No More, thanks to KnowMore.org

When non-profit organizations and foundations made the realization that, despite their limited budget and resources, they could reach their target audience effectively (all thanks to the web), their objectives suddenly became much more attainable. Carrying out the tasks of a given development program might be costly, but at least spreading awareness of the issue, and reaching out to volunteers and doners, has become significantly easier.

KnowMore.org is a community-driven wiki that aims at aggregating corporations and entities to a publicly-accessible database to raise awareness about human-rights violations. It does so by researching and finding the companies and multi-nationals that are responsible for “attacks on democracy, worker’s and human rights, fair trade, business ethics and the environment.” It’s a brilliant initiative that brings valuable information in a centralized location for everyone to benefit from.

Not only is KnowMore.org impressive because of the initiative and online presence, but also  because of the way in which they’ve exploited the web (no pun intended). First of all, the look and feel of the website puts it way ahead of the rest (including many corporate websites). Secondly, the fact that it’s very easy to use (spin off from the widespread Wikipedia) inevitably encourages anyone with interest in the field to take part and add to the extensive database.

That’s not all. They’ve actually taken it to the next level by offering a Firefox add-on called KnowMore Extension. What this does is bring up a notification underneath the toolbar of Firefox whenever you are visiting a website of a company that has violated human rights one way or the other. And in order to avoid being what opposition would rush to claim generic, or over-generalizing, they actually indicate the exact rights that have been violated, as well as providing the link to learn more about the illegal activities of that particular company.

KnowMore.org notification bar

It’s like having the community do all of the work for you while you’re browsing.

There are many organizations and non profit entities out there that are striving to make this world a better place. KnowMore.org is like many of them in principle, but far more effective in practice. That is because they have managed to reduce their costs by making the entire platform online, engaged with visitors via the attractive interface and the easy, familiar wiki system, and reached out to many more via the effective Firefox plugin.

If you are part of an NGO or a social development initiative, then the standards set by KnowMore.org should be your immediate goal. That is partly why our beautiful web is power to the people.

Share this post:

When Old School Propaganda Fails To Be As Effective

As brutal and corrupt as many governments can be nowadays, some are oblivious to the fact that the Web empowers the people beyond control. Dictators like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, and Hosny Mubarak of Egypt might like to think that they rule with an iron fist that is virtually impossible to dismantle. While that is certainly close to the truth, little do they know that their technological incompetence and their underestimation of the power of the web is a potentially serious threat.

Egypt, for example, has opened up the press freedom over the past decade, which has encouraged a number of independent newspapers to take the stage. That, along with the exponential technological advancements that the world as a whole has experienced, has left the government thinking that perhaps it has bitten off more than it can chew. In the 80s, the three main papers were all governmental, and any story shared between the three, regardless of it authenticity, become true to the masses. Not only that, but propaganda posters and cartoons were highly effective.

Now the times are-a-changing.

After the horrific sectarian clashes in the south of Egypt, the entire Egyptian blogosphere was talking. Twitter was on fire. Facebook was flooded. And the blogs discussing the issue were scattered all over. That is when Al Ahram, Egypt’s main government-run newspaper, decided to weather the storm. Besides the fact that their website, when it actually works, looks like cow manure reshaped to fit within a computer screen, their approach was older than the president himself:

The ridiculous propaganda cartoon by Al Ahram

The “illustration”, which seems to have been scribbled and slapped together by a six year-old with mental illness, depicts the happy Egyptians together celebrating peace and prosperity. A Muslim coming out of a minaret shouts out simultaneously with his Christian counterpart standing on a church tower, “our shared enemy is the devil.” If that’s not enough, the “doves” in between are carrying hearts back and forth to imply unconditional love exchanged by all the peoples. The worst part of it all is that it’s not a joke – Al Ahram genuinely thought they would indirectly fool the crowds into believing that the all is well at the land of the Pyramids.

20 years ago, the cartoon could’ve stood a chance. Now, it could only make matters worse. The main reason being that with access to unlimited and uncensored information between the different people across space and time, old school propaganda has become ineffective. People no longer fall for the idealizing images of brutal dictators, nor photographs of happy citizens enjoying life. Not only does it need to be far more sophisticated, it also needs to be significantly more convincing. After all, there’s a lot of competition, and the web is anyone’s to create and share.

Dictators with over a quarter of a century under their belt might feel safe, but few have hopped on the fast-track trail of the internet and are therefore are not in as much control as they would like to think. For that reason, along with education, health care and infrastructure, internet access should be one of the aspects in the developement of over-exploited nations. Since effective communication is key to any change, the web is absolutely crucial in connecting the people and giving them the power they need to gain equality and justice.

The web has been, and will always be, power to the people – nothing can take that away from it.

