Thursday, July 28, 2011

Instagramers make money with Keepsy

This is for the Tip Top, Cream of the Crop Instagram users. If you are not in this bracket...



Keepsy is an online keepsake/scrapbook maker that is currently publishing the top 15 Instagram users, selling their work and forking over 50% of the profit. (with their permission of course)



Check out the story:

Amplify’d from mashable.com

Amateur photographers, designers and artists have become budding iPhoneographers thanks to the insta-styling and sharing of iPhone app Instagram and its burgeoning user base. Now, top Instagramers can also make money on their filtered iPhone photos.

Startup Keepsy, a photo album and scrapbook maker, is showing off the work of Instagram’s most-celebrated users — many of whom were profiled in our feature on the top 15 photographers on Instagram. Keepsy is featuring curated photo albums and making them available to the public as printed keepsakes.

The Keepsy Instagram gallery spotlights the photo collections of 21 Instagram photographers from across the globe. Fans can browse the photo books or purchase printed copies. Instagram artists — who set the price of their books — will take home 50% of the profit from album sales.

The Instagram photo gallery, says Keepsy co-founder Blake Williams, is meant to highlight “exceptional talents and give them a place to showcase and sell their best work,” as well as “inspire other mobile photographers to discover and push the limits of this amazingly powerful piece of technology that they hold in their hands.”

Read more at mashable.com
 

Nintendo 3DS price cut to help sell units?

Seems Nintendo has decided to cut the price of their 3DS portable gaming device to help motivate sales of the device.



$249 drop to $169



In order to keep the people happy... those who have already purchased at $249 price will be eligible for 20 FREE games after they meet certain criteria.



Read further:

Amplify’d from www.electronista.com

Nintendo has taken the dramatic step of slashing the price of its 3DS handheld less than six months after its launch. In a statement on its US website, the company says that on August 12, the 3DS will drop from $249 to $169. The company added that it would assuage the 830,000 existing owners of the console in the US with 20 free games after they sign up to its Ambassador program.

To get the free games, existing owners must log into the Nintendo eShop over a broadband connection at least once before August 11:59PM on August 11. These users will automatically be registered as part of the Ambassador program. Starting September 1, Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors will be able to download 10 NES Virtual Console games at no charge and before they are available in the Nintendo eShop to the general public.
The games, which include Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, and The Legend of Zelda, are slated to become paid downloadable games, but Ambassadors get them early for free. Once the paid versions of the games are posted to the Nintendo eShop later in the year, the updated versions will be available to Ambassadors for download at no cost.
A second batch of ten games will arrive by the end of 2011 and will be exclusive to current owners. Nintendo will provide Ambassadors with 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. These include games like Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. Nintendo says that it currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future.
See more at www.electronista.com
 

Keep track of Beer Debt with BeerBank for Android

What a great concept!



An easy to use app that lets you keep track of all beer debts owed and satisfied. Keep your friends honest with the currency of beer.



You can also use this app to track any type of other debt type transactions such as 'who did dishes last?' 'I mowed the grass...now its your turn.' etc. Its completely customizable as far as type of debt.



Check it out:

Amplify’d from androidforums.com
[App] BeerBank - beer debt manager
manage debts of beer, liquor or similar type of items. Useful if you want to be that guy who remembers if someone bought a glass for beer to him last night and pays back later with a favor of similar kind!



You can track beer, liquor, money, cigarettes or add custom items.

See more at androidforums.com
 

Monday, July 25, 2011

Facebook for iPad

Seems the development of the Facebook app for the iPad has been all but completed. Actually it turns out that the updated/new Facebook app for iPhone is (or could be) the actual Facebook app for iPad.



Flip the Switch.

Amplify’d from www.slashgear.com
The Facebook for iPad app has been prematurely revealed, after the social network pushed out an updated version of its iPhone software that secretly contained code for the tablet. Using a new side-swiped left hand menu bar, the new app relies on a combination of HTML5 and native code, TechCrunch spotted, to allow access to a user’s Wall, info, photos and friends, along with friend requests, Facebook Chat and Facebook Places.

Version 3.4.4 of the Facebook app for iOS appears to be a Universal Binary – i.e. the same download will eventually be used for both iPhone and iPad users – and so despite being billed as merely a minor update (restoring the “Send” button for comments and chat, for instance) in fact it’s a far bigger change behind the scenes. Usability-wise it’s already getting glowing reviews, with sensible use of pop-up menus, a Photos gallery that fits in aesthetically with the iPad’s own native app, and responsive mapping in Places.


