Once you’ve got the basics, following the Instagram tips below, on how to get the most out of the site and to fit right in, there are a few more tips that you can follow that will get you more likes and followers. Check out our tried and true Instagram tips for getting tons of likes. And don’t forget, Instagram isn’t just a photography app, it’s a community. It goes far beyond just posting your photos – it involves engagement and interaction, and these tips will help you find your way right into the community.

Space out your posts

One of the first Instagram tips goes for any social network, blogging platform, or content curation service: space out your posts. Intentionally or unintentionally, don’t forget posting for weeks at a time and then suddenly flood your followers with ten photos a day. Depending on how many followers you already have, you probably shouldn’t post more than twice a day, otherwise your followers might get sick of seeing you in their feed, no matter how great your photos might be.

Use hashtags carefully

There is nothing more annoying on Instagram than looking up a hashtag and finding it spammed with photos that don’t relate to the topic. This is particularly frustrating when it’s a hashtag that is used to curate and recommend content. So while you should never use hashtags that are not relevant to your photo, you should definitely select a few hashtags to get your photo more exposure. Using hashtags is a great way to get noticed on Instagram, and if you stay true to the content of your photo, it will definitely earn you more likes, follows and comments.

Use the 1-2-3 rule

A popular rule among Instagram old-timers is the 1-2-3 rule. The 1-2-3 rule means that for every 1 photo you post, you should comment on 2 others and like 3. This is often used by users who are curating submissions by other Instagram users, like Josh Johnson’s popular forum, and the Instagram account, Monoart.

Avoid too many self-portraits

While there’s nothing wrong with posting a few self-portraits, don’t let that dominate your Instagram feed. And if you are going to post photos of yourself (or your friends), for the love of god, avoid the duckface pout that has become a staple of all teenage photos on every social network known to man.

Don’t ask for a shout-out

Don’t ask for attention. This is a basic rule of any social network and it’s one that should definitely be followed on Instagram as well. Asking for attention, or asking users with a lot of followers for a ‘shout-out’ only makes users look desperate. If you want to be noticed on Instagram, let it be for your photos, and not because you asked someone to notice you.

Don’t always expect reciprocation, but give it when you can

Any social network involves a delicate balance of not expecting reciprocation but also reciprocating when you can. Don’t follow a user and unfollow them days later if they don’t return the favour. You also should not feel obliged to follow other users back. How you can reciprocate, however, is that if someone leaves a thoughtful comment on your photo – try to do the same. If someone likes a photo or two of yours, find a photo or two of theirs that you can add to your favourites. But, as is the case with following users back, only add photos to your favourites if you genuinely like them. You can always use Instagram’s web-based interface to make that task of reciprocation a little bit easier.

If you’re looking for an even more robust desktop experience for Instagram, check out 6 sites that can enhance your Instagram experience and 9 more tools that help you get more out of the Instagram experience.

Don’t flood other users with likes

Many Instagram users have the habit of checking out your feed and then giving you 10 or 20 likes in a row. While this can come across as flattering at first, it can also be a little frustrating, especially if you have notifications on your phone turned on. Rather than flood a user with a ton of likes, pick two or three photos that really stand out and like them. Otherwise it can come across as an effort to get likes back, rather than a genuine compliment.

Post your best

Instagram doesn’t allow users to create albums or organize their photos in any way. Since all of your content is viewable from one single feed – be sure to always post only your best. With any social network or photo sharing site you want to put your best foot forward, and Instagram should not be any different. When you take several photos at one location or of one subject, pick one or two that you feel really stand out and post those. After a while, as you scroll through your Instagram feed, you’ll be greeted with a beautiful representation of your work.

What Instagram tips would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments.

The post New To Instagram? Top Tips For Newbies appeared first on MakeUseOf.

We previously looked at taking photos with Windows Phone last year, but since then things have changed quite a bit. In addition, management of images has also been overhauled, with better synchronization options both to the cloud and to your local PC. This can have massive benefits for sharing and archiving, and is improved even further if you are using a Windows 8 computer.

Do you want to take photos and view them instantly on your computer? Windows Phone can do this, thanks to SkyDrive and Windows 8.

Although this guide is written using a Nokia Lumia 920, the same steps and processes apply across all Windows Phone 8 handsets. If you’re a Windows Phone 7/7.5 user, details about image management can be found in our free Windows Phone guide.

Taking Photos On Windows Phone 8

Snapping photos on a Windows Phone is quick and easy. Available by holding the camera button on the side to launch the camera, images can be snapped either by pressing the same button or tapping the subject on the display.

You’ll notice by sliding out the menu that a choice of modes (still and video) are available, as is the ability to switch between back and front cameras (the main, “back” camera is set as default). There is also a switch to toggle between flash on, automatic and flash off, while the double arrows button displays the available lenses (see below).

Photo and video settings are also available, with Scenes (presets for taking different types of photo), ISO, Exposure Value, White Balance, Aspect Ratio and Focus Assist can all be toggled or set – depending on the quality of your camera hardware.

Once you have taken a photo, you will have a wealth of options, from sharing and editing to saving it to your SkyDrive, adding it to your phone favourites or even setting it as a lock screen. Opening the image in a third party app is also possible, as is deleting it.

Lenses & Third Party Apps

Taking photos is easy, and if you spend time at it and get the settings right you can get great results, regardless of the camera hardware.

However, there are various tools available that you can use to add new features to your camera. These are known as “lenses”, and can be activated via the double arrow button as described above. Lenses might be third party apps, or they might be provided by your mobile phone device manufacturer.

In the accompanying image, for instance, Cinemagraph, Panorama and Smart Shoot are all provided by Microsoft or Nokia. Fhotoroom, meanwhile, is a third party app. By tapping one of those tiles, you launch the camera with the tools offered by the appropriate app. For instance, Smart Shoot will work to help you take the best photos when your subjects are smiling, while Fhotoroom offers timer, burst and time-lapse photo options.

Among the lenses you can install are:

• Bing Translator: instant translation of foreign text.
• Cam Wow: camera filters and effects.
• ReadyClick: voice-activated snaps.
• Cinemagraph: create GIF-like short animations.
• Panorama: take wide panorama images.
• Smart Shoot: take better photos, includes automated merge tool.
• Fhotoroom: offers all of the tools missing from the stock camera.

Many more are available in the Windows Phone Store. You can find these by tapping the find more lenses link.

Managing Snaps In The Photo Hub

After taking a photo on your Windows Phone you can edit it using the built in crop, rotate and auto-fix tool or use a third party – all installed options are available from the menu.

If you prefer to take a look at your gallery of images first, you can do so via the Photo Hub, where images can be sorted by date and the people tagged in them, as well as placed into your Favourites folder (useful for third party apps to find).

