Instagram Web profiles are here, and – surprise – they look a lot like Facebook

Your patience has been rewarded: Instagram has finally introduced Web profiles so the app is no longer just a mobile-only platform.

Kiss all those third-party Web apps you’ve been using to follow your friend’s Instagram activities goodbye! Instagram has just announced that Web profiles are officially here, and the site will begin rolling out the new feature over the next few days. 

The URL for your Web profile will be kept short and simple — Instagram.com/Username. (At this moment, attempting to log onto my personal profile links me to Instagram’s Web Profiles announcement page, but this should change shortly). Judging by the sample profiles Instagram provided, the design looks a lot like Facebook’s Timeline layout. Which isn’t terribly surprising, of course, since the social network bought Instagram for a whopping $1 billion earlier this year.

The new Instagram Web profiles will feature a rotating stream of photos where your “Cover Photo” would ordinarily be on Facebook. The “Wall” also orders your photos by months, and hovering over each photo gives you an exact upload date and the number of likes and comments. Clicking the photos bring up a lightbox of the selected picture, which looks just like what direct links to Instagram pictures were like if you had the obscure URL for them. If your photos are set as “Private,” only logged-in users with approved friend requests will be able to see them.

Web profiles have long been on Instagram users’ list of demands, since you were unable to obtain the direct URL of your photo without sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, email, or text. With Web profiles, Instagrammers can follow new users, explore trendy pictures, like, and comment straight from their browsers. This will undoubtedly make Instagram a bigger brand promotion platform than ever, allowing companies like Nike to monetize on sharing product photos and making an overall beautiful presentation of the brand.

However, there is one thing still missing from Web profiles: You won’t be able to upload a photo directly from your computer and apply the filters just yet, which would be a huge departure from the mobile-only (now, mobile-first) network. Still, something tells us that the development of a real, interactive website along with its Facebook acquisition may just bring the functionality to us in the very near future.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Tips and tricks to insta-turn you into a better Instagrammer

While most of us love Instagram, we don't always know how to use it best. Use these tips and tricks to perfect the images you're sharing on the network, as well as improve how you're interacting within the extremely loyal Instagram community.

Instagram: For some of us, it’s an addiction. For others, it’s a marketing tool. Either way, we can all agree that the service has revolutionized photo-sharing by giving us something that’s incredibly simple, fun to use, nostalgic, and most of all social, all wrapped up in one beloved platform. Being a photo-based platform, there are ways to get better photos with your device in your quest to gain more comments and likes. Here are a couple of tips to start off.

Advanced isn’t everything

Straight out of the box, Instagram for Android provides you with its Advanced Camera setting. Head over to the menu/profile settings and turn it off. Your device’s standard capabilities are much better and also provide you with more versatility when it comes to getting a better photo.

The Advanced Instagram Camera can make composition easier for you. It can also eliminate the need for cropping your image afterward if you know exactly what you want. But just like in real photography, there is no reason to limit yourself if you want to change your creative vision later.

Android Users: Experiment with exposure

Most Android devices have exposure control settings. Users can control variables like contrast, exposure compensation, ISO, white balance, and more. Playing with these settings can help you to get better results before you apply Instagram’s filters. Let’s run through this quickly:

• Contrast: How much of a difference there is between the bright and dark areas. The more contrast, the greater a difference. It also greatly affects colors.
• Exposure compensation: Telling the camera to make the overall exposure brighter or darker.
• ISO: How sensitive the camera will be to light. It’s a good idea to usually just leave this in the Auto setting. However, if you’re taking photos of your dog, baby, or another squirmy subject that just won’t stay still, feel free to raise this up to ISO 800 or 1600.
• White balance: This changes the overall color rendition of the image without making it look monochrome or Sepia. 

Getting a better image to begin with will mean that Instagram’s filters will also do a potentially better job and you’ll get a higher quality final result.

iPhone Users: Lock it up

This is a popular technique many iOS power users love:

• Touch the screen to focus on a subject; you’ll see the blue box show up when you tap, and then hold for a second. This will lock the focus and exposure.
• Recompose the image, if need be.
• If needed, also provide a bit of fill flash.

Sometimes, a flash can provide light that is too harsh. Try putting a tissue over the light so you don’t blow out all of the lovely natural colors on your sushi plate (just a hunch).

