iPhone app. spotlight: Tweetie

You all should know by now that I am a huge Twitter fan and use it constantly throughout my days. So finding a good Twitter client is necessary. I would say 90 percent of the time I use Twitter on the go with my Blackberry using Twitterberry. Even though I am not a huge supporter of Twitterberry it is the only Twitter app. on the Blackberry that I know of. I just got a iPod Touch for my birthday though so it has allowed me to explore the Apple app. store for Twitter clients which is awesome, so much better than any Blackberry app. developers are doing (cough, cough). So the first thing I did was ask my Twitter followers what they thought was the best Twitter client and got a mix between Twitterific and Tweetie. I decided to go with Tweetie and have extremely happy with it.

Tweetie uses a simple interface with color coated Tweets telling you if it's one of you posts or if it is a @reply to you which is really helpful when scrolling through the Tweet list. Here's a screenshot that I took to show the simplicity of the app.



Tweetie uses the popular tag cloud style from ichat to help separate Tweets coming in.
One of the biggest features I like about Tweetie is the nearby addition which uses the gps to locate you and finds incoming Tweets from around your area.

It is a lot like Brightkite feature where it locates Twitterers in your general location. This is a great feature for finding people near you who possibly have the same interests as you. I mean that's one of the biggest reasons I use Twitter to network. I have met tons of great people in my area that I probably would have never of met if it weren't for Twitter. So the nearby feature in Tweetie is definitely something to check out.

Flip Mino HD Test

Flip Mino HD test from Alex Carpenter on Vimeo.


Heres a sample of the video quality I am getting from my Flip Mino HD uploading to Vimeo. Still testing out which the best sites are to upload HD content. Overall I am happy with the quality I am getting from a pocket sized HD camera. The only problem is the macro ability which is lacking compared to the Kodaks Zi6 but still the size is a big difference also. Hopefully will start producing some more content so keep a look out on my Vimeo account here.

My most visited sites of 2008

Since it is now 2009 I thought I would look back and see where I spent most of my time online in 2008. I guesstimated on the amount spent at each but it is pretty close overall where I spent the most. 2008 was definitely the year of Twitter for me. Twitter was one of the first social networking sites I started to use other then Facebook and it sucked me right in.
Up until now I was using Twitter the most and in 2009 I can see myself starting to use Friendfeed a lot more. Robert Scoble is a big reason. He rants on Twitter about how much better FF is for conversations then Twitter is. For the longest time I was totally against that until I finally took the time and for a week used FF how he said you should used it and to tell you the truth it makes a lot more sense. Twitter is not made for creating conversations like FF is. So in 2009 you will be seeing a lot more FF post from me, sorry Twitter.
Also in 2008 I broke in a finally purchased a pro account on Flickr and never looked backed. I started posting a lot more of my photos and definitely saw an increase in traffic on my photostream. Before I wasn't getting the critisms that I was hoping for but I sticked through and learned a couple of things from Thomas Hawks post about getting more traffic through your photos and it helped out a lot. Now I am getting helpful hints and ideas on my work that that I was looking for in the beginning.

Thanks Drobo Robotics!

Thanks Drobo Robotics!
Originally uploaded by im_alex

Special thanks to Drobo Robotics Inc. for the free Drobo hat. Just had to fill out a simple survey on drobo.com and was sent this cop like Drobo hat for free. I love companies like this, just shows how dedicated to their customers they are to give away free merchandise to hear about their products. I only wish I could afford to get a Drobo. Maybe in a few years I will be established enough to be able to purchase one.

This years Christmas list

- Flip Mino HD

After the tradgic death of my last Flip Ultra I have been videoless for the past few months and its dissapointing. Also a good reason to upgrade.

- Laptop Elevator

The Macbook Pro gets pretty hot when editing so I thought I’d test out one of these.

-Apple Keyboard

With the laptop stand I will need an external keyboard so the apple keyboard seemed fitting.

- Bamboo 4 x 6 Tablet

Heard these things work awesome when editing and drawing on the computer which I hope to do a lot more in the near future.

Update: My girlfriend got me the Bamboo Tablet and I am loving it! Thanks Becca

My new toy

My new toy
Originally uploaded by im_alex

Becca just got me this new Wacom Bamboo tablet for Christmas and I couldn't be anymore excited. I have been looking into getting one of these for awhile now and never just put the money down and get one. I can't wait to start using it and hopefully improve some of my work. Thanks Becca!

Anime and video game characters created from food!

Image by AnnaTheRed on Flickr

I was browsing around the interweb and discovered this blog that was showing anime and video game characters created from different types of sushi rolls and other types of food. The site made me laugh a lot and started checking out more of her work and found out she explains step by step ways to create Yoshi by yourself here.

She has a lot of different well known characters created and explained already and also has different festive treats to make for the holidays on her website here.

I especially loved this one of a Katamari character from the game I Love Katamari.

















Image by AnnaTheRed on Flickr