GettaBetterTwitter?

Some thoughts on the changes that have been/are being made to the web interface of everyone's favourite waste of time, Twitter. I'm sure much of this is echoed elsewhere on the intertubes but I moan about this stuff every day and I thought I'd put it down in words. Feel free to ignore me.

Retweets

I like the new in-line retweeting button/function; it makes it simple to pass on things that have caught my eye in my timeline. However, the UI is not brilliant, as follows:

1) Why is the Retweet button placed where the Reply button normally is? For users who have protected their updates (who you can't retweet like this) the Reply button is far right. For users who haven't, the Retweet button is suddenly far right and Reply jumps inside. This makes no sense:

2) If I retweet something, the picture in the timeline shows the person who originally tweeted it as well as a little grey icon to indicate it is a retweet. Fine, I'm all for credit where credit's due. But I also want to know why it has suddenly shown up in my timeline i.e. who reweeted it to their followers, of which I am one - I want to know the credibility of the retweet, if you like. At the moment, there is a tiny line of text informing of this, easily missed and not great UI:

As Alex has just shown me, Tweetie does this much better, showing both pictures overlapping and a coloured corner indicator, making it much easier to spot when skimming through the timeline.

3) If I retweet something, the retweet doesn't show up in my timeline. It could be argued that this is duplication, but it's not; I would like a record of when I passed it on to my followers, so I can keep track of the conversation.

4) Replies to the retweet go to the original tweeter; again, this might be argued to be correct behaviour to accredit the originator, but my followers might reasonably want to say "Why have you retweeted this, you muppet?", rather than replying to the content of the original tweet. Perhaps an option to do so would be helpful.

5) It has become quite common practice to annotate retweets with your own comments, which you cannot do with the button; it is a straight carbon copy of the original tweet. Again, this could be argued to be fairer as there is no opportunity to mess with the wording, but being able to give a reason why you have sent this message on adds context to the retweet for your followers. However, I have heard that Twitter are actively working on this functionality.

@replies

There was much debate about how @replies work and indeed Twitter changed this quite early on, so people weren't swamped with every reply from everybody linked to anyone else in your follower list. However, who you put first when replying to a number of people will have a bearing on which of your followers can see it. For example:

fourstar @sarahbrown @greatbiglizard What the hell are you two babbling about?

is quite different from

fourstar @greatbiglizard @sarahbrown What the hell are you two babbling about?

in that only people who follow sarahbrown will see the first one and only people who follow greatbiglizard will see the second one. Admittedly, many people follow both of them (they're lovely people; why wouldn't you?) and would never even be aware of the issue but this feels like a bug to me. I can understand there might be a distinction between a 'reply' (at the start of a tweet) and a 'mention' (within a tweet) but surely someone who follows me and any one (or more) of the people I @reply to should see that tweet, no?

I'm sure I have more niggles (and maybe I should get out more) but I've missed 30 tweets since I started this so I'd better go and see what everyone is so excited about.

Oh look, today it's an octopus :)

First person...

...to hack into Peter Mandelson's home internet connection and download an illegal torrent of Transformers 2 using his account, wins a date with Megan Fox.

Get to it, geek squadron.

Time Travelling

Recently, I had cause to travel into central London on a Sunday, to watch England play Australia in a cricket match.

Obviously, this blatant disregard for the Sabbath meant I should have had an inkling but as I checked my options I found that the 1) Jubilee Line (to St John's Wood) was closed and that 2) Charing Cross trains were diverting to Blackfriars which might have been OK but for the fact that 3) Blackfriars tube station was closed for running repairs, so I thought about taking our other line to 4) Victoria but the trains to there were not running from Catford due to over-running engineering works, which meant I could still walk over the hill to 5) Honor Oak Park but Southern Trains were only running southbound from Platform 2 due to roof repairs which was the wrong direction for me so I had to wait a further 30 minutes for a reduced service from 6) Catford Bridge to London Bridge, get a shuttle to Charing Cross, take the Bakerloo to Baker Street and walk a further 20 minutes to Lords.

And we lost.

Looking forward to the 2012 Olympics, anyone? Christ.

Which Witch?

I hope FIFA, UEFA, The FA, The RICS, Ofcom, The ASA, RoSPA, UNESCO, The RSPB and the Co-Op are all called in to look at Wayne Rooney's penalty winning dive from yesterday.

Yes, that's DIVE.

