Tweetie has taken the iPhone Twitter client market by storm, and anticipation for the desktop version has been building sometime. The developer, Atebits, is fueling the fire a little bit more with a preview video of Tweetie's new Mac version, which is due out on Monday, April 20.

The preview shows a UI with a toolbar down the side, and chat bubble styling for the main stream. Knowing the iPhone version of Tweetie, I'm guessing we'll see more than one style option for the desktop version. It looks like there's support for multiple accounts, and for zooming in on a single conversation thread. The search features everyone likes in Tweetie for iPhone seem to be here, too, but the direct message page is new: it can apparently be sorted by individual contacts. There's also a nice link-sharing feature that I'm sure a lot of people will make use of.

We'll report more on Tweetie when we get a chance to test it out, so watch this space.

Desktop clutter is a common problem, especially when your desktop is your default download folder. A new Mac app called Grape makes it all manageable, though. Grape is a great-looking desktop viewer that allows you to rearrange, resize, and zoom the icons on your desktop. You can also draw boxes to divide up your clutter, making it neat and even attractive.

Grape's big strength is the zoom function. What looks like a hopeless of icons stacked on top of one another might look a lot better when you zoom in tighter or zoom out more. There's also a stack function that will put things in order for you automatically. Grape previews your media, so the icons are mini versions of your movies, photos, text files, etc. If you enlarge them or zoom in enough, you basically get the Quick Look view. You can also drop things from the Finder onto the Grape icon, and they'll show up in Grape's "drop zone."

This was an app I didn't know I needed until I tried it out. Now I hope that Apple's next OS has a desktop design that functions the way Grape does.

Caterina Fake knows something about creating a popular website, as evidenced a photo sharing website you might have heard of. Flickr, anybody? Caterina's latest project is something called Hunch, which uses information you give it to provide "hunches" about decisions you have to make. Hunch is meant as an alternative to relatively useless Q&A sites where the people trying to answer your question often break into petty bickering amongst themselves.

I'm not quite sure how Hunch works, except that it asks you questions -- usually 10 or less -- that help you narrow down your decision. As more users start populating the site with information about who they are and what they like, it will get better at making "taste profiles" for each individual user, and thus providing better hunches. It's an interesting idea that could definitely catch on, especially with a founder who's got such a great track record. Hunch is offering sign-ups via email now, so go get on the list if it sounds interesting to you.

On the official Google Chrome blog a few hours ago, Google announced the release of a new beta version that falls somewhere in between the stable and developer branches.

Apart from the speed improvements in Google's V8 javascript engine, several new features have been added. In addition to the drag-to-split side-by-side browsing feature demoed in the clip above, the new Webkit core includes autoscrolling, full page zoom, and form filling.

If you're trying to get your hands on it, you may need to be patient. A number of Twitterers are having the same problem I encountered: The downloader application looks like it's working, but the actual setup process never begins. The announcement only came a few hours ago and Chrome devotees are likely hammering the download servers, which may be partly responsible.

One small-but-welcome improvement in the latest beta is a much better looking "new tab" button in the default theme. I don't know what they were thinking with that ugly plus-button all the way over on the right of the toolbar, but the new one looks more like a regular tab, and it sits near your existing tabs, where you're likely to be clicking anyway. As usual, updating to a new Firefox beta will disable some of your plugins until they're updated. You can force-enable them (at your own risk) with the Nightly Tester Tools add-on.

As millions of beta testers continue to experiment with Windows 7, news has surfaced this morning that they may, in fact, already have built Release Candidate 1.

It's a bit early to say with any certainty at this point, but heere's what we know so far.

The last Windows 7 build ISO to leak onto torrent trackers was 7022.Winmain.090115-1850, which appears to have a timestamp of January 15, 2009 4:50PM. Following that leak, screenshots appeared of another build: 7032.0.winmain.090129-1812 (January 29, 6:12PM).

This morning, Softpedia has reported that the newest leak contains an interesting addition to the file name: 7048.winmain_win7rc1.090211-1625. While it's worth noting that the build was completed seven days ago, the more noteworthy change is the introduction of rc1 to the name.

Do those three characters mean Windows 7 is ahead of schedule?

Wzor.net - the same place that leaked the Office 14 screenshots - has already reported that Microsoft is anticipating an April 2009 release for RC1. If it's ready sooner, things bode well for Microsoft who would no doubt like to ship Windows 7 in advance of the 2009 holiday season.

Windows 7 Beta may be available as a free download, and it may run pretty well right now. But it's still beta software. And that means that:

1. Microsoft wants to remind users that they're looking at beta software.
2. The company is hoping to solicit feedback to make the operating system better before the final version is released.

To that end, the company puts a watermark in the bottom right corner of the desktop that reads "Windows 7 For testing purposes only." And almost every system application has a link in the upper right corner that says "Send Feedback."

If you have valuable feedback to send Microsoft, you should totally click that button. But you can also send feedback by clicking the "Send Feedback" button that Windows 7 automatically installs on your desktop, or you can just type "feedback" into the Windows search box.

So if you don't need the constant reminder, or if you have no intention of sending feedback, read on to find out how to disable the link. And we'll tell you how to get rid of the "For testing purposes only" watermark while we're at it.

