The Facebook features, which also include new Facebook fields for Contacts app entries, were originally spotted by iOS developer @jackoplane in the latest beta. Here’s hoping they actually ship in the software eventually, for the sake of both Apple’s users and Facebook itself . Both stand to gain from the social network’s integration in Apple’s mobile OS.

Users would definitely welcome a means to more easily share content, including photos and links, with their Facebook network, which has a much broader user base than Twitter. As for Facebook, there’s a chance to grow even larger thanks to direct, persistent access on the most popular mobile devices in the world.

Twitter integration has been a boon not only for the social network, where CEO Dick Costolo says it has helped propel growth to new heights, but also to services that depend on Twitter to enable content sharing. Music discovery service Discovr, for instance, saw sharing via Twitter increase substantially following iOS 5′s launch, while its Facebook shares remained relatively constant. Basically, taking away the need to login reduced friction and enabled more shares via Twitter’s service. Single sign-on for Facebook would likely have a similar effect.

I’d also love to see Apple offer a unified inbox, complete with access to Facebook messages, as an option in an upcoming iOS update. Since that’s not something we’ve seen yet with Twitter DMs (RIM actually wins on this one with its upcoming Playbook OS 2.0 update), I’m not expecting it anytime soon. But Facebook integration similar to what we’ve seen with Twitter could at least open the door to that possibility down the road.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• NewNet 2012: companies and technologies set to disrupt
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Why the next front in big data might be psychological

Simplified

The new app has a less complicated interface than the old one, in terms of having fewer buttons across the bottom bar, and fewer interactivity options for your main stream of tweets. It makes the experience and layout cleaner, but it also irks in some regards, especially for someone like me who manages multiple Twitter accounts. That’s because the ability to switch accounts is now located unintutively behind the “Me” tab, and takes two steps to get to from the home stream instead of just one, like the old “Accounts” button did. You can switch accounts by swiping left on the Me button, too, but it seems a little hit-or-miss.

The DM button is gone from the bottom bar, having been moved to the “Me” section, but once again, it introduces more steps, not less to get there. You can swipe up on the Me button to access your DMs from any screen, however. In the case of both changes, I can only assume Twitter found the average user wasn’t using either feature very often, and so they were better off out of the way.

The change to the tweets that appear in your home screen seem unnecessary even from that perspective, however. You can no longer access a quick menu of functions for each tweet on the home screen like you could before. Now you have to tap through to the post itself to reply, retweet or favorite the tweet.

Interactions

The new Connect tab features not only @mentions, but also a new “Interactions” section that details both your conversations and tells you about new followers, much like Google+ notifications inform you of new connections, in groups divided by days. It’s a small, but welcome, addition and should mean more users can turn off email notifications of new follows and still keep on that info.

Discover

One definitely positive change is the “Discover” section. It includes the ability to search Twitter, but also introduces more information and context for #hashtags and trending stories. You can see information about each popular “Story” listed, and then tap through for tweets that mention the subject, armed beforehand with some useful information about what the story actually means. It’s a big improvement for Twitter’s trending topics, and one that should serve the service’s efforts to appeal to marketers, and average users, well.

Better overall? Depends.

Overall, I’m seeing a lot of positive reaction to the aesthetic changes made to the iOS Twitter app on Twitter, and it definitely feels truer to Twitter’s brand than the previous, mostly generic incarnation. I’ll miss the in-stream ability to interact with content, however, which for me emphasized Twitter’s prioritization of communication above all else. Plus, it still doesn’t address the issue of the notification badge count remaining at one, and there’s still not a way to mark all your DMs as read at once. Despite its failings, I’m betting for the majority of casual users, with the addition of Interactions and Discover, this will probably be considered an improvement.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues

Of course, the outage was annoying and inconvenient, and hopefully Apple learned a valuable lesson about managing a large-scale, persistent data service managed from its own server facility, and this will never happen again. But the extent of the outcry as the outage wore on, as well as the attempts on Friday to follow up and try to get to the bottom of what exactly happened, show that Siri’s effect on the mobile landscape is not insignificant.

