Add Twtmore Shortening To Tweetie for Mac

By default, Loren Brichter’s Tweetie for Mac comes with Twitlonger shortening capabilities. That means, if you have a tweet longer than 140 characters (it usually happens for long iOS / Android debates, or Apple’s events commentary) Tweetie will automatically post that tweet using Twitlonger – a service that puts a link in a tweet to read the entire message in the browser. It works pretty well, but it doesn’t look exactly great.

Twtmore is a service that’s been in closed beta for some months, until the developers opened up its APIs for everyone to use. It’s similar to Twitlonger, but it’s beautiful. This is a twtmore page, for instance. As you can see, it’s delicious. Tweetie Twtmore is a SIMBL plugin (yep, another one) that replaces the default Twitlonger shortening feature with twtmore.

To install Tweetie Twtmore, make sure that SIMBL is installed on your computer. You can go download SIMBL for free here. Once SIMBL is running correctly, download the Tweetie Twtmore bundle, extract it and place the file in /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins or ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins if you want to install it for all user or just your account, respectively. Restart Tweetie for Mac.

The plugin works great even if Tweetie for Mac will keep saying “Post with Twitlonger”. As you can see in the screenshots below, long tweets will be forwarded correctly to twtmore. Go download the plugin here. Read more

Children’s Picture Books Go Live In The iBookstore

With the release of iBooks 1.2, Apple added the possibility to display illustrated books in its ebook reading application. The illustrated books weren’t available in the Store on the iBooks 1.2 launch day, but they are now. And they’re featured in the homepage of the iBookstore with a series of banners that want you to notice the availability of the Children’s Picture Books.

Most of the books in the Store are sold at $9.99, but there are many ranging from $3.99 to $12.99. The format of illustrated books is different, and you’ll have to manually zoom in iBooks if you want to get a closer look at the details. I don’t get why the app doesn’t open them in full-screen by default. Anyway, go check on the iBookstore, as there are plenty of them.

[via Macgasm] Read more

Fast PDF 2.0 Offers A Solid Alternative To iBooks

When I reviewed the first version of Fast PDF (universal, $2.99) in late June, I called it “what iBooks for PDFs should be”. It was a few days after Apple released an updated version of iBooks with PDF support, which many – including us – didn’t really like. That version of iBooks (1.1) had poor PDF support as it didn’t let you highlight words, flip through pages or organize documents in collections. iBooks 1.2, released last week, still doesn’t let you highlight or flip through, but at least it’s got the long-requested collection feature. Plus, Apple optimized the engine to make opening large PDF files faster. I noticed that last week.

A few days ago the App Store saw the release of Fast PDF 2.0 as well. A major new version of the app I reviewed in June and used as the default PDF reader on my iPad for months. How does it compare to iBooks 1.2? What’s new? Read more

FolderEnhancer for iPad Makes Folders Faster, Bigger

FolderEnhancer is one of my favorite Cydia tweaks for the iPhone which brings several additional functionalities to Apple’s implementation of folders in iOS 4.x. It makes opening folders faster, full-screen (above the dock) and allows for infinite apps inside each folders. You can also enable scrolling and pagination.

FolderEnhancer was updated to support the iPad a few days ago, but it’s not quite ready yet. Most of all, the tweak won’t let you put more than 22 apps in a folder (otherwise, the iPad will crash) and the landscape view isn’t ready. Pagination and scrolling haven’t been updated for the tablet, either. Still, the tweak in portrait mode makes opening folders a breeze, and I like the larger view that it offers. I usually put a lot of apps in a folder, so having a bigger view for “just a few icons” is not a problem to me.

FolderEnhancer for iPhone and iPad is available at $2.49 in the Cydia Store.

Meet Hikari, The iPad Controlled Robot [Video]

Some say the iPad is a device for content consumption, many iPad owners are firmly convinced it can be used for content creation, too. After watching the following video, you’ll be wondering if, actually, the tablet was meant for content disruption.

Without getting too technical, there’s a robot controlled from an iPad which uses an app (TouchOSC) to send commands to a PC. The robot is connected to the Windows machine and can be controlled through the Open Sound Control (OSC) supported by the aforementioned app. It’s quite complex, but it works. Hikari – the robot – can walk and stand up, move and even attack. On the author’s Youtube channel, there are other videos when Hikari even learns to dance.

Check out the video below. [via TUAW]

Does The iPad Make You Less Masculine?→

Does The iPad Make You Less Masculine?

From a piece on The New York Times:

Call it the male iPad dilemma: too large to slip into a pants pocket, too stiff to be curled up like a magazine and too precious to leave unprotected. With its rigid tablet shape, Apple’s iPad has raised an awkward consideration for many men: how to carry it in a manner that is practical and yet, well, masculine.

Perhaps it’s a cultural difference, but I didn’t have any problems carrying my iPad inside a Tom Bihn Ristretto here in Italy. It’s actually pretty cool.

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Classic Mac Icons Come To Life Again As Prints

Susan Kare is a well known designer who created many of the icons and interface elements for the original Apple Macintosh in the 80’s. After Apple, she worked at NeXT and Facebook. I guess there’s the chance you’ve seen one of her icons somewhere.

Now you can get the classic Mac icons in print edition. Available for purchase over at Kare Prints, you can choose from various sizes and have a personal inscription on larger prints.

Smiling Computer is a must-have. [via Gizmodo]

Rage HD Update: Game Center, Gyroscope, Play It On Your TV

Together with Epic’s Infinity Blade, John Carmack’s Rage HD is the app that really shows what gaming on iOS devices has become: an experience that, technically speaking, is at the same level of consoles such as the Wii or the PlayStation 2. Rage is impressive, and the latest update (1.11, approved last night) adds a lot of new features to make it even better.

First off, you can now play Rage on your TV (or an external monitor) using an iPhone or iPad as a controller. You can output the game at 480p with the official Apple Component cable (Amazon) or 720p with the official Apple VGA cable (Amazon). This is neat, and reminds me of The Incident, which added a similar TV out functionality in its last update. Rage HD on a TV must be fantastic.

The app now comes with Game Center integration, but there’s no online multiplayer option. Instead, the developers implemented leaderboards and achievements. If you feel like unlocking them all, you have 50 new achievements to add to your list.

Other features include gyroscope controls for iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4th gen, mirror mode and (finally) a Museum Mode to explore the levels without mutants.

Rage HD 1.11 is a great update. As the app description says, “the update you’ve been waiting for”. Go download it here.

First Unofficial WikiLeaks App

You can think Julian Assange should have been TIME’s person of the year or not – we’re not here to discuss Assange’s (and his team’s) actions. There’s an unofficial WikiLeaks iPhone and iPad app in the App Store, and it was released earlier today. It’s available now at $1.99.

The app sports a nice and clean interface design, and allows you to check on the latest WikiLeaks’ updates from Twitter or the organization’s website. Both the tweets and the website are formatted for the iPhone and iPad. WikiLeaks App can automatically forward to the latest mirror and access the CableGate page.

WikiLeaks App for iPhone and iPad is available here at $1.99.