The much anticipated download for Windows 7 is now live - sort of. As reported by Ars Technica, the file has been posted in the following Technet article.

Just because that's where it is doesn't mean you'll be able to download it easily. There are a few form fields to complete and you'll have to sign in with your Microsoft passport, and I have yet to have success. If one part of the form works, the next one fails.

My last attempt yielded a "please check back on the following business day," message.

Technical difficulties? From Microsoft? Oh, please.

Once they're fixed, this is the page that will start you on your journey to the beta download, so keep an eye on it. You might even want to use the Mr. Uptime addon for Firefox.

[ via Ars Technica ]

During his keynote address at CES tonight, Steve Ballmer made it official. The Windows 7 public beta will be made available for download on Friday, January 9th, 2009.

If you've been leery of downloading the version that's been all over the torrent trackers since last week, get your download manager ready and keep your browser tuned to Microsoft's Windows 7 page for the genuine article. Technet, MSDN, and TechBeta members have already been given access.

I've had my share of problems with the leaked version and am hoping that the official release is either a slightly newer build or at least free of the issues that I've had so far. Internet Eplorer 8 hasn't been working 100%, and Explorer itself has stopped responding repeatedly when I've tried to extract large zip archive or move multiple large files onto my flash drive.

If you're a Mac-using fan of Skype you'll probably be quite excited about version 2.8 beta of their ubiquitous Voice over IP application. Bringing in a raft of new features, the beta includes the ability to screenshare between machines - a feature not currently available in the Windows version of the client, bucking the trend of features appearing in the Windows client first.

Whilst chatting with Skype out here in San Francisco in the build up to Macworld Expo, they've also announced a new partnership with WiFi specialists Boingo for 'Skype Access'. The feature allows Skype customers to use Boingo hotspots without a Boingo account, and use their Skype credit to pay by the minute for the WiFi access ($0.19 per minute on top of the cost of the call).

Other new features in the Beta include the quick-adding of contacts, contact notes, larger profile photos and chat priorities to help you organise instant-messages. The beta is available now from the Skype website.

As much as long-time Mac users love to sing the praises of Apple's iPhoto application that comes with the Mac operating system, switchers coming from Windows are often heard lamenting the loss of their beloved Picasa from the Windows world. Rumors have occasionally leaked out of Google pointing to the possible eventual release of a Mac version of Picasa. I know that I for one chose not to believe them - just so I wouldn't be disappointed if it never materialized.

Well, for those people wishing for the Picasa experience on their Mac, today is a glorious day. Today Google released a beta version of Picasa for the Mac, and in typical Google fashion this beta release is solid enough for widespread use. I suppose I should insert a joke about how every Google product stays in beta for years, but I'm sure you can think of one funnier than whatever I might come up with. Or maybe you're just as tired as I am of that particular Google jab?

To try it out, download the beta from here.

Apparently you won't even have to wait until January to get your hands on the Windows 7 Beta release as I mentioned in a previous post. That's right, there's already been an ISO file leaked to several torrent trackers.

The ISO appears to contain the Windows 7 M1 build (7000) highlighted by Paul Thurrott on SuperSite. So far the new build seems to perform slightly better than 6801, and memory usage has been improved. A number of previously hidden features - like the iconized task bar - are also now active.

Before comments start asking why there's no link to the file, it's because this is something that we're not supposed to have yet. If you want to get your hands on it, check your favorite torrent search site. Also keep in mind that this is a leak, and there's always the possibility that the ISO has been tampered with.

A number of sources were reporting a mysterious Windows 7 Beta download link that appeared on Microsoft's Windows 7 page. Of course, it would be fairly easy to screenshot a page, make a few edits, and post the doctored image as "proof," so I took the news with a grain of salt.

Now there's slightly more trustworthy evidence. The Microsoft Action Pack Subscription page, which Rafael Rivera of Within Windows captured, apparently had a similar link posted (which is now absent).

CES is also on the way, and Steve Ballmer is set to deliver his keynote speech on January 7th. It only makes sense for Windows 7 to be the star of the show, and CNET's Ed Bott is certain that the Beta will be made available shortly after Ballmer's demo.

Of course, builds 6801 and 6956 are all over the major torrent trackers, so it's safe to say you can easily get your hands on them there if you'd rather not wait.

[ via Within Windows ]

Just in case you needed any proof that software version numbers are meaningless, Google has updated Google Chrome, it's web browser to version 1.0 (or 1.0.154.36 to be exact). Yesterday the latest version of the software was version 0.4.154.29.

So why remove the beta label now, especially when the 4 year old Gmail service is still officially in beta? Well, the official explanation is because the company's goals for stability and performance have been met. But it also likely has something to do with Google's plans to convince hardware makers to preload the web browser on computers -- something they may be reluctant to do with beta software.

So aside from the version number, what else is different in the latest build? Honestly, I'm not sure. Most of the items that Google showcases in its blog post about the new release are updates that we've already seen like the addition of a bookmark manager, and improved speed and performance.

More updates are still in the works. Google is promising support for plugins, RSS feeds, and form autofill features.