Osfoora HD: The Ultimate Twitter Client for iPad?

The iPad is still waiting for its Tweetie: a Twitter client which will set new standards and raise the bar so high it’ll be difficult for developers to catch up. Twitterrific hasn’t raised the bar: it brought a blow of fresh air in a market that, since Twitter’s acquisition of Loren’s app, is struggling to find its new Messiah. For as much as I love Twitterrific 3.0 (it’s my default client on the iPhone) I can’t say The Iconfactory has reinvented the wheel. The first Tweetie for iPhone did.

Maybe the wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented. Maybe we’ve already explored all the possible ways to lay out a Twitter application and now we’re just waiting for the one developer who implements them best. It’s a subtle difference.

If we take this approach, Osfoora for iPhone and iPad might be the best example to take a look at. It started as a quite blatant Tweetie ripoff, but it slowly evolved overtime in a wisely developed alternative to much more celebrated clients such as the aforementioned Tweetie, Twitterrific but also Echofon, Twitbird and Twittelator. It’s really changed a lot since the last time Cody reviewed the iPhone version here on MacStories.

Even though its terrific evolution, this time I won’t be talking about Osfoora for iPhone. The iPad version, released last month, was updated yesterday with a lot of new features and now it’s seriously claiming the throne of the best Twitter client for iPad. App Store users seem to be on Said Marouf’s side.

Here’s why I agree with them.

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Microsoft Reeking of Desperation via iPad Study

Microsoft has been in the tablet business for years. Well, supposedly anyway. I’ve never seen one on the streets, but of the two users who actually used one, they say Microsoft made an okay product. But after events full of promised Windows tablets, the Courier, and some HP Slate thing that’s gone nowhere, Microsoft is left wondering how the hell to advance. It boggles my mind that after ten years of research, they have nothing to show for it but a standard Windows OS slapped onto a sheet of plastic.

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AdMob CEO: Apple’s Ad Restrictions are not Enforced

We’ve mentioned before that AdMob was still existent in the App Store. Now AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui confirms that Apple hasn’t been enforcing their new policies.

CNET reports:

“They haven’t been enforcing (the new regulations) yet. We’re very appreciate of that.” Were Apple to actually enforce those terms, “it would mean we could not run ads on the iPhone at all,” Hamoui said, explaining that without the analytical data, AdMob couldn’t even track who had clicked on their customer’s ads. Advertisers won’t buy ads when they can’t even tell how many people had clicked on that ad, he said.

“The really rich pretty ads they’re doing are making advertisers and agencies think about what mobile means,” Hamoui said. “Anybody getting advertisers interested in mobile is a good thing. It’s not at all a zero-sum game.”

[via CNET]

Calcbot: A Beautiful New Take on Calculators - For iPhone & iPad

Tapbots are well known for making incredible applications: they look incredible, they’re incredibly useful. Pastebot is one of my most used iPhone apps, and the recent Retina Display update made it even better. Convertbot makes converting units fun and simple. Weightbot - I wish I’ll be able to use it someday. Thing is, no one gets custom UIs as right as Mark Jardine does. Period.

There was so much hype about Tapbots’ new projects. This review is not about Tweetbot, and I guess we’ll have to wait for their much-requested Twitter client for a while. The folks over at Tapbots have just released a brand new application for iPhone and iPad, and before you hold your breath for something incredibly complex and game-changing - Calcbot is a “just” a simple calculator.

But it’s the best calculator app I’ve ever had on my iPhone. And iPad. And it’s not sitting on both my home screens.

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PR Experts: Apple Has to Recall iPhone 4

The Antenna issue is getting a bit out of hand, and while we didn’t explicitly cover Consumer Reports’ redacted statement in which they cannot recommend the iPhone 4 to consumers, Apple may be forced to recall their handset because of it. Cult of Mac recently spoke to quite a few PR Experts who are not only astounded at the “crisis,” but are placing bets that Apple will be forced to recall the iPhone 4 as the antenna issue is hardware related (and cannot be fixed by software).

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