tweetdeck kicks ass, it's the only twitter client i use except ubertwitter. but it needs an API badly...(the amazing things I would do!) I hope this acquisition goes through.
You want an API for an application that does nothing but consume an API? Why not use the Twitter API?
their UI is really good i don't want to have to spend the time to reinvent the wheel I just want to add some special search filters that require scripting
I use Tweetdeck exclusively on PC and Android. Love it. And speaking of filters, I wish you could set global filters across all columns.