Retweeting, as we’ve mentioned before (see HOW TO: Retweet on Twitter), is an increasingly popular way to share content on the web.
Twitter is such a powerful tool for sharing media, in fact, that the former market leaders are racing to keep up. News sharing site Digg recently added short URLs and attempted to append a toolbar to those short URL clicks (Diggbar was later scaled back), while serendipitous sharing site StumbleUpon also got into the short URL game.
Both are under attack by new services like Tweetmeme, which provides blog buttons to help users retweet stories and provides a hub of the most shared content on Twitter. Earlier today the company announced a number of new features, all of which launch next week. The feature additions include:
- New image-based button: Use the retweet button in your RSS feeds, emails or on blog platforms that don’t support javascript (eg. WordPress.com)
- Retweet chicklets: Want to show off how many retweets you got this week? The new retweet chicklet will help you do just that, and post the numbers to your blog.
- Analytics package: Tweetmeme aims to launch more advanced analytics next week to help content providers understand their metrics better. It’s a development that might one day lead to a business model for Tweetmeme…if Twitter doesn’t get there first.
Tweetmeme has some tough competition: not only does it have multiple rivals, but bit.ly, the default short URL service on Twitter, has long been expected to launch something similar. In the meantime, you can catch up on everything retweet-related using the resources below.
Retweeting Resources from Mashable
3. Repeets Tracks Twitter’s Hottest Retweets
4. DailyRT Ranks Twitter Retweets
5. DMfail Fails, Reborn as Re-Twit’d
6. The Retweeting Movement Adds Some Powerful New Tools
7. Retweet iPhone App for Twitter
8. Facebook Needs Its Own Version of the Twitter Retweet
Reviews: Twitter, WordPress
A few months ago, we reviewed a unique reminder app: Task.fm. In our assessment, we noted its Twitter-like approach to reminders and its ability to decipher human language – you can tell it Task.fm “I need to call mom at noon tomorrow” and expect a reminder the next day. We did note though that you couldn’t set reminders via email, SMS, or Twitter, which decreased its utility.
Since then, Task.fm has been busy adding new features to its app, culminating in the release of Task.fm 1.0 earlier today. Now not only is the interface much more elegant, but you can set and receive reminders via Twitter, SMS, and email.
The big feature in this release is Twitter integration. You can direct message @taskfm with your task and you can then set the reminder. This is on top of the recent additions of setting reminders via SMS and email.
In addition to Twitter integration, Task.fm sports a sleeker, curved design (look at their previous blocky design to see the difference), offers new pro accounts that replace the old credits system, and adds more natural language support. Task.fm 1.0 also improves its To-Do list functionality.
Three months ago, Task.fm was unique for its language parsing ability, but didn’t have the tools necessary to be truly useful. Today, the story is different – with the ability to set and receive reminders nearly everywhere, it can compete with the likes of RememberTheMilk, although there’s still plenty it can do.
Reviews: Twitter
Tags: task.fm
With the 4th of July weekend just hours away, it’s time to wish our US readers a Happy Independence Day!
Hopefully you’ll be spending at least some of your weekend away from your computer and enjoying the festivities, but for those who have difficulty leaving the laptop at home, here’s a quick list of resources to help you spend less time online while getting more done.
1. A Guide to Better Web-Working From Your iPhone – One way to spend less time in front of a computer screen is to get more efficient at working from your phone. Elliott Kosmicki looks at applications to do more work on your phone, so you can do less when you get home.
2. HOW TO: Live Inside Twitter and Still Stay Productive – Addicted to Twitter? While the service is often thought of as a timewaster, this post explains numerous ways to get more done while you Tweet.
3. HOW TO: Make Firefox Your Productivity Machine – Firefox users have access to a wealth of add-ons that help you get more done during your time online. This article recommends the best picks.
4. 7 Productivity Tips, Plus Tools for Freelancers and Web Workers – So you want to get more work done on the web? You’ve come to the right place! This post provides top tips for freelancers and those who have made the web their workplace.
5. Top 30 iPhone Apps for Organization and Productivity – In this one-stop shop for iPhone productivity, Jennifer Van Grove tests 30 of the top iPhone apps to help you get more done on the go.
6. 9 Must-Try Adobe AIR Apps for Better Productivity – Adobe Air is known for running some of the most visually appealing apps on your desktop, but did you know some of these apps can make you more productive? We look into the unlikely candidates.
Have a great weekend!
[Image from Bitstrips via CenterNetworks]
Reviews: Firefox, Twitter
The flagship defense system for U.S. government computer networks is stalled — Einstein, as its called, began rollout seven years ago. A Wall Street Journal report says Homeland Security officials are saying Einstein won’t be fully installed for at least another eighteen months.
iPhone “jailbreak” excites nerds, confuses normals — Business Insider explains that in theory, a jailbroken iPhone — that means it can do stuff neither Apple nor AT&T want it to, like run on Verizon’s network and install App Store applications without paying for them — could usher in a new era of technological innovation. In practice, it mostly means Verizon will soon pick up a few of its most demanding customers ever.
Virtual Family demands your realtime — The iPhone version of Virtual Families, the popular Sims-like game, lets you stay in touch with a computer-generated character you’ve created, plus a small cast of others such as spouse, children, neighbors and coworkers. The $3.99 iPhone app connects to the $20 version for Mac or PC. Here’s the addictive catch: Your virtual family, like a real one, keeps on going when you’re not around. Spend too much time at the real office and Virtual Wife will have a surprise for you when you show up at home again.
Hands up if you’ve seen an ad on Twitter — Read/Write Web editor Marshall Kirkpatrick (don’t confuse him with VentureBeat’s Matt Marshall) reports that he’s only seen two real ads in Twitter’s ad space in the upper right corner of Twitter.com user pages. The rest are vague “sponsored definitions” links that Kirkpatrick suspects are too cheap to keep Twitter in business.
Google adds RSS to Blog Search redesign — The Google Blog Search homepage, shown below, now looks like a news site. But it flips back into a familiar — and hence easy to use — search results layout when you run a search. Also, you can now subscribe to topical blog searches, something the Official Google Blog says was a big customer demand. You can also set a Google Alert for a specific set of blog search terms, but I haven’t figured out how to get an RSS feed for that.
Foursquare just released a new version of its mobile application for sharing your location with friends — including a new feature that should make the app a much bigger presence in users’ lives. Taking advantage of new options in the iPhone’s operating system, Foursquare 1.3 includes push notification, delivering a message whenever your friends check in at a new location whether you’re using the app or not.
New York City-based Foursquare is run by the same team that created Dodgeball, a location-based social-networking service that was acquired and then neglected by Google. The concept is pretty simple — whenever you arrive at a new location, you “check in,” and your friends get to see where you are. You also win points for things like visiting new places and checking into multiple spots on one trip. Until now, however, you have to turn on the app to see what your friends are doing, so if you’re not checking in yourself, you probably don’t see what your friends are doing. With push notification (which some users have been playing with already, but which just went live for the general public in the App Store), you’ll see check-ins as soon as your friends make them.
As a Foursquare user, this is the first push roll out that I’m really excited about. It has the potential to make Foursquare an even more integral part of my social life. This might also make some users feel like it’s necessary to share their Foursquare check-ins on other social services like Twitter.
Of course, there are risks for overload too, especially if you have many friends on the service or have one friend who just won’t stop checking in. But Foursquare includes controls for turning push notifications off for certain users, or just turning it off completely. And for someone like me, who is much more careful about who I connect with on a location-based service (compared to connections on a sites like Facebook or Twitter), that shouldn’t be a problem.
[image via Jacob Mullins]