The Photo Hub also displays images shared by yourself or friends on any social networks you have setup on Windows Phone 8, it lists available image apps (those installed as lenses and editors), while dragging the ellipses menu (look for the “…”) enables you to choose a background for the Photos Hub or set the phone to select a random background from your images.

You can also access the Photos+Camera settings menu, where you can toggle the methods of taking a snap (camera button vs tapping the screen), using the camera button to wake the phone into camera mode (the rest of the phone remains locked) and preventing accidental camera launch when the phone is locked.

Syncing Photos To SkyDrive & Windows 8

Also in the settings menu you will be able to toggle whether you use SkyDrive as your auto-upload service or a third party cloud storage solution. Additionally, SkyDrive can be configured to upload images and videos based on your connection type.

Photos can either be uploaded manually by selecting them in the Photo Hub album, by using the Save to SkyDrive option in the camera software, or by tapping the Share… option in the camera menu and selecting messaging service, email account, social networking app or suitable cloud storage alternative.

You can also sync a Windows Phone snap to your PC. Windows 7 users have the rather lo-fi Windows Phone Sync Client that they can use, while owners of Windows 8 computers have the benefit of a far superior piece of software that will auto-load when the phone is connected by USB.

Photos are synced to the named folder on your PC. The only exception are screenshots, which are saved in an appropriately-labelled subfolder (screenshots are made by holding Power+Start).

Conclusion

Windows Phone 8 builds on its predecessor with some excellent camera add-ins, known as lenses, which enhance the way in which users can take photos. With camera hardware such as that found on the Nokia devices, this proves an extremely useful new feature.

While sharing is largely the same, the ability to launch a photo editing tool is also very useful. In addition, screenshots can also be made, which are then saved to the phone in a separate photos sub-folder and synced only to your PC.

Windows Phone remains extremely fast as a photo sharing tool. Uploading a photo to Facebook is almost always quicker than on other platforms, for instance, and sharing through SkyDrive is also quick.

The post Taking Photos & Managing Images With Windows Phone 8 appeared first on MakeUseOf.

When you upload a photo to your Instagram account, the app will give you the option to tag the photo with the usernames of your friends. The Photos of You section will appear in your profile and a notification will tell you when someone else has tagged you in a photo. You can adjust your settings so nothing appears on your profile until you approve it.

The idea is to thread together all your memories, some in photos taken by you and some taken by friends. It should also make it easier to share and discover photos around specific tags and people. Earlier, you had to trawl your activity feed to search for mentions of your username.

You can play around privately with the Photos of You feature until May 16^th, after which the Photos of You section would go public on all profiles. Read the specific how-to on Instagram’s Help Center.

Source: Instagram Blog

The post Tag Friends On Instagram Photos With The New ‘Photos Of You’ Feature [Updates] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Not necessarily – it’d be much nicer to be able to upload them from any folder or place on your computer, or even from any website without needing to ever have to visit Imgur.

A Quick Note: Do You Realize How Fast Imgur Is Already?

You might not realize this, but uploading to Imgur is pretty quick – impressively quick. If you copy an image, or a series of images, you can simply click in Imgur and press Ctrl+V (paste) and your photo will be uploaded quicker than you can figure out how to say “Imgur” (which by the way is pronounced Image-er).

In addition, you can just drag and drop as well.

Imgur Uploader [Firefox]

If you’re a Firefox user, this is an extension you will want to add to your collection. Just right click on the image that you want to add to Imgur, hover over Imgur in the context menu, and select your choice of upload.

• Quick Upload immediately uploads the photo to Imgur without any extras.
• Upload + Share still uploads very quickly, plus it allows you to share to some of the most popular social networks (although, I’m not sure why Google Buzz is still on there).
• Upload + Edit immediately uploads it and takes you Imgur’s editor, saving you a few extra clicks.
• Upload Screenshot will take a screenshot of the entire screen.
• Upload Selective Screenshot allows you to select any part of your screen and upload it. Note that you can also resize and move the selection, which is a nice touch.

Imgur Uploader [Chrome]

The Chrome version of Imgur Uploader (they don’t share the same developer) isn’t nearly as full featured, but it still gets the job done quickly. Simply right click on an image and click Upload to Imgur in the context menu.

Another Chrome extension just called Imgur, which Dave reviewed, is also a good option.

Imgur Uploader [Adobe AIR – Windows, OS X, Linux]

If you’re looking for a good desktop solution, consider this Adobe AIR app. There really isn’t a lot to it, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t do a great job. It’s simple, and sometimes that’s all you need. As the big, blue box says, all you have to do is drag and drop your photos onto the window. However, you can only drag and drop one photo at a time.

Below the blue box, is a list of all the photos you’ve uploaded. The are four controls to the right: “View in Browser”, “Copy URL to Clipboard” (handy), “Delete from History Only (local)”, and “Delete Image from Imgur.com“.

MyImgur [Windows]

MyImgur is probably the most feature-packed Imgur desktop client available. The interface isn’t bad – it’s slightly customizable and fairly easy to navigate. Besides the obvious of being a robust Imgur desktop app, it also excels in the little things such as a button right on the main window to check for a new version. Of course, its settings are packed full of things to tweak.

One thing I would recommend is connect your Imgur account to MyImgur – this will definitely speed up the process and allow you to save the images directly to your account (obviously).

Of course, a robust Imgur app, wouldn’t be robust without a context menu entry. By right clicking on a photo, you’re able to send it directly to Imgur

Context Menu Imgur Uploader – Send To Imgur [Windows]

If MyImgur and the Imgur Uploader AIR app are a bit overkill for your needs, then perhaps you would like the simplicity of this tool. It simply adds the option to send a photo (even selections of photos) to Imgur with two clicks.

Note that this can be done anywhere on your computer.

Rightload [Windows]

Rightload is a combination between the three previously mentioned desktop apps. You can simply drag and drop photos into the window like the Imgur Uploader AIR app, but it also has several settings (and actually more features in some aspects) like MyImgur, while also including context menu entries.

Rightload doesn’t actually only post to Imgur like the others in this article. When installed, the Imgur plugin (along with several others) are installed along with it by default, although it does notify you before that process is complete, should you not want the plugins installed (I don’t see why you wouldn’t).

It also includes quite a few settings to tinker around with, although the defaults are likely sufficient.

Don’t Forget About Your Screenshot App

Do you use a screenshot application? If you’re wanting to use Imgur to host those online, you might consider seeing if your screenshot program already has the capability to send to Imgur. Lots of programs do it, and more and more are building in Imgur integration.

Examples of applications that do this are Greenshot (my current favorite), Gyazo, ShareX and Hyperdesktop. But like I said, there are a lot of tools that do this, so look around and find the right one for you.

Tip: Use A Password Manager To Sign In Quickly

Although this doesn’t only apply to Imgur, one thing that really speeds up the process of using services and connecting them to other services or applications is the ability to automatically sign in upon visiting the login page. I personally use LastPass and really don’t think about how much time it actually saves me.

