Features:

• utilizes Adobe Air environment
• ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts
• ability to create groups and lists, and split feeds into columns
• TwitPic support and video capture via drag and drop
• search feature allows users to track any topic

The Good:

Seesmic Desktop is the latest offering from the gang that brought us twhirl. Perhaps it is “twhirl plus”. Seesmic Desktop brings everything together into one user friendly UI. There are a number of useful features, chief among them the ability to create groups (user lists) and split feeds into columns. Also important is the ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts. The “drag and drop” feature for TwitPic support is a nice tool as well. Seesmic Desktop is in the very early stages of release, and many things are planned for the future. Presently, it provides a very good foundation to go places.

The Not-so-Good:

We are bearing in mind that there are more features planned for Seesmic Desktop (it is in “Preview” release now), but there are a few things that we would like to see: (1) the ability to manage other social networking tools, (2) the ability to schedule tweets for future transmission, (3) having the “follow user” feature available in all columns, not just the home column and (4) having the ability to re-size columns if desired. We know some of these are already on the way.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★★

Seesmic Desktop Preview

Features:

• all Twitter operations supported
• search capability
• good customizations available
• uses OAuth login

The Good:

Airmailr is a good Twitter client for Mac OS X. It is presently in early beta release, so there are bound to be a few bugs here and there. We liked the UI, the look and the level of customization. We also liked the use of OAuth.

The Not-so-Good:

As we mentioned, Airmailr is in early beta release along with the requisite potential for bugs. Airmailr stacks up pretty well as a good Twitter client. One thing we noticed was that, although avatars are supported, their appearance felt a bit “pinched”.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★

Features:

• all Twitter operations supported
• uses Adobe Air platform and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux
• high level of customization
• TwitPic supported
• ability to “freeze” feed while “away” to limit API calls

The Good:

DestroyTwitter is a great Twitter client. The UI is appealing (doesn’t look unlike TweetDeck in some ways), easy to use and offers good customization. A visit to the website shows that the application is in a constant state of improvement (Beta release 1.4.4 now), which is good. The developers are serious about the product.

The Not-so-Good:

We liked DestroyTwitter a lot. A couple of points spring to mind though for improvement: (1) there is the “manage multiple Twitter accounts” feature that would be great on all applications (but you can’t have everything, can you?) and (2) some of the commands/instructions are not obvious to the user (you have to visit the website to find out more about the commands) – it would be nice to see some more information on that from directly within the app itself. Other than that, it’s good stuff.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★★

Features:

• download requires Windows Vista and .Net 3.5
• view unlimited tweets
• inline @replies (threads)
• excellent graphical displays
• TinyURL integration
• ability to select favorite friends and notification of their tweets

The Good:

blu is a desktop application Twitter client dedicated to Windows Vista users. thirteen23 labs in Austin, Texas developed it (so it must be good!). There are plenty of good features. We liked the ability to view unlimited tweets and the threading of @replies. The graphical display is also quite good, with some interesting features when “hovering”. Customization is also available for settings like opacity and refresh intervals.

The Not-so-Good:

We so wanted to believe that blu would be the perfect Twitter client for Windows Vista, but it’s not perfect. Good, but not perfect. There isn’t a scroll bar, so getting up and down through the unlimited tweets can take a while. There is no search feature, which would have been good. Also, there is no way to see a display of friends/followers. Lastly, there is only support for one Twitter account at a time.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ♦♦♦

Features:

• based on Adobe AIR, simple install
• user specified location and radius (in miles) to pull tweets

The Good:

If you would like to view tweets from folks in a certain location and environs, the TwitterLocal is the perfect tool. All you need to do is specify that location (city/state/country) and a radius in miles to add tweets from that location to your viewing. Tweets show from user/location/date/time (GMT). The stream refreshes often and @username and links can be opened in a browser.

The Not-so-Good:

One cannot post or @reply from within TwitterLocal, which is too bad, but then again it never claimed to be able to do that.

Tweetwave.com rates it:  ♦♦♦

Features:

• app stays out of the way in the systray
• easily post updates to Twitter from desktop
• automatic URL shortening using tinyurl.com

The Good:

EasyTwit is a simple application that allows for easy posting of tweets for users of Windows. A character countdown is provided and URLs are automatically shortened using tinyurl.com. EasyTwit does a good job of staying out of the way too.

The Not-so-Good:

EasyTwit works well, and we couldn’t find anything to complain about. Its operations are limited, so it won’t do any of the power tracking or grouping of tweets (or even display timelines), but if you just want to post tweets, then it fits the bill.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ♦♦♦

Features:

• customizable UI window opacities
• view users’ profiles with single click on name
• @reply by double clicking user icon
• character countdown
• customizations including refresh intervals
• monitor friends/followers

The Good:

Twittle’s mission is to provide a lightweight, unobtrusive Twitter client that is “the best looking Windows Twitter client” around. Twittle does, indeed, provide a good-looking UI. It sports a good level of customization and detail (update timestamps go to hours and minutes). The whole idea is to be as useful as possible while taking up as little room as possible. Twittle accomplishes both.

The Not-so-Good:

Apparently, Twittle is the first project for its developer, and it continues to evolve.  There wasn’t anything we didn’t really like about Twittle, but there are a few little bugs/issues. These are minor, and continue to be resolved with each release.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★★

Features:

• split tweet stream into 10 basic categories
• hashtags are automatically recognized and categories created on the fly
• multi-user interface
• tweets link when replied to
• retweet, @reply and DM commands

The Good:

Twitulater makes use of the Adobe AIR platform, and has the ability to allow for filtering and categorization of tweets from multiple Twitter accounts. This is a huge benefit to power users, and this application could compete hard with the very popular TweetDeck.

The Not-so-Good:

Twitulater is still in uber-beta, having only been “hatched” as an idea in November 2008. It has gone through eight iterations since then, with noticeable improvement with each release. The graphics of the interface are not pretty right now, but the developer will tell anyone who cares to listen that this is a priority. So, development is ongoing, and this very promising application will only get better and better.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ♦♦♦♦

Features:

• works on either Mac or PC
• send and receive updates to Twitter (including @replies and DM)
• send photos and files (up to 10mb)

The Good:

Tweetr is a desktop app that does the basic Twitter functions well. It shows the time of messages and avatars. Perhaps the best feature of Tweetr is the ability to drag and drop files (by link) into the app and have them sent.

The Not-so-Good:

Tweetr can only manage one Twitter account at a time, and it does not have the ability to group or filter tweets. There are some other limitations: Tweetr doesn’t show the Twitter client from which messages are sent, there is no character countdown when typing an update and the url shortening is hit and miss.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ♦♦♦

Features:

• easily downloads and installs on FireFox
• view, reply to and favorite updates
• view @replies and DM

The Good:

TwitterFox is easy to use: after installing simply enter Twitter user details and a viewer pops up showing your timeline. The viewer can be minimized and as such, isn’t intrusive at all. You can reply to updates and mark as favorites too.

The Not-so-Good:

TwitterFox doesn’t allow you to change the size of the viewing pane. Also, you have to hover over an update to get info on when it was sent and from which Twitter client. It works, but doesn’t have many bells and whistles.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ♦♦♦