Twitter’s new retweet system isn’t exactly new anymore, but the way in which it is implemented feels like it would be an older system, reducing ease of use and accessibility. Prior to the ‘upgrade’, retweeting consisted of a simple tweet including the original tweet, tweeter and a marker. The marker first started as ‘RT’, but over time, variations were ‘invented.’ In the early DestroyTwiter days, Josh Corliss suggested using ‘>’ instead of ‘RT’, which saves a character and simply looks better. Many users reference tweets with ‘(via @username)’ or ‘/via @username’ to summarize instead of using word-for-word retweets. All of these options can be edited, daisy-chained, and commented on. They also appear in the retweeted user’s mentions timeline, notifying him/her of a retweet. With the new system, all of these features are either diminished or elongated.

To give an idea of the work on the developer, the new retweet system introduces the following API methods:

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statuses/retweet
statuses/retweets
statuses/id/retweeted_by
statuses/id/retweeted_by/ids
statuses/retweeted_by_me
statuses/retweeted_to_me
statuses/retweeted_of_me

The original system requires only two:

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statuses/update
statuses/mentions

Of course, the new system brings more control, but is it all necessary? In order to see which tweets of yours were retweeted and by whom, the statuses/retweeted_of_me method must be called, followed by the statuses/retweets method for each tweet. Unless you’re whitelisted (have 20,000 API calls), calling these methods, in addition to the common methods, could certainly add up quick. On top of that, both methods would need to be polled consistently to stay up-to-date in case additional retweets were made. Unless the developer of the app you use wants to bend over backwards to notify you of new retweets, you’re forced to visit Twitter.com to check.

Now, is it really such a big deal to know how many times or by whom your tweets are retweeted? Not entirely, but I personally gauge which tweets my followers react to the most by how many times the tweets are retweeted. If I tweet about DestroyTwitter and it’s retweeted a dozen times, then I tweet a video of my cat that only results in crickets, I’ll know to lay off the cat videos—but that’s just me. Other users find new people to follow by seeing who retweets their tweets.

With the new system, Twitter makes it harder on both developers and users. The original system worked and worked well. Many users, like myself, reject the new system and continue to use the original one. Because of this, users must reference multiple locations instead of one. This once simple-as-can-be feature is now a nuisance.

Twitter used to be simple. It still can be depending on which app you use, but if other features are ‘improved upon’ as retweets were, we might end up with unavoidable obstacles. I’m growing tired of services that start out beautifully, then take a turn for the worst after being packed full of unneeded additions. A prime example is Facebook, but that’s for another time.

(photo property of DreamWorks and Universal Studios)

On Saturday, I joined the other 700,000 people who spent part of their day waiting in line at the Apple Store. What made my experience unique is that I was the only person in line at 3 pm—and remained the only person in line for the next 20 minutes.

I arrived at the Apple Store with my brother and saw the ropes outside with no one nearby, so I walked inside. An employee asked if she could help me and I said I was there to pick up an iPad. She said, “Congratulations!” and asked me to step outside and wait in the empty line. Since the iPad is for work, I just needed to pick one up—no need to play with one, decide between the different models, or pick out accessories. At any other store, I would’ve able to go straight to the cash register, purchase what I need and be on my way.

My personal salesman arrived, asked for my name and said, “Congratulations, Jonnie!” He turned to my brother and warned him that I’ll ignore him for the rest of the day. I told him I’m a software developer and I just need the 16gb model for testing. He said, “Need! I like that word. You need it!” He then said he’ll check in the back to see if they have any left—after waiting in the empty line that whole time.

He came back with box in hand and said, “Congratulations, we have one available for you.” Next was the long list of extras to sell me. I know it’s their job to get me to buy a dozen accessories, but I ended up repeating, at least a dozen times, that I only needed the iPad—half of them was to turn down Mobile Me after he insisted I wouldn’t be able to completely experience the iPad without it. Each time I said I didn’t need any accessories or additional services, he looked like a deer in headlights, as if no one has turned them down before. He then said, “Jonnie, you’re looking at me like I’m a putz.”

