Twitter freak? No Internet? Your phone doesn’t support GPRS? Here’s how you can extract the full power of SMS on mobile and stay updated with your twitter timeline:

1. How to follow/receive twitter updates via SMS:

Visit the devices page on twitter and link your mobile number with twitter. Now twitter updates will be delivered to your mobile through SMS.

2. How to tweet via SMS:

Although following Step 1 enables you to tweet by sending a SMS to the Twitter service number specified on your devices page, this service is charged a premium fee. There is another alternative to this in INDIA – SMSTweet.in. Integrate your mobile number with you twitter account on SMSTweet’s website.

3. How to use SMSTweet to tweet via SMS:

After registering at SMSTweet.in, sending a text with “TWT <Your Tweet>” to one of their service numbers will post your tweet to twitter. Refer this page for more info on keywords.

4. How to use SMSTweet to Retweet:

As of today, SMSTweet doesn’t support the Retweet RT feature. Whenever you receive a tweet update on your mobile from a friend – say XYZ, and you feel like RT’ing it:

• Query SMSTweet for the user XYZ’s  send “TWUP <Username>” to SMSTweet. You’ll get XYZ’s recent tweet.
• Edit this with “TWT RT: <Original Tweet>” and text this to SMSTweet.

5. How to use SMSTweet to Reply to a tweet:

• Incase you know whom to reply to, text “TWT @<Username> <Your reply>” to SMSTweet.
• Or Query SMSTweet for your latest mention – Send “TWME” to SMSTweet.
• Now text “TWT @<Username> <Your reply>”.

Yes, its a little painstaking than the default twitter text service. But saves you a few bucks if you live in India and:

• Have free national SMS! Or..
• Live in Bangalore/Mumbai where text to SMSTweet is charged at local SMS rates.

Happy Tweeting!

TIP: You can also post your twitter updates to Facebook via text.

Have any more ideas like these? Share it here!

You can register to the service online at www.smstweet.in or send an SMS like ‘REGISTER <twitter username> <twitter password>‘ to one of the numbers mentioned below. After a confirmation, you are all ready to tweet through sms.

Next, Just send a message like ‘TWT <twitter message>’ to any of the two numbers and your tweet gets posted.

In order to get twitter updates, sms ‘TWTUP’ to get the latest update in your timeline. Or ‘TWTUP <username>’ to get the latest update of that user.

Presently SMS Tweet India have opened up two numbers:

1. 09220092200 (Mumbai)
2. 09243000111 (Bangalore)

So, people in Mumbai and Bangalore get to tweet with LOCAL sms charges (read ‘Free’) while it would be charged with STD rates in other parts of India. FYI, STD sms charges are maximum Rs. 2/- in India according to this source.

As even STD sms rates have been crashing, this service seems promising for twitter aficionados in India. It comes handy in remote places where you don’t have internet/gprs access but have mobile network coverage. More info about the service is available here.

So! Go SMS Tweet! Credits to Mayank – the brains behind SMSTweet.in. SMSTweet runs on SMSGupShup and Google App Engine Framework.

Enter an facebook app called Selective Tweets, which makes it easier to tweet to your facebook wall. That is, your tweet is also posted to your Facebook wall. Here’s how it works:

In order to post your tweet to your facebook wall, you just have to end the tweet with an “#fb” hastag and wallah! Your FB status is updated.

But before doing so, you need to authorize Selective Tweets app to allow posting to your profile. Just follow these steps:

1. Sign into Facebook, and goto http://apps.facebook.com/selectivetwitter and authorize the app to posting updates to your wall.
2. You will need to associate your twitter username with your facebook profile, as shown below:
3. You can also link twitter accounts to update the fan pages for which you have Administrator privileges.
4. Also, you can configure the position of the hashtag “#fb” within your tweets – it can either be at the end of tweet or somewhere in the middle. And if you feel a lil’ bit creative, you can prefix your tweet with some message like “tweets” or like i did – “tweeted out loud: “. You can even include a link back to your twitter profile underneath each facebook wall update from twitter if you feel like it.

Hope you find Selective Tweets app an easier workaround for Twitter->Facebook integration. Do share this app with your friends and family. Credits to Andy Young for such a nice facebook application.

Long story short: I will blog on blog.a4arvind.in, and also continue to feed a4arvind.wordpress.com.

KThxBye!

And there goes another decade, just my second one though :P. 2009 was eventful – I mean it! I remember doing more things last year than any other year in college. Starting from Jan 2009 – 6th sem, Pongal hols, Feb14th, Pragyan’09, Toefl, GRE #fail, First Proj at coll, VSM, industry visit!!, prof letting for summer proj, escape from ogre magi, doms-iitm, tiffany-sleep-facebook-twitter-grepreps, <some_other_encrypted_events>,  prof-outta-town-so-pardy!!, dotadudes, replays, GRE #fail, stung-by-bees, monkeys in the doms toilet, iitm-dc++, daily movie marathons with idukks, proj-ends :(, 7th sem, ogre-multicasts, GRE #win :P, the WEIRdo tag, blore visits, only-dota-days, ooty trip, apping, winter vacs – movies et al…

Something to reminisce about 2009…

Finally, the last semester at NIT Trichy. Period. Its going to be fun! Thinking of catching up some new TV series and ofcourse DotA!

