iPhone OS 4.0 Background Services Explained

Apple says that multi-tasking will drain our battery, slow down our phone, and give koala bears in Australia acid reflux.  OK, I might have made that last part up.  Apparently these side effects are why Apple has taken their sweet time implementing them on the iPhone OS.  Forget for a moment that my jailbroken iPhone does it pretty well without such result.  Their solution is background services!  While this isn't true multi-tasking, Apple has some new API's they are implementing in iPhone OS 4.0 to calm our cries.  These new services will likely address most annoyances with running several popular apps at once ie: Pandora + Facebook. 

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Twitter Adds Geolocation...Then Takes it Away

Yesterday TechCrunch reported that Twitter had turned on geolocation on their website.  The feature was shortly taken down, but it is sure to be back soon.  This had actually been a feature that has been available through the API since November, but not through the main website.  Tweets tagged with a location have a little place-marker icon next to the time and date.  Clicking on this icon launches a Google Maps and shows you exactly where the tweet was sent from.  This new feature can be utilized through user's main streams or the individual tweet page.

The release of this new feature comes at a fairly significant time as location seems to be the name of the game for most developers: Facebook is said to be unveiling it "answer" to location at their f8 conference in a month, Google has Latitude and Buzz for their location-based services, and of course the SXSW conference is this weekend will be sure to have more than a few app with new location-based features.  Additionally, Twitter will be holding its first Chirp conference, just one week before Facebook's f8, so location will surely be a big focus for Twitter.

Though the functionality was only up temporarily, look for it to be back up soon.  Probably sometime before SXSW. Hit the jump for one more photo.

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Tweetdeck v0.33 Takes Control Of The Twitter API

The ever-popular Twitter desktop client, Tweetdeck, has pushed a killer update today featuring a slew of features. Since Tweetdeck v0.33 uses OAuth to interface with Twitter, and it can now auto-manage Twitter API call limits, users are not likely to see "API Limit Reached" again anytime soon. Plus, the addition of viewing more media within the app means users can remain within the app without having to bounce back to the browser to view content. And for you column junkies, the column navigator along the bottom paired with the ability to edit existing columns will be a welcome change, I'm sure.

You can head here to download the new version (requires Adobe AIR), and check below for the feature list, and a walkthrough from the creators. 

Thanks to TweetDeck now using OAuth calls to the Twitter API, you now have access to a greatly increased API limit (currently 350 calls/hr)

You can now take control of your columns with the new Column Navigator

See more media inside TweetDeck with the new previews for media from Youtube, Posterous, Flickr, Mobypicture & Twitgoo

Edit your search columns without having to delete & recreate

New help screen, giving access to forum search & one-click transmission of debug information to TweetDeck Support

Lots of fixes and smaller improvements throughout the application