Yahoo! was generous enough to donate their venue for last Summer’s iPhone Developer Camp. During the event, I was finishing the last chapters of 140 Characters.

To follow up on that experience, Yahoo! visited my office for a Developer Spotlight on the history of iPhoneDevCamp, Twitter, my book, and the iPhone App.

I have been testing Jack and Jim’s new invention Square since April 2009. Jack bought me breakfast, then proceeded to charge me for it, using his iPhone.

I became a Square merchant in May. Since then I’ve been documenting a new 140 character space: the credit card line item.

Right now, I’m one of a handful of active merchants using an Alpha version of this new payment system (including Sightglass, Lilybelle, and Willotoons). I can process credit cards without the need for a merchant’s account to start. I use Square to sell copies of my book 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form.

Powered by the force of my swipe, the scanner is designed to fit into any smart device (read: Google, Blackberry, etc). Development is planned for the other devices (see Jobs), but the Beta is only for iPhone or iPod touch at the moment.

For more information, sign up for the Square Beta (opening soon to a few more merchants), follow @Square and keep a lookout for @SquareBook.

The Hypertext Edition of “140 Characters” is a new book format that is constantly updated with fresh content.

Twitter Co-creator Dom Sagolla covers all the basics of great short- form writing, including the importance of communicating with simplicity, honesty, and humor.

This is the first writing guide specifically dedicated to communicating with the succinctness and clarity that the Internet age requires.

“A code of honor for the new way of doing business.”
-@24kLogos

• The equivalent of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style for today’s social media & marketing messages
• Inspiring quotations from comedy to poetry from some of the best writers
• The authoritative approach to Twitter, written by its creators to include other social networks like pure text messaging

“The book is awesome, but the app is sexy.”
-@atebits

140 Characters is a much-needed guide to the kind of communication that can make or break a reputation online.

“This is game-changing.”
-@schwa

Features:
1. Built-in Web browser, with Bookmark

2. Regular updates to the text
3. Integrated Twitter streams of all 140 “characters” to follow

4. Additional Video and Photo content

The text is also supports Copy/Paste throughout.

Even if you have the Kindle edition, this condensed and updated text will provide the freshest reading experience. Tune in to the @bookapp Twitter account for the latest developments.

Keywords: Twitter, Facebook, social, networking, writing, book, links, lead, value, master, evolve, accelerate.

Now Available in the iTunes App Store.

Review copies have shipped, and now 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form will be appearing in stores across the US and Canada.

Look for it, snap a picture, and post it here! Once you’ve read it, please post a review to Amazon, Borders, or Barnes & Noble.

Don’t forget: in one week I’ll be speaking in San Francisco and signing books.

• Tuesday October 20, 2009
• 7:00pm
• BookShop West Portal
• 80 West Portal Ave.
• San Francisco, CA 94127
• Get Directions

Meanwhile, enjoy a wonderful review of the book from Tucker Bradford.

Brian Oberkirch captured a few thoughts about writing “140 Characters” during last weekend’s iPhoneDevCamp in Sunnyvale. Enjoy a nice, brief interview about some of the principles behind the book.

Not only was I organizing iPhoneDevCamp, but I also attempted to finish up the first draft of the book over the weekend. Hectic, but — I finished!

(Note: Of course, in the video, I mean 40,000 words.)

On May 26th, I’ll be speaking at 140 | The Twitter Conference, alongside two of my heroes: @bs and @atebits:

What Makes a Great Twitter App?

Panelists: Loren Brichter, Britt Selvitelle, Dom Sagolla

At the core of Twitter’s popularity is it’s utter simplicity. Building on top of that functionality while retaining the ease of use and visual appeal of Twitter itself is no easy task. This panel, including both external developers and one of Twitter’s own user experience players, will talk about the design and functionality choices they made, how they worked with the API to streamline them, and how you can apply these concepts to your own applications.

We’ll be discussing:

• Purpose-driven user interface design
  
• Managing system resources
• The limitations of mobile devices
• Working with the 100-call hourly API limit

Hope you can join us! Our session is from 11:30-12:30 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Update: Scoble took these pictures and MSNBC has a few shots of us on stage in the background during their report:

Props to @NerdBoyTV for the find.