Features:

• all Twitter operations supported
• loads in browser or install as widget
• avatars and special characters supported
• user configured refresh rate
• AJAX based

The Good:

Twitter Gadget is a very good Twitter client. It can run in your browser or as a “gadget” that can be inserted into Gmail accounts. Twitter Gadget boasts quite a few features, but the standouts are the search capability, the level of user configuration and the fact that the app is AJAX based.

The Not-so-Good:

Twitter Gadget seems a robust Twitter client, but we would dearly love to see it handle multiple Twitter accounts. Some of the features are more intuitive than explicit, but once figured out, it all comes together well.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★★

Features:

• twoxit.com provides code for copying to place a Twitter update widget on websites
• widget available in five color schemes
• two sizes of widget (180 x 130 px and 468 x 60 px)
• Twitter username & password required to send tweet via widget
• character countdown

The Good:

twoxit is a good way to get a Twitter update widget onto your website or blog. The widget itself comes in two orientations and five colors with a character countdown to keep you on track. It is easy to simply copy the code provided at twoxit.com and paste it into a website. Tweets go through fine.

The Not-so-Good:

We know why both a Twitter username and password are required to send tweets, but there is no information on twoxit.com about how the API is used or a privacy policy of any kind (even one that says “we have no control over your information”). It would be useful to see that information. The idea of twoxit was conceived on February 17, 2009 and launched February 20, 2009, so it really is in its first beta iteration. There are bound to be fixes along the way.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ♦♦♦

Features:

• provides simple code to copy and paste into blog or website
• code creates customizable button which launches a tweet dialog
• login with Twitter credentials to tweet
• TweetRooster.com also shows a list of most active pages using Tweet Rooster

The Good:

If you want to allow visitors to your blog or website to tweet about your page directly from the page, Tweet Rooster is a great widget. Tweet Rooster also provides a WordPress plugin.

The Not-so-Good:

The buttons that Tweet Rooster creates work just fine, creating a tweet dialog box complete with a character countdown. One thing we didn’t like was that even though you can add the URL of the page you are visiting to the tweet, there is no way to shrink that URL directly from within Tweet Rooster.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★

Features:

• Twitter plug-in for the Today screen of Windows Mobile touchscreen devices
• fast posting of tweets – no launching or polling
• direct launch of http://m.twitter.com for viewing tweets by clicking on Twitter logo

The Good:

If you have a Windows Mobile touchscreen device and want to rapidly post tweets (without having to launch an application that views, @replies and DMs tweets), then TwitToday is just the thing for you. It does an excellent job of just posting, and since it lives on the Today screen, it is an even faster option than sending a tweet by SMS.

The Not-so-Good:

Some folks have installation difficulties with TwitToday, but it should be remembered that it is a “Today” screen plugin and not a “Home” screen plugin. An earlier release did not support some “foreign” language special characters, but that has been fixed.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ♦♦♦

Features:

• custom keyword Twitter searches
• customized grid layout for displaying search results
• search results updated in real time
• one-click for display of trending topics
• shrinking URLs
• tweet directly from TweetGrid (including @reply and retweet)

The Good:

TweetGrid is easy to use, highly customizable and perhaps best of all: it updates search results in real time. The site also allows users to create a widget for use on web pages and blogs. TweetGrid is an excellent search tool, allowing for topic/keyword search results to scroll by, reminiscent of the Election 2008 tweetstream.

The Not-so-Good:

TweetGrid is a powerful tool. We had only two minor complaints: (1) the website lacks an FAQ and support section and (2) the tweeting tools felt a little clunky.

**UPDATE** Since we published this review, TweetGrid has added a very useful FAQ page and a Search Tips page. This adds greatly to the utility of the site. Bump up our rating to 4.5/5 for this excellent and powerful application.

Tweetwave.com rates it: ★★★★