On Friday, I was checking some news items when I stumbled upon a note about TweetDeck.  For those who don’t know, TweetDeck is a wonderful Twitter client that lets you read your stream easily as well as view additional columns for users, searches, or lists.  This is my preferred Twitter client.  I don’t know how I’d keep up to date with Twitter without it.

Unfortunately, it looks like I’m about to find out.

As of May 7th, TweetDeck’s Android, iPhone, and Adobe AIR versions will cease to function.  (The web app will continue to work.)  The reason behind this is the impending Twitter API upgrade.  The 1.0 version of the Twitter API is being retired in favor of the new 1.1 version.  TweetDeck is based on version 1.0.  TweetDeck’s team made the decision to focus all effort on the web version of the application and thus shut down the rest.

First, Google Reader and now this.

Of course, this meant that I went on a hunt for a new favorite Twitter client application.  My initial step was to list all of TweetDeck’s features that I liked and that I’d like to see in a new Twitter client.

1.  I like that TweetDeck allows me to show lists and searches as columns.  Users as columns is nice, but I don’t actually use it that often.  (Mostly during Twitter parties and then I can use TweetDeck’s web version.)

2.  I like getting notifications for updates not just for mentions or direct messages, but for said lists and searches as well.  (Notifications for my main timeline aren’t needed.  Since I’m following over 1,000 people, there’s no way I can keep up with everyone.)

3.  Handle multiple accounts.  (After all, I do have the @FollowerHQ account even if I don’t use it often.)

I began trying a few apps from the Google Play app store.  UberSocial looked nice initially, but wound up missing key features.  (Namely, it couldn’t save searches and lists as columns.)  Then, I decided to try out the official Twitter app, but found it extremely limiting.  (Which is odd since Twitter actually owns TweetDeck.  I’d think they’d want to fold TweetDeck’s features into the main Twitter client.  If they do, I’ll revisit the app, but for now it’s MUCH too limited feature-wise.)

I had a recommendation of Falcon Pro, but it costs $1.96.  I don’t mind paying, but I’d like to be able to try it first.  I’d hate to pay only to find out that I don’t like the application.  Besides, this review says that it doesn’t have push notifications.

For now, I’ve settled on Plume.  It’s not perfect.  For one thing, while it lets me use a list or search as a column, it won’t show me notifications on new tweets in these areas.

What Twitter app do you use?  If you are answering TweetDeck, what will you move to when TweetDeck shuts down.

NOTE: The "cutie bird" icon above is by Luen and is available from OpenClipArt.com.

I have a new addiction and it is all GeekDad’s fault.  Last week, GeekDad posted about how math teachers are using KenKen as a educational tool.  Knowing that NHL loves math almost as much as I do (sometimes I think more than I do), I decided to try it out to see if it would be good for him.

I found an Android app called MathDuko.  MathDuko follows the same rules as KenKen so I figured it would be a good app to try.

Big mistake.  Now I’m hooked.

In many ways, KenKen and MathDuko follow the same rules as Sudoku.  In both, you must use the given numbers only once in each row and column.  However, whereas Sudoku has groups of 9 blocks (3×3) that must contain one of each number, MathDuko has a veritable jigsaw puzzle setup.

Each piece of the MathDuko puzzle has the result of a math equation and how it was obtained.  For example, in the image above, a three square piece says "12x".  This means that the three numbers, when multiplied together, total 12.  You are limited in numbers from one to the width/height of the board.  In this case, this means that the available numbers are one to seven.  In the example above, this means that the numbers in the "12x" piece could be 1, 3, 4 or 2, 3, 2.  (The puzzle spans multiple rows and columns.  MathDuko doesn’t have Sudoku’s one-number-per-block limit.  In addition, the numbers can be in any order.  In the "2-" puzzle block, the answer could be 5, 3 just as easily as it could be 3, 5.

So how does the app fare?  Amazingly well.  You can select puzzles from easy (4 squares by 4 squares) all the way up to "ultimate" (9 by 9).  A clock keeps track of how long your puzzle solving is taking.  (This is a feature that can be turned off for those who don’t wish to race the clock.)  You can also mark potential values as "maybe" to keep track of the many possibilities.  Of course, the price is also right: The app is free.

I’d definitely recommend the app to anyone with a love of math be they in elementary school or long since graduated from college.  I see much time spent figuring out MathDuko boards in my future.

