PHP: Codeigniter: Model fetch tweets

fetchtweets_codeignite_model.php

<?php
/*
adapted from http://rosstanner.co.uk/2012/01/php-tutorial-twitter-statuses/
*/
class Mytweets extends CI_Model {


	// define the account username


	public function get($account = "jpalala")
	{	
	
		 if($account == '') { throw("MyTweets Error - no username"); }

		// define the path to the feed of tweets
		$path = "http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.xml";  

		// set the request for the API
		$request = "?include_rts=true&screen_name=".$account."&count=5";  

		// get the response from the API as an object
		$tweet_list = simplexml_load_file($path.$request);  

		// check for Twitter posts
		if ( count ( $tweet_list ) > 0 ) 
		{  

			// define the array of tweets
			$tweets = array();  

			// loop through each Twitter post
			foreach ( $tweet_list as $tweet ): 

				// format links to a clickable link
				$tweet->text = preg_replace("/http:\/\/([^ ]+)/i", "<a href=\"http://$1\">http://$1</a>", $tweet->text);

				// format @USERNAME into a link
				$tweet->text = preg_replace("/@([^ ]+)/", "<a href=\"http://twitter.com/$1\" target=\"_blank\">@$1</a>", $tweet->text);

				// add the tweet to the array of tweets
				$tweets[] = array (
					'tweet'    =>    (string) $tweet->text,
					'posted'   =>    (string) $tweet->created_at,
					'image'    =>    (string) $tweet->user->profile_image_url
				);  
			endforeach;
			// output how many tweets were loaded
			$amount_tweets = count($tweets);  

		} else {  

			// output a message to show no tweets found
			$amount_tweets = 0;

		}  
		
		
		print '<style>
				ul li{list-style:none;clear:both;overflow:auto;margin-bottom:10px;}
				ul li span.img{float:left;width:48px;height:48px;background:green;}
				ul li span.tweet{float:left;margin:5px 0 0 10px;}
				ul li span.tweet span{color:#999;}
			</style>';
			
			print '<ul>';
			foreach ( $tweets as $tweet ):
			
				print '<li>
						<span class="img"><img src="'. $tweet['image'] . '" /></span>
						<span class="tweet">'. $tweet['tweet'].'<br /><span><?php echo $tweet['posted']; ?></span></span>
					</li>'; 
			endforeach; 
			
		
		print '</ul>';
		
		print '<p><a style=\"color:lightblue;\" href="http://twitter.com/'.$account . '" target="_blank">@' .$account . '></a></strong></p>';
		}
	}
?>