I came across Plurk when it get started on the Web. Now I knew that whenever there’s a new Web startup launched, and I quickly registered it, I’ll get a bigger chance to use it under my preferred name. Frankly, I didn’t use Plurk much (that’s why my karma point on Plurk became negative), one of the biggest reason is that I still keep my strong faith on Twitter, and I made my friends there as well. Those friends are the people that I valued of, and eventually become closer on Facebook. And without Twitter, I couldn’t know them online. Will I make some really helpful friends on Plurk, who know?

But there’s a thing that Plurk attracted me, it is a site that had already been developed using the now ubiquitous Python programming language. As a Python language lover, joining and participating this site that developed by a group of like-minded people is a good and must thing to do.

On Plurk, it’s a kinda like Twitter, allowing one to post her latest update, maximum to 140 characters to the community. You’ll notice that there’s a headless animal and an odd timeline user interface, proposing that they’re different from Twitter or any other micro blogging platforms on the Web. If you’re a fan of Twitter, you must not familiar with reading or keeping all of your updates or your friends’ updates in a move left or move right direction of your timeline. However, judging by the funny avatars of the Plurk team, you would think that the offering of Plurk is to provide you a different environment, a fun environment for you to post your update. This can be further justified by the availability of emoticons, and some qualifiers such as loves, likes, shares, gives, hates, wants, and etc.

Will you use Plurk? A better question is, do you prefer a bird instead of a headless animal? I read some said, ” I’m not convinced. I prefer Twitter.” Or, on the other hand, if you don’t have any followers in Twitter, and you’re getting embarrassing to read some of the Twitter users talk about each other all the time on some Twitter profiles, just like in FriendFeed, and you want a way out of it, Plurk is for you. In fact, I quite enjoying to post some plurks, i.e. tweets to my profile, it’s like you’re acting as a DJ, you talk loudly, and not really bother about who will pick up your voices out there.

HelloTxt, one of the microblogging aggregator service on the Web has recently added Brightkite and Plurk support. If you look at the lists of services that HelloTxt supporting right now, it is probably the largest microblogging aggregator with the service rendered even to the China users who used FanFou.

On the HelloTxt blog, I see the recent development of HelloTxt in an aggressive way. From the image and video support, to elbow its way into the SMS gateway. If you haven’t heard or used HelloTxt, you will. Like many others that used HelloTxt extensively, I opened my account there recently. One of the biggest reason that prompt me to use HelloTxt is not the convenient feature that HelloTxt rendered, i.e. help to post all the message to several microblogging services such as Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Facebook, etc.

I used it very often nowadays because I want to abandon the use of a Web service called TinyURL. TinyURL is good, help to shorten a long URL to a shorter one. Whenever I post a new blog post, I used Twitter to post my latest update of my blog to the followers there, and Twitter will thereby generate a TinyURL from my long blog post to a short one, and my followers can click on it and read the one I written. However, I found a problem whenever I read some other articles that was redirected by TinyURL, my Anti-Spyware ZoneAlarm will block my PC from access to it. I know I can unblock it, but read a forum of ZoneAlarm made me believed it was the best way to use an alternative one and avoid my post being blocked.

There is a new third-party Twitter application called Birdy. It is an Adobe AIR application (You need to download Adobe AIR) before you begin to install Birdy to your desktop computer. For micro blogging addicts, they need this application because it allowed them to post their latest updates or receiving any tweets. A bit of googling on the Web I’m not manage to find out who was responsible in developing this Birdy. But I think nothing is simpler than whenever you receive a tweet, Birdy will inform you with a sound.

Nevertheless, this Bird reminds me of the other two Twitter applications built by Adobe AIR, Feedalizr and Twhirl.

via [go2web2.0]

Twitter, my favorite micro blogging platform is now available in Japanese. Why Japanese? According to AFP, about one quarter of its existing users are from Japan, albeit that Twitter is not likely to report its actual number of users cumulated until today. In matter of fact, Twitter is doing really well there. Visit the Twitter Public Timeline will tell the frequency of Japanese Twitter messages appeared on the page.

According to Twitter blog, Twitter Japan was a project jointly created with a partner called Digital Garage. Users will find the advertisement on this Twitter Japan from day one, and Japan market will be the first testing ground for Twitter’s money making business plan.

The other day I came across a new micro-blogging platform called Poodz. This startup was originally launched in France last year and in recent months, it shows steadily increasing its user base, mostly the French-speaking users. Poodz, in the first glance, functions like Twitter in which allowed users to post latest updates, but have great potential for improving the user experience in terms of richness such as the likes of Pownce (updates, files, conversation, and etc.) as well as Twitxr (Micro-blogging with image). Instead, Poodz allowed their users to use their mobiles or PCs to post messages with videos, pictures, sounds and publish them anywhere. For the mobile users, they can simply send their ideas, or latest news to share with their friends by MMS or emails. Or for the PCs users, they can record their messages in video clips by using the Webcams, or audios using the microphones and record them on Poodz’s platform. Too many options can be used on Poodz, as Poodz’s team believed that one of a key drivers behind a good user experience is the flexibility of using various tools in posting the recent updates.

The recent development of Poodz showed their seriousness in this field, as now they are compatible with CamTwist, a Mac software package that let users add special effects to the video chats. In addition, Poodz also migrated their database to a new and better server, and released their public API.

Twitxr is a new micro-blogging platform that recently launched by FON, a startup that aimed to make WiFi universal and free. Though FON is not available in some countries due to the restriction of WiFi coverage, but Twitxr is different. Twitxr allowed user regardless where she lives to sign-up, and post update instantly through the mobile phone, laptop, or desktop, with the pre-requisite of Internet connection. It is inevitably that we’ll compare Twitxt with Twitter. As Twitter has developed into a strategic user communication tool, Twitxr is aimed to achieved a differentiation advantage by offering message/update with image posting. One of the features offered by Twitxr is the image can be geotagged, so that your friends or buddies following you will know where you are and what you’re doing. Put an instance, if you’re cooking, post an update and a photo which you and the dish at your kitchen will convince them you’re not doing something else, and you’re serious about cooking. There’s help to explain a proverb, i.e. A picture is worth a thousand words. Given the image and geotagging functionality, for those who do not want to attach image together with an update, Twitxr also provide an option where users can choose post text-only updates, picture-only updates or both. But remind you, after you sign-up for Twitxr, remember to keep your Twitxr e-mail address private, this is for the security reason.

Currently Twitxr is still in beta mode, but successfully released iTwitxr for the iPhone. I believe that we can expect more from them as their technologies develop into mature. To know more about Twitxr, there’s a video clip, as embedded in the below.