Instagram version 7.0 update brings an all-new Explore page, improved search functionality
Instagram users will be happy to know that a big update is being pushed out to both Android and iOS apps today, bringing a couple major enhancements that will help folks find what they’re looking for more easily.
For starters, the app is getting an all-new Explore page that will now surface trends as they emerge in real-time which makes it much easier for users to learn about current events happening in their area and around the world. The Explore page will also feature trending Tags and Places sections, allowing users to see what other people are posting. From Instagram:
In addition, at the top of the Explore page you will find new curated collections that will be updated regularly, featuring interesting accounts and places, from musicians and extreme athletes to stunning architecture and gorgeous beaches.
The updates to Explore will only be available in the United States at launch, but the Instagram team says it will work to expand these features worldwide once all of the bugs are ironed out.
The new Instagram update also brings improved search functionality. Much like in Facebook’s application, Instagram users will now be able to search for people and places to find what they’re looking for much quicker. There’s also a new “Top Search” tab that will let you search for people, places and tags all at once. Unlike the new Explore page, improved search functionality is now available for everyone.
The update to version 7.0 is now rolling out in the Google Play Store, so be sure to head to the link below to grab the newest version.
Instagram’s revamped photo exploration helps you follow trends
Want to see all the Instagram shots coming out of that big music festival? It should be much easier after today. Instagram is releasing new versions of its Android and iOS apps whose overhauled Explore and Search features help you follow trends as they happen. You’ll see the most recent trending hashtags and places, and a new Places Search shows the buzz in just about any location on the planet — helpful if you want to know what your vacation spot looks like in real life. Both app updates should be available today, so you’ll find out what’s hot in very short order.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Facebook
Source: Instagram Blog
Instagram tidies up web profiles with bigger pictures and less clutter
It may be a tad late for spring cleaning, but Instagram redesigned profile pages on the web to cut down on the clutter. On both mobile and desktop, profile pages, hashtag collections and your home feed are all getting tweaks to make things a bit neater. Desktop profiles, for example, nix the rotating image header up top and display larger images in rows of three instead of five. The changes get rid of the added boarders, button styles and more that the mobile app’s redesign already updated in favor of a cleaner, flatter look. Not seeing the new design yet? Don’t worry, it’s rolling out now and you should be seeing it by the end of the week.
Instagram is ready to make some serious money
After launching ads a year and half ago Instagram is now giving advertisers a much more powerful tool to integrate their ads. The tools include “Shop Now”,”Install”and “Sign Up” buttons.
These button appears at the bottom right of the advertisement. The company made advertisement open for all the advertisers. It is worth noting that pressing the buttons do not take you away from Instagram completely. Instead, it open a mini version of a browser within the app, so that when you are done buying or installing you will be returned to the app itself.
Instagram has always been a potential advertisement channel, able to drive its 300 million+ users to buy or download an app.
“The API comes polished—able to manage, track and measure marketing campaigns—thanks to borrowed technology and lessons learned from Facebook“
Instagram is all ready and plans to roll out this update gradually starting later this week in Spain. At the end Instagram wants to make advertisement available to all business areas no matter whether it is small or large. The API will plug Instagram into the broader ecosystem of social ad platforms.
In my opinion this is indeed a really big boost to the advertising sector. Local brand names as well as small and starting companies can now easily campaign their products by using Instagram as their path to advertise. However as delicious as it may seem, it can cause a lot of adverse effects. Like Facebook, a lot of users don’t want to see advertisement spam in their feed. I hope Instagram is prepared for such a scenario.
The post Instagram is ready to make some serious money appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Instagram is opening its advertising floodgates
Today Instagram announced sweeping changes to its 18-month old advertising scheme in an effort to monetize all those loyal sets of eyeballs. The company is essentially opening its platform to advertisers big and small, rather than the “select” partners it’s been pairing with during the past year and a half long pilot project. The plan is to push ads in more formats that are targeted towards people with relevant interests. All that means is that as it rolls out, the next Sponsored post you see is probably based on what IG (and its owner Facebook) think you like.