Get creative with Instagram’s arsenal

Photography, for artists, casual users, and just about everyone in-between is all about falling in love just a little bit every day with each picture we take. With that said, you can make your images better by experimenting with all that Instagram gives you. For example, some filters are more versatile than others, but there are certain ones that were meant for specific shades of light or that look best with their included borders.

Want to make your images look like they weren’t taken with a phone? Compose your scene so that it can possibly have some sense of depth, and then apply the tilt/shift filter accordingly.

Sayonara, screenshots

It happens to the best of us: Sometimes, we can’t help but share those hilarious text or Twitter exchanges with our dear Instagram followers. But adding that Walden filter to it is a bit unnecessary – meaning, don’t do it. This just isn’t the place to share those text-moments, head over to Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr for that. And the moment is too good not to post to Instagram, it is also well worth #nofilter.

The personal touch

Go ahead and use some hashtags, just don’t make a habit out of listing every possible topic for a photo.  No more than two or three are ever really necessary – you don’t want to be that person (see if you can spot which of the examples below completely overuses hashtags while also failing to add a caption that sounds even remotely human). Also, be sure to act like a real person; interact with other users genuinely, like you would in real life, and don’t pretend to be something you’re not (it’s okay to just take pictures of your cat or your food, just don’t wax philosophically in the comments about your artistic eye). 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Lazy NYC restaurant wants you to help create its menu with Instagram

A downtown New York restaurant is asking patrons to upload photos of their meals to Instagram to help craft a visual menu for undecided diners and those interested in trying out the establishment. The inventive idea is fun and interactive, but it's hard for us to encourage people to keep taking photos of their food and uploading it to the Web.

Full disclosure: My family owns a restaurant in New York City and the cost of designing, printing, and distributing menus are a lot more than just clicking a few things on the Internet and waiting for things to ship. You have to pick a design that is functional, beautiful, representative of your facility, and most importantly, inviting. Then, it’s just a matter of hoping new customers are curious and kind enough to stop by, and luring them to come back for a delicious experience. So when I heard that a new Latin American restaurant opened up and is crowdsourcing its patrons to make its menu for them, I can’t tell if this is sheer cost-cutting laziness or pure genius.

Comodo, located in the SoHo neighborhood of downtown New York, came up with the idea when it noticed the food porn Instagram trends amongst its customers. You’ve likely seen this happen: People come in, get excited by the food they’ve ordered, and take artsy shots of the plate so their Instagram followers can be presumably jealous by what these guys are having for dinner. Comodo also realized this was a good way for the public to get a relatively accurate representation of the restaurant, so it start encouraging patrons to continue doing what they’re doing, then adding the hashtag #ComodoMenu to the photos.

The result? Ideally, a list of menu items, the names, what they look like, and the price. This is helpful for people considering trying the restaurant, but wants to know the price points, portion sizes, and an exact visual of what they should expect. Of course, this isn’t the only source of menu for Comodo; the restaurant has real physical ones as well for those who aren’t on Instagram.

So far, the hashtag and three-week-old restaurant has garnered 49 photos, but unfortunately, not all the photos are food from the restaurant, and most people forget to mention what the dish is called or how much it costs. Still, the idea is inventive and interactive, and it’s a cheap and easy way to create social buzz. The photos also help to show what menu items are popular judging by how often they show up under the hashtag, and can then be referred to as one of the recommended dishes at Comodo.

At the same time, us Digital Trends writers aren’t particularly thrilled with the whole food porn trend, so we’re pretty torn on encouraging other restaurants to follow suit. Hey, at least if you’re gonna do it, do it with a purpose and help a local business along the way. And businesses, if you’re gonna hop on the trend, you might want to provide some incentives for the patrons giving you free publicity! If it’s anything we can help promote, it’s symbiosis.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Path update lets existing users fill their page with Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram data

Path's iOS 6 update will allow existing users to add their Facebook, Instagram, and Foursquare activities to their log.

Up until now, Path users who wanted to fill their accounts with Facebook, Instagram, and Foursquare data could only do so when they signed up for a new account. The most recent update now allows existing users to import data from the three major social networks so you don’t have to start over if you really want to link all the accounts together.

What the iOS 6 update does is essentially allow you to pretend to make a new account, giving you the option to “Start Your Path” all over again and access the Import button for the three services under the Settings page. After the import, depending on the size of the data which you are syncing over to Path, it could take several minutes for your account to list all the moments from the three services you just hooked up.

