, especially on the less confined iPad screen. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Plants vs. Zombies HD for dark, relentless action. [$9.99 - iTunes link]
• Fruit Ninja is fast, frenetic slice-and-dice sword action for your iPad. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Productivity apps: Documents to Go Premium

The bigger iPad screen makes for much easier document editing on the go, be it for business or school work. Documents to Go Premium lets you create, read, and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files with fairly good styling and functionality, and will even open Mail attachments and sync files via iTunes or with Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, iDisk & SugarSync for the ultimate in mobile accomplishment. Universal app – buy once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [$16.99 - iTunes link]

• Penultimate turns your iPad into a whiteboard/notebook hybrid perfect for meetings or brainstorming. [$3.99 - iTunes link]
• Good Reader for iPad is a powerhouse for PDF annotating and file management. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Time management games: Smurf’s Village

Sure, the ultimate goal of building the best village is just the same as other games, but Smurfs’ Village also has a story line. After each level increase, there’s dialogue and a quest, and also mini games you can play to earn more experience. The graphics are great and the gameplay is smooth. Smurfs’ Village is free but some items require smurfberries which are available as an in-app purchase. Smurfberries can also be used to speed up the growth of plants and construction of buildings. Universal app – download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Farmville brings your new or existing Facebook farm to iPad. [Free - iTunes link]
• Diner Dash: Grilling Green is an exclusive version of the iPhone favorite built just for iPad. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Video apps: Netflix

Netflix for iPad has a horrible interface — their website awkwardly wrapped in an app — but offers so much TV and movie content that looks so good on iPad that it’s still more than worthwhile. Whole seasons of TV shows and movies roughly one month after the BD/DVD release dates can be streamed directly to your iPad and if you use Netflix on your iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, etc. what you pause on one you can resume on the other. It does require a minimum $8 a month subscription and is only currently available in the US and Canada but it should be rolling out to more countries in 2011. If you have kids, the cartoons alone are worth it. Universal app – download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Air Video transcodes AVI, MKV and most other video formats from your Windows or Mac PC on the fly and beams it right to your iPad. [$2.99 - iTunes link]
• ReelDirector lets you edit home video right on your iPad. Especially go when combined with Apple’s iPad camera it for easy import. [$3.99 - iTunes link]

Hardcore games: Infinity Blade

Epic’s Unreal 3 engine explodes onto iPhone with Infinity Blade, an on-rails sword fighting extravaganza with some of the best visuals we’ve ever seen. The story and gameplay are simple if not simplistic, you battle a series of monsters and their God-King over generations, growing your power, magic, and skill until you’re strong enough to win. It might sound repetitive but it quickly becomes as addictive as it is gorgeous. Universal app – buy once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [$5.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus for some CoD-style fun. [$6.99 - iTunes link]
• Real Racing 2 for amazing cars and online play. [$9.99 - iTunes link]

Board games: Words with Friends HD

There’s an official Scrabble game for iPad but Words with Friends edges it out thanks to really good online play. It won’t let you play words that don’t exist, so there’s no bluffing or challenging strategy, but there is a built in chat feature so you can trash talk to your heart’s content. You can have multiple games against multiple friends going on at the same time, and push notifications let you know when it’s your turn make a word. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

• Monopoly HD, the classic from Boardwalk to bankruptcy. [$9.99 - iTunes link]
• Catan HD puts the legendary strategy game in the palm of your hands [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Utility apps: Remote

Remote puts your desktop iTunes library on your iPad and in your lap. Your can browse through, pick, and play all your music, TV shows, and movies, and if you have AirPlay supported video (like Apple TV) or audio (AirPort Express attached speakers, etc.) you can control which room in your house they play on. In addition to browsing it works as a full on touchpad remote control for Apple TV or iTunes (one multiple Windows or Mac PCs) and makes the sometimes arduous task of entering passwords or search terms a breeze. Apple’s Remote app is especially handy at parties.

Also check out:

• Find my iPhone, despite the name, also lets you geo-locate, beep, message, lock, and remote wipe your missing iPad — for free. [Free - iTunes link]
• LogMeIn Ignition is a remote desktop VNC client that lets you control your home Windows or Mac PC — or your office server room — from the comfort of a lounge chair. [$29.99 - iTunes link]

Educational apps: Starwalk for iPad

Starwalk brings you the universe of of constellations with gorgeous graphics and in spectacular detail. It includes digital compass support so you can literally hold it up to the sky and it will show you the stars you’re looking at complete with informational overlay that moves with you as you turn and turn around. You can also scroll back and forth through time to see stars as they’d appear at different dates. Starwalk also includes the phases of the moon, views from earth, and more. It’s the ultimate app for star gazers and future astronomers. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

• Articles for iPad is a better — and better looking — way to use Wikipedia, with support for tabbed browsing, bookmarks, fast skimming, and more. [$4.99 - iTunes link]
• TED lets you watch scientific, educational, technological, medical, and artistic videos from the renowned TEDTalks right on your iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Reading apps: Kindle for iPad

Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader for iPad isn’t as good looking as Apple’s iBooks but simply has the largest library of titles and the most cross-platform support on the market. If you’re looking for a book chances are you’ll find it for the Kindle app, and if you buy it you’ll be able to read it on iPhone, iPad, Kindle devices, and other smartphones. Better still, if you stop reading it on one device, thanks to WhisperSync you can pick up right where you left off on another device. Universal app – download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.[Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Instapaper lets you save web articles to read later in a cleaner format. [$4.99 - iTunes link]
• Reeder for iPad is the best way to keep up with your RSS news feeds. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 10 best iPad apps to get you started. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPad App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

Twitter for iPhone and iPad just got an update and the big news is — push notifications. This has been a highly desired feature for a very long time. At the moment, push notifications for the official Twitter app are only available for @mentions and direct messages.

Interestingly, Twitter does not include push notifications in the release notes. So it was a pleasant surprise to see Twitter asking for permission to send push notifications when launching for the first time after the install. Was this intentional?

I know there are some users who have refused to use the official Twitter app because it did not offer push notifications. If you’re one of those users, is this enough to make the switch?

Who’s excited for this feature? Do you plan to enable push notifications from Twitter or will you stick with a third party solution such as Boxcar?

UPDATE: Twitter has updated the change log to include push notifications for @mentions and messages.

UPDATE 2: Twitter has been updated again. Go get it. Again.

[Twitter]

Seems like someone over at Verizon may have slipped up. It appears a Twitter user asked if Verizon getting the iPad could possibly be hinting at the release of a Verizon iPhone. Shockingly enough, whoever is behind the @VerizonCareers Twitter account actually responded back and said this -

“yes, that is the latest scoop”.

This could just be a Verizon account acknowledging how widespread the rumor is, or playing a cruel joke on Twitter and Verizon iPhone supporters, or it could be an employee that isn’t aware of the fact that putting internal information on Twitter is typically frowned upon. The tweet is still up and has not been deleted as of writing this.

Verizon getting the iPad is definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to Verizon earning the iPhone, but is this a bit of a stretch? What do you guys think?

[ @verizoncareers. Thanks @slinky317 for sending this in! ]

Wondering how to connect with more friends on Apple’s new iTunes Ping social music network? Well Apple’s iTunes News has put up a short post telling you how their new Twitter integration works. Check it out after the break!

[iTunes News]

You can now automatically tweet your Ping activity to your Twitter followers, and easily discover which of them has also connected their Ping accounts to Twitter. If you’re new to Ping, use the Connect to Twitter link that will appear when you create your Ping account. If you’re already part of Ping, use the Twitter link in the Find People area on the right side of the main Ping page. In either case you’ll have the opportunity to sign in with your Twitter account and begin automatically tweeting your Ping posts and activity to your followers for as long as you choose to keep the connection active.

Just be aware that once you turn Twitter on, everything you “like” in Ping will automatically be tweeted from your account. That’s a huge downside for people who would rather selectively tweet their music rather than flood their feed with every little song. If you do get tired of it, you can turn the whole thing off again inside iTunes.

If you try it out, let us know how it works for you!

Twitter has just announced that that they’ve integrated with Apple’s social music network, Ping to make it easy for users of both services to share music.

On Ping you can easily link to your Twitter account to instantly find Ping users among the people you already follow on Twitter.

Once you’ve linked the accounts, whenever you Post, Like, Review, or tell your friends why you purchased a song or album on Ping, this activity will also be tweeted to your Twitter followers – complete with playable song previews and links to purchase and download music from iTunes.