Specifically, “direct response” ads will now integrate action buttons that will prompt viewers to click through and buy, subscribe, or install whatever the ad is hawking. Instagram hinted at this feature back in March but made it official today. On the back end, Instagram is granting advertisers more granular data on users than the standard age, gender and location metrics they previously had access to. It’s using demographics and interests, plus the data businesses have about their customers.
Filed under: Internet
Via: ReCode
Source: Instagram
Turn Instagram food posts into meals with recipe app Handpick
Handpick, a recipe app that helps users craft meals using ingredients they have on-hand, now scours the filtered seas of Instagram for delicious-looking dishes and their accompanying recipes. This means the next time you’re searching (or drooling) through “#food” on Instagram, you might be able to actually whip up whatever catches your eye. Handpick uses a mix of algorithm and human curation to find matching food posts and recipes, CEO Payman Nejati says (via TheNextWeb): “Instagram is effectively a database of over 1 billion food posts. We started analyzing that data through the public API and using computer vision, we know whether a post is about food. We then look at the caption and use that information to match recipes to social media posts.”
Instagram is turning into a handy tool for app developers in numerous categories, from font fanatics to food. Handpick is free on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. Bon appetit!
Source: TheNextWeb
Website writes up notes for you using Instagram font
Kidnappers who send out ransom notes made of magazine cutouts are so old school. Any self-respecting, tech-savvy abductor who finds ordinary fonts boring would use Type To Design’s Instagram font generator instead. It’s pretty easy to use, too. You just go its website, type in your sinister warning or whatever, and it will scour Type To Design’s curated collection of letters and numbers taken from the photo-sharing network. Unhappy with how a particular figure looks? Refresh, and it will find alternatives for you. After that, save the note as a PDF to print it out or screenshot it like we did above.
Of course, it creators didn’t actually build the website for the sake of criminals and hardened hooligans. They conjured it up for the 36 Days of Type initiative, which challenged designers, illustrators and graphic artists to create novel designs of the alphabet and numbers. So, go wild and use it for party invitations, scrapbooks or fun, anonymous stalker love letters.
Filed under: Misc
13 best new Android apps and games from May of 2015
We’re reaching the end of May and a lot of exciting things are about to happen, including Google I/O which usually brings about a lot of big Android things. We’re heading into the lull of summer but there were still some amazing apps and games released this month. Let’s take a look at the best Android apps and games from May of 2015.
Bleep
[Price: Free]
Bleep is a free messaging service from, believe it or not, BitTorrent. The premise of the app is very simple, it stores all of the encryption keys and messages on your device instead of the cloud. This helps prevent hackers from intercepting and decoding your messages and gives you a very secure, private way of messaging other people. The interface is also pretty nice.
Broken Age
[Price: $9.99]
Broken Age is a game from Double Fine Productions that has you playing the stories of two teenagers and you can switch between their stories at will. The game includes gorgeous hand-drawn graphics and an all-star cast of voice actors including Elijah Wood, Jack Black, and many others. It’s a bit expensive at $9.99 but there are no in-app purchases and it’s a good looking game.
Chrome Dev
[Price: Free]
Chrome Dev is the developer channel release of the Google Chrome Browser. This is very popular with the tech nerd community because it gives you a glimpse of the latest features that could be coming to Google Chrome. If you like living on the bleeding edge of development, this app is for you but do beware that there will be bugs because this is essentially the Chrome Browser test bed.
GoatZ
[Price: $4.99]
GoatZ is a parody of the popular DayZ game that is based on the popular Goat Simulator game. You play as a goat as you take out zombies, get hit by cars, and cause other, goat-related mayhem. The graphics are good and the game is buggy but it’s kind of meant to be. It’s pretty funny and there’s a lot to do. There are also no in-app purchases and plenty of zombies.
Google I/O 2015
[Price: Free]
This year’s Google I/O is fast approaching and those interested in keeping up will need the official Google I/O app in order to do it. The app is done completely in Material Design and features the ability to live stream sessions, see what’s going on, check events, and engage with the event. Everyone who is going will have this app but it’s still useful for everyone.
Layout from Instagram
[Price: Free]
Layout from Instagram is a new photo manipulation application that allows you to turn your photos into collages. Despite its origins, you don’t actually need an Instagram account to use it and you can post the collages you make almost anywhere. It’s a fun little app for those who like collages and it even comes with a variety of effects. It’s also totally free to use.
