Mike Southby

I have been asked to write a guide for people new to Android explaining how to install TweetDeck.  For those who aren’t familiar with TweetDeck, it’s a cross platform Twitter client that only recently become available for Android.  A lot of people may well have used the desktop version previously; out of all the desktop Twitter clients, TweetDeck is regularly voted one of the top applications and for good reason.  TweetDeck isn’t just all about Twitter however; it allows you to also configure your Facebook, MySpace, Foursquare, LinkedIn and Google Buzz accounts.

The Android client shares many of the features of its desktop sibling; however it will only allow you to integrate Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz and Foursquare accounts.  This really isn’t an issue though as MySpace is not as popular these days anyhow and the majority of mobile users will be consumers who probably don’t use LinkedIn (of course there are other LinkedIn applications available from the market if you do require this).  Another great feature is that you are able to enter your TweetDeck account details and it will automatically sync the accounts that you use in your desktop client meaning you don’t have to worry about remembering all of your account details individually.  Right from the word go the developers over at TweetDeck have given a lot of thought towards the end user experience to ensure it doesn’t become another run of the mill Twitter app (have you looked at Seesmic or Twidroyd recently; both good apps but take away the exterior shell and you are left with very similar and traditional Twitter clients) instead choosing to produce a new, innovative design that’s fresh and exciting.

Installing TweetDeck is simple, although as it is still in beta stage, it is not available to download from the market as yet.  To download and install TweetDeck you’ll need to do the following:

• On your device, navigate through Menu>Settings>Applications
• Ensure that the Unknown sources option is checked; if it was previously unchecked you’ll be shown a security dialogue box, acknowledge this to continue
• Open the browser on your device
• Navigate to http://www.tweetdeck.com/go/android/ and your device will download the required .apk file to your download folder on your microSD card
• Next you’ll need an app that is capable of initiating an installation directly from a native .apk file, for novices perhaps the simplest solution is to go to the market and download Linda File Manager
• Once you have downloaded this, open Linda File Manager from the app drawer
• Click the SD Card option
• You should see a folder called download, this is where the browser will have downloaded the TweetDeck installer, click download
• Click TweetDeck-0.9.5.apk ⁽¹⁾
• Once the installer has finished installing, click Open to proceed directly to the app to setup your accounts

Notes: ⁽¹⁾ I have given you the direct download link from TweetDeck so as new updates are released, clicking this link will download the newer files.  You may therefore find that your actual file will differ in version number, this is not an issue; simply install the version that was downloaded.

If you use the desktop version of TweetDeck, you’ll be able to sign in using your TweetDeck account here, this means that you will not have to separately configure Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz or Foursquare as the app will “pull down” your settings and sync your accounts automatically.  If you don’t have a TweetDeck account, then you’ll need to add each account separately by clicking on the appropriate option.

That’s about all there is to it.  One of the great things about TweetDeck for Android is that there are not many options to configure, making the experience a simple one; it just works!  That’s not to say it is short on features.  You’ll notice that your timeline has all of your accounts in one continuous list; each colour coded for easy identification.  You’ll even notice that as you scroll up and down through the list, the time at that particular place in the timeline is displayed at the top which I think is a nice touch.  You can flick right through 2 more screens to see your mentions (which apply not only to Twitter, but anything that is deemed a “notification” in Facebook also) and your DMs; everything is laid out in a simple yet graphically pleasing way.

One thing worthy of mention at this stage is that unlike any other Twitter app I have ever used on Android, the timeline always remembers where you left it.  Not just some of the time, but all of time; no more waking up in the morning and having to manually find where you were the night before because the timeline had somehow managed to “jump” to the top all on its own.

There are four buttons at the bottom of the main screen, the first of which will probably be one of the most used; the button to compose a new update (allowing you to choose which of the accounts you want to update).  Next you have a favourite’s button, once you press this you are presented with a user customisable screen whereby you can store your favourite contacts for one touch access to all of their profile and update information.  Finally there is the Twitter search and location buttons; the Twitter search button allows you to search trends on Twitter, the location button interfaces with Google Maps to show you your current location.

Once you start using the app, you’ll find more too; like the image preview and location map (but only if the posters update was location aware) below any updates you click on, saving you having to click through 2 or 3 pages to get the same amount of information on other clients.  There is the simple slider button to change the display font size and a well laid out configuration screen where you can change your notification options and set the duration between updates; last but not least my favourite feature, whereby the TweetDeck notification icon flips upside down and “dies” if it encounters a problem whilst posting an update.  I can just imagine the response of the other members of the development team whilst sat around a table brainstorming when that idea came up, pure genius.

