@replygate #twitterfail #fixreplies #andallthat

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole @reply controversy (#twitterfail or #fixreplies). There is no question that my Twitter stream is a lot quieter these days. I find myself wondering what and who I'm missing out on as people I follow chunter away with others I don't know. Visible direct replies were like a door that would swing open to allow a brief glimpse of what was happening in the next room. Sometimes I went through and joined them, sometimes I didn't. Now that Twitter have tightened the hinges, that option is no longer available and the oppurtunities to learn and expand my network has been lessened.

However, now that I've had time to get used to the idea, I'm beginning to see some benefits.

For instance, I know that a lot of people who follow me aren't interested in football. While I'm not the world's most vociferous football Tweeter, I do enjoy watching a game on the sofa with my iPod Touch, chatting with others who are enjoying the same game as me. These days I no longer feel as though I'm burdening non-football folk with my guff.  Most of my soccer tweets take the form of conversations and replies with other people who like football and its unlikely that my non-football 'followers' would be following them too (to follow one football nut maybe regarded as a misfortune. To follow two seems like carelessness).

Knowing that I'm not burdening people with half conversations about things they're not interested in has allowed me to tweet with a bit more freedom. If Twitter is an enormous party, at least I no longer have to worry about being the loud mouthed football bore that everyone can hear from the kitchen.

Furthermore, if the Twitterverse could evolve a convention whereby you can reply publicly by adding characters prior to the "@" then we'd have the best of both worlds. Add character(s) if you want to share the secret of World Peace, don't add character(s) if you only want to share your thoughts on the modern interpretation of the offside trap. Another option is do what the admirably level headed Lee Stacey suggests and mention the person you're talking to in your tweet rather than use a direct reply.

Unfortunately, I've not detected such a convention emerging in my network which means that I either need to expand my network, or people are waiting for Twitter to put things back the way things were. How likely it is that this feature will return in quite the same way is not certain so we may have to make do and and mend instead.

tag: Twitter, #twitterfail, #fixreplies, football

Posted via email from redduffman

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Talk with your iPod Touch

If, like me, you're an iPod Touch owner you may find yourself suffering from iPhone Envy. That is the feeling of mild irritation that you can't make phone calls. However, there are a couple of applications for the Touch that allow you to use it as a phone. Both apps require WiFi and both are free, although you will need to shell out for microphone.

Skype
The daddy of Internet phone calls comes to the iPod. If you're an existing Skype user then you can sign in after having installed the app, import your contacts and away you go. The usual services are on offer, that is free Skype-To-Skype calls plus chargeable calls to other networks.

Truphone
Launched in 2008, Truphone started off as a service dedicated to the iPod Touch and iPhone. However, it has since extended to Blackberrys, Nokia and G1 phones. Basically it offers that same service as Truphone although you can make free calls to Skype users in addition to Truphone.

Delboydare and I both have an iPod Touch. Del's is the 16gig. Mine is the 32gig. We found that Skype was better in that it worked. Derek's Truphone kept dropping out every time he got pop ups about his battery and it took a number of times for us to establish a connection and on a couple of occasion only one of us could hear the other. We were testing both apps using our own wireless networks in our respective homes. If they were that flaky under those circumstances, how they would perform using a network in a busy coffee shop?

A common irritant is that you can't have concurrent applications open. This means that I can't use any other app in case the phone rings. I've heard of hanging on the telephone but this is ridiculous.

Both services offer a range of packages to subscribe to for landline and mobile while offering free calls within their own network users. On the surface, this seems like an excellent way of getting over iPhone Envy. And relative cheaply as well. What's missing of course is 3G. Neither service allows for it which is just as well because the iPod Touch doesn't have it. However, it does mean that you're constrained by the presence of WiFi in your location. As more free hotspots become available this may alleviate the problem and you could always subscribe to a paid for WiFi service such as The Cloud. However, at present mobile WiFi phone calling could probably be compared with telephone boxes, in that you can only make calls in specific locations (although WiFi hotpsots don't usually get vandalised).

Having said that, there are ways of hooking yourself up to WiFi without having to pay extra or restrict your movements to visiting coffee chains and Wetherspoons pubs. We plan to post a guide to finding free hotspots and mobile phone 3G tethering later in the week.

In summary, voice call using WiFi has a way to go but it's early days and we look forward to seeing what its like in the future. We'd definitely like to see an app developed so they could run in the background so we can still play Galaxy On Fire while waiting for a call.

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