The hardest working man in show business also has the best celebrity Instagram. It doesn't exist to peddle herbal advertisements or humblebrag about his posh life. And there's never any BS. Often, social media is curated in such a way that it portrays a life that doesn't really exist. Johnson's feed is raw, real, and so much damn fun. The man is so charming that even a short video of...
Citing increased video engagement, Instagram on Tuesday announced plans to expand the length of videos from 15 seconds to 60 seconds—a substantial jump, and an opportunity for users to get really creative with their material. According to Jeff Kanter, Product Manager at Instagram, users of the photo-sharing platform begged for video length to be increased. “We think this will provide...
Instagram Direct is pretty much useless. Introduced in 2013, the messaging feature of the popular social network always seemed like an afterthought, tacked on with no real purpose. But it’s getting a major update beginning Wednesday, and it might finally be something you actually use. Before, in order to begin a message, you had to send someone a photo—only then could you start sending...
I was on a trip with friends this weekend and someone asked me "Todd, what are the apps I'm not using and need to check out?" I looked at my phone, pointed to two that I love, and then realized, hey, maybe our readers have the same question my friend did. So, earlier this week, I asked a few members of our editorial staff to submit the apps that they simply can't live without.
Instagram’s filters have never been subtle. They’re loud, obvious, obtrusive, and despite their momentary charm, you quickly realize that other services, like VSCO and Afterlight, are much better served for editing purposes. Look at any Instagram profile with a lot of followers, and chances are they use VSCO as their preferred editing software; it’s no surprise that the company’s iPad...
I buy a lot of tech — too much, perhaps — and very rarely do I research what I'm buying first. But despite that, it's not often I regret a purchase like I did the HTC Windows Phone 8X. I was perfectly happy with the hardware, but the software made me want to pull my hair out. Before you Windows Phone fans jump on me in the comments section, let me explain. I purchased the HTC 8X during...
Instagram has a new app called Hyperlapse that makes creating time-lapse videos super easy. What would normally take professional equipment and a lot of patience has been shrunk down into a pocketable experience. All you need is an iOS device to do it. Hyperlapse is one of the more minimalistic apps we've seen. When you first launch the app and get past the introduction, there are only...
Instagram is different today. The photo-sharing app, which is now 150 million users strong, has added a new direct messaging feature that allows users to send photos and video to individual users and groups. It’s similar to Snapchat in execution—or Twitter’s latest messaging initiative—though images don’t disappear after a set time; the anti-Snapchat, if you will. This is more like your...
Instagram on Thursday officially announced Instagram Direct, a messaging system that lets you send photos to your friends directly through the app. "Photos alone are just art, photos when transmitted become communication," CEO Kevin Systrom said during a press conference in New York City. "Sometimes, you want to be able to share not with everyone, but just with a specific group,"...
Did Facebook make the right call when it purchased Instagram? That's the question everyone has been asking themselves since the acquisition was announced last year, and at least one analyst thinks it was a bad call. A respected industry analyst, Benedict Evans, took to his personal blog over the weekend to suggest that Facebook's acquisition of Instagram is "increasingly irrelevant." I...