So TweetDeck used to be pretty much the most-awesome PC desktop application for accessing Twitter, maintaining all kinds of inline searches, and doing all kinds of shiny things with that social media site that otherwise would have required multiple browser windows, way too many button clicks, or some other time-sink-ing inconvenience. Then they got bought by Twitter. Then it all went to hell. Functionalities got stripped away. The user interface got stupid. And the whole experience deteriorated to the point where I was casting about, searching for alternatives.
Well, I found one – the original, v0.38.2 Adobe.air TweetDeck install. All of the old functionalities, all of the old design, all of the old setups, all of the old options, and none of the new idiocy. Alternatively, you can download the file here – my anti-virus promises it is clean.
Obviously, this version will not be receiving any further updates in the future, but considering what Twitter considered an “update”, would you really want any?
The reason I upgraded to the new, sucky version is that my old, reliable version stopped opening browser links. Say what you will about the new version (and there’s a lot to say), at least it opened links.
I uninstalled that one, installed your version… and once again, links don’t open. FML.
Hm. I think your problems run deeper than whatever version of TweetDeck you are using. If I click on a link in the .air version, and it is a link shortening service that TweetDeck recognizes, a cute little pop-up comes up telling me what the longer link actually is. If I click on that, it directs my most-recently-active browser screen to that link. If it is not a service it recognizes, it directs my most-recently-active browser to that link. Alternatively, if I right-click on the links, I can copy-paste them into whatever browser I want.
So, short answer, check your Adobe updates, and check your browser updates. Alternatively, check your TD settings – seems there are a few applicable.
Erin: I believe there are security settings in Adobe controlling whether or not links are followed. That might be what’s blocking you.
Linoge: One hopes that TweetDeck does not send version information to the mothership when it connects, that would open the possibility of Twitter’s blocking access to anyone running versions they don’t anoint…
Where are these security settings of which you speak?
I uninstalled both Tweetdeck and Adobe Air (and used Revo Uninstaller to scour the registry in a scorched-earth campaign) and then reinstalled both. Still no joy.
A Tweetdeck that won’t open links is useless to me…
@ John Hardin: Hm. Trillian used to run into that problem with AIM… would not surprise me if Twitter caught on, given how stupid they are being about this.
@ Erin Palette: Have you tried these fixes? No idea if they work, and they seem pretty convoluted, but might be worth a shot, especially how given how sucktacular the new TweetDeck is:
http://getsatisfaction.com/tweetdeck/topics/tweetdeck_is_not_opening_links_in_my_default_browser_google_chrome
http://blog.vongraf.com/2009/02/10/how-to-fix-tweetdeck-adobe-air-links/
http://techie-buzz.com/annoyances/adobe-air-applications-not-opening-links-in-default-browser-fix.html
The Android app stopped getting Facebook notifications, which makes it much less useful to me. Without working Facebook integration, I have no reason to stick with it, there are quite a few more fish in that sea
Success! The second link is what did it. Thanks Linoge!
@ Ian Argent: Hm. Cannot help you there. My understanding of the underpinnings of Android is significantly smaller than PCs… I can offer that my Android TweetDeck still gets Facebook notifications just fine, so I would check the permissions on both the program and the webpage, but beyond that… dunno.
@ Erin Palette: Good to hear
.
Problem is likely on the Facebook side, since issue is device-independent and did not coincide with a tweetdeck update. OTOH, I don’t know whether tweetdeck proxies in this case
Hm. I might check to see that Facebook still has TweetDeck authorized in the security settings.
Tweetdeck is still authorized (I happened to check about the same time looking for a different setting).
Apparently Tweetdeck Android is deprecated – and a third-party Mod TweakDeck has been authorized to continue in its place – https://market.android.com/details?id=com.modaco.thedeck.android.app
Hm. Nice of Twitter/Tweetdeck to tell us that.
Wasn’t it, though?