It was finally time to pay for it, so I handed him my company card, and he says, “Congratulations, you’ll be the first at your company with an iPad.” I laughed and said, “Actually, we already have ten.” He looked shocked, then continued processing the order with an uncomfortable look on his face. This entire time, I tried my best not to reveal I work for Adobe—to avoid any unnecessary awkwardness. For the receipt, they needed an email address, so I painstakingly said, “jhallman@…adobe.com.” He paused for a moment and asked if I work for Adobe. I said I did and he exclaimed, “You guys hate us!” I assured him we don’t and said we just want Apple to support our platforms.

After the order went through, he said, “Congratulations, you now own an iPad.” But before I can go he said they were required to activate the iPad in the store “to make sure it works.” Can you imagine if I was a fanboy, dying to video tape the unboxing? That would’ve hurt. He led me to the ‘activation girl’ and said, “Jonnie needs his iPad activated …He works for Adobe.” From the tone of his voice, I felt compelled to ask the girl if that was code for something.

The whole experience just made me feel so awkward. I remember when I could walk into an Apple Store, tell an employee what I need, pay for it and leave. They would treat me like a regular person and talk like one too. I realize it was the release of the iPad, but the entire time I felt like I won it or needed their approval in order to get it. Congratulations? I’m a consumer there to purchase a product. The ordeal left me a little sick, as if they expect me to be that Apple fanboy who flaunts every iGadget, helpless without them. I do own a Macbook Pro, an iPhone, and now an iPad, but I’m not that guy.

It’s been a solid 17 days since I started Destroy Everyday—the creation-a-day mini blog aimed to balance my life between coding and off-the-computer mediums. So far, it’s been a success, meaning I have yet to miss a day. It’s been such a personal success that I’ve somewhat neglected the mothership—Destroy Today. Now that I have a solid routine down for the new year, it’s time to get back to business and stay active across the board.

I have a number of new DestroyFramework classes ready to document and check-in over the next few days. I plan to get back into sharing interesting and useful things I come across, regarding both programming and design. And, now that I’ve been introduced to MVC(S) and RobotLegs, I have a lot more to talk about—expect a tutorial in the near future.

To add some imagery to this post, below is yesterday’s Destroy Everyday post featuring Andy Mangold. I also included a detail shot because the web-sized image really doesn’t do it justice.

If I spend a third of my life sleeping, I spend another third programming. Most of the code I write is for an application or framework, but lately I find myself using code for everyday problem solving. In the last post, regarding the width of DT, I wrote a 3-line script to find sizes with 3:2 ratios, without decimals. Here’s the code:

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for (var w:uint= 576; w < 650; ++w) {
	if (w / 1.5 == int(w / 1.5)) trace(w, "x", w / 1.5);
}

Sure, it’s not the prettiest code, but it gets the job done—and in less than a minute. Without these three lines, I could have spent a good 15 minutes with the calculator widget.

Another scenario where code came in handy happened a month ago. I visited my sister, Lizzy, in Philly and we decided to play Scattegories. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the die to pick the letter for each round. Luckily, I had my laptop with me, so I wrote this snippet:

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trace("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz".substr(int(Math.random() * 26), 1));

In less than a minute, we had a pseudo-random letter and a fun time. There are dozens of moments each day where code is the quick solution, but I don’t always think code-first. Of course, code isn’t always the fastest solution to all problems, but it certainly comes in handy. Next time you have an issue, try using code. Heck, you can even write a 1-line 8-ball script if you have trouble making decisions.

The RIA Radio podcast episode that I was a guest on the other week has been posted to the InsideRIA website. It’s a solid hour and a half, so if you plan to listen get a bag of popcorn—I’m a bit long-winded. We discuss my new job at Adobe, how I got started with AIR, the origins of “Destroy Today”, and so much more. Check it out and keep track of how many times I say “you know.”

Is anyone else deeply disturbed about the new Miracle Whip commercial that’s currently airing? There’s a huge disconnect between the brand and the rebel style of advert. Because I was a bit surprised to see a commercial about Miracle Whip in the first place, I decided to see what they used to be like. Below is one from 1991—I just get it. It’s an alternative to mayo and everyone likes it.

