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Hidden OS X feature: Twitter integration

tgdaily.com — Nice one.

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  • philanthropic, on 05/09/2008, -22/+3just got it on my mac... totally sweet, thanks!!!
  • mintblogger, on 05/09/2008, -11/+6I think almost like digg bigspy screensaver, that takes real time digg data in screensaver.
  • Rauby, on 05/09/2008, -13/+8Mirror anyone?
  • mywhitenoise, on 05/09/2008, -45/+111Twitter is retarded.
    • wacomwacoff, on 05/09/2008, -22/+10It's retarded to send your friends messages?
      • roosterjm2k2, on 05/09/2008, -17/+24Just let him be...

        See, he's what we call an anti-trendwhore. He, and those like him, like to knock down everything that is popular. Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook...etc. The humor in it all is that they never realize that by using trends to pick what not to like (basically, disliking anything trendy) they are, in fact, as much a follower of trends as the real trendwhores... its really kinda funny to sit back and watch...
        • Killwize, on 05/09/2008, -19/+3no, face book really dose suck!
        • houndeyex, on 05/09/2008, -3/+9Take that dose with a hefty glass of water.
        • migitalwarfare, on 05/09/2008, -5/+9thanks for the lesson, but it still doesn't change the fact that no one cares about every little detail of your life that you choose to broadcast around the world. twitter is a stalker's best friend, but for everyone else, it keeps them up to date on just how boring your life really is
        • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -7/+3^^^
          Maybe YOU live a boring life.
          • migitalwarfare, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1i'd love to read your twitter and see all the awesome stuff you post about. i bet it's super interesting, and would totally make me jealous. i bet i could be entertained for days on end, just sitting here reading about your life.
        • sirbeta, on 05/09/2008, -2/+8MySpace and Facebook do suck though. Seriously it's embarrassing when I find out a friend of mine uses MySpace.
        • mywhitenoise, on 05/09/2008, -4/+3You're right. A person who talks ***** about Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter is a trendwhore...but the people who use these sites for exhibition aren't.
          "its really kinda funny to sit back and watch..." That's kind of pathetic.
        • 2shae, on 05/09/2008, -3/+3I'm fine with Myspace and Facebook and all other sites like them, but Twitter ?! :S
          Twitter is lame, though it's pretty obvious it's something girls like to use a lot more.

          Maybe I would have a different opinion about it if it was popular here (Netherlands) but it isn't...nobody even knows what it is.
      • migitalwarfare, on 05/09/2008, -1/+12it's not retarded to send your friends messages, but thats not what twitter is supposed to be for, now, is it? posting short messages about the boring minutia of your life is what it was designed for, and really, who gives a ***** if you just ate a ham sandwich? i've had twitter, i've even had it on my phone so i might have used it more often, but quickly got rid of it when everyone carried on conversations with people and you only get one side of the conversation, or posts "bleh" or "i'm leaving work now, yays!". wow, thats ***** useful, isn't it?
        • nickert0n, on 05/09/2008, -6/+4I wont use it simply cfause the name/homepage is gay as fruit-fudge brownies in shawshank
        • wacomwacoff, on 05/09/2008, -7/+6Well, it is very ***** useful, actually, depending on who's in your friend list. If it's a bunch of people who use it to say that they just ate tacos, then no, it's just an annoyance. But if you want to tell all your friends that you're 20 minutes late for dinner, you can post that on Twitter with your celphone and all your friends can get an SMS with that message instantly, for example.

