Echofon for Mac and Firefox now available

The upgrade of the full line of Echofon applications is complete. Echofon, an UberMedia company, announced the availability of new versions of the popular Twitter client for Macintosh and Firefox users on 28 April, 2011. Upgraded Echofon versions for the iPhone and iPad were released in February. No version of Echofon for Windows apparently exists.

“It has long been a goal of ours to take across multiple platforms the many features we added to our iPhone and iPad versions,” said Kazuho Okui, founder of Echofon. “This cross-platform upgrade has been particularly important to complete, as so many of our users take full advantage of synchronization as the move back and forth between their iPhone, their PC at work and their Mac or iPad at home.”

The upgraded versions allow users to synchronize information between the iPad, iPhone and desktop providing a seamless user experience by “remembering” where users left off reading their Tweets, even when they switch devices. Echofon, noted for its ease of use and elegant design is used by more than 3 million people around the globe on multiple platforms. Unlike other UberMedia products, it was not impacted by Twitter’s recent crack-down on client applications.

Echofon for Firefox

Echofon for Firefox

The entire Echofon application for Firefox has been redesigned implementing a brand new user interface. Echofon can now be used in a sidebar, a panel or an individual window within the Firefox browser. The new user view features the user timeline (including direct messages/DMs), following and follower lists.  In addition, existing list and search functionality has been expanded. Other enhancements and functionality added to the upgraded Firefox version include:

• The mute functionality has been expanded to include users, applications and hashtags.
• Photos can now be previewed inline
• Support of Firefox 4

Echofon for Firefox is the only version without a paid option.

Echofon for Macintosh

This upgraded version is very similar to what users have on their iPad or iPhone that includes:

• The ability to easily attach photos to Tweets by dragging and dropping.
• Easily attach screen captures, iTunes songs as they are playing or a page being viewed in Safari to a Tweet.
• Implementation of handy indicators showing which Tweets have photos, videos, location, conversation or other information available.

The main drawback of Echofon for most twitter RPers is that it only supports one Twitter identity at a time.

There’s a Twitter app for that…

Twitter has made news recently by cutting off access to some third party clients, most notably UberSoc. During that upheaval, Twitter stated they deny access to hundreds of third-party applications everyday. Which begs the question…just how many third-party Twitter apps are there and where can we find them?

Locomu has the answer.

Locomu is a new Twitter app directory launched in March. This vast collection of application makes it reasonably easy to search for the latest and most popular third-party Twitter apps. Part search engine and part catalog, users can search through or just browse hundreds of apps in 40 different categories and across 23 different platforms.

In addition to categories and platforms, Locomu also classifies apps by more esoteric criteria including Featured, Top Free, Top Paid and What’s New. The Featured section displays the most useful and popular application chosen by the site. Top Free and Top Paid, as their names imply, present the most useful and popular free and paid applications. The apps most recently added to Locomu can be found in the What’s New section.

It doesn’t stop there, either. Locomu rates all the third-party Twitter tools and services, presenting their features as well as any drawbacks and benefits they offer. And users don’t have to take the word of some faceless tech reviewer they will never meet. Locomu allows users to vote and post their views on individual apps.

“It keeps Twitter application lovers informed with all the latest Twitter third-party apps and tools,” states Mrs. Arora, Co-founder of Locomu.