I am an active Twitter user (as per usual, here is my shameless pimp out: @lovexxreverie).  I find that Twitter is possibly the best way to communicate with someone without killing my battery and draining my time.  This being said, my favorite Twitter application just got so much better.

I started using UberTwitter out of pure frustration with Twitter for BlackBerry.  I’m not knocking TfB, but if you really like to tweet, like I do, it just doesn’t cut the mustard. Ubertwitter is one stop shopping for Twitter.  It does everything that you need with the added feature of restarting exactly where you left off.  I could write an essay on why you should use UberTwitter, but I’m sure you lead a busy life.  Let me just bullet this out for you.

Pros:

• Compact
• Easy on your memory
• Easy on your battery
• Attractive
• Easily recognizable icon
• Fantastic support for media

Cons:

• Twitter is addictive
• Can lag slightly
• Themes can be a bit unimaginative

All I can say is, if you want the best in Twitter (I’ve heard Social Scope is the winner, but I cannot vouch for it) then I’d recommend UberTwitter.  I wouldn’t steer you wrong, and I can promise it is worth the download.  Please give beta-8 a try (download from the site here) and bark it up in the comments below as to how you like it and how it compares to your current Twitter client.

Perhaps one of the most serious issues to arise from the proliferation of cell phones (certainly more immediate than any of the radiation mumbo jumbo) has been the advent of texting while driving. Teens (and plenty of adults) the world over will swear they can do it without looking, that it doesn’t impact their ability to drive, and that it’s completely safe. Statistics and trail of heartbroken friends and family tell a very, very different story. Yet despite the many laws being created to make the practice illegal, despite the very real danger, people continue to risk themselves and those around them every single day by trying to carry on a text conversation while behind the wheel.

This is where DriveSafe.ly steps in. Realizing that no amount of scolding or laws will prevent texting addicts (because frankly, that’s what it is, an addiction) from reaching for their phones at every ding, DriveSafe.ly has created an application that might, just might, help some folks keep their eyes on the road and their hands off their phone.

The concept is fairly simple: Whenever you receive a text or e-mail while application is active, it will read aloud both the sender and the body of the message, and then will send a user-configurable auto response back to the sender (defaulted to say “I’ll get back to you soon”).

You’re also able to choose the voice used to read your messages, as well as deciding which parts (if any) of a particular message type (e-mail and texting) you’d like to have read aloud.

As you’ve probably deduced from the above screenshot, there is both a free and paid version available. The free version limits you to a single voice option (which was still quite impressive in its capabilities), limits the number of configurable options (again, they were still fairly extensive), and will only read 25 words of a message (plenty for most texts, and enough to get the gist of an e-mail).

You can upgrade to a paid subscription version that has plans available for individuals, families, and even enterprises. The prices all seem pretty reasonable, with a singleton running you $13.95 a year; a family plan runs $34.95 a year while offering you four licenses, and the enterprise version $79.90 a year while offering a host of extra goodies for the business types.

We have been testing the free version for the past few days, and DriveSafe.ly has worked beautifully. All of our text messages were read with surprising clarity, and the automatic reply was flawless. E-mails were not handled quite as gracefully, as we tended to hit our 25-word limit in the middle of a sentence, and several times still had no idea what the message was really about (some of that depends on how wordy or blunt your corespondents are). You do need to turn the application on and off manually, as it isn’t able to detect your speed via GPS and automatically kick in. We figure this is probably for the best, as turning DriveSafe.ly on is exceedingly easy (it takes two clicks, once to open the app, and once to hit the “On/Off” button), and we’re pretty sure the GPS would eventually betray you and turn the app on in the middle of an important meeting and read the aloud the sext from your significant other (it’s Murphy’s Law).

Overall we’ve been extremely impressed with the application, and recommend DriveSafe.ly as a must-try. There is enough functionality in the free version to satisfy most users, while the price point for the paid subscription is low enough to be easily affordable (seriously, $14 a year is cheap) should you need the extra feature set. If you’re a texting addict who’s having a hard time not picking up the phone while driving (or even if you’re not), head on over to DriveSafe.ly and give it a whirl. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and please, don’t text while driving (we like our readers, we don’t wanting to happen to you!).