While the update is helpful to Path users, this sync will inevitably clutter most users’ home feed, logging in every single action from the three big social networks. Luckily, if you’re like most people and only have a limited amount of friends left on Path, this journal won’t look too bad. But if you have plenty of friends who are constantly updating the Path logs, prepare to scroll an incredible amount just to get through a day’s worth of activities. Each log for an Instagram photo already takes up a good amount of display real estate, fitting about a photo and a half per screen. And yes, this is on the iPhone 5′s enlarged screen. 

Either way, it’s to Path’s credit to allow users the option to make that choice if they want to, and the import integration will be useful to existing users who want to remain on the app and make it as content-filled as humanly possible.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Instagram evidently phasing out live filters with iOS 6 update

The update for Instagram on iOS 6 is here, and while it fixes the resolution issue, you'll notice one big feature missing: Live filters.

Those who have purchased the iPhone 5 may have already noticed that several apps that have not received their iOS 6 updates are often cut off in display, leave a large chunk of black blocks to fill in the shorter display of the iPhone 4. Instagram finally fixed this issue with its iOS 6 update, but that’s not the only thing users noticed. Sorely missing is the live filter feature, which allowed iPhoneographers to apply an overlay of their intended filter in live camera view before snapping a photo. If you’re one of the Instagrammers who frequent this functionality, tough luck. Instagram has updated its “known issues” section of the Help Center to reflect the following message:

“As of the current release (v3.1), Instagram does not support live filters on the iPhone 5. Going forward, live filters will be phased out as we work to improve the Instagram experience for all users.”

We’re not sure how exactly removing live filters is an improvement, considering this added functionality was one of the bigger focus of past Instagram updates for iOS. For fans of live filters, this will also prove to be a dilemma for whether or not they should update the app. On one hand, you can only avoid the update for so long, and the black bars that cut off on iPhone 5′s screen continues to be awkward without the update. On the other, updating means you might lose a feature you’ve come to use more commonly. Could you possibly stand to not see the world in Instagram filter after all?

Who knows, perhaps phasing out live filters is for the best. After all, my Android version of Instagram crashes often enough even without live filters so the company definitely has bigger issues at hand that might require the removal of this functionality overall — across all platforms — to make the app less buggy.

Image credit: The Next Web

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Instagram updates mobile website: Are full profiles next?

Instagram has rolled out a new design to its mobile website to more closely match its full site's design, adding hope to the rumor that profile updates are next in line.

With the Instagram and Facebook deal finally approved by the Federal Trade Commission, Instagram has unveiled its latest update to its platform. Instagram’s mobile website will now sport a new look and feel that closely reflects what you’d find when viewing photos on Instagram from your desktop browser.

Before this update, users have not been able to interact with the mobile pages on Instagram. But this update changes all that. The “Like” and comment buttons are now larger, making them easier to use. And at the top right hand corner of Instagram’s mobile pages, you’ll find an “Open in App” button which will open the same Instagram page that you’re currently browsing within the native app on your smartphone.

More importantly, it also provides more evidence to the rumor that Instagram has its sights set on porting the functionalities you’d find on its mobile app to the Web.

In June, Instagram silently rolled out a new update to user Web profiles incorporated interactive buttons for liking and commenting on photos. To its user’s disappointment, that update had not yet addressed the demand for a profile page and discovery features, despite the existence of such features on the mobile app.

But that could all change in the near future as the company is now officially a part of Facebook.

In July, web designer, Cole Reinke, noticed a curious feature when logged into his account on Instagram.com. Typically users signed into Instagram’s browser app can only edit their profile information, but Reinke’s account had a non-functional “View Profile” button that disappeared as quickly as it surfaced.

If it’s true that that Instagram was testing out a profile page for the Web, we’re hoping that the complete transition of converting Instagram’s native app to the Web will come in the next update, now that its mobile and desktop pages are now cohesive. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Instagram said to be arriving on Windows Phone

Instagram broke its iOS exclusivity earlier this year when it arrived on Android. Many expected, or at least hoped, that the Windows Phone version would follow shortly but that did not happen.

However, that does not mean that’s never going to happen. In fact, it might happen sooner than you you’d think. The Verge is reporting that according to their sources, Instagram is coming to Windows Phone.

