twitter

  • September 20, 2008

    Apps You Should Follow on Twitter

    Over the last few months I’ve been using Twitter a lot more to get updates from people and fill others in on stuff I’m working on. The best possible thing I think Twitter did was open up the API for others to integrate it. Here are a few things that have made my life easier because they use Twitter.

    • woot: woot.com is a website that offers you a deal a day. By following it on Twitter I don’t have to worry about checking the site daily- I’ll get the update as soon as the post it. Since following woot, I got an 8GB USB Drive for $20 (!) and a pretty sweet pen set for $5.
    • amazonmp3: A few weeks ago, I wrote about how great Amazon Mp3 is. By following it on Twitter, you can get their Daily Deals, which can save you a ton of money on great music. I’ve gotten Patton Oswalt, Dragonforce, and Rod Stewart for $2.99, just to name a few.
    • cnnbrk: Follow cnnbrk, get breaking news to your phone. I find their updates just right, where Fox News’s twitter service updates way too much.
    • rtm: My favorite tasks application Remember The Milk has Twitter integration that allows you to tweet tasks to RTM and get reminder tweets.
    • twanslate: twanslate allows you to send a language and a phrase you want translated into that language. How cool is that?

    Twitter has literally hundreds of other websites integrating it, other apps to use it, and plenty of hacks if you’re creative. It helps you stay updated and stay productive- wherever you are. So what do you use Twitter for?

  • August 11, 2007

    Blackberry Software

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    Since getting my Blackberry, I have been scouring the Internet, looking for fun/free/useful software. There are a few programs I use everyday, but most of the useful stuff comes in the form of mobile websites.

    Let’s start with the software. The best of the blackberry software is Yahoo! Go. This is a clean, easy to use interface that nicely integrates your Yahoo! Account into your blackberry. Go allows you to get your news, sports scores, finance info, weather, email and even Flickr. On top of that it gives you your calendar and syncs your contacts right with your device. Also ranking on the free software list is TwitterBerry, which I mentioned in my Twitter post. Quickly and easily update your Twitter and get your friends timeline. The last piece of software is JiveTalk. This multi-client instant messaging program, while not free, is the best I have seen for AIM, MSN and Yahoo!. It also supports Google Talk, but I usually use the mobile version of GTalk for that. I did leave out the Google Mobile package, which comes with GTalk, GMail, Search and News. Frankly, while the GTalk and GMail programs are very nice, Yahoo! Go wins out for news and search.

    But as I said, most of the stuff I use is mobile web stuff. The sites I frequent on my blackberry include Facebook, Plaxo, MLB.com and Remember the Milk, all of which have very nice mobile sites. ESPN and CNN also rank on the mobile site list. Full functionality of these sites on my Blackberry is nice and convenient, especially with Remember the Milk and MLB. I love getting the play-by-play which I can’t catch the game on the TV or Radio.

    I have still yet to find: a good mobile FTP program (for free), a good version of Wikipedia for mobile use, and while I am not a huge fan, a mobile version of MySpace. I refuse to pay extra for a site I use for free.

  • August 4, 2007

    Twitter & Productivity

    Twitter

    Twitter, a website that allows you to post short (140 characters or less) updates, has been becoming more and more of a productivity tool. I have been a Twitter user since April, but haven’t really started using it until just recently. With integration for Google Calendar, Remember the Milk and GTalk among other things, using Twitter isn’t just a fun little app anymore. It’s a tour de force of productivity for those who use it right.

    First thing first: Anything I can do from IM is a great thing. While it’s AIM support has been on and off and is currently off indefinitely, the recently added GTalk support is awesome. I can send updates from GMail or my desktop quite easily now, as well as eliminate those direct message emails I get by just allowing Twitter messages to go to IM. Plus, I have GTalk for my Blackberry, which is an added bonus.

    With a number of different bots, I have all the information I want at my fingertips. Weather, sports, headlines, etc. Not to mention an alarm with Twitter Timer, integration with GCal and especially Remember the Milk. My favorite Tasks web app got better because now I can easily, from anywhere, send a task to my phone.

    Finally, with TwitterBerry, I can easily send updates from my blackberry, without the extra resources required for GTalk. This program was the final nail in the “Use Twitter to GTD” coffin. In the coming days I will be scouring the internet for more Twitter Resources, and frequently checking Retweet for news on new Twitter Bots. So…How do you use Twitter?