flickr

Edit and share photos with Aviary for iPhone or Android

If Instagram's privacy policy shift (or not) has you packing in your Instagram account and looking for an alternative photo-filtering and -sharing app, you might want to give Aviary a try. In fact, you might already be familiar with Aviary. Its technology powers the new Flickr app for iOS and Twitter's new photo filters, but Aviary can also be used on its own. The company offers both iOS and Android apps. Here's a quick look at how the app works on the iPhone.

After launching the app and granting it access to your Camera Roll, you'll … Read more

Instagram rivals try to lure users away after photo rights flap

Instagram's competitors are pouncing on the company's claim that it will be able to sell users' photos for advertising purposes without payment or notification.

They're hoping that irritation over Instagram's controversial decision -- which came three months after Facebook completed the acquisition -- will lure users away from the popular photo-sharing app, which passed the 100 million user mark in September.

"We will certainly do our best to make sure that Instagram users are aware of 23snaps as an alternative service," Meaghan Fitzgerald, head of marketing for 23snaps, a London-based company that makes an … Read more

Getting started with Flickr's new iPhone app

Flickr updated its iPhone app today, ushering in a new design and features, including photo filters similar to those the world has fallen in love with over at Instagram. Allow me to walk you through the radically changed Flickr for iPhone app.

When you first launch the app, you'll need to sign up via Facebook or sign in to your account via Yahoo, Facebook, or Google. After logging in, you'll see a layout akin to Instagram's. Running along the bottom edge are five buttons to navigate the main areas of the app. From left to right they … Read more

FreedomPop offers free home broadband

Wednesday's CNET Update wants to break free:

Freedom Pop is offering 1GB of free home Internet service every month with purchase of its router, which costs $90. Those that stream video or need more data can upgrade to 10GB for $10 a month, or pay-as-you-go for $5 a gigabyte. The service uses Clearwire's 4G WiMAX network. Free home Internet service can shake up the broadband industry, much like Skype changed the voice industry.

Also in today's news roundup:

- Facebook added new ways to access privacy settings.

- Microsoft's Surface tablet is now sold at Best Buy and Staples. … Read more

Flickr's new iPhone app puts mobile front and center

Flickr released an overhauled iPhone app today, capping a year of effort to reclaim its lost glory with software that it believes will become central rather than peripheral to using the photo-sharing site.

The new app is designed to show off individual photos better, to ease sign-up for new users, to speed photo browsing, and to improve discovery. Better smartphone support was critical, given how much activity has moved to mobile apps.

"Engagement to a high percentage is happening on mobile," said Markus Spiering, head of the Flickr product at Yahoo. "It really brings Flickr into the … Read more

Download the Timehop iOS app to view, share past events

Being reminded of what you were doing exactly one, two, or even three years ago to the day can leave you feeling a bit nostalgic. And that's exactly what the Timehop iOS app accomplishes.

We talked about Timehop once before, when it was an e-mail-only service. You would sign up by linking your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare, and Flickr accounts to the service. Then each morning you'd receive an e-mail containing your tweets, links, check-ins, updates, and photos from exactly one year (or longer) ago.

Later, sharing options were added. You could share an event you may have … Read more

Bug gurus spot new species -- on Flickr

Call it fate, or just pure luck. One insect species recently gained a scientific name due to an eagle-eyed taxonomist browsing images on Flickr.

Our short story begins with a simple upload: Amateur photographer Hock Ping Guek posted a series of close-up photos featuring a strange green lacewing insect to the photo-sharing service in May 2011. Guek, who observed the lacewing at a state park in the Malaysian state of Selangor, has a penchant for macro insect photography. … Read more

Shared-data plans push you to buy more

This Wednesday's top stories are sharing the love of data (but not the love of sharing data):

It began with Verizon, and now AT&T has joined the data-sharing movement. Starting in August, new AT&T customers will be signing up for "Mobile Share" plans. All have unlimited voice and text, but you pick how much data you need, and up to 10 devices can share from that bucket of data. Generally speaking, AT&T and Verizon's plan prices are pretty similar in the lower data tiers. Depending on your needs, one can … Read more

Internet tells Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer: Fix Flickr

Yahoo's new Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer has lots of challenges ahead of her. One of those, the Internet hopes, is to fix the once beloved photo-sharing site Flickr.

Now making its way around the Internet: the new site DearMarissaMayer.com and matching Twitter hashtag that broadcast eight words contributors hope will inspire change: "Dear Marissa Mayer, please make Flickr awesome again" (a sentiment also expressed earlier today by CNET's Rafe Needleman).… Read more

iPhone stays No. 1 in Flickr popularity

Apple's iPhone 4 is still at the top of the list for Flickr users, according to Flickr's 2012 summer trends.

The phone, which was No. 1 last year as well, has beaten out several actual cameras -- the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EOS Rebel T2I, and Nikon D90 -- as well as its brethren, the iPhone 4S, which made the list at No. 3.

Flickr also complied the top photo trends from April to June among the 7.2 billion photos uploaded to the photo-sharing site. The trends includes -- surprise! -- outdoor activities:

Eclipse -- … Read more