PS: Hope Aal izz well

Want more info about pentazzle? Visit the Pentazzle blog and Pentazzle forum. Or if you are just about pumped up to play, just start off at Pentazzle page, it needs a facebook connect login though. So if you’re on facebook, you’re good to go

Am informed, PENTAZZLER ID#007 tweets at twitter.com/14anand88 & Official Instincts Tweet at InstinctsTweet

PS: Hope this will serve as a beacon of light for Googlers!

Twitter has most certainly redefined the web. There are a lot of eye-candy & cool twitter apps for iPhone, Blackberrys, and other smartphones. But, only a very few java-based apps are available. Although, twitter introduced Airtel SMS integration in India, GPRS still proves to be cheaper if you can use the correct application. After about an hour long of search, I managed to find some of the better ones among the lot. So, if you don’t own those high end phones with lavish screen space, i am sure you will find this post useful

[ Edit: 28th Dec 2009 ]

This review is targeted for java-based lower end mobiles phones. To know about the best twitter apps for iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry, Windows mobile, or Nokia S60’s – head out to this post at Labnol.

[ Edit: 22nd Dec 2009 – Added screenshots – as viewed in Sony Ericsson W595 ]

The 5 Best apps that make tweeting easy on java-based mobiles through GPRS are:

1. uTweetMe

   – Best one I’ve ever used

   • 2 clicks tweet – quick tweeting
   • Very low data usage (about <5kb per tweet)
   • Simple user interface
   • Feature to save tweets as ‘drafts’
   

   uTweetMe - Menu

   

   uTweetMe - Tweeting

   

   uTweetMe - Timeline

2. TinyTwitter

   – equally good as uTweetMe minus the draft feature

   

   TinyTwitter - Timeline

   

   TinyTwitter - Menu

3. Twittai

   – A good UI, data usage is more, easy to view twitter timeline, auto refresh, twitpic integration

   

   Twittai - Timeline

   

   Twittai - Menu

   

   Twittai - Extended Menu

4. Twibble

   – UI is not as impressive as Twittai, High data usage, insert favorite hashtags from templates.

   

   Twibble - Home

   

   Twibble - Menu

   

   Twibble - Tweeting

   

   Twibble - Shortcuts

5. Snaptu

   – One of the latest, has a very impressive UI, equally high data usage, best to keep track of twitter timeline, can be used for other services like facebook, flickr, cricinfo. (You might want to switch off profile images to save up on the data)

   

   Snaptu - Home

   

   Snaptu - Twitter Timeline

   

   Snaptu - Tweeting

   

   Snaptu - Twitter Menu

   

   Snaptu - Twitter settings

The choice of app depends on the usage. uTweetMe and TinyTwitter work best when you want to tweet quickly without much hassle. Other apps come handy to review other’s tweets, RT them, sending DM’s etc.

Another app called Twim is good, but it fails to impress me.

Here is a quick comparison chart for the 5 apps..

Twitter apps for java-based mobile phones

When none of the apps seem good enough for you, use the the official twitter mobile website (m.twitter.com) or Tweete (m.tweete.net) or Dabr (dabr.co.uk) on your phone browser or Opera Mini An even better idea would be to switch over to an iPhone or Android

PS: These apps really have helped me tweet and keep a tab on my GPRS usage at the same time. Takes just 5 Paise for every tweet. I like BSNL for these reasons

A good friend of mine (i shall not reveal his identity for the sake of Pragyan!), who has a dogged determination to prove his skills by looting the university treasury, called up on me on jabber. The chat, which lasted for a several thousand nanoseconds, made me realize the true meaning of “Idiosyncratically Lazy”.

ChatLog

Him: wtf does that mean?

Me: google it am too lazy to explain

<< that kinda lazy >>

Him: thu! thu! thu!

Me: hehe..

Not just that, I got a hint how others treat lazy people. Although it was just a friendly banter, I could sense something real out of it. Absolutely no one respects lazy humans in this universe, unless they are your close family or maybe aliens from another planet

Guess its high time to get on with some work..

PS: I fancy this status of mine! maybe it will sound even more cool if I APPLE-fy it to iLazy

Edit: According to WhatTheTrends.Com, it was @nikhilnarayanan who started #chetanblocks. Sify.com reports it was a result of a debate over piracy between Chetan and some journalists.

