Why Twitter is great, reason #25

TweetDeck v0.32: killer app for Twitter users

TweetDeck, one of the most popular desktop and mobile apps for Twitter, had a major release recently with version 0.32. With this version of TweetDeck you get:

• Integration with LinkedIn. Cross-update your status and track connections, group activity, and more through a LinkedIn network updates column. This is a nice complement to the excellent Facebook integration TweetDeck already had (MySpace as well, but who cares about that?)
• Twitter lists integration. This replaces the Groups feature that TweetDeck had been using for a while - sort of a proto-Twitter list in its own right.
  
• Full retweet integration that gives you the option of the old editable retweets or the new Twitter style of retweet.
• Very nice update of notifications: a box with actual tweets pops up, allowing you to view new tweets on top of the window of any app you're currently using without calling up the main TweetDeck window.
• Integration with Twitter's geo-location API. Tweets using the geotag feature (coordinates of the tweeter's location) have a red map pin icon - click on it to open a map right in TweetDeck. Very cool.

Do you use TweetDeck? What's your preferred Twitter application?

Check out what's new in TweetDeck v0.32 or watch the video:

Advertising on Twitter? Making money by tweeting presents potential ethical dilemma for users

Advertising is making its way into users' tweets on Twitter. This raises ethical questions for many users of the popular micro-blogging service. This weekend in the Sunday New York Times Business . . . more

My life is now complete.

From an email this evening (of 32 new since this afternoon? I need to opt-out more often):

Domino Sugar is now following you on Twitter!

Red Sox-Angels Livetweeting Debriefing

My little livetweeting experiment was fun. Monitoring the #redsox search feed while I watched the game allowed me to interact with others as they were watching and tweeting (several from the actual game). It would be a blast to rig up with a few friends to talk about the game while it happens. A few favorites came out of this afternoon's affair.

Here's some ticket hawking from the game via Twitter:

@GBLPR: #redsox n e 1 need tix for tomorrow game? half price. text 7143968080 or come to sec 108 x 14

The Fox broadcast crew was making a big deal about their new Twitter feed - @MLBONFOX. In one segment they had sideline reporter Chris Rose on camera talking while he was struggling to finish a tweet on his BlackBerry:

@MLBONFOX: Chris Rose: It's amazing how big Red Sox nation is...half the ballpark must be Boston fans.

Damn straight, Rose. Every stadium is home field for RSN.

And, since I was now following Fox's feed, I got this, um, interesting tweet from Joe Buck, who was covering the STL game with McCarver:

@MLBONFOX: Joe Buck: Cold in the booth in STL. Tim and I are bundled up. And snuggling. Hard to type. I think hypothermia is starting to set in!

Disturbing imagery, to say the least.

I'll leave you with these words from the immortal Kenny Albert: "We've been tweeting."

G5: Red Sox @ Angels - Penny vs. Saunders

The Sox take the field in 10 minutes to face the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the 2nd game in the series, and the second in six on this West Coast stint.

Sox offseason pickup Penny goes up against Saunders. The Sox are coming off an iffy outing from Wakefield last night (typical Wake start - spots of brilliance but he started getting hit hard) and emotions are likely still running high in the aftermath of Adenhart's pregame memorial ceremony.

In the interest of poor man's Web 2.0 social media sports journalism, I will be live-tweeting this game. If such things interest you, you can follow me: @mrhe25. Or you can also check the twitter feed on the sidebar. If you're also watching the game and want to join in the gametime chatter, tweet it up!

We need a decent outing from Penny and the bats need to come alive. Glad they're on the Best Coast and not playing at Fenway in this grim, cold, rainy, crappy weather. (Actually they wouldn't even be playing because of the weather. So that's even worse.)

Go Sox!

---

Postgame wrap: Sox win an absolute nailbiter. Huge heroics from Bay with a 2-run HR and solo shot. Lowell also jacked a 2-run HR to tie it up early. Pap had trouble in the 9th: up 5-3, he gave up a solo shot to Hunter to make it 5-4. Morales then got a double. Pap got Rivera to ground out and then walked two more to pack the bags. 1 out with Kendrick up. After a fierce at-bat, Kendrick lined out to Drew. Pap got him in a 0-2 hole, then Kendrick fouled off 7 straight before he lined out. He saw 10 pitches. Pap didn't have his best stuff - his location was off on his heat, and he was most effective with his offspeed stuff. What a way to end the game. Penny was decent in his first start. Now the Sox are 2-3 on the season, hoping to get to .500 and win the series against LAAoA tomorrow.

Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Weirder

Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is now on Twitter as thejointstaff.

Hope he doesn't start tweeting about Predator targets ahead of time.

Via HuffPo.

Blip

Blip.fm is sort of a combination of Last.fm and Twitter - each user has a stream of content consisting of single songs with short accompanying text, i.e. "Check out this new track from the Grim Vegetables!" You can build a playlist and listeners if people dig what you're playing. Simply enter a song or artist in the search box and "blip" the track. They don't have everything - I've been unable to find several songs so far - and sometimes tracks appear to be corrupt or incomplete, but otherwise it's a pretty cool service. Great for when a song pops into your head and you don't have it on iTunes and don't want to bother with downloading it. The public page updates with a constant stream of new tracks, so you can sample an incredible variety of music from the entire user base. You can also integrate your updates with other social networks like Twitter, Audioscrobbler, and more. Check it out.

Holla at me if you join.

Here's a sample from my feed:

The Internets: An Amazing Place

Been getting into this Twitter thing - it's actually kind of cool and surprisingly useful in a lot of ways. Less "having a bagel and juice now" updates than I previously thought. A lot of links, news, Q&As, etc; interesting social media.

But this in particular struck me as just one example of how the webernets changes things: I'm currently following Rainn Wilson ("Dwight") of The Office and he recently tweeted about new cast member Idris Elba ("Stringer Bell") from The Wire (which is awesome enough in its own right). I'm following String, man. Check out his (@driis) tweet from yesterday:

taping 6 episodes of the Office .. This ish is hilarious

Stringer MF Bell - now on the World Wide Intertubes!

Boom: Interview w/DJ Driis over at NPR. Great stuff - take a listen. Next week's ep is his first of six.

Tweet Tweet

I decided I couldn't let the geriatrics in Congress* one-up me on the social media front, so I finally signed up for Twitter. I will be "twittering" as mrhe25. You can follow the twittering here: www.twitter.com/mrhe25

This is sure to be a big waste of time for everyone involved!

*As Seth would say: Really? You, a member of the body running this country during a time of national crisis, are twittering during a joint session speech from the President. REALLY!?!