D. I. V. E.

Watch his back leg below; totally pre-meditated going to ground before any contact is made. Isn't that exactly what Eduardo is accused of against Celtic? Attempting to influence the referee through unfair means? Yes, it is. So I await the outcome of the forthcoming Rooney investigation with keen interest. Everyone seems to be calling for a two match ban for this kind of thing; Sir Alex will be ever so pleased. You want a witch hunt? Sure, we can do that too.

By the way, unlike Celtic I'm not saying that this decision cost us the game (we managed to throw that away ourselves, unfortunately) but simply that every single incident of this kind must be treated exactly the same from now on, and closely investigated using all the available technology.

Or is that not what everyone wants, suddenly? Well?

Boycott The Shirts

So I've started a petition:

Boycott of all three of Arsenal's awful 09/10 shirts

They're bloody awful and I hope nobody buys them. I don't care if the replica kit income would pay for a new defensive midfielder; they're taking the piss.

Getting Shirty

I see that my football team has a new away kit. Didn't we have one last year (and the year before that, and the year before that)? For the benefit of readers who do not scour the blogoverse for Arsenal-related news, here is our super Spaniard modelling said items:

So it's blue. The blue is OK. It’s a nice dark blue. As a colour, I quite like it. As a kit? It’s fine. It’s OK. No, really. I mean, I look at it and I think mid-table. I see Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan*, Portsmouth & Spurs but it's OK, I guess. Sort of. OK.

But is that how much the kit means to the club - it just has to be ‘OK’?

With all the history we have with our club colours - the cup finals, the last gasp championships, the European away wins - what I find galling is that clearly, despite all the experiments (white, blue, horizontal stripes, redcurrant, green) the fans’ favourite shirts are red with white sleeves (home) and yellow with blue sleeves (away). So why not stick with that? If we need a third kit (and actually, why would we ever, with those colour combinations) then swap the shorts over. Voila. Done. Sorted. And anyway, can you see Chelsea or Spurs having a red/white away kit? You can stop laughing now.

I know, I know, I'm being deliberately obtuse - it's all about the money. Nike sponsors the shirt; Nike gets to release a new slightly different replica kit each year and thousands will buy it, out of loyalty. I even nearly bought that one-off redcurrant one to celebrate the club's anniversary. But basically, it stinks.

Hey, I’ve an idea - why not be the first big club NOT to actively fleece the fans who put you where you are, eh? Buck the trend, challenge consensus. Arsene does it with his youth project; why not front up and try it at the *spit* 'brand' level? Pick a kit (you could maybe get the fans to choose...) and then that's it for, say, three years.

And you know what?

Everyone would buy it. I would. Everyone. Because they know that it would be worth the investment to stand alongside similarly-attired fellow supporters and not feel cheated. Part of what attracts about football is belonging to a gang; throughout history, gangs have worn clothing that identifies your lot from their lot (makes it easier in a scrap). It would look better on the terraces too; a chanting sea of red/yellow (home/away) rather than the patchwork quilt of random shirts from years gone by we currently display. At the moment, our 'look' is changing every 'season' - remind you of anything?

Proud of that much? No, didn’t think so. Think on.

* by the way, 'Wigan' was not in the embedded spell checker; I think that speaks volumes :)

The Pen Is Mightier

Not much to offer on our 3-1 loss to Man Utd; more erudite bloggers than me have already said all there is to say.

However, the Fletcher incident WAS a penalty and WAS a sending off. It was. Watch it again.

His intention was clearly to stop the player first, and divert the ball second. If you look at the incident, he poked his left leg in the vague direction of the ball whilst simultaneously (and most importantly) wrapping his other leg around Cesc's knees and ankles, bringing him down. Yes, he did get the faintest of touches on the ball (which I don't deny) but that was not enough to alter its course so much that if Cesc had continued his run, he would clearly have had a chance to score. He was blatantly prevented from continuing this run by Fletcher; thus he was denied a goalscoring opportunity. Under the rules, that is a penalty and a red card.

The referee got it right.

We can feel sorry for Darren Fletcher - and even as a disappointed, lifelong Arsenal fan, believe me when I say I do feel some sympathy - but bleating that he got the faintest end of one of his studs onto the ball and that means he didn't commit a foul is totally, utterly, completely wrong.

Thanks. If anyone wants me, I'll be over there trying to flog Adebayor to AC Milan.

UPDATE: Graham Poll agrees with me. I'm not sure if that's a good thing :)

Ade Togo?