It could be the case that Apple’s servers couldn’t handle the demand that Siri was putting on the system, as some users who contacted Apple support about the problem were told. That would indicate that Apple underestimated the scale of demand for Siri, which suggests the personal assistant is being used a lot. But even if the problem is independent of demand, the fact that the news of Siri’s going down spread as far and as quickly as it did, and elicited so much response from the user community, indicates that it is finding a place in people’s lives. Some of the media attention could be attributed to the fact that people love when a winner like Apple stumbles, but user concern seems genuine.

When Apple first announced the personal assistant software, I admit to thinking that Siri had limited value beyond triggering an initial feeling of novelty that would fade quickly. After using Siri myself, I found that it actually had a lot of real use value, even in countries where it hasn’t yet gained localization features. The indignation of users affected by the outage indicates that I wasn’t the only one who found myself leaning on Siri a lot more heavily than I expected to.

It’s not as widespread, but the outcry about Siri’s downtime reminds me of the web-wide groans that go up every time the Twitter fail whale makes one of its visits or when Tumblr takes a tumble. That’s a minor PR problem for Apple in the short term, but in the larger picture, it’s a very good thing that people miss Siri when she’s not around.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Siri: Say hello to the coming “invisible interface”
• 2012: Data, spectrum and the race to LTE

Updating Twitter

To start using Twitter with Siri, you’ll need to set up your phone on your Twitter mobile settings page. In order to register your phone, follow the steps on that page by entering your country and phone number, then sending an SMS containing the word ‘GO’ to the number displayed. In the U.S., this is 40404. By doing this, you’re verifying your phone with Twitter.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to tweet by sending an SMS to that same number. Add it as a contact in your iPhone’s address book, and then to get Siri to tweet for you, all you have to do is dictate a message to “Twitter.” It’ll then send an SMS with the tweet to Twitter, which will in turn post that tweet for you.

Posting a Facebook status update

To update Facebook, the same method applies. In order to verify your phone with Facebook, visit the Mobile Settings page and click Add a phone. You’ll be prompted to enter your password, and then to select your country and mobile carrier. Finally, text the letter ‘F’ to 32665. You’ll receive a confirmation code, which should be entered into relevant space on the web page.

When your phone is set up with Facebook, you can update your status in the same way as with Twitter, by sending a text to the contact with the Facebook number.

Make your (and Siri’s) life easier

If you find Siri cutting you off because it gets confused about Twitter, you could call Twitter “Twit” and Facebook “Face,” since those are very unlikely names to have in your address book (unless you have a very stupid friend, or you’re a member of the A Team).

If you have any other tips or hacks for Siri, let us know in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

[View the story "Twitter jokes about Siri" on Storify]

Seen any other great jokes about Siri, or have some of your own? Share them in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Themes for a connected world: GigaOM RoadMap review
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• Social media reactions to the iPhone 4S

Dorsey’s post, in which he points to a new discussion thread opened by Twitter in order to gather feedback about what tools and materials developers are looking for from the company, seems like a bit of a peace offering aimed at smoothing relations with a community that might be understandably skittish. In April last year, Twitter raised developer suspicion by acquiring Tweetie, a client for the service that had been independently operated by developer Atebits. Then earlier this year Twitter implemented new limits on third-party applications plugging into the system that prevented developers from accessing any of the real value of the Twitter ecosystem, as Mathew Ingram noted at the time. The company also bought another client, TweetDeck, in May, seeming to indicate that it wanted control over all major app and web-based access.

Twitter has been trying to turn the relationship around, introducing a dedicated site for platform developers in June, but it has a lot to make up for to win back developer trust. Persistent, system-level iOS integration could go a long way toward winning them back, but for that to happen Dorsey and Twitter need developers on their side as much or more than developers need Twitter.