When you click on a Tweet that’s sent via Ping or that contains an iTunes link, you’ll see the song or album in Twitter’s details pane, with the ability to listen to song previews from iTunes, making the experience even richer.

This follows Apple’s inability to come terms with Facebook over social integration.

The real question is, will Twitter integration make Ping more relevant? Is it enough to get you to use Ping more? Or to use it at all if you haven’t already? Or would Facebook still be a better option?

[Twitter blog]

Super Twario for iPhone turns your twitter account into a retro inspired game. In it, you navigate your character, Twario, by tilting your iPhone or iPod touch, swipe to move faster, and tap to jump. During the course of your game you will run into tweets where you can choose to read them or even reply to them.

But wait…there’s more! Not only can you now interact with your tweets via Twario, but this app even has Game Center integration so you can keep track of achievements and see how your Twitter skills rank among your friends and in the world! You get all this and many hours of fun and excitement for $1.99.

Check out the video after the break!

[iTunes Link via Engadget]

by Brian Tufo

Want a shiny 6th generation iPod nano for free? Long story short, due to some shipping delays TiPb had to run out and buy some so we could get our review up in a timely manner. That means we have some extra. And that means we’re going to give them away to you. Now keep in mind these are review units — they’ve been opened, photographed, video recorded, and tested, but gently and lightly and are in mint condition with boxes and cables and all that.

Want one? All you have to do is tweet this to enter:

• #FF @TiPb @reneritchie @backlon @ichadman @jfsikora @llofte @imuggle @GeorgiaTiPb Follow and RT to win an iPod nano http://bit.ly/coolqi

We’re not telling which writers have iPod nanos to give away, so follow as many as you want to increase your chances. (Last time many people who could have won weren’t following and we had to pick alternates, so if you enter, make sure you follow.)

Give away starts today and ends on Tuesday, September 21 at 12pm Cupertino time. Writers with nanos will pick the winners at random sometime Tuesday night and notify them via DM.

Good luck and get tweeting!

There is a lot of debate out there about Twitter’s new official universal binary app for iPhone/iPad. The iPad update brings an all new interface to the iPad. What’s new? What’s great? What’s not so great? Let’s start at the beginning…

Interface

Twitter for iPad brings a new and unique redesign to the Twitter experience that we know and love on the iPhone. Immediately after signing into the application I noticed something that looked, well, odd. The screen was split about 40/60 in portrait mode. Most other Twitter applications I have used took the full screen in portrait. So, I began my usual scrolling through the timeline and all seemed well and good. The familiar release to refresh was there and everything.

Next I proceeded to tap a tweet. Boom. This is where my Twitter world turned upside down. Next thing I know there is a flurry of screen animations and I am presented with a tweet partially overlapping the timeline! What’s going on here?

What Twitter and company have done is create a snazzy way to view your tweets. This is how it works:

• Tap a tweet with no replies- You see the tweet as well as the user profile of the user
• Tap a tweet with replies- You see the conversation
• Tap a tweet with a link- Take you directly to the webpage

Compose/Replies/Direct Messages

When composing direct messages, again you don’t have the username lookup function so composing can be troublesome. You can use the standard Twitter syntax of course, but to be honest I have become dependent on many of the conveniences Twitter applications provide, such as this.

Lists

There are some other things to discuss like options, Instapaper support and more, but the key things I feel people care about is what is the experience like. I really enjoy the experience. it is fresh and fun. In this reviewers opinion it does for Twitter what Reeder did for RSS. However, there are plenty of folks who are not as much of a fan (including our own Rene Ritchie, he just wants to swipe those panels away!).

Should you download Twitter for iPad? Most definitely, afterall it’s free. I think that it breaks new ground and I enjoy what Twitter is trying to do. Will you like it? That is the question.

[Free- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Easy account switching
• Selected tweets stay on screen
• Peek at a profile (pinching)
• Two finger scroll in timeline to view replies

Cons

• When composing, no saved hashtags
• Tweet “breaks” don’t scroll to oldest tweet first
• Missing features
  • No user list management
  • No Username Search
  • No export to address book
  • No Saved hastags

The official Twitter for iPad — technically a universal binary now for both iPhone and iPad — has just hit the iTunes App Store. Formerly known as Tweetie, the app was under development by Atebits and Loren Brichter before getting bought up by Twitter, and after a brief transitional delay, it’s finally here.

How is it? Different. Stacked. Brichter certainly didn’t simply scale up the Twitter for iPhone UI. This is all new in both look and approach. I’m going to try it out for a while before forming any opinions (hit me up @reneritchie if you want to try it with me) but take a look at the screenshots below for an idea.

If you’re trying it already, let me know your thoughts.

[Engadget]

How does a certified golf course superintendent use his iPhone to get the job done and what iPhone apps help get him through his day? TiPb’s iPhone at work contest aims to bring you just such slices of the iPhone life. Here’s greensuper’s answer and as a small token of thanks we’re sending him a $20 iTunes gift certificate. If you want to see your name up on the TiPb home page and get a gift certificate all your own, head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forum and share your story now!

Boy, where do I start. I have been a loyal Apple user since the Apple IIe first came out. When the iPhone first came out, I had just purchased another Blackberry with Verizon, I didn’t want to incur a cancellation fee and the purchase price of the iPhone. 8 months later, when the 1st gen was offered as a refurb, I got my first iphone. I follow Apple/iPhone news as much as I follow the Turfgrass industry. I have always told my wife, if I had the opportunity to do something else, it would be to work for Apple. Now, how do I use my iPhone. To really get the full functionality of the iPhone and some of it’s apps, you really need to subscribe to Apple’s MobileMe service. I will explain why below.

The first app I use religiously is Who is Hot?. It is a great weather app for free. No one in my opinion, beats the animated radar in this app. I haven’t found one that has beat this yet. I am a Regional Agronomist and one thing this app does is gives me the weather for all my contacts. You open the app and click on one of your contacts and you have all the weather and radar right there.

I also use The Weather Channel app. I use the free version, don’t see a big difference in the $4.99 version. I use this app for forecasts and current conditions. This app mirrors the “local on the 8′s” from the Weather Channel. It is a better forecasting tool than Who is hot?

The Turfgrass Management app developed out of the University of Georgia is fantastic!! I have several small travel turfgrass books that allow me to reference diseases, weeds and insects. This app puts all that in the palm of your hand with it’s extensive turfgrass database. It has been communicated that this app will continue to follow with updates as information on any pest becomes available.

We just installed a new RainBird control system at one of my properties. RainBird has recent’y released their MI control system, this program works phenomenal on the iphone. I am able to control the entire system from anywhere. This summer it has proven invaluable with all the late night storms we have had. In concert with Who is Hot, if I see weather is heading to the property late at night, i can use my MI controller on the iPhone and turn off or adjust the irrigation. All this while playing with my kids!!

Toro recently released an official iPhone App, Toro NSN. This is like the MI Controller only this is actually an iPhone App versus a website. This also gives me the ability to control my entire irrigation system from the palm of my hand. I think the neatest part of this is that Toro has developed an iPhone app. If they have done so for irrigation, imagine the possibilities, apps for equipment repair, apps for ordering at your local vendor, it’s endless.

The next program is one that is tied directly to MobileMe without it, you can’t really take full advantage of this program. This app is Quickoffice. Quickoffice allows me to create, edit and email Word and Excel documents. Since you can’t store files on your iPhone like a Blackberry, this app links to your MobileMe idisk as a work around. I have my entire work load on my idisk, everything! I am able to use this program to email anything to my company or Superintendents from the palm of my hand. This program released an update which allows you to email any document you receive directly to your MobileMe idisk, this is a perfect work around to not being able to store documents on your iPhone. When I receive an email with a document I need to edit and respond to, I simple forward the email to a specific address. This sends the attached file to my idisk. I then open my idisk on QuickOffice and there is my document to edit and resend. The whole process over 3G can take 2 minutes, over WiFi much faster.

I also have Documents To Go. Although the UI is much more friendly than Quickoffice, this program falls short in other areas. I am not able to access my work files on my idisk, although DataViz has stated you will be able to do so in the future. You can’t edit Excel files yet, again they (Dataviz) are saying this update will be released soon. If these two updates are released, I will no longer use Quickoffice.

I developed a blog for one of my properties, to communicate information to members. I was finding by the time our weekly news letter was distributed, much of the information I need to pass along would be out of date. The blog has been a huge success at my club. My members love the fact that we use technology like this! The iPhone comes into play because I am able to send an email directly to the blog to make a post. All I do is create an email, the subject line will be the subject of my blog post, create my blog post in the body of the email, hit send and I have just created a new blog post. This has been great for communicating issues like, cart rules and other daily information.

