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Changes to Twitter’s SMS Service

August 14, 2008 · Comments 

Just this morning, I got an announcement email from Biz Stone, the Co-founder of Twitter, saying that there’ll be changes on the SMS updates service on Twitter.

So what’s the good news and bad news? The message started with the bad one: Twitter will no longer deliver outbound SMS over its UK number! Yes, it’s the very feature why some organizations applied Twitter for their system of communication by just letting their members subscribe to their main account and the Twitter SMS updates shall be delivered to their members for free.

There was actually a bit of good news that followed it – Twitter shall be starting some local SMS numbers in countries throughout Europe. Well, I guess the good news was not enough to cover for the terrible bad news. Whilst it’s true that this change of service was not really unexpected (because there’s no free lunch all the time), I just hope there’ll be a Twitter SMS gateway specifically made for the Philippines or perhaps phTwitters can do something on their service to make that feature available again.

Filed under Announcements, Internet, Mobile · Tags: ,

Written by Noel Feria · Tech Evangelist · Java Programmer · F/OSS Advocate · Apple/Linux User

Twitabit: For Twitter Fanatics

June 23, 2008 · 8 Comments 

Have you been bitten by the Twitter bug? If you still haven’t heard of Twitter, I’d have to wonder under which rock you have been hiding all this time. But never mind, just crawl out of the hole you’ve been hibernating under and join the rest of us Twitter addicts who have absolutely nothing better to do.

Twitter is a cool little thing that allows you to quickly send short messages to your Twitter friends/followers on the fly. You don’t have to be in front of the computer to send these messages– you can send them from your mobile phone as well. Pretty soon you’ll just have to think of a message and it’s already on Twitter. Never mind.

The not so good thing about Twitter though, is its tendency to be ‘down’ once in a while(that’s a euphemism right there). And when you’re in front of your computer with no lengthy post in mind, it can be a bit exasperating waiting for Twitter to be up and running. It’s not like Twitter will be calling you once they’re back online now, is it?

Enter Twitabit. I do think the guys behind this website are folks who dream about Twitter when they’re not Twittering away. Recognizing the err, tendency of Twitter to be down when you most need it to be up, they’ve come up with Twitabit. This website serves as your Twitter Outbox– a temporary holding facility that stores your Twitter messages while waiting for the Twitter site to resume operation and forwards these messages when Twitter is up. Its behaviour is very similar to the outbox of Microsoft Outlook. Messages that you sent while you’re offline that were stored in your Outlook outbox are automatically sent the moment you connect to your network.

So when you feel a very strong to urge to Twit but Twitter is down, have no fear; head on over to Twitabit’s website and Twit away! At least you’re assured that your message will reach the intended recipients once Twitter returns to normal. Your Twit’s delivery may be later than what you hoped for, but hey it’s not like you’re paying Twitter to be up all the time.

Filed under Internet · Tags: ,

Written by Javi Durado · Javi, a.k.a. the Third World Geek, is a bored corporate guy who considers his night job(no, he doesn't work in a call center) as a hobby. His real work happens during the day when he blogs like a guy whose fingers are about to be chopped off. He is the guy behind, you guessed right, thirdworldgeek.com