For Twitter to capitalize on iOS 5 integration, it needs to make sure iOS app developers take advantage of that integration by building sharing options into their apps. System-level login will help put Twitter in front of many more users, but the service still depends on active sharing to exist, and third-party apps are the key to providing users with something they want to talk about.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q1: All Eyes on Tablets, T-Mobile and AT&T
• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• Here Come the Social TV Apps

Facebook and Twitter share links are kind of a weird addition, if you ask me. Are people really all that likely to want to share basic information about available Apple products along with links for where to purchase them? I can see people maybe using it to brag about an upcoming purchase, but that’s about it. But it is something that’s been in place at the iTunes Store for a while now, and I suppose if even some people tweet or post about Apple products to their wall, the links will have done their job.

As mentioned, so far, these drop-down menus are only appearing for Mac Pro and iPod classic models. It’s possible that the role out was stopped midway, if it somehow contributed to the store outage, which web performance monitoring firm Catchpoint told GigaOM via email was network-related.

We’ll keep watching to see if these appear throughout the store, and let us know if you spot them anywhere else, too.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• NewNet Q2: Google closes the quarter with a bang
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Mobile payments: forecasts, technologies and opportunities

For all the talk of social media services like Twitter and Facebook replacing RSS, I still find it to be the best way to get news quickly and efficiently, and it seems like Mac developers agree. A quick look at the Mac App Store shows quite a few RSS reader options, but here’s a look at three of the best: Reeder, NetNewsWire Lite, and Pulp.

Reeder ($9.99)

Reeder started its life as an iPhone app, got an iPad upgrade, and now finally has come to the Mac. This evolution helps explain why it looks and works like a Lion app already: It has fade-in scrollbars, multitouch gestures, and there’s even an option for monochrome sidebar icons, just like those found in the new Lion Finder.

Reeder only syncs with Google Reader, so you’ll have to set up a Google account if you want to use it. However, Reeder’s integration with Google’s web app is stellar. The keyboard shortcuts are exactly the same, and you can manage your Google subscriptions within Reeder by deleting feeds, adding new ones, or making folders. Sharing, starring, and noting articles can also be done in Reeder.

Reeder can share articles with numerous third-party services, including Twitter, Instapaper, ReadItLater, Readability, Pinboard, Delicious, and Zootool. Services can be individually disabled as desired, and you can add shortcuts for each in the toolbar.

Reeder offers a bevy of other customization options as well. You can change its appearance by choosing from two presets: one that looks like Reeder for iPhone, and another that uses standard OS X colors. These presets can be customized with a unique slider system, allowing fine-grain control over the UI. Keyboard shortcuts, multitouch gestures, and third-party services can also be customized to your heart’s content.

Reeder is a good app for power users and general users alike. It offers a lot of options, so power users can get their fix, but the interface is simple enough that new users should figure it out quickly. Since Reeder is also available for iOS, it’s a good choice for users with multiple Apple devices, since the Google Reader sync ensures your feeds and read items will be synced across platforms.

NetNewsWire Lite (Free)

Unlike newcomers Reeder and Pulp, NetNewsWire has been around since 2002, when OS X was still learning how to walk. Don’t assume that the app feels out-of-touch because it’s older, though. The latest release is a complete rewrite, and according to Brent Simmons, the developer, it’s the “best code I’ve ever done, by far.”

NetNewsWire has a more traditional interface than Reeder or Pulp, but it’s no more difficult to use, and it still looks great. It doesn’t sync with Google Reader, so all feeds are managed locally. The lack of Google sync could be a dealbreaker for some, but you can import and export your subscriptions in OPML, something Reeder can’t do.

Article Styles let you change the way articles look.

Another thing NNW has that Reeder lacks is Article Styles, which are six pre-defined CSS style-sheets that change how an article is displayed. You can customize these style-sheets, but it involves messing around in the app’s Resources folder, so it’s not exactly easy.

NNW has many limitations. It can only share articles with Twitter, Instapaper, and MarsEdit (a blogging app). It isn’t very customizable beyond moving buttons around and hiding the toolbar. It’s also 64-bit only, so it won’t run on older Macs with Core Duo processors. But if you just need a cheap, no-frills RSS reader, NetNewsWire Lite is your app. The little it does, it does well, and for free. It’s also worth pointing out that NNW is in a transition period, having been acquired by Black Pixel, and a more full-featured version should come out eventually.

