alltweets.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'open-uri'
require 'rubygems'
require 'active_support'

account = 'thijs'
max_id = 18216684927

File.open("#{account}.txt", 'w') do |f|
  loop do
    puts max_id
    uri = URI.parse("http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/#{account}.xml?max_id=#{max_id}&count=100")
    data = Hash.from_xml(uri.read)
    data['statuses'].each do |status|
      f.puts "#{status['id']}: #{status['text']} (#{status['created_at']})"
    end
    if data['statuses'].length == 0
      break
    end
    max_id = data['statuses'].last['id']
  end
end