An interesting sentence from Goodplaya caught my eye today, and set me to thinking the unthinkable - what if we were to sell Emmanuel Adebayor in the summer?

We have Eduardo coming back and looking sharp, van Persie is on fire, Walcott returns in March (AW has always said he wants to play him through the middle like Thierry) and Carlos Vela is chomping at the bit. Now I will hold my hands up and admit that none of those players give us a lot in the air - but that is not our style of play. And against Everton, the 6'4" Adebayor won exactly three headers all game; he was crap. Also, what about Bendtner? Stop laughing at the back; his impact off the bench has been clear for all to see, winning us games in the dying stages, and he's still only 21. Attitude or not, the boy does have talent, when the 'right' Nicklas turns up. He's tall and holds the ball up well - sound like anyone else we used to know?

Whilst he had a brilliant 07/08 season, since his summer come-and-get-me-Galliani transfer distraction, Ade has looked well off the pace. Yeah, he then signed a long-term contract but that's not worth the paper it's written on in football. Unless he puts in a tremendous three months in the title run in, working hard, scoring goals and grabbing 4th spot for us, I'd say give him his move to Milan and use the money to shore up our leaky defence.

Controversial?

Plane Crazy

Having vented about our recent Heathrow Terminal 5 experience on Twitter, I was pointed at this by a top-secret inside source (hello, H!)

Terminal 5: Mood Clouds

I am speechless. It's a sodding airport, it doesn't have emotions! Stop this incessant anthropomorphising in the name of soft and cuddly customer relations. We're not idiots.

And it still doesn't have enough trolleys *fume*

Offside Online

Idiots.

Premier League goes to war on internet pirates

They're going to make the same mistake the record industry did. Don't fight it; embrace it. As I commented here back in November, if they offered reasonably priced, live streaming Premiership matches with decent bandwidth, picture quality and commentary, the thousands - nay, millions - of fans who cannot get to a game or see it on TV would pay for it. More money in the FA coffers, not less.

Idiots.

Change 15

Today's change was actually rather a lot of changes, to an Excel VBA app which runs one of our client reports. You see, the original author rather forgot about the inexorable march of time itself, and hard coded all the annual data, thus ruining my day when I realised and had to amend all the references to 2008. Alex knows my pain...

(Could be worse; could have been socks again :)

Phone Gone

Bah. After over ten years without misplacing a mobile, I have only gone and lost my new SonyEricsson in Dubai. There's a lot of desert to search, but in the meantime, if you sent me a text or voicemail or tried to call in the last week or so, I will have been somewhat 'out of range'. Sorry about that.

Normal service will be resumed when I get back to the office on 5th Jan but in the meantime, Happy New Year for 2009!

Not Fab

Fabregas faces four-month lay-off

Merry Sodding Christmas :(

Still, maybe we can pick something up in the January sales...

Fifteen Lovejoy

Just heard that utter n*b Tim Lovejoy on 606 complaining about the Arsenal fans starting a Mexican Wave last night:

"...oooh so you're just all concentrating on standing up and sitting down, why aren't you watching the football, thought Arsenal were an attractive side, why aren't you watching them then, it's a disgrace, etc and so on..."

a) Carlos Vela is Mexican.
b) He scored.
c) The Mexican Wave was a tribute to him.
d) Tim Lovejoy is a c*ck.

Nothing further to add.

Oh, I'm sorry, there is -- did Chelsea just get knocked out 5-4 on penalties by Burnley, Tim? Ooooops...

Four Heavens Sake

Last night I arranged to meet Jason at the East Dulwich Tavern to watch the football, something that happens far too infrequently due to our 'busy social schedules' (him launching record labels; me mostly reading The Gruffalo). Anyway at half-time in a thrilling end-to-end North London derby, I turned to him and said:

"You know what, mate, this could end four-all..."

Guess what.

Arsenal 4 - 4 Tottenham Hotspur

I wouldn't mind -- it was top quality entertainment -- but we threw away a two-goal lead in the last minute. Super goal from Jenas to make it 4-3 but why, oh why can't we kill a game off? Some of the most talented young players of a generation and they give possession away in their own half, forget to close the opposition down and allow the smallest player on the pitch to sneak in for a rebound off the post. We went to sleep and paid the price. Wenger must be fuming; I know I am.