So if you aren’t already using LastPass or a password manager that is comparable to it (like Dashlane or Roboform), that is something to consider. This isn’t the primary reason to have a password manager, by any means, but it sure is a nice perk.

Conclusion

You may have noticed that, aside from the browser extensions and Imgur Uploader Adobe AIR app, this article lacked applications in the areas of Mac and Linux. That isn’t because they’re not available, although they are fewer in number – it’s simply because I don’t have the means to test and review them. I recommend looking at the Imgur Apps page for tools like the Imguru (an OS X command line uploader), OS X Dashboard Widget and ImgurBar (for Mac), and the Imgur Bash Screenshot Utility (for Linux).

You’re now ready to upload all the photos your heart desires to Imgur. Do you have any other tools that you use for Imgur? What do you think about using Imgur as a place to host images? Do you prefer an alternative? Or are you an Imgur fanatic? We’d love for you to share your thoughts and any other tips you might have concerning Imgur.

Image Credits: Upload folder with photos via Shutterstock, Imgur logo via Wikimedia Commons

The post Speed Up Your Imgur Uploads With These Apps & Browser Add-Ons appeared first on MakeUseOf.

We have already seen some beautiful Instagram tools that let us reuse it in interesting ways. We then went on to see some unique Instagram projects. But the Instagram phenomenon refuses to die down, as proven by loyal users who create interesting mashups out of Instagram. Here are ten more from the corners of the web…

Pingram

Pingram is an Instagram viewer as are all Instagram mashups in one way or another. The interesting remix here is that Pingram brings together two widely popular social media tools – Instagram and Pinterest. As you see with a glance at the screenshot, Instagram photos are given the Pinterest treatment. The viewer shows the public Instagram feed and comments the photos receive. You can also search by tag. You cannot add your comments here. But the photos can be shared Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. In my opinion, it doesn’t have the elegance of Pinterest, but Pingram is recommended for fans of both Pinterest and Instagram as it makes pinning photos a cinch.

Tunegram

Tunegram blends music and Instagram together in a unique combination. It is not a very remarkable app, but could have its uses if you like cross-media experiences. Tunegram allows you to share the track you are listening to (or more visually, the album art) with your Instagram followers. It is one of the simplest apps to use as you just have to tap a button to share your music track. Tunegram automatically adds all the needed hashtags like #artist, #songTitle and #genre to your share. Tunegram is a free download from the App Store, but there is a premium version ($0.99) too which removes the watermark.

InstaShirt

If you can have Instagram postcards, then why not an “Instagram shirt”? InstaShirt allows you to sign in with Instagram and design your T-shirt with Instagram photos. The service uses Zazzle (the well-known online retailer for customized designs) for getting your T-shirts tailored and shipped. InstaShirt provides the frontend for customizing the look of your T-shirt. Multiple design layouts and several varieties of shirts from simple T-shirts to hoodies give you the flexibility you need. As you can see in the screenshot, InstaShirt walks you through the four steps needed to customize the look of your shirt using your Instagram photos. The style of your shirt will obviously determine the final order price.

Luvdaq

Valentine’s Day is behind us but Luvdaq is still a good visit for the lovelorn. It is an Instagram and Instafeed.js mashup. It is a fun but interesting mashup tool to visualize Instagram with opposing tags. Maybe, if you are really into the spirit of love you can click through and discover the Instagram users behind the photos and the tags.

Lovestagram

If Luvdaq works out for you then Lovestagram could take your love life a bit further. You can use Lovestagram to send a personalized Valentine’s Day photo album to the love of your life. Log in with Instagram and choose the person you want to send a special Instagram album to with their username. A Lovestagram album is made up of nine photos. You can include a special note and choose a background from the ones available to deck up your love album. You can schedule your Valentine message to be delivered on the 14^th at the recipient’s email address. The About page of the app is an interesting read in itself.

Story Wheel

Every photo has a story behind it. Well, at least the good ones do. Story Wheel pays homage to those special Instagram photos by letting you spin a story around an Instagram slideshow. Story Wheel is a mashup of Instagram and SoundCloud. The mashup gives you the feel of an old projector displaying images on the opposite wall. In this case it is a slideshow of your chosen Instagram photos. Story Wheel even accompanies it with the ‘slide change’ sound effect as each photo changes. You can use the mic to supply an audio narration to go along with your photo story.

Instatrip

Instatrip is invite only for now, but it’s worth keeping an eye on because travel photography and Instagram makes for a great trip. Instatrip is a very engaging mashup that allows you to share your holiday photos with the rest of the world. All you need to do is tag your Instagram photos with the location where you took it and then Instatrip takes over to automatically generate the photo mashup out of your Instagram photostream. You can add comments and give your creative insights on the place you are passing through. Think of Instatrip as a collection of virtual travel postcards done the Instagram way.  As the tagline on the site says – map out your memories.

Instac.at

We can’t do without our favorite feline pictures can we? So, Instac.at obliges with the obligatory lineup of the best cat snaps on Instagram. Don’t believe the name though…it is not a signature cat photo site because you can use it to showcase dogs, horses, unicorns, or whatever else the Instagram craze manages to throw up. You just need to do a search and the site serves it up with a scrolling display.

These eight Instagram mashups are creative interpretations of what you can do with your Instagram photos. At their core they are merely different ways of exhibiting your photo collection to the world and having bit of fun in the process. Just goes to show how far you can take a simple filter enhanced snap. Are there any more interesting Instagram mashups you have come across which we haven’t sighted yet? Instagram is a world of its own now, so I am betting people are making use of it in fascinating projects of their own too. Tell us all about them.

The post 8 Excellent Instagram Mashups You Should Have Already Checked Out appeared first on MakeUseOf.

While Instagram is best-known (sometimes unfairly so) for vintage-coloured photos of people’s lunch, it has also been used as a marketing tool by small and large companies alike. Instagram has attracted companies as big as Starbucks, Burberry, Tiffany & Co. and National Geographic – and some of them have really managed to push the envelope with how they use Instagram to promote their products, their company, and even involve their customers in their story.

In no particular order, here are 5 creative ways in which Instagram can be used as a marketing tool:

Showcase Your Customer

One of the best way to get your customer’s engaged is by making it about them. They’re more inclined to share content, take part in online campaigns, and market your product for you if they know there’s something in it for them. No one did this better using Instagram than Tiffany & Co. The US jeweler launched a campaign – What Makes Love True.

Through the campaign, it encouraged its Instagram followers to post photos to Instagram using the hashtag #TrueLovePictures. They’ve even taken things one step further by letting users upload photos directly to the site. A beautiful selection of user photos can be found on the website dedicated to the campaign.

