Different people use twitter for different purposes. Some use it to share interesting links with their friends, some use it to share funny jokes and some use it as their own public instant messenger, broadcasting intimate details of their life. All this was before some enterprising open source enthusiasts decided to come together and use Twitter for something even bigger – remotely controlling their PC.

TweetMyPC is an open source application that lets you send commands to your PC via Twitter and instruct it to shutdown, logoff, restart, download files off the internet and a lot more.

To setup TweetMyPC, download the latest version on your windows PC and run the installer.

TweetMyPC works by listening to a Twitter account for updates. I’d suggest that you create a new Twitter account for this purpose and also keep the updates on this account as private so that no one else is able to read the commands being issued.

Head over to Twitter.com and create a new account. Login to your newly created account and click on the Settings link. On the main Account page, you will find a checkbox to protect your tweets. Check it.

Now, launch TweetMyPC and setup the application for the first time by giving it the twitter account details that you just created.

That’s all. TweetMyPC is now setup and will continue to run in the background listening for commands on the twitter account that you set, every one minute.

To send a command to your PC, login to the Twitter account that TweetMyPC is listening to and write the command as a status update.

TweetMyPC will respond back with the physical memory of your PC in a tweet. The responses from TweetMyPC look something like this.

The responses come as updates to the same Twitter account and so everyone will be able to see them. This is the reason why I suggested that you protect your tweets while creating this account – You wouldn’t want anyone to look screenshots of your desktop. Yes, TweetMyPC can also take a screenshot of your desktop and upload the picture to Twitpic if you want to know what exactly is happening on your computer while you’re away.

Some other important and very useful commands that TweetMyPC supports are reboot, hibernate, getfilelist, getfile <filepath>, hibernate and standby. You can see the complete list of commands and their syntax in this blog post by the author of TweetMyPC.

How to Remote Control Your Windows PC Using Twitter originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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I personally do not use the desktop application, so I am going to talk about the web version.

Tabbed Windows

First off, it has tabbed windows just like most web browsers. This feature alone is a great reason to try it. The tab feature allows for multiple accounts to be monitored with multiple columns per tab. If you are monitoring anything, this is really a time saver.

The columns can be a group, search, account timeline or keyword tracking. If you’d like to track your business or a product you are selling, you can set up an entire tab full of columns dedicated for that. I use the group function to track people I follow in the technology field.  It is a lot easier to see what they are saying if they are separated from the herd.

Drag and Drop Ease

Drag and drop rearranging of tabs and columns makes it super easy to arrange things in an order which make the most sense to you. This is a great advantage if you have more columns than screen space. For example, you don’t always need to see your pending tweets column. If it was one of the first columns you created, by default it is near the front. Simply grab it and drag it to the end of the line. If you need it again, you can scroll over to the end of the row to take a peek at it.

Users

This is a feature geared more towards businesses or a group needing multiple users for the same account. If you want to give employees or other people access to update on your account, this is a great way to do that. The account owner becomes the administrator for the account. Each person has their own log in and password, yet the admin can choose what accounts the person can post to and also cancel their account if needed. In each separate account, the user can select to have their initials automatically added to each tweet. This helps differentiate who is sending what.

URL Shortener

The built in URL shortener saves the step of having to go to a different site or use a third party service to shrink the long URL you are posting. If you see a link with http://ow.ly/ then some letters and numbers, that’s a link from Hootsuite. Another benefit you receive from using the on board shortener, is click tracking.

Stats

If you have ever been curious how many people are clicking on the links you tweet, the built in tracking of all the ow.ly URLs. Its great for businesses or really anyone who wants to see how engaging they are to their followers. Below are a few of the different style graphs.

Here are a couple other graph views

Scheduled Tweets

This is a cool feature that helps you still appear active, yet allows you to not be tethered to your computer. You can schedule tweets for minutes, days or months ahead. If you wish to be notified when the scheduled tweet is sent. If you are scheduling a bunch of tweets, it’s not be a bad idea to have a column dedicated to pending tweets.