I also use Twitter to communicate with other industry professionals. I do not use this to communicate to any members, it is important to separate the two. I use two apps for Twiiter, Twitter for iPhone and Tweetdeck. They are pretty much the same, except Tweetdeck allows me to create columns for separate categories of people I communicate with. For example, I have a column for PGA Tour tweets, a column for turf professors I follow and a column for other Superintendents. This makes reading tweets easier.

Logmein Ignition was a fantastic app I used prior to Toro releasing their Toro NSN app. Logmein allowed me to login on my iPhone and control the irrigation system. I know a lot of people who use this app to access files on their computer.

Bump is a great app, but in order to be useful you need to be with someone else who has the iPhone and the app. This app allows you to simply bump iPhones together to share pretty much anything you would share on your iphone. I use this with my wife for photos of our kids. Could you imagine walking the Trade Show floor at the GIS with this app. You could arrive at a vendor booth and bump iphones to share contact information. The vendor could use it to send you product information as well. Again, the possibilities are endless.

The camera is another app that is used all the time. I used to carry a camera on my hip, if I needed to take a photo of something I could. I would find myself at times, forgetting my camera at the moment I needed “that” picture. The iphone camera takes care of this. I am also able to send that photo immediately to the GM, members and other workers.

The iPhone for me has become more of a tool than my small multitool. The possibilities are endless as to what Superintendent could use this phone for. I am glad I have a charger of my gator. During those long days, I need that extra boost to get me into the evening. I was actually thinking about starting another blog on exactly this subject. Each day would be a post on how I use my iPhone for my job as a Superintendent and Regional Agronomist.

What about you? Are you a superintendent who uses his iPhone for work? If so, let us know what apps get you through a typical work day!

YouTube Link

If you’re someone who likes to keep track of your statistics on Twitter, Birdbrain could prove to be very useful to you. I could see this app being helpful for companies who want to use Twitter as a marketing tool and track trends. On the same token, I could also see it causing problems where people now have a way of knowing exactly what users have stopped following them (let the Twitter fights commence).

When you open the app for the first time, it’ll grab initial info from Twitter. So at first, you can’t see past information such as the last 7 days or last 24 hours. When you open the app in the future, it will begin to congregate past statistics and show you the differences.

The overall layout of the app is pretty slick. It’s incredibly easy to figure out and very user friendly. One thing I wasn’t sure of was how the app loaded your statistics. I wasn’t sure what happens if you don’t open the app for a week or so? Are the 24 hour statistics still accurate or what is it loading it from? That’s what had me a little confused. It definitely doesn’t load your statistics in the background.

I could also see some users wanting push notifications. Getting push notifications for when users follow or unfollow you would be a nice added feature but that would require Birdbrain to poll the Twitter servers quite often in order to aggregate and push the information. I could see that being a little overkill. Personally, I wouldn’t really care to see notifications of when someone stopped following me, but I wouldn’t mind having notifications for when someone starts following me. Then I’d disable the emails Twitter sends me.  There’s also a mentions tab within the app, which will congregate all your mentions and keep a running total of how many times you’ve been mentioned on Twitter.

Overall, it’s a decent app that does what it says it will. If you’ve been looking for a way to monitor your Twitter statistics more closely, this app could be what you’ve been looking for.

Pros

• Nice interface

• Shows a nice amount of statistics

• Seems to be really accurate

Cons

• Push notifications would be a nice addition

• Takes a few days to start aggregating information

Take all your social media streams like Facebook and Twitter, flow them into a daring, dynamic iPad magazine and you have Flipboard. Billed as “everything you care about in one place” it will no doubt delight those who live for what our friends and those we follow are recommending, and annoy those who think the social web is a noisy, confusing crap-shoot. (Those deliberately without a social graph, of course, need not apply).

For me the key will be wether it gets stuck on meme-heavy, oft-repeated (or re-tweeted) content or whether it helps me better discover those little gems discovered by my more adept friends.

But why am I still typing, there’s an @lonelysandwhich video after the break!

[iTunes - Free]

Apple’s Senior Vice President of iOS Software, Scott Forstall has joined Twitter. His account is verified, so it’s him and Twitter was told and knows it’s him, but he’s yet post any tweets.

Still, when Techcrunch caught wind of it last night, he had 3 followers (4 when I saw it) and as of this post he has 12,650ish. He’s only following one person back — that’s right, he’s with Coco.

Why join Twitter at all and why now? Theories range from elaborate antenna-issue distraction conspiracies to Apple testing Twitter integration with iOS. Or maybe he was just waiting for @geohot to leave?

[@forstall via TechCrunch]

Just get a new iPhone or iPod touch and curious which are the best, most must-have apps and games you need to install first? Want to really show off that Retina Display or take advantage of multitasking? Well read on for TiPb’s top 10 most recommended, most must-have iPhone apps to get your started.

Note: This article has been updated for iPhone 4S — check out the new top 10 apps for iPhone post to see the latest picks!

Just switch to iPhone or Verizon iPhone? Also check out:

• Top 5 iPhone apps for BlackBerry switchers
• Top 5 iPhone apps for Droid/Android switchers

Social apps: Facebook for iPhone

Facebook is one of the most popular sites on the web, so any wonder it’s once of the most popular apps on iPhone? Sometimes we suspect people live almost entirely in the Facebook app — at least until the phone rings! Sure, you can go to Facebook’s mobile site in Safari but the app offers so much more functionality, from picture uploads to easy Facebook Places and Groups access, it’s earned its place on our home screens. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• LinkedIn for iPhone, for business users. [Free - iTunes link]
• Twitter for iPhone, for frequent tweeters. [Free - iTunes link]

Casual games: Angry Birds

Angry Birds is the undisputed king of casual gaming and an addictive puzzler in the best tradition of the genre. Evil green pigs have stolen your eggs and your birds aim to get them back — with slingshots, explosives, boomerangs, and other manner of weaponized avian fury. Kill all the pigs to clear a level, do it with style and earn the elusive 3-stars. It starts off easy but ramps up quickly as the minutes turn to hours. You’ve been warned! [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Cut the Rope for some physics puzzle fun. [$0.99 - iTunes link]
• Plants vs. Zombies for relentless action. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Communication/IM apps: Skype for iPhone

Skype for iPhone lets you make Skype-to-Skype calls for free, and if you have Skype credits, Skype-to-phone calls very cheaply. Thanks to the latest version of iOS, it can also run in the background so it can answer Skype calls just like a real phone (though it will decrease battery life). They’re slow to update but they’re the standard for VoIP (voice over iP) and a great way to cut down on phone bills. [Free/credits - iTunes link]

• BeeJiveIM, if you just want chat, supports AIM/MobileMe, MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, Facebook, MySpace and Jabber [$9.99 - iTunes link]
• Google Voice for iPhone lets you access your calls, texts, and voice mail. [Free - iTunes link]

Time management games: Smurf’s Village

Sure, the ultimate goal of building the best village is just the same as other games, but Smurfs’ Village also has a story line. After each level increase, there’s dialogue and a quest, and also mini games you can play to earn more experience. The graphics are great and the gameplay is smooth. Smurfs’ Village is free but some items require smurfberries which are available as an in-app purchase. Smurfberries can also be used to speed up the growth of plants and construction of buildings. Universal app – download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Farmville to bring your Facebook farm to iPhone. [Free - iTunes link]
• We Rule to build the perfect palace. [Free - iTunes link]

Productivity apps: Documents to Go Premium

While the iPhone’s screen is a bit small to handle all your business or school work, the ability to edit Office files on the go can be a lifesaver. Documents to Go Premium lets you create, read, and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files well enough to get the job done and will even open Mail attachments and sync files via iTunes or with Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net, iDisk & SugarSync for the ultimate in mobile accomplishment. Universal app – buy once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [$16.99 - iTunes link]

• Good Reader is a powerhouse for PDF annotating and file management. [$2.99 - iTunes link]
• Evernote stores text, images, and audio for easy reference later. [Free - iTunes link]

Hardcore games: Infinity Blade

Epic’s Unreal 3 engine explodes onto iPhone with Infinity Blade, an on-rails sword fighting extravaganza with some of the best visuals we’ve ever seen. The story and gameplay are simple if not simplistic, you battle a series of monsters and their God-King over generations, growing your power, magic, and skill until you’re strong enough to win. It might sound repetitive but it quickly becomes as addictive as it is gorgeous. Universal app – buy once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [$5.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus for some CoD-style fun. [$6.99 - iTunes link]
• Real Racing 2 for amazing cars and online play. [$9.99 - iTunes link]