Share this post:

Issue Tracking and Team Collaboration with WebIssues

When working on any web projects, organization is key. Perhaps when you are working on your own, using a handful of tools to be sure that you are on top of things is not a priority – it could in fact become a waste of time. However, once you start collaborating (the key word) with others on projects, it is crucial that you establish a system of communication. Between the projects, tasks, milestones and tickets, you’re sure to be left MIA if email and chat programs are your paths to international communication.

A very popular web-based project management tool is Base Camp by 37 Signals. Although its price tag is not at the attractive end at the spectrum, when you are ready to work with a group and are bidding for bigger projects (with a goal of making more profit), Base Camp’s monthly charge is a small price to pay for a significant increase in efficiency and productivity. The long list of alternatives (both open-source and commercial) could be discussed at another point, the one aspect that I wanted to pay close attention to is tracking issues and bugs.

Without a doubt, one of the best and most popular bug tracking tools is Bugzilla. The free and open-source application can be installed on any server and provides a web interface to be accessed from any browser. However, aside from an interface that could confuse a designer or two, Bugzilla’s main problem is that it requires ‘root’ access on the server it is installed on, which virtually eliminates the vast majority of web hosting providers. If you are not willing to invest in a dedicated server (see my posts on the different types of hosting), or at least a Virtual Private one, nor setup your own server at the home or office, then you’re in a need of an alternative – ideally one that runs entirely using PHP and MySQL.

WebIssues client on Linux

Look no further, for the ever-progressing planet of the beautiful open-source brings you WebIssues; an open-source, self-hosted issue tracking and team collaboration tool by Michał Męciński. Just visit the website, download the zipped file to be unarchived and uploaded to your server (preferably under a sub-domain such as bugs.mywebsite.com). You’ll need to do edit the configuration file and type in the address and login of the database that you’ve created for the application to use. After that, download and install your WebIssues client (available for Linux, Mac OS and Windows) and start reporting bugs.

As oppose to a strictly web interface, WebIssues provides a powerful access via the desktop client. Think of it as replacing your webmail with a desktop email client; performance is much better, the options are much easier to access and far more advanced, and searching/filtering is a walk in the park.

Some of the main features, besides the aforementioned desktop client access, include:

• Easy searching, filtering and sorting of all issues
• Fully customizable issue types, which allows you to tailer the interface for your particular projects
• Different permission levels and security

WebIssues desktop client on Mac OS

Perhaps more importantly, WebIssues strength lies in it’s strong database structure, and its easy-to-use API which allows you to add to it as you see fit. With time, not only will the application itself improve, but developers contributing will introduce even more features and enhancements that we could all benefit from. After the inclusion of an extensive system for reports, as well as a basic web interface, it’s hard to see WebIssues being outdone by any competition.

A core part of a team’s collaboration on web projects consists of tracking all of the bugs that arise, otherwise finishing off projects will become an impossibility. The free, open-source WebIssues allows you to do precisely that, regardless of the OS you use, while hosting it on your own server.

NOTE: WebIssues was first spotted by Omar Mohamed (website under construction), a web developer from Helwan, Egypt.

Share this post:

How To Create Your Own Blog: A Guide to Installing and Configuring WordPress

Many are unaware of just how easy it is to start your own blog using the best open source tool for blogging out there: WordPress. This is a tutorial that will get you up and running in no time. It will cover everything from purchasing your domain name and hosting account, to downloading, installing and configuring WordPress on your website. After all, your space on the World Wide Web is your birth right, and giving it up because you overestimate the process involved is a pity indeed.

So let’s jump right into this

Step 1: Domain & Hosting

Makre sure your host supports PHP and MySQL

Before you can run a website or blog, you need a unique address (domain) pointing to a space that you’ve reserved on a remote server somewhere on the planet (hosting). You can view my guide on hosting to fully understand the different categories, and thus, which one is best for you. Generally speaking, if this is your first time, a standard shared web hosting account, that usually offers a free domain on top, gets the job done.

For example, if you choose to go with Blue Host, then simply visit the website, and sign up for an account that will cost you $7 for every month, and you’ll probably pay for two years in advance. Any standard plan from any provider will do, granted it supports PHP and MySQL databases (some providers don’t offer databases with their basic packages, but that’s a bit of a rarity nowadays).

Step 2: Create the Database

Now that you own an account, log on to the administration control panel, which is provided to you by the hosting company you’ve chosen to go with, to create a database:

Find the link to add databases (could also use PHPMyAdmin)

1. Go to your control panel and login
2. Find the databases link, click “add new database”
3. Give it a name, for example: WordPressBlog
4. Add a user that will be accessing the database (by creating a username and password)
5. Take note of the address of the database (in most cases, it’s “localhost”, but sometimes it’s different. In which case you’ll see it displayed along with the database name somewhere)

Now that you’ve created the database, as well as the credentials for accessing it, you’re ready to install WordPress.

