Twitterfall is quite possibly the best Twitter keyword tracking tool I’ve seen so far. It’s got a simple interface but packs a lot of features. You can change the speed of the tweet stream from 0.5 tweets per second to a dizzy 10 tweets per second. In terms of tracking you can choose the specific location of the tweets and include as many custom keywords as you want, all of them will appear in the same stream.

The LA Times has a good two part interview with Jack Dorsey, one of the founding fathers of Twitter. There’s some choice bits here that’ll I’ll just highlight, go check the full article for more.

On choosing the name ‘Twitter‘:

We wanted to capture that feeling: the physical sensation that you’re buzzing your friend’s pocket. It’s like buzzing all over the world. So we did a bunch of name-storming, and we came up with the word “twitch,” because the phone kind of vibrates when it moves.

While Twitter was king when it comes to downtime among social networks in 2008, it has gradually improved. 84% of Twitter’s downtime happened during the first half of 2008 while its availability has improved significantly in the second half of 08. Pingdom has a PDF report on social network downtime and it answers some good questions about why availability is crucial to a social site’s growth, especially for a real-time service like Twitter.

Anonymity has always been the main highlight of the internet. You can share your thoughts without fear of reprisal in real life, because its difficult to connect them to who you are. In a way that leads to the development of bad behavior (internet trolls) but its not all negative. The internet also allows you to social share in a public sphere while keeping your privacy. It’s helpful when you need support and encouragement (even if its from people you don’t know).

Twitter news of the day. Better search integration to come. Biz at the official Twitter blog talks about testing a new interface which places search and trend features currently found on the Twitter Search page in the top corner of each profile. I’m just wondering… why only now? Many people have been clamoring for an easily accessible search bar on the same profile page and this would be a terrific addition. No more need for tools like Power Twitter anymore.

It will be interesting to see how else they plan to develop Twitter search beyond the basic change in interface usability.

Arduino is a pretty cool open-source electronic platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software: perfect for hoobyists and designers keen on building interactive environments. Even better when integrated with an alert system like Twitter.

We’ve seen quite a few implementations of Arduino and here’s one which integrated with with Twitter. A Twitter burgler alarm that notifies you when someone enters your house.

A burglar alarm that tweets when an intruder enters the house? What with the fashion for Twitter lately, I thought I’d give it a go, and this also gave me the excuse I’d been looking for to try out the Arduino hardware platform.

Tweet Replies is a simple tool that does what it says: it sends all your twitter replies (things people say to you) to your email inbox. You don’t even need to give your password, just put in your username and email address. Great stuff for those who are afraid of missing any Twitter replies.

CNN reports that surgeons are using twitter in the the operating room. They’re posting real-time tweet updates about specific procedures for the curious, doctors and other medical students. Cool stuff. Is there any sort of real-world operation that cannot be transported onto text on Twitter?

Whether it’s new and cool or merely yicky, observers say there’s no question that more and more doctors — and patients — will be sharing the blow-by-blow of medical procedures on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Interesting to see how group behavior on Twitter easily spreads in support of a cause. Recently, many Twitter users are replacing their avatars with black squares to protest the New Zealand government internet proposals. Guardian has more:

It turns out that this isn’t the result of a malicious hacker or even a random technical fault. Nor have these icons and photos been whisked away by aliens in some sort of avatar-snatching heist. Instead the so-called “internet blackout” is part of a political protest against a law that has outraged internet campaigners in New Zealand.

While Twitter users span a large demographic, a good amount of them fall within a similar pattern: young adults. According to research from Pew Internet, the biggest Twitter user group are adults from 25 to 34 with many of them being mobile savvy.

Nearly one in five (19%) online adults ages 18 and 24 have ever used Twitter and its ilk, as have 20% of online adults 25 to 34. Use of these services drops off steadily after age 35 with 10% of 35 to 44 year olds and 5% of 45 to 54 year olds using Twitter. The decline is even more stark among older internet users; 4% of 55-64 year olds and 2% of those 65 and older use Twitter.