When I first got my smartphone, I couldn’t wait to download apps.  I’ll admit that the first app I downloaded was a game: Angry Birds Space.  Since that first download, I’ve installed many, many more apps.  A few I use often, some sit on my phone mostly unused, and some were uninstalled rather quickly.  I’ve come to enjoy finding clever, useful, or just plain interesting apps, especially if they are ones that aren’t that famous.

I’m going to begin a series of app reviews.  Some might be ones everyone has heard of and some might be more obscure.  Some might increase your productivity, some might increase your creativity, and some might distract you with fun gameplay.

Though I’ve downloaded many games, I recently realized that I hadn’t gotten any bowling games.  Now, I love bowling.  Some of my fondest memories of my grandfather are of him attending my bowling league games and giving me advice… and then giving the other team advice when I refused to listen to him.  It’s the sort of thing that was annoying then, but makes me sentimental now.

So off I went to the Google Play store to look for a bowling game.  There were many to choose from, but one leapt off the page, so to speak: Doodle Bowling.  When you load up Doodle Bowling, you are presented with some graph paper and a crudely drawn ball.  At the far end of a pair of lines are ten pins.  You "pick up" the ball by pressing on it and then flick your finger upwards to launch it at the pins.  In addition, by rapidly swiping your finger left or right, you can put some spin on the ball and direct when it finally ends up.  As the ball hits the end of the lane, it "rips" through the paper, sending pins scattering.

The goal of the game is the same as normal bowling.  Knock down as many pins as possible.  Your score is tallied just under the lane and is displayed at the end of the game.

By itself, this would be fun, but might get old quickly.  To increase the replayability, there are many different themes to unlock.  One turns your "graph paper lane" into a chalk board (pins disappear with a puff of smoke).  One brings your bowling experience into outer space.  One even lets you bowl in a normal, ordinary bowling alley.  Each play earns you one credit.  Each theme costs a certain number of credits.  Therefore, there is an incentive to play the game over and over to unlock all of the themes.

What I most like about this game is that it is fun, quick, and simple.  A single game of bowling takes about two or three minutes.  There is a definite joy when all of the pins fall down and that "Strike" or "Spare" banner appears.  Finally, the controls are so simple that my five year old mastered them almost immediately.

Since this is a free app, there are the requisite ads above the bowling action.  However, I found these to be unobtrusive and not easily clicked by accident.  (All of your interaction tends to take place at the bottom of the screen while the ads are up top.)  A few ads is a fair trade for the bowling fun.

This is definitely a keeper and will surely provide the kids and I with many wonderful, pin smashing hours of fun – in 10 frame, 3 minute chunks.

Soon after we got our smart phones, Instagram came out for Androids.  I downloaded it immediately and tried it out.  I’ll admit that my first impression was poor.  I didn’t see the draw in taking small photos of things and putting filters on them.  After a few posted photos, I moved on.

Sometimes later, I decided to give Instagram another shot.  This time, I found I loved using it.  I still steer clear of the filters, preferring instead to show the photos as they are taken.  Still, it is a quick and easy way to share out photos.  I could have Instagram tweet out the photo and still keep a gallery of my photos for people to look at.

Granted, Instagram isn’t perfect.  For one thing, there’s no spell check within the app.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost sent out an update with a mistyped a word because there was no red squiggly line alerting me to the incorrectly spelled word(s).  Secondly, Instagram itself doesn’t have a gallery.  I can’t just tell people to go to Instagram.com/TechyDad/ to view all of my photos.  Even if you load up one of my Instagram photos, there’s no way, in a non-mobile browser, to click to see more photos by me.  This is the exact opposite problem that many websites have.  (Ignoring mobile browsers and crafting their site only for non-mobile visitors.)

Thankfully, there are a few sites that can load your Instagram photos in a gallery-like format.  I’m partial to Instagrid.  You can view my Instagram photos on Instagrid here: http://instagrid.me/techydad/

Now that I’ve added that link to my header, I can easily direct people to my Instagram feed whether they have a smartphone or not.  So if you aren’t on Instagram, take a look at my photos from time to time.  If you are on Instagram, why not follow me?  Let me know your Instagram names in the comments and I might follow you as well.

My boys love all things pirates.  This is partially (ok, mostly) fueled by Jake and the Never Land Pirates on Disney Junior.  So we were very excited when we found out that there would be a Swashbuckler Soiree at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

Since I’m writing this post in advance (from my couch at home, not from Disney), I don’t have any photos of the pirate party.  Instead, here are some pirate-ified photos of my boys and I courtesy of the free Android app Make Me A Pirate:

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do you and your kids like pirates?

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #136