EventBox Brings Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr to Your Mac Desktop
Lately, we have seen a number of interesting attempts to combine various social networks and other social media services into one application. EventBox is a good example of this. It's an interesting Mac-only application that combines Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Reddit, Instapaper, and Google Reader into a sleek desktop application. From within the application, you can easily check and update your Twitter and Facebook streams, read your feeds, or check up on the most recent stories on Reddit. You can also upload photos to both Flickr and Facebook.
Twitter Client
For most users, the most important part of EventBox is probably its Twitter client, and the good news is that this is also one of its strongest aspects though it does have its flaws. For example, you can easily create persistent searches and even though it is a bit cumbersome, you can also create groups within Eventbox's Twitter client. To do so, you have to set up a folder by right-clicking on the Twitter icon, and then you can drag and drop different users or searches into this folder.
Sadly, however, EventBox doesn't seem to feature any support for URL-shorteners, which might be a deal-breaker for a lot of users. Correction: EventBox does support URL-shorteners - the feature is just a bit hidden in the General settings. EventBox also only gives you limited control over how often it pings Twitter's API.
Other Services
The Facebook client works like you would expect it to, with support for photo uploads and status updates, and the Google Reader integration also works well, as long as you don't subscribe to too many feeds. Our standard Google Reader account, with far more than 1,000 feeds, crashed the application.
In many ways, EventBox is very similar to Skimmer, which we reviewed a few weeks ago, and which, since then, has been updated with a version that addressed a lot of our issues with the original release, but the two programs feature support for different services.
Get it Free from MacHeist
Overall, Eventbox is a pretty interesting social media desktop client. It would be great if it supported a few more features, such as easier group creation for Twitter, or the ability to sort stories in Reddit (and maybe support for Digg), but it is definitely worth checking out if you are a Mac user.
Normally, the application costs $15 after a free 14-day trial, but you can currently download a free version of EventBox from MacHeist. It is important to note, though, that while the MacHeist version is available for free without any limitations, any updates to the app that you initiate will start the 14-day shareware countdown.
While you are there, also have a look at the MacHeist bundle that is currently available on MacHeist for $39. It features a number of interesting Mac applications, and 25% of every sale goes to charity. Also, after MacHeist reaches $400,000 in sales, a number of new applications will become available as part of the bundle.
Share
Facebook
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
I'd just like to mention that EventBox does indeed support URL shortening services (7 of them) and you can also authenticate (e.g. with tr.im so you can follow your stats). Our latest bleeding edge build supports Twitter reply chains (http://thecosmicmachine.com/tmp/ShowConversation.mov) and editable Smart Folders (http://thecosmicmachine.com/tmp/EditingSmartFolders.mov).
PS. I'm one of the EventBox developers.
Get your facts straight. URL shortening in Eventbox is better then any other app. Please launch the app before you review.
The fact that his trial still shows 14 days remaining goes to show how much he has used it to write a review. Eventbox has the best url shortening with support for loads of services.
Eventbox also dynamically adjusts the twitter API calls so you never run out. Try it for yourself. Keep the twitter refresh at 1 minute interval and see whether you ever hit the ceiling.
Please fix your article.
Some happy folks here - thanks for the correction.
I used the MacHeist version for quite a few days before I switched to the latest update last night - hence the 14 days. As you probably know, there was an issue with the earlier MacHeist version after Twitter made changes to the API, which rendered the earlier version of Eventbox that was available on MacHeist unusable until a fix was posted last night.
Doesn't run on Tiger 10.4. Oh well.
You guys missed Nambu (http://www.nambu.com), while it's in beta it's a way better Twitter client than EventBox with far more Twitter features. On top of that it's free.
raivo pommer-eesti-www.google.ee
raimo1@hot.ee
Lob von Soros
Vor einem Jahr sei es noch nicht vorstellbar gewesen, dass man jetzt mit Luxemburg und Österreich über die OECD-Standards verhandeln könne.
Steinbrück wertete es als "riesigen Fortschritt", dass Steuerparadiese wie die britischen Kanalinseln Guernsey oder Jersey sowie die Isle of Man oder die Cayman Islands und Singapur sich alle bei der Bundesregierung meldeten und erklärten, sie seien bereit, auf die OECD-Standards einzugehen. Steuerparadiese sollen künftig viel stärker kontrolliert werden.
Steinbrück
Auch der Großinvestor George Soros hat die G20-Staaten für ihr entschlossenes Vorgehen gegen die Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise gelobt. "Das kann sehr wohl ein Wendepunkt werden, denn die Regierungen haben sich zusammengeschlossen und handeln gemeinsam“, sagte Soros in einem Interview dem Fernsehsender BBC über das Gipfeltreffen, bei dem die 20 wichtigsten Industrie- und Schwellenländer am Donnerstag 1,1 Billionen Dollar für die Weltwirtschaft freigemacht haben.
"Ich glaube, sie haben es definitiv geschafft." Soros hatte vor dem Treffen erklärt, es gehe in London um alles oder nichts. Die Staaten hätten eine weitere Verschärfung der Krise verhindert, wie sie vor allem für Osteuropa zu befürchten gewesen sei, betonte der Multimilliardär.
"Ich würde sagen, sie sind das erste Mal einen Schritt voraus", sagte Soros auch dem US-Sender CNBC. "Sie haben mehr zustande bekommen, als ich erwartet habe. Es ist ihnen tatsächlich gelungen, ein paar Hasen aus dem Hut zu zaubern, und nach meinem Dafürhalten ist die Abschlusserklärung sehr beeindruckend."
Soros hob vor allem den britischen Premierminister und Gipfel-Gastgeber Gordon Brown hervor. "Er hat die Dimension des globalen Problems begriffen. Der weniger entwickelten Welt droht ein Zusammenbruch, weil die Banken ihre Kredite nicht mehr verlängern, und deswegen musste etwas getan werden.“
Die G20-Staaten haben unter anderem die Reserven des Internationalen Währungsfonds um 500 Milliarden Dollar aufgestockt. Nun stehen dem Fonds 750 Milliarden Dollar zur Verfügung, um geschwächten Staaten unter die Arme zu greifen.
I am still searching for a desktop feed-reader. So I decided, a while ago, to give Eventbox a chance. Unfortunately the import from GoogleReader (via OPML) didn't work like expected: Eventbox recognized GR-tags as folders, therefore I had each feed in at least three folders, and around three times as many new posts as I had anticipated. End of the test.
You should have another look at this app. It's now called Socialite, and the video was so compelling I splashed out the £15+ and bought it. It's supported or a preferred client of Twitter now. It's got lists and native retweet. Scales well with the explorer style sidebar. One thing I can't stand about TweetDeck is their columns approach.
Also checkout their smart folder implementation. Blows away TweetDeck for sure. You can even filter by the Kind of content the tweet contains.
I've pulled in the few Google Reader Folders I check obsessively and left the other 400+ feeds back in GReader. My Apple Digg stuff's in too. Fecking brilliant!
It's like a Christmas gift come early! :)