Instagram was recently bought by Facebook for $1 billion. But we investigate the past and find out if the buy was even worth it.
The classic ages where we all once roamed also made for beautiful pictures. From memories to events, poloroid and other cameras made their way into the camera industry. Not even 2 years ago, though, did Kevin Systrom launch Instagram, a photo platform used as a playground for making better photographers and neat photos. The platform kicked off fast, on a boat to millions. The app itself features square camera UI, taking square photos, adding up to 15 classic, neat filters, such as Gotham or Lord Kelvin, to spice up your photo(s). Instagram made it to the top in the apps selection for Apple and Google Play. This surprising surmount also brought great joy as new users registering and uploading photos could now be critiqued or liked from Instagrammers from around the world. Later on, these touching photos became wall art as the folks at CanvasPop made Instagram a new way of artwork. The service has been running exceedingly well, and has recently launched an Android app. The apps’ redesign also made critical improvements. But the real bust was this month, when the company fell to an overall $1 billion deal collected up by Facebook. This may not seem as bad as you think, but when you think of how large Facebook is, it doesn’t push through as much creativity as it has such a large crowd to build for, and also that Facebook is supervising as Kevin Systrom isn’t heading to Facebook, only means less ingeniousness. But what do I know? For all I know, the company could become a huge phenomenon and base for ideas. Or it could sink into the trenches as Facebook continues to swallow up the small business that do our world good. So let me ask you, do you think it was a smart move on Facebook to shovel up Instagram, one of the most creative photo apps out there?
Music has been all around us and has made much of style since it’s creation. The indigenous past time went through it’s many incredible cycles. It started with the ominous and vintage vinyl player. That upgraded, eventually, to the casette player. And, as you can guess, that came to the Ipod. And, now the Ipod leads the world in music. But music costs money, and today’s music producers deserve the right to automatically share with their listeners. But what makes this topic so debatable? The fact of the matter is that music producers and artists receiver more money and credit than their audience wishes to pay them. If you look at prices on Itunes, 1.99 may not seem bad for a song, but those prices add up, and as you slowly, or increasingly, make your way up to 100 songs, you’ve wasted 200 bucks. Sorry cash that could have easily made it to a better purchase. Tax hikes recently on music have also brought me to this topic. This heated debate between the consumer and producer have given way to corruption as many fill their hands with more and more cash as prices for songs go up. Spotify recently was filed for tax hike by music producers. That is absolutely insane by my standards as I see paying for the service of listening to my favorite bands an outrage in itself. As a free member, I believe music should be free. The mass market of artists make high above normal, and don’t need the extra green to live. So why price the music? The producers want to earn money, and to do that, they can’t let people listen to the music. They want you to buy the music. Sure it may be their credit, but is a two minute song really worth spending on?
Recent news have directed us straight to the source of a very popular website. So popular, this service is now estimated towards $100 billion. Facebook, the largest raving sores, against Google is now up for grabs as users will have chance at owning a piece of the company. But how will this affect us users? We know the site to be privately owned and operated, but when a company files for IPO, the founder doesn’t own the company anymore. We are wondering why such a spectacular company would push people to own it. This could affect terms of service and privacy policy, also. The company says it may be coming this week. The substantial debate has hit the internet by storm as many people pass incredible rumors. Bit these rumors, if said are true, could either lead Facebook ahead or far into ruins, back from where it is or should be. The service’s $100 billion IPO hits record as 6th largest in the world. It plans tow raise a $10 billion next week for the IPO. We don’t have many sources, or any yet that have confirmed the rumor fact, but we’ll stay on top. Mark Zuckerberg may either be winning the company or losing it as his position will be pushed towards the public, with popularity of the company. Will they file, or hold back? More news will be coming next week.
I come from a position that once used to be a web for all to share. Copyright content was non talked about, until a resent tragedy that left us all nervous and wallowing in fear. This was the start of an evil opponent to the internet. Many of us take it in some views, and others in another perspective, but I believe this bill should be put to rest. The uprising of many protesters has not been pretty, and more may come if this demon of a bill breaks through this coming Tuesday.
What Is SOPA?
SOPA is a bill that stands for “Stop Online Piracy Act”. Now, you must be thinking, “This will be amazing!”. Though, let it’s somewhat ironic name not be to deceive you. This bill does more than stop censorship, and from what I’m seeing, it promotes it. The bill also does the following:
Cuts off ads from foreign sites, losing site money
All copyrighted infringing sites may be down, including:
Youtube.
Reddit.
Wikipedia.
And many others.
More Discussion and Reasoning
This bill, proposed to pass, may, in fact, not be all that it says. It holds truth, also, to cutting off sites IMMEDIATELY. So, say you have a song, maybe on your site. It could be anything infringing. You may not know it, but Comcast could immediately take your site off their IPS. That is incredibly bad in a way that they can actually take you to court. This is an immediate threat that many of us on here have never come to. Having to pay to use pictures, video, or music? That’s insane. Many of you, i’m sure, have heard of Blogger. They’re huge Google company, but SOPA could force them out of business. Blogs currently hosted on there have copyrighted content. So, Google and ISPs would block that. But, I know what you’re thinking. What about my site? If it’s on a domain name, you may be lucky to get the IP address in the box and head to the site while in affect.