Take The Customer Behind The Scenes

Another great way to use Instagram – since it provides a direct connection between you and your customer – is to take them behind the scenes. Instagram is the perfect tool to showcase a more private side to your product. By its nature, there’s something personal and intimate about the way Instagram works, and there are several ways companies can capitalize on that feature.

It can be used to display how the products are made. Another great way to take advantage of that personal feel is to introduce your followers to your team – post photos around the office, or even of the office itself.  Club Monaco takes full advantage of this feature, with photos behind-the-scenes at photo shoots and inside their New York City headquarters.

Launch Instagram-Only Offers, Competitions & Promo Codes

To make your Instagram followers feel special, why not launch competitions and offers that are only available to them? With the use of hashtags, you can encourage them to spread the word about the competition on their own feeds, or even turn the competition into a photo submission affair – displaying the winning photos on your own feed. This plays in to the first idea – of making the experience all about the customer – and you’re bound to create a buzz when you do just that.

Display Your Products

This is one of the most obvious uses for Instagram, but you can get creative with something as basic as displaying your products. Starbucks has over a million followers on Instagram for a reason. Theirs is a beautifully curated gallery that will appeal to any coffee-lover, and they also encourage Instagram users to submit their own photos using the hashtag, #Starbucks. While they don’t feature those photos on their own feed, they’ve managed to create quite a marketing buzz on the photo-sharing social network.

B.Luxo, a vintage shop in Portugal, stepped things up last year when they debuted a fashion line entirely through an Instagram fashion shoot. The creative edge of using an iPhone app to display a new fashion line was a gutsy move on B.Luxo’s part, and it certainly earned them some attention in the process.

You can also use Instagram to display your products spotted in the wild. Tiffany & Co. is once again a company that has found a great way to do this – but then again when you sell gorgeous diamond jewelry, it won’t be hard to find beautiful photos of people wearing your products.

Share Your Company History

General Electric has found a fascinating, and educational way, to fill its Instagram feed. The profile description says it all “this feed features the groundbreaking research and technology that GE has been developing since the days of Edison”.

While GE isn’t necessarily the first company that would come to mind when thinking about exciting and creative uses for Instagram, they’ve really done an amazing job of putting together an extremely interesting feed. GE is proof that there’s really no limit to how Instagram is used, or by whom.

Are you just getting started with Instagram? Here are some tips and tricks on how to get more attention on Instagram to ensure a successful marketing experience.

Can you think of any creative uses for Instagram? Let us know about them in the comments.

The post 5 Ways To Get Creative With Your Instagram Marketing appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Vizible is the new, younger sibling to Twizgrid, and it actually doesn’t do much that Twizgrid can’t do. If, however, you’re not interested in all the features Twizgrid has to offer, and only care about finding Twitter pictures around your current location, Vizible can be loads of fun. With Vizible, you can instantly see every photo that’s been uploaded to Twitter around your current location, get a feel for new places, or see what people are doing around you.

Vizible, like Twizgrid, is completely free. If you like images, Twitter, and gorgeous apps, this one is for you.

Vizible As An Image Browser

Before you can start using Vizible at all, you’ll have to connect it to your Twitter account. Vizible connects to accounts already configured on your iOS device, and lets you choose which one you want to connect the app to (if you have more than one).

That’s pretty much all the set up you’re going to have to do. Once that’s done, Vizible will ask for permission to use your current location, and you’ll be on your way. Unlike Twizgrid, you can’t choose any location you’d like – Vizible is only about things happening around you, and will only show pictures that have been taken or uploaded nearby.

Naturally, the results depend on where you live, but on my first time with Vizible, all I managed to get was this disappointing screen:

This did not change no matter what I did, and I was just about to give up on the app, when I remembered something I encountered on Twizgrid. I recalled that the older sibling asked for Safe Search to be turned off in order to conduct certain location-based searches, and while Vizible made no such request, I went ahead and disabled it from the settings.

Upon hitting the refresh button, the magic finally happened, and Vizible showed me what was happening around me. I was still surprised to note, however, that the results I was getting through Vizible were very different from the ones I was getting using the “Around me” setting on Twizgrid. According to one of the co-founders, this is due to more image hosting services being included on Vizible, and increased control over radius.

Below you can see Vizible’s results on the left and Twizgrid’s results on the right. To start, Vizible kept presenting the same images over and over again, probably because many people retweeted them. There was no such issue on Twizgrid. In addition, the images presented by Twizgrid seemed much more relevant, although most of the images presented by both apps seemed to indeed be local ones. The app’s developers assure me that the duplicate photo issue is being taken care of, and you may not encounter it if you try the app right now.

If you want to control the results somewhat, you can change the radius Vizible is looking at. Tap the location button, and use the slider to set your preferred radius. The options are limited to 1, 2, 5, 10 or 25 miles. This is different from Twizgrid, which does not let you control the radius in the “Around me” search option, but is much more flexible when setting a location manually, lets you set a radius of up to 500 miles, and also supports kilometers.

You can browse the results through the grid view, or tap an image to switch to single-image view. Each image comes with all its accompanying Twitter information, and includes reply, retweet, and favorite options, as well as a timestamp for the tweet. Additional options such as quoting, copying or copying tweet link are also available. You can tap on a user to view their Twitter profile and a list of recent tweets, and can even follow and unfollow users through the app.

It’s nice to note that Vizible never exposes the exact location a picture was taken in. You know the image is from somewhere nearby, but you’re not invading anyone’s privacy, and it’s easier to protect your own.

Vizible As A (Limited) Twitter Client

Unlike Twizgrid, Vizible cannot replace your regular Twitter client – it’s only meant as a casual image browser. Nevertheless, it does include some handy Twitter features which you can use to post images or just plain tweets to Twitter.

As mentioned above, you can use the app to reply to, retweet or quote other tweets, but you can also compose new tweets from scratch by tapping the compose button. From here, you can tweet an image by taking it using your device or by choosing one from your photo album, or tweet a regular text tweet.

The compose option comes with some pretty useful features, but is missing some others. For example, when you start typing a username, Vizible will automatically load a list of users you follow which makes it easy to find the one you’re trying to mention. On the other hand, the app doesn’t come with a link shortener, so links are truncated according to the tweet’s length. You can also add your location to the tweet, which will make it pop up for other Vizible users.

Bottom Line

So how does Vizible fare compared to Twizgrid? For most users, I still recommend getting Twizgrid. It’s an awesome app, and comes packed with fun and useful features. Vizible is basically one Twizgrid feature made into an app, but if that’s your favorite feature, Vizible is definitely worth getting, and may even inspire you to start sharing images through Twitter. Need more help with that? Check out these 7 Twitter photo sharing tips to spread your photographic masterpieces.

Is Twitter a worthy place to share photos? Do you find use for a location-based image browser that’s based on Twitter? What do you think of Vizible? Share your opinions in the comments!

