Twitter Banishing Tweet Apps From The Twitterverse?

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Blackberry and Android fans unfortunately have two less tweet apps to use as Twitter has banished two prominent apps for violating their TOS (among other things).

We have suspended UberTwitter and twidroyd for violating our policies.

Every day, we suspend hundreds of applications that are in violation of our policies. Generally, these apps are used by a small number of users. We are taking the unusual step of sharing this with you because today’s suspension may affect a larger number of users. (Twitter Help Center)

According to a memo sent TechCrunch, Twitter banned UberTwitter and TwiDroyd for not only violating the social network’s trademark, but for also altering tweets sent out by users in order to generate more profit via ads.

Twitter has also suspended a third app from UberMedia (UberCurrent), although it’s unclear whether they will consider expanding the ban towards Echofon and TweetDeck (both prominent tweet apps upon iOS).

UberMedia has yet to publicly respond to their apps being blocked by Twitter (as they have been very silent upon their official blogs and twitter accounts), although hopefully they will provide an explanation soon in order to regain the trust of not only Twitter, but their users as well.

Guess Which Smartphones Tumblr Favors?

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The Tumblr team has recently revamped the mobile layout for their micro blogging social network which should please users boasting one of two smartphones.

The new layout makes it easier for users viewing their Tumblr blog upon an iOS or Android device to not only create content, but also easily alter settings within their dashboards.

While Tumblr is also planning on making their blogs viewable for Blackberry fans, the company doesn’t seem to have an immediate interest in making their sites mobile friendly for users carrying Windows Phone 7, Nokia or even webOS devices.

The lack of interest beyond Blackberry, iOS and Android could also signal that the startup has no immediate plans to introduce native apps upon other smartphones, leaving the task to third party developers to fill in the gap (often at a premium).

Although its understandable why Tumblr isn’t committing to other platforms (as they are busy trying to keep their servers up in response to their tremendous growth), hopefully the company will in the future consider taking an agnostic approach to smartphones, something their rival WordPress has done.

WordPress Android App Leap Frog’s Smartphone Brethren

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Once again it looks like my Android friends will have yet another reason to boast about their DROID, Evo or Samsung Galaxy smartphones after WordPress recently updated the app with a feature that is perfect for both smartphones and feature phones.

A big thanks to contributor Christof Dorner, who added support for QuickPress shortcuts on the Android home screen. Just long press on the home screen, select ‘Shortcuts->QuickPress’ and then select the blog that you would like to use. You will then have an icon on your home screen that takes you directly to the new post screen to start blogging straight away! (WordPress for Android)

For those of you unfamiliar with WordPress, QuickPress is a feature that allows a blogger to quickly jot down thoughts without being distracted by other post settings (i.e. formatting, categories, image/video layout).

Although the feature is now baked into every WordPress install, QuickPress is not yet available upon WordPress for Blackberry, iOS, Nokia or even Windows Phone 7.

Even though users can easily get by without utilizing QuickPress (as WordPress for iOS’s layout is very basic compared to its WP brethren), it would be a great feature to have for those of us who enjoy blogging on the go.

Blogger Becomes iPhone Friendly (Android Too)

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In a move that will bring them up to par with their WP.com rival, Blogger (aka blog*spot) is beta testing mobile layouts which should help the platform appeal more to those sporting a smartphone.

[W]e are excited to announce our first launch of mobile templates! Initially available as opt-in functionality on Blogger in Draft, mobile templates will re-format your blogs for smartphones to enhance your readers’ viewing experience. In order to activate mobile templates, simply go to Dashboard > Settings > Email & Mobile tab, enable the mobile template option and then save settings. […]

We are initially supporting 6 variants of the Simple template and 6 variants of the Awesome template. If you have used one of these 12 templates through our Template Designer, your mobile view will be rendered in the same style as your desktop view (other template variants will be rendered as Simple). (Blogger In Draft Blog) [Read more…]

Twitter Telling Touiteur To Change Their Name?

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Apparently Twitter is talking tough to a third party app on Android who apparently is violating Twitter’s trademarked name.

At first glance it may seem a little overboard for Twitter to be going after Touiteur (as the spellings are completely different last I checked), but upon closer examination it looks like Twitter may actually have legal grounds regarding this case.

Touiteur (pronounced as “Twitter” but with a french accent), is a new Twitter client for the Android platform. Developed by LevelUp Studio, responsible of the top application Beautiful Widgets and the Android Developer Challenge 2 winner FoxyRing, Touiteur will revolutionize the twitter usage on your mobile. (Touiteur Product Page).

Ironically this isn’t the first mobile app with a name to offend Twitter, as there has been at least three iOS apps sporting the Twitter name in the past (all who either became extinct or changed their name).

While this author appreciates the humor of LevelUp Stuido (the company behind Touiteur) naming of the app, Twitter apparently is not laughing about the matter which probably explains why  is asking fans for suggestions on a new name.

Thus far Plume (which means feather) is winning the vote, although hopefully Touiteur is able to secure the tweet account of the winning name (as thus far @plume is already taken).

(Hat Tip: Android Central)