iPhone Atlas

If your favorite politicians are tech-savvy enough to tweet, you can follow them in PoliticoTracker Twitter Edition.

Remember ExecTweets, the app that aggregates the tweets of over 100 top executives? PoliticoTracker Twitter Edition does the same thing for elected officials.

Specifically, the app lets you track the tweets of U.S. politicians (those that use Twitter, anyway). Sure, you could manually look up and follow your local representatives, but this makes it significantly easier.

What's more, PoliticoTracker Twitter Edition (PTTE) lets you create a favorites list for easy access to the officials you care about most.

In short, it's a pretty nifty app for politics junkies (you know who you are). And it's a great way to keep tabs on what senators, governors, and all the rest of those crazies--er, honest, hardworking officials--are up to.

PTTE costs 99 cents. If you're really serious about politics, check out the main version of PoliticoTracker ($9.99), which gathers real-time news about specific politicians, not just tweets.

And while we're on the subject, don't miss Visible Vote Mobile, a freebie app that shows you the voting records of your state senators and congressional reps.

App power to the people!

Some of us have multiple Twitter accounts that we need to manage. We have an account for work and an account for personal use. In that case, switching between usernames can be a pain. Luckily, there's an easy way to manage multiple Twitter accounts with some basic apps.

We've taken a look at a couple of services that will help you manage those accounts on your computer, but what about when you're away from home?

We have you covered there too. Let's take a look at iPhone apps that help you manage multiple Twitter accounts.

Manage multiple accounts

LaTwit Although LaTwit lets you post updates to multiple accounts, including those from Twitter, Identi.ca, and others, its interface is difficult to get used to. In fact, it detracts from the experience of using the app. If you're looking for other features, LaTwit also lets you post multiple tweets if your update exceeds the 140-character limit. But for $2.99, it might not be worth the price tag.

LaTwit has a convoluted design.

(Credit: LaTwit)

SimplyTweet SimplyTweet comes in two flavors: a Lite version for those who want a free app and a paid version with all the SimplyTweet features, which includes multiple user accounts. Don't let SimplyTweet's name fool you--it's not so simple. The app lets you draft notes, update your stream with iPhone photos, and more. It has a slew of features. The paid version is available for $3.99.

Besides multiple accounts, SimplyTweet also lets you view conversations.

(Credit: SimplyTweet)

TweetDeck TweetDeck is my favorite mobile Twitter client. Like its desktop alternative, the app provides a column view, making it easy to see all kinds of Twitter data pass you by. Plus, it makes it extremely easy to manage multiple accounts, creating a scenario where updating all your accounts will only take just a few seconds. TweetDeck also shortens URLs before you post to your stream. Overall, it's a great app. And since it's free, you'll probably like it even more.

TweetDeck has multiple columns to help you view your tweets.

(Credit: TweetDeck)

(Credit: CNET)

It seems like just about everyone has a Twitter or Facebook account these days and I find myself checking the so called "status updates" for my friends and family more than I'd like to admit. I never thought when these services launched that a status update could become anything more than a simple yawn-worthy report of personal activity. But as we've seen with these services' growing popularity, and the recent explosion of activity during the aftermath of Iran's election, the idea of a status update has morphed into something much bigger. A simple sentence or two can now be broadcast for thousands or even millions of people as a sort of window into the lives of those we know and to the lives people around the world.

Invite friends, read other people's stories, or create your own story.

(Credit: CNET)

A recent addition to my iPhone app library takes this concept a step further. After an easy sign-up process, Whrrl (free) lets you post both pictures and words to create a narrative in a neat package for others to see and comment on. You start by creating your story: let's say you're planning a trip to a public market. As you make your way to the market, you might take a picture of traffic and caption the photo with "There's always market traffic on Saturday morning." Later you might take a picture of the throngs of people with its own caption or maybe a photo of some of the fresh ingredients you find at the many stands. Finally, you can end your story with a picture of the dinner you made using the ingredients found at the public market. Your story can be public for all on the Web or you can allow permission to only specific people. Either way, you've created a narrative with a combination of pictures and captions that anyone can follow, and you give people the opportunity to comment on the complete story.

Whrrl lets you post your creations to both Facebook and Twitter (adding a URL to your status), and you can view your stories on the iPhone app or on the Whrrl Web site. If you use Twitter or Facebook, but would like to a create something that's more than just a status update, check out this free app.