It’s also expected to be the starting point for Facebook’s so-called Project Spartan, the social network’s leaked strategy to take on Apple’s dominance in apps with a system of HTML5 web-apps. Project Spartan is also believed to have Google in its sights, with Facebook rumored to be working alongside Apple on its HTML5 development. The Cupertino company is said to be gaining extra access to Facebook’s 600m-strong database of users in return, valuable information that could eventually go on to educate services like the iOS Assistant voice control system.


That strategy is likely to be more appealing given the recent launch success of Google+, with the new social network quickly gathering users and likely to see even greater adoption once Google begins actively promoting it among Gmail account holders. The release date for the Facebook for iPad app is not currently known, but if it’s already in the binary then we imagine it can’t be far off.

Read more at www.slashgear.com
 

Friday, July 22, 2011

Reddit Mobile page updated

This is awesome!



Developers everywhere...listen up.



"You’ve voiced your concern over several comment threads, and we listened."



It's as simple as that. Listen to your users and implement their suggestions.



Reddit is a very popular site. With that comes the need to be easily available across multiple platforms without restriction. This can only be accomplished with a web based solution.



Hence the Reddit mobile web site!



Read below for more details.

Amplify’d from blog.reddit.com
A little over a year ago, we launched a mobile version of reddit. The original version was designed for webkit only devices, mainly Android and the iPhone. Since then, the mobile space has expanded dramatically. New browsers, such as Firefox Mobile and Opera, have appeared, and phones have gotten bigger.

So, without further ado, I present to you reddit mobile: the next generation.

With this version, we aimed to improve the overall experience. There were some flaws that made the experience less than optimal. You’ve voiced your concern over several comment threads, and we listened.

New features

With the old version, the options button opened to a small dropdown, with difficult to touch buttons. With the new one, we’ve tried to make one of the most used UI elements much friendlier. Now, when you click the options button (which has transformed into a gear), a large, horizontal bar appears, presenting the options and some icons. We think you will find the new bar much easier to use.

We’ve also redesigned the top part of the mobile interface, to feature subreddit logos. Now, when you browse reddit on your mobile device, you get logos, same as on the big site.

Moderators have also gotten some love, as the modmail icon now appears on the mobile interface.

Finally, we've made an effort to improve speed. We’ve cut the number of elements using processor-intensive CSS3 features, so now pages render faster.

Check it out now by going to http://i.reddit.com, on your phone or desktop. And feel free to leave feedback, at any time, in /r/compact.

Read more at blog.reddit.com
 

Games coming to Google+

The speculation right now is that Google will eventually introduce some type of gaming tie in to Google+.



Do you think this is a 'make or break' feature for a social site?



Do you think that Facebook would be as big today if it had not introduced social gaming?



I personally hope that Google doesn't create a mirror image of Facebook. I do understand that companies learn by example. However, I don't thing Google+ needs 5000 stupid games mucking up the gears...just to try and capture a few million subscribers.

Amplify’d from www.slashgear.com
Google’s help pages for Google+ have officially confirmed the upcoming Games Stream, a place where results from what will presumably be social-style gaming on the new network will be pulled together. ”If you’re looking for updates shared from games, check out your Games stream” the help article suggests, though currently the link it mentions leads to a 404 page.

It’s not the first time mention of gaming support has been discovered within Google+, though previous indications of the incoming functionality have been buried within the code. As well as the logo, there were several APIs referred to such as “/_/games/getGameFriends”, “/_/games/getActivities” and “/_/games/postToStream”.


The exact nature of gaming on Google+ has not been detailed, though the search giant has confirmed that APIs will be available for third-party developers to hook into the network. Leaks suggested that Google was already in talks with some gaming companies, with a so-called “social gaming team” responsible for bringing popular titles onboard. However it’s also possible that Google+ could be used to pull in Android game results, turning the site into an online leaderboard of sorts.


Such an inclusion would be another strike against Facebook, which has made significant strides in monopolizing the social or “casual” gaming market with titles such as Farmville. Google is believed to have covertly invested between $100m and $200m in Farmville developer Zynga back in mid-2010.

Read more at www.slashgear.com
 

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Angry Birds Rio and 15 new levels

Millions of people love Angry Birds...and people love FREE stuff. Here is 15 new levels for Angry Birds Rio.



Enjoy!

Amplify’d from androidspin.com

Those of you using the the Amazon Appstore version of Angry Birds Rio were able to get your hands of the “Upheaval” update a week early. I am happy to report that the rest of the world can now get the latest update to the Rio series from the Market. Just pop into your apps and update away.

See more at androidspin.com