Bookmarklet

The bookmarklet allows for tweeting and delayed tweeting without having the Hootsuite page open all the time. When you click the bookmarklet, a window pops up. In the window (after you sign in) will be a shortened link, the name of the site and a description of the site. If you would like to send it right then, just hit send. If you’d like to schedule it, click schedule and pick the date and time you want the update sent. You can also receive a notification when the tweet is sent.

Embeded Columns

I haven’t see any other Twitter clients offer this. (Maybe I over looked it.) Hootsuite makes it super easy to embed the stream of tweets from one of your columns. To do this click the [<>] symbol. A box will pop up asking for the title, dimensions you’d like the window to be and how often you want the stream to refresh. After you click the grab code button, the code is generated. Just copy and paste that to your website per the instuctions and your done.

Does this web application have enough for you to ditch your desktop Twitter client?

Hootsuite: All You Need to Manage Your Twitter Account Online originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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There are three services that are doing just that. They are helping Tweeples with video/web cameras broadcast to their followers. More and more, bloggers, podcasters, music artists, celebrities, etc. are using them to engage with their audience in a colorful way. Here are the three video tweet services that will help get you on your way:

1. BubbleTweet

BubbleTweet provides tweeters the ability to create or upload a 30-second video that will help give some personality to their tweets. It requires no registration; only your Twitter login information. After creating your video, you are provided with a unique BubbleTweet URL that you can share with your followers. BubbleTweet archives your video tweets indefinitely. The only issues is that currently only works on web browsers and cannot be embedded on any other sites, other than Twitter. Additionally, unlike the other two services, Bubble Tweet does not allow you the ability to broadcast live.

2. CamTweet

CamTweet is the newest creation of the makers of the popular video service Justin.TV,, except it is made specifically made for Twitter.

Like BubbleTweet, CamTweet does not require registration. You login using your Twitter information. With CamTweet, you are able to broadcast live to your followers. At the same time that you are broadcasting, you are also able to simultaneously chat with your viewers.

CamTweet provides you a link to share with other people who are not on Twitter. After you finished broadcasting, you are provided a unique URL that you can use to share as well. The only issue is that you are unable to embed it onto another site or blog. There is no FAQs on the site, so I am not sure if the video tweets are archived indefinitely. More than likely, they are being that they have unique URLs that have to be pointing to something.

3. TwitCam

TwitCam provides users with the ability of broadcasting and chatting with their Twitter followers. It is powered by Livestream. Unlike the other two services, TwitCam does require registration. However, you register using your Twitter login information. By registering for the service, you are provided a unique TwitCam page that shows a profile and recent broadcasts. Similar to CamTweet, TwitCam provides you with the ability to simultaneously chat with your viewers while broadcasting live. Twitcam is the only one of the three services that lets you embed your video tweet into another site or blog, even while broadcasting live. When you are done, you are able to save the broadcast.

Whichever service you decide to use, using video on Twitter is a great way to engage your followers. It also gives you a personal touch that usually cannot be achieved in any other way.

Have you tried any of these services? Or do you know of similar ones? Post them in the comments, so we can check it out.

How to Create a Video Blog on Twitter Easily originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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Web Preview

While the web version of Seesmic is currently limited in comparison to the desktop app, it is very usable and very cool. This preview release has all the basics with a few of the extras similar to the new features in the desktop app 0.4 upgrade. I am sure if they update the site with as much frequency as the desktop, it will have more features than you can shake a stick at in no time.

Features

When you hover over the profile picture, you are given three options: unfollow, message, or profile.

Click on the picture and it opens a pop up style window showing the profile info and a large picture.

The columns can be dragged and rearranged into any order for ease of viewing.

When you see a person @mentioned in a tweet who you are not currently following, simply click on their name to display a large profile pop up. In the pop up you can see all the basic info such as: their bio, how many people following them and how many people they follow. In another tab you can see some of their most recent updates.

The search bar does just what you would expect it to do. Type in a search term and finds tweets with those words in them. The results are displayed in a new column. These searches can also be saved for later if the column needs to be closed. The saved searches can also be accessed when you go to Twitter’s site.

You have a choice between a single column feed or multiple windows. A feature that I found appealing, is when you change the view to single column mode, the profile pictures are removed profile pics. This makes it a bit easier so scan through the updates by creating a more list like feed, similar to an RSS feed reader. Depending on the view chosen, the columns also auto size to fill the area.

