Applications
The future of Instagram
31 month ago
I have raved, praised and downright declared my undying love for Instagram both here and everywhere else you can find me online. I have used it since October 2010 and it’s more than just a place to share your iPhone (and now Android) photos. It’s a wonderful community with some amazing people that have gone on to become pretty solid friends of mine from around the world. I see it as Twitter for photos.
Two days ago news broke that Facebook have bought Instagram for a whopping $1bn. Straight away Twitter exploded, mostly with shock and then outrage from…well, just about everyone, myself included. I hate Facebook and have done long before it’s become cool to hate them. I had an account for less than 2 years and it brought absolutely nothing to my life. I deleted it over 3 years ago and haven’t missed it. I don’t hate it just because of the privacy issues, I hate it for the fact that when anything cool and individual comes along, the big blue corp throw a wad of cash at it and despite their initial claims of nothing changing we all know from past experience that it most probably will – remember Gowalla and Spotify?
While there will be no knee-jerk reaction from me and I won’t be deleting my Instagram account just yet, I am preparing myself to move elsewhere should Facebook make Instagram a Facebook-login service only like they did Spotify, or make similarly unfavourable changes. My gut instinct tells me that this will happen in time, with the use of ads in app to get back some of that huge ONE BILLION they forked out for it. I don’t think they will lock current Instagram users out of the app even without a FB account, but I’m sure profile photos will not be visible unless you are logged in via Facebook like so many apps out there, Draw Something and Spotify coming to mind. Should even a hint of that ‘lite’ profile occur unless you are linked up to their service then I’m outta there.
After a bit of searching around and some recommendations, I found PicYou which seems like a clone of Instagram – perfect. The filters aren’t as good as IG just yet, but the whole app feels very much like it and there are some things I prefer about PicYou over IG. It’s early days and only a handful of people I know from Instagram have installed the app but I’m hopeful that in time it will gather pace. Currently it is iPhone only.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Instagram then do check it out [download the iPhone app here] and come give me a follow: purplelime
Apps to fall in love with this February
13 months ago
Love is in the air today, but don’t worry if you didn’t get a card from somebody special, your iPhone and iPad is the gift that keeps on giving and this February there are a few beautiful apps you can fall in love with.
Tweetbot for iPhone
I have been using Tweetbot for Twitter from Tapbots since it’s release day last April and it has gone from strength to strength, getting updates and new features added on a regular basis, unlike the free and almost forgotten Twitter for iPhone, iPad and Mac. The latest update, Tweetbot 2.0, landed last Wednesday with a refreshed UI and more new features to its already bulging catalogue which includes Push Notifications (at no extra charge unlike some apps!), Mute for hashtags, users and clients and so much more. If you love Twitter then you need Tweetbot to enhance the experience. £1.99 on the App Store [iTunes link]
Tweetbot for iPad
Shortly after Tweetbot for iPhone hit the streets, we had one more thing from Tapbots and it was what we’ve all been waiting for: the Tweetbot experience on the iPad. And it didn’t disappoint. Tapbots make beautiful apps – every pixel has been given that special tapbots love and attention. It has all the features of the iPhone version including push notifications, mute user/hashtag feature and so much more. It’s gorgeous. If you love Tweetbot on the iPhone then you’ll love this running alongside on your iPad: £1.99 [iTunes Link]
Clear for iPhone
You’ll have to wait just a teeny bit longer for this but not too long as tomorrow, Wednesday 15th February, is launch day for Clear for iPhone by Realmac Software. They make beautiful, functional apps for iOS and OS X and Clear looks to be no exception. They teased us with this rather lovely video demo a few weeks back during Macworld. I’m really excited about getting my hands on it. You can find out when Clear is released by following their Twitter account, @UseClear.
Growl with Style
04 months ago
I picked up a gorgeous style for Growl recently. It’s so gorgeous that I look forward to my apps bringing in notifications, just so I can see this visual delight appearing on my screen.
