Last night I heard about Twitter acquiring the Tweetie iPhone application.  Tweetie, often raved as the best Twitter iPhone app, will now be offered for free instead of $2.99.  On Twitter’s blog, the company justified its acquisition, “People are looking for an app from Twitter, and they’re not finding one.”  I think they are right, and I’m happy they will be giving away the app.

When I heard the news, I was not surprised that they had released a native application, but I was surprised they had acquired another company to do it.

After waking up this afternoon (hey, don’t judge; I was up working until 10am), I was linked to this story on CNET. As the story shows, some view Twitter’s move as an attack on third-party developers and have compared it to Apple’s move with iPhone OS 4.0 (a move I do have reservations about).

To me, Twitter’s actions are significantly different from Apple’s, and significantly better for users and developers.  As I see it, Twitter is simply re-entering the market that made Twitter what it is.  It is NOT moving to block any third-party development.  The developer community is understandably nervous about any acquisitions and freebies, but, in this case, I think the anxiety is misplaced.

I’m a firm believer in competition and transparency. Twitter seems to be, too.  They have certainly encouraged developers to create external solutions through their API (application programming interface).  The Twitter API is well documented and allows access from a variety of languages and platforms, unlike Apple’s approach, which rules out anything not written in Objective-C.

Services like Seesmic go beyond a simple read/post interface and offer an expanded service (ability to post to updates to 50+ services), serving more than a generic recreation of Twitter. In contrast, Tweetable offers a generic read/post service that integrates with the admin panel of my blog, making Twitter available in a unique location.  I’m all for that.

Ultimately, innovation and improvement are the two greatest assets in any business model. Twitter’s acquisition of Tweetie shows it understands this logic well.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter follows up by buying more related services or expanding internally in similar directions.

Quoting Thoreau on this blog might be a bit odd, yet the quote sums up my feeling for the plugin. When I read about Tweetable on Mashable, I thought sarcastically “hurray, another Twitter plugin.” After setting it up, being swayed by their referral, I really enjoyed it’s presence. The plugin places a quick Twitter interface in the admin panel, allowing the admin (or authors) to interact on the blogs Twitter account.

“Simplify, simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau. A quote stuck in my head after starting to read On Writing Well, by William Zinsser.

To me, it comes as a blessing. As I have been trying to force myself to concentrate on my blog, I’m excited that I now have access to Twitter without the need of another tab or application.

Along with the embedded Twitter application, the plugin publishes my posts to Twitter and places a TweetMEME icon on my posts. Two tasks which had been handled through other plugins.

While not a selling point, the posts are tagged with the application you name during setup. Which is why in the image above you see “from Michael Lipson,” named after my blog.  Just a little extra personality for the 140 character social network.

With all my ideas and thoughts about the future of technology, I’m going to focus on Android applications because I believe it’s a huge player in the future of the mobile world.  Since the market is really starting to pick up for Android, I’m guessing we’ll see a lot of developers step up to fill the increasing demand for applications. With innovative developers stepping to the plate and the new powerful handsets coming out, I’m sure the applications will really start to stand out compared to other mobile devices.

The first major component we’ll see will be application integration.  Beyond integrating with basic features too, I’m confident we’ll start seeing more applications that act as compliments to others including extensions of current applications.  One application, Twidroid, is already offering tools for third party developers to do write applications that integrate with the powerful Twitter application.  I’d imagine as newer devices become more popular, we’ll begin to see a lot more powerful applications integrating with each other to create a stronger user experiences (thanks to the multitasking ability of Android).

The next development, which we’re already seeing in applications like Gowalla and FourSquare, will be location based interaction.  For some, maybe most, there seems to be the concern of personal privacy with applications knowing and reporting their locations. I think as the year goes on, we’ll start seeing people loosen up and location based interaction becoming more popular.  A big part of what’s leading into this has been the progress already made by applications like Layar (Reality Browser) and Sherpa, that use your location to inform you about your surroundings. While I was questionable about this premise at first, the idea started to grow on me as I read more about Gowalla and Foursquare and how they’re being used. A huge upside of applications like these, is that it is opening up a completely new type of marketing environment where companies will be able to reach nearby potential customers. I think it will be huge.

More entertainment applications! I think 2010 will bring a lot of new entertainment to Android devices, beyond games I think there will be new media outlets for the platform. Already, we have a wide variety of options for media types on Android.  While I personally don’t use my phone for music/movies, I think the ability to have a media marketplace on the phone will encourage healthy competition.

Last but not least, I think we’ll really see a whole slew of niche applications coming to Android. While other platforms have their own niche applications, the versatility of Android and ease of publication, will bring a lot of interest from companies trying to get more in touch with their audience/customers.

After much searching and several headaches, I’ve finally installed a new comment system on my blog. Instead of requiring information, name, email and such, the system allows for users to securely use their Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo and OpenID accounts to comment on my blog. Aside from removing the need to moderate comments, the system should allow better discussion then the built-in WordPress solution.

Right now, as far as it has been tested, there’s a couple issues using Facebook connect. If anyone would be gracious enough to comment using Yahoo or Twitter, I’d appreciate the help.