The Global Catastrophe
Global perspective could bring down the internet usage worldwide. And you may be wondering why? This is because foreign targets are suspected as copyright violators. While you may be able to view your site from that country, if you live there, and it contains copyrighted material, you won’t see it here in the U.S. The bill also puts pressure on ads. Many companies rely on ads, Google being one of them. When ads are taken away, so is that company. And the fact that SOPA is doing this is not going to help anyone in this situation. The ads from the infringing site, global sites included, are found on Google now, they will no longer be found later. This is a big regime to keep the money coming to the media companies. Hey, my blog is awesome, let’s put up an ad. Oh, wait. You have a photo, maybe from Engadget or Huffington Post, on your site. Now, your site is shut down, and no ad for you. This may infuriate users, but I see a globally hacking spree coming. Anonymous, the world-famous group, hacked a few sites recently in opposition of MegaUpload shutting down. FBI arrests of MegaUpload’s founders were made, and not much good will come out. And censored search results will come into play. Money is lost and money is gained, and this will not be an easy task to tackle through.
Startups With SOPA
SOPA will also make building a startup harder. New regulations put into place will most likely bring less innovation. And less innovation almost falls to a monopoly, or oligarchy of the internet. These rules will weaken the internet indescribably. Say goodbye to Grooveshark and many other free services you use, as building another one will be made even more complicated than the first. Going through domain names is another subject. You may want to go foreign on domains, if SOPA passes, seeing as you may not have copyright issues there.
Conclusion, But Still To Worry
Much has gone through the past 4 months now. Fear and nervousness wretch through your bodies as you anxiously await the gruesome fate of the internet as it lies towards it’s bed of disease. This never-ending virus will push you off from where you started. Anger and rage will soon flourish after this passes (hopefully not). Anonymous has helped by taking sites down today, and many others may be able to bypass SOPA. Other’s will find it difficult and may give up. Vote No at AmericanCensorShip.org, and write to him today. Before the fate of the internet’s hands is left beside the devil himself.
The season of giving has headed up so fast, you might not have felt the holidays until now. And the thoughts pile up. What should I buy for the holidays, whether it’s a family member or a friend. But if it’s a tech gift, we’ve got you covered. The many devices emerging this year are great, so for you shop-ahaulics, and you wise money-spenders, we’ve got the list for you. Many tablets and mp3s mare dropping in, plus phones, cameras, and 3d video glasses? Check below and become worry-free with the excellent list.
The Kindle Fire seems to be the talk-of-the-town this holiday season, and for many reasons, you can see why. This sleek tablet carries a vibrant 7 inch screen. This is great for viewing HD movies. It’s perfect for most apps, and has a super fast silk browser, cloud support, and more! This is the go-to tablet for last minute shopping.
Cameras:
Sony Nex 5n
Now, if you’re upgrading from point-shoot cameras to mid-dslr range cameras, this one is for you. The $600 price line may shock you, but it pays off in reassurance from it’s magnificence. This amazing little device is the smallest micro four-thirds camera with complete dslr sensor and 1080p video. So, to step up your photo game on a last-minute rush, head to pick up one of these babies!
Laptops:
Samsung Series 7 Chronos
Finally, if you’re looking for a great laptop that’s at least 500 bucks cheaper than a macbook, and have money in town pick up this slick beauty. This laptop has great strength with overall fantastic graphic and performance quality, great for work, and free time roaming.
Wrap Up:
This concludes our overview of some last minute holiday gifts. If you wish to include some more items, please comment, and tell us.
Minecraft has reached millions, and continues to grow. For It’s title, it has reached legendary status. 30 million copies sold and a game of never ending excitement has given the name Indie Game a new name. The popular title started off a mere 2 years ago. The game settled off Stockholm, Sweden, as these developers would release the next biggest Indie Game. Minecraft started as a world. Just a world. To create and edit unique buildings and shapes out of blocks. Updates were made, with many changes. They added day and night and new music. New blocks were also concealed in forthcoming packages. The ability to move blocks and items via redstone was also added. Pistons and coyotes. Ghasts of the underworld. Hundreds, if not more, items have been pushed through this immense process, until today. Minecraft 1.0 officially kicked off yesterday! But while that news may mean nothing, the game officially has no glitches or bugs. Continuous updates of the game will launch, as promised. But more to this package was added that made our mouths water. Minecraft: Pocket Edition. Now, Minecraft for the IOS and Android may seem difficult to play, but Mojang perfected the game, in classic mode, of how platformed-gaming should be done. The easy touch and break blocks and glitchless, for now, has gotten this game ranked #1 in the App Store, although not released until yesterday. With that being said, Minecraft is also launching…for Xbox! That’s right, and the interface seems outstanding. Check out the videos below, and feel free to share your comments.