Step 3: Download WordPress, Then Upload It

This is a straight forward process:

1. Go to http://www.wordpress.org/
2. Download the zipped file
3. Unarchive (extract) it on your computer, you should be left with a folder called “wordpress”
4. Open your FTP client. FileZilla is one of the best – free, open source and efficient
5. Enter the FTP information for your website (given to you by your provider, usually found in the control panel)
6. Upload the contents of the “wordpress” folder to the root directory of your website (you can upload the entire folder, in which case the installation would be at: www.yourwebsite.com/wordpress)

Now that WordPress has been uploaded to your server, and your database is created, you are now ready to go through the famous five-minute installation.

Step 4: WordPress Installation

Everything is significantly easier with WordPress, and the installation process is no different.

You'll be prompted to create a configuration file

1. Direct your browser to where the WordPress files had been uploaded (if in the root directory, then just go to www.yourwebsite.com)
2. You will be prompted to create a configuration file, this is where you store basic information such as the database credentials. Click on the button
3. Click on “Let’s go” to enter the information
4. Enter the database information. You should have all of the details from when you created the database earlier. You can also change the prefix of the tables created in the database, but “wp_” will do just fine
   
   

   Enter the database information

5. If the database credentials were correct, WordPress will give you confirmation that the tables have been created and the initial data has been added. In some cases, the configuration file is not writable, in which case you will have to manually edit the file to add the database information. You can follow the steps on the WordPress Codex installation guide
6. Enter the title and email that you would want to use
7. When all goes well, you will be given a temporary generated password that you will use to enter the administration control panel for the first time. Click on login and enter the credentials that you were just handed
   
   

   Temporary account details. Change password after logging in

Now’s the time to access the control panel and get ready to start blogging!

Step 5: Configure WordPress

The first time you enter the admin panel, you should change your password to something you can remember (you’ll be reminded to do so anyway). It’s also good practice to add another user to replace “admin” so that your alias appears with the posts. If you want to create another administrator account, click on “Users” from the menu on the left, then add, then enter the information. Don’t forget to make the user “Administrator”. Now that the user’s created, log out, and login with the new username and password. Feel free to delete the original “admin” user, now that the blog has a new administrator.

As any beautiful open source tool, there are tons of options that you could go for right after a fresh installation. Having said that, the following are the personal recommended additions/configurations after you’ve logged in for the first time:

• Enable Permalinks: This is by far one of the biggest advantages of WordPress; the simplicity of the process of controlling the URLs generated. If you’re a frequent blogger, choose year/month/day/title. Otherwise, year/month/title should do fine
  
  

  Enable Permalinks: easy and powerful

• Enable Akismet Plugin: I’ve talked about this plugin in my post Essential WordPress Plugins where I’ve listed and discussed every single plugin used for this website. Akismet is revolutionary in how it automatically detects spam comments and places them in a separate queue that you’ll probably never need to check – it’s never mistaken
• Browse/Install More Plugins: You can check the list of the plugins I use, or you can simply browse the most popular plugins from the “Plugins” menu item on the left. You won’t lose anything in trying out plugins and disabling them if you’re not satisfied. Almost any website/blog could use popular plugins such as “All in One SEO Pack”, “Contact Form 7″, “Social Bookmarking RELOADED” and “WP Piwik” (here’s why you should be using Piwik instead of Google Analytics)
• Change Theme: As attractive as the default theme may seem at first look, it’s a good idea to go for a different theme. The new version of WordPress allows you to browse the different themes available as if installing plugins – very convenient. You will find the link to install themes under the “Appearance” tab. Otherwise, there are numerous websites dedicated to free WordPress themes that you can install, upload via Filezilla, and activate with the theme menu item

Now you’re golden. You’ve set everything up, and now you’re ready to start sharing your thoughts and ideas with the entire world.

Step 6: Start Blogging!

You can start by making a test post, just to get acquainted with the interface and features. After that, you may want to go through the following content-related options:

• Add a couple of pages where you will be displaying information that doesn’t change much (for example, “About Me”,  “Contact”, or “WordPress Guides”)
• Decide whether or not you’re going to be using categories (best used for posts that are displayed on different parts of the website. Otherwise, stick to tags only). Create your categories from the “Posts” menu item
• Make links’ lists such as “Blogroll” or “Shout out to my people” where you can share various links with the visitors. The “Links” menu item is found on the left and is also very easy to use

That’s it, you’re done! As you can see, the entire process takes 20 minutes or so, and there are substantial amounts of resources for help and support flooding the net if you need them. Generally speaking, it is a straight-forward process and there’s very small room for issues and problems.

