The Twitter v1 API is being switched off on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. After the experience I had with Catfood Cleat I decided not to waste any more time in Twitter API development and so I’m withdrawing my two remaining products that depend on Twitter.
Catfood Follower was a popular tool for automatically following new friends on Twitter and helping with the process of removing traitors.
Catfood Twitter Screensaver showed random public tweets in a Windows screensaver. It’s the first fun thing I ever did with the Twitter API.
Both products are no longer available for download. I’ll help with any support requests before the May 7 shutdown but I’d recommend that you uninstall and look for an alternative tool before the v1 Twitter API is retired.
Note that Twitter will be running blackout tests before the full shutdown where they temporarily disable the v1 API so you’ll see occasional failures even before May 7.
Spring! Or south of the equator, Autumn!
It’s the start of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer if your water goes the wrong way down the plughole. Rendered in Catfood Earth, now also available for Android.
Catfood Earth for Android 1.10 is now available for download. If you already have it installed you’ll get the update automatically (or run Google Play to check for updates).
1.10 adds settings that allow you to manually override the center of the image (rather than using your phone location), control transparency (for clouds and night) and adjust the width of the terminator between day and night.
Catfood Earth also starts faster and there are a number of small bug fixes.
If you get an error message when installing Catfood Earth or Catfood WebCamSaver on Windows 8 it’s probably because the .NET 2.0 Framework is missing. Earth and WebCamSaver install .net 2.0 automatically on previous versions of Windows but in Windows 8 this doesn’t work. Luckily it’s easy to fix:
1. From the Start screen click the search charm (the magnifying glass icon that appears when you put your mouse in the bottom right hand corner of the screen) of just start typing to search for ‘Programs and Features’. Click the ‘Settings’ option on the search pane and then click ‘Programs and Features’ in the search results.
2. Programs and Features runs on the Windows Desktop. Click ‘Turn Windows features on or off’ in the list of options on the left hand side of the window.
3. At the top of the list check ‘.NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)’ and then click OK. Windows might ask you to download the installation files. Once installation is complete run the installer for Catfood Earth or Catfood WebCamSaver again.
I’ll update the installers for the next release of each product to fix this problem.
I’ve just released a small update for Catfood WebCams. You should get this automatically through Google Play, or you can run Play Store on your phone or tablet and go to ‘My Apps’ to check for updates manually.
If you run Android and don’t have Catfood WebCams you can learn more here.
It’s the start of Autumn in the northern hemisphere, Spring down south. In Catfood Earth:
In Catfood Earth for Android:
Catfood Earth is now available for Android phones and tablets.
The Android version of Catfood Earth is a live wallpaper that automatically centers on your current location. It includes current cloud cover (downloaded every three hours) and includes a different satellite image for each month (showing changes in vegetation and snow/ice cover) as well as showing city lights where it’s currently dark and shading the terminator between day and night.
Catfood Earth for Android is based on my Windows desktop wallpaper of the same name, optimized for smaller screens and to limit power consumption on mobile devices.
Buy it now for just $3.99 from Google Play. Catfood Earth for Android supports Android 2.2 and up.
The entire contents of the Catfood WebCam Directory are now available in an Android app. Each cam can be fully controlled. Tap the edges of the image to pan around and pinch the screen to zoom in and out. You can also share the current snapshot.
Download Catfood WebCams from Google Play (all devices with 2.2 or later and a touch screen are supported) and let me know what you think via email or in the comments below.
I’m sad to have to withdraw support for Catfood Cleat, my command line client for Twitter. Twitter disabled Cleat last week and won’t reply to emails asking for an explanation and so I have no choice but to stop providing this free tool. Much more here. If you have used Cleat I’d recommend uninstalling it.
The death of Windows Mobile is inevitable and so less sad but I no longer use a Windows phone of any sort and so there just aren’t going to be future updates or support for Tracker, TextShips or NPR Station Finder. If you still use any of these products this won’t affect their continued operation but I will no longer provider support or updates.