August 2009

The Begining of the End: tr.im Shuts Down

By matt ~ Posted August 9, 2009 - 7:31pm

The popular URL shortener tr.im just announced it will be closing down immediately, with URLs working until December 31st, 2009 (the full text of their announcement is included below). And tr.im was no small operation. So now what happens?

Well, the biggest outcome of this is that all tr.im links will be dead by early next year. That means links that anyone has tweeted, emailed, or posted at any point in the time since its inception will be dead and broken. This only reinforces the gigantic problem with URL shorteners; it is crippling the infrastructure of the internet. Yeah, it's bad.

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BNO News releases iPhone App with Push

By matt ~ Posted August 3, 2009 - 4:01pm

Earlier today the Breaking News Wire BNO News released their iPhone application, which uses the push technology of iPhone 3.0 to bring users the latest breaking news stories as soon as they happen. BNO News originally started as a breaking news account on Twitter (@BreakingNews), and has recently branched into FriendFeed and email services.

The application costs $1.99, with a $0.99 charge per month, after the first month which includes a month of notifications for free. Push notifications only includes major stories chosen by BNO News' editors by default, while the user has the option to be notified of minor stories as well. Users of the iPhone app can also choose to have a "sleep period", where push notifications will not be sent.

While there is a $0.99 charge per month for full notifications, the app is still fully usable without the recurring fee with a limit of one push notification per day, however full access to all BNO News reports is always available.

I have not yet had the chance to use the app, but will be getting a review copy soon and will post back next week with my thoughts on it. BNO News also says that versions for both BlackBerry and Android are being considered. The full press release by BNO News and BitMethod, the company who developed the application, is below.

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Better Twitter 0.1.0 for Greasemonkey

By matt ~ Posted August 2, 2009 - 5:41pm

Just released Better Twitter version 0.1.0 for Greasemonkey. Better Twitter is a compilation of great Greasemonkey scripts to make Twitter well.. better! Currently this compilation includes Endless Tweets, Retweet, and twitter highlight replies. This compilation will be updated when changes are made, and may include new features as well.

For more information, and to install Better Twitter, please visit this page.

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