Hey! We talk about interesting things. At least we think so. Here’s quick summary of what we’re talking about around the studio. Tell us what we missed!

• Versions – Mac Subversion Client (SVN) – discovered by Tyler
• Apple’s New Keyboardless Laptop
  – for real?
• TwitBin – twitter your browser – Molly loves it.
• IMDb | Watch Full-Length Movies, TV Shows, and More — Free! – some great old TV shows up there!
• Katy is checking out Dropbox while Bryan is checking out ZumoDrive.
• Bryan enlightened us to: Biggest rock wusses of all time, Best Photoshop tutorials for beginners, Most beautiful icon sets of 2008, Worst places to get caught having sex, and the Best Christmas light shows.
• Something I never knew.
• One of our favorite local restaurants opened in Milwaukee.
• I’ve started a company Twitter account.
• And Tyler’s Sursly.com has been getting a lot of traffic!

As 2008 draws to a close I present to you my list of Top 10 Free iPhone Apps. Coincidentally, all these apps will work on the iPod Touch as well. So, in no particular order, here we go!

1. NYTimes – This app courtesy of the New York Times makes it super easy to browse through the paper. I especially like the browse by photos section. Articles cache for easy offline (airplane) viewing.

2. Locly – Awesome for finding out what’s nearby when you travel. I’ve tried a few other apps of this sort, but Locly is the best. The current version allows you to search for: Flicker Images*, Local Twitters*, Wikipedia Articles*, Local Events, News from outside.in, Restaurants, Pubs, Cafes, Shops and Supermarkets, Taxi Firms, Films and Movies, Museums*, Hotels, Banks and ATMs, and Gas Stations. I starred (*) the ones I use Locly for the most.

3. Wikipanion – I like to reference the Wiki a lot, and this app makes it a much more plesant experience than going to Wiki via Safari. It’s a must have.

4. Sol Free – Every iPhone needs a good solitare game, and this one is the best free app available. There’s a paid version of this app, but the free one comes with a few styles of solitare including the classic “Klondike Deal 3″, which is really all you need to pass the time.

5. Shazam – I had this app for awhile before I actually used it, but when I did I was amazed! It listens to the music that’s playing around you, and then tells you the name of the song, artist and album. Shazam easily picked out “Bad Up Your Betterness” by the Presets in a sushi restaurant in Austin, and B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” from radio in the car.

6. MiniPiano – A one-octive mini piano, plain and simple. Sounds great and plays easy. Unlike other piano apps, you can slide your finger down the keyboard to produce a glissando effect without having to press each key individually. Fun for kids!

7. TwitterFon – Everyone (including me) uses Twitterific, but here’s a shout out to another app I use called TwitterFon. It’s easily just as good as Twitterific PLUS it lets you Search for tweets (even based on your current location), so it’s easy to see who’s tweeting around you.

8. Chess – This app lets you have a game of chess with another iPhone-based player. Play someone sitting right next to you, or someone around the world. I had been looking for a free chess app for awhile, and this one takes the cake.

9. Pandora – Pandora is totally awesome. Enter a musician or band name and Pandora will create and endless stream of music from that artist as well as music by other artists that share the same genres. It’s completely commercial free (except for a small on-screen ad), and the music plays uninterrupted. Vote each song Pandora plays thumbs-up or thumbs-down and Pandora will customize the music it plays. It’s a great way to find new music. And it even sounds great over a 3G connection.

10. Showtimes – The mission of this app is to show you what’s playing at nearby movie theaters. Showtimes’ interface is super easy to navigate and includes results from multiple theaters, movie ratings, summaries, and trailers. Great when traveling and when at home.

Honorable mentions:

Video Poker – simple and fun!

Tangrams – 70 puzzles in this holiday edition.

Mobile News – AP newswire, includes local search.

Hanoi – the deceivingly difficult game I love to hate.

Blanks – fun word definition game.

FlyCast – streaming radio of all sorts (how I get WEFUNK on the road).

Wanted: PHP Programmer

We’re looking for a programmer fluent in OO PHP to assist and lead projects for client-specific web application development.

Skills should include familiarity with the MVC code structure, comfort working with Object-Oriented PHP code, the ability to jump in and start using other people’s code, and past experience with some of the major open-source PHP software (WordPress, Vanilla, Drupal, CakePHP, etc).

The applicant needs to demonstrate their ability as an independent problem-solver, and their ability to work well with others. We put a high value on curiosity and inquisitiveness, and past experience demonstrating those is great to see.

We work almost exclusively with MySQL, so a basic familiarity with that is important as well.

Specific tasks for this position include:

- customizing pre-existing code bases for specific client needs
- leading development of custom web applications
- working with other programmers on longer term, internal development projects
- optimizing pre-existing code
- server customization and management
- ability to quickly learn and develop proficiency in new coding languages and frameworks.

Bonus Points for:

- Experience with CakePHP or Rails
- JQuery or similar OO Javascript Framework
- Any design or UI experience
- Degree in C.S. or related field (i.e. physics, math, biology, etc.)
- Fondness for cookies, coffee, and/or beer

This position is full-time or part-time and your physical presence in the office will be expected. Freelancers need not apply.

Please use our website contact form or reply to this posting on craigslist with your resume and portfolio.

Learn more about us at www.awpny.com.

Okay. So by now you’ve heard all the buzz about the big #twittersecret (read: “Twitter’s Secret” for you non tweeting types), and you’re wondering what’s going on. What is this big secret that everyone is clamoring to know? I’m afraid you’ll be a little let down if you’re not a die-hard twitter fan. So I’ll let you down gently…

Twitter’s big secret involves Direct Message (DM) tweeting, which is sending a tweet directly to another tweeter without posting to the entire tweeting public. Apparently, when DMing you’re allowed 115 extra characters to tweet with… that’s a full 255 characters for DM tweeting. Wow.

This is big news to the tweeter community who are used to the regular 140 character limit on tweets. Here’s the message (sent as a DM in twitter) that reveals the secret:

“So here’s the secret: A couple of days ago @davidson & @lebrun discovered that DM’s don’t have to be just 140 characters. That’s right | this is where it should have ended but it didn’t did it? No actually you can send up to 255 characters.” (source)

This is likely to be because the cell phone text message (SMS) limit is also 255 characters, and many people have twitter set up to send text messages to their cell phones. Why not offer people the extra 115 characters?

So who started this #twittersecret anyways? Was it a marketing attempt by an entrepreneurial tweeter? Did they know that you would be so intrigued that you would click a TinyURL link in hopes of uncovering it?

Well, now that you’re here be sure to check out the rest of our website! And now you know the secret.

MailDart(tm) is our easy-to-use newsletter system that lets you create effective and efficient e-mail campaigns. It’s our latest thing, and we think you’ll love it!

Today, we sent out a message to everyone on our email list (yes, we use MailDart ourselves) introducing the new service. A copy of that message is available right here. Here are the highlights:

Top 5 Reasons MailDart Rocks:

1. It gets results! (We know because we use it!)
2. It’s a pay-as-you-go system. There are no monthly fees.
3. No stock templates necessary. We create an email template that looks like YOU.
4. MailDart is fantastically easy to use.
5. Advanced reporting features give you the information you need to fine-tune your campaigns based on viewer feedback.

“MailDart is a great product. The reports allow me to make smart decisions about what I send my customers and the interface is easy to learn and use.” – Derek Cabrera, ThinkWorks

So head on over here for more information, or over here to contact us!