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Instagram's Layout feature adds collages to your Stories
Today, Instagram is rolling out new Layout feature that will let you include multiple photos in a single story. When you open the Stories camera and select the Layout option, you'll be able to choose between two and six photos to combine in a grid-based collage.
Facebook pokes at Periscope with live video feature
Facebook rolled out a pair of new features on Thursday that position the social network as a breaking news outlet. The first feature, dubbed Live Video, does just that -- enabling users to post and share live video feeds to the site. It appears to be very similar to Periscope's offering with live viewer counts and rolling comment feeds. It is being trialed right now in the US but only for iPhone users.
Daily iPad App: Use Moldiv to quickly create a collage
JellyBus, the makers of popular iOS image-editing software PicsPlayPro, recently launched a collage-making app, Moldiv, and packed it full of features that'll appeal to creative types who are looking to throw together a beautiful collage. The first thing you notice about Modiv is the large number of frames available at your fingertips. There are 80 free frames and 60 premiums that you can buy as a pack via a US$1.99. Moldiv's basic frames provide you with a variety of columnar and angular layouts that are sufficient for most users. The next thing you notice about Moldiv is how easy it is to use. Tap on your frame to select your photo layout and then tap on a section to add a photo. You can pull the photo from your photo gallery or take a new one using the camera. Once you add in your photos, you can spend a few minutes tweaking the layout by adjusting the frame width and adding a background to fill in the white parts of the frame. Just like the frame options, the background selection is robust. You can choose from a set of 40 free backgrounds or buy a second, more colorful set for $0.99. Moldiv also lets you add text or stamps on your collage. Similar to other parts of the app, Moldiv offers a set of free stamps and premium stamps that cost 99 cents each. There's also a shape tool that lets you overlay another photo on your collage. You can select your shape and then choose a photo from your camera roll. You can adjust the shape to fit the photo and get the right look. I used this feature in a collage of my one-year old. I used a four-square layout with pictures of him playing and then put a heart-shaped insert with a close-up photo right in the middle. It looked great! Moldiv is a no-frills editor that lets you create collages quickly. You pick your frame, add your photos and then embellish them a bit with text or stamps. When you are done, you can save the collage to your camera roll, send it to other apps or share it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Flickr. Moldiv does have its fair share of in-app purchases, which some may find bothersome. I wasn't frustrated by them as I found the basic options were creative enough to suit my needs. I don't mind paying extra if I want to get fancier with my photos. I would like to see an "unlock all" option that would let me buy everything at once. Moldiv is available for free from the iOS App Store. I used the iPad version as I enjoy editing on my iPad and not my iPhone. Moldiv is a universal app, so you can edit on either device.
GoodTimes for Mac lets you create sophisticated photo collages
Update: The GoodTimes app is actually normally priced at $19.99, but was on sale during the holidays for $9.99. Our apologies for the mixup. GoodTimes is a US$40 OS X app (on sale for $19.99 as of this writing) US$19.99 app that creates unique photo collages without requiring any deep computer skills on the part of the user. The app is template driven, and contains 30 templates, plus 130 objects to insert and manipulate, 30 backgrounds and 25 frames. Frame sizes can be manipulated, along with color and textures. Themes include things like vacations, parties, families and love. The app contains spoken and graphic tutorials, but really, GoodTimes is easy to figure out because tool tips are available for most controls. Your finished collage can be shared with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and email, as well as Mountain Lion sharing. %Gallery-174538% I found the app easy to use, and was able to create some very nice collages that would have been tricky in a high-end photo editor like Photoshop. If you run out of templates, you can create your own, but that takes some skill. I tried using the app on some landscape photos, and the results looked nice. My only gripe is the app's high price of $40 $20. While Mac apps often sell for more than the iOS variety, I don't think this is the kind of app a person will constantly use. Still, GoodTimes proved to be reliable, and the output was quite attractive. There are enough options so that you can fiddle with a theme and make it unique. If you are wanting simpler collages at a lower price, take a look at Diptic, which is now available for OS X for $0.99. GoodTimes is a 593 MB download due to all the high-quality picture elements, and it requires OS X 10.7 or later. Check the gallery for some screen shots I grabbed while working with the app.
Five iOS apps to help you say goodbye to summer, hello to fall
For many people here in the US, summer is quickly coming to a close. School is back in session, summer vacations are done and the temperatures are getting a bit cooler. It can be hard to leave behind the fun of summer, so we've put together a list that'll help you say goodbye to the warm, sunny weather and hello to fall. Foliage Leaf Peepr (Free) Fall means foliage and Yankee Magazine's Leaf Peepr is one of the best iPhone apps for tracking foliage changes, especially in the Northeast.The Leaf Peepr app helps fall foliage fans find the best and brightest colors in their area. Users can also make foliage reports (called Peeps) by posting photos, writing comments and rating the foliage status for their location. Ski Safari (US$0.99) For some people, fall is the season between water skiing and snow skiing. Yes, we realize Ski Safari is not a ski simulation, but the iPhone and iPad game will entertain you with its winter-themed fun until the real snow starts hitting the ground. Lego Halloween Creationary (Free) Besides foliage, Fall also means apples, pumpkins and Halloween. Get ready for some spooky fun with this build-and-guess game from Lego. Each round starts with creepy Lego object and you have to guess what's being built. The faster you guess, the more points your earn. Photo Wall Pro ($2.99) Now that summer is over, you likely have a phone filled with photos. Don't let those precious memories just sit there; make them into a collage with an app like Photo Wall Pro. The collage maker allows you to send your creation off as a postcard or share it with family and friends. NFL Fantasy Football (Free) Last, but far from least, is football, which kicked off earlier this week. If you haven't started yet, now is the time to download this Fantasy Football app from the NFL and start managing your virtual team. [Image from flickr/muffinman71xx]
Google Catalogs iPad app digitizes catalogs, no more coasters
We all know what catalogs are good for: starting fires in the fireplace, light reading in waiting rooms and makeshift placemats. Oddly, Google has decided to take these perfectly useful glossy dead trees away from us with the introduction of Google Catalogs, a free iPad app. Like most shopping apps, users can zoom in, learn more and purchase products through a company's website, but this one adds a slick little twist: collages. Put together a particularly sweet L.L. Bean ensemble and want to share it with Mom? No glue stick or scissors required. Check out the video after the break.