Now, take a look at the one airing now. It’s just a shame what’s happened. Why do I immediately feel like I’m watching this Ketel One vodka commercial? I miss the tangy zip of Miracle Whip.

If there’s one thing I love about San Francisco, it’s the views—seems like everywhere I look is filled gorgeous architecture, beautiful scenery, or just something unique. This photo is from my hotel room, where the Apple store glows bright next to Virgin records.

There’s always so much activity, but it’s not over-the-top or stressful. Though I did have the chance of walking through some shady neighborhoods, they’re nothing compared to those of Baltimore—it’s actually a bit refreshing, bringing a bit of familiarity to the west.

I think Robert Hodgin, of the Barbarian Group, said it best in his speech at the 2006 Flash in the Can, “If you’re constantly staring at an environment that doesn’t inspire you…I’d highly recommend you find the energy to pick up and move.” Oddly enough, he was referring to his move to San Francisco as well.

In the next release of DestroyTwitter, I’m introducing a new icon preference. It lets the user choose whether they want small icons, big icons, or none at all. The choice is not entirely a visual one, but also one of resource usage.

The above profiler tests show the memory usage between the three options. As you can see, there’s a startling difference between DestroyTwitter when it has icons compared to when it doesn’t. That was expected to some degree, but what’s also interesting is the how slight the difference is between small and big icon memory usage. Since the big icons have 33% more bitmap data than the small ones, I assumed the margin would be greater than 641 kb.

Throughout development of DestroyTwitter, an option for bigger icons has always been high on the list of most requested features. I always pushed it to the side, claiming it would use a considerable amount of memory compared to the current size. After performing these tests, it’s safe to say that the difference is minimal. If you prefer a larger icon, you’re not going take a hit. With the option for no icons, however, are you tempted to go for text only?

I misplaced my Wacom pen about six months ago. Losing it killed me since I’m not a mouse person and a replacement is a solid $60. Getting ready to drive back home from PA, I asked my ma to put something in the small compartment of my backpack. Keep in mind, I use this pocket more than any other part of the bag. She puts her hand in and pulls out my pen—it was with me this whole time.

I’m mentioning this because of two things. One—if you ever lose something, thoroughly check the most common place. I remember checking that little pocket many times, but I guess I just needed to check it once more. Two—if you don’t use a Wacom tablet, you should. It has saved my hand from carpal tunnel and surprisingly makes me program faster. The trick is setting the mapping to mouse.

Tonight, I spent some time looking at the work of someone I’ve looked up to for years now. His work is always original and leaps over anything considered innovative these days. I then stopped and wondered, “If I were to meet him, what would I say?” It’s a very hard question to answer. Do you tell them you’ve been following their work forever and gush over them like you’re on MTV’s Fanatic? Do you even mention their work or your interest in it, and stumble while trying to come off cool and down-to-earth?

It’s something I’ve always wondered. Last year, James Jean visited MICA and the entire school shut down (not literally). Everyone went crazy—like seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. I happened to have his book, “Process Recess”, which sells on Amazon for as much as $875. Of course, I wanted him to sign mine, but so did everyone else at MICA. When I got up to see James, I was clueless as to what to say, so I said nothing and held the book in front of him like Oliver Twist asking for more. He didn’t scream “Morrrrrrrrre?!” like in the movie, but he did look at me like I was just there to double the value of my book. Though the scenario wasn’t one to sit down and have a chat, I did feel a bit let down that I couldn’t even introduce myself.

Now, James Jean isn’t my idol, but now that I’m an Adobe employee, I’ll be meeting a lot of people I’ve looked up to over the years—especially being in San Francisco. I’m sure I’ll have more to say than when I met James Jean, but it makes me wonder. For those who have already met their idol(s), what did you talk about? I’m sure there’s a handful of good stories out there. Feel free to share.

I didn’t really know what sort of imagery to accompany with this text, so I used a shot I took a while back, trying out the 5D for the first time with Jen.