Well, seeing I’m on Windows 7 and already a Seesmic user, I’ve been tempted by all the noise about Seesmic desktop announced at Microsoft PDC and decided to give it a whirl. It’s YATC (Yet Another Twitter Client), but specifically has been written in WPF and is visually very compelling. Unfortunately it didn’t hit my sweet spot.

I normally use Thwirl, another Seesmic product to manage Twitter and it fits my needs perfectly. It sits at the side of my screen, just below my IM client (Digsby) and lets me keep an eye on my Twitter stream. Sessmit Desktop on the other hand is designed to take up lots of screen space, in order to give you access to multiple accounts, show your reply and private streams separately, etc. It’s an immersive experience, and that’s not really how I use Twitter. It may work for you though, so if you want to give it a spin, you can download it here

As you can see it’s quite similar in concept to Twhirl and it will be interesting to see Facebook users get on board with this concept. There are some interesting ideas as to why Seesmic decided to launch this as a seperate app instead of integrating it with Twhirl, but personally, my Twitter and Facebook account are linked through the Twitter Application for Facebook, so I’m not a prime user for the app. To tell you the truth, I just love the search facility in Twhirl so much I’m addicted to it now. You can specify a search term, example, “wireless alarm” and it will integrate the results directly into your Home stream, so that as soon as someone tweets something with that term, you’ll know about it. I wonder if the Facebook client does the same?

A new version of Twhirl hit the streets yesterday, as it came out of a beta where hundreds of people (including yours truly) have been testing and helping improve the new features. Here’s a feature rundown:

In a nutshell, here’s what’s new in Twhirl 0.9
-spellchecker (currently English only, can be deactivated in settings if you use Twhirl in other languages)
-your Twitter @replies will display even if you are mentioned in the middle of a tweet – don’t miss anyone quoting your name
-share all your updates to all your favorite social software via Ping.FM support: Twhirl now posts to Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and more
-follow any topic in near-realtime: searching for a term or a brand and then activating it as a saved search it will bring all future mentions of it into your timeline
-record a video and post it straight to Twitter, then get your Seesmic video replies and follow the video conversation
-get new Seesmic replies and videos in realtime thanks to XMPP support
-support for bitly url shortnener with stats and history
-support for direct messages and favorites on laconica/identica

We’ve also fixed many bugs, including:
-”in reply to” references on Twitter and identica are now supported correctly
-drag/resize issues should be fixed
-pingfm support from Twitter and laconica/identica accounts
-pressing Shift-Space no longer creates two spaces on non-OS X systems
-@usernames, ‘Twhirl’ and ‘Seesmic’ are not marked as spelled wrong
-copying URLs from timelines using the contextual menus is working now

And don’t forget the existing core Twhirl features that made it a success:
-multiple Twitter, laconica, Friendfeed and Seesmic account support
-runs on Windows and Mac OSX (and Linux)
-notifications of new messages across all of your accounts
-shorten long urls easily (using snurl, twurl or isgd)
-post images to TwitPic
-search tweets using Twitter Search and Tweetscan
-timeline filtering
-groovy color schemes to personalize your experience
-automatically checks for new versions

Some amazing stuff there and currently my favourite Twitter client. I haven’t spotted any tie-in to any live video streaming services yet, but the fact that you can record a video thanks to Seesmic’s service is a pretty great start.

So, if you think this might be for you, download Twhirl and give it a try!

Screenshot from Twhirl v0.8.8f

Over the weekend I’ve installed the new beta of Twhirl and am happy to report that I really like the new features. I haven’t got round to testing them all, but the one I *have* tested and love is that ability to specify search criteria which gets merged into your main feed. It’s pretty easy to use, all you need to do is specify your search criteria, say for example “PS3″ because you’re interested in when anyone tweets about the subject. Twhirl will show the results of your search, but you can also “Activate” it with the option of being notified when a relevant result comes up and also add it to your Home stream. Now, when anyone tweets anything with the word PS3 in it, you’ll know about it straight away.

There are other enhancements that have made it into this version:

• Ping.fm integration so your status updates can make to all you social networks
• Your “replies” tab now include any mention of your username. (I love this)
• Video-tweeting (haven’t tried this yet)

Interested? You can watch the interview and join the Twhirl beta if you are on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow me.