Tweetie for Mac – Review April 28, 2009
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, First Look/Reviews , add a comment
Tweetie – Favorite Twitter App
At long last, atebits, the programmers behind my favorite iPhone Twitter app, (also named Tweetie) have made one for the Mac. (Sorry Window’s users – no Windows version is currently planned). And of the numerous Twitter-ing Apps I’ve been playing with, trying to find one I actually liked, Tweetie has gone and taken the slot, and the reserved spot on my dock.
Why’d I choose Tweetie? What makes it better then say, Twitterific or Eventbox (my old app)?
First is functionality. Tweetie has a few things that make it significantly nicer then anything else I’ve used:
- Conversations – take a tweet, and double click, and you can see all the tweets and @tweets that lead up to it – saving you from following something tweet by tweet back to the source. Very handy.
- Search – Search also is quite powerful – you can search your tweets, your friends tweets, and the entire twitter for trends of tweets, then comment on them as you please.
- Multiple Accounts – I use two twitter accounts – my own and the official Teentechblog one. Tweetie allows me to keep both up, and switch between them with just a click. Very smooth and impressive.
So those are a few functionality reasons. But a part of it is also design. Tweetie is one of those apps like Stickies and iTunes that live perpetually open on my computer. Tweetie looks and feels like a native app, as well as running very fast – never slows down.
Also, Tweetie tracks all the menu’s you’re going through in a Timeline on top – i.e.: if you’re on the homepage, and check out a conversation you had with a friend, then you have to send that buddy a tweet on something else he said, going to his feed, then to another conversation from there – it’s all tracks on top, and a click on any segment will return you to that point. Very cool, and useful.
Tweetie is available in 2 flavors: free, which, although add supported, has all the features of the paid version, as well as the $15 paid version. Being a teen, who doesn’t have $15 to spend when there’s a free version around, I’m currently using the free, and the adds are fine (popping up in the feed once in a while). So at the very least give it a whirl.
Oh, and check us out now on twitter: teentechblog.
New iPhones Coming Later this Year? April 26, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Apple, Cell Phones, Rumors , 4comments
The current iPhone 3G
So, you saw the post about Palm Pre possibly getting 4G that I found out at Best Buy? Well, I actually had a like 5-10 min conversation with that Best Buy guy that night and he told me some real cool stuff coming out beyond the Palm Pre. As you can see, he told me about some new iPhones as well and one of them is something I’m already saving up for! Remember, this is unconfirmed by Apple, and we’re keeping the info in here as just RUMOR until we hear more. Now that the disclosure is out of the way, let’s talk new iPhones, and he told me about 2 new ones to come this year.
1. 2 GB iPhone/cheaper, lower-end iPhone
A 2 GB model I’m a little more skeptical, as I would expect at least 8 GB in the cheapest model at this point, with the prices for the chips to be used continuing to drop in price. Anyways, he said that we should expect a low end iPhone model (he said 2 GB, though again I would suspect more) to come this summer, though we didn’t talk much more on this so I can’t say what it will look like and price (though rumors of a low end iPhone like this are pretty strong around the internet, and most expect it to price in at below $100– which assuming it is something like an 8 GB iPhone 3G, should make for a great deal).
2. Whole new iPhone with slide out QWERTY keyboard
Yeah, we spoke more on this, and he actually said he saw one in person and showed me a pic similar to what he saw, online (see below). This looks to be THE iPhone, and something that would not only give the Palm Pre (4G or not) a rough time, but could be the final piece that starts luring BlackBerry users to the iPhone. He said the size is the same as the current iPhone 3G (awesome!) with the screen being really thin (think like the chrome/silver ring around the screen being the thinness of the ENTIRE screen), and the black (or white if you got a white iPhone 3G) back being a slide out full QWERTY keyboard. Yeah, awesome I know, and even though its a rumor, the guy seems to be really confident in this.
When should you expect to see this new iPhone? Well, this guy at Best Buy told me this iPhone should come in September– not as good as a summer launch (though not that far off), but hey what better way to go back to school then to make your friends jealous of your cool, new iPhone.
An iPhone with a real keyboard? Note: this is not an actual picture, just a mock up, but the Best Buy guy I spoke to said it looked pretty much like this when he saw it, minus the big pad on the left side of the keyboard
This info also seems to fit well with new iPhone 2,1 and 3,1 designations found in the 3.0 beta (the original iPhone was 1,1 and the 3G was 1,2– so the 2,1 and 3,1 must have some new hardware/ different hardware that get it the new numbers. The 3.0 beta, for those who don’t know, is the next version of the iPhone/iPod Touch software coming this summer. See our post here).
Also rumored to be coming to new iPhones this year are:
- Better, updated camera (some say 3.2 megapixels compared to current 2)
- Video capture (FINALLY!!!)
- WiFi wireless N (the latest and fastest version of WiFi out there, this just really started getting big last year)
- FM radio and transmitter (not only listen to music, news and sports on the radio, but also play your music wirelessly on speakers– like in your car or house– using the FM transmitter)
- Updated memory to 32 GB or more of storage (compared to either 8 or 16 GB currently)
- iChat ON your iPhone-the second coolest thing to be rumored to be coming to the iPhone this year (2nd to getting that QWERTY keyboard). This rumor is really strong, and the tech is very popular in Europe, found on pretty much every phone there, so it wouldn’t surprise us if the new iPhone had a second camera for iChat video chats/calls.
Oh, and AT&T has begun increasing their network speeds (and overall strength- I know from personal use that the iPhone on AT&T’s network is not always the easiest thing to use, with signal drops and such), so we expect whatever new iPhone that comes this year to be ready to harness it fully (and make it struggle to keep up, like it did to the current AT&T network 
).
