Month: April 2012

Why I love Instagram

I started writing this post last weekend, before the big Facebook sale was announced, as I wanted to talk about – in light of the recent Android-owners backlash – I use (and enjoy) Instagram. It’s funny now though how that very same backlash has not only continued but also now includes all things Facebook. Incredible. C’est la vie.

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I love Instagram. There, I said it.
I also don’t own an iPhone.

So how?

Anyone who’s been reading this blog for any amount of time knows that I am a Nokia fan. My current phone du jour is the Nokia Lumia 800 and before I now I have waxed lyrical about its predecessors the N8 and the N86. Similarly, regular readers will also know that I am an iPad-owner also. Of that too, I am also a fan.

I am a social media junkie; If something is new and shiny, I take a(n educated and measured) interest and, in all honesty, the lure of Instagram was too much.

The next logical step? Install Instagram onto the iPad.

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While there isn’t an official Instagram iPad app, the iPhone version doubles up just fine. Problem solved, right? Well, yes but that’s not enough. I own an iPad 2 y’see and, while it does have an onboard camera, you may as well give a packet of crayons to a pack of blind monkeys for all the use it’ll do you. A decent image it produces, not.

The great thing about Nokia devices however, is that the top end bad boys tend to come packing high-end mobile camera technology. Which is great, and as 99% of the images I snap with my Lumia end up on my Flickr account – all I need is a method of getting those images into Instagram.

Well, that’s where Flickr Studio comes in –

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I can browse my Flickr photostream and download the images I want/need onto my iPad (you can see where this is going can’t you) which closes the circle nicely –

Lumia – >; Flickr
Flickr – iPad
iPad – >; Instagram

Yes, it’s a lengthy process and yes it’s not exactly ideal either but like I said, I like the network and I like the people I follow there. I installed Instagram onto my Nexus S a couple of days ago and I’ve hardly used it. I prefer the iPad experience. Plus, my pictures are infinitely better.

Since the Android release last week it’s almost too funny how much the elitist iPhone-owners have spat back at the network [EDIT: even more so now after the sale]. Apparently some slighted iPhone-Instagrammers are even flocking to new services to escape the influx of ‘tasteless’ Android-ers. Hilarious.

I’ve enjoyed being a part of the Instagram community and have never uploaded an iPhone-created picture, ever. That makes me happy inside and that’s how I use (and why I love) Instagram.

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PS. As I said earlier this week, post-sale, Instagram will be fine –

;

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Five things on Friday #15

Five things of note from the week ending Friday, April 13th 2012
Sidenote: less effort this week, sorry – I am ill.
Rubbish.

1. How to make onion ring eggs (amazing)

Flower power eggs look cool too.

2. I know that feel bro

These are awesome. The above one is entitled ‘Genetic Experiments’ and it’s by far and away my favourite. But really, the whole series is great, check them out.

3. Finding your Kryptonite
I drew this (with Paper) –

Flight #madewithpaper

And someone else wrote this (using my other pics for support).

I like.

4. Star Wars Condoms

Alas, these aren’t real. But still, they made me chuckle.

5. Lulz

Mind. Blown.

Bonuses: Last week I told you to read Dan’s blog, I did and I found this; Argentinians doing cool things with Twitter; and this awesome momentum-based blog post from my mate Ross. Follow him, he’s a good lad.

An idea for iPlayer mobile

(or TED, or any video-based mobile app)

When I open the application, I want the app to gauge my time and serve me content accordingly. It could ask me ‘How much time do you have?’ but that’s boring. My thinking is you could get quite cheeky with the measurement –

First question: location. Based upon your answer to this, the app takes an educated guess as to the length of video you want to consume at this time.

Like so –

Thoughts

“Hi, where are you? In bed, on the train or on the toilet?”

In bed, you get everything; on the train, you get everything up to say…  30mins? – and on the toilet, well, you get content up to ten minutes. Obviously there’d be other (probably more user-defined) options available, but you get my point

I’ve mentioned this before (to the Beeb itself at one point) and I don’t know why this hasn’t been done or why content isn’t browse-able by length at all* in fact. I’ve got a 15 minute journey ahead of me so therefore I’d like to see all content that is 15mins or under in length. Simple.

.

What is the behaviour of your mobile user?

 

*if it has, I haven’t seen it and well, I fully expect to get told about it within minutes of hitting publish….

Florence / John / Janelle

aka – Three Track Thursday #2

Florence + The Machine covering Otis Redding – ‘Try a little Tenderness’

Gorgeous..

Next, John Mayer covering Lana Del Ray – Video Games (Instrumental)

Hauntingly soothing.

Finally, Janelle Monae covering The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back

Not as good as I’d hoped, but still good nonetheless.

Until next time…

 

Is Play.com breaking Facebook TOS?

To be honest, I’m not sure. Take a look at this –

@playcom – aka – play.com

Facebook Timeline for brands is brand new and as such, the nuances and intricacies of the new user interface are still being worked out*. However, a good place to start when dealing with a new service structure is the service supplier themselves. In this instance, that’s Facebook.

Their [new] terms of service (specifically to the cover photo) state:

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All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines.
Covers may not include:

  1. Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it on socialmusic.com”;
  2. Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section;
  3. References to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features; or
  4. Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”

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I interpret that as ‘Oi! No special offers on your cover photo!‘ 

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…but I could be wrong.

Being unsure (and in constant search of a decent debate), I asked Twitter –

Ask Twitter

The crowd certainly think so – although, funnily enough, Play didn’t respond.