Music apps: Slacker Personal Radio

Thanks to the latest version of iOS, Slacker (and Pandora) can now run in the background which means you can stream all the music you like while surfing the web, using turn-by-turn navigation, answering email, or pretty much anything you want. Slacker requires a subscription and is currently only available in the US and Canada. [Free - iTunes link]

• Spotify for streaming music in Europe. [Free - iTunes link]
• Shazam to figure out what you’re listening to. [Free - iTunes link]

Photography apps: Photo FX

The iPhone is the best camera because it’s the one you most often have with you, but sometimes the photos you take with it will be rushed, a little dark, a little light, or otherwise a step or two away from perfect. Photo FX and their hundreds of filters and special effects can help fix that. It can’t work miracles but it can make the difference between a shot you save and one you throw away. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Hipstamatic brings old-school feel to new world pictures. [$0.99 - iTunes link]
• Flickr for iPhone lets you store and share all the shots you take. [Free - iTunes link]

Utility apps: Find my iPhone

Previously you had to pay for MobileMe to get Find my iPhone but now it’s free to everyone. Just download the app, set it up with your iTunes ID, and if you lose your iPhone (or it gets stolen) you can GPS locate it, make it beep or display a text message, remote lock it, and even remote wipe it so no one can get access to your personal data. Whether it’s under some papers on your desk, back at the restaurant you just left, or in some bad guy’s hands, Find my iPhone does just what the name says. Universal app – download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

• Skyfire is a web browser that lets you watch some Flash videos on your iPhone. [$2.99 - iTunes link]
• RedLaser scans barcodes and finds you the best price online. [Free - iTunes link]

Location/GPS apps: NAVIGON MobileNavigator

Get full fledged turn-by-turn driving directions on your iPhone so you can keep your eyes where they belong — on the road. NAVIGON provides on-board maps which means it’s a huge download but it keeps working in areas where there’s no data coverage. You can buy regional, country, or continents at a time, and there are also options for live traffic updates, parking directions, and enhanced panoramic views of the surroundings. [Various - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Gowalla lets you “check in” to locations, keep track of your and your friends’ locations, and earn badges for being there. [Free - iTunes link]
• Yelp provides restaurant, gas station, bar, and pretty much any type of business location and recommendations. [Free - iTunes link]
  

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 10 best iPhone 4 apps to get you started. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

We’ve been keeping our eye out as more iOS4 app updates keep hitting the App Store filled with multitasking, state saving, Retina Display-ing goodness. So pull out your iPhone or get on iTunes and check for updates. Here are some more we’ve seen roll out since our last post.

Hit the jump to see what new ones we’ve found!

Twitter for iPhone

This is a big one for most people as it’s by far one of the most popular Twitter clients for iPhone.  Now that it’s become the official client and is available for free, it’s become that much more popular.  Twitter for iPhone hasn’t disappointed and rolled out an update that not only supports fast app switching, but resolution support for the new retina display, as well as some bug fixes.

Real Racing by Firemint

Games are what most users are really looking forward to with the new display.  Looks like some developers are really starting to take advantage of the new display. Real Racing seems to have redesigned their graphics to take advantage of the iPhone 4’s display.  If you’re in the market for a great racing game, this just may be for you.

Here’s what’s included in the update –

• New graphics for showing off the retina display with high resolution textures, more detailed car interiors, improved track graphics, beautifully updated menus and exceptionally smooth graphical performance on iPhone 4
• More responsive and accurate controls on iPhone 4, with three-axis gyro support in addition to the accelerometer
• Smoother graphics on iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3 with iOS4 anti-aliasing
• Support for iOS4 multitasking on compatible devices
• Bux Fixes

Flight Control by Firemint

Looks like Firemint is really on a roll and updating most of their game selection for iOS4.  Most of the updates seem to be in line with those for Real Racing.  Enhanced graphics, fast app switching, anti-aliasing, and gyro support.  If you’ve never played Flight Control, it’s an incredibly addicting game.  If you already have it, go grab the update!

Plants vs Zombies

This is one of my favorite games of all time.  If you haven’t picked it up, I highly suggest it.  Those of you who currently have it, it’s been updated to support fast app switching in iOS4.  Apart from that, I don’t believe the update includes support for the retina display.  I’m hoping we’ll see that in a future update.

Trapster

There aren’t very many free navigation apps in the App Store.  If you aren’t in the market to spend a lot and want a decent one, Trapster may be for you. It also comes with speed trap alerts.  And it comes with support for background navigation.  What more could you ask for?

TomTom

I’ve read in several places that users were having issues with TomTom after upgrading to iOS4.  TomTom has issued an update to not only fix compatibility issues but adding some great features to support iOS4. So if you upgraded to iOS4, make sure you update so you can continue using TomTom.  GPS apps are probably going to improve ten-fold with the release of iOS4.  Here’s a list of new and improved TomTom features –

• Seamless navigation while calling (3GS and iPhone 4 only)
• Newly updated maps
• Background navigation instructions
• Route Sharing (share route details with contacts via e-mail)
• Departure Reminders (add them to your calendar)
• Eco Routes (more fuel efficient routes)
• Car Symbols (personalize car symbols on your driving screen)

Slacker Personal Radio

[iTunes link]

Slacker is right now releasing version 2.1 which supports multitasking for listening to Slacker Radio in the background and offers convenient controls for accessing the app while performing other device functions. Slacker Radio 2.1 for iOS 4 offers:

• Support for multitasking
• Convenient background play controls
• Music library featuring millions of songs
• No monthly listening limits
• Over 120 professionally programmed genre stations
• Create custom stations based on artists or songs
• Fine tune stations on-the-fly to play more of the music you like
• View artist biographies and photos
• View album art and reviews
• Pause and skip songs
• Rate songs as favorites
• Ban the songs and artists you don’t like

If you’re a Slacker Radio Plus subscriber:

• Cache stations to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch**
• Enjoy Slacker radio stations even without a wireless network
• Unlimited song skipping
• Ad-free listening
• Complete song lyrics†
• Unlimited song requests for creating stations
• “Peek Ahead” artist and album preview

That’s what we’ve found so far, but if you find any you think deserve a post-up let us know in the comments or send us a tip!

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]

So you have an iPhone and you use Twitter, but with the plethora of Twitter applications available in the App Store (including one that just went official), which do you chose? TiPb is here to help with a Twitter app roundup! Now this is not your typical top 5 or top 10 must-have, best Twitter app list. This is about options and alternatives, and Ally, Leanna, and guest writer Alli Flowers have chosen the following 12 to review and help narrow your search:

• Twitter for iPhone
• Twitbit
• Tweeterena
• Osfoora
• HootSuite
• SimplyTweet 3
• Tweetdeck
• Twitterrific
• Twitbird Pro
• Twittelator Pro
• Echofon
• Fluttr

To see what we had to say, follow us after the break!

Twitter for iPhone

Previously known as Tweetie, Twitter for iPhone [Free - iTunes link] is the official Twitter application from Twitter. It is full featured and easy to use. Swiping a tweet will get you reply options, and tapping the tweet will allow you to view attached photos or url’s. The swipe to reply seems so natural, and it’s uncluttered. Likewise with Tweetie’s settings – you know exactly what you’re looking at and what will happen if you turn something OFF or ON.

— Alli

Twitbit

If you’re looking for a Twitter client with fast and reliable push, Twitbit [$2.99 - iTunes link] is the app for you. However, an excellent push notification system isn’t the only thing appealing about Twitbit. The UI is very clean and clutter free. On the bottom toolbar, you will find tabs for your timeline, mentions, messages, lists, and more. Twitbit comes with 4 themes: Gradients, Dark, Plain, and Chat.

The two main complaints about Twitbit is the lack of “quick reply” from the timeline and no option to “reply all”. The most impressive feature is how quickly notifications are pushed to your iPhone. Notifications are received within seconds of them being sent.

The developers of Twitbit regularly release updates and do an excellent job of replying to users and adding requested features.