It seems though Instagram won’t be building the application themselves and would probably be outsourcing the development to a third party. Microsoft may even want to build the app themselves, like they did for Facebook or at least integrate it within the OS without making a separate app.

There is no further information available about this at the moment. We’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Instagram is officially coming to Windows Phone

Instagram has confirmed that it will make its Windows Phone debut in the Windows Marketplace later this year.

The number of apps available in Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace dwarfs the number of apps available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. But soon, those of you who took a risk with a Windows phone won’t have to fret that the world’s favorite photo app isn’t available: Instagram is coming to Windows Phones.

The Verge was initially tipped off about the app’s existence when a reader thought he noticed Instagram featured in the Nokia promo video featuring its PureMotion technology. This wouldn’t be the first time Nokia inadvertently unveiled a big new app in a promo video; Nokia’s promo video demonstrating a Lumia charging on a wireless charging dock “accidentally” unveiled Skype’s Windows Phone app in action.

We re-watched the video and could make out what might be the Instagram app during the PureMotion demo, but we couldn’t be sure. The tile in question is displayed toward the end of the promo clip and displays the words “Walk Up,” and is accompanied by a comment and “Like” button that’s uncanny to the silhouette of the talk balloon and heart button that you would find on Instagram. But a secondary explanation could be that the app is actually Vimeo.

Whatever the case may be, The Verge has confirmed that Instagram will be making its way onto Windows Phones.

ZDNet theorized that Facebook’s purchase of Instagram would result in the app coming to Windows Phones, and it looks like they were right. Facebook has a tight-knit relationship with Microsoft, which purchased a stake in Facebook back in 2007. Further, the Federal Trade Commission finally approved the Instagram and Facebook deal after conducting an investigation due to antitrust concerns. Had the deal been blocked by the FTC, Instagram would have walked away with $200 million from Facebook for its troubles.

A consumer’s decision on purchasing a smartphone these days has a lot to do with what the complimenting app store has to offer. Microsoft’s Marketplace has cracked the 100,000 app mark, while Apple has broken 700,000 apps. The Google Play store is hot on Apple’s tail with more than 500,000 apps. That said, the number of apps isn’t everything; a large number of apps go unused simply by getting lost in the mix. In other words, it’s a matter of quality over quantity — how many of the main app titles an app store can get from existing popular apps like Skype, Instagram, and Angry Birds. Of course getting apps like Skype, Instagram, and even Angry Birds onto the Marketplace came courtesy of existing Microsoft relationships. 

Windows Phone users — are you excited for Instagram? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Instagram Socialmatic the concept camera inches closer to reality

If you could have an instant film camera based entirely on Instagram, would you buy one?

Back in May when we wrote about the Instagram Socialmatic, we mentioned how the product would definitely be popular among our photo-filter obsessed culture if it was a actual item. Now, the concept is a step closer to reality with a prototype slated to launch by the end of the year. 

ADR Studio, the masters behind the design of Instagram Socialmatic, announced via its blog that it has found several business partners to make its concept come true. If all goes well, the item could be released as early as mid-2013. Of course, the Instagram Socialmatic camera faces quite a bit of copyright issues starting with the use of camera body graphics that look much too similar to Instagram’s original logo. But assuming the team is able to bypass the legal issues, this could spell the return of instant film photography especially for those who Instagram on a daily basis.

Through its announcement, ADR Studio also released a couple more photos of the revised Instagram Socialmatic. The body is now black to distinguish just a bit from Instagram’s logo, and the specs remain the same as we previously posted: 16GB of internal memory, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, two lenses, and a built-in printer. There is also a 4:3 ratio touchscreen and an LED flash for snapping photos in low lighting. Unlike the original concept photos, Instagram Socialmatic now has a lens cap to add a real-life camera feel. Personally, it still looks like an oversized iPod Nano with a printer to me — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since Apple products are generally well-designed.

ADR Studio says the camera will be a crowdfunded project so don’t be surprised if you see an IndieGogo or Kickstarter on the item in the near future. It also said that any rumors of pre-orders are scams, and everyone should stay posted for an official announcement of how you can get your hands on the product, if and when it becomes reality. In the meantime, do you think Facebook and Instagram’s partnership will do anything to combat this project? It certainly has the capacity to build its own camera if Instagram Socialmatic doesn’t get there first. 

