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Roamz is an "intelligent" local discovery app that pulls real-time data from Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Instagram in order to show you what's going on in your area. It can even "learn" what you're into and calibrate its recommendations accordingly.

Roamz opens up to a Hot Now screen, which shows public photos, check-ins, and other status updates originating in your immediate vicinity. So, right off the bat, you can swipe through all of the updates and see if anything looks interesting. For instance, in my trials, I saw that several people checked in to … Read more

Hash tags on Instagram and Twitter both offer a great way to follow what's going on with a particular topic or event. One providing the conversation, while the other provides an illustration.

Tracking a hash tag in most Twitter apps on the iPhone is a simple process. Tracking a hash tag in the Instagram app takes a bit more work, however. If you have an event coming up and want to quickly and easily follow it on Twitter and Instagram, give Hashtag App (free) on your iPhone a try.

You can either enter a custom hash tag in the … Read more

Facebook knows mobile is its Achilles' heel, but I didn't expect the company to take such aggressive actions to solve its mobile problem.

The social network admitted to the weakness earlier this month when it amended its IPO filing. "If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected," the company explained in its amended S1.

Facebook … Read more

iCloud currently offers users the capability to store and sync photos to other iOS devices and PCs using Photo Stream. That functionality does not, however, include the capability to share with other users directly.

According to the WSJ sources, users would be able to comment on shared photos, but any further details of the service have yet to be disclosed.

The iCloud update is expected to be officially announced by Apple at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins June 11.

Last week, several sneak peeks at Apple's plans for its iCloud service made their way to the … Read more

Instagram has set off a photo frenzy. First it was just on iPhones, but after making its way to Android, the photo obsession has really taken off (even in real life, since you can create photo strips from your snapshots). Unfortunately, most of your interaction with Instagram takes place on your mobile device. While the mobile user interface is slick and the app works pretty well, Instagram doesn't have its own Web UI (for now). So it can become a little annoying when all you want to do is see Instagram photos on a big screen.

So if you'… Read more

Here's an example of life imitating art imitating life.

And -- like the vinyl records masquerading as a digital sound file that we wrote about not long ago -- another example of the sort of real-world-meets-digital-realm mashup our culture seems so fascinated by as we all veer back and forth from the physical to the virtual.

An outfit named ADR Studio has come up with an Instamatic-like camera modeled on the icon for the Instagram app (an icon that was itself modeled on real-world Polaroid cameras and their attendant colorful branding).… Read more

When Instagram finally arrived on Android, it was missing a major photo effect that iOS users had been enjoying for some time: tilt shift. Just over a month after its release, Instagram for Android has been updated to finally include tilt shift. It's a fun little effects tool that can make subjects in your photos appear miniature or to create a shallow depth of field.

Here's how to use tilt shift:

1. After choosing a photo, tap the new teardrop icon in the effects toolbar and choose whether you want a radial or linear tilt shift.

2. By … Read more

We love Facebook pranks as much as the next guys, but not when it's coming from an anonymous source at Best Buy. As if we needed another reason not to step foot in the big blue retailer, we read this story about a Best Buy employee that posted a phony Facebook status update on a customer's phone. The message declared, "I am gay, I'm coming out," but there's one problem: the customer is straight.… Read more

Instagram's latest user numbers are sure to make Facebook a proud new papa.

More than 50 million people are now using the popular site and its mobile apps to upload and share photos with fellow users and friends. Instagram didn't officially release the news. The company's Press Center Web page still lists the number of registered users at 30 million.

Instead, the latest figure was obtained by tapping into the site's application programming interface, according to CNET sister site ZDNet. Instagram is apparently adding around 5 million new users per week.

CNET contacted Instagram for comment … Read more