— Leanna

Tweeterena Series

Tweeterena currently comes in 3 flavors; Tweeterena Lite [Free - iTunes link], Tweeterena [$0.99 - iTunes link], and Tweeterena Pro [$3.99 - iTunes link]. The free version is ad-supported while the $0.99 version is sans ads. Tweeterena Pro will get you the following features, which the cheaper versions leave out:

• Multiple Account Support
• Facebook integration
• Custom Backgrounds
• Quick watch user functionality
• Friend grouping

I spent most of my time with the Pro version. As far as I’m concerned, Tweeterena (Pro version or not) has little improvement since I last evaluated it. In terms of functionality, it doesn’t offer anything some other clients offer for a lower price or even free. My biggest issue with Tweeterena was honestly the general layout and color schemes. They just don’t work well. You get funky shading that just doesn’t look right over the backgrounds. Also, custom backgrounds are somewhat very misleading. You don’t get to customize your background throughout the entire layout, only in the compose screen. So to me, that just doesn’t cut it when several other clients that offer that allow it through the entire thing. And lastly, the settings are split up. Part are found in-app and part are in settings, which to me makes no sense. My honest opinion is that there are much better clients out there for cheaper that are a much better value.

— Ally

Osfoora for Twitter

Osfoora [$2.99 - iTunes link] offeres a clean UI with all the features anyone could want. “Borrowing” from Tweetie, Osfoora allows you to pull down to refresh in any view. While Osfoora has been my primary Twitter client for about a month, my main complaint is that you must tap on a tweet in order to Reply All. Otherwise, tap/hold will get you the typical reply options. I have two favorite things about Osfoora. One: it does a super job of showing conversation threads. Two: the Osfoora developer is extremely active on Twitter, and very responsive to user requests.

— Alli

HootSuite

HootSuite [$2.99 - iTunes link] is a cute little twitter app that also supports Facebook integration. If you use ow.ly to shrink your links, HootSuite will display your stats of shared links.

Unlike most Twitter clients, HootSuite uses columns instead of tabs as method of switching between your timeline, mentions, DM’s, etc. To switch between columns, just swipe left or right from your current column. The advantage to columns is that you can add and remove and organize custom columns so you can taylor your experience Twitter to you.

HootSuite is missing one important feature: conversation view. Reading conversations is a huge part of my Twitter experience, so I find the lack of support very disappointing. HootSuite also does not support push notifications. Other than those two missing things, HootSuite is an excellent Twitter client.

— Leanna

SimplyTweet 3

SimplyTweet 3 [$4.99 - iTunes link] was honestly one of my favorite clients I reviewed. It’s drop dead simple to navigate around and very similar in style to Tweetie 2. Along the bottom you have all of your essential functions.

One thing I really enjoyed about using SimplyTweet 3 was how fast it was. SimplyTweet also supports all your essential functions. A major plus of SimplyTweet is built-in push. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was extremely quick. And the conversations view is something I really wish other clients would start implementing.

Final thoughts on SimplyTweet 3? It’s an extremely decent twitter client. At $4.99, it’s a bit steep compared to some other respectable options. Either way – if you’d like built-in push bundled with a twitter client with a great UI and easy to navigate interface, SimplyTweet may just be for you.

— Ally

TweetDeck

If you like TweetDeck on your desktop, you might very well be happy with TweetDeck [Free -iTunes link] on your iPhone – especially since it’s free. I love being able to view my tweets in columns (similar to Twitter lists). It can save you time when you don’t really want to look through your entire follow timeline – especially if you follow a large number of people. All the basic features of any Twitter client are included in TweetDeck, and I really can find no fault in it. Columns begin zoomed out so that you can scroll left and right between them, and when a column is chosen, it zooms in so that you can scroll up and down through the tweets. TweetDeck’s columns work the same way as the views on every other client, but with a little more flexibility in that you decide exactly who you want in each column. Not much variety in design – you can choose from “dark” or “light.”

— Alli

Twitterrific

Twitterrific was the first Twitter application released with the launch of iPhone OS 2.0. So it has been around for a long time and has seen many improvements and won many design awards. Twitterrific is available in two versions: a free, ad supported version [iTunes link], and a premium ad-free version [$4.99 - iTunes link]. Neither versions include push.

Those design awards were well earned as style is what Twitterrific does best. The UI is beautiful and you can easily change font size with a tap of a button on the timeline. Twitterrific includes 3 themes: Raven, Snowy, and Basic. It also offers the unique option of left-handed controls. Twitterrific is an excellent full-featured Twitter client with a wonderful design.

— Leanna

Twitbird Pro

Another client that showed up on the Twitter scene not too long ago that pleasantly surprised me is Twitbird Pro [$2.99 - iTunes link] Not only is Twitbird Pro rich with features, there are tons of customization options, including changing your wallpaper throughout the entire app, which I enjoyed. Twitbird Pro has a very unique conversations view which was implemented extremely well. Twitbird Pro also has built-in push services. There’s a slight catch though. The push that comes with Twitbird Pro only supports push between Twitbird Pro users. If you’d like global push from all Twitter users, that’ll cost you $2.99 for the upgrade in-app. I did not buy the push service, so if anyone has any hands-on, sound off in the comments about the reliability/speed. Boxcar supports Twitbird Pro, so I just set Boxcar to open Twitbird Pro and had no issues. My verdict is that TwitBird Pro has tons of potential. The implementation and layout is almost there, but not quite.

— Ally

Twittelator Pro

Twittelator Pro [$4.99 - iTunes link] was the first truly great Twitter app for iPhone. There are so many options it can sometimes be confusing. Perhaps when iPhone 4 is released, there will be a real purpose to having sounds on new tweets, but for now it’s a feature that you can’t take much advantage of, and due to the lame nature of the sounds… you probably wouldn’t want to. Nonetheless, Twittelator Pro does everything: sounds, themes, conversations, photos, geotagging, you name it. For some reason, scrolling quickly to the top in Twittelator Pro is disconcerting. One tap goes up a page, two taps goes straight to the top. It just seems like one option too many. Replying to a tweet in Twittelator Pro can be a trial. Double tap the time shown on the right to quick reply, tap the avatar for the full set of options beneath the user’s profile.

— Alli

Echofon

Echofon for Twitter is one of the few Twitter clients that offer push notifications. The free, ad-supported version [iTunes link] only pushes mentions and DMs from other Echofon users. The “pro” ad-free version [$4.99 - iTunes link] sends notifications from all Twitter users.

If you are looking for reliable push notifications, Echofon is not for you. I highly recommend test-driving the free version before purchasing the ad-free version to see if push meets your standards. If you’re a FireFox or Mac (or both) user, one great feature of Echofon is that it syncs unread tweets across all platforms.

One thing that some people may love and others may hate is that conversations are viewed with oldest on top. This is obviously the most natural way to read a conversation, but I find it a bit awkward because it goes against the Twitter style.

Other than my disappointment with push notifications, I view Echofon to be a great Twitter client.

— Leanna

Fluttr

My last client was Fluttr [$2.99 – iTunes link]. I somewhat decided to review Fluttr last minute. I was browsing the app store and the layout looked pretty slick.

Unfortunately, I don’t have too much to say at this time. Every time I tried to test it out, I got tons of API errors and it never wanted to load my mentions (see screenshots).

From what I could get out of it, it had the same problem TwitBird Pro has with mentions. You have to click back to the home screen in order to access anything. To me, it’s a bit redundant, as you shouldn’t have to do that for main functions. They should be easily accessible all along the bottom. The UI is put together very nicely and I think it’s a client to definitely keep an eye on. A few good quality updates and it could be a good contender. It does have several features including lists. If I could have used them without getting errors, I may have been more willing to give it more time on my main iPhone home screen. The bugs are what keep me from recommending it as of now. Either way – jump down for screens!

— Ally

Conclusion

Given the packed field of competition amongst Twitter clients, the winner will have to have something very special. Something way beyond push notification or themes. I know several people who continue using the first Twitter client they tried when they got their iPhones. Some of us (like the three of us bringing you this roundup), keep trying new Twitter apps in search of that je ne sais quoi. We’ll know it when we see it, I’m sure. But we have to keep trying them all, and discovering which tiny things we love and which we dislike, waiting for that one perfect app that puts all our favorites together in one beautiful package. Which one is right for you? Heck if we know – we can’t even decide which is right for ourselves. But this is truly a case of it being the trip and not the destination that makes it all worth the ride.

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]

During the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama sent out her first tweet, via CNN’s Ed Henry. After light-hearted negotiations and getting clearance from the top — the very tip top — Henry typed the tweet out on his iPhone on Mrs. Obama’s behalf:

“from flotus: ‘here at dinner this is officially my first Tweet. i am looking forward to some good laughs from the potus and jay’”.

POTUS, of course, would be President of the United States. Jay would be Leno, the one who cost Coco his happy.

The story is almost Sorkian and worth a read, so check it out via the link below.