For more photos of the revised Instagram Socialmatic camera, visit the designer’s blog.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Facebook-Instagram deal gets green light from FTC

The US Federal Trade Commission announced on Wednesday it had finished its investigation into Facebook's acquisition of Instagram and would not be taking any further action, paving the way for the deal to be sealed.

Facebook’s acquisition of photo-sharing app maker Instagram came another step closer on Wednesday when the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had completed its antitrust investigation and would not be taking any further action.

Facebook said in a statement that it was “pleased” with the FTC’s decision though it gave no indication as to when the deal might be completed.

Back in April, a month before the social networking giant floated on the stock exchange, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it intended to buy Instagram for $1 billion. The deal struck between the two companies meant Instagram would receive $300 million in cash and just under 23 million shares.

Of course, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom had been hoping to see the value of Facebook shares hit the roof after the company went public in May. However, it’s gone the other way, with shares in the social networking company currently worth just half of their original $38 IPO price. This means the Facebook-Instagram deal is currently valued at just over $747 million.

The news in April of Facebook striking a deal with Instagram came as a surprise to many, not least the Facebook board. Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly sorted the deal all by himself, meeting Systrom at his Palo Alto home over three days, whittling the Instagram boss down to $1 billion from his original asking price of $2 billion. It’s thought Zuckerberg wanted to act fast in order to stop another company getting in first, with Facebook keen to find ways to increase its presence in the mobile space.

Instagram is a hugely popular free photo-sharing app that allows users to make fast and stylish edits to their snaps before sharing them on the Web. It currently has 80 million users, a figure impressive by any standards, but even more so when you consider it launched less than two years ago.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Introducing Instagram 3.0: Photo Maps

Instead of delivering new filtering options with the next version of Instagram (don’t worry, those are also in-the-works), the popular photo-editing tool creators have decided to take what’s become one of the world’s most popular apps in a whole new direction. Says Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom, “Instagram 2.0 with its new filters, etc. was all about the user’s production experience. Instagram 3.0 is about a new kind of browser experience, Photo Maps.”

With the new version, Instagram developers hope to create a more narrative experience for users. Up until now, users have uploaded their shots and their shots alone – with no real background, story or structure to go along with the images. Now, however, a new kind of location data will serve towards creating a unique map of the pictures and thereby allow users to express their stories-through-pictures more lucidly (and more interestingly). Users will even be able to extract photos from the past, tack on a location to the photo and essentially revive it with a whole lot more chutzpah. Sound a lot like Facebook’s Timeline? It just may be – in fact, word through the tech journalist grapevine is that this strategy may in fact be a mobile-based rebuttal to the giant social network’s new format, since Instagram 3.0 will be available on both iOS and Android phones.

Photo Maps will allow users to organize their life-stories by geo-tagging the images they upload – the map will then be displayed on a user’s profile. Says Systrom, “In the beginning, social media was thought of as this ephemeral medium — you put something out in the world and it falls off people’s feeds in an hour or two. But really photos get more valuable as time goes on, they become points for nostalgia…up until not, we made it too difficult to access [the old photos]…We want to let you browse through [them] in a fast…manner, and we realized that the way to organize them wasn’t time, but [location].”

In addition to Photo Maps, Instagram 3.0 delivers a revamped Explore tags and user profiles and hashtag and location pages. Users will notice larger photo grids, never-before-offered infinite scrolling, and the ability to report comments as abuse or spam, which is key since Instagram has reportedly had some major issues in the spam department as it has grown. Not long ago, the company also added likes and comments to a chic, updated interface as well.

How exactly does it work? After a user approves his or her photos, a new Photo Map browsing mode shows up on each profile you follow (which means yours, too). The new mode will appear nest to Grid mode and List mode. When a user taps on the Photo Map, he is launched into a map view which organizes snapshots by location. Zoom in, and the shots are divided into more specific groupings according to deeper location.

Ready for it? You can download the new update here:

The writer of this article, Janice Bevilacqua, is an avid content provider for CPS Central, a retailer of extended warranty solutions for electronics. Her niche is primarily technology and gadget related topics. 

Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com

Instacube is a digital photo frame feeding real-time Instagram pictures

Get real-time updates of your Instagram feed on this stylish digital photo frame which looks like a life-size Instagram logo.

