As if there weren’t enough twitter tools to fuel our addiction and helps us avoid getting on with the task of living in the real world! Just read over on Macworld about three new tools that are available under beta.

I haven’t looked at any of them yet, guess that sorts out what I am doing tomorrow!, but if you have tried any would love to hear from you

Lounge

I wonder what Twitter are planning next eh? The recent change to @name from @replies is pretty cool, and makes a lot of sense, not least because it has been driven by user design, so having just read the Register I wonder what made them figure they needed the ex Google design boss?

Twitter has poached Google’s former visual design boss to take on the role of creative director at the micro-blogging site.

He Ho it’s back to work we go said Dopey, or was it Grumpy? I bet it wasn’t Happy!!

The Recession/Credit Crunch is having an ‘interesting’ effect on Sands and I. When we moved to live in Almerimar the plan was not to work much, if at all, spend more time together, be less materialistic and keep things simple.

We had invested in properties and had no debt, or mortgage on our property here. One thought was that if we needed to or had the opportunity to, then I would take contracts abroad to enable us to travel. In fact we did this and spent a year splitting our time between Almerimar and Florida.

Updated with news on V3.0

Downloaded Skype for the iPhone this morning. Took less than a minute and is free.

Set up is easy, all you do is sign into your account. Initially I kept getting a message saying couldn’t connect to the network which was rubbish as network was fine. Turned the iPhone off and re started it and sgned in just fine.

Had a quick chat with a contact and then a phone call. All worked just fine. The interface is basically the same as you get on the desktop version. Nice and simple and easy to use.

DEVONtechnologies, LLC today releases the fourth public beta of version 2.0 of all editions of its information manager DEVONthink as well as of the smart note-keeper DEVONnote. The fourth public beta of DEVONthink 2.0 and DEVONnote 2.0 brings lots of new and promised features as well as many detail enhancements and bug fixes. All editions of DEVONthink now come with a brand-new ‘Clip to DEVONthink’ bookmarklet that lets the user clip selected text or whole web pages.

In case anyone is interested, and don’t frget 2009 was the last year Apple said they were attending, the dates for 2010 Macworld Expo have been released by email:

IDG World Expo announced today that Macworld will be moving from its traditional January event dates to February 9 – 13, 2010. The location will remain at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.

Yes please!!! Have updated this post since first posted as a rumour on the 28th, as a number of sources now saying Skype FREE in the App Store starting Tuesday

Only a rumour, but The Register are saying that according to GigaOM, the eBay-owned service could announce an application for the iPhone as soon as next week, during the wireless CTIA tradeshow in Las Vegas that starts on 1 April.

Just watched the lunchtime news on Sky and heard three pretty interesting facts regarding the recession:

1. The UK has paid off more of its credit card debt In February than at any time for YEARS
2. More people are saving than at any time recently
3. The number of mortgages approved in the UK in February rose by 19%

Good news eh!!

I am heading back to the UK in May to pick up the Road King Classic and bring it back to Almerimar. Apart from the fact that I miss it, Sands and I want to use it as our main mode of transport rather than the Jeep. Part because the Jeep is so old and consumes so much fuel (think green, think skint!!!), part because it is just so much more fun to use the Harley than a car!

I was extremely interested to read the other day over on Macworld that more and more IT pros are ‘demanding’ Macs at work:

The rise of the Mac in the enterprise is increasing because users are finding ever more ingenious ways to work with Apple’s accommodating platform. A mid-2008 Yankee Group survey of 750 senior IT executives found nearly 80 percent have Macs onboard, up from 47 percent in 2006. Nearly a quarter of these have 30 or more Mac boxes. Usability features such as Safari browsing, iChat videoconferencing, FileVault encryption, Back To My Mac remote control, Spotlight search, and Time Machine backup were cited as primary user attractants.

I have reviewed TextExpander before and would recommend it to anyone to be honest. It is one of those applications that after you have used it for a (short) while you just take for granted.

SmileOnMyMac have recently released and update to the $29.95 application which adds a new option for expanding text:

With TextExpander 2.6 abbreviations can now be set to expand when preceded by any character. With this option expansion can be triggered after adding punctuation like parentheses and slashes.

I was wondering if anybody had taken advantage of the play.com offer of LEGALLY unlocked iPhones in the UK. I am sort of thinking that my parents may like one, and Sands has managed to crack her first generation iPhone’s screen!

Both the 8GB and 16GB versions are available on the website in black only, priced at £549.99 and £599.99 respectively and with free delivery.

A little expensive but then again with no contract required that is actually not a bad price!