It’s the Black Glass Growl Style by Ryan Collins and I made a video to show it off in all it’s shiny reflective and magnificent splendour.
I have set this as my default growl notification style across all the apps that notify me. You can download the style here. If you don’t already own Growl, it is available in the Mac App Store for just $1.99/£1.49. Grab it here!
Stamped for iPhone
05 months ago
I’ve been using Stamped app for a couple of days which is a beautiful and free app for rating and recommending apps/books/movies/restaurants on the iPhone. There are similar apps I have tried but nothing comes close to the beauty and simplicity of Stamped.
What I love best about Stamped is the non-clutter. You only see what your friends are giving their stamp of approval – no comments from strangers. The typography is beautiful as you can see from the photo above.
Read an in-depth review of Stamped on Beautiful Pixels and remember, if you’re on Stamped then feel free to add me: purplelime
Stamped: free [iTunes App Store link]
Analog for Mac
07 months ago
For the past few months I have been beta testing Analog for Mac, created by those very clever people at Realmac Software. Today the app finally went live on the Mac App store.
Since the huge array of ‘toy camera’ style applications available for iPhone, I have become a huge fan of giving character and soul to photos that I take with a regular camera. Classic and ‘fun’ camera apps for the Mac are quite limited in comparison to iOS apps, but Analog does just that, quite wonderfully, with 20 built-in filters, 14 borders, the ability to crop and rotate images and publish your finished results to CloudApp, Flickr, Facebook and Picasa with just two clicks!
Here are just a few of the images I have given the Analog effect to over the months…
Analog is currently available on the Mac App store (link) for just £5.49/$7.99 for a limited time so I’d say grab it while it’s on for such a great offer – it really is worth above and beyond that price tag!
If you needed any more convincing of just how cool this app is and how much work the Realmac guys have put into it, then check out their very creative Analog Story video.
Seamless for Mac and iPhone
1 year ago
Staying up late has its benefits as I discovered last night when I came across Seamless, a magical app that quite seamlessly lets you transition from playing music on your Mac (free app) to playing music on your iPhone or iPod touch (59p app) with a single tap – without missing a beat. Seamless, simply put, is your music to go.
My good friend Chris over at techese has written a nice little review explaining exactly what Seamless does. Head over and take a look and be sure to watch the video.
Seamless for Mac [direct link to Mac App Store]
Seamless for iPhone [direct link to iTunes App Store]
Tweetbot for iPhone
41 year ago
Looking at the Social folder on my iPhone, it’s safe to say I’ve tried just about every twitter app going from Echofon, to Twitterrific, to Weet. Even though I was perfectly happy with Tweetie back in the day, I couldn’t resist downloading the newest additions to see how they compared and whether they could lure me. Nothing ever could.
When Tweetie was bought by Twitter, things changed and not just the icon. More recently the addition of the #dickbar showing the latest trending topics at the top of the timeline outraged users and Twitter eventually accepted defeat and removed it. I tried moving to other apps during the #dickbar debacle, but still couldn’t switch away from Twitter for iPhone. Twitterrific was the second nicest app and I’d have probably switched fully to it, but lack of ability to post mine/see others location and save drafts was a huge miss that I couldn’t live without in the end.
Shortly after midnight on Thursday 14th April, Tweetbot for iPhone appeared in the App Store, created by tapbots. I’d heard rumblings about them working on a twitter app for months and being an owner of the gorgeous Convertbot I was very excited knowing the attention to detail they pay to their creations. Tweetbot also, in this case, didn’t fail in that department.
This app is polished to the hilt, it’s gorgeous. The sounds, the gestures, everything. Within minutes, Twitter.app was banished to a folder that resides on my second screen, named ‘Social’. That’s where all the other Twitter apps sit, having been tried and tested but not quite making Home Screen grade. Tweebot then proudly taking up home screen status next to my other most loved and used apps.
You can see the full list of features at the Tweetbot site, aswell as view the demo video which is much encouraged as it helped me understand what gestures do what. For an even more indepth look at the app, head over to macstories, who have written a mammoth review.
