Twittelator for iPad (click for larger view)

We picked up an iPad for our social media, Web consulting and copywriting business based largely on positive feedback from many people we trust on Twitter and our own great experiences using iPhones for the past two years. It’s a remarkable device, but expensive for what you get and very limited for many usage scenarios.

I’ll be blunt: The iPad is not a laptop/netbook replacement, and it’s a poor choice for anyone who really needs a full-featured Windows or Macintosh computer. The iPad is a touchscreen slate that’s limited to running approved apps from Apple’s iTunes Store and isn’t particularly good out of the box at accessing documents from your computers or file shares. And no slots or USB ports means you can’t just plug in an SD card or flash drive to access your media. Expect to purchase one or more apps to facilitate file sharing or else spend a lot of time e-mailing files to yourself!

We went with the WiFi only version to save some money and because AT&T has capped its already overpriced 3G plan. Frankly, we’d rather pay hotels for the occasional WiFi key than give AT&T a monthly stipend for so-so service we’ll rarely need.

You can (and should) add a Bluetooth keyboard to make the iPad passable for writing and light editing. You’ll have to reach up to tap the screen anytime you want to move the cursor, which takes a bit of getting used to and isn’t as efficient as using a mouse. It’s not a pressure-sensitive tablet, so it’s only moderately effective for sketching, and its built-in mike is adequate but it’s not going to replace my Zoom H2 for podcast recording.

I’ve been eyeing the ClamCase (due this fall, price unknown), which promises to give it a hard shell and attach a keyboard, making it look (and hopefully work) a little more like a laptop – but in the meantime I went with a $25 case that doubles as a stand and a $30 Vakoss TK-853-BK keyboard from Fry’s, which has different buttons to power it on and off but functions reasonably well once you get it working. (I’m pretty sure the first one I picked up was defective, but I might have just been pushing the wrong button!)

All that said, I rather like the iPad and it is highly effective for certain tasks. Namely gaming, e-mail and Twitter. I won’t dwell on games here since I’m focusing on its features as a work machine, but it is most definitely the best portable gaming device I’ve enjoyed to date – and as the founder of BusyGamerNews.com, I’ve tried nearly all of them over the years. The larger screen and fluid finger touch interface makes gaming even more fun than on the Nintendo DS, my previous go-to game portable. But unless your business is gaming, this won’t be enough to sell you on an iPad for the office.

Overall, social media is a mixed bag. The current iteration of the Facebook app is the iPhone version pixel-doubled, and this really shows its flaws under a magnifier. Sure, it works as well as the iPhone version - but the iPad deserves better here. Honestly, you’re better off just bookmarking Facebook.com on Safari, which on the iPad is more like the desktop version of the Web browser than the puny iPhone Safari app (though you will still run into the occasional mobile app restrictions and of course Flash is still completely blocked).

In the end, Twitter is where it’s at for the iPad – at least for me – and there are three apps that I’ve found that excel in different ways at helping you manage your tweet streams:

Twittelator for iPad ($5). The iPhone version of Twittelator is the gold standard for iPhone Twitter apps. It’s fast, full of useful shortcuts and – most importantly – fills in missing tweets and remembers your place if you have to quit and come back. It makes poring over hundreds of tweets reasonably efficient. The iPad version is in mostly even better than its iPhone predecessor but in a few ways takes some steps back. In landscape mode, individual tweets or streams (such as @ replies, direct messages and searches) that you select appear off to the right of your main timeline. Scrolling is fast and twitpics appear larger in the feed by default, making it easier to see whether you want a closer look. The downside is that, at this writing, it loses tweets greater than the 200 it can grab at once, doesn’t save your place if you quit, clicked links appear as an popup window instead of adjacent to your stream, and there’s no way to save images except to switch to Safari (which, again, loses your place!). But overall, getting through a couple hundred tweets is faster and more enjoyable here than with any other app I’ve tried. I’m hoping future updates address timeline bookmarking and recovery of missed tweets.