Sony Photo Movie Creator app builds video collages, vacation slide enthusiasts applaud
Nothing brings back the memories of your wedding, family reunion, or Bar Mitzvah quite like a sappy four-minute slideshow video with the soothing sound of John Mayer over it. Thanks to Sony, Android and iOS devices are on the receiving end of a new video app that will let us capture these cheesy memories easier than ever. Dubbed Photo Movie Creator, this app grabs your desired photos plus music, and then cranks out a cute little movie using one of the 18 preloaded themes. What's more, you can then share your slideshows on Facebook, as we're sure your friends would absolutely adore every precious moment as you do. Head over to the Android market now for this $2.49 app (free trial available), or you can wait for the iOS version due May. Demo video after the break.
PYNK smart system could make those Kodak print kiosks useful (video)
Just because film is dead doesn't mean that companies are at a loss for schemes to profit in the digital age. Take Kodak's PYNK smart print system as the perfect case study. Consumers buy PYNK branded photo frames and mats at $15 and $4 a pop, respectively. They then scan the goods into one of Kodak's 100,000 imaging kiosks and the machine will print photos (at further cost) into a perfectly cropped, sized, and aligned collage suitable for framing. A pretty smart solution for craft-less dummies like us.
Customize your collage with Shape Collage
I'm a big fan of Zykloid Software's Posterino, a Mac app that allows you to create elegant collages. Similarly, you can use Shape Collage to create a collage. However, as implied in the app's namesake, you can also customize the shape of your collage to one of the many included preset options, as well as your own customized shape. One example would be pictures of hundreds of shoes in the shape of the Nike swoosh logo -- you get the picture. While the app is billed as "free," the free version stamps a watermark that, while small and light, is nonetheless noticeable. US$25 removes this watermark, and adds the ability to export to an Adobe Photoshop PSD (where you can manipulate photos). Shape Collage was created by developer Vincent Cheung, and is available for download here.
First Look: Make cool slide shows with Pix Remix
It's summer, a lot of people are going on vacation, and here at TUAW we've been inundated with postcard apps. First there was my not-so-glowing review of Postcard Express, and then C-mac published her look at Postman 2.0. Today, I received word of something a bit different -- an app that turns your iPhone photos into animated collages and slideshows that can then be shared with friends or the world through email, Facebook, or Twitter.Pix Remix [App Store, US$2.99] was previewed for TUAW at WWDC '09, and you can watch Victor's video of the app in action.Creating these animated shows is simple and intuitive. You pick a show type (collage, slideshow, or pan & zoom), select some photos from a photo library or camera roll, and then drag, pinch, and tap to arrange the photos or determine the start and end points of the pan & zoom. Don't like how your photos are arranged? Just shake your iPhone to let the app do the job. You can add titles to every slide, and when you're ready to share your work, you just tap the send button.However you choose to send your show, the recipient gets a link that takes them to the Pix Remix website to view it. If another Pix Remix users sends you a show, you can view it from within the app. The developers at Jump Associates have done a wonderful job of making this app bug-free. It's one of the cleanest version 1.0 apps I've used in a long time, and considering all of the iPhone technologies and external links it takes advantage of, that's saying a lot. Why just send a postcard to your friends to make them jealous of your vacation when you can send them a Pix Remix show instead? Check out some screenshots below and check out a demo slideshow here. %Gallery-67706%
Nintendo collages for Nintendoholics
If your love for Nintendo is so great that you not only need Nintendo things hanging about, but Nintendo things made from Nintendo things, you'll probably enjoy these collages.Artist Chris Lange (Etsy user sscjl14) is offering to create customizable collages of Nintendo characters, made completely out of Nintendo Power magazines. The results are pretty neat, no doubt, but you probably have to really bleed Nintendo love to shell out $250 for one of these 20 X 30 inch pieces of art. Still, we love the concept, and can't help but gawk at this kind of stuff even if we'll never buy it. Check after the break if you're interested in seeing two more of his creations.
Mirror Collage Plasma TV Cabinet conceals your set, decorates room
In most cases, tactfully hanging your PDP on a wall could pass as a piece of art, and while there are certainly alternatives out there for those too hesitant to hang, this creation certainly ups the ante. The Mirror Collage Plasma TV Cabinet spans far enough around to accommodate "most 50-inch plasmas," and as the picture above depicts, it covers your set with a variety of mirrors that not only block your display, but purportedly "create the illusion of more space" in your room. Of course, the real draw here is that this piece is precisely what we fellows have been needing to convince our better halves to let us adorn a wall with a television -- the only problem, however, is that staggering $4,649 price tag that comes along with it.[Via Luxist]