          You're remarkably closed-minded about technology.
          • migitalwarfare, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5you know what else is useful when you're running late and need to let people know? a phone call or a text message. your entire list of twitter friends doesn't need to know you're going to be late for a dinner that you're having with 6 of your friends. people are going to use twitter any damn way they want to, which makes it completely useless for most people
          • wacomwacoff, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1It's okay if you don't really get how Twitter works, but I don't know why you're bitching about it to everyone, really.
          • schumpert, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Um... if you want to tell your friends that your 20 minutes late, why not just use a text message from your phone? You don't need Twitter for that.
          • migitalwarfare, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1no no, i "get" how twitter works, what i don't get is why you'd use a service that was obsolete the day it came out. with cell phones, there is never a need to post something online, so everyone can read it, when really, only a small group actually needs to know the information. if i were running late for dinner, i'd call one person at the table, let them know i was late, and guess what would happen. magically, everyone else at the table would find out too! i see zero reason why i would need to relay that information through a third party like twitter, so that everyone on the internet can know too.
          • Zeddd, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1I'm sorry. That was really an absolutely terrible example of what Twitter can do, and in fact, proves a bit that it can be a bit pointless. A simple text to one person at the table is much better than letting every single on your friends know.
          • wacomwacoff, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1You *do* know that you can direct tweets to specific people or groups of people, yes?
          • migitalwarfare, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1you can also direct a text message to them too, and you don't need to put in anything special in order to do it!
    • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -22/+12Care to elaborate? Twitter puts MySpace and Facebook to shame in just about every field. It's got a simplistic design, and only one feature (which is probably the most important aspect in social networking that the two giants (MyFace) have neglected for years), and it does it quite well.

      Try using it with texting on your phone. If you use it like it's supposed to be used, then it's a really great tool. If not, then it's your fault for not using it properly and getting the full effect.
      • ultimathule, on 05/09/2008, -26/+10You're a fag.
        • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -5/+11I was gonna say something, then I checked your posting history. You're just a ***** troll.
          • ultimathule, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1No I'm not. I've been on Digg longer than you, ese.
      • gutistg, on 05/09/2008, -1/+10Now, I'm not trying to be offensive. I really just don't understand.

        What, exactly, is the purpose of twitter? What is that one thing that twitter does well? Is it something that can't be done by any other, more obvious means (e-mail, telephone, SMS, etc.)?
        • Angostura, on 05/09/2008, -0/+8I'm in the same boat as you, but I suspect the answer to your question is

          1. It allows one-to-many broadcasting (so you don't have to send a zillion SMSs)
          2. People can subscribe to your feed a la RSS if they are interested.
          3. Err, that's it.
        • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -2/+4Angostura's response is really all there is to it.

          The thing that makes Twitter unique is that it's a one-trick pony. But it does its one trick extremely well, and focuses on that one trick, instead of integrating hundreds of useless tricks, like videos, pictures, blogs, or other things that don't matter.

          When you focus on one feature, as opposed to hundreds of others, you can make one tool work extremely well. And that's what Twitter does.

          Give this a read if you have the time. It's a really great introduction and shows off the uses of Twitter, and how to use it effectively. It was also written by the CEO of an online shoe store.

          http://twitter.zappos.com/start
        • Tyr7BE, on 05/09/2008, -2/+5Thing is, all those examples he gave (ie, having drinks, eating sushi, about to fly)....I couldn't give a rat's ass if any of my friends were doing any of those things. It's what they're doing. And I"m doing something different. Why is there a need to know at any given moment what they're doing?
          • wacomwacoff, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1Depends how you feel about your friends. Personally, I think my friends are pretty cool people and I'm interested to know what they're up to. It's my choice to read it or not. I'm not forced to keep up.
          • B1663r, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3If your friends are sitting around twittering, they are not cool...
        • wacomwacoff, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1It's sort of like Blogger or Livejournal, except that you're limited to very short (140 character) messages with no images. So it's like keeping a blog on speed.
        • gutistg, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Apparently you need to know a e-mail addresses to be able to use twitter. I don't know most of my friends e-mail addresses. So no twitter for me.
          • wacomwacoff, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1That's not true in the slightest. All you need to do is find them on Twitter, click the "follow" button, and boom, you're connected. Has nothing to do with email.
          • gutistg, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I just joined. I've figured it out now.
      • brutalsponge, on 05/09/2008, -7/+2It has no purpose, it's more 'Web 2.0' faggotry.
      • craighamnett, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Their API, and the fact that their market is not saturated with the masses. It's a nice mix of tech people how easily update with the latest tech news in a way which is manageable.
    • roberto_deneero, on 05/09/2008, -6/+6Why, yes, Twitter is sofa king we Todd did. Hmm, let me tell everyone every ***** thing I'm doing. How the hell do would you have time or energy to do anything else? Wow, George is tying his shoe. George is taking an epic dump and ran out of bathroom spray. George is getting a blowjob at the local glory hole. Sounds very useful to me. Twitter is completely stupid, although I give it one notch above Pownce. I'm going to invent a stupid file sharing/messaging service of my own called Bark. Nobody will use it but I may as well invent another service because obviously the world is short on this type of software.
    • allanak, on 05/09/2008, -6/+2Dugg you for BJ @ glory hole
    • marksands07, on 05/09/2008, -3/+6is Twittering: Replying to rants on Digg about twitter..
  • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -5/+96Misleading title. This isn't a hidden feature, nor is it integrated. It's a user-created screensaver that you have to do on your own, and can work for things other than Twitter.
    • sp1keNARF, on 05/09/2008, -1/+15You just saved me 5 minutes. Thanks!
    • matt.rubin, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3yeah i don't think the custom screensaver novelty wore off on macs yet
    • macwac, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4Funny thing is that it was demo'ed at WWDC 07 at the Quartz Composer Session and they told everyone how to get it up and working.. half the audience was sitting there doing it at the same time..
    • astrosmash, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1Quartz Composer is one of the many hidden features of OS X.

