myopiclunacy.com

• Urban Dictionary: debacled http://tinyurl.com/27xgsq Emmitt Smith immortalized #
• Patent filing shows DVR for Apple TV - TUAW http://tinyurl.com/2ce7gs - at $229 this would be what makes Apple TV a killer app. #
• Billeo: Pay your utility bills online and build credit - Download Squad http://tinyurl.com/yt7b43 Free online bill pay? Cool! #
• ProcX shows you which Windows services can be safely terminated - Download Squad http://tinyurl.com/25xkso #
• Get full version of FairUse Wizard DVD ripper for free - Download Squad http://tinyurl.com/34rhk8 #
• Configuration Mania reveals hidden Firefox settings - Download Squad http://tinyurl.com/2f2hkn #
• 17 ways to visualize Twitter and its Tweets - Download Squad http://tinyurl.com/yvmvrv #
• VirusTotal scans email attachments via… email - Download Squad http://tinyurl.com/ywq9sf Forward your message to scan@virustotal.com #
• YouTube - Howard Dean http://tinyurl.com/39psab - it’s been 4 years already? #
• NorhTec prepping sub-$300 Linux-based laptop of its own - Engadget http://tinyurl.com/yspstx Watch out EEE #
• Asus EP20 desktop emerges from CeBIT confusion - Engadget http://tinyurl.com/2goung Here is the Asus EEE Desktop PC #
• Cellphones: Email Addresses For Sprint’s Board Of Directors http://tinyurl.com/267j67 #
• Subprime Meltdown: JP Morgan, Fed To Bail Out Bear Sterns http://tinyurl.com/yvbnhs How would FuckedCompany.com have titled it? Bear Market #
• Free Wi-Fi: Select Jack In The Boxes Offering Free Wi-Fi http://tinyurl.com/2cr43v #
• First Impressions: Meet Your New $5 Bill http://tinyurl.com/3yppz7 purple on the greenbacks? #

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As you know I’m trying the whole Mini-Blog thing now as a way of microblogging my thoughts - mostly on links to pages/stories I come across. Using a Twitter account and a plug-in called Twitter Tools from Alex King, I can show my Mini Blog on the left side, and then all the mini-blog entries/tweets for the day (using GMT time, unfortunately) get posted into a daily blog entry the next day. It’s a real cool tool.

Using Twitter for microblogging has become popular especially because Twitter will take any link it finds in your tweet and HTMLize it. One problem that I came across, though, was the cumbersome way of getting links and context into the tweet - a lot of copying and pasting going on. Because of the 140 character limit, Twitter has some kind of feature where it uses TinyUrl to shorten the urls posted into the status, but I couldn’t find a bookmarklet that would include the page title and a selection of text. Reason being, probably, this isn’t a highly requested feature. So I tried writing my own.

I did it in a somewhat cumbersome way, by using a bookmarklet to get the page URL, title, and selected text and call a PHP form that uses JSON to connect to the urlTea url shortening service. It then autoposts the form to the Twitter status window ready to be updated. All of this in a pop-up window and, of course, assuming you’re already signed into Twitter. I let Twitter handle the character count and any additional editing - especially when the page title and selected text become too long. The page title, the urlTea shortened link, and any selected text are copied in that order separated by a space.

TwitIt

The bookmarklet is a simple link that contains javascript. You drag it to your link toolbar (or just bookmark it from the right-click menu) and click it whenever you want to microblog. (If you’re new to bookmarklets - they’re an awesome timesaver. Check out the other bookmarklets I use.) I’m sure this smacks of hackery and is rife with style infractions. I offer no appologies or warranties. Take it and make it yours if you like it. Or just use the bookmarklet here and let me know how it works.

Update (11/14/07): So after looking over a few pages, and the inexplicable problems I had with the JSON api, I’ve updated the script to use the regular API. Which I can switch to use TinyUrl if I need to. I suppose I could then have it use the twitter API but I want the intermediate editing step.

The PHP page is real simple and portable:

<?php
$url = $_GET[”url”];
$title = $_GET[”title”];
$text = $_GET[”text”];
// $urlt = file_get_contents(”http://tinyurl.com/api-create.php?url=” . $url);
$urlt = file_get_contents(”http://urltea.com/api/text/?url=” . $url);
?>

<html>
<head>
<title>myopiclunacy.com’s Twitter urlTea submitter</title>
</head>
<body>
<form name=twit id=twit method=”get” action=”http://twitter.com/home”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”status” value=”<?php echo $title; ?> <?php echo $urlt; ?> <?php echo $text; ?>”>
</form>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
status = document.forms[0].status;
status.value=unescape(status.value.replace(/\\’/g,”‘”));
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>

If you’re looking for something for the Blackberry - check out this article from Tao of Mac.

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• David Beckham and Snoop Dogg making a movie http://tinyurl.com/2lnvp3 Becks has even gone to Snoop’s 187 Mansion to teach his kids soccer! #
• Whoa - someone almost pipe bombed a nuclear plant in Arizona http://tinyurl.com/2mrkx2 The perp’s from S. Carolina. Wonder where Colbert is? #
• MythTV + Ubuntu = Mythbuntu http://mythbuntu.org Free Linux DVR software. Just add a capture card or USB. #
• “Hate the new reflective Dock in Leopard, or the little blue dots that indicate open programs?” http://tinyurl.com/3xxhf6 Tigerize it! #
• Need a template for your business plan, a tutorial on Python programming, or a copy of the Gettysburg address? Free? http://www.docstoc.com #
• Check out Lifehacker’s list of Top 10 Free Video Rippers, Encoders, and Converters
  http://tinyurl.com/2bj2sb #
• Reading: Top 10 Twitter Apps http://tinyurl.com/2cap9x for the mini blog #
• On Engadget: RIP, Classic Mac OS: 1984 - 2007 http://tinyurl.com/2yaq2w MacOS Classic won’t work in Leopard. How am I going to play Risk? #
• Does Mac OS X need a disk defragmenter/optimizer? http://tinyurl.com/yor8do MacFixIt says no. Routine Maintenance: http://tinyurl.com/8sn9w #
• Tuxicity shows how to switch from Ubuntu to Kubuntu or Xubuntu or Edubuntu or vice versa http://tinyurl.com/3dy5h5 #
• Trying to find a stream of Arsenal v Man U here: UK and Irish Radio Stations broadcasting on the Internet http://tinyurl.com/paod3 AWESOME! #

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