Desktop Update

In the 0.4 updated desktop application, several new features were added. The two I am happiest about are the collapsible sidebar and the previously mentioned single column mode. The reason being, there isn’t always a need to see multiple accounts and every little update. In some cases I am going through tweets from a search. I am not going to reply to a DM for a little bit, so there isn’t a need for the added distraction.

A short list of the feature upgrades are:

* The option to set how many updates are in your timeline
* Single column and multiple column view
* A collapsible sidebar
* A fixed width column setting with user adjustable width.
* Miscellaneous fixes for better performance.

I am very excited to see what becomes of web based Seesmic, the preview shows a lot of promise. There are features I (and I’m sure many others) have grown accustomed to in the desktop app. Features much like being able to log into multiple accounts, accessing Facebook updates, user lists and quick access to favorite tweets. But, if nothing else, having the web and desktop versions be able to sync would be fantastic.

What would you like to see in the future updates of Seesmic web?

Seesmic Update: Web Preview and Updated Desktop originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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The Seesmic desktop app is a free cross platform Adobe Air based application. This very usable Adobe Air based desktop application was designed by the same folks that made Twhirl. If you have used the Twhirl app before, you should definitely give the Seesmic app a try. It is a happy medium between having too many features which can make it hard to use, and too little features which would make it not very helpful.

In a nutshell, the Seesmic desktop application allows you to save searches, post to multiple accounts, make user lists and see one or many streams of updates through multiple columns. I know this may sound a little too simple, but that is kind of the point. Other desktop or web based apps out there might have more features or a shinier packaging, but do you really need the extras? The main reason why people dread social media is the time that it takes to keep up with it; having a simple set up with pretty much everything you need and nothing you don’t is a good thing, isn’t it?

Here are some of the features:

While looking at the column of tweets and Facebook updates, if you see something that interests you, you can open another column. This is done by selecting a person, doing a search for a keyword or looking at a userlist, then clicking on the detach column button at the top. You can open several of these columns side by side, usually two or three in addition to the main column will probably fill the screen left to right.

If you have an account for a specific URL shrinking site, Bit.ly for example, Seesmic lets you log in and use your own account. Some of the URL shrinking sites give you stats on the links you post.

Notifications come via a Growl-like pop up  window at the bottom of the screen. In the settings menu, you have the option for the duration the window stays on the screen and whether or not it makes a sound each time it pops up.

Much like on the Twitter site, you have a search option. Unlike the Twitter site, you can save searches. This gives you a list of of past searches right in the side bar. Having selections in plain view makes it easy to compare keyword searches to a new topic or hashtag.

Adding media to a post is drag and drop simple. Much like the URL shrinking sites, you can choose what image sharing service to use.

Like most things these days, there is an iPhone app in the works. There wasn’t any information on the Seesmic site about what you would be able to do from your iPhone, but I would venture a guess to say it will have pretty much the same functionality as the desktop application.

The folks at Seesmic are also working on a web based version. I like the way they decided to do the desktop version before the web version. It makes more sense based on the intended use to have a desktop application. Being able to log in while your at a different computer and manage your accounts is a good back up option.

How do you keep track of your Facebook and Twitter updates?

Easy Twittering and Facebook(ing) with Seesmic originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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If you are facing difficulty juggling different accounts, here are 8 useful tools that you can use to manage your Twitter accounts simultaneously.

Web-based

1. Hootsuite

Formerly known as Brightkit, Hootsuite is a popular web based Twitter client that allows you to tweet to multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously. You will need to sign up a free account with Hootsuite before you can use their services. Once you have started your account, you will be able to setup various twitter accounts in the dashboard. To send a tweet, you can either update it from their website, or save the owl icon as a bookmarklet in your bookmark bar.

The bookmarklet comes with a Send Later function where you can set a future time to send your tweets.

2. Matt

Matt stands for Multi Account Twitter Tweeter and it is really a fun site to be at.

You are not required to sign up for any account. As long as you have a Twitter account, you will be able to login and send tweets. The first twitter account that you sign in to is considered your primary Matt’s account. Once you are logged in, you will be able to add other accounts in the setting page. When sending tweets, you can select various accounts, or select all to update your tweets.

