Oct 28

TwitterPeek, A Twitter-Only Handset

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Today's Chili, twitter

twitterpeek

Take a peek at the new TwitterPeek, an always-on, always connected Twitter machine. It comes from the folks that make the Peek and Peek Pronto, two bare-bones email-only handsets that can be bought and used without monthly contracts.

The TwitterPeek stays with the simple approach, and does nothing but send, receive and search Twitter posts. It doesn’t do SMS, and it doesn’t even do email. At first we thought this was a joke, but the Amazon listing looks real enough and a quick visit to the Peek discussion forums shows this request from the company: “As usual we have a couple things cooking in the Peek oven. We’re looking for Peeksters that use Twitter a lot.”

The package will cost $200, and that includes a lifetime of Tweeting — you’ll never pay for your connectivity. We expect that we’ll start to see more and more devices with “free” internet connections over cell networks, where the seller does a deal with the telcos to provide low-bandwidth hook-ups. It has worked for the Kindle, so maybe we’ll get the long promised internet-connected Toaster after all. One which burns a Tweet into your breakfast slice.

The picture, by the way, is from Peter Hu’s (of Time and CrunchGear) Twitter feed. We’re running this instead of the regular product shot because a) it is ironically appropriate and b) there’s a huge WIRED logo on the front of the box.

Product page [Amazon via Peter Hu’s Twitter]

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Oct 27

The TwitterPeek is… a Peek for Twitter?

Posted in: amazon, leak, leaks, rumor, rumors, Today's Chili, twitter

Peek’s never been one to shy away from the wacky and opportunistic marketing schemes but launching a whole product just for Twitter? That’s courage, drive, and possibly a mental health issue. Yet here’s the TwitterPeek — what looks to be the same old Peek you know, love, and probably haven’t purchased, stripped of its email and SMS functionality and re-oriented towards telling the entire world too much about your body and what you’re doing to it every waking moment of the day. Now, to be fair, we’re getting a distinctly strange feeling of phoniness about this whole thing, but there’s already an Amazon listing and a picture of the box has already surfaced on — where else? — Twitter, so this could really be happening. Just think about that for a second. And then tweet about it, of course.

[Via LiveDigitally]

Read – Amazon TwitterPeek listing
Read – Peter Ha’s TwitPic of the box

Continue reading The TwitterPeek is… a Peek for Twitter?

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The TwitterPeek is… a Peek for Twitter? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 27

Sonos 3.1 software update out now, let the smug music tweeting begin

Posted in: Software, software update, SoftwareUpdate, Today's Chili, twitter, update

It’s October 27th which means Sonos is pushing the 3.1 system software out to its distributed home audio systems. With it comes a slightly tweaked, user interface (color icons! heh) for CR200 owners as well Twitter integration for whatever that’s worth to ya (don’t worry, it’s free). Still no sign of the iPod touch / iPhone app but it’s expected to pop on iTunes shortly.

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Sonos 3.1 software update out now, let the smug music tweeting begin originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 22

Xbox Live update preview program now rolling out

Posted in: Microsoft, Today's Chili, twitter, xbox, xbox 360, xbox live, Xbox360, XboxLive

Xbox 360’s resident spokesman Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb wants you to know that the Xbox Live update preview program is now officially a go, with the first wave of registered participants getting automatically prompted to update upon sign-in (you should also receive an email, but apparently they’re behind on the notifications). More people are said to be getting the update “in the coming days,” so don’t lose hope yet — not that waiting for Twitter, Facebook, and Last.fm integration, and 1080p instant-on streaming should cause ultimate despair, but we digress. The only thing you don’t get is the Halo Waypoint preview, which doesn’t join the preview fun until next week.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

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Xbox Live update preview program now rolling out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 19

Facebook, Twitter, Zune and Last.Fm on Xbox Live Hands On: Hrm, That’s Interesting

Posted in: Microsoft, Today's Chili, top, twitter, xbox, xbox live, zune

Twitter and Facebook, on your Xbox. It’s weird, like people who put ketchup on their eggs.

Tweet Tweet

Twitter actually makes the most natural jump to the Xbox. It’s a really basic app, with your timeline, search, and trending topics, but it works, largely because the vertical stream is preserved, even if you can only see four (very legible) tweets at a time, so you won’t be power-browsing, TweetDeck style, by any means. It’s slow, and typing’s reeeeeeeally frustrating, like having your eyeballs poked out one pinprick at a time, if you don’t have the chatpad (part of thinks this entire update is all a giant conspiracy to sell more Xbox 360 chatpads). Updates can sometimes take forever to hit your Twitter stream, too. Still, it’s pretty, and works the best of the new apps.

