OStatic

We covered Spaz webOS, a microblogging client for Palm devices, when it was still a babe in the woods. The project has grown considerably since then and this week its developer, Ed Finkler, announced the release of Spaz webOS 1.0. It's an important milestone that includes a slew of new features that ought to satisfy anyone looking for an open source microblogging app for their Palm device.

New features include direct image uploading to popular photo services like Twitpic, Twitgoo, and yfrog; saved search support; and the ability to share messages via email, SMS, IM, and more.

I caught up with Spaz's creator and developer, Ed Finkler, today and he talked to me a little bit about the project, where it's been, and where it's going. Originally, I planned to synthesize what he had to say into a couple of paragraphs but Finkler's explanation of the development process and its impact on his life is so insightful that I want readers to hear about it in his own words.

If you're looking for a variation on standard microblogging services like Twitter and Identi.ca, then you might want to check out Jisko, an open source microblogging platform made in MySQL and PHP. It sports many of the features you'd expect to find in an app like this, including private messages, themes, avatars, Twitter integration and even support for mobile devices. Jisko, a labor of love that's being shepherded along by a small community dedicated to its growth, has an intuitive interface, slick design, and is well worth checking out if you're looking for a new open source project to support.

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past year, you know that microblogging is all the rage. Web sites like Twitter, Identi.ca, and Laconica are incredibly popular for exchanging snippets of information, chatting with others, and quickly sharing links to interesting online content. It's really a pain to jump from site to site to read your friends updates or provide your own, so here are five microblogging extensions for Firefox to help you out.

ShortenURL - Microbloggers don't want to waste precious characters on long URLs so it's customary to shorten links you display in status updates. Pasting a Web site location into URL shortening service homepage is so last week now that you can do it right from your browser's toolbar. ShortenURL makes quick work of this repetitive task by letting you crop Web addresses right from the toolbar. It supports over 100 URL shortening services already but if that's not enough, you can request more.

If you're in the market for a lightweight, open source microblogging client for the desktop, have a look at Spaz. It's a slick cross-platform app that uses Adobe Air to update your status on Twitter, Identi.ca, and Laconi.ca.

Spaz supports multiple themes, event sounds, and user-defined CSS overrides. You can delete updates you've already sent, Favorite your friends' Tweets, and send direct messages or replies to other users. Spaz keeps track of who you follow as well as who follows you, and auto-refreshes to keep you on top of all incoming direct or timeline messages.

When I began using Twitter earlier last year, I'm not sure that I was aware of its open source competitor, Identi.ca, or its relationship to Laconica.

While Twitter has had its share of knocks, from outtages to phishing attacks, I've not been personally affected. Microblogging has been more of a diversion than a tool (though this isn't always the case), Twitter is ubiquitous, and I simply used it.

I'm not sure what made me take Identi.ca for a test drive, or look further at what Laconica can offer open blogging standards and social networks as a whole. The open nature and standards have the needle spiking wildly on my geek-meter, and a lot of that spiking can be directly attributed to the way these services benefit everyone -- whether they be a tech enthusiast, or slightly less tech averse than a Luddite.