TwitePad ($2). This is sort of like the free TweetDeck – with lots of optional columns you can summon – but unlike TweetDeck (and Twittelator for iPad!) it remembers your place in the timeline and has a Web browser that opens at the far right alongside them. It even lets you open multiple links and keep them waiting as thumbnails along the bottom of the browser area. Ultimately, this isn’t as elegant as Twittelator and thus hasn’t replaced it as my primary app, at least not yet. The developer is aggressive at releasing feature-rich updates, so it’s definitely one to watch. For now, this is a good choice for Twitter accounts you monitor less often, say daily or even weekly, since it can easily fill in what you miss and it saves everything for offline reading in its own local database. For that reason alone, it’s perfect for my social media consulting!

Osfoora HD ($4). I bought this on impulse during a brief sale, and it has real potential. If you’re very methodical, you’ll appreciate the option to keep tweets marked as unread and there are up/down buttons to move through your timeline, though I found using this method slowed me down though may be useful for timelines that I need to focus on more closely (and finger scrolling is still an option). It does have those two very important features that Twittelator lacks: the ability to keep your place in the timeline if you quit and fill in missing tweets.

Other must have apps (all free):

EverNote. This is great for getting down drafts of articles while they’re fresh in your mind and then passing them to another device (e.g., PC, iPhone) through its cloud-based storage. No, I didn’t write this article on the iPad due to the level of editing required to make it sing. But if I did, I would have used EverNote.

WordPress. I’m a big fan of Windows Live Writer, but for some reason it always messes up my WordPress posts to this blog. So I thought I’d try this free app. Still, when it came time to post this article, I didn’t have the patience to try it out. But if I had a quick post with little to no complexity, it would be perfect.

iBooks and Kindle. The iPad doesn’t have the crisp display of the iPhone 4 (at least not yet), but the larger form factor makes it feel more like a solid ebook reader. I’ve avoided the Kindle and Nook because I prefer a backlit device, even if it’s not (supposedly) as good for long-term reading. I tend to read for short periods these days, and I like the flexibility to be able to switch to other apps when I want, so the iPad is now my preferred digital book platform.

Overall, it’s hard to recommend the iPad unless you find that your needs greatly overlap mine, or you can’t overcome your technolust for shiny new gadgets. Consider it a nice-to-have, particularly if you do a significant amount of work on Twitter.

By default, Twitter posts are viewable and searchable by anyone. Using your real name or providing enough private details could make it easy for anyone to figure out where you live. If you don’t want to protect your tweets by making them private, you should not use Twitter to share your vacation exploits.

Here are some tips to help you stay safe in virtual space – and the real world one:

Twitter. The safest thing you can do is protect your updates and only accept followers that you know. This sort of defeats the potential of Twitter since none of your witty wordplay will be seen except by a select few and you’ll never get a gajillion followers. If this is important to you, just open two Twitter accounts – one for friends and the other for your public persona. Then just make sure that you only post the private stuff to your trusted friends.

Facebook. On the whole, Facebook tends to be a safer place to share your travel plans since most people only accept friend requests from trusted friends. But there are some ways you can fine-tune your privacy. Click on Settings in the top blue bar and select Privacy Settings. From there, you can choose who can see your profile and personal information, tagged photos, etc. If you or someone you know is going to be posting and tagging photos of your family to Facebook while you’re out of town at obvious tourist locations, you might want to limit these to just your friends. Be sure to go to Contact Information and set your current address to No one. Your friends will know where you live or can call you if they need this information. There’s a nifty feature that lets you preview how a specific friend sees your profile, which will give you a good idea whether you’ve done a good job locking down your private details.

Blogs. If you have a blog, you should use private domain registration so if someone looks up your domain contacts, they don’t get your home address and phone number. As a quick fix, you might be able to update your contact information to your ISP’s, so that any lookups and inquiries go to them. Private registration may cost a little more, though some places do offer it for free.