You’re Voice on the Web – Your Right

The most important aspect of yet another revolutionary product from the open source community is that it simply acts as a channel that facilities the communication and information exchange between people across space and time regardless of race or origin. It is very important to take advantage of your right as a member of the community of the World Wide Web, the current generations are the first in history to be granted such a privilege. Underestimating its power, or overestimating the technical skills required, is a shame. So get yourself a blog and write about whatever it is you want to blabber about, you have absolute freedom. Beautiful.

Share this post:

Avoid Waiting on Downloads: SkipScreen

I had previously discussed the 7 must-have Firefox add-ons for web developers and designers. I had also spoken about AdBlock Plus, which is, at times, the most downloaded Firefox extension out there. Now I think it is important to bring up an add-on that revolutionizes the way many people exchange files via bulk storage and sharing websites such as RapidShare and Megaupload.

SkipScreen is a seemless addition to the world’s best browser that automatically skips tedious and frustrating intermediate pages preventing you from reaching the file you are trying to download. Whenever someone wants to share a large file (regardless of its nature) and chooses to do so via a file-sharing online service, he or she saves the hassle of having to own web space accessed via an FTP client, and it’s free. The problem, however, is that the recipient has to pass by at least three or four ad-flooded pages before reaching the point of having to wait for a timer to finish because he or she has done the blasphemous move of refusing to sign up for a “premier” account.

Not anymore. Not with SkipScreen:

Click on the link and start the download immediately. No more torture.

Regardless of how often you come across files hosted on any of the numerous supported websites, this add-on is golden like the oldies. Install it directly from the Firefox Extensions page, and forget that it even exists, just like it’ll make you forget about painful intrusions ruining the otherwise beautiful and seamless web experience.

Share this post:

Centralize Your Files on a Remote Server

As a freelancer of any sort, you’re always on the move. In most cases, you travel distances as part of your work, and have to maintain a certain level of productivity at all times. Web designers and graphic designers alike can only last so long with a laptop, mainly due to the the small screen sizes, but also because of the limited capabilities of laptops in comparison to assembled desktops. This normally results in an investment in a powerful yet affordable desktop at the central location (be it the office, home, or anywhere else), accompanied by a notebook that allows for work continuation on the road.

That particular scenario raises a number of inconveniences. First and foremost, when you initiate a given project on one computer, you have to physically transfer everything via a USB flash memory or an external hard drive of some sort. When you’re back to your original PC, you’re left pondering which files have changed and thus require being transfered back, and which haven’t, and therefore would be a waste of time moving them back to overwrite the originals. Secondly, when your work is scattered between a couple of different computers, unless you can physically access either one of them, you are left stranded with your documents out of reach. Finally, when multi-tasking with a handful of projects, you’ll inevitably become completely disorganized, significantly reducing your efficiency and productivity.

Centralization of documents

Anyone in the vast IT industry probably has his or her website on a shared server. If you don’t, then you should. Besides the fact that you can get your own web space for as low as $6 a month, it has become crucial that you have a presence on the web, regardless of your field. Remember that the web means power to the people, and investing a small monthly fee is a small price to pay for the amount of freedom that you are granted in return. After you’ve established your own website, it is now time to take advantage of your space on the World Wide Web.

Store your files remotely

If all of the important documents that were placed on your main computer were accessible from anywhere and at anytime, then life would’ve been much easier. Unfortunately, unless you’re willing to buy a dedicated IP from your ISP and leave your computer connected 24/7 with constant electricity, Internet and cooling, then that’s not an option. This is where the remote server comes in.

By placing all of your documents with your hosting provider, you can access your files from anywhere with an Internet connection. Going away for the weekend? No problem, upload all of your work on your remote server, and when you reach your destination, get a hold of any computer with an internet connection to download the necessary files and start working. This means that you might not even need a laptop if you are sure of a qualified computer for your tasks at the location you’re heading to.

Synchronization and not manual transfer

If you use an FTP client (such as FileZilla) to upload all of your documents, and then download them from another computer using FTP, or HTTP (by visiting the exact location from the browser and downloading). That saves you the hassle of carrying around memory sticks or external hard disks where your data is stored, but you are left with the same issue of figuring out which files are supposed to stay, and which should be replaced. This is precisely where automatic synchronization comes in.

Using a synchronizing software, you can simply create profiles that mirror local directories with equivalents on a remote server. This means that if you have a folder on your hard disk named “contracts”, for example, you can create a profile so that under your website (or ideally, on a subdomain such as storage.yourwebsite.com) the same folder is created. Whenever you have completed a working session, you run the application and scan for differences. The program automatically selects the changed files on either end and lists them for you. By starting the process, you will have essentially left the program to download and upload only the changed files via FTP. Fast, efficient, and lets you get on with your daily tasks, as oppose to worrying about irritating ones.