*fumes*

Tiger Tiger

It must be dreadfully boring to support a team that wins all the time

Wednesday : The Joy Of Six (Arsenal 6 - 0 Sheff Utd)

Saturday : Straight To Hull (Arsenal 1 - 2 Hull City)

Hopefully we're getting this out of our system early in the season, but it's still infuriating to say the least. Where was the passion, the drive, the energy shown by our 19-year olds in midweek? Ah yes, they are all still striving to make a name for themselves, presumably paid a reasonable (but not ridiculous) salary whilst hoping to emulate their seniors and play at the highest level. Our first team looked bereft of ideas, possibly assuming Hull were just there to have a nice day out and try the famous balti pies. Well wake up, Gunners, it's no good battling to draws and even victories against the other members of the so-called Top Four, if we throw away any advantage by stumbling to defeat against the likes of Fulham and Hull.

Personally, I think Chelsea are nailed on for the title this year, given the money they have spent and the players they have brought in (imagine Deco alongside Fabregas in our midfield!) but whilst I agree 100% with Wenger's stubborn refusal to get into the big boys money pissing competition and instead try to organically grow the team from seed wherever possible, it still has to generate points on the board at some stage. Buying trophies is no fun, but winning them still is. Come on you Reds, sort it out...

Are We Charlton In Disguise?

This is what an Arsenal shirt should look like:

This is what our current home shirt looks like:

And this is what a Charlton shirt looks like:

And this is today's result:

Fulham 1 - 0 Arsenal

Draw your own conclusions, I'm too furious.

Kith And Kinder

Brooker spot on again - couldn't agree more, as I believe I said (perhaps with a shade less acerbity) here earlier in the year:

Mollycoddled prisoners

They Think It's All Over...

...actually it is now:

Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal

A game that sums up our season; rampant for the first third, failing time and time again to take our chances in the second and then losing all semblance of organisation whilst continuing to play the most pure, stunning, visionary, one-t0uch and yet utterly ineffectual football in the third, er, third.

Oh well :(

One particular personal highlight was having my text read out on 606 following the match, of which I am quite proud and stand by every word:

Have we all forgotten that Wenger said this team was "not ready", way back in August? If they finish third, they will have outperformed both expectations and last season. It is maturity that we need, and that will come. No need to panic buy; just build up the squad around the proven talent which is already there.

All true. If you read some of the Gooner blogs, you'd think we'd just been relegated from the Ryman's Premier. Have faith chaps, this is the third young team AW has put together. Rome (or should that be Milan?) wasn't built in a day*...

* unless, depending on how long the rouble cheque took to clear, you're Chelsea**

** and if I am now found with a rolling pin embedded in my skull, look here...

I Have Nothing To Say...

...that wouldn't be termed 'partisan', 'biased' or' sour-grapes' by many people who have not set foot on the left wing of a snowy pitch on a Sunday morning in February against a fat pub team of middle-aged cloggers from the arse-end of Tadcaster. I have, however, so I shall say what I like :)

Whilst tonight was one of the most entertaining games of football I have witnessed for a long time, the decision of the referee to award a penalty for the alleged 'tug' on Babel was an utter disgrace. I ask anyone who may have stumbled across this corner of the internet to look at the first leg and the Hleb incident on 65 mins (no penalty given) and then examine tonight's Babel incident on 85 mins (penalty given) and explain to me in no uncertain terms what the rubbery fuck was the difference? Eh? Nothing. Oh, apart from the referee. Either it is or it isn't a penalty. Yes or no. Black or white. Pinky or Perky. Cheech or Chong. Randall or Hopkirk (Deceased), etc...

For most of the game it was impossible to split the teams. I was discussing this at length with some Liverpool fans in the pub when the penalty as awarded; even they had the good grace to be embarrassed. The Guardian MBM commentary described it as "not entirely clear-cut". That should be in the dictionary under L (for Liberal). I know I'll almost certainly have calmed down by tomorrow but for now the result has a nasty aftertaste. Admittedly, us taking the lead on 13 minutes forced Benitez into a reluctant attacking formation. Perhaps we would have been better off scoring in the 89th minute. Now, for the purist, an almost certainly dour Liverpool-Chelsea semi-final does not fill the heart with glee. Oh well. Penalties, anyone?

Anyway, I keep reminding myself that Arsene told us in August that this team was "not ready". Having been top of the league and in with a shout of the semi-finals of Europe's 'super-league', all us Gooners begged to differ. Maybe he was right. Bring on 2008-09?And Theo...