Remember also that this is still a beta product (although in fairness, it is the most stable beta I have ever used, not a single FC or issue to date), which means that it is going to more than likely be updated again before the final release, adding more features based on user feedback.  The downside of this is that as the app was not downloaded from the market, you will not receive an automatic notification when an update is available; not a huge issue though.  The best way around this is to follow TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) on Twitter as they tweet when an update is available for download (then all you need to do once you click on the link and download any update is to follow the last 5 steps of the guide again to update).

TweetDeck for Android is great app; it’s in a different league to HTC Peep.

OpenDesire v4 comes bundled with Brut Maps, a change from previous versions which instead came with the genuine Google Maps app.

For those who are not sure exactly what the difference is, it’s actually quite simple; the official Google Maps app is only fully featured if you live in certain countries such as the UK or US.  Elsewhere certain features will not be available the most notable being navigation.  Aside from this, there are other more subtle difference too including alleged performance increases but personally having tried both, I haven’t seen any real difference in day to day use.  The full feature set of Brut Maps is as follows:

• Worldwide navigation using Google Maps directions
• Map tiles caching on microSD card
• Force-enabled multi-touch
• Force enabled Google Buzz feature
• Fix for map shift issue in China
• Option to hide zoom buttons
• Installation on non-rooted devices supported
• Can be run alongside genuine Google Maps

I do understand why this was included in the OpenDesire ROM but as I live in the UK and all the features of the genuine Google Maps app work, it’s not necessary and I’d rather have the genuine app instead; even more so as Brut Maps use the existing Google icon set but overlay a rather unsightly “Brut” logo on top, it’s really not a very well thought out icon.  I also think that unless you have a good reason not to (i.e. you need Brut Maps as you live in a country where Google Maps doesn’t fully work), it’s good to try and use as much of the original code as possible to ensure minimising FCs and other issues.

Thankfully removing Brut Maps and restoring the original Google Maps is a simple process (assuming you have adb correctly installed on your pc including the correct adb driver for your Desire, which if you have followed my previous guides you will have):

• Connect your Desire to your pc
• Open a command prompt and navigate to the /tools folder within the sdk by typing:
  cd\ [then press Enter]
  cd AndroidSDK\tools\ [then press Enter]
• Check your device is correctly connected by next typing:
  adb devices [then press Enter]
  if you device shows up correctly, then you’re good to go on to the next step
• Type the following:
  adb reboot recovery [then press Enter]
  once your desire and rebooted and is in recovery type the following:
  adb shell mount /system [then press Enter]
  adb shell rm /system/app/Maps.apk [then press Enter]
  adb shell unmount /system [then press Enter]
  adb reboot [then press Enter]
• Your Desire will now reboot and you can disconnect it from your pc
• Once your Desire is back up, simply go to the market and you will now be able to download the genuine Google Maps

Needless to say you can also use this method to remove other apps too, just substitute the .apk you want to remove in the steps above.

A lot of people will be waking up this morning and finding that they are unable to login to Twitter via HTC Peep on their Desires, confusingly your device will report that you have entered an incorrect username or password combination even though you have not made any changes.  The truth is that owing to a behind the scenes change to the Twitter APIs, HTC Peep is no longer compatible and more than likely won’t be for some time.

It’s been common knowledge for some time that Twitter has decided to move away from basic authentication to OAuth for all third party apps; it makes sense that some of the older Twitter clients would be affected by this but you’d have thought HTC would have had the foresight to release an update prior to today, especially given that the switchover date has already been put back previously.  I wonder just how many people will be scratching their heads today trying to figure out why HTC Peep isn’t working, not realising that it’s actually a fundamental problem that they will not be able to resolve, no matter how many times they re-enter their details or reboot their devices.

In honesty HTC Peep is actually a pretty poor client anyway; it does the job if you are after a simple Twitter client but it has been left behind feature wise compared to other apps freely available such as Twidroyd, Seesmic or TweetDeck (though still in Beta, this is by far the best Twitter client around in my opinion, you can download from here).  Of course if you have flashed a custom ROM onto your Desire already chances are you are not using HTC Peep so this will not affect you; certainly if you are using one of the many vanilla ROMs available you’ll probably be sat at home reading this having a little chuckle to yourself.  If not, perhaps this is the excuse you need to delve into custom ROMs and ditch HTC Sense.

Update 02/09/2010 08:30

Here’s an official release from Twitter which I recieved in my inbox overnight; though not effected with the HTC Peep issues myself, frustrating that they only made this public annoucement a full day after the problem manifested itself:

Hi @mikesouthby,

Over the coming weeks, we will be making two important updates that will impact how you interact with Twitter applications. We are sending this notice to all Twitter users to make sure you are aware of these changes.

