No, I didn’t tell them that it was pirated, but still, if anyone has problems with the install after it “seems” to be working, I’d call Apple. Just seem kinda confused, and you’ll be fine. It might be a problem with the actual final release too, so I’ll keep an ear, rather eye, out.

Your resident pirate,
–Neil Hanlon

Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. The new craze on the internet now is about social networking and communication with people, even if you don’t know them in the “real” world. Twitter is a “micro-blogging” service which allows it’s users to answer the question “What are you doing?” I think a YouTube video summed up Twitter quite nicely. Paraphrasing here: It’s a place to say something in 140 characters, in between blog posts. When there is something you’d like to share with people, and it’s not really worthy to post on your blog or other means of communication, most turn to Twitter.

You can post to Twitter either through their web interface at Twitter.com, through a text message via cell phone, or from numerous desktop applications which use the Twitter API. In this article, I will be touching on *FREE* iPhone/iPod Touch applications that use the Twitter API very nicely and efficiently.

Seeing as I don’t have the money to go and buy the numerous applications that are available on the Apple App Store, I’ll be touching on two free applications I use on my iPod Touch for what most affectionately call “tweeting.” My most frequently used app for doing just this is called TwitterFon (Kazuho Okui, http://twitterfon.net). It is a very simple and easy to use application for reading, replying, re-tweeting, direct messaging, and ‘favoriting’ tweets. You can also manage your friends and follow new users, as well as viewing the “Trending Topics” or hash codes.

When you first load up TwitterFon, it will ask you for your Twitter Username and Password. At the point of this blog post, you must sign up for twitter on your computer, not your iPhone or iPod Touch. Once you login, you will see the “Friends” screen. From here, you will be able to see all the tweets-new and old-that the people you are following have posted. Tweets that have been posted since the last time you opened the application are highlighted in the background with a light blue tint. If the tweet has a URL attached or links to a Twitter Trend (#hashcode) or Twitter user (@name), a little attachment circle will appear allowing you to click on it and view the attached text.

If you’d like to see the user’s profile or reply, re-tweet, or send a DM (Direct Message) to the user, just tap on the tweet, and you’ll be redirected. The rest of the “Friends” interface is pretty much straightforward with the refresh button at the top left, and the compose button at the opposite corner.

The next tab on the interface is the “Mentions” tab, or the “Replies” you’ve gotten. These are from users who have read your tweet, and either reposted it, or just replied to you using “@yourname”. Again, this interface uses the same format as all the other ones (excluding search) and is fairly easy to figure out.

Next up is Messages (DMs (Direct Messages) for short). Once more, pretty straight forward interface wise. The tweets shown here have only been sent to you from a Twitter user who you are following, and who is also following you. Well, that’s it for Messages.

The fourth tab is the favorites tab. This is where all the Tweets that you have marked as favorites will be shown. I don’t have any favorite Tweets at the moment, but I’m going to assume that the interface and options for looking & interacting with the Tweets is the same.

Time for Search! The last tab in the application. This is where you can search for a particular user, a trending topic (such as a TV show or event), view people using TwitterFon near you, and view the Trending Topics. The refresh button is still at the top left, however the Compose button has been replaced with a button that will show the latest Trending Topics (Hash codes) on Twitter right now. You can tap in the search field, and search for whatever your heart desires. It will search all the Tweets and everything in the Twitter Database to find you a result. makes you feel special, doesn’t it? If you click the button next to the search field that looks like a little target, you will be able to see all the users that are using TwitterFon in the set amount of miles from your current position (determined by GPS locating, either over Wi-Fi or 3g, etc.). The little book icon in the search field will bring up a list of your recent searches (history). Once again, interacting with the tweets displayed here is the same as anywhere else in the application.

Anyways, I will give this app 4.5/5 stars. It is actively developed, and the creator is almost always available for support. A side note, this app will automatically refresh every five minutes unless you turn it off via Settings.app. This *can* be a battery hog, so I’d be careful!

Look for the review of the second Twitter App I use in the next post!

Thanks for reading!

–Neil Hanlon (http://NeilHanlon.com/)

Aditional Images:

Well, my iPod has been broken for a while now. Apple has been… well. kinda helpful. They said they cannot fix it for free, but I can take it to a 3rd party repair center for a cheap fix. =/

Well, I’ll live . I *think* I’m getting an iPod Touch for Christmas anyways.

Well, Merry Christmas,
–Neil