The post Who Needs Instagram? View Nearby Twitter Images With Vizible [iOS] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Before Imgur climbed to the status it’s at today, there were others like TinyPic and ImageShack. No matter how many are created and how popular any one of them manages to get, there is space for other image hosts. In this post, I’d like to share a couple recommended Imgur alternatives.

imgChili

As an image host with one of the more interesting names, imgChili is quite similar to the aforementioned ImageShack.

imgChili supports local, Flash, and remote image uploading. By default, you can upload five files at a single time, at a maximum file size of 5 MB each, and imgChili will also generate a thumbnail of each image at a size that you can tweak manually. Clicking the Add More Files button will allow you add an additional upload field for each time you click the button.

The end result offers your image in several formats: a direct link, thumbnail in HTML and BBcode, and link in BBcode. The direct link format isn’t exactly short or pretty, but it gets the job done.

Postimage

Postimage doesn’t offer any great name or fancy layout, but it does what it’s supposed to You’re able to upload multiple images all through a single prompt (by holding the CTRL key and clicking additional files) or upload by URL.

Postimage offers the ability to resize your images to several standard sizes and also seems to be okay with hosting NSFW content.

The page displayed after a successful upload will show thumbnails of all uploaded images and allows you to pop out a window that shows codes for each individual image (as the show codes link). Alternatively, you can get links and full BBcode or HTML for every image you’ve uploaded if you scroll further down the page.

Postimage.com will also allow you to easily create an account that will allow you to keep a history of all of the files that you’ve uploaded.

UltraIMG

UltraIMG put a lot into their design, but it doesn’t take away from the quality of their hosting capabilities at all.

UltraIMG supports uploading multiple images at once, local or remote, at a maximum size of 10 MB per file. Clicking the Upload Preferences button will allow you to configure URL shortening, mark your uploads as NSFW, privately upload, and dynamically resize your images (by width).

After a successful upload, you’re given a choice of short URLs, direct links, HTML, or BBcodes for the files you’ve uploaded. Clicking on a thumbnail of an image you’ve uploaded will show its filename, size, and dimensions.

Further down the page, you’re provided with individual codes for the current image that you have selected.

UltraIMG also offers extensions for Chrome and Firefox, as well as a desktop uploader if you navigate to the Tools page.

FunkyIMG

FunkyIMG is a very simple image host that just plainly gets the job done. It also offers some interesting features not seen otherwise on this list.

FunkyIMG doesn’t support adding multiple images through a prompt, but rather by drag-and-drop from the desktop or within Windows Explorer. FunkyIMG supports dynamic resizing, information labels, and even the ability to add watermarks, although the watermarks are very low quality.

Rather than a true watermark, it simply stamps a piece of text on an area that you’re able to configure in the options.

The upload completion page is very similar to imgChili’s, offering codes for each image you’ve uploaded. This includes thumbnails, hotlinks, and a direct image URL.

I won’t be one to argue against Imgur being the best service for uploading images, but I’m always one to stand up for offering alternatives to the web’s most popular applications and services. You’d never know what you may be missing out on otherwise.

Do you see any of these four Imgur alternatives as a respectable competitor? Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

The post 4 Imgur Alternatives For Uploading & Sharing Images appeared first on MakeUseOf.

A couple of years back, I showed you how to how to convert a PowerPoint 2010 presentation into a video with one click. Since then videos have become only easier to compile, combine, and compose. YouTube crossed over to 1 billion users just a few days ago and despite the presence of very good alternatives like Vimeo, it is the de-facto home for online videos. So, it makes sense to upload your first photo slideshow on YouTube.

Only the question remains – how do you add and share a photo slideshow on YouTube?

The Easy Way – Take YouTube’s Help

YouTube has made it really easy to upload media and create a video from within YouTube itself. Log into YouTube with your Google credentials and then follow the uncomplicated steps below to create your first photo slideshow on YouTube.

1. On your YouTube page, hit the Upload button that’s next to the search bar on top. If you are lost, here’s the Upload page to jump straight to from here.

2. Click on the Create button for Photo slideshow.

3. Select the photos for your YouTube slideshow. Google automatically gives you the first option to bring in your saved photos from Google+ or Picasa Web albums. (As of March this year, the Picasa URL redirects to Google+ as Google+ is in all probability centralizing photo sharing).

4. But no; if you want to upload photos instead from your desktop you can. Click on Upload Photos and drag ‘n drop your selected photos from your computer.

Once all photos are uploaded and in the timeline, you can drag the around and re-arrange their sequence.

5. After all photos are re-arranged in the right sequence for your photo-story, hit the next button to go to the business end of the YouTube slideshow creator. The screen you see will be something like this:

The slideshow creator is self-explanatory. You can set the slide duration, slide effect, and transitions. YouTube also gives you a choice of 150,000 tracks for a background score if you want to add some musical pizzazz to your video. If not, go with the No Audio option. YouTube does not allow you to upload your own audio files.

6. You can also go into the Advanced Editor and really fine-tune your video by controlling transitions, applying Instagram-styled effects, add text…and a whole lot of other controls which you should experiment with for a great looking photo slideshow. The screenshot below gives you an idea of the Advanced Editor and a small cross-section of the image effects you can apply.

Do regard this note from YouTube – Advertisements may be displayed on videos that use content available through the YouTube Video Editor. In this case, it is the music track which I have added.

7. You can also change the Privacy from Info & Settings. You have the choice of taking it Public, keeping it Unlisted, or going Private and sharing it with only a few people. The Info & Settings page also allows you to add a title and a description.

YouTube takes some time to process the video before it is displayed in your profile. You can go back and again edit the slideshow if you wish.

Here’s the YouTube Help page which will give you the nitty-gritty on the various features of the video editor.

Create A Video Slideshow On Windows Movie Maker

Windows dropped the Live from the title and just called it Movie Maker (Version 12). If you don’t have it on your Windows 7 and 8 systems, you can download or update it from Microsoft. It might be basic for serious video editing work, but if you want to put together a photo slideshow in the form of a video, it gives you enough bells and whistles for the job. With a bunch of pictures, in ten minutes or less, you can have your own ‘home movie’.

1. The interface has a preview pane on the left and the content pane on the right. You can click on Add videos and photos to bring in your photos into the content pane. You can drag the photos around to arrange them. The Content pane also works like a timeline. You can also add a title slide that will be like an introduction – Click Title on the Home tab. Also, clicking the playhead on the Preview pane gives you an idea of how your video plays out. Windows Movie Maker also gives you complete control if you want to embellish the slides with custom text. All system fonts, colors, and font sizes are available.

2. Click on Edit under Video Tools and change the duration of the displays.

4. Add animations and/or effects from the Animations and Visual Effects tabs respectively. You can apply them collectively or individually to each picture in your slideshow.

For instance, you can make the slides more interesting by making them pan up or pan down. The number of effects you have to play around with is more than what you get on YouTube’s own video editor (more than 60 transitions).