What are applications?

There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, or Topsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.

Update 1: New authorization rules for applications

Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use “OAuth” to access your Twitter account.

What’s OAuth?

OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.

• Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.

What does this mean for me?

• Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
• If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
• Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
• All applications you have authorized will be listed at http://twitter.com/settings/connections.
• You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.

Update 2: t.co URL wrapping

In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.

You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.

What does this mean for me?

• A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
• You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
• When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.

Thanks for reading this important update. Come and check what’s new at http://twitter.com.

Thanks,
The Twitter Team

It will be interesting to see how long it takes HTC to factor in the new OAuth requirement and release an update; watch this space for news!

It would seem that manufacturers are not happy any more simply selling you a product; instead they engineer in ways to try and retain your business and force you into buying their own brand consumables and/or replacement parts.  In fairness, this makes for good business practice but for the cost conscious consumer, it’s not exactly good news.  It wasn’t so long ago that I wrote a blog post regarding Lenovo and batteries.  The Lenovo software will constantly remind you that you do not have a genuine battery if you replace yours with an aftermarket model and at the most inappropriate moment, redirect you to one of their sales sites in the hope that you will buy another genuine one.  In fact, they’ll even give you a warning that your laptop may spontaneously combust if you continue to use an aftermarket one; the fact they are made by the same manufacturer in the same factory has nothing to do with it of course, they simply want your money at their inflated prices.  It’s not just the once though, the pop ups and reminders happen time and time again.

We have an aging Canon MP140 Pixma inkjet printer.  In fairness it didn’t cost a lot and it doesn’t get much use but its ideal as a second printer for printing off draft copies of documents; of course it also acts as a scanner and photocopier which are useful features.  It was originally bought for printing photographs and actually for the cost, the results are quite impressive.  The problem comes when it’s time to replace the consumables, its astonishing the difference in price between a full set of genuine Canon ink cartridges and a set of cheap (refilled) aftermarket equivalents from the likes of ASDA or Tesco.  Of course this is all part of the master plan over at Canon (and in fairness, all the other printer manufacturers too; yes, I am referring to you Dell/Lexmark), you’re sold a relatively complex piece of kit that actually performs really well at a rock bottom price; the catch? Well the consumables are going to cost you more than the printer itself.

The printer will of course run perfectly well with non-genuine cartridges, however the printing software (both on your machine installed as part of the driver package and on the hardware controls on the printer itself) will refuse to acknowledge the presence of the new cartridges and will constantly remind you as with the Lenovo software above, that you are not using genuine Canon consumables.  In this case, every time you print you are told that your ink has run out which clearly is not the case.  It’s more frustrating than anything else, of course had I installed genuine Canon cartridges the ink level monitor would have automatically reset but now, no matter how many times I reinstall the cartridges or reset the printer; it simply keeps telling me I am out of ink even though they are new cartridges.  The same would be true if I had taken a set of empty genuine Canon cartridges to the likes of Cartridge World to be refilled; the printer is clever enough to recognise the exact cartridges and will remember that it has run out of ink.

Well I am sorry Canon; I will not be buying your cartridges because I know a way around this problem.  It’s actually quite simple all you need to do is perform a factory reset as would take place if you sent your printer back for service to fool the printer, then the levels reset and it is happy to use much cheaper, after-market consumables.

Just do the following:

• Disconnect the power supply to the printer by removing the power lead from the back
• Press and hold the Power Button whilst plugging the power lead back in, then whilst continuing to hold the button down press the Reset Button (the one with the red triangle inside the circle) twice
• Release the Power Button and after around 10 seconds the display will show ‘0’
• Press the + Button to change the value from ‘0’ to ‘1’
• Press the Colour Button; you’ll notice that both the A4 Plain Paper and A4 Photo Paper LEDs will now be on
• Make sure that there is some paper in the paper feeder
• Press the Power Button twice; the printer will now print some random information which you can discard
• Now open the printer cover (not the scanner cover) and remove the cartridges.  With the printer still open, remove the power lead from the back of the printer once again
• Close the printer cover
• Replace the power lead and press the Power Button to turn the printer back on
• Now replace the cartridges and the ink level monitor will be reset

It’s about time that manufacturers acknowledged that owing to their inflated prices buying genuine consumables are simply too prohibitive for a lot of people.  If they were to lower the cost (and let us be frank, does it really cost them that much to produce?) then I would not have an issue with them engineering in ways to try and manipulate you into buying their own consumables.  But if they insist on keeping their prices so high, stop the nagging; we aren’t fooled and we aren’t going to buy from you anyhow.  Remember a happy customer is a customer for life and above all else, the customer is always right!

I hope you find this useful.