3. Splitweet

Splitweet is a Twitter multi-accounts and brand monitoring manager. Not only does it allows you to access several accounts simultaneously, it also monitor your brands and show you how many times your name (brands) was mentioned.

4. Twithive

If you have used and love Tweetdeck and would like to have a similar online version to handle multiple accounts, then Twithive is the best candidate.

TwitHive is still in beta and its interface is not as polished as others. However, one great feature that TwitHive has is the ability to setup channels and track what others are talking about in the twittersphere. It is similar to TweetDeck, except that it supports multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously so you can track more stuffs in just a single page.

5. Tweet3

Tweet3 is just like another Twitter page, except that it is better and comes with more functionality.

Other than the usual replies, favorite, message stuff, it also comes with an Analytics tool that analyzes your Followers vs. Following statistics. I don’t really pay much attention to the statistics, but it could just be useful for you.

Desktop client

6. twhirl

A good thing about twhirl is that it is built on the Adobe Air and thus is compatible with all OS platforms. twhirl supports quite a number of microblogging networks, including Twitter, FriendFeed, identi.ca, seemic and laconi.ca. and you can set them all up to run simultaneously.

If there is anything to complain, it must be that it opens up a new window for each network you signed into and this can be rather messy on your desktop. In addition, you are not able to send the same tweets (or update) to various accounts at one go. Other than that, there’s really no complaint about this.

7. Pidgin/Adium

By default, pidgin does not support Twitter. However, by installing the Twitter plugins (pidgin-twitter or libpurple), you can get it to connect to Twitter and update various accounts simultaneously. Pidgin is available for Windows and Linux while Adium is the equivalent in Mac.

8. Digsby

Digsby currently works only on Windows, but it is no doubt the most complete IM + Social network desktop tool out there. You can connect to the multiple IM, social networks, microblog, and even your email accounts all at the same time.

While the list above is not definitive, it is sufficient to help you manage your multiple Twitter accounts more efficiently. If I have missed out any of the great tools, please add it in the comments.

8 Useful Tools To Manage Multiple Twitter Accounts Simultaneously originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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You would be hard-pressed to go anywhere or even watch television without hearing some reference to “Twitter”, “tweets”, or “tweeting”.  From your cousin in Iowa to Shaquille O’Neal, all types of people from all walks of life have taking a liking to Twitter.

Whether or not Twitter will become a technological standard as email or just a passing fad, remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that if you want to use Twitter while it is hot, you will probably want some type of client so that you do not always have to open your web browser and go to Twitter.com.

For KDE there are a few options, but there is one that I have found to be superior to them all.  Keep reading, or if Twitter has convinced you that you can only process 140 characters of information at one time, scroll to the end of this article.

KDE Twitter widget

Yes, KDE comes with its own Twitter widget. To get it, simply open the “add widget” dialog on the desktop and drag the widget called “Twitter Microblogging” to your desktop. You then must configure it. You can tell it to display a set number of updates and include the updates of people you are following. From that point on, anytime you want to post a tweet, you just type it into the box.

There are some limitations to this widget. For example, if you are like me and have a hard time keeping up with other people’s tweets because you are supposed to be writing articles like this one, you end up with a back log of tweets to read.

KDE Twitter widget will only display as many at a time as will fit on your screen.  It does not have scrollbars. Even displaying ten took up the length of my screen, and twenty made the widget taller than the screen. There also appears to be no way to view past replies or direct messages. These limitations make it useful for the occasional tweeter, but hardcore enthusiasts will want more.

Qwit

Despite its rather pessimistic name, this QT-based full-featured client might very well make you want to never quit Twitter.  The only trouble you might have with it is installing.

The developer’s site has a binaries for Windows, Mac OS X, and a generic debian package, which is x86 only. In addition it includes two pre-compiled Linux binaries, one for x86 and x86_64. I needed the 64-bit one, which I downloaded and ran without any problems.  I cannot predict whether or not it will work for all distributions or what dependencies it has.

