Archive for the ‘Software’ Category

Tweetie – My New Favorite iPhone Twitter App

November 27th, 2008 - Jeff Turner

I hate saying the name, but I love using Tweetie. Tweetie is a recent addition to the slew of Twitter applications available on the iPhone.

I’ve tried every Twitter application on the iPhone, including the favorites Twinkle, Twitterific, and Twittelator. I’ve even tried Tweetsville, TwitterFon and GPSTwit and fired off photos with Twitfire. But in the end, I always ended up coming back to Hahlo, a web-based Twitter client built specifically for the iPhone.

Why? Simplicity and the ability to separate “replies” from “direct messages.” I wish it were more complicated than that. It’s not. I don’t want my direct messages mixed in with my replies and I certainly don’t want them mixed into my friend stream, indicated only by color. I want to choose easily whether to reply in public or private and I want to be certain that choice is honored. Hahlo did all of that for me. Tweetsville does it as well, but doesn’t allow me to access replies on the main screen. And… the one feature that was missing from Hahlo, was the ability to retweet, to easily repost something interesting.

Tweetie gives me all of that and more.

It is has now replaced Hahlo on my main iPhone toolbar. Tweetie allows me to set up multiple Twitter accounts, as you can see below. That’s helpful. My only “complaint” is that they’ve gone overboard on the text bubbles. I’d like to see more tweets on screen at one time and the graphics are taking up too much space.

..

That said, the fact that “Tweets,” “Replies,” and “Messages” are easily accessef from the main menu was the first clue that I was going to like this app. And when I choose to reply, the option buttons are large and easy to hit accurately. I can’t tell you how frustrating the small icons on most of the iPhone apps are to hit accurately.

..

The ability to copy and paste links was an unexpected bonus! When you access a link in a tweet, it opens inside the Tweetie browser.

..

The icon on the lower left then gives you the ability to either open the link in Safari or “post the link,” which copies a shortened URL into a new tweet. Sweet.

..

Ahh, but there’s more. Easy access to Twitter Search features and trends. And a quick way to search for tweets directed at me, but not directly at me, via the “Search @ResPres” button.

..

In addition, Tweetie allows me to save drafts and easily follow and favorite right from the app. Simply put, this is finally a Twitter iPhone App I can recommend. Now, if only Twitter would take the limits off the API. The reason I keep resorting to Search.Twitter.com, even on the iPhone, is this:

But I know it’s not Tweetie’s fault. So, my first click is on Tweetie now. If that fails, then my saved Twitter Search icons are my fallback plan. :)

TextExpander

June 20th, 2008 - Jeff Turner

Having been inundated with work for the last several weeks, I found myself typing the same emails over and over again as follow ups to the most common questions I get asked. “How does this <product or service> work?” “Can you send me links to your documentation?”

Text ExpanderTextExpander has greatly simplified the task of getting common emails responses out to customers for me without having to rely on cut-and-paste or a template email that I have to find in a folder somewhere. And I’m not just talking about using a keyboard shortcut to generate my signature. Sure, TextExpander can do that too but it’s real power shows off when you can craft a full page email with formatted text or even generate AppleScript (which I haven’t tried yet). I have only touched the surface of what this program can do for me – I’ve only written about how I use it with email but TextExpander can work in all applications.

I can’t do it enough justice here in a short post so you really need to check out the videos. TextExpander is available from Smile On My Mac and there is a downloadable trial.

I’d be interested in hearing about how others are creatively using TextExpander as well.

New Download Links For Mac Mail Stationery

April 22nd, 2008 - Jeff Turner

Mail LogoSeveral readers have commented that links to the .zip files for the customized Mac Mail Stationery discussed here on Technosanity are bad. I have replaced all of the individual links on Editing Mac Mail Stationery , Two More Mac OS X Leopard Mail Templates and A Customizable Mail Letterhead Template for OS X Leopard, but have included all five for download below.

Download all of the Mac Mail Stationery files discussed on this blog.

ScreenFlow: Mac Only And Rockin Good

February 16th, 2008 - Jeff Turner

The video below should speak for itself.

I’m in love with ScreenFlow from Vara. Every effect you see in the video is done inside ScreenFlow after recording. It’s a truly amazing application and I’m up at 2:45am as a result. I’ve never seen a better screen capture application.

Not ever.


Simply Amazing: Screenflow from Vara Software from reshows on Vimeo.

WireTap Studio Is A Dream Audio Application

October 19th, 2007 - Jeff Turner

Sometimes an application comes along that truly raises the bar in it’s category.

WireTap Studio Image By Jeff Turner at TechnoSanity.comThis is true of WireTap Studio, the recently released update to Wiretap from Ambrosia Software. This Macintosh only audio recording and editing app is truly amazing.

The video below will give you a look at what I think makes it so special – real time application of sound effects.

I’m not a sound engineer. I’m never going to be a sound engineer. So, I don’t know what every effect does or what each of the controls do. The only way to know is to try.

In the past, this meant the following: try, wait for the effect to render, try again, wait for the render, take a guess at what I just did wrong, try again, wait for the render. WireTap Studio changes that. Everything is real time. And any effect applied is non-destructive. That means my original sound file is not touched. So, I can experiment with abandon knowing that the original recording is always there to go back to.

Words on paper just won’t do this justice. The video below is not an attempt at a full review of WireTap Studio. This is a quick illustration of it’s real time effect rendering.

http://www.vimeo.com/349065