Pulp ($9.99)

Pulp is relatively unknown compared to the other two apps mentioned, but it was recently featured in the Mac App Store. Rather than competing on features, Pulp’s big strength is its interface, which mimics a newspaper. It’s organized by pages and columns; each page can have multiple columns, and each column can have multiple RSS feeds.

Pulp is very easy to use, and offers a good alternative to using folders to sort content. However, the newspaper-like organization is less practical for users with lots of RSS feeds. I’ve had upwards of 4,000 unread articles in a single refresh, and the thought of trying to sort through that many with this interface is daunting.

Another unique UI element of Pulp is the Shelf, a wood-themed drawer that you can drag articles into for later reading. It isn’t going to replace Instapaper for power users, but for the average user, it works. Speaking of Instapaper, Pulp has it as an integrated service sharing option, as well as Facebook, Twitter, ReadItLater, and Readability. That’s not as many options as Reeder provides, but it should be enough to keep most users happy.

Like NetNewsWire, Pulp doesn’t sync with Google Reader, but it does have its own syncing implementation called Pulp Sync. Setup was painless, and worked as advertised on multiple Macs, even preserving my custom column configuration.

Pulp's article view wastes a lot of space.

The one thing I have to complain about in Pulp is how articles are displayed. There’s a huge chunk of wasted space devoted to displaying a reflection of the app’s main screen below the article. Clicking on the reflection brings you back to the main screen, but a simple back button would have sufficed. I’m not sure why the developer thought this was a good idea, and it’s disconcerting that it’s still there, since the app has already seen multiple updates.

Which RSS reader do you like the best? Is there one that isn’t on this list that’s better than these options? Tell us about it in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Connected Consumer 2011: Rise of the Virtual Video Operator
• Players and Strategies for Real-Time In-Stream Advertising
• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015

Basically, WITH lets you tag another Twitter user (or users), and optionally take a photo of or with said user, then post it to both the WITH network and Twitter itself. You can also like the posts of other users, and use free and premium (available through in-app purchase) filters to add Instagram-style effects to the photos you include. The more you check in with specific people, the higher they rise in your profile. If you get close enough with friends through multiple check-ins, you can receive “special benefits,” according to Path. You can also follow and unfollow people on WITH, independent of whether or not you follow them on Twitter. There’s also a with.me web-based presence for the app, although at the moment it just points you to the App Store.

WITH is more useful than Path, because it doesn’t have any arbitrary limit to the size of your network. But WITH is also far more dependent on Twitter than Path, or Instagram, which is probably closer in concept. That’s a strength because it lets you sign on quickly and easily (you do have to provide your email in addition to your Twitter credentials, so it isn’t quite one step), but it also means that in many ways, WITH feels like a cool user-created feature for Twitter, rather than an independent, standalone product. Twitter’s @ replies and hashtags started out from similar, albeit more organic, roots.

WITH seems a little rough around the edges (figuring out how to post took a little while to figure out; it’s the person icon at the bottom in case you were wondering), but it seems like a more generally appealing product than Path. Plus, now that Apple has announced system-wide integration for Twitter in iOS 5, the fact that it relies on Twitter for its existence might not be such a bad thing, though Twitter itself is racking up a nasty reputation when it comes to playing nice with outside devs. We could see more apps like WITH betting heavy on Twitter now that it has the Cupertino seal of approval, however, so we’ll have to wait and see how the social network handles more attempts to exploit its services.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• Here Come the Social TV Apps
• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide

Apple was rumored to have been working closely with Facebook in the past and was close to integrating Facebook into its Ping music service. Apple and Facebook have since moved apart. Understandably so — Facebook is said to building its own mobile phone environment and will become competitive with Apple in the near future. Twitter is now emerging as an independent choice for mobile platform companies like Apple and Google. Apple’s endorsement is a big win for Twitter.