Personally, I find that digital photo frames are a waste of electricity. Who wants to look at the same photos repeating itself over and over again, only to manually replace the memory card with new photos every so often? The introduction of Instacube addresses this issue: instead of adding photos to a digital frame yourself, Instacube will update your photos in real-time, reading off your Instagram feed based on the friends you follow, photos you’ve liked, or just your own pictures.

The completely wireless digital photo frame looks similar to the Instagram logo itself, displaying pictures three times the size of what you might find on your mobile phones. The LCD touchscreen frame allows users to sift through photos as they’re fed to the frame in real-time, and connects to the Web via Wi-Fi. You can set Instacube to show photos of a certain hashtag so you can discover new photos in a faster pace of updates. To “like” a photo that you randomly come across on the giant display, there’s even a designated heart-shaped button at the top to give those photos some lovin’.

Instacube, currently a Kickstarter project, aims to not only market as a home decor item, it also wants companies to start embracing the technology in their businesses. For example, a clothing store could advertise a certain hashtag and for every photo a customer uploads with that keyword, their pictures would display in the store’s Instacube. These photos can be entered as part of a contest or campaign to promote brand visibility. This possibility of branding and interactivity makes Instacube not only your average digital frame, it might actually be fun to play with.

Instacube has 4GB of internal memory — should you want to display your own pictures — runs in 256GB of RAM, and has a 7.5-inch screen displaying 600 x 600 pixel resolution. It will run on rechargeable lithium ion battery so you can carry and move it around as you please. No word on how long the battery actually lasts before it needs a recharge.

To own an Instacube, should the Kickstarter succeed in one month’s time, you’ll have to fork up $99 of funding to receive your first edition of the wireless digital frame. These limited edition, discounted frames are quickly running out, and once they do the frames will begin to cost $149 apiece. The product aims to launch in the second quarter of 2013.

Watch the video below to learn more about Instacube.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Normalize app lets you ‘unInstagram’ a picture, see photos in their original colors

Ever wish you can fix photos over-treated with Instagram-esque filters? Normalize for iOS will restore photos to their natural vibrance.

I know way too many people who refuse to post photos online anymore without the help of Instagram or other vintage photo filters to make their photos look “better.” Some even go as far to say their camera and photography skills are that awesome, and that they didn’t use any filters to get such a great vibrance on their pictures. If you’ve ever wanted to call someone out on their crap, test those photos out with this Normalize app to see what these pictures originally looked like, pre-Instagram treatment.

Developed by Joe Macirowski after he was tired of seeing perfectly good photos destroyed by color changing filters, he decided it was time for the public to start seeing photographs in a “real world” perspective. No strangely darkened features, no eye drop highlighters — just pure, natural colors. In his own words, “Something had to be done.” So take Joe’s sample photo of this train car posted up top: The filtered version has the colors all too warm with an odd saturation, obscuring the details of the train and its surroundings. After the Normalize treatment, shadows are much more visible and you can differentiate between the various shades of leaf colors on the autumn trees. 

Of course, Normalize isn’t just for unInstagramming a photo. If a picture you’ve taken needs some light balancing, the app will also help to, well, normalize the colors. From current user reviews, the app doesn’t always dramatically change a photo’s contrast and color levels, but most say they see an improvement after a quick edit. Normalize is optimized to work with smaller photos, though all image sizes are supported. 

If you’re still aiming to use the app to strip the hipster filters off your friends’ photo, just remember it’ll cost ya: the Normalize app is available now on iOS for $1 via the App Store. Oh, the irony of paying for photo filter apps in the first place, only to pay another buck to remove them. Maybe National Geographic should get on this to avoid photo submitters from sending in pics that have been over-Instagrammed.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Instagram gets another major update, adds location to your photo adventures

The immensely popular photo sharing mobile app Instagram got bumped to version 3.0, people. The update adds a number of new talents to Facebook’s recent acquisition. Among them is the ability to add location to your photographic exploits, as well as infinite scrolling.

The new feature of the application is called Photo Map and allows you to add your shots to a map with a single tap of your finger. Your approved photos will then appear, grouped by their respective location. They can be viewed in the new Photo Map browsing mode.

The new update to Instagram is available for both Android and iOS. In case you have applied it, feel free to drop us a line with your experience in the comments section below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com