      The Twitter example works out of the box. It can be found here:
      /Developer/Examples/Quartz Composer/Compositions/XML/The Twitterverse/

      Just copy The Twitterverse.qtz to ~/Library/Screen Savers and set your twitter login using the standard screen saver options.

  • unleashedlive, on 05/09/2008, -2/+18There is an interesting feature in Mac OS X we haven’t known about so far: A user has found that the OS lets you run a screen saver showing off your Twitter friends. It is not really an official feature, but rather a programming example that comes with the Leopard developer tools. With few easy steps, users can take the code and turn it into a regular OS X screen saver.

    The "hidden Twitter feature" can be found in the Twitterverse Quartz composition: Quartz composition is described be Apple's developer documentation as a piece of code that processes and renders graphical data – such files are often created without writing a single line of code, but through the Quartz Composer development tool instead. The developer tools on the OS X Leopard DVD include various Quartz composition example files. Twitterverse is one of them.

    The "The Twitterverse.qtz" file cannot be executed by itself, but needs to be dragged from the desktop onto the preview in the Screen Saver tab of the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane available in the System Preferences. Add your Twitter username and password in the screen saver options and you are ready to go. The screen saver will show a wheel with your Twitter friends and their tweets, as illustrated in Thomson's Flickr stream.

    Example here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/factoryjoe/2464790975 ...
  • joetan, on 05/09/2008, -8/+3anybody got a screenshot / video?
    • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -1/+7The comment just above yours links to a Flickr page.
    • Dylson, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4This comment is just begging for a rick roll.
    • migitalwarfare, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1hmmm... i think there's a link one in the article, you might want to read it though, just to be sure.
  • atgmac, on 05/09/2008, -7/+10Mirror please! Digg effect at 86 digs. Are they hosting it on Windows ME or something?
  • rootadmen, on 05/09/2008, -3/+21Not really a hidden feature, but a dev example which doesnt even come with the default install. You fail.
    • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -8/+7Next we'll be seeing frontpaged stories like this:

      Hidden Win XP feature: Music integration
      winamp.com - Nice one.
      • Atomic1fire, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1or hidden windows starwars movie
        Goto run and type telnet://towel.blinkenlights.nl
    • astrosmash, on 05/10/2008, -0/+2The developer tools come with every OS X DVD. It's just a checkbox away and there are a ton of stuff to play with.
  • ibone, on 05/09/2008, -21/+9Twitter is ***** gay.

    I say gay with all the respect in the world. But I just couldn't come up with another word that would discribe twitter better.
    • Tufriast, on 05/09/2008, -5/+31-800-CHARTER. If you can get help here, get help somewhere.
    • WilliamTM, on 05/13/2008, -5/+1You're ***** gay.
    • customer, on 05/09/2008, -3/+4Agreed. I just don't get the point of twitter.
      • migitalwarfare, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2"Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"

        if you're doing something, and i'm not with you, should i really give a damn? for anyone who answers "yes" to that question, you need to get over yourself.
    • Killwize, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2What?