You can also take advantage of the Movie Maker AutoMovie themes, which automatically build in fun visual effects and transitions.

5. Windows Movie Maker also lets you upload your music or source it from royalty free music sites featured on the Add Music menu.

6. When it’s time to publish your photo slideshow, you can save it to your desktop or choose among SkyDrive, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and Flickr. You can publish directly to YouTube by picking a resolution. Log-in with your Windows Live ID and then publish the photo slideshow by logging in with your Google ID.

Windows Movie Maker gives you more ways to ‘creatively’ enhance your photos than YouTube’s own video editor. I like the options it gives me – I can save it to my desktop, publish it just to carry around on my smartphone, or push it upwards to YouTube.

These two are the simplest ways to create a photo slideshow and upload to YouTube. I think you must have got the ease with which you can create a few memory bytes on YouTube and share it with friends and family. I use YouTube to send across video greeting cards made out of old photos. It certainly beats the sameness of e-card sites and gives a personal spin to your thoughts.

What uses can you put photo slideshows to? Do you have any other tool for the job…a web application perhaps? But are they really better than these two easily available and free resources? Tell us in the comments.

The post How To Add A Photo Slideshow To YouTube appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Several MakeUseOf writers are big fans of the site, especially Nancy, who has previously written about unique and innovative uses for Pinterest and suggested which users we should all be following on Pinterest. We’ve also featured a guide to Pinterest written by Maggie Marystone, and MakeUseOf even maintains a presence on Pinterest.

However, while Pinterest has a lot of fans and a lot of great content, it also has numerous detractors and some highly questionable content. What follows are 7 funny websites which exist to mock or otherwise glean entertainment value from the crappier side of Pinterest.

WTF, Pinterest

WTF, Pinterest is a blog that gently mocks some of the things that people post to Pinterest. Things that make normal people say, “WTF,” but which someone, somewhere thought was worthy of sharing with the rest of the InterWebs.

This isn’t an endless stream of images augmented by nothing more than a one-line riposte (though sites that do that well can be brilliant). Instead, we get compilations based on themes and discussions over the merits of certain trends that appear on Pinterest. In other words, WTF, Pinterest brings the funny, but does so with more than a modicum of intelligence.

Pinterest, You Are Drunk

Pinterest, You Are Drunk is an aptly titled Tumblr which seeks to find and share some of the more bizarre items posted to Pinterest. Items such as the Hands-Free Sandwich Holder, which is about as niche a product as you’re ever likely to see.

What’s particularly funny about this site is the way it cuts down world-be designers and modern artists who seem to think that originality is everything. It’s clearly not, especially if the item’s only plus point is its originality. There may be a reason no one created it before you had the insight to do so.

Pinbeciles

Pinbeciles is not only the name of this blog but also the name of people who pin images of truly terrible things to Pinterest. Not terrible as in horrific, NSFW things, but terrible of the, “What on earth were they thinking?!” variety.

The posts are always succinct, with a single photo and a short, pithy comment related to it. The sort of posts to expect are stripper shoes for babies, and Fritos covered in caramel and chocolate. Thus proving that while Pinterest allows people to show off what excites them, it doesn’t guarantee good taste.

Sh*t People Pin

Sh*t People Pin is a great name for this site thanks to its dual meanings. Is it referring to the sh*t that people pin on Pinterest or the sh*t people who pin on Pinterest? Judging by the content seen here it’s both.

As well as sharing the worst images posted to Pinterest, Sh*t People Pin also shares some of the worst comments made. Some of the insights posted to Pinterest are as well thought out as those posted to YouTube, commonly regarded as being the home of the stupidest commenters.

Pintester

Pintester does exactly what you’d expect it to: detailing one woman’s attempts at following Pinterest posters’ simple advice on how to make stuff. Cue lots of failed dinners, arts and crafts items, and life hacks.

Sonja Foust is the woman behind Pintester, and she tests pins so that you don’t have to. Unfortunately her success rate is rather low, but then it’s the fact that she messes most tests up that make the blog so entertaining. The potty language only helps make this site a great read. Or perhaps I’m just really immature.

Pinstrosity

Pinstrosity sits comfortably alongside Pintester, as it also features attempts at recreating pins, often with shockingly poor results. Marquette and Emilee are the two women who continually set themselves up to fail… God bless ‘em.

Some of the projects the two writers take on are huge and liable to go wrong, but even the simple ones often turn out to be deceptively difficult. This goes to show that while Pinterest may be home to practical advice, the end result of the advice always depends upon the person undertaking the project.

Really Pinterest?

Really Pinterest is a hilarious site to close with, despite the name being in need of some added punctuation. This entry is updated numerous times a day with an eclectic mix of photos that really show how varied and unpredictable the content on Pinterest has become.

This site could easily slot into our previously published list of websites full of funny photos, as that is the bread and butter on display at Really Pinterest. Most posts will make you laugh out loud, and many will make you wonder why someone thought this was worthy of pinning in the first place.

Conclusions

This is a good mix of websites either openly mocking the type of things people are putting on Pinterest or having fun with the concept. However, there are bound to be more of the same out there, which is where you come in. If you know of another website similar to those featured in the list above then please link to it in the comments section below.

You can also use the opportunity to talk about Pinterest. Do you have a Pinterest account? If so, do you actively use it or did you sign up merely to see what the fuss was about? If you are an active user, what kinds of images do you pin to your boards? Feel free to let us know your thoughts.

The post Not Every Pinner Is A Winner: Making Fun Of Pinterest appeared first on MakeUseOf.

According to the old saying, one picture is worth a thousand words. But what if what you want to share is actually an insightful quote? Or an announcement which cannot be described in a picture? Well, you can always share your text-based updates on other social networks which don’t require images, but if you’re eager to share with your Instagram or Pinterest community, or you’re just feeling creative and want to create nice text-based images, you’re going to need an app that can do that.

Tweegram [iOS, Android 2.2+]

Before I get started, I’d like to say a word about Tweegram’s pricing. While the app promotes itself as free and doesn’t really mention a paid version, much of its content is actually paid. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against paid apps – we all have a living to make, and that includes developers – but Tweegram doesn’t have a simple paid version. Rather, you can buy packs that give you more content, but for $1-2 per pack, you’ll find yourself spending around $9 if you want the full set, and that’s pretty steep.

Having said that, I feel that you can still create many nice things using the free options, and by sharing the app and subscribing to the newsletter, you can get even more content for free.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at what you can do with Tweegram. Start by typing in the text you want to share, and continue by choosing your background. The free pack includes 23 different backgrounds, and while using it for the first time I got the Color pack for free by signing up to the newsletter. Each background automatically styles your text to match the general theme, but you can edit the text further if you’re not happy with the way it looks.

