Two Beta programs that's Kinda Cool

It's in beta but man it has me hooked already. Snitter is a small desktop application that allows you to post to Twitter may be sleeper for 2007. I enjoy the feel of it, the look of it, how it alerts you when a twitter entry has been placed on twitter, it's cool for PC and Mac and I know the creators will build on it as time goes on, so what are the downsides? It's still in beta and you can send files and add a webcam photo, but again...Snitter is still in beta.

Like tweetr, it needs ADOBE Air to run on your desktop so you have to install that first before installing Snitter. Once that is taking care of the Snitter installation is a breeze. I love the interface of Snitter...you have different templates to choose from, on the side of each of your twitter friends there are buttons for reply in timeline, direct message to your fellow twitter and a button to toggle as a favorite. you're able to delete your twitter entry in Snitter. the option drop down menu allows you to see your friends, your archives, replies, favorites,

I know tweetr does this but one thing tweetr doesn't have is looks. It's good every once in a while for a application to not only be "purr-dee" but have some muscle under the hood like Mac machines.

Another app that's desktop is in beta but is pretty cool is the the music player slacker. It's another last.fm, pandora, but what I'm really enjoying about this is the small features like it shows your what artist or group that is next to play, when you click on the artist up next it gives you the bio on that artist(s). Another nice feature is you can right click on the past songs or current song and choose whether as a favorite, ban the song or band the artist. I like the nice cd artwork it shows of the artist. You can also install slacker radio on your desktop just like last.fm

One thing it will have that last.fm does not have will be a portable player with built-in wi-fi so it will update your player, it will have a 4inch screen to check out the reviews, cd artwork. This is left to been seen if this will take off. I can see this running into problems, even though from an earlier article it will be mp3 capable but with the iPod touch with wifi capability it run into problems because even if you do not own an iPod just about everyone knows what there are but you never know. Another downside is that its not Mac based as of yet. I hope they will come out with a player on the Mac side because I think Mac people will love this.

One thing I'm realizing as well as you the readers is that what these two products are is just another creator or creators coming along and enhancing the products. First came Twitter then Jaiku came along then Pownce. The same is going on with Snitter and Slacker. Will they be around in 6 months, time will tell. I started off with Twitter, then Jaiku and Tumblr, now I'm back using Twitter. For me all of these products has a place in the web market because it keeps each one on their toes and that's a good thing. As I wrote a while back on twitter/jaiku/pownce, I take full advantage of them all. As my geek brother luis said,

"it's not nice to have both you just like to join and install everything."

Yes I have to admit, I'm a joiner. But hey by me joining I have a chance to kick the tires and let you know what's good, what's not, what to keep, what to pitch. (and besides, he's a cranky geek anyhow...I know he's going to get me for that, oh well)

Now, when will a product come along and knock the iPod and iTunes off of it's throne...we're waiting?