It started with @Flyyoufools (or as some claim @notytony) tweeting up on the 7th of December 2012 2009 (Oops, sorry, sad effect of watching the 2012 movie)… providing a link to a previous tweetdeck conversation at http://twitpic.com/sig0s

And then, wallah! Chetan Bhagat comes in…

Chetan blocked FlyYouFools and a couple of others as mentioned here. And #chetanblocks is exactly what you get when you cross an Indian Comic Flick guy (FlyYouFools) with a Writer (Chetan Bhagat) who blocks tweeters (and lives to tell the tale LOL)

Phew! I never even thought a hashtag could have such phenomenal impact on twitter. To my knowledge, Trending on twitter in just about six hours is “Mind-Blasting” (like Russel Peters puts it). Check out the stats below, if you don’t believe it.

On a lighter note, #chetanblocks had created a sudden flurry of mocking tweets. If only you had followed, you would know how funny they sounded! I’ve listed some of the good ones here, just as an appetizer, visit Rohan’s post for a heavy dose of laughter

• Why can’t anyone be in Chetan Bhagat’s good books? Because there aren’t any. #chetanblocks
• The first 3D Blockbuster – My dear kutti Chetan #chetanblocks
• Where did CB buy his phone from? The Blockmarket #chetanblocks

Links to some of these funny tweets and pics: @krishashok, @rameshsrivats

Even YouTube and Adolf Hitler have participated in #chetanblocks Check out the video “Hitler finds out that Chetan Bhagat has blocked him on Twitter” by krishashok. (Therikka vudra da nee!!, with all due respect.. ). Don’t forget to turn on the captions to ‘English: Chetan’.

There were a lot of RT’s too, which made the whole thing trendy. Thanks to all those guys who made it a good fun evening

PS: Chetan Bhagat tweeted up later explaining the whole issue, which took him several tweets as shown below

Finally, lets all thank Mr. Chetan Bhagat himself. I know it wasn’t good to make fun of him this way, but then it was all in good spirit. And thanks to him, my blog can feed on a couple of extra hits

BSNL offers two kinds of Datacards presently, the NIC and the EVDO card.

• Wireless NIC (Network Interface Card) works on CDMA which offers speeds upto 144Kbps (comparatively slow) all over India
• EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) Card offers speeds upto 2.4Mbps (only in the metro cities, in other places it performs just like the NIC)

A comprehensive list of comparison based on speed offered can be found here

BSNL has unlimited plans for both cards which amount to Rs.250 per month(PM) for NIC and Rs.550 PM for EVDO Card. There are two options of getting the connection – rent the card (requires you to pay Rs.1000 as refundable caution deposit) or buy the card. Rent for NIC is Rs.150 PM and for EVDO it is Rs.200 PM. And it costs Rs.2800 to buy the NIC whereas Rs.3500 for EVDO Card (Promo offer till 30-9-09 – Rs.1680 for NIC and Rs.2100 for EVDO Card)

So, the cheapest way out would be to rent the cards – Rs.400 PM for the NIC and Rs.750 PM for the EVDO Card. I feel renting is better because in case of any failure/malfunction of the card, it becomes easier to get it exchanged/repaired as it will be the liability of BSNL.

I have settled for a NIC (Rs. 400 PM) as its cheaper when compared to other providers like tata-indicom, reliance.. and it delivers decent download/upload speeds of 7-12 Kbps throughout the day (this depends on your proximity to BSNL tower also, i get full signal strength where i am). I have attached my Speedtest report below and as its mentioned i get 9Kbps up/down speed at the moment.

BSNL NIC Wireless Internet Speedtest

BSNL NIC Speed Comparison

Tech Specs of Huawei EC325 NIC USB:

• Air interface: CDMA2000 1X RTT
• Standard Mini USB interface
• Internal Antenna
• Dimensions: 84mm x 42mm x 12mm
• Supports Data rates upto 153.6kbps (because its CDMA!!)
• Supports Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Seven and Linux too!

Download Huawei EC325 NIC USB drivers from http://bit.ly/huawei-drivers

Some facts you ought to know before you go in for BSNL NIC are:

• NIC connection is stable enough for a voice chat through Skype or GoogleTalk but gives average results for a video chat.
• Good browsing experience for Gmail, Facebook-Lite, Twitter and some light downloads under 20MB.
• NIC gives you a static IP which makes it tougher to download files simultaneously from filehosts like Rapidshare.
• Frequent movement may disrupt the connection as it may involve switching over to another tower coverage.
• Being wireless, i feel its even better than the Cable Sify Broadband at home where 64Kbps unlimited plan costs a lot more than BSNL NIC!
• Although BSNL claims here that roaming is available for both the cards, i am yet to check it out.

Bottom Line: If your game for an unlimited connection without expecting phenomenal speeds, then BSNL NIC is the one for you! And its the cheapest of its kind too!!

Warning: Beware of areas having no CDMA tower coverage! BSNL datacards wont work there. Like in the primitive parts of Trichy – NITT – Thuvakudi. Sometimes BSNL is such a letdown