If your blog is only updated sporadically (once a week or less), taking a week off shouldn’t be any big deal. But if you have a following and readers have come to expect daily updates, you’ll probably want to mention that you’re taking a break and that updates will be a little less frequent while you “enjoy some personal time” (saying it this way doesn’t signal that you’re leaving town). You don’t have to be specific about your plans unless you feel comfortable doing so. You might also preload some posts and, if your blogging software supports it, schedule them to go live on the days you are away. In my case, I alerted readers that some regular features might be incomplete or delayed and then preloaded several posts that I then published remotely each day using the Movable Type for iPhone interface.

This week represents the motherload of all Twitter cycles, as the Twitterati descend upon San Diego Comicon (SDCC). There is a long and glorious cross-over between technophiles and comics/sci-fi/fantasy fans–and SDCC is their harmonic convergence. (It’s so much more than a “nerd prom.”)

The obligatory marketing tool for this year’s SDCC is Twitter itself. Every major media outlet has set up either a general Twitter account for “reporting” or individual accounts for reporters… in many cases, both. Through cross-promotion through traditional media (house ads in magazines), online (”follow us on Twitter” announcements on Websites and stories) and Twitter itself, everyone is attempting to get your attention.

I follow several of them normally, and this week, I’m getting spammed with SDCC coverage. I appreciate the effort, but a vague tweet and link will not get my attention. (The Ausiello Files actually tweeted “I just had a really interesting interview with…” and a link. You had to click to find out who it was.) While this may seem cute and intriguing, I found it cloying. I’m already reading hundreds of tweets. Give me a reason why I should click yours.

What I find far more interesting is the artists themselves. Actors, comic artists, writers, and others all can be found on Twitter, discussing their experiences and providing tips on where to find them. (Heroes alum Brea Grant mentioned she was going to return to a booth unannounced for additional signings after numerous Twitter followers failed to see her during a scheduled signing.) Many artists also share goofy personal photos from the floor that won’t show up in People.

HBO, Showtime, SyFy, and other SDCC-friendly networks are trying out a similiar approach this year, setting up show-specific Twitter accounts for shows represented at the con, including True Blood and Dexter. The accounts focus purely on giving fans insider info about the shows. Show-related panels are announced early enough that fans have a shot at getting to the right hall and scoring a seat. Personal appearances, including some “surprise” appearances at partner booths, are also slip-streamed. It’s a small thing, but it means a lot to fans. And for those who couldn’t get there, videos and other tidbits are posted and linked in a timely fashion.

This fan focus shows an awareness of what comicon truly is and isn’t. Yes, it’s a major promotion opportunity for the production companies, comic artists, actors, and so on. But it is also the world’s largest celebration of all things geek, which certainly includes Twitter.

Well, this year, anyway.

Even though I bought my iPhone 3G last December, I decided I wanted the 3G S for a few reasons: added storage (I’ve already filled my 16GB model!) and better camera topped the list.  Since my original purchase was so recent, I did not qualify for the fully subsidized $300 price, but was offered the 32GB model for $500 (still better than $700 with no commitment). If you bought a 3G last summer, AT&T recently expanded the offer,  so check: You may qualify for the best price.

Rather than brave the launch day lines, I ordered mine last Thursday from the Apple Store online and was promised delivery in about a week. Alas, I noticed during my semi-frequent online order status checks that it was unceremoniously cancelled on Monday. No explanation. I called Apple’s customer service and, despite the fact that I should have been preauthorized after going through their upgrade wizard, I received some vague excuse that AT&T had not validated my offer and I would have to clear it up with them.

I called and then ran down to my local AT&T Store, where they were backordered 7-10 days. I went ahead and placed an order for the 3G S from them in case that proved to be my only recourse, but I had been hearing that the Apple Store across the way had ample supply. Midday Tuesday, my AT&T rep informed me that they could not clear the problem with my account but that I could buy the 3G S at full price from the Apple Store and then walk over and get a $200 credit on my cell phone bill once AT&T re-upped my 2-year commitment. The net here is that I paid an extra $18 in sales tax, but didn’t have to wait an extra week. AT&T promptly canceled my order and promises the credit will appear by Friday.