Install the synchronizing software on every computer that you use, and when you are using one that is not yours, you can simply access the URL where the files are stored and download the necessary ones. You can use a web application to give you HTTP access to your files, such as the PHP Directory Listing Script, and therefore finding and downloading your files becomes a breeze.

Choosing the appropriate synchronizing client

Unfortunately, this is a field that is lacking options. Like everything else web-related, it is probably a temporary issue, but after extensive research, I’ve only found two powerful synchronizers. Both are commercial, albeit reasonably priced. The following are the features that were the base of my search:

• Two-way synchronization: Allowing you to upload and download, as oppose to using the remote server simply as a backup
• FTP support: This one knocked off quite a few of the candidates. It is essential to be able to synchronize with a remote server via FTP, as oppose to a physical hard disk connected to computer being used
• Interface: while an attractive appearance is not necessary, an organized display of the local vs remote files side-by-side is absolutely vital. Without an easy way of comparison, you’re wasting your time

After experimenting with a few, the following are the creme de la creme

GoodSync Pro

Screen capture taken from GoodSync.com

Never mind their 90s-style website, this is by far the best synchronization tool the world has experienced. Light-weight and extremely easy to use, this application runs smoothly and leaves no room for confusion or frustration.

At the start and end of any working session, run GoodSync and you’re guaranteed to have the most updated files in a very limited time. You can view the long list of key features on their website, but here are the ones that stand out:

• Allows for synchronization or simple backup
• Not a memory hogger, fast and does not interrupt your multi-tasking needs
• Automatically detects and fixes time shifts. By far one of the most important features
• Visual comparison avoids mistakes regrading overwriting files with others
• Timer and scheduler let’s the application do it’s job while you’re not even on your computer

At $30, you’re certainly getting a bang for your buck. The downfall that has sadly pushed me away from it is that it is only available for Windows. If one of the computers you will be synchronizing with is a Mac, then this software is no good for you. After using a genuine version for over a year, I had to move on to a competitor that offered Mac support. The disappointment was so deep, that I wrote them politely asking them to develop a Mac version, but without success.

Super Flexible Synchronizer

Gets the job done

They might have a much more professional website than that of GoodSync, but that’s probably where the loud praise would end. Super Flexible Synchronizer can be installed on a Mac, PC or Linux, making it the obvious choice for those juggling different OSs.

This application includes the basics required by anyone synchronizing with a remote server, but besides its support for the various operating systems, there isn’t too much to brag about:

• Not a very inviting interface, but gets the job done nonetheless
• Slow performance, especially when scanning large remote directories
• An incompetent time-stamping technique, potentially forcing you to upload and download the same files repeatedly (view work around below)

Although not as impressive as its $40 price tag suggests, it remains the best option for cross-browser remote server centralization and synchronization. Before you can fully rely on Super Flexible Synchronizer, you should remove the time stamp, as it is redundant and leads to the repetitive transfer of the same files:

Save yourself the hassle and remove the time stamp

1. After creating a profile, click “Edit Profile”
2. Under “Advanced Setting” to the bottom left, select “Comparison”
3. Under “When size is identical”, check “Ignore Timestamp Altogether”

What this does is tell the program that if the file sizes are identical, even if the time stamped on the given files are different (and they always are because SFS stamps when uploading OR downloading), then assume they are the same. When there is a difference in file size, it goes on to the modified date of the actual file, which means that the newer replaces the older. Otherwise, you’ll probably end up uploading and downloading the directories back and forth. This permanently solves the problem.

Conclusion

To summarize, the following is what you need to do in order to centralize all of your documents on a remote server, and synchronize with the different computers that you are using:

1. Sign up for a domain and hosting with any of the hosting providers (for example, Blue Host) if you haven’t done so already
2. Create a subdomain exclusively for storage (like backup.yourwebsite.com, or storage.yourwebsite.com)
3. Install the PHP Directory Listing Script on your web server (instructions on the website)
4. Download a copy of either GoodSync Pro, or Super Flexible Synchronizer (depending on whether or not you’re syncing with a Mac)
5. Setup profiles that mirror local directories with the same but on your remote server, via FTP, using the software you chose in step 4
6. Start syncing right before and right after extensive work sessions

This solution is ideal for web designers, developers, graphic designers, or anyone always on the move while working on different computers. You could also use it to store photos, music and videos. The only problem might be the limitations of your internet connection, making it almost impossible to upload large files, as well as your shared hosting provider’s connectivity, slowing down communication with the server. As the services and features provided to us by the beautiful Web increase, organization is a must.