[CNN]

The iPhone has a built in camera and with its always-on internet connectivity, it’s a great way to share your pictures with friends, families, colleagues, and the world.

• Send via mail. The classic iPhone way to send photos is through email. Just choose a picture, multi-select up to five and tap Share, or copy and paste a dozen or so right into the body of your message and send away. (Pro tip: the share button compresses your photos into smaller files for easier transport, pasting them in keeps them in full size for higher quality). This is also great if you’re sharing with someone who has a computer, since Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix — almost everything! — has an email client to receive them.
• Send via MMS. Yes, the iPhone finally has MMS so the same way you send photo via mail you can now send them via the Messages SMS/MMS app as well. This is the best option if you’re sending to another phone, especially a feature phone that doesn’t have email.
• Upload them to galleries. The iPhone will let you upload to Apple’s own (subscription required) MobileMe gallery. You can also upload to the popular Flickr site, and there are (of course) apps for that.
• Post them to a social network. If one-to-one is too few, and one-to-many sounds more like it, you can share your photos with your friends, your followers, or the whole wide world through your favorite social networks. Facebook is obviously huge here, with the app letting you upload and comment (when it works!) on photos. Thanks to integration with TwitPics and other, similar services, many popular Twitter clients like Twitterrific, Tweetie, TwitBit, etc. let you post pictures to your Twitter timeline for your followers to enjoy (and tweet back about).
• Hand them your iPhone. And for your non-computer friends, you can just launch the Photo app and pass them your iPhone. The modern equivalent of sneaker-net, after a few moments even your least tech-savvy family member will be swiping, pinching, and otherwise enjoying your camera work right into the palm of their hand.

How do you share photos on your iPhone? Have any special tips or tricks you can share? Let us know in the comments!

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!]

Twitteriffic on the iPad is straight-up elegant and clean. Although it’s not quite the powerhouse of Twitter mania that is Tweetdeck on iPad, it makes up for it by having a nicer and more intuitive layout.

In portrait mode, you get a large list of tweets, but the real excitement comes in landscape. Twitteriffic uses the now-familiar setup of a list of options on the left, the main window on the right. Your options are simple and straightfoward – viewing recent tweet, messages, direct messages, favorites, a search bar, and so on. I’m especially happy to see lists on the sidebar – that’s a feature that’s been lacking on many other Twitter clients. The app offers a $4.99 in-app purchase to enable multiple accounts and eliminating ads. Twitteriffic also does a great job with links – photos appear in a small pop-up and web-links appear in a large pop-up browser that’s very usable. Tapping a profile brings up an iPhone-style pop-up that lets you browse that user’s tweets.

I do sort of wish the lefthand bar was customizable – I’d rather see multiple accounts listed there rather than Twitter trends. You also can’t change accounts on an active tweet you’re writing – instead you have to back out of one account and into another.

Video and gallery after the break!

TweetDeck on the iPad is a mixed bag – most of the contents of that bag are utterly awesome for the power-twitter user. If you need to follow a lot of Twitter streams then there’s simply no better way to track them all than TweetDeck. If you use TweetDeck on the desktop, you can set up a TweetDeck account and have your chosen columns synchronized between your desktop and iPad. If you have multiple Twitter accounts, you can send from multiple accounts too.

The not-so-awesome part of the bag comes when you want to view a link from a tweet. In landscape mode you simply can’t. In portrait mode what happens is the tweet appears in a at the top of the screen. You can also view profiles, recent tweets, and more. For displaying a single tweet, that area is simply giant. For displaying a web page linked from a tweet, it’s maddeningly small.

I said in the video that TweetDeck might my favorite iPad Twitter client, but I’m finding more and more that the portrait mode isn’t quite working out for me.

Video and gallery after the break!

The iPhone and Facebook and Twitter go together like chocolate and peanut butter but just like there are a lot of tasty desert combinations, there’s a lot of ways to keep up with your social networks on the go:

• The web. Hey, it’s where most social networks started and because the iPhone has the excellent Mobile Safari web browser, you can just point it towards facebook.com, twitter.com (or any other social-network.com) and get your status on. Both Facebook and Twitter provide iPhone-optimized versions of their websites as well, though you can tap-through to the full sites.
• App Store apps like the official Facebook app [Free - iTunes link] or any of the excellent 3rd party Twitter apps. The Facebook app really came into its own with version 3.0. Version 3.1 added the much-requested push notifications, though it brought with it numerous, aggravating bugs… Twitter clients on the other hand are many and varied, from the write-centric Birdhouse [$1.99 - iTunes link] to the read-centric Reportage [$1.99 - iTunes link], with the uber-popular Tweetie [$2.99 - iTunes link] and Twitterrific [Free or $4.99 - iTunes link], and push-centric TwitBit [Free or $2.99 - iTunes link] and many others making us the envy of the platform space.

And with either of those options there’s still several things you can do with them:

• Share your status. Telling your friends who you’re with, what you’re watching, where you’re going, why you’re ticked off, and how it’s all some other friend’s fault is probably the oldest, most common use of social networks. There are even apps like qStatus [$0.99 - iTunes link] that specialize in updating them.
• Share your photos. Flickr uploads, Twitter pics, Facebook galleries — people like to show other people their family, funny, even freaky photos and social networks make it easy. Sure you can email a photo to a few people, but you can post it to as many friends as you have
• Share your gaming. “I just walked 3 meters and fell to my grisly death in…” is all over our social status’ thanks to games that offer built-in auto-Tweet and auto-Facebook options. Whether it’s for your crops, your castle, your drag-race, your FPS, or any other of a dozen games in a dozen genres, they can instantly let al your friends hear you brag (or complain!)
• Combine your logins. Facebook Connect and Twitter’s login services let you use your existing social network ID at a variety of other sites, either add-on services/apps to Facebook or Twitter, or other social networks. Hey, some people don’t want to have to remember multiple user names and passwords, you know?

We’d love Facebook to fix the 3.1 trunk, we’d love Twitter to add an official push-API, and we’d love Apple to let us multitask them all, but the iPhone remains a premiere platform for social networking and we’ve only just scratched the surface. Web or App, and what for? Tell us — how you use your iPhone to keep up with your social networks? (And if you don’t use social networks at all, let us know why not!)

The folks at MindTapp dropped us a note to tell us about their new iPhone app, PhotoNest [$1.99 - iTunes link], that allows you to easily — and visually — post pictures to Twitter:

Twitter is an amazing real time communication tool, but it only sends links to photos and not photos themselves, which isn’t very pretty.

We are dedicated to fixing this! PhotoNest is an application that goes through your Twitter feed and looks for photos that your friends have posted. It then pulls that photo out and puts into a nice visual stream of photos from your Twitter friends.

The photos show up in a vertical stack. Tapping on one takes you to a full-screen view. Tapping on the action button sends you to the web page where the photo is stored (no “reply”, “retweet”, or “email link” options there that I could find — which is a real shame). You can post pictures of your own either by taking one via the embedded Camera or by picking one from your Photo galleries. It works well for what it is, and I like focused Twitter apps, but hopefully it will get rounded out over time. A grid-view option, for example, to rapidly parse and select photos would be great.

I’m a well known sucker for Twitter apps but I’m not a huge photo poster (outside of trade shows) or follower of high-volume photo posters, so I’ll have to wait and see what Leanna and the other far-cooler-than-me writers think before rendering final judgement. In the meantime, ask if you have any questions and if you’ve tried PhotoNest, let us know what you think!

The delightful Twitter client Birdfeed has been bought, updated, and rebranded by Brizzly and is now available as Brizzly for iPhone… for free! [iTunes link]

If you’re looking for a great Twitter client, give Brizzly a try. (Note: per comment below, you do need a brizzly.com account to use it which might not appeal to some.)

[via Daring Fireball]

Yesterday at Macworld two events helped clarify something I’ve been discussing with Dieter for a while now — Apple, the iPhone and iPad, and closed vs. open systems, control vs. chaos. These two events were a presentation by John Gruber of Daring Fireball concerning the 10 biggest problems faced by Apple, and a brief conversation with Leo Laporte of TWiT about Google Buzz.

As part of his Round Robin BlackBerry review, Dieter departed on a rant about BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) of epic proportions. A closed communications protocol, he argued, was untenable. BlackBerry users create incredible amounts of content in BBM (yes, chat is content) but it’s all completely closed off and owned by RIM. If you leave BlackBerry, you can’t take your BBM content with you. If RIM ever disappears, all your BBM content is lost. Something like Gmail on the other hand, works across platform and if you switch from BlackBerry to iPhone to Android, you enter your Gmail account and everything is there. Since you can access it via standard protocols like POP and IMAP, you can also make local copies and upload them to a different service (i.e. upload your mail to a non-Google IMAP folder).