It comes with a host of features:

1. Reply, forward, and direct message buttons for each tweet.
2. Tool tip notifications of new tweets (I actually find this quite annoying, but you may like it).
3. System tray icon.
4. A host of tabs down the left-hand side including: Search, Outbox, Inbox, Custom, Replies, Public, and Home.  With “Custom” you can apparently type in any twitter username and see their tweets.

The downside to Qwit, aside from the name, is that it is not a native KDE application but rather a pure QT application. In order to have it looking like a KDE app, you will need to install and run qtconfig-qt4 and then select your KDE style of choice.  Because it is not native KDE, you will miss standard KDE features such as in-line spell checking.  Aside from that, however, Qwit is a solid Twitter client worth considering.

Choqok

Like many other KDE applications, developed by people from various countries all over the world, I have no idea how to properly pronounce Choqok (an ancient Persian word for “sparrow”).  Then again, why do you need to pronounce it when you can just tweet it?

Installing on Kubuntu was a breeze. The Universe package repository includes version 0.4.  If you want the latest version, 0.5, you can get it at Christian Mangold’s PPA. Once installed, you will notice the attractive blue bird head icon.  Just click on it, and you are ready to tweet. Like Qwit, Choqok includes a host of features:

1. A timer for updates.
2. You can set the number of tweets visible at one time.
3. Reply and favorite buttons that appear with a mouseover.
4. Home, Reply, Inbox, and Outbox tabs across the top.
5. An easy direct message box.
6. An advanced searching tool.
7. Configurable colors and appearance.
8. Support for Identi.ca
9. Secure https connection option.
10. Automatic URL shortener.
11. KDE-integrated notifications.
12. A system tray icon.

Choqok is my KDE twitter client of choice. It has not disappointed me. If you skipped the entire article just to read this part, shame on you; Twitter has corrupted you. If you read the entire article, there might be hope for you yet.

The Best KDE Twitter Client originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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While I have covered 16 interesting things that you can do with Twitter, it only covered the tip of the iceberg. Ever since Twitter released their API, there are really thousands of things that you can do with it – one of them is to track your FedEx, UPS, USPS and DHL shipment with Twitter.

TrackThis is a Webservice that monitors your package shipment for you. To get started, simply follow TrackThis at http://twitter.com/trackthis and wait for it to follow you back. Once that is done, you can send your shipment tracking code via a direct message to TrackThis.

The syntax to use is [tracking code] [nickname of package]. For example, if you ordered a PC and the tracking code from FedEx is 1234567, send:

d trackthis 1234567 PC

Trackthis will then reply you with a direct message each time your package changes location.

If you know of any other interesting applications with Twitter, do let just know.

[via CyberNet]

Track Your Package Shipment With Twitter originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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Using clients like twhirl or twitterfox, you can post tweets to twitter from your desktop and Firefox browser. However, if you spend a lot of time on Open Office, you may want a quicker way to get your twitter updated, without having to leave Open Office.

OOoTwitter is a simple Open Office extension that allows you to post to Twitter. Once installed, it will load an input field where you can submit your message to Twitter. It is very easy to use and it is unobstructive and can be loaded from the menu Tools -> Add-ons -> Post to twitter.

OooTwitter uses cURL to send message to Twitter. You will have to install cURL in order for the extension to work.

A point to note is that OOoTwitter only allows you to send tweets. It won’t be able to receive any updates from your friends.

Download OOoTwitter.oxt

Twittering From Open Office originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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1) Ask and receive answer from the twitter community

TwitterAnswer provides you with a platform where you can send a tweet of your question and received up to 4 answers for each questions, answered by other twitters.

2) Update and receive notification for your ToDo List.

If you are an active user of http://rememberthemilk.com to manage your to do list, then you can now send a tweet to update and receive notification for all task. There is no worry for missing a task even when your computer is out of reach.

3) Update your Facebook status.

If you find it troublesome to update both your Facebook and Twitter, you can now update both via twitter. What you need to do is to add the application inside Facebook.

4) Know where and what people are talking, every second.

Twittervision is an integration of Twitter and Google Maps. You can view instantly what people are twitting and their locations.

5) Update your Google calendar.

TwitterCal is a free service that allows you to add events to your Google Calendar from your Twitter client.

