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Author Topic: Usefull tools that we don't have  (Read 2781 times)

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Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« on: October 10, 2009, 07:03:48 PM »
Quote from: utri007;525420
Hi

Copyrights prevent us to get some usefull tools :/

1. Super kickstart, that would be cd drivers loaded an some system speedup patches. I know that I can make it myself.

2. Super bootdisk that would be some kind of mini wb and nice set of tools and of course dc-rom drivers


I'm still waiting for a Twitter client. All the APIs are open and even Skyos has one lol.
 

Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2009, 07:53:41 PM »
I find Twitter extremely useful. It's replaced newspapers for me.
 

Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2009, 03:28:49 PM »
Quote from: kolla;525530
What the heck is a twitter client anyways? I thought reading twitter involved using a webbrowser or rss-feed reader, and for making new messages there's arexx already.


A twitter client is just what the name suggests, a desktop client for posting to/reading your twitter updates.

Such as Twitteriffic on the mac: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2292/2216494486_fd0065ca2d.jpg?v=0

Yes you can go to http://www.twitter.com, login and do it from the site, but its not the same as having a dedicated client you can configure and just leave open on your desktop.  Plus the twitter homepage is notoriously unreliable and generally is down at least a few times a day.

You could argue you could use web-msn rather than having sabremsn/ami-msn too, but like I said, it doesn't beat a proper desktop client than can be kept open, freeing your browser.

I know jahc was working on a twitter client that looked pretty good to me, but he didn't see the point in it over just going onto the website, if someone else would take it up, maybe he'd hand over the source code, so you have a starting point.
 

Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2009, 03:30:56 PM »
Quote from: persia;525441
Me too.  Newspapers nowadays rarely reach 240 characters in the whole newspaper, let alone an article...


Well generally I follow news sources I find interesting, and make a custom news-feed, then the tweets they send out have links to the complete article.  But you can often get a headline into the 240 characters easy enough, then click the link to the main article should I find the story of interest.
 

Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2009, 03:35:22 AM »
Quote from: orb85750;525613
LOL.  That's some deep reading you must have been doing!  (I'm sure you must be joking.)

Quote from: illy5603
As for twitter, I REALLY want to know when everyone on the planet is "sitting on their porch" or "grabbing lunch" please...

It seems a lot of people still don't really "get" twitter.  I don't follow people who talk about their lunch etc.  I follow news services such as CNN, New York Times, the BBC, various journalists and technologists whose work I enjoy (Leo Laporte, Robert Schoble, Chris Pirillo, Dvorak, Veronica Belmont etc.).  

Mainly I scan my feeds for a headline which will usually be something short and concise

"Breaking News: Microsoft Goes Bankrupt, read more here http://link"

I am not digesting my entire news in 140 characters, I scour it for interesting headlines from sources/journalists whose work I enjoy, then go on to read the full articles they link to.

I also use it similar to newspaper classifieds some weeks, for instance last week I would not have known that a hotel I stayed in was going for half price that night, I'd have probably booked a more expensive venue, but as one of my friends had posted that Radisson Hotel were doing rooms for £32 that night, I booked there and saved half my money.  I also found out about a job I applied for this week on Twitter as well.  The information comes from people I trust and have something in common with, so seems much more reliable.

I also treat it as a sort of public IM/IRC, conversations two and fro with followers can lead to some very interesting conversations.  Plus the topic search is brilliant, and trending, just go to twitter.com and search amiga or amigaos, you find a fair few amiga related videos and articles some weeks.

Reminds me of the early days of the web before it became overrun with bloatware. Surfing was an apt metaphor. Web pages were light weight and easy to scan, and following links was often fruitful.

Its a bit ignorant to put something down just because you don't understand it, or can't be bothered to give it the time to learn what a useful tool it could be.

As an interesting article I read on PC World's business site says:

"In my opinion, the most commonly heard complaints about Twitter stem from a misunderstanding of it. Chief among these complaints is the utterly bunk assertion that it's just a whole bunch of people heralding the trivial events of their daily lives into the void. (i.e., "I'm going to the bathroom now!" or "Eating a yummy ham sandwich!") Frankly, if that's how you're using Twitter, you're doing it wrong, and you should stop without subjecting your friends to a full week of that rubbish, let alone a full month."

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/164107/twitter_quitters_just_dont_get_it.html

But my main point is, a twitter client as least pushes the AmigaOS one step in the right direction of being a "modern OS" rather than another "omg the amiga hasn't even got a twitter app!?".

The article also highlights the much improved experience of using an app rather than the website

"3. Use a Client App
Twitter's Web site is terrible. Even if it weren't constantly over capacity, its interface is static and unhelpful. But a decent client app will put all of Twitter's coolest features at your fingertips, as well as helpful third-party features like URL-shortening and photo support. I've tried most of the leading clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and my personal favorite across all three platforms is TweetDeck. Used in conjunction with a good client app like TweetDeck, Twitter becomes an active massively multi-user conversation to rival any other social medium. The more people you follow, the more enlightening that conversation can be."
« Last Edit: October 12, 2009, 03:46:06 AM by danwood »
 

Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2009, 01:54:04 PM »
Quote from: illy5603;525631
You can do that with an RSS reader too. I understand what twitter is and how it can be used, but I still think it is lame. I am just not interested in self important crap, blogs included. Don't really care for the news either.

Back on topic a bit, I still think trying to use a classic Amiga as a "modern" computer is all a bit silly. I feel that way about linux too, too much trouble to get simple stuff done on it. I look at my A1200 as my "classic car". It was powerful for it's time, it is beautiful and still fun to hotrod but the modern stuff will still blow it away. Just like a modern 6 cylinder rental Chevy Camaro will run the 1/4 mile faster than a 1969 big block Camaro. Progress man... Drive the new Camaro every day, and take the big block out on weekends.


You could do some parts of the features of Twitter with an RSS reader but it would be a lot more work and no where near as flexible, and just a one way conversation.

I agree that trying to use an A1200 as a "modern computer" is too much like hard work for me.  But I use an AmigaOne with OS 4.1 which can do most of the things I do day to day (Twitter excluded, still need to jump on the PC or Mac for that), I do also use Windows 7 and Snow Leopard on machines next to my AmigaOne, but the A1 makes a good secondary machine.
 

Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2009, 01:58:12 PM »
Quote from: persia;525619
What is the point of newspapers in 2009?  I've go CNN on my iPhone, several international news feeds on tv, internet radio, by the time a news even appears in a newspaper I've had heated discussions about it at work, written six blog entries about it, probably tweeted, etc.  By the time the newspaper arrives it's old news.


Indeed, I found out about Michael Jackson's death on Twitter a good 30-40 mins before any TV news had picked up on it.
 

Offline danwood

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Re: Usefull tools that we don't have
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2009, 06:33:32 PM »
Quote from: ikepgh;525693
I'm pretty far along with a client I have been working on...I could use some help, so I started a project on sourceforge.   I haven't uploaded any files yet since I need to install subversion on my new machine, but you can see a screenshot at the link below.

http://www.ezcyberspace.com/programs/twitter.jpg

https://sourceforge.net/projects/amitwitter/

PM me if you are interested (gcc/MUI).

IKE

Nice work buddy!  Looking promising so far, can it also show other people's tweets or just send from you at the moment?  To make a client useful it needs to show tweets from your subscribers really, this is a great start though, the first Amiga twitter app, I might be able to spend time on my Amiga without the Macbook near me with Tweetdeck open soon :D

If you need a beta-tester I'd love to try it out.