Share this post:

Google’s 10 to the 100

Love’em or hate’em, we must not take anything away from Google’s creativity and innovation. One of the latest of which establishing an unprecedented approach to social development via the one and only: the World Wide Web. Project 10 to the 100 is a $10 million grant that Google will be handing to the chosen project related to development anywhere across the globe. After accepting applications and stacking over 150,000 applicants’ hopes and dreams with ideas on different projects, Google narrowed down the candidates to the finalists where only one will rise as the winner of the generous grant from the Californian giants.

How is the candidate chosen? This is where the community of the web comes in, and Google have cleverly taken advantage: Your vote. Every person can go on the website, read about every project, and then vote of whichever he or she has most faith in. Accordingly, the search engine pioneers will shell out a big tenner and make the project a reality. Not only have they used the web to announce their grant and facilitate communication with the different candidates, they have taken it a step further by allowing the true owners of the internet, the users, to use their power and indicate where the money will be heading. Yet another example of the immense power of the web, and how it can play a vital part in every single field across the planet. The trick is to give people the power they deserve, and Google, in this particular case, have done precisely that.

Share this post:

Twitter Apps for Mobile Devices

It could take a considerable amount of time to get properly acquainted with Twitter, but it takes no time to fall in love with it. Regardless of what this Web 2.0 revolution was originally made for, it’s current uses surpass those of the most optimistic of the Twitter founders. A huge factor behind its success in reaching and recruiting millions is its flexible API, permitting anyone to develop software on different platforms that communicate with the service and display it differently, allowing users to interact on a much more profound level.

In a previous article, I briefly discussed the four main methods of communicating with Twitter. The one category that is arguably the most important, since it gives Twitter its unique edge, is that of mobile applications. Tweeting and following other people’s tweets regardless of location is an amazing experience, taking the communication between the diverse crowds to a different level. From this pickle spins off the debate: Which is the best Twitter application for your mobile?

Before answering the question, it is necessary to note that there are various platforms on which mobile applications are built, and unlike libraries such as AIR for the desktop, they don’t tend to be available and consistent across all mobile OSs. There are those who own an iPhone, and have had no problem using the “web device” to access Twitter via the 3.5″ screen and the numerous iPhone applications. On the other hand, there is a minority who are so oblivious to the constant failure of the the Windows operating system on desktops, that they chose to take on the hellish torture with them on the road. Aside from the growing Android-based community, many of the main stream cell phone owners are running a recent version of Symbian or Symbian OS (learn more at the symbian.org FAQ page).

Until recently, Twibble was without a doubt one of the best free Twitter mobile applications. Judging by the number of downloads and the fine print associated with many of the tweets, few were unaware of it, and many fully relied on it. That is, of course, until the German makers decided to force users to pay in order to “activate” their accounts and enjoy full features. If you chose not to, besides the annoying announcements getting in your way, you’d be stripped of some of the striking features that had previously attracted an enormous user base.

Let the research for replacements begin.

The following are the common characteristics that the average twitterer would seek:

• Access to many tweets within the same page, and fitting at least two or three within the screen size
• The ability to easily tweet, retweet and reply. As well as the ability to view direct messages and mentions
• Searching hash tags, in order to follow topics on the road (usually precisely related to being on the road, for example: #cairotraffic)
• View people’s profiles, revealing the numbers of following and followers

Some advanced users might be greedy and demand features such as the ability to follow and unfollow others directly, creating groups to show tweets from certain people only, and viewing a complete list of people you are following, as well as those who follow you. It is of my humble opinion that this might be too much to ask from an application running on the basic processors of cell phones, and displaying on the tiny screens attached. For that reason, the goal is to focus on the applications that cover the main points mentioned above, taking anything extra as a plus.

From a long list of Twitter applications available across all mobile and hand-held devices, the following are the creme de la creme.

Snaptu

Snaptu logo

Snaptu is a free mobile application that acts as a platform for many apps and services to be built upon. It could be seen as a mini operating system, or a collection of programs that are accessed from its dashboard after opening it. Funny enough, Twitter is but another one of a handful of applications available, but it might just be the most important one. In fact, using Snaptu exclusively for Twitter is indeed worthwhile.

A bit boring, but informative nonetheless.

Twitter on Snaptu offers all of the basic features, in addition to the following:

• Search: People as well as hash tags. It also saves your search, so you don’t have to write in the hash tag every time
• Group people: Only thought to be available through desktop applications, but the guys at Snaptu bring this impressive functionality to your mobile phone
• Attach images: After taking a photo with the camera on your phone, you can locate it on your memory and attach it to a tweet
• Follow and unfollow: You can select to start following people, and you can view a full list of those following you, or anyone else for that matter

Most importantly, the interface of Snaptu’s Twitter is both very attractive/sleek, and efficient at the same time. The size of the image thumbnails associated with each person is adjusted to not take too much space, while still being visible. It also loads the off-screen tweets on demand, significantly improving performance and reducing the load on the network you’re on (which isn’t always as cheap as we would like it to be).