6) Take notes everywhere, anywhere.

Forget about pen and paper. Next time you think of something you want to make a note of, just twit your note to your Twitter account via twitternotes

7) Read books.

I am not joking. You can now read books with Twitter. Swotter reads books to Twitter, and via Twitter to the world. You can listen to Swotter via the web, via Instant Messenger, or via SMS messenger on your mobile phone.

8) Make a confession.

Have you done something wrong and are seeking for forgiveness? Now you can twit your sin to TwitterConfession.

9)Make money.

Make $5 for being the first one to answer the questions posted by TwitterMeThis. You think is easy? Try it out.

10) Form a mosaic with your Twitter picture.

How about seeing your twitter picture become part of a mosaic? Check it out the project at TwitterMosaic. You might see your photo there.

11) Set alarm.

Afraid that you might forget something. Set an alarm and be informed via Twitter Timer.

Update: This application no longer exists.

12) Promote your blog.

Twitterfeed scans your RSS feed and update your twitter with the latest posts and links.

13) Save lives.

This is not a Twitter application, but a real life story of how Twitter saves lives. (http://www.flowerdust.net/2008/03/31/how-twitter-saves-lives/)

14) Play game.

ColorWar2008 allows you to form team of various colors and participate in various challenges.

15) Receive weather forecast.

Get informed of the weather condition before you leave your house. Twitter Forecast

16) Collaboration.

You can set up a group tweet and send updates to all members at once. Useful for projects collaboration or managing meetings.

[updated: 17) Twitter can also help you get out of jail. Check this out]

The abovementioned list is definitely not a comprehensive list of all the things that you can do with twitter. If you know of any interesting twitter applications, feel free to add it in the comment.

Alternatively, you can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/maketecheasier

16 Interesting Things You Can Do With Twitter originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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Desktop twitting has been a rather easy task in Windows and Mac since there are plenty of Twitter client around. In Ubuntu Gutsy, I have found the below few methods to work:

Using command line

This is the most primitive way, but also the fastest way to post a message on my twitter. Launch your terminal, type in your message and off you go.

To enable twitting from command line, you will need to install curl.

sudo apt-get install curl

Next, create a file called twitter. Paste the following lines in the file.
curl –basic –user “<username>:<password>” –data-ascii “status=`echo $@|tr ‘ ‘ ‘+’`” “http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json”

Replace the <username> and <password> with your twitter username and password.

Save the file in /usr/bin.

You can’t save file in the /usr/bin directory without admin right. You might want to save the file in the desktop, open nautilus as root and copy the file over.

In your terminal,

gksu nautilus

In your nautilus, locate the twitter file. Copy and paste it to /usr/bin.

Right click the file and select Properties. Under permission tab, place a check in the box “Allow executing file as program“.

Click OK. Now you are ready to twit from command line.

In your terminal, enter

twitter “your message”

Pwytter

Pwytter is a Twitter client written in Python.

Download the zip file here and extract it to your home folder.

Install the dependencies.

sudo apt-get install python-tk python-imaging python-imaging-tk
cd pwytter-0.8
sudo python setup.py install

To activate Pwytter, type pwytter.py

Twitux

Twitux is the easiest to install. Just download and install the .deb file and you are ready to go. It’s suppose to be the best Twitter client for Ubuntu as it has a timeline with avatars, display notifications, auto-updating, spell checking, and the option to view timelines in different ways. However, I can’t seem to connect to the Twitter site. Will update again with screenshot when I sort out the issue.

The latest version of Twitux (0.61) is included in the Hardy Heron repository. For Gutsy users, please download version 0.60 as 0.61 does not work in Gutsy.

gTwitter

gTwitter is the only Twitter client found in Gutsy repository. Twitux users will find the interface familiar.

In your terminal,

sudo apt-get install gtwitter

(screenshots from http://code.google.com/p/gtwitter/)

These are the few that I found to work in Gutsy (GNOME). I know there are some Twitter clients for KDE. I have not have the chance to test it yet. If any of them works, please tell me about it.

Meanwhile, you may want to visit my twitter site: http://www.twitter.com/MakeTechEasier

Twitting From Your Ubuntu Desktop originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)

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