Laporte made a similar comment about Twitter and Facebook. If either Twitter or Facebook were to fail, all your status updates, all your wall posts, all your friends and those you follow and/or follow you would be gone.

I don’t know if Google Buzz will prove to be an open protocol and system for sharing status, location, and relationships, and certainly it’s implementation shows signs of the typical Google “release now, fix later, polish never” model, but something needs to.

And this brings me rather circuitously back to Apple and the iPhone. As much as a certain segment decries Apple as “closed”, in terms of protocols they’re remarkably open. They use IMAP for mail, and open-sourced CalDAV and CardDAV for calendaring and contacts. They use WebDAV for web directories and WebKit for Safari. iChat supports most IM protocols, including Jabber. They use BSD Linux and the Darwin kernel for the core of Mac and iPhone.

Apple is generally built on top of open technologies, and one of their core strengths is melding that open architecture with tightly controlled (i.e. proprietary) user interface layers (and developer APIs, and App Store review processes).

For some, that last part is an absolute deal breaker. But they have Ubantu and Open Moko. (Yes, even Android is closed — you can’t muck about with Gmail or Google Maps apps). For mainstream users, however, the front end, the user experience, “just works” to the point where it’s become a cliche.

I said it previously in my Round Robin summation, to use Google you must give up privacy, to use Apple you must give up control. (I don’t even want to think about what I’m giving up to use Google on Apple!)

So proprietary interfaces to open technologies — how does that work for us? What happens when we use something not controlled by Apple?

John Gruber suggested AT&T as an example. Indeed, he listed it a one of Apple’s problems. Now, some people get great AT&T service while others have connection problems that have become near-legendary. Either way, it’s hurt media and mainstream perceptions about the iPhone.

Gruber also mentioned Big Media (movie and TV studios, music labels) as a problem. They want to charge more than the market will bear (certainly enough to make free-as-in-torrent an alternative) and make less available via iTunes than via a retro 1980s corner video store.

Is it a coincidence that some of the main aspects of the iPhone and iTunes that Apple has absolutely no control over are some that cause the greatest amount of user frustration?

(The App Store and its review process mostly create developer frustration, and Gruber listed this as a problem as well, though one that’s slightly improving since the holiday shut-down).

So, we come back to and down to Apple liking to control the user-facing aspects of the iPhone (and iPod touch, and soon, iPad) but using and promoting open standards for a lot of the technology underneath. While this approach might clash philosophically with some users (and again, Android, Palm, etc. aren’t open, they’re just more open) and practically for others (power users who want the control themselves), its proved remarkably effective for casual, mainstream users, and for power-users willing to give up some control for a better experience.

Except for that part about AT&T and Hollywood, but then those are controlled with little concern for user experience…

9to5mac is reporting that not only did Apple go an add a new, official YouTube channel — currently stocked with iPad video and Keynote — but http://twitter.com/apple has suddenly been vacated…

Could @apple finally be “getting” social networking? Will we one day be able to “friend” Steve Jobs? Do we want to?

Official Apple YouTube iPad video after the break!

TiPb loves to give back to our readers with our give aways, so why not give away my personal favorite Twitter app in all of the Apple App Store, Twitbit!

Our good friends over at High Order Bit have been generous enough to share 10 FREE copies of their Twitbit application to give you! If you want in on the action, all you have to do is visit this thread in our iPhone forums and leave a single post telling High Order Bit what feature you would like to see added to the already feature filled Twitbit!

Contest starts now and ends Wednesday, January 27th at 12pm PT. And remember, promo codes require a US iTunes App Store account (Apple’s rule, not ours!) Good luck!

Twitter is previewing a new iPhone-friendlier version of their website, mobile.twitter.com, this time “eating their own dogfood” by using the same APIs they provide to developers. While Twitter has long had their m.twitter.com mobile site it’s fair to say it was eclipsed by native iPhone apps making use of those APIs.

Will the new WebApp get users to go back to the online source? Personally, the power and performance of the latest App Store apps is going to be tough to beat, but if I’m ever stuck using someone else’s iPhone (or non-iPhone mobile device, like I will be this weekend), a better web-based alternative will certainly be much appreciated. Says @twittermobile lead @leland on the Twitter blog:

This is just the start, we’re excited about the new APIs launching at Twitter, and have been busy tinkering with some neat ways to use them. We look forward to sharing more cool things with you soon.

It’s optimized for mobile WebKit based browsers like the iPhone right now, but they’ll be tweaking it for the good of all platforms eventually. If you give mobile.twitter.com a try, let us know how you like it.

Birdfeed [$2.99 - iTunes link], one of the best looking, slickest working iPhone Twitter clients we’ve looked at, has just been updated to version 1.2 and is jam-packed with new, well-handled features:

• Geographic locations can now be attached to posted tweets using Twitter’s new Geo API, and a tweet’s location, if present, will now be displayed as a place name (e.g. “Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, New York”) in the tweet detail view. Tweet locations can also be examined in a new map view.
• Flickr accounts can now be used as photo sharing services for
• New photo posting sheet allows larger versions of photos to be examined before they are posted, and for metadata (such as title, description, and tags) to be entered.
• Settings for location posting, photo sharing, and URL shortening are now located inside the app, and can be specified on a per-account basis. Additionally, the local tweet cache can be cleared for each account from its settings screen.
• The Direct Messages Inbox now has a toolbar with refresh and mark all read buttons.
• Mentions can now be marked as read simply by tapping into their detail view from the main timeline.
• Favstar.fm and Tweeteorites have been added to the profile services menu.

How’s 1.2 holding up so far? Birdfeed implements the Geo API flawlessly, though it takes a while for the location to manifest (I got near Quebec the first time I tapped it, then a nearby cross-street when I tapped it again — which is kind of creepy in a cyber-stalked sort of way).

If you’ve given it a try, let us know what you think.

UPDATE: And… it’s back with version 1.1.1 [Free - iTunes link]

ORIGINAL: Most of our readers love their Twitter, and to some of you who happened to be searching for the TweetDeck app within the App Store, you may have been a bit surprised and disappointed to see that it seemed to simply disappear without a trace.

So what exactly happened to TweetDeck? This past Friday TweetDeck version 1.1 was released and it seems as if some of the kinks were never worked out of it before it was submitted to Apple. Namely constant crashing – Oops… So the decision was then made to pull the app before the problem became widespread.

We are happy to spread the word that the app has since been fixed and resubmitted to Apple with version 1.1.1.

[Via TechCrunch]

We’ll save you the preamble this time; suffice it to say iPhone+Twitter = peanutbutter cuppy goodness. And now Twitter is rolling out new features to either make it dark chocolatey super good, or just to give us a sugar headache, we’re not sure which (though we’re fairly sure we’ve strained the confectionary metaphor well beyond the point of painful, so moving on…)

Twitter Lists aims to help with discovery — to let more users find more interesting people to read and follow. Basically, if you follow hundreds, thousands, or more, it was nigh-impossible to keep up with a few specific ones, or to organize them in any way (sort of like iPhone apps on the home screen, don’t get us started!). With lists, you can create groups/categories and add the people you’re following to those lists. Family, friends, co-workers, fellow gadget enthusiasts or movie geeks, pretty much any system you can think of. Then, to see what that list is up to, you just go to the handy list view and voila, all their tweets, nice and separate. You can also follow other people’s lists if you find a group you really like.

We’ve set up a few already:

• TiPb Staff, for all our editors, writers, reviewers, and moderators.
• SPE Network, for TiPb sibling sites and their Android, BlackBerry, Nokia, Palm, and Windows Mobile coverage.
• SPE Site Editors, for behind-the-scenese commentary and random thoughts from those who manage the above-mentioned sites.
• SPE Everybody, for the master-list of everyone involved with Smartphone Experts.

We’ll be adding more if/when they make sense, so if you have requests, send them our way!

New-style retweets is more controversial and potentially confusing. As Twitter rolls these out, when someone you follow retweets something, you no longer see them and their retweet, but the original tweeter, (even if you don’t follow them), along with a note saying which of the people you followed retweeted it. Again, it’s supposed to help with discovery, but it’s already driven Justine Batement into curse-riddled outrage, and depending on how it’s implemented on the web and in clients, could jut be a bad of Twitter hurt. (Techcrunch posted the above screenshot of how Tweetie 2.1 will be handling them, pink corners and all).

