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Browse Instagram with universal app Gramatica

With yesterday's release of universal Instagram app Gramatica, I wondered if it would be the answer to the question I asked last year, "Which app should you use to browse Instagram on an iPad?" Thus, I first installed it on on my iPad to see how it would stack up to the competition.

Gramatica is undoubtedly slick-looking and responsive, and it includes some useful filtering options, which I'll get to in a minute. It lacks the two features, however, that I am looking for in an Instagram iPad app. I want to be able to read … Read more

Facebook Camera gives you direct photo access

Facebook is all about giving its users a one-stop-shop for all of their social needs, and Facebook Camera is another facet of that. The app lets you take pictures and immediately post them to your Facebook account. While it's not really necessary considering there are so many other ways to share photos on Facebook, it's fast and performed without a hitch.

Once you're logged in to Facebook Camera, all the photos in your News Feed from your Facebook friends appear on the screen. And just like any other status update or post, you can Like or add … Read more

The new papacy and new media

When the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church were sequestered in the conclave to choose a new pope, they were instructed to give up their cell phones. No texting! Revealing the secrets behind the election of the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, they and their attendants were told, would lead to excommunication.

Jammers were also installed in the Sistine Chapel to prevent electronic communication.

For an institution that has suffered its share of leaks, the Vatican maintained its storied traditions as it voted for a pope for the second time in the 21st century.

But while the announcement that a new pope had been chosen was made via a cloud of white smoke -- a tradition that has continued since the election of Pope Benedict XV in 1914, and a symbol of the cardinals' cloistered proceedings -- the introduction to the world of Argentinean Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis was made on live TV and Internet, via Twitter and Facebook, and by the countless smartphone and tablet photos snapped in St. Peter's Square. … Read more

DIY: Easy-to-make Instagram magnets

Editors' note: This guest post is the second in a five-week series of Photojojo's best photography tips. Check back next Tuesday for the latest guide to making the most of your shutter.

You're addicted to shooting photos with your favorite mobile companion, but there's just one problem: your photos seem to be stuck in your phone.

There are plenty of quality Instagram printing services, like PostalPix (check out our collab with them on this Instagram album), Printstagram and Stickygram, to name a few.

These services are great for printing Instagrams in a pinch, but it'… Read more

Facebook's bigger pics: It's about the ad revenue

When Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Facebook's redesign of its News Feed today, he billed it as less cluttered and more personalized with an emphasis on bigger images. What he didn't talk about during his presentation -- but clearly what was on the minds of Facebook's advertisers -- was that this redesign is also about bigger ads bringing in bigger dollars.

"Larger images will result in higher [click through rates], a higher level of engagement, and better performance," said Hussein Fazal, CEO of AdParlor, an agency that buys Facebook ads brands as American Express and L'Oreal. … Read more

The 404 1,219: Where it's all play and no work (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Just say no: Polaroid returns with an instant camera shaped like...the Instagram icon.

- "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song prompts school lockdown.

- You should watch "Room 237," a fan theory documentary about "The Shining."

- 50 fan theories that will blow your mind, and the Subreddit that goes with it.… Read more

Why teens are tiring of Facebook

To understand where teens like to spend their virtual time nowadays, just watch them on their smartphones. Their world revolves around Instagram, the application adults mistook for an elevated photography service, and other apps decidedly less old-fashioned than Mark Zuckerberg's social network.

And therein lies one of Facebook's biggest challenges: With more than 1 billion users worldwide and an unstated mission to make more money, Facebook has become a social network that's often too complicated, too risky, and, above all, too overrun by parents to give teens the type of digital freedom or release they crave.

For … Read more

Post rectangles on Instagram with Squaready or InstaSize

NoCrop, no more. After writing about the iPhone app NoCrop last week that let you post rectangular photos on Instagram, I have uninstalled it in favor of Squaready and InstaSize. Like NoCrop, these two apps are free and let you post an entire rectangular photo to Instagram. Unlike NoCrop, these two apps don't repeatedly hit you over the head with obtrusive ads. Instead, Squaready and InstaSize satisfy themselves with simple banner ads at the bottom of the screen.

First up: Squaready. The app lays out a simple, three-step process, but first I would recommend muting the app's strange … Read more

Facebook CFO calls Instagram a 'formidable competitor'

Even as Facebook's property, Instagram, now with more than 100 million active users, could still pose a threat to the social network's business.

"One of the services that is, I think, a quite formidable competitor is Instagram," David Ebersman, Facebook chief financial officer, told a crowd of investors today at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference.

The striking statement, made in direct response to a question about whether competitors are siphoning attention away from the social network, speaks volumes about Instagram's status as a powerful photo social network all its own.

The comment, … Read more