I wonder if the deal between Apple and Twitter was brokered by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture fund which started an iFund to boost the Apple iPhone/iPad app ecosystem. KPCB is also a minority investor in Twitter.

Here is what Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter wrote on the company blog:

Twitter has always been the best way to instantly share whatever is happening around you, and everything you’re interested in, anywhere you are. And today we’re working with Apple to make sharing on Twitter even easier: Twitter is built right into iOS 5, coming soon to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices worldwide.

This means that you’ll be able to sign in to your Twitter account once and then tweet with a single tap from Twitter-enabled apps, including Apple’s apps—Camera, Photos, Safari, Contacts, YouTube, and Maps. And developers of all of your favorite apps can easily take advantage of the single sign-on capability, letting you tweet directly from their apps too.

Building Twitter into iOS 5 truly creates the easiest way to share everything that’s happening in your world. Take a picture, tap “Tweet”. Tweeting has never been simpler.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• The Future of Workplaces
• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide

Good Bets

I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I’d put money on just a scant few changes for iOS 5. It’s not that I don’t think iOS 5 will bring big changes; in fact, it should be one of the most significant updates for Apple’s mobile OS since its introduction, due to increased competition from Android and the possibility we won’t see any new iPhone hardware Monday. But Apple has done a good job of keeping a tight lid on any details about iOS 5, so there’s precious little to base predictions on.

New Notifications. Apple will probably change the way notifications work and appear on iOS. I argued a while ago that Apple’s notification system was perfectly adequate for most users in its existing form, but as competition grows in the mobile space, they’re starting to look decidedly old-fashioned. Apple will change how they work, but what changes are in store remain up in the air. Look for a central notification history screen, at the very least, so they aren’t lost to the ether once dismissed as they are now. iOS app Boxcar provides a pretty good example of how better native notifications could work.

iCloud Integration. Apple is unveiling a suite of cloud services bundled under the iCloud trademark. It stands to reason we’ll see iCloud hooks built-in to iOS itself, and an iOS-style icon spied on a banner at the WWDC venue seems to reinforce that assumption. iCloud integration in iOS 5 could be what those early rumors of Photo Stream and Media Stream features are all about, and will likely handle syncing up your digital life via email, contacts and calendars as well. Look out for some surprising additional x-factor features, too, since Apple has to make a big splash with iCloud to make it a runaway success.

AirDrop. This is an announced OS X Lion feature that lets Mac users automatically and easily share files with other AirDrop-enabled computers nearby, without setup. So far, Apple hasn’t said anything about AirDrop coming to iOS devices, but easy wireless file sharing between devices is something iOS users have been looking for in third-party apps like Bump for a long time. Apple has a golden opportunity to increase cross-platform integration by bringing it to mobile.

Interesting Possibilities

These are things that have popped up on the radar, but either because they’re somewhat extreme, or because there isn’t much backing them up, they remain little more than exciting teases at this point.

Twitter Integration. As per my article earlier today, the Twitter-iOS integration rumor is gaining traction in some influential circles, and for good reason: OS-level Twitter support would make direct social media interaction on the iPhone much more of a reality, and could give Apple a leg up on the competition. Such a close partnership would be a big step for Apple, however, which tends to shy away from such arrangements, so we’ll have to wait and see just how close they’re willing to get.

Widgets. Along with new notifications, rumors have been circulating that widgets will get introduced in iOS 5. These would provide live, updating information directly on the home screen, and go way beyond the badge notifications iOS currently offers. Android already has widgets, and Apple’s own native Calendar app icon updates automatically as the day changes. Apple should and likely will provide live updating content to the home screen, but don’t expect its approach to resemble Android’s.

Spaces. Home screen management on iOS devices got a lot easier with the introduction of Folders and the ability to reshuffle your icons and screens in iTunes, but it could be easier still. An iOS version of Spaces, which Apple has already patented, would do a great deal to make managing your iOS “desktop” easier still. Even just the ability to quickly rearrange the scrolling order of home screens would be a big usability boost.