Meerkat
[Price: Free]
Meerkat is one of two new streaming applications out this month that allow you to live stream footage from your smartphone camera. Meerkat allows you to stream footage to your Twitter followers straight from your camera. People can only watch it live and video doesn’t get saved afterward. It’s a fun concept that’s already seen some controversy but it’s fun to play with.
MixRadio
[Price: Free]
MixRadio finally released an Android app this last month. The UK-based streaming service is kind of like Pandora in that you can subscribe to stations and listen to music. It also takes the music you listen to and tries to guess what kind of music you might like. It’s good for music discovery and radio-style streaming. It’s also free to use and it has a decent interface.
Periscope
[Price: Free]
Periscope is the other video streaming application that was released this month alongside Meerkat. Unlike Meerkat, Periscope allows for video replaying so people can watch your streams over and over. Otherwise, the concepts are pretty much the same. Both rely on Twitter integration and both stream live from your phone camera. Also like Meerkat, Periscope has already seen some controversy.
Seabeard
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Seabeard is a puzzle adventure game where you walk around, solving puzzles, and beating up bad guys. The graphics and design are reminiscent of a Nintendo game and there is quite a bit of stuff to do. The main premise is to build a trading empire and most missions revolve around that idea. It’s great for kids and adults, is free to play with in-app purchases, and it looks nice.
Snake Rewind
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Snake Rewind is the long awaited spiritual sequel to the hit game Snake that we used to play on the mobile phones of old. The mechanics remain largely untouched and while some may not like the controls, I didn’t think they were that bad. The graphics are decent and the game is free to download. It’s a Snake game through and through and it’s a good burst of nostalgic joy.
SNL Official Apps
[Price: Free]
Saturday Night Live is one of the best sketch comedy shows of all time and they released their official application this last month. Included is the upcoming line up of hosts so you know who is doing what and when. There is also access to archival footage from years past so you can relive the hilarity over and over again. It’ll even eventually recommend sketches the app thinks you might like.
Sunburn
[Price: $2.99]
Last up this month is Sunburn, a new game out of Noodlecake Studios. This retro style game has you exploring the harshness of space as you attempt to save your crew mates after a space ship wreck. You have to find them all without dying and without running out of oxygen. In includes 50 levels and Google Play Games services. It’s a fun little game and there are no in-app purchases.
Wrap up
If we missed any great new Android apps and games from this last month, let us know in the comments! If you want to stay up to date on the latest and greatest Android apps and games news, don’t forget to subscribe to our app-centric newsletter using the button below!
To see our complete list of Android apps and games lists, click here!
Instagram starts sending out new ‘Highlights’ emails
Following in Twitter’s footsteps, Instagram has now started sending out “Highlights” emails to its subscribers. This move comes a part of a new scheme run by the social network to keep its 300-million user base up to date with the hottest content.
These emails contain the most popular posts from all the accounts a user follows in order to help them stay on top of the good stuff they may have otherwise missed over the course of the week. An example of the new Highlights email can be seen below:
Unfortunately, at this stage, there is no way to control Highlights emails but we expect Instagram to introduce an unsubscribe feature in the not-too-distant feature or they might start seeing an increase in the amount of people deactivating their accounts.
Source: Twitter
Come comment on this article: Instagram starts sending out new ‘Highlights’ emails
Instagram wants to reel you back in with emailed photo highlights
Instagram’s photographic social feed isn’t as novel as it once was, and you may be tempted to stop using it if you’re overwhelmed by that never-ending stream of square pictures. How is the company supposed to keep you coming back for more? Though regular email blasts, apparently. TechCrunch has confirmed that Instagram is now sending “Highlights,” email digests that showcase some of the better photos from those you follow. While this see-what-you’re-missing strategy isn’t new (Facebook and Twitter have done this for a while), it acknowledges that only some of Instagram’s 300 million users are active shutterbugs — this could help you remember the service and catch photos that would otherwise slip under the radar. Yes, the highlights are ultimately meant to get you viewing more ads, but they may be useful if you’d rather not spend every day wading through an image stream.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Facebook
Source: TechCrunch
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