The major turn off for anyone looking to migrate to Snaptu is its lack of support for Arabic (as well as other scripts). Unfortunately, it is impossible to read the tweets that are written in Arabic, making it a no-no for many-a-twitterers.

Tweets60

Tweets60

Tweets60 is another free Twitter client for any phone running the S60 operating system (a full list of phones that run S60 found here). It is the ideal solution for those who don’t break too much sweat on the extra features, and in fact prefer a simplistic approach. Tweets60 is an example of a mobile application that carries out all of the basic tasks, while maintaining a clean interface making it easy to manage.

This is how it looks on the Nokia E71:

Tweets60 on Nokia E71

The biggest advantage over a strong candidate such as Twitter on Snaptu is its native support for Arabic. It’s small, light-weight, and displays the Arabic tweets. While there’s a crowd that view that combination as ideal, many could be pushed away by the lack of features and functionality, as well as the dull interface.

Twibble

Twibble goes commercial

At 4,90 Euros, the former number one has exchanged it’s title for a familiar “if you can’t beat’em, join’em”. In all fairness, it is not too much to ask for, but it still results in an inevitable feeling of betrayal when your favorite Twitter application on your cell phone goes commercial over night and forces you to pay to essentially continue using it. It only take a day’s following of the #twibble hash tag to view the furious comments by users from all corners of the globe.

While very powerful, Twibble does not offer all of the functionality found in Snaptu, but it does offer features on top of the basic needs of a twitterer. Indeed it becomes easy to follow hash tags, handle tweets, browse attached URLs and read/write messages.

Above all, Twibble supports Arabic, making it the ideal solution that has taken the best of both worlds, as it offers a large portion of the goodies produced by Snaptu, while being light-weight and properly rendering Arabic tweets.

But it’s not free.

Regardless of the fact that it is priced at a humble 5 Euros (even when ignoring the fact that many people in the Arab world do not have paypal accounts to pay the Germans and use their application), having to pay for something that bring its beauty from Twitter’s free API leaves anyone with a feeling of guilt for investing. Using Twitter, regardless of the platform, application, or motivation behind it, should always be free.

Conclusion

Unless many of the tweets are written in Arabic, you can fully rely on Snaptu and keep Tweets60 on the side for those tweets that you want to be able to read. Otherwise, you might just need to shell out a fiver from Europe and be a legitimate owner of a commercial twitter application on your mobile phone. I personally use Snaptu regularly, and only open Tweets60 whenever there are a series of consecutive tweets that were written in Arabic that I happened to be interested in (and cannot wait until I’m at a desktop). As for Twibble, I’m not even considering paying for a service, regardless of how powerful it is. Soon, there will be open-source mobile apps for Twitter, and Android seems like a strong candidate to set the stage, and let the people act out the play.

Share this post:

Opera 10: The All-In-One Browser

Opera seems to have become the forgotten browser. in 1996, when the world was starting to learn about the World Wide Web, version 2.0 of Opera was publicly released. Two years later, they had already initiated the portable branch, bringing the browser to a wealth of portable devices (anything that supported Java). I had previously discussed using the mobile version for the ultimate portable web experience. It comes as no surprise that by the turn of the century, the Norwegian software company had made its browser available on every major operating system, and across all devices.

The new Opera 10

Unless you’re granted unconditional loyalty through anti-trust strategies (such as the case with the hard workers at Microsoft), with experience comes significant improvements, and the 10th release of Opera brings together a flock of neat features to the table. The most notable of which:

• Opera Turbo: a compression technique that allows websites to be rendered rapidly. Particularly useful for users with a slow internet connection, or hand-held devices with a limited WiFi card or are on a slow network
• Interface: The tabs have a unique visual aspect to them, and the overall design reminds you that we are no longer in the 20th century
• Customizable toolbar: Allowing you to resize the search bar, and choose your preferred search engine
• Enhanced Speed Dial: Those who rely on the Speed Dial extension on Firefox might not take notice of the development with the configuration related to this feature, but it is nevertheless a positive change allowing users to customize how their favorites’ thumbnails appear
• Fully standards’ compliant: Unlike Internet Explorer 8, the newest release of the Opera browser is a pleasant experience to designers and developers, as well as the users themselves

You can find the complete list of features at the Opera website.

More importantly, Opera gives you the ability to have your email client, widgets’ sidebar, notes space, torrent and download manager, all in one place. Those who have an email account which they would rather use an email client for might appreciate Opera’s convenience in bringing all of the services in a single pile.