Far-Fetched, but Awesome

I would love these to be true, but there’s little or no indication that they are, unfortunately.

Facebook Integration. While Twitter integration is being talked about by some fairly reliable sources, Facebook integration isn’t. Apple has had a rocky relationship with Facebook in the past, thanks to trouble with Ping at launch. But Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg did meet for dinner once, and who knows what they discussed there?

Live Lock Screen. Apple’s iOS lock screen doesn’t do much beyond telling you the date and time, and in the opinion of many users, that’s a waste. If Apple added a better notification system to the lock screen, or provided a way for third-party apps to display live updating information from RSS or Twitter source, for instance, it would be a lot more useful. Even if Apple just let you display the current weather on the lock screen, it would be a huge improvement.

What do you want from iOS 5? Feel free to point out anything I’ve missed here, or your own suggestions for what features would really make Apple’s next platform revision also its most ground-breaking yet.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• Players and Strategies for Real-Time In-Stream Advertising
• Finding the Value in Social Media Data

Robert Scoble, blogger and tech evangelist, tweeted Friday that “Apple is building Twitter in deeply into iOS5″ and that we’d see what he was talking about next week at the WWDC 2011 keynote on Monday. Scoble seems incredibly confident about his source, who he cites as “someone who built the Twitter integration into iOS5.”

Next week will be a huge week for those of us who have lived on Twitter for last few years. Apple is building Twitter in deeply into iOS5.—
Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) June 03, 2011

Scoble claims to have known about Twitter integration in iOS “for months now,” and though he responded to multiple requests for details with only the repeated statement that we’ll learn more on Monday, he does claim that it will go “a lot deeper than just photos,” referring to a recent rumor about system-wide photo-posting capabilities in iOS 5. It also won’t be just the addition of simple “send to Twitter buttons” for links and other content, he said in another tweet.

As with any unconfirmed rumors, take this one with a grain of salt. It’s also worth considering that reports circulated back in April that Apple had planned Facebook integration in iOS 4, but pulled it at the last second, so the company does seem to be thinking about how to bake social media into the OS. Social is also a weak point for Apple, which has yet to pull off any networking features of its own (Ping, for example). It’s a weak spot for Google , too, and shoring up that strength with an outside partner might be a good strategy if Apple wants to beat Google on that front.

Note also that on Tuesday, John Gruber, who has a great track record when it comes to predicting Apple products and features, said in response to a TechCrunch story describing iOS 5 Twitter photo sharing that it was “[s]o close to the bigger story, but yet so far. Imagine what else the system could provide if your Twitter account was a system-level service.” Imagine indeed. What do you think Twitter integration would or wouldn’t bring to the platform?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• Players and Strategies for Real-Time In-Stream Advertising
• Integrating Social Media and Traditional Entertainment

Unlike Google, Apple hasn’t expressed much interest in competing in the social media arena with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. It has stuck its toe in the water with services like the Ping social music network built into iTunes, and the Game Center achievement tracker and leaderboard that ships with iOS, but these efforts have largely been met with lukewarm response from both the media and users.

Not to mention that Ping and Game Center represent very specific approaches to social media that share little in common with the likes of Twitter. Namely, both are designed to fuel sales, and do little else besides. In other words, Ping and Game Center are marketing efforts first, and social tools second. Twitter, on the other hand, is a social network in search of a successful and sustainable business model. Apple isn’t interested in creating something first, and then finding a way to make it profitable later. Consider that Jobs took the idea of the mouse from the Xerox PARC research collective and remade it based on the concept of turning it into something that would sell and make money.

With that in mind, isn’t it then conceivable that Apple could take the idea of Twitter or real-time messaging and make it a profitable asset? Possibly, but probably not. Dash describes a team within Apple building a messaging service complete with “first-rate native clients on every important platform.” Apple, unfortunately, has never been interested in any platform other than its own. Even when it does branch out, as with iTunes, the ultimate goal is to drive sales of its own iOS or iPod devices. Plus, as most Windows users will tell you, the iTunes experience on that platform is far from “first-rate.”