Hp recently trashed it’s well-anticipated device. The HP Touchpad. With that out, owners felt saddened and left out as the product had only ran for a mere 2 to 3 months. They didn’t give up, though, as many failed to see it’s light of day. Touchpad may be gone, but a new tablet will rise from the chairman and take it’s rightful place. A new, more powerful reign, called the HP Slate 2, is here to take it’s place. WebOS for tablets may have died off, but HP may be saving up for more. More to come…
Android has since made many intense updates. The ever-expanding platform has even had the “Siri” feature before the IPhone. But this update may top and put all the others to shame. This update also puts a new look towards it’s previous UI, of which had no inclusion of the former Honeycomb UI. A sleek, honeycomb widget-alignable screen is also available. More honeycomb? We sure think so. And the other great part may very well be a feature we take for granted. The camera app is of this. This spectacular app holds many in deadlock of choosing the right phone, especially photographers. But no need to worry, as we believe this phone packs much potential. It’s new and improved fast-shooting technology allows you to grab the action while snapping multiple photos of the scene at the same time. Another feature for stunning displays are Panoramas. Now, most phones today in the operating system market don’t carry this enhanced photographic feature. But the Ice Cream Sandwich does. And a great feature for any photographer. The Gmail app has also been redefined. It’s new, simple but sleek surface makes it as easy as a swipe away from reading and composing messages. The new software also includes a vibrant, full high definition display, and Google+, for when you want to share your life on the go. And if you’re a secure person, like I am, you’re going to want to go with the face unlocking feature for this device. Voice typing, a magnificent feature Android has had forever, is now even better. Anywhere where you need to type, your voice can do it for you. It’s just splendid. And the better of this software is the device and it’s design. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is sleek, but bold at 8.84mm thick and a 4.29 bezel, this device definitely packs a punch. I would strongly recommend this beauty of software and device. Comment on your opinion and favorite feature below.
Steve Jobs was a man of words. Of wisdom. And of inventing. His true passion of seeing what people wanted was incredible feature. But all apple’s were created equal. That’s right, Bill Gates. Who you may have contemplated and concluded as Steve Jobs’s arch nemesis actually helped with Apple. This brilliant man, indeed, also help develop the Mac OS X software in which Macs run on. Now, I know many of you out there are die-hard Steve Jobs skeptics, but this man did much more than that. The Iphone you may be currently holding your hand has much more power and truth behind it’s legacy and history. For this company not only made Mac and other devices, but also items now on the PC. What? The first mouse ever used on a computer was built by the intellectual genius standing at the footsteps of his funeral today. He also invented the first spreadsheet. For all of the PDF/Word users out there, he shall well be deserved a congrats towards that. The great and all-powerful IBM machines also ran with Apple as they partnered in 1988. Further on comes Apple’s d-day, it’s saving grace, bringing it into a whole new era. The Ipod. A popular product almost everyone owns now, and of what really took off. The classic vintage tapes and CDs were a bit of a hassle, so they brilliantly thought ahead and hooked the consumer market. They hit 3 billion downloads last summer. A whole new dynasty of phones awakens as the Iphone launches in 2007. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of touch screen phones before this. But what those phones didn’t have, that Steve Jobs added to his line was apps. Apps were a whole new idea then, a newborn baby, something no one believed would take off this fast. The apps kept growing, and the announcements got more intense as, last year, Apple unveiled a whole new Ipod touchscreen Nano. This allowed people to do more with their Nano. The Macs also kicked on through time. Though, most recently, their computer’s have grasped consumers immensely. In 2008, the transportation of laptops just got so much easier. The Macbook Air launched and at 0.68″, this sucker got everyone’s attention. No one saw a laptop this thin, and Steve Jobs sure wowed the audience. His years later really affected Apple, having to take 6 months of sick leave for a liver transplant. He resigned last month, and to a suprise of a young 56, and a cold, harsh, last month, Steve Jobs has died. He will forever be known as a legend, both in the tech world and the business and personal-related world. Forever may his soul rest in peace in heaven.
Well, today has been a enormously action-packed day at the Apple headquarters. We just got a peek in on the news flying ’round the web here. The new Iphone and Ipod Touch may look the same, which was not expected, but the software and apps have changed.
IPhone
The new Iphone comes through today as an incredible new operating system. But what new about it makes it so special? It may look generic, but look again. We show you the new features, as well as for the Ipod Touch.
Twitter:
Twitter for Iphone has taken a next move and step forward with it’s new ease of social networking. The popular service brings it’s features and more to your browser, and apps in IOS5. When you want to tweet something, simply sign in under settings. ba-da-bing-ba-da-boom! Done, tweet items effortlessly with a simple tap of a button. And for another spice, the Twitter service launched a new photo tool. Your Iphone also takes photos. So now, they work in harmony just as the other Iphone Twitter feature. So for those “all-mighty” Twitter users, this may be the next sacred tool for you in IOS.
Video and Photo Recording and Editing:
This new feature may seems not of very new, but only 1080p video added.
This has not brought much attention as the race hurds on. Many overly-anticipated Iphone-goers were disappointed this week to find this device the exact same model, almost. So, with that said, are you upgrading?
