Blog Archives
Facebook buys Instagram: This is how to transfer your pictures out.
When I heard that Facebook had brought my beloved Instagram; I was shocked, angry, sad, and finally at peace. Someone told me those are similar emotions felt when you lose a loved one. It was enough to open the floodgates to Android. I was happy for that move but to sell out to Facebook is taking a big plunge into the unknown. Everyone is aware of the privacy issues Facebook has. That is the reason I hardly use the social network.
Instagram is a model of what all programs hope to be. Loved and valuable. Instagram managed to attract not only a loyal but dare I say rabid fan base. The side effect of that success was the release of a plethora of clones on the AppStore harping for some of the spotlight. None however could manage to shine brighter than the original.
What I noticed right away was that Instagram had no advertisement. No pop-ups, not so much as a in app upgrade feature. The app it’s self was free to download. So, that’s millions of users on a nonmonetized app. Surely there must be a plan to cash in. It seems there was a plan brewing behind the curtain. One wonders how many meetings Instagram had with Facebook before papers were signed. Was the release of an Android app a stipulation of the deal or was it a show of good will? Did millions of downloads overnight jack up the asking price?
1 billion dollars!? That’s $1,000,000,000 for what can best be described as Flickr with filters mixed with Twitter. To be fair, to Facebook that’s pocket change. Never the less, Facebook does not spend money without a plan. Look for tight integration between Instagram and Facebook. Further integration means full out control by Zuck and company. That is a red flag for me. I’m one of those people that like to get into things before they become trends and ruined; I mean part of pop culture.
Instagram has lost that hip and exclusive feel for me. Not to mention my concerns with how Facebook will analyze my pictures. If you’re like me and want to jump ship but need a lifeboat for your pictures; rejoice for there is hope. Like the Holy Trinity there are 3. Three options to take your pictures with you. Copygr.am, InstaBackup and Instaport. The latter has gone down due to high traffic. I tried all three and Copygr.me had all my pictures, over 400 of them in my inbox within 5 minutes. Don’t frank out, you get a zip file. Even if you don’t leave Instagram, it’s good practice to backup your pictures before Facebook closes the API.
Like this:
Tweet from Siri
It is looking very good for the world of Siri. I can not wait to see what comes out next for it.
Twitter gets a makeover
Twitter is not in any way shape or form complicated. What it is however is cluttered. Well, a new redesign of its web site and mobile apps have added four new tabs to help you out. The “Home”, “Connect”, “Discover” and “Me” — that make things a lot simpler to navigate. If this was too much to read, check out the video.
How to use iPhone 4S Siri to send Twitter and Facebook post.
To send a message to Facebook is straight forward. The steps a below easy to do. In 3 steps you will be able to Post to Facebook with just the sound of your voice.
Post to Twitter on the on the other had is not as simple. Any mention of the word Twitter will cause Siri to remind you it can not send tweets. The work around is similar to the Facebook one but 1 extra step is added in.
Google Plus Vs. Facebook: There can only be one
Alright maybe that title is a little misleading. There can be more than one social network at a time. The thing is the new kid on the block never seems to hang tough. (yes it was a NKOTB reference) MySpace has already showed us that bigger does not always translate to long term winner in the Social Network landscape.
That being said Facebook has over 700 million users. They are not going anywhere anytime soon. Google tired with Buzz and failed very publicly. This time around they are at it again but with Google Plus. A funny thing happened though. Everyone loved it. It was not a clone of anything else. It was not trying to be the next Twitter or a new Facebook. It was Plus and people loved it.
Google+ is now open to the public which means the floodgates are wide open too. I have been getting email after email that someone has added me to their Circles. I have no idea who half these people are. Unlike Facebook people can add you at will but you don’t have to add them back if you do not want to. I took one step further and made a circle called Unknown. Facebook clearly feeling the heat has retooled its NewsFeed so you can see all your friend’s updates in real time like Twitter does.
Google+ now lets you turn on Hangouts into broadcast platform. They also have search in Google +. Not sure why this was not on before. It sure should have been put in the beta. Never the less it is in there now. Google had almost 20 million users and that was just during the beta. Now that it is open to the public. Look for it to get about 100 million by the end of the year maybe sooner. On the flip side of that Google+ is so rich that it could be too much for most users that are use to Facebook’s simple layout and web games. People that jump to Google + might go right back to Facebook because of that.
Google believes in Google+ simply because employees won’t get paid if it does not succeeded. The fact that bonuses are tied to Google doing well on the Social Network market place is not lost of the hard workers over there. They have gone all out to make Plus the best it can be. One could say that Plus has already done what it needs to. Now they can do is sit back and wait to see if people bite.
Google+ is loved by us early adopters and tech-savvy folks. We also are the people writing about this tech world. So good job Google but we are not the ones you need. We would try just about any tech network just to test it out. What you need is the average Joe & Jane Doe to join your network to not just look around but stay long term. Facebook vs. Google+ bout fight will go on for a long time. There will be no clear winner anytime soon. Facebook is the champ and Google + is the little contender that could.
Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Will this fight save boxing & how social media will help the cause
Boxing has not been talked about in years. The undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. promise that Victor Ortiz won’t last the distance. Most analyst agree with “Money” Mayweather. When they meet at the MGM Grand Garden Arena tonight they are calling for a TKO, KO or unanimous decision for the Mayweather camp. Its a pretty safe bet. The ever confident Mayweather who has an unblemished record of 41-0 seems to not be taking any notice of the Ortiz. Treating more like an upstart rather than the champion he is.
This is what it has come to; a reality show. The 24-7 show is not must see tv. It’s more like a infomercial gear at driving up interest in the fight than anything else. It does however have a side effect. How much of a tool Mayweather can be. It also shows the hard work that goes into training for a fight. The show is long and pretty entertaining. Twitter and Facebook already people picking sides. In this day and age we should know each blow as it happens in realtime even if you are not watching the fight. That might be just what the failing sport needs,
The only thing that can help Ortiz win this fight is a “Lucky Punch.” South Paws always have an easy time with righties. The thing is righties get hit up lucky punches all the time from the south paws. Even though Ortiz is 10 years younger and stringer than Mayweather; he is too inexperienced to go through every round with a seasoned champion. The fight will get a lot of buzz and be featured on your twitter feeds as well as the Facebook wall of your friends. In the end it should be a good fight that will help a sport in need. Thanks to Golden Boy Entertainment and Mayweather.
Facebook takes a little more from Twitter to fight Google Plus
Facebook continues to refine what a user can do with it’s News Feeds. Google Plus is already seem by many as a win for Google and a real competitor to Facebook. At the moment Twitter is filling to void as the place to gather information and share it. Although technically a social network, its more like a water cooler than a hangout spot.
That said everyone loves to hang out at the water cooler. Facebook has taken note of this. The social network’s newest feature called Subscriptions lets you follow people on Twitter, sort of. This feature combined with the recently announced Acquaintances is sure fire way to compete with Google Plus. Will it work. We won’t know just yet. Google Plus is still in closed beta.
When you hit the Subscribe button on someone’s profile, it gives you the ability to keep tabs on their updates without having to befriend them. Some are calling it the stalk button but Facebook thought of that too. You have the option to toggle subscriptions on and off if you’re concerned about privacy.
5.9 Earthquake hit the whole East Coast: Ohio,NY, NJ, DC, VA and …..
Just a few moments I felt the building shaking. The first thing I did was go Twitter and ask “Did anyone else in DC feel the earth quake?” Turns out it was the not just DC or the DMV area. It was everywhere on the east.
The news is still coming in. Sprint is not able to make phone calls but using my iPad, Talkatone and AT&T network I was able to make calls thorough to some people. Still working on the rest. Seems there are some network issues as to be expected. DC Metro will still run if you take it but they will be going at 15MPH while they check the tracks.
The largest natural earthquake in Colorado in more than a century struck Monday night in the state’s southeast corner. It was 5.3 that may have been the warning sign that it would it way to the east.
The DC 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., shook much of Washington, D.C., and was felt as far north as Rhode Island and New York City. So far none of the after shocks that have hit have caused major damage. No lives have been lost at the time of this post in this once in a century event.
Skype for iPad is back in the App Store but not for Jailbroken devices
Skype was up then it was down now it is up again. The only thing is if you were one of the millions of people who jailbroke your device. You are out of luck. It will not work on it. I think that is a just bad for your user base. I mean didn’t they get brought by Microsoft who welcomes tinkers and modders. Just take a look how well they handled the Kinect and Windows Phones being modded. Skype take note, change your tone. You are only limiting yourself.
Jailbreakme is updated! (Sort of)
It seems that Comex is having a little fun with us much like GeoHot use to before he started working at Facebook. Comex has updated his JailbreakMe website. It was expected to be updated last Sunday but nothing happened. Well its updated now, sort of. Rumors say JailbreakMe will work with iOS 4.3.3 and more importantly support iPad 2.
What loyal fans got instead was a new design to JailbreakMe not the hack. Comex site now states “it’s been too long.” A reminder that he has been working on JailbreakMe for just as long as we have waited for it. The page now has his GitHub comments but not much else. From the looks of it he has been working on Jailbreak me since last year. That is a long time to be dedicated to one jailbreak. One wonders if it is the iPad 2 that has caused the long delay. There have been and continue to be jailbreaks for all other devices running the same iOS 4.3.3 and some running iOS 5 beta 2.
Those of you waiting for an iPad 2 jailbreak are just going to have to continue to wait. Although Comex has been teasing us with “Sunday is Funday” on Twitter; a release date has never been solid. Now with betas of iOS 5 out thus indicating a new firmware update on the way. Will Comex hold on to whatever jailbreak he has or as other jailbreakers in the community put it “waste an exploit?”
Comex has been working on JailbreakMe for almost a year, so a few more months may not be a big deal to him. As a great fan of SBSettings it’s a big deal to me and I’m sure to other users out there as well. On the other hand, objectively speaking holding it until the release of iOS 5 would be the best thing to do to ensure wide usage. Then again he could release it as soon as tomorrow. We just have no idea at the moment. Soon as it does come out, it will be promptly installed on this writer’s iPad 2. Until then I wait patiently like all iPad 2 owners.
