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Photo sharing to tell your life story

Instagram is a free and fairly simple photo enhancement app that requires only a couple of touches to produce great-looking images. But what's really special about Instagram are the sharing capabilities that let you tell the story of your life through photos.

Start by signing up with Instagram with an e-mail address, username, and password. From there you can configure Instagram to autopost to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Posterous, or just choose to share images from within the app or via e-mail. You can also turn any of these options on or off if you don't … Read more

Tumblr gives its iPhone app a brand-new look

Tumblr (free), the popular blogging platform, just released a revamped version of its app for iOS. In the major update to Tumblr 3.0, the layout has been completely redesigned (bringing it more in line with the Android version, covered in April by Jaymar Cabebe), giving you many of the tools found on the Web site and intuitive swipe controls for posting.

Several tweaks to the interface make the app both easy on the eyes and easier to use. The revamped Dashboard supports high-res images; you can now post and listen to audio links that stream directly from Spotify; and … Read more

Tumblr for iOS launching next week

Tumblr will offer the Apple contingent of its 57 million users a version native to iOS starting next week. 

Speaking at the F.ounders conference in New York, Tumblr founder David Karp said the iOS version would be as "incredible" as the Android version, and include advertising. "We have two or three ad spots already designed and ready to go into circulation," Karp said.

In describing the user base and content, Karp said that Tumblr has "incredibly flat distribution," with the top 250 blogs representing only 4 percent of the total traffic on … Read more

Ultrabooks no longer ultra-pricey

In today's show, Google takes us for a spin, ultrabooks are no longer ultra-pricey, and the iPad isn't just for humans anymore:

Hewlett-Packard announced several new thin and light laptops under the Envy brand. Some are officially called ultrabooks, equiped with Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processors, while less-expensive ones are called sleekbooks. But regardless of the different labels, it means high-quality thin and light laptops are moving into the $600 to $700 price range. (There's even a rumor that the MacBook Air -- the computer that kickstarted the ultrabook craze -- will drop its price to $… Read more

Cybercrooks bring their schemes to Tumblr and Pinterest

Social networks have long been a target for cybercriminals, but now the bad guys are expanding their horizons.

Malware writers are aiming at such hot social networks as Tumblr and Pinterest to trap a new wave of victims, says a report out yesterday from GFI Software.

"Established sites like Facebook and Twitter have long been a breeding ground for new cyberattacks, but now we are seeing scammers taking an interest in the popularity of newer sites like Pinterest in order to catch victims off guard and trick them into clicking on something they shouldn't," Christopher Boyd, senior … Read more

Tumblr allows advertising at $25K a pop

Just one month ago, Tumblr CEO David Karp announced that displaying ads was the "complete last resort" for the microblogging service. Well, financial temptation must have gotten the better of him.

Tumblr announced the introduction of Tumblr Radar and Tumblr Spotlight today, which are two types of advertising products available to sponsors for an entry-level price of $25,000, according to VentureBeat. Although this is an about-face to what Karp said last month, there are still some conditions for potential advertisers.

First, the advertisers must be "approved" by Tumblr. Second, they must be willing to shell … Read more

Wil Wheaton goes ape on Google+

According to Wil Wheaton, a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" actor turned writer and blogger, "Google is making a huge and annoying mistake."

His main complaint is the Internet giant's move to "force Google Plus on everyone." His woes began yesterday when he watched a YouTube video and tried to like it by clicking the thumbs up icon below the video. Instead of the icon he saw a big G+ like button along with a popup that said, "upgrade to Google+."

Wheaton immediately took to his popular Tumblr blog and wrote: … Read more

Tumblr president quits amid questions about experience

Social network Tumblr is in need of a new president.

John Maloney, who served as president for the past four years, resigned this past weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"People familiar with the situation" told the Journal that Maloney's skills as a general manager became less relevant as the company increased in size to 100 employees and brought other department executives into the fold.

Maloney himself seemed to concede his lack of prowess in running a large company, even telling the board earlier this year that he was thinking of leaving.

"I am a … Read more

Instagram follows Tumblr, Pinterest; bans self-harm posts

Instagram, the popular online photo-sharing service that was recently bought by Facebook for $1 billion, is banning images and accounts that condone "self-harm" behavior such as eating disorders, cutting oneself, or committing suicide.

In a blog post Friday, the company said the following:

Going forward, we won't allow accounts, images, or hashtags dedicated to glorifying, promoting, or encouraging self-harm. Should users come across content of that nature, we recommend flagging the photo or flagging the user as a "Terms of Service" violation for our Support team to review. It is important to note that this … Read more