So now I had an iPhone 3G S but it would be hours before I could start playing with it. The AT&T rep offered me the option to swap my SIM card from the old phone, meaning I could use my old iPhone for now and activate the new one instantly when I got home and was ready. I first backed up my old phone again, and then swapped the SIM and plugged in the new one. The restore process was painless and relatively quick (about 15 mins) but this only restored my core settings and mail accounts. Apps, music, videos and picture galleries were not present when I turned on the new iPhone. Getting these over required a full sync.

It’s worth noting that I am using iTunes on an older Windows XP machine with USB 1.0. Until recently, I had a USB 2.0 card installed but due to conflict problems I had to remove it. (I really need to move iTunes to a newer machine, but every time I attempt any kind of iTunes move it takes six months to get everything fully functional again!) Since Apple depracated FireWire sync, my only option was a 6-hour slow transfer of my apps and media. Once this completed (about midnight), there was still a little work to do. Here are some tips to make this easier:

• Have passwords handy. For security, all Exchange or POP e-mail  accounts require you to re-enter your password in your new iPhone. Exchange and voicemail prompt you immediately after you turn on the phone, and you’ll need to set a security passcode on your iPhone before Exchange will work. I had to reset my voicemail password, which can be done by calling AT&T customer service or logging into https://www.wireless.att.com/. POP mail passwords need to be entered in your Mail Settings. I created a password-protected cheat sheet with the passwords I require most frequently so I didn’t need to wade through my master list to find the handful that I needed.
• Check your apps. Some apps may require password re-entry or account recovery to the new iPhone, though surprisingly many do not. Spend a few minutes launching the apps you use most often and see if they need anything to run. Amazon, Slacker, Tapulous and Flight Control are a few that needed some recovery work. Kindle required me to delete and redownload all of the books that I had bought, though free samples and the older public domain free books still worked fine. 
• Try the new apps. Go ahead and click Compass. You’ll probably never use it, but it’s cool, right? Fortunately, the compass functionality will help other applications with things like directions (though it sounds like you’ll need to pay AT&T a monthly fee to run GPS apps – boo!). OK, now launch the Camera and try the new focus and video camera features. Next hold down the Home button until Voice Control launches. Say something and see if it does it. (I tried, “Play On the Go Playlist” and never got it to work. It was comical, really. I’ll need to start naming my playlists with voice recognition in mind.)
• Revel in the speed. Apart from the three big changes above and the potential for greater storage space, the 3G S’s real advantage is speed. It really is faster. Loading and clearing e-mails takes me a lot less time, and I no longer have to click back and forth to mark some of the bigger messages as read.
• Show battery percentage. The 3G S has a hidden new feature that shows your battery percentage next to the visual battery indicator. Go into Settings, General, Usage to turn it on.

I made the mistake of putting off an iTunes update last week, and it was required for this iPhone update. That delayed me an hour. Then I had to actually download the iPhone update, back up the phone and then have the install validated by an Apple server. That last part proved to be the weakest link in the chain – it took about 20 tries for the first phone, and 50 for the second. The install itself took maybe 15-20 minutes (per phone).

When my iPhone finally came back to life, there was a new app, Voice Memos, installed at the bottom right of the first page of app followed by a new 10th page – so now you can have 164 apps instead of 148. The extra page is blank except for the front page icon that was bumped by the new “official” app (read: cannot be removed), but the good news is that moving icons is now a lot easier. Your pages of icons do not reshuffle until you release the app you are moving. Too bad cut and paste doesn’t work for icons, but this is still a huge improvement.

I also ran into problems updating apps from the App Store on my phone, thanks in part to a new terms of service agreement that kept timing out. Unless you really need a particular app or app update right away, you might wait until things settle down – probably later this evening.