Facebookin’

Facebook uses the standard Xbox tile UI instead of rolling its interface, like Twitter did. Which is disorienting (and disappointing), since you’re browsing through a stream horizontally, one choppily-animated tile at a time. Why is the tile-sliding animation so terrible on a monster console like the Xbox 360? We don’t know. Like Twitter, it’s basic—focused on Newsfeeds. Your groups are ported over, so you can browse their newsfeeds individually, but you literally have to browse one post at a time, which is agonizing, making you far less inclined to comment on updates.

The interface works much better, and feels way more natural, with photo albums. What’s interesting is that, at least in the preview, your friends have to link their Xbox Live and Facebook accounts together themselves in order to show up in the “Xbox Live Friends on Facebook” (and vice versa) pages—you can’t manually go in and link Jason Chen’s accounts so you’ll see them together in your app. That might change though, with the final rollout. (Here’s some video of it, from Kotaku.)

Last.fm

This would be would be waaaaaay better if it could play in the background. It can’t. Meaning once you link your accounts and all of you stations are nicely and automatically ported over, to listen to Last.fm, you just have to sit there and leave it running, with band pictures floating up to your screen every once in a while. Lame. (You can see it in action on Kotaku.)

Zune Video Marketplace

Not a whole lot to write home about yet besides 1080p streams—it’s a video store on Xbox, with movies for rent or purchase, TV shows, trailers—but Zune Video is here and it, um, works. You browse through the standard Xbox interface, like Netflix. We didn’t get a chance to use the possible killer feature—Party mode, where you can watch stuff with your friends—yet, but if anything makes the Zune video store really stand out, that could be it. Previews, alas, didn’t come in at 1080p, even over FiOS, which clearly has the bandwidth to deliver.

All in all, the new apps, they’re interesting, they add something, but with the exception of Zune Video Marketplace, aren’t critical. At least for now.

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Oct 17

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Squirrel project revealed… as the Square iPhone Payment System

Posted in: Features, iPhone, Today's Chili, twitter


Remember the Square iPhone Payment System we told you about back in August? If you’ll recall, the device — which involves an iPhone app and associated dongle — enables an iPhone or iPod touch to become a kind of mini credit card reader, allowing payments to be taken on the spot, no matter where you are or how big (or small) the transaction may be. When we’d first reported the device, word on the street was that it was only being alpha tested around New York City, and there wasn’t much else to say. Now, we may have a little more insight on just where this device is headed, and who’s behind the project.

Jack Dorsey, the man who all but built Twitter in a matter of two weeks, has been working on a half-secret start-up project since around May. His new venture — dubbed, funnily enough, Squirrel — is based around the concept of using the iPhone as… yep, a portable, personal cash register; essentially the exact device which Square has created. And that’s no accident. In the images we ran of the Square system, you can see a domain name on a receipt: squareup.com. Squareup.com is the domain of the Square System (obviously), and a casual investigation into the site’s WHOIS profile reveals registrant info that points to an office in San Francisco, and a contact email address which reads… billing@paybysquirrel.com. Square, squirrel, square… are you getting it? So the cat, er, squirrel appears to be out of the bag. Now the question is whether or not Dorsey and co. can turn this fairly obscure piece of tech into the kind of firestorm which Twitter has become — and who knows, maybe there’ll even be a business model this time.

[Thanks, Little Birdie]

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Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Squirrel project revealed… as the Square iPhone Payment System originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 17

Verizon confirms: Palm Pre hitting Big Red “early next year”

Posted in: cdma, palm, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, smartphone, Today's Chili, twitter, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, webos

Oftentimes a picture shouts a thousand words. Other times it belts out precisely a dozen. Straight from Verizon Wireless’ official Twitter account comes this, a confirmation that the Palm Pre we knew was coming to Big Red, well, is coming to Big Red. If you can hold off through the tempting holiday rush, you’ll find Palm’s first-ever webOS device on VZW “early next year.” Huzzah!

[Via Boy Genius Report]

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Verizon confirms: Palm Pre hitting Big Red “early next year” originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 14

Xbox 360 Dashboard Update… updates: Preview program reopened, Sky TV due Oct. 27

Posted in: Microsoft, Today's Chili, twitter, uk, xbox 360, Xbox360

Just as it did earlier this year, Microsoft has opened the preview program to let the most hardcore of Xbox 360 owners poke around the updated dashboard — presumably with access to all the 1080p instant-on streaming, Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm add-ons we’ve been expecting — ahead of its official release in order to shake out any remaining bugs. While worldwide console owners should scrape together console IDs, make & model of your TV, router and more in hopes of receiving an invite next week, a little more concrete news is in order for the UK, with the console launch of Sky TV nailed down for October 27. You’ll have to wait until then to find out exact pricing and channel line up availability, ’til then it’s a matter of finding out who on your friends list is most suited for the inevitable football viewing party.