In fact, the very virtues that make Twitter a valuable asset to users are traits which Apple has shown a reluctance to embrace: Twitter is web-based, which Ping (and even probably the iTunes store) should be but isn’t; Twitter, while not necessarily “open,” is still a lot more open than Apple tends to be, and Dash’s request for a lightweight API for developers to build web apps wouldn’t fly with Apple’s walled garden approach.

In the end, it adds to a paradox, in that if Apple were to make Twitter, it would probably look a lot like Ping (i.e., inextricably tied to Apple product and baldly promotional in nature), which means it would lose a lot of its value to users, which means it wouldn’t be Twitter. And ultimately, Apple knows where its core strengths lie, and which is in providing the tools that others depend upon to build networks, and not in building them itself.

Can Apple make a Twitter? It is technically capable of doing so, yes. But the company’s institutional culture make the chances of it ever doing so very slim indeed.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• Players and Strategies for Real-Time In-Stream Advertising
• Integrating Social Media and Traditional Entertainment

Most obviously, the 2.1 update for Twitter (available through the Mac App Store) brings back the toolbar, which had previously been removed altogether in version 1.0 and following of Twitter for Mac. It may not be as pretty, but it does allow for breadcrumb navigation, which allows you to quickly and easily click back to various stages along your navigation history, and makes following conversations much easier.

Gone also is the semi-translucent sidebar, and while I generally think the new Twitter is much less pretty than its predecessor, the new functionality makes it quite a bit more powerful than its predecessor. A new feature that lets you pop-out any content into a new, separate window is especially welcome, and makes Twitter resemble more flexible clients like Tweetdeck.

For instance, you could have a separate, actively updating column for a favorite follow or list, or for a search term you’re particularly interested in. You can also pop out feeds from separate accounts for continuous, side-by-side viewing. It may be too much information for some, but for people who spend a lot of their day using Twitter, either for work or for play, it’s a killer feature.

Other improvements include username and hashtag autocompletion, which makes it much easier to correctly use @ mentions and participate in topical conversations. URLs that use t.co shortening now also display the top-level domain.

Even if you find yourself missing Twitter’s unique user interface in spite of all these improvements, you can get it back by activating Twitter’s secret preference pane using Terminal by following these steps.

In case you missed it, Twitter started rolling out a new version of its mobile site to select Android and iOS devices Wednesday, and it’s a considerable improvement over the old version, too. Looks like the company’s on a roll when it comes to delivering solid product updates.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Finding the Value in Social Media Data
• In Q3, NewNet Focus Turns to Business Models and Search
• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015

I’ve used TweetDeck in the past, albeit sporadically, to keep track of the multiple Twitter feeds I’ve had to manage. I’ve since cut down to only two accounts (thanks to Twitter lists) but I still find my Twitter apps of choice (the official client, and lately Tweetbot) don’t handle multiple accounts as well as they could. TweetDeck was good at this, but I always ended up leaving it because it left a bad taste in my mouth in terms of visual and UX design.

The new app looks much better than its predecessor. TweetDeck opted for a much cleaner, simpler interface, and one that does a great job of letting your stream of updates take center stage. It’s a smart design that acknowledges the design restrictions of the iPhone’s relatively small screen and only fits into that space what’s necessary, so that nothing comes out feeling crowded.

My only complaint with regard to interface design is that when you’re zoomed out to manage your columns, the interface feels definitely un-iOS. Some unnecessary and not-so-smooth animations and attempts at portraying 3-D depth here would be better replaced with a more basic tab switching interface lifted from Apple’s mobile Safari browser. It doesn’t really detract from the app’s usability, but it does stick out as one weak element of an otherwise strong design.

TweetDeck’s greatest strength, new and old, is in its ability to handle multiple Twitter (and other social network accounts) in one place, and that gets improved in the new version, too. I love that I can swipe through columns from multiple accounts, ordered in whatever way I choose, but now you can also quickly and easily manipulate individual columns to pull from a wide variety of feeds. You can see tweets from multiple accounts, Facebook updates, and even Foursquare check-ins (though you can’t yet add Foursquare accounts from the mobile client) all in one place, and easily turn off and on various elements using simple slider switches.

