Tweetbot 2 for Mac was a long awaited update to Tapbots’ fantastic Twitter app, bringing a host of new functionality and a flat, Yosemite-friendly redesign to fans. But it wasn’t exactly a finished release, as Macworld’s review makes clear.
But Tapbots is not a developer to leave things half-done. They have just released Tweetbot 2.0.1 for Mac, and it’s so ahead of the curve it supports a feature even Twitter hasn’t delivered on yet.
Sean Parker — the rogue Silicon Valley investor behind Napster, and a formative part of Facebook’s early development — has a new iOS app out. It’s called Brigade, and it’s got good election timing: it’s an app devoted to sharing and polling people on their political opinions.
Twitter head Dick Costolo will step down as company CEO, effective July 1. Co-founder Jack Dorsey will replace him while the company finds new leadership.
This is pretty huge news for the microblogging site, but you almost wouldn’t know that from reading Twitter.
The Apple-watching world lost its shiz yesterday when Obama made his first tweet from his brand-new presidential Twitter account using an iPhone. But don’t get too excited, because the White House has revealed that the phone in question isn’t Obama’s regular handset after all.
Which prompts the question, “Who did it belong to?” Maybe Apple should commission JFK director Oliver Stone to shoot an advert/paranoid conspiracy thriller on the subject of the Obama iPhone.
President Barack Obama is finally ready to enter the age of social media. After sitting behind the Resolute desk for six years, the president finally opened his own Twitter account today, but rather than using his hacker-proof BlackBerry to send his first message, POTUS turned to an Apple product.
Here’s his first tweet, sent from an iPhone:
Tim Cook just finished a week-long tour of China, complete with stops at new Apple Stores across the country, as well as a visit to the elementary school at Communication University of China, and a meeting with China’s Vice Premier.
Cook created a Weibo account earlier this week to announce Apple’s new green initiatives in China, but the Apple CEO didn’t stop there. Rather than posting to Twitter, Cook stayed active on the Chinese microblogging all week, posting his interactions with customers and colleagues. In just five days, Tim has amassed over half a million Weibo followers (he’s got 1.3 million on Twitter) by keeping Chinese fans updated with seven posts during the trip.
Take a look at Tim’s awesome Weibo travelogue:
Spotlight can do a lot of things, but did you know that it can search hashtags on Twitter?
The feature, which many are just now discovering, could be only the beginning of how Apple and Twitter will work together in the future.
You can be a fan of hockey, and you can be a fan of iPhone live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat, but according to the National Hockey League, you can’t be both. The NHL has just laid down the proverbial banhammer on Periscope and Meerkat.
Shooting ultra slo-mo videos are one of my favorite things about the iPhone 6 Plus, and thanks to Twitter, it’s now far easier to share them via social media.
That’s because the micro-blogging network now supports the posting and embedding of slow-motion iPhone clips; opening up whole new possibilities when it comes to making sure that video of your office work party, your pet running across a field, or your kid practicing skateboard stunts looks as dramatic as possible.
Slow-motion enthusiasts like director John Woo are going to have a field day…
Twitter is looking to take a swipe at YouTube’s viral video crown by adding a new feature that will automatically play videos in your timeline.
Starting today, some Twitter users in the U.S. on iPhone and iPad may see videos that start playing, whether you want them to or not. This goes for videos ads and users uploaded videos alike, as the company tests whether people are more likely to sit through a video if the action’s already started.
Nerds and regular folks across the globe paused yesterday while Tim Cook unveiled Apple’s newest products. While everyone else was busying talking about the Apple Watch and new MacBook, your favorite brands were trying to get in on the buzz with a tweetstorm of puns and jokes.
Makers of everything from Twinkies to Miller Lite were ready to go viral with their witty tweets. Most fell flat, but there were a couple clever ones mixed in with the noise.
Here are the hottest Apple Watch-related tweets from social media marketers looking to cash in on Apple’s cachet:
Actress Anna Kendrick can probably afford a $10,000 gold watch, but that didn’t stop her from taking a bite out of Apple after it flexed its wrist-computing power Monday.
Known for her brutal Twitter truths, Kendrick offered a sour evaluation of the high-end Apple Watch, which is made of 18-karat gold and comes with a matching luxury price tag.
“We should be thanking Apple for launching the $10,000 ‘apple watch’ as the new gold standard in douchebag detection,” wrote Kendrick.
Twitter announced its fourth quarter earnings today, and while the social network beat its revenue estimates, it failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations for monthly active users.