The downside might be the initial period required for someone without previous experience with the Norwegian browser to become comfortable with it, but Firefox wasn’t a swift shift either, and it was a lot closer to IE than Opera is to any of them.

If you are not planning on taking advantage of the diverse integration within Opera, then you are better off with your choice of Firefox extensions and stick with the open-source browser. But whatever you do, do not use Internet Explorer.

Share this post:

Surf the Web on Your Mobile

One of the biggest advantages of the latest generation of cell phones and hand-held devices is the ability to browse any websites, check your e-mail, follow your RSS feeds, etc. While there are mobile devices, such as the iPhone, that are pay particular attention to the user’s experience with the web, the huge majority leave you the option without encouraging you to fully exploit it. For that reason, I’ve put together a quick tutorial on how to take full advantage of the web-surfing capability on your mobile running, running Windows Mobile or Symbian. I am using the Nokia E71 (which I’ve reviewed many months after, as well as compared to lower-end counterparts), but the process is the same for most phones of the same category.

Connectivity

Although 3G Internet access has become significantly cheaper, it is still more economical, as well as rapid, to access the web via wifi whenever available. Therefore, if at a wifi hotspot, it is imperative that you take advantage of the connection and add it to your list of regulars. Aside from free wireless connections, the average telecommunications provider automatically detects the type of phone, and sends a configuration file in shape of an SMS to get your mobile phone on the net in no time. As a result, whenever you open the browser that comes built in, you are prompted to select the access point of choice. Having said that, it is a bit of an inconvenience to make the choice every time, and the process because repetitive and rather tedious.

Birdstep: Makers of SmartConnect

The solution is a free software available for most called SmartConnect from Birdstep. It carries out a simple task that could save you infinite time and energy. It allows you to create connection groups where you place your preferred access points, and then allows you to move them up and down the priority list. Logically, you would place all of the wifi networks of the places where you are frequently located, followed by the 3G connection from your provider. You can name the group any unique name, such as MyConnections.

After that, any program on your phone that accesses the internet can be configured to make the smart choice. Simply access the settings area of each, and make the default network of connection the group that you created (in this case, MyConnections – yes it appears as a network connection, even though it is merely a group of favorite connections, and that’s the beauty of SmartConnect).

As a result, whenever you access the Web, you will always be automatically on the free wifi if available, or your 3G network if not, without having to answer any questions or calculate the possibilities.

Browsing the web requires a good browser

Now that you’re on the right connection, you will notice that it is not very convenient to use your phone regularly for surfing, even if it’s via a free wifi connection. The reason being that with a small screen and limited functionality, you immediately realize that nothing’s worth so much sacrifice, and will consequently opt for a full browser on your computer. While the difference is too big to consider mobile browsing in any way a contender to the real deal, there are still measures that can be taken to ensure the most pleasant experience on the web.

The web browser that comes built in with the Nokia E71 and similar Symbian-based phones is not even good to be part of the past. Mainly due to the following:

• Below-par performance: takes ages to open simple text websites
• Not intuitive: no matter how much experience you have using it, you never get used to handling it
• Zoom: You can only zoom out at 50%, and you can only do so when the page is done loading. If you’re opening a large-sized website, it could take a solid few minutes before you are allowed to zoom out, when you still can’t see anything because the pages simply don’t fit
• Limited functionality: limited or no control over font size, image settings, RSS feeds, etc.

Opera Software logo

The Internet Explorer that comes with windows does not have much to brag about either (and let’s not get started on the problems of the desktop version). Needless to say, this needs to be taken care of. This is where Opera comes in. An experienced, open-source browser that has been specializing in mobile devices from the times of dial-up connections. The main advantages of the Opera browser on your mobile are the following:

• Performance: extremely fast and light-weight
• Usability: very easy to use, you become best friends at first sight
• View port: you initially get the entire website and can automatically zoom in to any section of the page. IT makes it very easy to spot info and get closer to fully view it
• Advanced options: you can control if you want to photos to be rendered at low quality (saves immense amounts of time, especially since you never notice the difference from a small display like that of your cell phone), default text size, and more

Above all, it’s free and open-source! To install Opera on your phone, simple open the default browser and go to http://www.opera.com/ and you will be automatically directed to the site optimized for mobile phones. Go to the download page and find your version (Windows or Symbian). If your phone is from a select few (the Nokia E71 included), then you can click on the corresponding link that allows you to download and install Opera Mini, which works like magic.

There you have it, the adequate connection automatically chosen and connected to on your behalf, combining with the best browser for mobile phones available, giving you the optimum solution for fully exploiting the web-surfing capability with the majority of cell phones offered through the market today.

Share this post: