Instagram

After a tease earlier this month, Instagram today announced its new live video functionality available within the app’s Stories feature. The app also gets disappearing photos and videos within direct messages including group chats.

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With live video streaming now a standard feature on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, it was only a matter of time before Instagram joined in. CEO Kevin Systrom has now told the Financial Times (via Engadget) that it will be adding live streaming to the app.

Live is really exciting for us. I think it can enhance what we’re doing. If I’m trying to strengthen relationships with someone I love, them streaming video to me live would be an amazing way to be closer to them.

The feature first leaked on Russian site T Journal when a reader noticed a non-functional icon appearing in an update, seemingly by mistake …

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On the heels of its recent Stories update, Facebook-owned Instagram has added low light improvements for photos and videos captured within the Stories interface. But even more notable is the fact that you can now use pinch-to-zoom on photos and videos in the feed, on profiles, and in the Explore tab.
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As brought out in our recent walkthrough video, Snapchat Stories and Instagram Stories share a lot of similar features. Yet, there are a few differences between the two social services when it comes to posting ephemeral story content.

Snapchat, for example, features the ability to use stickers and lenses, while Instagram Stories is a little more basic in its offerings. But did you know that it’s fairly easy to upload snaps created in Snapchat directly to Instagram? In the following video tutorial, we’ll show you how.
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With the launch of its new Stories feature, Instagram is positioning itself to not only capture the interest of current Snapchat users, but it’s also likely seeking a way to keep existing users firmly locked into its service.

Yes, as you’ve likely heard, Instagram Stories is similar to Snapchat Stories, but there are differences. In this video walkthrough, we’ll showcase the basic mechanics of Instagram Stories, show you how to create new stories, and more.
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Facebook has been trying to recreate Snapchat’s success on its own ever since it tried and failed to buy the social app, and the latest feature it has developed for Instagram is no different. Instagram today unveiled Stories, a new photo and video sharing feature that borrows from the Snapchat-created feature right down to the name. Unlike traditional Instagram posts, Instagram Stories are more ephemeral and disappear 24 hours after being posted…

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Twitter for iOS today will see the ability to upload and share much longer videos than before while still holding on to the short clip approach. The social network is announcing that video uploads to Twitter will extend in total duration from just 30 seconds to a full 140 seconds, or 2 minutes 20 seconds. Twitter users may recognize the ‘140’ number as the character limit generally (but not always) assigned to tweets — which is based on the 160 character limit of SMS minus usernames — so Twitter is really embracing the number here.

Speaking of numbers, Instagram is sharing today that its photo and video sharing service has hit a new growth milestone at 500 million monthly active users (with 60% active daily) plus some other interesting stats about its app.

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Starting today, it’s now possible to share photos and videos directly to Instagram on iOS without having to first launch the app. Instagram version 8.2 includes an iOS extension that lets you share both photos and videos from Photos and other iOS apps directly to Instagram. The feature also lets you write a caption to accompany the photo or video, but filters and other editing features will still require launching the full app.

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The day has finally come for Instagram’s skeuomorphic, iOS 6-style icon. Starting with Instagram version 8.0, the Facebook-owned photo sharing social network has a new, flat icon that’s radically different from the previous version and fits in with the iOS 7 and beyond aesthetic on iPhones.

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Instagram, following the controversial announcement that it would change the order in which images appear in user feeds, now appears to be testing a complete redesign of its app. Instagram has long stuck to the same classic design, but if this redesign rolls out to everyone, the app could finally move forward and fall into line with the design trends being adopted by many other apps.

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Following in the footsteps of Facebook, Instagram today announced in a blog post that it will soon adjust the way in which content is presented in its iOS and Android apps. While content is currently shown in chronological order, Instagram will soon switch to new personalized algorithms based on each user…

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Since watchOS 2.0’s announcement I’ve known that I would want to use the Photo Album watch face. The ability to have my favorite photos display every time I looked at my Apple Watch’s display made me think the device was about to get more personal. Facer’s launch today takes that personality one step further.

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Extensify is a highly anticipated app release from developers Majd Alfhaily and Kevin Ko that’s been in the works for quite some time. This weekend it will finally be launched as a part of a limited rollout.

Extensify is best described as a tweak store that allows you to change the properties of App Store apps. Unlike tweaks that require your iPhone to be jailbroken, Extensify works without needing a jailbreak. This is made possible by Apple’s decision to allow users to sideload iOS apps. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough inside for more details.
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