      ...Lame is a good substitute, But that's just gay.
  • wilhel1812, on 05/09/2008, -6/+12twitter is boring.
  • ibone, on 05/09/2008, -3/+30Buried as Inaccurate, this is not integrated in OSX. at all...
  • Killwize, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Page Down... Cache?
  • bstolzberg, on 05/09/2008, -4/+8BURIED AS INACCURATE
  • FredFredrickson, on 05/09/2008, -7/+10I can't be the only one who thinks Twitter is the stupidest piece of ***** website ever invented... right? I mean, how are you expected to actually have a life if you have to constantly get on a website to tell people every tiny aspect about your life?
  • Wootstapler, on 05/09/2008, -3/+8I'm a twitter *****!
  • hadak, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1I don't have my DVD on me...anyone post the file?
  • samsoffes, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1this has been in there since the earliest builds of leopard. thanks digg for telling me something that is super old
  • sq2shooter, on 05/09/2008, -2/+7Great. Now when I am not using my computer, it will tell me Bob just ate a hamburger and he is tired.
  • D14BL0, on 05/09/2008, -3/+2I just realized one fatal flaw in wanting a Twitter screensaver.

    Screensavers activate when you're NOT on the computer. Chances are that the only times this thing is up and running are times when you're probably already meeting up with your friends or something.
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3If you're a regular twitter user you can easily check on what's happening by activating your screensaver with either a hot key or by moving your cursor to whatever corner you have it set to. No need to actually open a browser and when you're done, move your mouse and it goes away. I occasionally use the service, but it seems mostly to be the "I'm going to drinka beer" or some such nonsence.
      If you have a lot of people that need to meet at some location and you're going to be late AND they all have Twitter AND they are checking it on their mobile devices I suppose it MIGHT be useful. Lots of "ifs" though.
      • B1663r, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4I have a better idea. Just assume all your friends spend every day doing the things that everyone else does every day... Waking up, eating, going to work, watching tv, maybe buying some concert tickets, then going to bed. There, I just summarized every twitter post ever.
    • MarkusX, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I don't even check twitter when my screensaver is NOT running.
      Twitter is dumb.
  • RudeTurnip, on 05/09/2008, -4/+2meh, Pownce is where it's at.
  • migitalwarfare, on 05/09/2008, -4/+3buried for twitter content (quick, someone post on twitter about it!)
  • nickert0n, on 05/09/2008, -7/+3I took a nice *****, everyone must know - Twitter (and apparently Apple lol)Philosophy
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2You did? Now turn and look at it. Welcome to your life
  • gak001, on 05/09/2008, -2/+5Digg button = fail. How hard is it to incorporate a digg button into your website without needing scroll bars?
  • yevkasem, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2let's see. the site was down before 80 diggs. no one has posted a mirror. the title is inaccurate at best (completely wrong is more accurate). the description sucks. it now has over 3 times that many diggs.

    all in a day's work at digg.
  • lovelythr, on 05/09/2008, -4/+5Twitter must be stopped.
    • B1663r, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Naw, let it be use it as a filter, then when someone IRL tells you that they use twitter, tell your friends and laugh at them behind their backs.
  • altidude, on 05/09/2008, -3/+7Buried just because it's Twitter.
  • LucWales, on 05/09/2008, -3/+0MIRROR
    http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:EwqsaUANZ9IJ: ...
  • jtbndy, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/
  • TechCF, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1I thought this was gonna be the curl command line thingie
  • MattFromSeattle, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1As if I needed another way for Twitter to infiltrate my life. :)
  • LemmingJesus, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1Never heard of Twitter.
  • homercles337, on 05/09/2008, -7/+1Leave it up to the macophile/mactards at digg to digg the hell out of this stupid, non-integrated feature for the mac. Way to go mactards.
  • SystemError51, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2It's not really a hidden feature - more like playing around with Quartz Composer. Technically you could integrate anything with that.
  • mergatroid, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3The coolest screensaver for both Mac and PC is from: electricsheep.org
    • chrisbarr, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1Cool, but it eats up hard drive space and the video quality isn't amazing.
  • biocandy, on 05/10/2008, -0/+2Could somebody share this Twitterverse.qtz-file, please?
  • exoendo, on 05/10/2008, -0/+1article descriptions ftw.
  • jonahan52, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Doesn't work for me just a black screen ... Put it in debug mode and it spewed a bunch of crap.
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