The company only added an extra 4 million users in the quarter, bringing the total number of monthly active users to only 288 million. That figure was much lower than analysts’ predictions of 292 million, but according to CEO Dick Costello, Twitter’s slower-than-expected growth was mostly because of a bug in iOS 8.
Twitter is introducing a new way of catching you up on tweets you might have missed. A new “While you were away” recap will occasionally be shown at the top of the timeline in the official iOS app.
Twitter says included tweets will be “determined by engagement and other factors,” but hasn’t gone into specifics. The recap will appear more often for those who only check in on their timeline sporadically. If you check Twitter incessantly throughout the day, you probably won’t see the feature that often.
BlackBerry isn’t quite dead yet, but don’t tell that to the person running their Twitter account.
The classic BlackBerry keyboard is great for pounding out 140-character tweets, yet whoever is tweeting from @BlackBerry was spotted using an iPhone to implore the brand’s few faithful remaining fans to keep up with the BlackBerry conversation on Twitter.
Apple CEO Tim Cook dropped by an iPhone factory in Zhengzhou yesterday during a trip in China, and not only did he spend a few minutes having a laugh with an assembly line worker, he even tweeted a picture about it.
Today Twitter updated its painfully neglected Mac app with more features for sharing photos. The app’s first update in months brings the ability to share photos over DM and add/view up to four photos in a single tweet. Bug and performance fixes have also been included.
Tweetbot, one of the most popular third-party Twitter clients out there, has been updated with full support for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Today’s version 3.5 update also includes iOS 8-specific features like interactive notifications. Share Sheet integration now means you can send links to the app from anywhere in iOS 8.
“Will it bend?” has become the hottest question in tech this week as some iPhone 6 owners have discovered that the laws of physics still apply to the aluminum frame of the new Apple phones … even when neglected in a back pocket.
We pointed out yesterday that any smartphone made of metal will bend when subjected to pressure, but the Internet has jumped on the BendGate controversy like a joyful Steve Wozniak pounding through the polo fields on his mighty Segway.
#BendGate, #BentGate and #BendGhazi started trending on Twitter within the last 24 hours, and while Apple’s PR machine remains silent, the Internet has given its hilarious opinion on the controversy.
Here are some of the funniest BendGate reactions:
Today Twitter rolled out an update to its iPhone app that brings interactive notifications for iOS 8 users. That means you can retweet, favorite, and follow directly from notifications the app sends you.
Profiles have been given a facelift as well with a focus on bios, photos, and favorites.
Apple’s new iPhones went up for pre-order this morning, and for those who stayed up late to get their order in, it turned out to be a very long night. The vast majority had to wait until past 12:30 a.m. before the had any joy loading the Apple Online Store, and when it finally went live, many iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus options were “currently unavailable.”
Widget, widgets, widgets. Boy, have we got some widgets for you. And text. Plain text. Plain old text, turned into a calculator. And widgets. Did I mention those? Weather widgets. Battery widgets. And yes, text widgets.
Read all about these new widgets and other new apps in this week's App Watch.
I recently watched The Lady try to convince a friend of ours to download WhatsApp. The friend is moving to the United Kingdom, and we want to stay in touch. Our friend tried to say that email would do the job, but we all know that will never work.
Our friend doesn’t want WhatsApp (maybe because it’s owned by Facebook), and she doesn’t own an iPhone, so iMessage is out. Thankfully, there are plenty of free and good alternatives. Some are more secure, some have more features, and none of them is owned by Facebook.
Let’s take a look at what’s available and how these very different messaging apps compare on a number of key features.
When my 2001 Subaru Forester died on the side of the highway a week or so back, I was not excited about trying to find a replacement.
Buying a car is right up there with heading to the DMV, going to IKEA and attending your ex’s next wedding. It’s depressing. And inevitable. The load of anxiety-ridden, “hurry up and wait” BS that has marred my every interaction with car dealerships both new and used is overwhelming.
So it was with glee that I bypassed all that crap and used my iPhone, email and Twitter to buy myself a new car. Let me explain.
Less than an hour ago, Microsoft founder and super rich guy Bill Gates took the ice bucket challenge, which has various famous folks dumping cold water over their heads to raise awareness for Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS).
While Tim Cook completed the challenge himself at an Apple employee event, Bill Gates has gone even further — he built a crazy contraption to dump a ton of ice water on his head. The video (below) shows his planning attempts, complete with Comic Sans blueprints and a Surface tablet to do all the work and YouTubery.
Watch the full video below:
