SheGeeks

 
The first AIR app for FriendFeed, Feedalizr has been suspiciously silent up until today. When the app first debuted, I didn’t like it one bit. Compared to Alert Thingy and Twhirl, it just didn’t compare. A little after it’s debut, Feedalizr released another update, but still wasn’t a competitor. Today, Feedalizr finally shows some serious potential.
       

Major UI Overhaul

Feedalizr has gone from this:

To this:

Feature Set

A nice transition? Definitely! With a total UI overhaul and a great list of new features, nothing compares to the being able to upload videos to FriendFeed through Feedalizr. The actual videos are hosted on Feedalizr’s servers, so there’s no worrying about where to find them or integration with other services. You can also access your videos by typing in: http://www.feedalizr.com/videos/user/Friendfeed Nickname

Other features include:

• Better filtering options
• Flickr upload support with tagging capabilities and privacy settings
• Twitter integration with the ability to reply to a tweet directly from Feedalizr

Stepping Up Its Game

Memory usage was a serious problem when Feedalizr debuted. I’m happy to report that this problem no longer exists. With the latest update I’m happy to say that I can consider Feedalizr a worthy FriendFeed app competitor.

Popularity: 9% [?]

bTT is a remake of bTittleTattle, one of the first Friendfeed desktop apps to be released. Developed by Sobees, they’ve taken some huge hints and integrated Twitter into bTT and also made some changes.
     

Improvements

• Improved UI redesign
• Font adjustment options
• Sort by service options
• Show/Hide comments
• Twitt It/Friendfeed It
• No duplicates (yay!)
• Slideshow view for pictures
• Wide view/ Slim view

     

First, let me state that there is an update to bTittleTattle. However, even though bTT is a remodel of bTittleTattle, you have to download bTT separately.
     

User Interface

The user interface is much better this time around! Steven Hodson is going to love the option to resize the font. Everything shows up pretty much like it would on Friendfeed. New comments and liked items are properly sorted back to the top of the window with the most recent comment shown first. You have the option of hiding comments and you can also adjust how many comments are shown. Posting a comment from the client is simple enough. However, to see a comment you just made you have to refresh the window.
    

Sorting Services and Twitter

The sort by service feature organizes the services in alphabetical order. I’m noting this because in other apps that sort by service, the services are arranged in the most chaotic way.

For the Twitter service, bTT shows the difference between where the updates are coming from by highlighting Twitter updates in sky blue, while Twitter updates through Friendfeed follow the standard color scheme, black. Unfortunately, replying back to someone is a bit of a problem as bTT doesn’t show the users Twitter handle. Also, there’s no way to reply back to a Twitter message that shows up via Friendfeed. Standard comments and likes do apply. This is a bit odd to me. What’s the point in integrating Twitter if users can’t reply back or even DM someone properly and easily?
     

Flickr Slideshow

One of the coolest features that bTT has over the other Friendfeed/Twitter clients is the slideshow presentation of flickr photos that’s shown when more than one has been posted. Take a look at the screenshot below.

There are buttons to the left and right of pictures if more than one has been found. Clicking on an image opens a preview of the image right next to bTT. Is that not the coolest little trick? =D
      

Alerts and Search

I love their update alerts. The alerts let you know how many new items, comments, and likes have been added. I think that was a pretty cool layout instead of the standard "4 new updates" alerts. It keeps me informed of when I should check back on bTT and when I can put it off a little longer. Their search, or filter, feature is just grand! I was surprised to see even my direct messages on Twitter pulled into bTT and highlighted in a pretty ugly green color. Still, bTT has one of the most solid search/filter features for Friendfeed that I’ve seen to date.
     

A Solid Client

As a Friendfeed desktop client, I’d honestly choose bTT over the rest. Twhirl and Alert Thingy are too buggy for me. bTT is running flawlessly and isn’t sucking up any resources. The only things I would request at this point are the ability to easily reply back to twitter messages and a way to tab through older items. If they integrate these features, they can get an awesomesauce approval with flying colors. A huge kudos to Allen Stern of CenterNetworks for the update on bTT!

Popularity: 17% [?]

Finally, a Friendfeed app that does it all, except auto refresh!

MySocial 24×7 is a Firefox sidebar extension for Friendfeed. I’m one of those strict Firefox users that does not install too many plugins due to Firefox’s high memory usage problems. However, MySocial just feels so lightweight that I’m not worried about it running in my sidebar, an echoed sentiment of Frederic in his review of the app (The Best FriendFeed App Lives in the Browser). Here’s a closer look at MySocial 24×7.
     

MySocial’s Great User Interface (UI)

The UI is very clean, straightforward, and uncluttered. It’s not exactly a minimalist’s dream due to all the services that Friendfeed integrates, but it’s as close as you can get. Every feature is available right from the start and the layout is well organized and executed nicely. My only complaint would to shrink the logout and share buttons. I don’t understand why they’re that big in the first place when you’re only going to play with them every once in a blue moon.

Features

The one thing I’ve wished for in other Friendfeed clients and have only seen in bTittleTattle, is filtering of services. MySocial does a great job of filtering services and all of the options are conveniently laid out next to one another.

Another cool filtering technique is to filter by friends. This is great for those who like to check up on certain friends in particular rather than going through the entire crowd. I’m not sure how the friends list is organized, but I wish it were alphabetized.

If you see a Twitter item, you have the option of replying to Friendfeed or also replying to Twitter, just like on the Friendfeed homepage! Liking and commenting on an item was a breeze and both actions immediately show up in MySocial. Also, you can move smoothly back and forth between old and new items and a refresh button is located at the bottom since the app does not automagically refresh.

In conjunction, small updates pop up when a new item has been posted to Friendfeed. I actually happen to like this approach better than automatically refreshing the application. This is cooler for me because I may not always have time to look over every time the app is refreshed. It decreases the distraction level and makes me feel as if I don’t have to worry about the new items. MySocial has it all under control! Oooh yeah!
   

Awesomesauce Approved!

I think it will be hard for users not to love MySocial 24×7. It just runs so smooth as if it were a brand new engine or well oiled machine. There are a great number of features that the community has been screaming for in clients such as Alert Thingy and Twhirl, and most, if not all, are all right there in MySocial right out of the box. Of course there are some bugs and kinks to work out, but I’d say it’s an pretty solid product and definitely gets the awesomesauce approval badge!

Popularity: 7% [?]