14 July 2009

13 July 2009

bDule got a great update last Friday (read our previous blog post). Unfortunately this version had 2 issues: the settings were not correctly taken over during the upgrade and there was an issue with the cursor positioning when writing a new Tweet, the latest issue is due to the automatic signature. This update fixes these issues and makes sure that following updates will keep your settings; for this current update, we are really sorry but you will have to configure your services again.

10 July 2009

We have some very exciting news today. We are launching sobees web—a web version of our excellent Twitter/Facebook client, bDule—available at www.sobees.com. We use the new Silverlight 3 to provide our users with the same first rate experience they have come to expect from bDule.

sobees web is debuting with:

• A Twitter client with support for multiple accounts & the usual RTs, pictures, URL shortening… We have also added optional automatic signatures for tweets.
• And real-time search of OneRiot, Twitter and FriendFeed. We have added OneRiot to cut through the noise when a subject is hot and give just what is relevant. FriendFeed, in addition to content, brings discussion to items.

We are very excited to be working with OneRiot to provide the best possible real time web search results of hot and trending subjects.

sobees web couldn’t be easier to use. All you need is the latest Silverlight 3 runtime—which is available for both Windows and Macs—and then head on over to sobees.com. You can try it out within your browser, and if you like it, right click to install the app on your desktop.

sobees web is essentially an exact replica of bDule in Silverlight. Windows users should nonetheless favor bDule—our Windows only .NET version—over sobees web when running on the desktop.

bDule, our Windows only Facebook and Twitter client, is getting an update today, bringing it one step closer to beta. This new version implements the new real-time search features including OneRiot from sobees web in addition to its already outstanding Facebook support and the same great Twitter support it has had since its inception and now share with sobees web.

We have also added support for proxies to this new version of bDule and fixed many bugs and issues most notably issues with saving options and an issue with Twitter replies.

Since we launched sobees it became apparent that sobees was overwhelming for too many but did have a beautiful design and great support for services. That is why we extracted our Twitter and Facebook support, improved on it and produced our single window client called bDule—contraction of bee as in sobees and module. We have been successful with bDule and received very positive feedback. bDule, unlike its bigger brother sobees, competes directly with TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop. We have an edge though. Both our competitors are based on Air. bDule is based on Microsoft's .NET and WPF technologies which enable us to offer a much better experience at the cost of only supporting Windows. That was until now and sobees web.

Our new strategy is to build up from bDule's success. We are building better than ever support for a wide range of renowned social networks into bDule and sobees web while keeping it simple on the surface—power users will be pleased to discover the features they love and expect are also there within reach.

sobees web uses telerik RadControls for Silverlight and uses the Microsoft Azure Services Platform to fetch tweets.

25 June 2009

We’ve been rather busy of late with bDule’s success. We are pleased to announce that we are now ready to update sobees.

This is a major new release with countless new features, improvements and fixes.

In brief the new version of sobees has a smaller ribbon (which can auto-hide), new themed windows or “bDules” and support for new services digg. Oh, and we improved the support of some of our existing services like Flickr and Facebook. (See attached release notes for details.)

bDule vs. sobees

So we now have two products. Let’s clear up how they relate to one another.

bDule is our starter kit. If you are a social network user and are looking for the best Windows Twitter and Facebook client, you need look no further.

bDule is a single window application. It is easy to install and requires minimal setup (no account required). It is also light weight and runs well on netbooks.

http://www.bdule.com/

sobees offers much more than bDule. It is a multi window application where each window is like bDule. The “bDules” in sobees offer more services and more customization options than bDule. Plus sobees has the ability to share almost anything you discover using any of many services supported by sobees, such as Twitter or Facebook or digg.

http://www.sobees.com/en/learn-more/

What are we working on now?

We are working on an even simpler, cross platform, web version of bDule, to be released this July. We are also working to add cool new social networking services to bDule and to move bDule out of alpha soon.

sobees 0.9.6.6 Release Notes

• Smaller ribbon (half size) with auto-hide
• New thematic windows or “bDules” (Digg, MLB, NFL, Soccer and Tennis)
• New services (Digg, Digg search and Digg RSS)
• Flickr search rewrite and revamp
• Addition of full Facebook stream with comments
• Share to Digg
• Minimize to tray
• Changes in database synchronization for increased performance and reactivity
• Improved multi-threading
• Improved responsiveness when opening/closing menus and bDules
• Improved performances in general
• Moved sobees’ aggregate friend list to a separate window
• Many smaller enhancements and bug fixes