[Via Joystiq & NeoGAF]

Read – Xbox Live update Preview Program
Read – Xbox.com – Set a date for Sky Player!

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Xbox 360 Dashboard Update… updates: Preview program reopened, Sky TV due Oct. 27 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 09

Tweetie 2 for iPhone Flutters Into the App Store

Posted in: Apple, iPhone, Software, Today's Chili, twitter

3996823984_6fee23dbfcA new version of our favorite iPhone Twitter app Tweetie just flew into the App Store. It’s got a cleaner look, a few extra features, and most importantly, it’s much faster.

We’ve had some time to test Tweetie 2, and so far we’re loving it. Like its predecessor, it’s a gorgeous, elegant app that demonstrates keen understanding of user interface design.  New features include a menu to view trending topics, a drafts manager, and the ability to post videos with your tweets.

A pretty impressive feature is the “Nearby” button, which launches a map that automatically sweeps the area for nearby Twitterers. Tapping each blue icon displays their user name and tweet. It’s kind of like a beefed-up Google Latitude.

The improvement you’ll care about most is the huge boost in speed. Tweetie 2 is completely rewritten with the iPhone OS 3.0 software development kit, so it takes advantage of all the performance gains in the new operating system. This should turn semi-active Twitter users into tweeting machines!

Just like its predecessor, Tweetie 2 is three bucks. Yes, you have to pay again even if you already paid for the first version. But we have no problem with this, because it’s a major upgrade, and AteBits developer Loren Brichter earns every penny. Think about it this way: If you bought a slice of pizza today, would you expect to get your next slice tomorrow for free?

Download Link [iTunes]
Product Page [Atebits]

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Oct 09

Tweetie 2 Review: The Best iPhone Twitter App, Period

Posted in: iPhone, review, Today's Chili, top, twitter

Tweetie 2 is so far ahead of every other iPhone Twitter app, it’s astounding.

It’s the most polished Twitter app yet, oozing slickness with every swipe. Yet, it’s exploding with new features, and still really fast. It manages to cram in every possible feature you could possibly want in a Twitter app—offline reading!—without feeling too complicated or bloated. Truthfully, it’s a brand new, totally different app from the original, down to the core. If you already own Tweetie and don’t buy Tweetie 2 because you feel like you shouldn’t have to spend another $3, Alyssa Milano, it’s your loss.

Form, Oh Shiny Form

The main Tweetie 2 interface feels just like the original—awesome—with two big differences: The chat bubbles are dead, replaced by a solid stream of tweets, and glowing notification orbs tell you when new tweets, mentions or direct messages are waiting for you. That’s a huge functional leap over the original Tweetie, where you had to click over to each section to see if you had new messages. Plus, the orbs just look cool, like they’re cut off by the bottom of the screen. The one flaw here is that sometimes it doesn’t register you’ve read a message, so you’ll wind up clearing the orb for the same message twice.

How do you refresh? When you hit the top of a timeline and keep pulling down, an arrow pops into sight that tells you to pull down, and as you down, it smoothly spins upward, telling you to release to refresh. It’s simple, but slick. There’s also a search bar up there, so you can look through all the tweets you have pulled up for something that caught your eye.

So Much Function

The greatest new feature in Tweetie 2 is its offline powers. They’re great. Not only does it cache tweets to read offline, but you have other Twitter capabilities, like adding favorites, which are synced up the next time you go back online. A basic drafts manager lets you store and edit tweets to send later.

You can set up virtual push notifications so you can see whenever somebody you follow drops a Tweet bomb, like RealTracyMorgan. (They show up as a text message from 40404, i.e., Twitter.) Sadly, this doesn’t extend to @replies, but it’s for following a particular person (or persons, if you want a lot of messages about tweets). Other new functional awesomeness includes auto-complete for @replying and direct messaging people who have confusing-ass usernames you can’t remember (though you have to go to the user, and then compose a message to them), the ability to link people with address cards, a very pretty nearby tweet search, and integration with multiple services like Instapaper and Tweet Blocker.

Buy It Now

If you’ve never paid for a Twitter app or even if you have, Tweetie 2 is well worth the measly three bucks it costs. It’s fast, it’s got full offline powers and it’s so polished your iPhone will slip out of your hand while you’re using it. It’s not perfect, but it’s the closest yet.

Super smooth UI, gushing with polish and animations


Exceptionally good offline powers


Feature-packed without feeling bloated


No real syncing with desktop app


No real push notifications


[iTunes, Atebits]

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