Air is Adobe’s proposal to build Rich Internet Applications by means of Html/Js, Flex or Flash. There are alternatives and one caught my attention since a while: Titanium. It is still in a preview release stage but it showcases good features and possibilities. For example the clone of Tweetie built on Titanium is a stunning demo.
Since I suspect that memory consumption will be a problem for every ria SDK which aims at being crossplatform, I had a look at the Tweetanium application in the demo section. Downloaded, installed and loaded three timelines: home, friends and replies. I did the same with Posty.
Below is a screenshot comparing memory consumption.

I am aware it is a shallow approach, but Tweetanium is much more hungry than Posty, in spite the fact that Tweetanium supports just one service (Twitter) whereas Posty includes Twitter, Jaiku, Tumblr, Friendfeed and Identi.ca. That said I list few items which can help to contextualize the comparison:

• Disclosure: I am the author of Posty, though I think the comparison is pretty fair. Anyway I am open to criticism.
• Titanium is a prerelease version. It can improve.
• The Air framework is a bit ‘older’ than Titanium, probably more time has been spent to improve memory consumption
• Posty’s memory usage has been optimized, whereas Titanium (I think) has been built to show how easy is to build a Twitter client with the SDK, so probably not much effort has been put in optimizing memory consumption.
• Air’s is made by Adobe, a company. Probably this means more money and time invested in a project (though I am clearly aware that more money does not mean a better product)
• The comparison regards only memory consumption. I am sure there are many other aspects that can be put on the table before saying “this is better than that”.

This is why I think this post has just to provoke a discussion. I will be glad to hear your opinion.

A while ago I posted a comment on SixRevisions, which is a great source for web developers and designers. Everyday they publish inspiring articles and tutorials. The internet is full of posts on Twitter, but SixRevision published a really interesting one,
10 Features That Will Make Twitter Better, the one I commented.
The guys behind SixRevisions decided to select the most interesting comments and asked authors to elaborate on them. And my comment was selected. Here is the result, 11 Excellent Twitter Improvement Ideas and my contribution is the 9th.

Thanks Jacob and colleagues for the opportunity!

A new release of Posty is available. Download it from the Posty home page.
Please find the change log below.

PS: Posty has now a new signed certificate. The automatic update from previous versions might fail. You might need to uninstall the old version before installing the new one.

CHANGE LOG

• post panel always visible at the bottom
• custom panel: configurable to show the timelines you like
• added “check for updates now” button
• fixed double monitor bug
• hide show commands on rollover
• added options in twitter/friendfeed search
• solved tumblr login bug
• tweaked blue and green theme
• toggle buttons to choose the service to be updated
• new timelines: twitter and identi.ca favorites

There are many suggestions on who to follow on Twitter, enable also by tools like Twubble and Twitdir.
As far as I know there are much less posts about un-following. Here is my take.


Continues on Louis Gray’s blog.


Thanks Louis for the opportunity!

A new release of Posty is out today. On time to be put under the Christmas tree.
Here is the change log.
Enjoy!

• nine new graphical themes to customize the look and feel
• new Panel layout to quicken the choice between tabs
• a new tab, Friends, to read in one shot the updates from your Twitter and Identica
• improved notification of new tweets. (drag the window to position it as you prefer)
• possibility to choose the font from the list of installed fonts
• possibility to delete sensible data (usernames and passwords)
• better memory management. less memory consumption

To download it go to the Posty home page.

This is the result of the poll on desiderata for the next version of Posty.

Will let you know soon.

If you like to have news about Posty you can also follow it on twitter.

I created a small poll to understand which are the most “urgent” features for the next release of Posty, which will be ready around the end of the year.

If the list does not include what you’d like to see in the next version of Posty, please drop a line in the comments.

A new version of Posty has been released today. This is the best release of Posty ever with a lot of new features!

• Automatic updates. Upon confirmation Posty downloads and installs new versions.
• Improved usability of login forms (which show up when needed)
• Clickable in-text links
• Url shortening (via http://is.gd/)
• Support to Twitter Direct Messages
• Support to Identi.ca Direct Messages
• Configurable notifications of new Twitter updates
• Support to Retweet
• Support to Twitter favorites
• Support to Identi.ca favorites
• Memorization of services to update, preselected on startup
• Choice of active services to be displayed on startup

To download it go to Posty home page.


Special thanks to beta testers who helped identifying bugs and collaborated by sending details.

I created a quick screencast which shows how simple is to microblog by means of Posty.

Update: Final version available here.


A new release of Posty is available, with support to four networks: twitter, jaiku, pownce and tumblr. A quick recap of the features:

• write a message a post it to each service with one click
• browse personal and public notes
• reply to twitter and pownce notes
• full browsing of tumblog, with rendering of audio, video, conversation, etc.

Download Posty.

A screenshot of the main interface.


A screenshot of the twitter interface.
To run Posty you need the Adobe Air installer.
For any comment, suggestion, curiosity or feedback: posty AT spreadingfunkyness.com.