Twitter’s explosive growth is often attributed to the early availability of an API. When other social services were only available through their respective interfaces, Twitter allowed developers to put their own unique style into the presentation of tweets. The service has always been available as a web site, but a large number of users have found their Twitter home inside the screens of Tweetie, Twitterrific, Tweetbot, and a profusion of others. These apps gave the service unique personalities, as well as innovated on the platform. Things at Twitter have changed radically since those early days, and developers are now strongly discouraged from build anything that resembles a traditional Twitter client.

Google Set to Release iOS Maps App Tonight

When I was building Static, one of the things I really wanted to do was support old devices. This goal goes against everything Apple and most Mac/iOS developers will tell you: support the very newest stuff possible. The reality is, however, that people have old devices sitting around, and what better way to breathe new life into them than by installing a noise generator!

Almost two months ago, my wife and I were discussing a noise generator app we’d used while our first child was very young. As we recalled the app and remembered how ugly and simple it was, I decided that it wouldn’t be very difficult to improve upon. A few minutes after our discussion, I tweeted:

You’re Not Loren Brichter

Lately I’ve been trying to pay close attention to newsletters and marketing materials that catch my eye. There’s a very fine line between the emails I immediately throw away and the ones that are effective enough to survive the impulse trash action, and I’d like to better understand why certain things make the cut.

Mark Zuckerberg Discusses Facebook's IPO Regrets and Mistakes

There are a few notes on the net for setting up Xcode 3.2 on Lion. Without too much more trouble, getting these old tools working on the latest OS is also possible. Here’s how.

News broke today that Sparrow, a popular email client for Mac and iOS, has been acquired by Google.

Rumors of an iPad mini have been circling for a while, but seem to have really picked up the last few weeks. While I’m not one for making predictions^[1], there are certainly a couple of things I’d love to see on a smaller iPad.