If you’ve tried them, let us know what you think, either in the comments below, or on Twitter:

@theiphoneblog, @reneritchie (Rene), @backlon (Dieter), @iChadman (Chad), @JFSikora (Jeremy), @jamesus (James), @llofte (Leanna), @JHamilton24 (Josh), @justin_horn (Justin), @msproductions (Matt), @skeetobite (Chris).

Big news round Twitter-way, with Apple adding a few more official Twitter accounts, and Microsoft Bing and Google paying for unrestricted access to real-time search Twitter’s firehose of user status posts.

First up, while Apple’s never been accused of “getting” social media, and it may come as a surprise they’re using Twitter at all, it’s not so surprising that — rather than customer feedback, support, or insight into the iron curtain that shrouds Cupertino — these accounts are just news/marketing updates on when the latest music and media hits the world’s most popular download service. (And some seem less than active at the moment). Baby steps?

You can follow them via: iTunesTrailers, iTunesMusic, iTunesMovies, iTunesTV, and iTunesPodcasts.

Also both Microsoft’s Bing and Google have now announced partnerships with Twitter. Bing says:

Were you as fascinated by the 6-year-old boy floating away in a balloon as we were? Was it a hoax? We know that people are going to twitter more and more for information surrounding all the latest chatter. You can now search for what people are saying all over the web about breaking news topics, your favorite celebrity, hometown sports team, and anything else you use Twitter to stay on top of today.

Google says:

We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

Does this hybrid search model appeal to you? Let us know!

[Ballmer photoshop re-used in honor of Windows 7 launch day]

The iPhone and Twitter go together like peanut butter and chocolate, so it’s no wonder we enjoy an unparalleled quantity and quality of Twitter apps for the iPhone. From the earliest jailbreak version of Twitterrific to the latest releases of Tweetie and Twitbit, with everything from TweetDeck, Twittelator Pro, Birdfeed, SimplyTweet, Echofon/Twitterfon, and even Twitter.com‘s mobile site thrown in-between (and that’s not counting the specialty clients like Birdhouse, qStatus, and Reportage), it’s really an embarrassment of riches at this point.

So, to help us sort through all the amazing Twitter apps, we want to know which one you use. Granted, like us you might have several installed — you might even have them all! — but we want to know your primary, number one, go-to Twitter client. If you could only have one, today, which would it be? (And feel free to tell us why, and drop your Twitter user name for Follow Friday in the comments below).

TiPb Twitter Team: @theiphoneblog, @reneritchie (Rene), @backlon (Dieter), @iChadman (Chad), @JFSikora (Jeremy), @jamesus (James), @llofte (Leanna), @JHamilton24 (Josh), @justin_horn (Justin), @msproductions (Matt), @skeetobite (Chris).

TwitBit 2.0 Forum Review by llofte. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Surprisingly, nearly 3 months after iPhone 3.0‘s release, there are only a few twitter applications that offer push notifications. Twitbit is one of them. Version 1.x wasn’t compelling enough for me to use as my primary client, but the latest 2.0 update is rather impressive and brings Twitbit up to par with other great Twitter clients. The design is clean and simple yet not lacking in important features.

The home tab displays both your timeline and mentions. Just select which you want to view from the top. To scroll up to the most recent tweet, tap the time in the iPhone’s toolbar. Tapping on a tweet opens a new screen with the Tweeter’s name and username, the tweet, and some options. The tweet is displayed in a chat bubble below the user and includes the date/time and what platform the tweeter posted with. If the tweet was a reply, “In reply to…” will be attached to the tweet and tapping this will bring up a nice conversation view (direct messages also have conversation view). The tweet screen also includes buttons to reply, DM, retweet, and mark as favorite. Tapping the forward icon in the upper right corner allows you to open the tweet with the built in browser or mail a link to that tweet.

As you navigate through screens, the button on the top left will be named after your previous screen. If you find yourself several screens deep through navigation, tap the home tab to quickly return to your timeline.

A user’s profile screen includes the standard profile information including the options to follow/stop following, block, and bookmark. You can also send a user a public or direct message and view tweets that mention them from their profile. When viewing your own tweets from your user profile, there is an option to delete.

The Search tab is where you go to search for tweets in all of Twitter or by tweets near you. You can save any search term to for quick access later. To search trends, tap the bookmarks icon and select the trends tab at the bottom. From the top you can select current, daily, or weekly trends.

Search for users in the People tab as well as find all the users you have bookmarked and recent profiles you have visited. Your own profile will be listed on the top of the bookmarks list in blue. You can easily rearrange the list order by tapping edit.

Twitbit supports the use of multiple accounts and the account tab is where you go to switch between users. Tap the arrow for an account to set your push notification settings and edit your services. Twitbit allows you to post pictures to TwitPic, Yfrog, and Flickr and videos (3GS only) to TwitVid, Yfrog and Flickr all of which need to be authorized separately. If you have an Instapaper account, you can authorize it to use with Twitbit as well.

For even more settings, visit the iPhone’s Settings app and tap Twitbit. From here you can choose to display full names or usernames, how many tweets to fetch (20, 50, or 100), whether to highlight new tweets, and whether to scroll to the top when loading new tweets. Retweets can be formatted as “… (via @name)” or “RT @name: …”, image upload quality set as low, medium, or high, and nearby search radius as 2 km, 10 km, 50 km, or 250 km. If you don’t want your links to be shortened, you can turn that off too.

Twitbit is great application, but does has some disadvantages. There isn’t a way to access a list of users when composing a tweet, Flickr uploads do not include EXIF data, and the push notification sound is Apple’s default Tri-tone text message sound. The good news is that the developers have let us know they are considering adding these features in an upcoming release.

Speaking of the developers, High Order Bit is already diligently working on 2.1 promising features like full landscape support and the ability to iterate through your timeline from the tweet view. They are also planning to utilize those Twitter API updates for native retweet and geotag support.

Conclusion

Twitbit 2.0 is an excellent Twitter client! Notifications are quickly pushed to your iPhone in under 2 minutes, the UI is clutter free, and performance is smooth and snappy. If you’re looking for a Twitter application with built-in push notifications, I highly recommend Twitbit. If you’re unsure about making a purchase, you can try before you buy! Twitbit Lite is available for free and has all the features of Twitbit “pro” except for push and Flickr uploads. If you do choose to download Twitbit, be sure to let us know what you think!

Pros

• Push Notifications for mentions and direction messages in under 2 minutes
• Upload to Flickr
• Built-in browser and map
• Bookmark users

Cons

• No access to users while composing tweet
• Flickr uploads do not include EXIF data
• Only one notification sound option

TiPb Review Rating

For those of you who are a bit disappointed with your current iPhone Twitter client because of the lack of a little something called “push notifications” – You must check out Twitbit 2.0. [$2.99 Sale Price - iTunes Link] We’ve had the pleasure of testing the 2.0 build for quite some time now and we are happy to report this update has been finely tuned while adding a boatload of new features, so many that you’ll have to wait for our full review.

• A completely new look
• Push notifications for direct messages and mentions
• Rich media integration to share all of your media which now includes Flickr
• Significant performance boost
• Configuration: Set up Twitbit 2.0 exactly the way you want it
• Free updates!

Still not convinced enough to make the purchase? Try out Twitbit 2.0 Lite. [Free - iTunes Link] You’ll get all of the same great features, new and old, minus push notifications and Flickr support.

Stay tuned as we will bring you a detailed review shortly!

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!

qStatus is the App Store subset of the qTweeter Jailbreak app, and Echofon is the new name for Twitterfon. Confused yet? Don’t be, we’ve got the basics on both these iPhone and iPod touch Twitter clients!

qStatus [$0.99 - iTunes link] is designed to quickly let you update your Twitter (and/or Facebook status), either with text, or by sharing your current song, a photo from the camera or library, or a video from iPhone 3GS. There’s no reading functionality, but there is the typical Gx5 attention to awesome interface detail. Unlike qTweeter for Jailbreak, of course, there’s no multitasking “swipe-down-to-tweet-from-anywhere” functionality either.

Echofon [Free - iTunes link] or Pro [$4.99 - iTunes link] is, as mentioned, the new name for Twitterfon and the new Pro version includes Push Notifications (with optional “sleep” period so it doesn’t bother you when you’re trying to get some shuteye), sync with Echofon for Firefox on the desktop (formerly Twitterfox). Non-Pro users get bug fixes and the name change.

If you get your tweet on with either, let us know how they work for you (or help me test them via @reneritchie).