It seems sometimes that not a day goes by when we aren’t hearing about yet another client for Twitter. You almost become immune to them and note them in passing as the majority of them head to oblivion in the Twitter client graveyard. With most of the attention centering around the upcoming Seesmic Desktop, the replacement for Twhirl, and TweetDeck it is kind of hard for new clients to get traction these days. Which is too bad when it comes to a very promising Twitter client called Statuzer.

The application is developed by the folks at tEXtoo.net and while they readily admit that the client is still very much a beta this is some of the stuff currently available with Statuzer

fully customisable color scheme

MP3 Playing from song.ly and tra.kz

Jamendo music search (free and legal)

Displays twitpic images in tweet

Youtube Thumbs

Twitter search moving Trends

Hashtags

Fast display filter

contacts groups

followable Twitter searches

notifications

URLs preview

image/webcam upload

image/webcam upload to twitter profile image

multi-account

search filters

short URLs (Twitter API)

encode/decode MinUrl and TinyUrl

I’ve been running it for a little while today and yes it is easy to see why it is still in beta as I don’t believe that it is ready for prime time but I do believe that it has the potential to give both the front running Twitter clients a run for the money. As you can see from the screen capture it has one of the features that serious Twitter users want – multi-column desktop display (click for full view)

It also supports multiple Twitter accounts as well as Identi.ca accounts. As well the other big thing that users want is the ability to create and add users to specific groups which Statuzer supports

One really neat feature is the ability to use your webcam to snap a shot and then post it to Twitter via TwitPic

There a couple of things that I would like to see future versions of the program deal with. The main one is the same problem that seems to plague all programs using the Adobe AIR platform and that is memory usage. At this point Statuzer is really heavy on memory use and is probably the main reason why I wouldn’t use it full time at this point. The one other thing I would like to see is that the multi-column display is resizable. At this point it expands to take up the full monitor display and any resizing hides displays rather than resizing to fit the display.

Statuzer may only be a beta release but I think this is a Twitter client that folks should keep an eye as an alternative to the main players.

[hat tip to Go2Web20]

Related posts:

1. Seesmic Desktop (Twhirl) takes the good fight to TweetDeck
2. God bless competition: Seesmic Desktop and Tweetdeck release new features
3. A Windows Twitter & Facebook client to watch

The second full release of Silverlight will attempt to gain ground in the ongoing war with Adobe AIR, but it won’t add the previously discussed offline capability that would put the two in more direct competition. The update does add options for developers with a new Silverlight Control Pack and accompanying technical specification guide to the program’s XAML vocabulary. Other highlighted features, as described by Microsoft:

• .NET Framework support with a rich base class library. This is a compatible subset of the full .NET Framework.
• Powerful built-in controls. These include DataGrid, ListBox, Slider, ScrollViewer, Calendar controls and more.
• Advanced skinning and templating support. This makes it easy to customize the look and feel of an application.
• Deep zoom. This enables unparalleled interactivity and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery.
• Comprehensive networking support. Out-of-the-box support allows calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS and standard HTTP services, enabling users to create applications that easily integrate with existing back-end systems.
• Expanded .NET Framework language support. Unlike other runtimes, Silverlight 2 supports a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby, making it easier for developers already familiar with one of these languages to repurpose their existing skill sets.
• Advanced content protection. This now includes Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, offering robust content protection for connected Silverlight experiences.
• Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support. This includes new streaming and progressive download capabilities, superior search engine optimization techniques, and next-generation in-stream advertising support.
• Vibrant partner ecosystem. Visual Studio Industry Partners such as ComponentOne LLC, Infragistics Inc. and Telerik Inc. are providing products that further enhance developer capabilities when creating Silverlight applications using Visual Studio.
• Cross-platform and cross-browser support. This includes support for Mac, Windows and Linux in Firefox, Safari and Windows Internet Explorer.

Silverlight 2 will go live for downloading at Microsoft’s official site Tuesday morning. Current users will see an automatic upgrade when they run the program.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Reveals Beta Release Plans
2. Microsoft once more taps Open Source
3. MySpace Gets Silverlight, Facebook Gets Flash. Winner: Facebook.