We Twitter addicts — and I ’ll count myself among their numbers — face all sorts of monumental challenges on a casual groundwork , but perhaps none are greater than this : Why , oh why , when we launch our Twitter customer on our base calculator can it not pick up mightily where we left off on our mobile client ?
Developer Manton Reece ofRiverfold Softwarewas not the first to be annoyed by this incongruity , but unlike the rest of us he did something about it . sooner this year , Reece announcedTweet Marker , a table service that lets Twitter client keep and debase the most late tweet a user has learn .
“ I base myself using a few different Twitter apps across Mac , iPhone , and iPad , ” Reece toldMacworldvia e - mail . “ I apply my iPad all the meter ( usually with my own app , Tweet Library ) , and there ’s a gulf when change over to the Mac or on the go with the iPhone , trying to remember what reply you ’ve seen or where you left off in the main timeline . It seemed like we reached a point where many hoi polloi want this , and someone just had to set up it and stress to make it work . ”
Mark the Spot: Twitterrific now shows a purple banner marking your last read tweet.
Now tweet this
But the service remained out of the manus of the average substance abuser until Tuesday , when The Iconfactory release Twitterrific 4.3for Mac , iPhone , andiPadand became the first multi - platform guest to keep going Tweet Marker . Both Reece and The Iconfactory ’s Craig Hockenberry hope it will be just the commencement for the feature .
“ I could n’t be more excited that Twitterrific is the launch app , ” read Reece . “ Twitterrific has play an important persona in the growth of Twitter since its original release on the Mac , and because it ’s usable on all the platforms I apply , the sync is utilitarian decent away . But more clients will be fare . ”
“ We ’re beaming to avail get things started , ” Hockenberry say , also via email . “ We hope that Twitterrific is just the first ( as is often the slip ) . ”
Silent Spring: Twitter has remained mum, despite calls for a syncing service like Tweet Marker.
While timeline syncing is n’t an entirely unexampled feature — EchofonandTweetDeckprovide the same feature — both Hockenberry and Reece consider that Tweet Marker ’s real specialty is that it ’s undecided to all .
“ The real time value is having something that works well across the entire Twitter ecosystem , ” said Hockenberry . “ It ’s our belief that Tweet Marker will become more utile as more guest support it . ”
Reece concurs . “ Although an app - specific sync service would be fine if you stick with the same app on all political program , Twitter make it so comfortable to essay a novel customer that I ’d have a go at it to pick my preferent app on each platform and know that they can work together when I switch devices . ”
Pump up the volume
By default , Tweet Marker support is disabled in both the Mac and iOS edition of Twitterrific — grant to Hockenberry , The Iconfactory was apprehensive that if it were turned on by default the bulk might overcome the newbie Tweet Marker servers . To set off the feature on the Mac , visit the General subdivision of the app ’s Preferences ; on iOS go to configurations - > Twitterrific .
Mark the Spot : Twitterrific now shows a purple banner marking your last read tweet . Reece acknowledged that scalability is one of the big problems confronting Tweet Marker . While he would ’ve “ preferred a expectant company with more resource ” build out the table service , that was n’t in the cards — so Reece built it himself and is using Amazon EC2 to host it . “ Although the intensity of tweets is huge , for Tweet Marker we are utter about diminutive scrap of data , so it does n’t have the storage or bandwidth requirements that other service like image hosting might have . ”
Still , while hosting may be cheap , it is n’t without its price — and Tweet Marker is a free service . On his blog , Reece wrote that the canonic functionality of Tweet Marker would remain free , but he would consider offering in advance features to developers for a fee .
“ For instance , how great would it be for tweet draft to sync across multiple clients ? ” Reece toldMacworld . “ I also believe there are usage statistic that I can offer to developer to give them a better idea of which platforms and version are being used , so I hope to use those as an bonus to help support the service . ”
Still , such features are still over the horizon . “ The first step , ” Reece say , “ is reach certain the initial Tweet Marker launch is successful . ”
Whither Twitter?
Silent Spring : Twitter has stay on mum , despite calls for a syncing inspection and repair like Tweet Marker .
Then there ’s the bigger interrogative : If this is such a majuscule feature , why is it being offered by a little software developer instead of Twitter itself ?
“ Developers have been asking Twitter to affirm this functionality since 2009 , ” said Hockenberry . “ I do n’t infer Twitter ’s hesitation to patronise sync , but we ’re beaming that we now have a solution that make our customers happy . ”
And give the more and more thorny relationship between Twitter and its developers , Tweet Marker is a bang-up way for developer to show that they ’re still innovating and contend .
“ How do you compete with an prescribed Twitter app that is not just free , but also quite good ? ” say Reece . “ The answer is to add features beyond the introductory API , serve like Tweet Marker that invoke to a niche of Twitter users who are very passionate about using Twitter in a sure way and who do n’t mind devote for great third - party apps . ”
Third - political party clients play an important role in popularise Twitter in the service ’s nascent day , but many have found themselves sidelined as the company has snapped up some of the more prominent ones . Twitter acquired Atebits , manufacturer of Mac and iOS app Tweetie , in April 2010 and subsequently rebranded the program as the service ’s official clients . More recently , Twitter alsopurchased TweetDeck .
This has allow third - party developers with a simple , if pall imperative mood : Innovate or perish . With Tweet Marker ’s spillage , there ’s little query which option Reece and Hockenberry are follow .
“ If [ Twitter ] ever decide to add something like this to the official Twitter API , I ’ll be well-chosen to put up it , ” enunciate Reece . “ But justly now it ’s a bully chance for third - party clients to shine . ”
Hockenberry is even more vehement . When ask if Tweet Marker was a sign that third - party developers are still a valuable part of the initiation unconscious process , he react with an emphatic , “ Hell yes . ”
