instagram

Shortly after launching its online profile pages, Instagram is giving brands a way to get more customers to look at the profiles.

The company today introduced shortcut badges, icons that link to a brand's Instagram profile. Businesses can place the icons on a brand's Web site or blog, encouraging one-click access to profiles, which gives businesses a different way to show off their goods and promotions.

According to Facebook, which owns Instagram, merchants frequently request this feature. It's a reflection of Facebook's agenda to focus more on revenue by catering to brands. Badges are designed to … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Did RIM just stage this BlackBerry 10 "leak"?

- Do we need this? Kohler shower head doubles as a wireless speaker.

- Dude builds OSX into old Macintosh Portable, let's talk about RETRO OBSESSION.

- Bionic mannequins spy on shoppers to boost sales.

Bathroom break video: One of the best couples Halloween costumes ever recorded.

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I've shared many an Instagram image by handing my phone over for someone to view. They always squint and angle the screen, then hand it back. If I could magically make them bigger, sharing Instagrams in real life would be a lot more social and lot more fun. That will soon be possible with Projecteo, a tiny projector designed just for Instagram.

There's a bit more to this than just Instagram + projector. Projecteo is really a miniscule 35mm slide film projector. You pick out your favorite Instagram images, Projecteo puts them on slide film, and then mails it to you. … Read more

When leaving a comment on an Instagram photo, especially one with a lot of comments, it can be difficult to ensure that your comment stands out in the crowd. It seems a lot of Instagram users think the best way to gain followers is to leave comments on popular photos. I've always said I'll know I've made it on Instagram when one of my photos contains countless comments full of nothing but Emoji and #teamfollowback tags.

Thanks to a post on Tags For Likes, you can emphasize your point or comment by using a bold font on … Read more

Find a stick to bite down on during today's show, because we're learning more than we ever wanted about the band Nickelback -- how they became Internet pariahs, why they've sold 50 million records, and the stomach-churning origin of their name.

We'll also review a new documentary about disappearing glaciers and climate control, question the value of Internet ads and the new "four second rule," and prove that the new flagship Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif., is just too darn loud.… Read more

Instagram users showed off their voting activities on Election Day, uploading more than 250,000 election-related photos and immediately posting a slew of photos after hearing of the president's victory, the photo-sharing network posted today.

In the U.S., users tagged more than 100,000 photos with #IVoted and 150,000 photos with #election2012, Instagram reported, with the largest surge of photos coming in right after news outlets projected President Barack Obama's win. At that moment, the number of Instagram photos uploaded each second was at 2.1 times the normal rate.

Clearly, these Americans are not shy … Read more

If there's been one sacred cow that's stood the test of time in America, it's the secrecy of a citizen's ballot. But in the age of Instagram, that cow has wandered straight off the farm.

Do a search for "Election2012" on Instagram today and there's no shortage of pictures of people's ballots. Or polling places, people's "I voted" stickers, and even Big Bird waiting to exercise his franchise. Whether they're excited that they voted -- maybe for the first time? -- or if they just want all the world to know who they picked, it's clear that a lot of people think Instagram is the obvious way to share their enthusiasm for the election.

Regardless of the fact that there seems to be a school of thought that Instagramming your ballot may be illegal, there's no doubt that the election, following immediately after Hurricane Sandy slammed the East Coast, is a big moment for the young photo-sharing service. … Read more

Instagram users will soon be able to browse their friends' Instagram photos on the Web.

The photo-sharing network will roll out new user profiles in the next few days, the company announced today, and the layout looks a bit like the top of a Facebook page.

The new profiles feature a dynamic cover photo -- a collage made up of your most recent photos -- and a profile pic resting to the left of it. It also includes a bio and the user's number of photos, followers, and the number of followed users. Users can follow other users, comment … Read more