In the meantime, if you’re looking to find out what’s new beyond the widely reported big features, read How To Use The Best 40 Features of iPhone 3.0.

TweetDeck for iPhone

Back in April, I deconstructed what I thought was wrong with TweetDeck. Now I only do this sort of exercise with products I think show real potential. I did the same on BusyGamerNews.com for the Nintendo Wii user interface and twice for the Xbox 360 (but never got around to the PS3).

I critique because I care.

It appears that someone at TweetDeck is listening. But they have their own ideas too. And it’s hard to tell whether it’s getting better or I’m just getting used to the ever-growing array of columns that stretch off the right side of my screen.

The big news is that TweetDeck is now available for iPhone. And it’s free. The column metaphor actually seems to work well with a touch screen where you can swipe to quickly flip columns. I currently trade off between TwitterFon (slightly old version since people dissed the latest update) and Twinkle (nice for community tweets though Seattle lately has been overrun by overly dramatic teens and tweens with iPod Touchs who feel the need to text for attention every 12 seconds or so!). I’ve also toyed with Twitterific but so far it hasn’t stuck.

TweetDeck for iPhone looks promising, though it is a little crash prone (not unusual with first gen iPhone apps). What might keep me coming back is this: Sync with my desktop TweetDeck. The way this works is that you either use the iPhone app or the newest PC version of TweetDeck to create a TweetDeck account (yes, another password to remember). You then login to the other version and it offers to sync your columns – to a point. The iPhone version doesn’t support Facebook (at least not yet) so that’s not carried over from your desktop. Nor are any secondary accounts you add. You have to manually add these in both places. And sync’ing doesn’t seem to work from the iPhone back to the desktop, though I could be wrong. I’m still testing this.

Wait, did you catch that? Multiple Twitter accounts are now supported – on both versions! Other new desktop app features include unlimited columns, trends for any column, reply all, YFrog support, spam reporting and smart filtering. Supposedly there’s a conversation window, which sounds great - but I couldn’t find it.

Still, all in all, TweekDeck continues to show promise. Just when I was about to go fishing for alternatives.

There are thousands of plug-ins to choose from, so from time to time I’ll call out the ones I have found indispensible or at least highly valuable, plus the occasional one I’ll suggest with reservations (and helpful tips to save you the trouble we had implementing it). Here are some of my favorites so far:

WPtouch iPhone Theme. I found this theme when browsing a friend’s blog and immediately installed it for our own. It greatly speeds up load times and improves readability for iPhone visitors, who have the option to turn it off if they prefer your default view. The way this makes your site look like an iPhone app is pretty compelling (see picture at right).

Add to Any: Share/Bookmark/Email Button. If you write something worth sharing, you want it to be as easy as possible for your site visitors to do just that. You can select which social networking/sharing mechanisms are displayed by default. Hovering over the Share or E-mail This Post link opens up the full list, which is constantly expanding (see icons and link at bottom of this post).

WP to Twitter. This highly configurable plug-in automatically tweets your blog posts. We use this only for new posts, so any updates/edits do not result in an unwelcome Twitter flood. URLs are automatically shortened using the Cli.gs service, though we had some problems until we created and entered a Cli.gs API key.

Simple Tags. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time adding tags (aka keywords) to your posts, this plug-in can help, although it can be tricky to get working. First, you have to add at least one tag to a post before it will function at all (you’ll get a “Javascript must be enabled” message but that’s probably not your problem). The autotagging feature only pulls tags you have entered previously and applies them, where relevant, to existing posts. Once it’s up and working, use tag suggestions to find common keywords in your articles and apply them quickly. After you have a decent set of local tags, the auto-tag feature can help you quickly generate tags for older posts that don’t have them.

Have you had different (better, worse?) experiences with these plug-ins? Have a favorite plug-in that nobody loves but you? Let us know!