Have you heard of Instagram? Seems like the Internet has been buzzing about it since its release, but in case you’ve been living under a rock … it’s a fun, free new photo sharing app for iPhone.
To illustrate the awesomesauce that is Instagram, allow me to share this dorktastic photo I took of myself:
- First, you take a photo (or import it from your Camera Roll) and edit it using Instagram’s funky photo filters (or leave it alone – up to you). My favorites at the moment are Lomo-fi, Earlybird and Lord Kelvin.
- On the next screen, use the “What?” field to caption your photo or tell us what we’re looking at. Add “Where?” if you’d like to include a check-in using the GPS. Then the extra cool part: choose which social media sites you want to simultanously share your photo to. Options include Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr, and Foursquare (hence where the “Where?” field ties in).
- After you tap “Done”, your photo will be published to your Instagram feed alongside your friends’ photos. Others can comment or “like” your photo from here. If you chose to publish your photo to Twitter, a link to a page like this one will show up.
What I love about Instagram is that it makes the process of photographing, editing, and sharing a photo to multiple sites super fast and streamlined. In the week or so that I’ve had the app installed, it has quickly become my go-to app for photo sharing.
My only gripe is that I’d like to be able to view my Instagram Feed (my friends’ photos and my own, chronologically) on the web, much like I can view Twitter. Sometimes my friends post photos that I’d like to view full size on a computer screen rather than on my iPhone — and I can’t do that unless they also shared the photo via Twitter/Facebook/etc.
The other limitation is that right now, the app is iPhone only. Anyone know if there’s an Android version planned?
Are you on Instagram?
If so, share your username in the comments!
I’m app-addicted and I love finding and sharing new iPhone apps.
So I decided to create “App Friday” — Every friday I’m going to share with you one or more iPhone apps that make life easier, are clever and useful, or are just plain fun!
Whenever possible I will try to include apps that have Android or Blackberry versions as well, but this will be primarily iPhone, as that’s the device I use. I encourage Android/Blackberry users to speak up in the comments and offer similar alternatives though!
A woman’s work is never done, right? I’ve always been an obsessive list-maker because it’s the only way I could keep on top of everything I have to do. I think a lot of other people are the same way. Just recently, I’ve finally found a few apps that worked well enough for me to finally part ways with paper-and-pen. They’re so good … I had to share them with you:
2Do (iOS only)
Pricing: Free (lite version) or $6.99
This is hands-down the best to-do app I’ve used. I started out with the lite version and quickly upgraded to the fully-featured one. You can create different color-coded lists to organize your tasks. (For instance, I have lists for personal, freelance, and work.) Creating a task is fast: click the “+” icon in the top corner, type, and hit add. Done. This is great for me because I can essentialy “jot down” to-do’s whenever they pop into my head, and it’s just as quick as writing them down. If you want to take a few more seconds, you can add reminder alerts, due dates, assign priority, and add notes (voice or text). 2Do has quickly become a big part of my daily routine and I feel lost without it.
Grocery IQ (web-based, iOS and Android)
Pricing: Free!
This is a simple thing but I find myself using it CONSTANTLY. Much like my to-do’s, it seems that thoughts like “Oh shoot! I need to pick up some bread on the way home!” pop into my head at the most inopportune times. Since I always have my phone with me, I also now have my grocery list. Whenever I have a free moment on my way through town, I can pop into the store and grab what I need. It has drastically reduced making special grocery trips. The app allows you to maintain separate lists for different stores (or mark items as “any store”). The app is a spin-off of Coupons.com, so it also has built-in search for coupons. I use the “notes” field to mark items that I have coupons for, so I don’t forget to use them at the checkout. You can even use the barcode scanner to add items to your list!
Pricing: $1.99
I just discovered this one the other day. In past years, I’ve used a spreadsheet in Google Docs to track my shopping and budgeting. It worked well, but I like this interface so much better. Sure, maybe it’s the cute themes and icons that got me (at least partly), but it has great features too. You can create groups (e.g. family, friends, coworkers) to buy for, then add people to those groups. You can add a photo of the person or tie them to a contact in your address book. Then you add the gifts to buy – mark them as “maybe”, “definitely wants” or “must have” to prioritize, and then check off the gfts they’re purchased, wrapped, and mailed (if necessary). I love it.
These three apps have helped this obsessive list-maker cut back drastically on all the folded bits of note paper in my purse. (Not to mention, I’m killing less trees!) Everything is all in one place and quickly accessible. It’s wonderful!
Do you have any organization/list-making apps you’d suggest?
Any great Blackberry or Android alternatives for these? Comment!