HTML is so 200x. In my wild mind, I see what Adobe AIR and Google’s Chrome-OS are bringing to the table as a prediction of things to come. While the two might seem vastly different, they shine light on what I believe will be the future of our “on-line” experience.

Adobe AIR, is a recent tool by Adobe which introduces cross platform development giving developers a universal market. While not all of the applications available are portals to web applications, the majority of them interface with on-line counterparts. When people think AIR, they are usually thinking about their favorite Twitter desktop client, however the potential goes far beyond just that as the platform will grow to provide what I think will be a corner stone to the future of development. Taking it a step further, Google developed their Chrome OS as a portal to their services for people on the go, specifically net book owners.

Chrome-OS, while an actual operating system, provides the same on line ideology of AIR (if not more). Chrome OS is a hybrid of hardware based technologies and cloud reliance. With Chrome-OS the idea is that the user will have a lightweight, almost instantly accessible operating system which connects applications (provided by Google and third party developers). Relying on Java, rather then operating on web based programming languages like PHP and Javascript. These applications, the life of your user experience, will require almost no overhead and will be ready to go within seconds of powering on your machine.

To me both of these products are huge. Thanks to AIR, I’ve been able to utilize a lot of the same applications I use on my desktop on my new Netbook running Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Meaning, that with almost no effort, I am able to maintain the same level of productivity without having to adjust to new interfaces. Looking forward to Chrome-OS, the ability to interface with my Google Accounts is a huge step forward because I already use Google’s on line solutions for email, documents, contact management and even Google Voice as my primary number.

On the back burner, a bit less hyped, is Microsoft’s new solution which is looking to provide a cloud based solution for application hosting. While I’ve broken free of Microsoft’s grips, in terms of M$ Office, I still am considering this a step in the right direction for those backing ASP languages. I’m still a bit new to the pricing structure, which seems on par with other cloud solutions, however backing from such an industry leader is a good sign. Conveniently they saw it fit to make the announcement the same day Google announced Chrome-OS.

While I’ve become a big supporter of cloud based solutions in recent months, I have to say that beyond the convenience of being “portable,” cloud solutions still worry a lot of people. The first question I hear is always, without fail, “security” followed with the question of reliability. My response to both of these is “I’m sure the tech who set up the servers hosting your information know more about the issue than you or I.” In the cases of Chrome-OS and Adobe AIR, you’re trusting little extra with the corporations then you are currently using their products and services. Ideally, you’d be sharing less because you are interacting directly with the server and not a document based interface.

My favorite desktop Twitter application coming to Android! It’s true, I got the email last night and screenshots to prove it! I downloaded it to compare it against Twidroid pro, however it’s a free application vs a paid application so it wouldn’t be a fair comparison in my mind.

For a free Twitter application, it does the job and it does it well.  The application’s layout will seem natrual to Android users,while retaining general functionality of other twitter applications.  The application doesn’t have the same features of Twidroid’s premium application, like multiple accounts, Twitter lists or twittersphere.  Still the Seesmic application offers video uploading through Youtube, which is a great benefit in my opinion.

If Seesmic added multiple account support for their free application, it would make this a competitor to Twidroid Pro for me. Right now, the best part about it to me is that it is REALLY light, I hardly notice it running in comparison to other applications.

Here are some pictures (We all like pretty pictures):

After a few years of “dealing” with AT&T I have most recently switched to T-Mobile about 6 months ago. For the longest time I was one of the people that always said “Oh nothing will ever be greater than my iPhone.”  Well truth be told the Motorola Cliq has just hit a home run with me, that’s right android has won my heart haha. Granted the iPhone was a pretty big hit over the past 2+ years but in retrospect I only ever used the phone for games or apps that helped pass the time while I was sitting in sociology lectures. Sure they had some decent apps for your social networking sites, but this is where the Cliq stands very strong. One touch status updates will automatically direct all status’ to Facebook, Twitter, Myspace wherever all at once. The iPhone forces you to select app, wait for it to load, and then login. With the Cliq it’s simply, touch and go. This phone is a socializing giant and I have a feeling iPhone app developers are falling all over themselves to try and jump on the bandwagon to try and compete. They better be working quickly because the MOTOBLUR is expected to be running on more than ten devices in the coming months.

Like I’ve stated I have had T-Mobile for a while now and it’s not just the new phone that I am so happy with, I am more so overwhelmed by their generosity and customer service. The last thing I remember getting from AT&T was my iPhone and I was “assisted” by some cold, hard headed, foreign bitch that didn’t want to do anything! I straight up left the store and ended up ordering one online instead of dealing with that. After my contract ended there was no way I was staying with AT&T. I was either going to hack the iPhone and use it on T-Mobile or just get a new phone when I switched. Long story short I gave up on the iPhone. After a few months of using a Blackberry 8320 and a Moto Zine I decided to look into upgrading my plan which consisted of 600 minutes and unlimited texts. After a day of deliberation and much help from T-Mobiles customer service and billing department I decided on getting the new Moto Cliq and the Even More Plus plan that included 1000 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data which only amounted to $20 more a month than I was all ready paying.

All in all T-Mobile gets a well deserved 10 out of 10. With such strong phones like the G1, Moto Cliq, MyTouch, and numerous others that will come out running android, you pair that up with their new rate plans and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if people start dropping their current providers at the end of their contracts and start switching.