As you can see, the images you create have a small Tweegram watermark on the right bottom corner. You can remove it, as well as the ads, by buying the Pro pack ($2), but note that the Pro pack doesn’t include all the backgrounds, only the ones included in the Pro pack. It does add the ability to include custom pictures in your design (did anyone say convoluted pricing?).

You can edit the text’s font, size and alignment using the Edit button on the top left. The free version includes 4 different fonts (nice ones, luckily), and you can buy tons more in the Customization pack ($1), which also adds text color options.

When you’re done designing, you can share your creation on Instagram, but also on other networks such as Facebook and Twitter, or send it to any other relevant app installed on your device.

All in all, Tweegram’s pricing scheme lets you choose what matters to you most, and pay only for that. It’s a nice idea, but it makes the full app pretty expensive.

Textgram [Android 2.1+]

Textgram is available only on Android (there is an iOS version, but it’s completely different), but it’s a step up from Tweegram in almost every aspect. To start, the free version includes dozens of customization options, including templates, backgrounds, filters, frames, fonts, colors, and stickers. All the app’s options are available for free (as far as I could see), and the only difference between the free version and the paid version ($2) are the ads. There’s also a tiny watermark on the final product, but it’s really unobtrusive.

You start by typing in the text you want to share, and in Textgram’s case, this can also include emoji. As tempting as it is to include them, the final result ultimately looks better without them.

After entering your text, it’s time to really have some fun with Textgram. If you want, you can hit the “Randomize” button to get a random background and design, or start digging through the app’s options and design your own text image. The first screen also includes basic formatting options.

If you want to design by yourself, there are seven tabs for you to explore: Templates, Stickers, Fonts, Text Effects, Backgrounds, Filters, and Frames. You can also use your own image as background by choosing the “Gallery” option on the Templates or Backgrounds tabs.

Wondering what the difference is between Templates and Background? They’re pretty similar – in fact, they include the same backgrounds – but Templates also change the writing itself to go with the background. Backgrounds leave your writing as is, so it’s great for when you’ve already designed the text as you want it to look, and you’re looking for a background to go with it.

The app has some pretty powerful options such as filter opacity control, and literally hundreds of possible designs you can create to suit every taste. When you’re done, you can share your image using relevant installed apps, or save it to your phone to share in other ways.

Bottom Line

If you’re an Android user, Textgram is the superior app of the two by far. With that in mind, it’s important to note that the two apps have different vibes, and Tweegram might suit you better if you’re into illustrations and graphics.

If you’re looking for similar functions in a Web app, give Share As Image a try. Not into the text-as-image thing? Here are 9 beautiful & useful Instagram tools to get more out of the service and 5 tried & true tips for winning at Instagram & getting tons of likes, these should get you going.

What do you think about sharing text in image-centric networks? Do you know of other good apps for this? Share in the comments!

The post 2 Ways To Turn Text Into Beautiful Images You Can Share [iOS & Android] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Flickr was launched and became popular as a website back in 2004. But now, probably the more convenient way to access and browse the site is on mobile devices like the iPad. Of course Flickr has own iPhone app, but it has not yet produced an official optimized version for the iPad. This is why we have chosen FlickStackr for Flickr for our Best iPad Apps page. Both the free and paid version ($1.99) of FlickStackr include features for getting the most out of sharing, viewing, and managing photos and groups in and beyond your Flickr account.

Main Features

The homepage of FlickStackr lists all the major areas of Flickr, including Recent Activity, recent photos posted by your contacts, the popular Explore page – consisting of the most liked photos from around the world – Upload capabilities, as well as a link to all the Flickr Groups you belong to. And though there are several other apps for searching for photos on Flickr, FlickStackr contains its own built-in search tool.

One unique feature of FlickStackr is Stacks, which enables you to build custom collections of photos, photo albums, and photographers. So for example, when you tap on a thumbnail photo, you can favorite it and is added to a Photo Stack.

FlickStackr includes menu items at the top and bottom of the app, which mirror most of the main tools and features on the web version of Flickr. When you tap on the top-right Details button of a selected photo, the bottom menu appears for adding comments and tags, viewing its EXIF and location data, and a listing of the Sets, Groups, and Galleries a selected photo belongs to.

Collections of photos can be viewed as thumbnails, or list in view which includes both thumbnail images, the photographer’s name, the date the photo was posted, and the number of views it has received.

You can view a collection of photos as a Slideshow, and the feature includes options for playing music in the background, viewing photos in random order, and applying the Ken Burns Effect – which zooms into and pans across photos. By default, each photo is displayed for about five seconds, but you can change the time in the Settings area of the app. The slideshow feature also includes support for external displays including TV, HDMI, and VGA.

You can also browse photos in FlickStackr in landscape orientation, which opens in two-column view with a set of thumbnail photos on the left side, and a larger selected photo on the right. Tapping on the main photo will put it into full screen mode, and the two menu bars will slide out of view. In both landscape and portrait position you can swipe back and forth between photos in the collection, or play them as a slideshow.

Upload & Sharing Features

FlickStackr also enable you to upload photos directly from your iPhone and iPad. You can select and add photos to your Flickr account either as you take photos with your device’s camera, or select existing photos from your Photo Library, iTunes File Sharing, or from one of four cloud sharing services including Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive.

The advanced features of this photo sharing app also allow you to create default settings for uploading images and videos. So for example if you are taking a lot of photos at a particular vacation spot or event, you can set up the default title, tags, set and group for how you want images managed when uploaded to your account. This feature saves you the trouble of going online to manage your photo collections.

You can also share photos via email, social networking sites, or save them to your Photo Library or file storage service.

As an aside, I was surprised to see that FlickStackr enables you to participate in text threads of the Flickr Groups you belong to.

Though FlickStackr is not the official iPad and iPhone app for Flickr.com, it seems to have all of the main user features from the web version of the site. If you’re an avid Flickr user with an iPad or other iOS device, FlickStackr is well worth installing on your device. The limitations of the free version of the app include viewing no more than the recent most 50 photos for you and your contacts, and a search limit of 100 hits.

Whichever version of the app you use, let us know what you think of the app. Are there features you find missing?

The post FlickStackr: Our Selected Best Of iPad For Browsing & Managing Photos On Flickr [iOS] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

You can now take photos by clicking the iPhone’s volume button. Photos are directly saved from your photo stream to your Camera Roll. The new version of the app will also automatically save the original, pre-filter photo to your camera roll just in case you go overboard with your filter applying creativity.

But the real noteworthy change comes with the inclusion of friend mentions with in comments, photo descriptions, or titles. The Flickr iOS app has arrived late to the party with friend tagging, but it is welcome anyway. You can now tag friends from the app using the @ symbol. The Lightbox also gets a higher resolution display and the Flickr team has rounded it off by giving the image uploads a bit of a speed boost.