All I will say in ending is that this app costs just £1.19 for a limited time – you can’t go wrong. If it lured me away from being a loyal Tweetie/Twitter for iPhone users after all these years then that’s testament to a really great app. And I even gifted the app to my friend who is celebrating his birthday today, confident that he would use the app after a longtime Osfoora user. I think it’s safe to say he will be 
Tweetbot for iPhone [iTunes App Store link]
[rating: 5/5]
The Allure of Instagram
1 year ago
Just finished reading a very interesting article named The Addictive Allure of Instagram by Faruk Ate in which I found myself agreeing with many of his points.
One of the things Instagram does very well is making the process of sharing a cool photo you just took to multiple sites really easy. After you’ve authenticated to them once initially, it is but a single tap (for each) to share your photo to Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.
And my feelings on Flickr and it’s community today are very much echoed by the author.
…more than anything else, for me personally Flickr has lost its sense of being a community site.
That is one of the saddest realisations I’ve had this year – the dying Flickr community. I am a member of quite a number of groups but have noticed photo views and comments dropping off in the last 12 months alone. This meant my interest in taking photos and in particular sharing them suffered until Instagram and it’s friendly community came along. It’s unlikely that I will now renew my Flickr Pro account next month.
Read The Addictive Allure of Instagram by Faruk Ate in full.
Thanks to Glyn from iPhoneography for tweeting the article.
1 year ago
I’m a sucker for camera apps for the iPhone. I have two folders full of them including Camera+, CameraBag, CrossProcess, PictureShow, ShakeItPhoto and more. I just love trying out new apps to see what effects they give my photos. The latest one to impress me is Instagram.
Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your iPhone, choose a filter to transform the look and feel, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s all as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.
The social aspect of Instagram is what makes this app interesting and enjoyable for me. You can add friends from your contact list, Twitter, Facebook or simply search usernames and names. I can view a feed of all the photos my friends are uploading aswell as ‘Like’ and comment on them, reminding me somewhat of Tumblr. You can also share to various websites including Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr and Foursquare.
Instagram comes with 12 great filters to make your photos look great. Images are saved at only 600×600 pixels, but for me this absolutely works fine for sharing through Instagram. I rarely print photos from my iPhone, for which case I would want it saved at full resolution, but for sharing through the app and on Twitter then I have no problem with the low res. Resolution may be increased in future updates.
I’m really excited to see what more Instagram will have for us in the future – and it’s hard to believe that this app is absolutely free! This app has already started to replace Camera+ which was pulled from the App Store almost 2 months ago for violating the terms and conditions. With no word from the developers on it’s return, it seems this will be a forgotten project with no further updates so myself, like many others, are looking to exciting alternatives that do have a future and won’t slide into obscurity when the next iOS update kills it off.
If you’d like to view the photos I’m snapping regularly and sharing to Instagram then feel free to follow me; purplelime.
Uface for iPhone
21 year ago
Occasionally I like to let the App Store Genius recommend apps to me, based on my past purchases. Some recommendations are very hit and miss, but it can uncover some gems at times. I quite like apps that let you create yourself in cartoon form. These can be useful for using on forums as avatars, or using as Contacts pics on the iPhone.
A few nights ago Uface was recommended to me, based on my WeeMee app purchase. With one touch, Uface Unique Face Maker can make professional looking sketched faces. The interface is very nicely designed and easy to use, with 240 male/female character items, backgrounds, facial expressions and more. Here’s just a few I created of myself…
You can also see one of them that I created in action on my About page. Perfect for people who perhaps don’t want to upload their photo to social networking sites but want to create a profile pic that gives a rough idea of what they look like. You can upload your finished sketched mugshots to Twitter or Facebook, or alternatively save them to your iPhone photo album, assign to a contact or email them.
Uface is a great app – and an absolute steal at just 59p/$0.99 for a limited time only. Grab it on the App Store.
[rating:5/5]
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