Like any good Twitter app, TweetDeck lets you tweet, retweet, search, and more.

TweetDeck, arguably the most popular desktop app for managing all things Twitter, just landed in the App Store. It's free. And it's a winner.

Like its desktop counterpart, TweetDeck for iPhone and iPod Touch relies on customizable columns: one each for things like replies, direct messages, searches, and friends. You swipe back and forth between the columns using your finger, then tap one to bring it to the fore.

(Is it heresy to say the interface reminds me a bit of the Palm Pre's "cards"? Well, sorry, but it does.)

Needless to say, the app lets you tweet, retweet, send direct messages, e-mail tweets, and mark tweets as favorites. It also supports multiple Twitter accounts; each one gets its own column(s).

Too bad you can't set up separate batches of columns for each account, as you can easily end up with column overload.

TweetDeck's slick, column-driven interface is a delight.

TweetDeck does let you create user groups for following friends. You can also search, save your searches, and tweet photos by way of Twitpic or YFrog. It'll even shorten URLs, though I couldn't figure out how to make this work.

(I'll fess up to being stupid if someone will explain the feature in the comments.)

If you're already a TweetDeck user, you'll be glad to know the app syncs with the desktop version, and will even pull in your Twitter account settings if you've already configured them.

Though TweetDeck did crash a couple times during my tests, there's no doubt in my mind that it'll quickly become a favorite among Twitter users. Its slick interface and thoughtful feature set have already earned it a permanent spot on my iPhone.

ExecTweets brings the Twitter feeds of industry's best and brightest to your iPhone.

Are you trying to climb the corporate ladder? Hard work helps, but it couldn't hurt to have some insight from those who have reached the top. ExecTweets for iPhone aggregates the Twitter feeds of nearly 100 top executives.

Those execs include top brass from companies such as Best Buy, Digg, Microsoft, and Zappos. Following them nets you nuggets of business wisdom, links to stories they consider important, random thoughts (this is Twitter, after all), and even notable quotables (not sure why, but execs are really into quoting).

The application makes it a snap to browse the tweets, with separate views for All, Featured, and Most Popular. You can also peruse "hot topics" (which lets you sort by selected keywords) and browse broad categories like government, health care, and technology.

Best of all, you can tap any tweet to open its accompanying URL, retweet it, send a reply, or share it via e-mail.

Even though I'm not in sales, management, or anything like that, I have to admit I find this stuff really fascinating. I feel like Bud Fox hanging out with a hundred Gordon Gekkos, digesting priceless pearls of business advice.

ExecTweets is free. It says it's compatible only with the iPhone, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work on an iPod Touch. Does anyone care to confirm? At the moment it's compatible only with the iPhone, but an ExecTweets exec I spoke with said an iPod Touch-compatible update is imminent.

iTweet application for the iPhone

(Credit: iTweet)

There is a plethora of Twitter applications out there for the iPhone (PocketTweets, ThinCloud, and Hahlo, to name a few), but that didn't stop the folks at Illusion Factory from coming up with iTweet, yet another iPhone application to help you send Twitter posts that much faster. Like many of its competitors, iTweet will show you the Public Timeline, as well as your Friends Timeline, plus Direct Messages, Replies, and so forth. What sets iTweet apart, however, is that instead of loading an extremely long timeline, you have the option of only viewing new Twitter messages. This is invaluable if you're checking your Twitter messages over EDGE, which can be painfully slow. We also appreciate the large font and large graphics, making it easier for us to tap and scroll through pages. We definitely recommend giving this a try if you just can't get enough of Twitter on the iPhone.

Twitter updates on the iPhone via PocketTweets

(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET Networks)

Twitter interfaces for the iPhone aren't new, of course. In fact, Hahlo was one of the first to come up with an iPhone-friendly Web app for the popular nanoblogging service. But the best Twitter Web app for the iPhone is probably PocketTweets, a relatively new site designed and developed by Pixel Implosion's Bobby Andersen and Second Gear's Justin Williams.

The interface is clean and intuitive, and we especially like the OSX-like icons along the bottom row of the screen. You can access all the typical Twitter menus like Friends, Archives, Direct Messages, and the Public Timeline. Entering text couldn't be easier--a neat text-input dialog box pops up when you tap the Update button. You can't test out the service without the iPhone, which is pretty understandable, so here's a shot of PocketTweets as seen on our iPhone.