The app is missing some things users of the official Twitter app might miss, like support for push notifications of @ replies, but it does have support for fast-app switching, which is again something that will make power-users happy.

TweetDeck says a completely overhauled iPad app will soon follow (the old, buggy version is gone from the App Store), and based on what the iPhone app brings to the table, it can’t come soon enough. TweetDeck for iPhone is still free and ad-free, so it’s definitely worth checking out, especially if other mobile clients don’t offer the flexibility you’re looking for. I’d also argue that this is should probably make TweetDeck an even more attractive option for a possible purchase by Twitter, which can position it as the “Twitter for Business” client.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer’s Guide

First off, you’ll need to open up the Terminal application (/Applications > Utilities > Terminal), since these ‘Easter Eggs’ have to be run from the command line. Once you’ve got that open, you can copy and paste the commands below. Each command is one line only, and you should press Return after pasting in each command. To turn these off after, replace YES with NO (or vice-versa) and repeat the command.

Allow Dashboard Widgets to be Dragged Onto the Desktop

Sometimes it’s useful to keep one of you Dashboard widgets around after you close Dashboard, so paste the following into Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES && killall Dock

To use this ability, click and hold a widget and then close Dashboard using your keyboard hotkey (usually F4 on newer Macs).

Stop Twitter’s Compose Window Floating

The compose window in Twitter for Mac floats above all other windows at all times, which can get annoying. To stop it floating, paste this into Terminal, then restart Twitter for Mac.

defaults write com.twitter.twitter-mac NormalComposeWindowLevel -bool NO

Allow Escape to Close Twitter Compose Window

Another one for Twitter for Mac, this allows you to press Esc to close the new tweet window. Once again, paste and then restart Twitter for Mac.

defaults write com.twitter.twitter-mac ESCClosesComposeWindow -bool YES

Show Hidden Files in the Finder

There are some files which the Finder keeps hidden, but you might want to be able to see them sometimes, such as .htaccess files for web developers. To show hidden files, paste this into Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool YES && killall Finder

Your hidden files should now show up.

Disable the ‘Unexpectedly Quit’ Dialog

When an application crashes, you’ll see a dialog telling you the application quit unexpectedly. This can get annoying if it happens often, so you can disable that dialog using

defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none

You may need to restart your computer for changes to take effect. To turn this back on again, replace ‘none’ with ‘prompt’.

Enable ‘X-Ray Folders’ in QuickLook

The QuickLook feature of Finder is great, but if you use it on a folder, you won’t see anything except a folder icon. Using this hidden setting, you’ll be able to see the contents of the folder when you use QuickLook.

defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableXRayFolders 1 && killall Finder

To turn off, replace the ’1′ with a ’0′.

Show the File Path in the Finder Window Title

It’s easy to get lost in your file system, so enable this to show the path of the current folder in the title bar of your Finder window. That should make it easier to remember where you are.

defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES && killall Finder

Disable iTunes Arrow Links

You’ll often see tips on how to change the arrow links in iTunes’ list view to go to your library instead of the store, but what about turning them off altogether? Paste this command and restart iTunes.

defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES

Stop the Help Window From Floating

Another troublesome floating window is the Help window which appears when you click Help in most applications. To stop it floating, use

defaults write com.apple.helpviewer NormalWindow -boolean yes

Change the Desktop Picture on the Login Screen

If you don’t like the default image shown behind the login screen, you can change it to any other image using the following command. Just add the path of the image after the word ‘path’.

defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture -path

Bonus: Control Even More Hidden Settings Using Secrets

Secrets is a preference pane which allows you to control even more hidden settings in Mac applications using a friendly interface, rather than having to use Terminal. You can download it here, and once installed you’ll find it at the bottom of System Preferences.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• Finding the Value in Social Media Data