SheGeeks

Services are updating like crazy this week! The new updates should keep fans and users excited for the rest of the week and also help with user productivity. Here’s a look at the recent changes from some of my favorite services.

Toluu Adds More Tabs

  Toluu, my favorite social RSS discovery service, has rolled out a very complimentary update to the service. Previously, Toluu revamped the activities page by adding more tabbed views. They also integrated Twitter into the service. Now, when I add a feed, it’s also “tweeted” on Twitter.

Today the service has added the tab interface to the Feed pages. Head to the SheGeeks feed page on Toluu and you’ll see a tabs for the most recent posts, popular posts, and Toluu subscribers.

According to the Toluu blog,

Also in this release we have added the greatly requested date stamps, improved YouTube embed compatibility, improved the loading time of the contacts page by roughly 5x, and fixed some bugs surrounding the invitation page.

For more information on Toluu check out TheSocialGeeks podcast. If you’d like to join Toluu, I have 115 Toluu invites. Just leave a comment below to snag one.

More Discussions:
Toluu Adds More Features, Helps You Decide How to Subscribe
Toluu Just Got Better: New Feed Page Views and More!
Subscribe or Not? Toluu Just Got Better at Helping You Decide

FriendFeed Adds More Services

  FriendFeed, a social aggregator and lifestreaming service, has also added more features and fixes. In the past week the FriendFeed has added rooms (or groups) and and personalized recommendations. Now the service has added 5 more services to include in your lifestream: Intense Debate, Brightkite, Diigo, Mister Wong, and Tipjoy.

Other updates include a FriendFeed feed revamp, highlighted comments of those that you subscribe to, along with a host of other fixes and minor updates.
      

Twhirl Ands More Support & Functionality

The latest update of Twhirl features a host of features that will help out a ton when Twitter starts going wonkers on you without warning. For Twitter, Twhirl has introduced auto throttling. This feature allows Twhirl to automagically reduce your API requests per hour so that you get less timeout errors.

You can also hide messages from previous sessions when you start a new one, search via Summize, XMPP support, a new color theme (Orange Gray), Twhirl status message updates, and more.
         

On the FriendFeed side of things there have been more drastic improvements. I haven’t used Twhirl for FriendFeed since it’s second update. I decided to give it a try this time around and can agree that it’s much more stable. For one, the trash icon actually works. When I click it, the entire screen goes blank. +1 for Twhirl! Other updates include inline commenting, user information, a button to see more comments inline, support for FriendFeed rooms, and better stability for not killing your comment text when an update rolls in and you just so happen to be in the middle of writing a comment.

More Discussions:

Twhirl Catches a Much-Needed Performance Update

Twhirl Gets a Fresh Coat of Paint

Roundup Completed

So there’s your roundup of the latest service updates. If you’re using any of these services are you enjoying the updates so far?

For me, the Toluu update is impressive and as a subscriber stat addict, I like knowing how many people are subscribing to my feed in Toluu. The new views also provide ways for me to know what articles are popular and find more feeds to subscribe to.

With FriendFeed, I can finally add my Diigo bookmarks to the service, though I was hoping Toluu would be in there too. I also like the highlighted comments from those that I subscribe to. It’s great for pointing out others that may be of interest to me.

With Twhirl, what’s not to like about this update. It’s way more stable and actually makes using Twitter a lot easier, especially when Twitter is taking on too much. The most productive feature of the update has to be the Twitter API usage icon. If you hover your mouse over this icon you can see how many requests are currently allowed and how many requests you’ve used up so far. It’s great for keeping track of when you’re coming close to going over your limit.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Feedalizr, the first Friendfeed AIR app to be released, has released an update to their client. However, it’s a bit of a disappointment compared to Alert Thingy (app review), Twhirl (app review), and bTT (app review).

Changes

• Twitter integration
• Filtering options
• Comment/Like items

The Experience Sucks

Sorry to put it so frankly, but it does. You can now filter by name, date, and service. Unfortunately, the filtering options are very basic. For example, sorting items by service doesn’t give you the option of picking which services you’d like to see by themselves. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it, so you’ll have to check it out for yourself. Sorting by name filters the latest updates alphabetically by username.

Items that have new likes or comments are not filtered back to the top of the stream. Also, with the new update, Feedalizr is a serious memory hog. It’s currently using 72% of my resources as I type this post.

The Bright Side

Sharing an item to Friendfeed and Twittering using Feedalizr is simple and quick. You can easily reply to a Twitter message by clicking on the Twitter icon for an item. The username of the person who posted the Twitter item will pop up in a box at the top of the client. When posting a comment or like, the app will automatically refresh to display the new update. Still, as aforementioned, nothing new goes back to the top of the stream.

A Day Late, A Dollar Short

All in all, the upgrade is a let down and I’ll be uninstalling it sometime today. It lags behind its competition tremendously. What are your thoughts on Feedalizr?

Popularity: 11% [?]

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% [?]