Twitter Apps for Blackberry

Originally published on my Xanga blog, 4 November 2009

---

After having to give up my company Blackberry a few months ago as a cost-cutting measure, I'm now finally in possession of my mobile device of preference.  It's a Blackberry Curve 8330, very similar to the device I had before.  After setting up e-mail and assigning speed dials, I got busy downloading the apps I knew I'd use most.  One of the last, and most difficult to settle upon, was a Twitter application.  Here are the options I explored:

First, there was Twibble.  My trouble with Twibble (pun intended) was that it only loaded the feed up to a point, and anything older caused the app to pop up a message saying I'd need to pay money for more.  Ummmm...how 'bout "no"?

Second, I moved on Twitterberry.  I'd remembered trying it before on my old Blackberry, and it didn't take me long to figure out why I didn't like it then either.  If you check your feed and then leave it for several hours (and assuming you follow at least a handful of people who tweet regularly) before checking again, you'll find that it loads all new tweets after the point you were at last, causing your to have to scroll endlessly to get to what's most recent.  There may be a way to hop back to the top, but I couldn't find it after a couple of days of looking. 

Third, I heard some good things about Tiny Twitter, and it wasn't bad.  My only complaint about it is the interface felt a bit frantic when I scrolled down, as if it were a little too sensitive or something.

Fourth and (hopefully) finally I came across TweetCaster.  Actually, a friend of a friend on Facebook suggested it.  Nice!  It updates itself (no need to hit "Refresh") and the interface both looks good and works nicely.  Check it out!

What is Igneous Quill? (3)

Igneous Quill Podcast #1: What is Igneous Quill?

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Also:

What is Igneous Quill? (1)

What is Igneous Quill? (2)

What is Igneous Quill? (2)

No, today isn't the day I explain how I came up with the name, "Igneous Quill."  That day may or may not ever come.  What I'd like to write out today is simply a brief description of where Igneous Quill has been, where it is and perhaps a guess and where it's going.  What is Igneous Quill?

First, Igneous Quill is a blog.  It began as a way to help me sort out my thoughts as I worked through a difficult spot in life.  It continued as what I described as a "theological workshop" and has since progressed into being a sort of tech blog with a social action twist with interest in Brazil.  I used to write solely for my own satisfaction without worrying too much about quality.  While I still derive satisfaction from blogging, I really am trying to improve the content.  Increasingly I'm looking for guest bloggers who can speak authoritatively about Brazil, science, technology, software, etc.

Second, Igneous Quill is a mission.  Right now it's really more of a dream, coaelscing into a vision which hopefully can become a full-fledged non-profit endeavor.  I'd like to see peace and development promoted in Brazil through education and open source solutions.  The idea is to partner with local groups already on the ground in Brazil to provide after-school or perhaps even in-school programs to train young people in computer science.  More could be done, but I'll need a community to help generate ideas and build enthusiasm.

So, thirdly, Igneous Quill is a community.  It's a fairly small community at the moment, composed only of those who subscribe to this blog via rss or e-mail, or who visit regularly.  Some comment on posts, most don't.  A handful have even joined the Ning site (it's free, so why don't you join too?).  Some are interested only in discussing Linux, others may be drawn to talk about Brazil, and others...who knows why they show up?  That's all okay.  No one has to be interested in 100% of what comes across the blog or pops up in the community.  This group will be helpful though, as I've mentioned, in supporting and -- in a very real sense -- making Igneous Quill.  The more the community is involved the less this will be about me and the more it will be about a common vision and shared goals.

That, at least for now, is Igneous Quill. 

---

See Also:

What is Igneous Quill? (1)

What is Igneous Quill? (3)

Finding Igneous Quill Online

What is Igneous Quill? (1)

Also:

What is Igneous Quill? (2)

What is Igneous Quill? (3)

Summer Beats 2010

---

Site
Twitter

Chad Vader S1 Ep1: A Galaxy Not So Far Away

If you haven't been watching Chad Vader on YouTube, you've been missing out.

Life Almost Entirely Off the Grid

In 1998, a year after my first mission trip to Brazil, my ministry program at Harding University went to Brazil on an "International Campaign".  One classmate didn't make it to orientation and also had to go to Brazil a couple of days after the group arrived.  We were in downtown Belo Horizonte walking back to the church building after lunch when we met up with him.  He was grinning from ear to ear and looking up at the buildings.  I told him it was good to see him, and he continued grinning and looking around.

"Wow.  I didn't know there'd be all these buildings here.  This is a city!  I thought we were going to be in a village in the jungle somewhere!"

Sigh.

The year before I moved to Brazil and got married I went to a teaching supply store.  I was preparing to teach English in Brazil, so I needed some items to help out.  Looking around I found a series of books for elementary school teachers about different countries around the world.  There was one for Germany, another for the United Kingdom and still others for South Africa, China and Australia.  Sorting through them I found "Brazil."  I took a deep breath and opened the book.  Jungle.  Amazon.  Canoes.  Native American villages.

What comes to the minds of most Americans - if anything - when they hear the word "Brazil" are images of jungles.  They think "Amazon."  This inaccurate association may well be corrected over the coming years as the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro approaches, but I'm not sure.

The trouble is that although I want people to understand that Brazil is much more than jungles, and in fact most of the country is not jungle and the vast majority of the popluation lives in urban areas, we really shouldn't forget that there are jungle areas in Brazil.  They make up part of what is Brazil.

Seth Kugel can generally be counted on for an interesting first-person view of life in Brazil from the perspective of an outsider (non-Brazilian).  He doesn't disappoint with his recent article for GlobalPost, Soccer and soap operas in the Amazon.  In it he shares about a small fishing village where there are a handful of TVs and a generator that sometimes has fuel to power them.  The locals are hooked on soccer games and soap operas, and through these they absorb the larger Brazilian culture that exists thousands of miles away.

Some may consider they way of life idyllic and the TVs an intrusion, but I wonder about their health care and education situation.  The report doesn't tell us.  That wasn't the point.  It seems to me though that there are definitely "benefits" to civilization which, without coercion, these folks would love to embrace.  Television and electric lighting is just a beginning.

You may call me evil, but I'd like these people to have the opportunity to be "on the grid."