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streamie: Node.js + Websockets = Real time Twitter client

As new technologies are delivering on the promise of the Real Time Web, it’s becoming apparent that the revolution will be streamed. Malte Ubl seems to agree, creating Streamie, your very own real-time Twitter stream powered by Node.js and Websockets.

We talked about how crazy fast Node.js can be in episode #20. In episode #31, we talked about the possibilities of pushing updates to the browser with Websockets. In Streamie, the new Twitter User Stream API provides the payload to stream your tweets to you in real time.

Streamie screenshot

Websockets are implemented in Streamie using Socket.io, which falls back to traditional polling in older browsers.

Features

Although it’s still in early, active development, Streamie does offer some nice features you’d expect in a Twitter client including:

  • Scroll state memory - Streamie remembers your scroll position between visits. New tweets appear scrolled offscreen to the top.
  • Google Chrome notifications - Growl-like notifications for new updates.

Instructions on setting up Streamie to run locally can be found in the README

[Source on GitHub] [Live version]


Discussion

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