Covers including special offers certainly seem off limits from the Facebook’s terms of service and, in all honesty, that’s what I’ve been advising friends, colleagues and clients when it comes to embracing Facebook’s new Timeline layout…

Either way, Play are sailing pretty close to the wind. Wouldn’t you say?
Friends, readers and peers – what do you think?

Better yet, why don’t we ask Play?

 

 

*for example: knowing how many characters you should use in your ‘about’ section.

 

Instagram + Facebook

I had a post scheduled for later on this week talking about my recent love affair with all things Instagram (even though I don’t actually own an iPhone) however, some news is breaking right now that kinda needs covering.

Facebook just bought Instagram, for $1bn.

That’s right: One. Billion. Dollars.

Stefan nailed it –

Well, do you? It’s a lot.
But why?

To start us off, here are some numbers* to get your head around taken from the mere 18mths that Instagram has been in existence:

  • 1 billion photos uploaded
  • 30 million registered users
  • 5 million photos uploaded every day
  • 575 likes every second
  • 81 comments every second
  • 1 million downloads of the new Android app in 24hrs

That’s a lotta love for an app that is solely mobile-based. But why is that important to Facebook? Think about it – Facebook is about the data. As the saying goes: if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product – and Instagram just sold a whole ton of data about its users. Not personal data, or contact data but image data and sharing data.

What people snap, what filters they apply when they’ve snapped and where & how they share that snap is all important data for a social network that builds itself around social objects and the relationships that people form around them.

While this kind of purchase is new ground for Facebook, it’s refreshing to see that it has every intention of keeping the service independent and multi-platform friendly. Mark Zuckerberg has already talked about lending Instagram Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure – something that they’ll need when it comes to the building for scale. That sounds like someone who only has the app’s best interests at heart, certainly.

And while a billion dollars is a lot of money, Facebook has just bought itself its own standalone photo-sharing app, with a built-in base of happy users while at the same time cancelling out a potential competitor in the lucrative social networking space. Good things will come of this acquisition, Yahoo + Flickr this ain’t.

As Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom, blogged earlier today –

It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We’ll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We’ll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.

Remember, the future is mobile and Instagram have proven that a mobile-only social network is not only worthwhile but 100% achievable to boot.

Best of luck guys (all 13 of you); your fans, users, industry and investors will be watching.

*since April 3rd, 2012 – source

UPDATE – Other posts of note:

Originality + Mobile

Or lack thereof.

First, in 2009, this –


[Bungee jumping, shot on a Nokia N86]

Then, in 2010, this –


[A rollercoaster review of the N97 Mini, shot with the N97 Mini]

So far so good…

Straight after that, we got to work on this –


[Shoot what you like with the Nokia N8, shot on the Nokia N8]

With the winners being invited along to this –


[A zero G flight, shot on the Nokia N8]

Great stuff.

Later, in 2011, this appeared –


[A rollercoaster review ‘unboxing’ of the SGSII, shot with a ?]

Brilliant? Yes. Familiar? Slightly.

Admittedly they went one better, with this –


[A skydive review ‘unboxing’ of the SGSII, shot with a ?]

Well done.

Imagine my surprise when, today in 2012 this appeared on TV for HTC  –


[A free-fall fashion shoot with the HTC One, shot with a ?]

Amazing. Not.

Seriously, three years of this now… come along guys, at least try to do something different. It genuinely doesn’t matter who had the idea first or even who managed to push it to the next level. All we’re asking is for some originality.

Samsung was blatant, HTC is just plain late.

And while it’s fair to say, admittedly, everything is a remix; if Sony can create something new, you can too.

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Do. Better.

 

What is Dabr?

Dabr is probably the best mobile web interface for Twitter available today. Described as ‘m.twitter on steroids’ by its users, Dabr is a labour of love by three chaps from England.

It started back in 2008 when David Carrington, mobile developer hobbyist extraordinaire left this comment on the then SMSTextNews website, Mobile Industry Review. I replied and then we took it offline.  From there, ideas started firing back and forth right up until the end of the year.

Three months later, in January 2009, I signed on as official strategic advisor and since then, we’ve grown the service massively. As of August 2011, the open source code has been downloaded 27,000 times and, even as far back as 2010, our user numbers and stats have been fairly impressive (which reminds me, I have an update from 2011 to put up on the blog).

Originally built for alpha-numeric keypad devices, such as the Nokia N95, Dabr now caters for screens big and small, with touchscreens and without, sometimes even stretching to devices that aren’t even phones!

Supakitsune - Dabr

Being open source means that guests can add their own code to the story and Terence Eden‘s contributions were so damn good that David asked him to become the third member of our team. It’s only a part-time project (we all have day jobs) so the more help we can get, the better. Terence’s contributions have been fantastic. In fact the last overhaul (when we switched servers) included a whole host of features that were mainly based on his awesome developments and iterations.

Thanks to our successes on the user number front, we had to introduce adverts to help pay for new (and better) servers. Fortunately, the users that we’ve done this for have been both supportive and loyal throughout this time and our numbers have stayed steady. Ads are in, the users are happy and the service still lives on.

Next time you’re on Twitter, have a look for the tell-tale sign of ‘via Dabr’ at the end of someone’s tweet, that means they’re using one of the best free web-based Twitter apps available today.

Give it a go, you might like it –

Related links:

Dabr
The Dabr Blog
Dabr on Twitter
The Code
Terence Eden’s Dabr Posts

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In the press:

Channel 4 News [link broken] but references can found on the Dabr Blog and Mobile Industry Review
One Forty Review Page (4.5 out 5)
Mr Phillip Schofield is a fan and user
‘Service of the Week‘ by mjelly
UberMedia using Dabr’s code c/o The Next Web
First Second Twitter app to integrate Twitter lists

 

Also published as a page for future reference —