Marcus Spearing, the Head of Product at Flickr said,

We did some magic to optimize uploads, but also start uploading in the background while you think about the photo’s title or where you want to share it to. You basically get the best of both worlds: High resolution uploads that will make sure that you can enjoy your photos in great quality in the future, plus fast uploads in the background, so that you don’t have to wait.

It is undeniable that Flickr has benefitted from Instagram’s PR stumble. But it is upping the ante quite well with a far more feature-rich iOS app than the one it started out with.

Source: Flickr Blog

The post The Flickr iOS App Gets Friendlier With Friend Mentions & More [Updates] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

With Snapchat for Android you can send a risqué photo or video to one or more friends. When the capture is received, the recipient has 10 seconds or less (based on the time you set) to view it before it disappears on both the recipient’s smartphone and the Snapchat server. But hold on, don’t download and start texting sex photos too quickly. Snapchat, as with similar self-destructing emails and text message apps, is not foolproof, although it can still be fun to use.

How It Works

Snapchat includes a built-in camera, with flash, for taking front and back facing photos and videos. You tap the blue button to snap a photo, or tap and hold your finger on the same button to start a video capture of 10 seconds or less (note, as of this review, the Android version does not include video capture).

Snapchat captures can only be sent to other phones using the app, so you will need the Snapchat usernames of recipients. If you allow it, Snapchat can access and scan your address book to see if there are any phone numbers that match the unique usernames on its server.

After you snap a photo or video, you can set the amount of time that it can be viewed – between 1 and 10 seconds. You can also save your capture to your Photo Library if you enable Snapchat to do so. Next, you simply tap the send button and select the recipient(s) you want to send your capture to. You can add additional usernames, not on your list, before you send the capture.

You can also add a typewritten caption and/or drawings by tapping on a capture (including a video) and using the keyboard or the pencil annotation tool.

Viewing Captures

In order for recipients to view your photo or video, they must tap and hold on the received capture. They can view it only for the allotted time you set. After the time expires, the capture disappears from both their phone and Snapchat’s server. Captures cannot be viewed by anyone else – including Snapchat employees – except the people you choose to send it to.

Not Foolproof

However, if recipients know how to do so, they can take a screenshot of your photo or video before the time expires. Snapchat tries to address this issue by requiring recipients to keep their finger pressed down on the capture in order to view it. With a three second time limit, it is very difficult for a recipient to keep his or her finger pressed down while also taking a screenshot – which requires pressing both the on/off and Home buttons on the iPhone at the same time.

In several tests, I was only able to successfully take one screenshot of a capture. Though screenshots can be cumbersome to take,  it’s a little easier with one person tapping and holding on to capture, while another person quickly grabs a screenshot. A recipient can also use a separate camera to quickly capture the photo or video you send. Snapchat does send you notifications about your received captures; i.e if they were received, opened, or if one or more screenshots were taken.

Nevertheless, while Snapchat for Android can be very fun to use, you will want to use it with discretion. It’s one thing to send a goofy picture that others may merely laugh at, but it is much more risky and embarrassing to send an actual naked or scandalous photo especially to someone you barely know.

Snapchat reports that over 60 million snaps are being shared over their server daily, primarily by users from ages 13 to 24. The developers describe the sharing as “a digital version of passing notes in class”. Snapchat is so popular that the company has recently raised $13.5 million to take their services to the next level. The app itself is free, but no doubt there will be some premium services coming online in future updates.

Definitely Snapchat can be some cool, exciting fun for risk takers, but let us know what you think of the app.

The post Send Self-Destructing Risqué Photos & Videos With Snapchat [iOS & Android] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

No… I’ll be honest with you. It works, and I like it. However, I find it kind of silly that you physically have to bump your devices together. Why’s that? Well, read on, dear MUO-traveler, for in this article I will explain how Bump works while also offering insight as to just why it is so awesome.

The Method

I was surprised about the simplicity of Bump. First, I opened the app on my phone and pulled the Bump homepage up on my Mac. Then I literally slammed my phone into my spacebar, and both my iPhone and Mac were instantly connected (after approval, of course). From there on, I was able to share my photos. There weren’t any signups or local searches for my device – it just worked right away. The device functions similarly between phones and other devices. For instance, with another iPhone, all you must do is slam your mobile into someone else’s mobile, and you’re instantly connected.

Admittedly, I should stop using the word “slam“. There will likely be a lot of people angrily commenting with broken phones. A gentle tap will suffice.

The app works by trying to find devices on your local network. This whole “bumping” method is really all for show, for you could literally hit a button on the touchscreen and it works just the same. However, by using the accelerometer in your phone and timing it just right with the input on the spacebar of your Mac, the device will know it has the right connection.

Its Practicality

There are loads of other methods to do exactly what Bump does: email, Dropbox, iPhoto, Photo Stream, etc. However, Bump takes away the middle man to give you what you need instantly. In fact, all of the screenshots you see here in this article were downloaded from my phone using Bump, and doing this took several steps out of my usual routine to get them to you. Granted, these photos were downloaded in the form of a ZIP file, so I couldn’t dive in right away. It took a little bit of time out of my day to decompress them, but oh well – first world problems, right?

But really, why do I want to slam… er… gently tap my phone into my computer or other similar device? Personally, I do find this a little silly – almost as silly as the Samsung Galaxy S3′s beaming nonsense. Give me a touch screen button, and I’m fine. However, there’s something to be said for this unique tactile response, or rather, this new form of modern electric keyboard tapping which is inherently the same exact thing.

Besides that, it’s easy. Really. You just touch your phone to the device you want to use, and it automatically connects! No big deal, there. Beyond that, the app will pull media from all parts of your phone – including your contact card (very important) and Dropbox. There’s no need to go on a hunt for whatever you need! (As a note, the mobile-to-desktop version only supports the transfer of certain media – other formats include video, music, document files, photos, and contact cards.)

Is It Pretty?

Is Bump pretty? I’d say so. The graphical interface for each device is pure and clean, and you won’t be distracted by any extra doo-dads or ding-a-lings. I will say that most font selections and backgrounds deviate from the basic iOS options that we usually see in most Apple-conformed mobile apps, so if this kind of switch annoys you, then you may have a problem with it. Other than this, there is really no issue.

Navigating through menus is quite easy as well, and although there are no really touch–intensive portions of the app, it’s not much of a problem. The unique physical actions you use take place outside the phone, providing just enough of an absurd aspect to it all to keep things interesting.

The Bottom Line

Phone slamming, instant file transfers, and cross-platform support? That’s Bump in a nutshell for you. Personally, I can’t get over the fact that it forces you to actually make use of the silly “bumping” action, but I can’t argue with perfection. The app works, and it’s as simple as that.

You can get Bump for iPhone now, and get better insight about the Android version from the directory.

Will you use Bump for your own purposes? Do you find the bumping action as silly as I do?

The post Get Bumpin’ With Bump For iPhone: Your Easy, Instant File Sharer [iPhone] appeared first on MakeUseOf.