So there you have it. You should now be fully caught up on iPhone rumors, and we even gave you 2 you probably never heard of before 
By the way, Apple is holding their Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC for short) on June 8th– this is where they last year announced the iPhone 3G, so I guess we’ll begin to find out then if any of this is happening or not
So, what you think, you like? Would you get an iPhone 3G if it was below $100? You waiting to get an iPhone till it gets a real keyboard, and now gonna get one (assuming this RUMOR- I got to stress the false hope thing)? And if youre a free bird and looking to choose between iPhone and Palm Pre– which would you get, Palm Pre with Sprint 4G, or an iPhone with real QWERTY keyboard and AT&T 3G? We wanna hear your opinion on this, so sound off in the comments!
4G Coming to Sprint's Palm Pre? April 25, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones, Rumors , 13comments
Palm Pre– getting 4G?
I was at Best Buy the other day, and Iwas talking with a Best Buy Mobile (Best Buy’s cell phone department) guy. We talked about a lot of upcoming phones, and he shared with me something about the Palm Pre which, if true, would be absolutely awesome– think something that can really kill the iPhone! This news is really big if true, so big that we’re devoting a seperate post to it instead of putting it in the Upcoming Sprint phones post we wrote! Read on for all the details! (more…)
6 New and Upcoming Sprint Phones April 24, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones, Rumors , 42comments
We’ve covered Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, so now its time for those on Sprint find out about 5 new phones soon to be or already available.
The big guy here is the Palm Pre, anticipated Sprint’s top phone this year, as well as one of ’09 top phones overall. If the Pre ain’t your thing though, Sprint is offering several other exciting phones, seemingly the best lineup of all the carriers we’ve covered this year. So…. read on!
The Latest on 5 Upcoming T-Mobile Phones April 19, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones, Rumors , 6comments
We recently wrote about 5 upcoming phones for both Verizon and AT&T, and now were switching our attention to T-Mobile: if your a T-Mobile user, you should be really pumped right about now as you are finally looking to get some really nice phones great for texting. And we mean REALLY nice! So what’cha waiting for? Read on!
Blink – Review April 14, 2009
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Apple, Cell Phones, First Look/Reviews, Mp3 players and iPods, Video Games , add a comment
Blink. Like Pong, but shinier.
If you’ve play a video game sometime since the creation of video games, then you probably have played some version or another of the original game of all time: Pong. And of course, on the iTouch/iPhone, there are tons of Pong games out there, including the one mentioned here, Blink.
Blink stands out to me for several reasons: The quality – it’s not just a basic black background, white bar game. It looks nice and professional, with a modern look, as it should in 2009. Also is the modern update it adds, with powerups ranging from multiball, to shot tracking, to acceleration. Purists, take a moment to breath as classic play is also included. Blink has 1 and 2 player modes (although not over multiple devices – hopefully will be updated in the 3.0 update which makes this significantly easier.). Best of all? It’s free. So go and download it and give it a shot.
Are you a Mac or a PC? April 12, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Apple, Computers , add a comment
By now we’re sure you’re familiar with Apple’s “I’m a Mac” and Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters’ and “I’m a PC” ad campaigns (honestly, both are everywhere– online, on TV– they’re all over the place ), and we here at TeenTechBlog wanted to know which one you are.
Me? I’ve been a PC guy my whole life, though I will admit, Mac’s are awesome, and when my bro’s PC died, I convinced my parents to get him a Mac Mini (see our review here ). I gotta say, I really envy Macs sometimes (ok, with using Vista– I envy them a whole lot ), but they aren’t perfect either (their prices, for example, are really high, and I had to convince my folks that it was worth it in the long haul, claiming it will work for years without the hassle often associated with a Windows Vista PC. And I particularly went with the Mac Mini because they were the cheapest Mac for what my bro’s next computer needed to do).
Chaim? He’s a Mac guy, BIG time. And he’ll be the first one to tell you it too He loves Macs and pretty much all things Apple.
Charlie? Strictly a PC. He says he has yet to find a good enough reason to switch over to Apple from his beloved Microsoft.
Now we wanna know your thoughts, you a Mac, PC, or you don’t know and really don’t care as long as it gets you on the internet and works with your iPod? You can either vote in our cool little poll here, or sound off in the comments about your personal computer of choice (as well as what you mostly use it for). Don’t know of the ads? Click the more link to see 2 of them!
Apple Contest to Download the 1 Billionth App April 12, 2009
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Apple, Mp3 players and iPods , add a comment
We all know how popular the iPhone and iPod Touch are (unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year– in that case your excused ), and how awesome it is to be able to download apps right to the device using the App Store. Well, for those of you who don’t believe how popular the iPhone and iPod Touch have become, just check this: Apple right now is running a contest for the person who downloads the BILLIONTH app. Yup, as we said in the title, thats BILLION with a B!
This is rather amazing, considering it’s been really under a year since the App Store launched (technically it came in July of ’08), but it gets even better for us users! Like what Apple did a couple of years ago when they were closing in on selling their 1 billionth iTunes song, they’re giving away a boatload of gear to the lucky soul who happens to download that 1 billionth app. What kinda gear you ask? Well, try a 17″ MacBook Pro; an iPod Touch 32GB; a $10,000 iTunes Gift Certificate (yes 10 GRAND– honestly, this is crazy!); and an Apple Time Capsule (basically a back up hard drive for your Mac or Windows PC that will automatically back up your hard drive using your wireless network). Total Retail Value of all the prizes? $13,746 (again– WOW!). You can follow the countdown to 1 billion apps at Apple’s site here.
Wanna know something even better? The app you download doesn’t necessarily need to be a paid app! You can just download a free one and you could win.
Listen, this won’t be easy to win, especially as they’re going at about a thousand apps every 10 or so seconds (at the time I’m writing this at least), but hey best of luck to ya!