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Flickr's revived Pro tier gives you ad-free photos and better stats
When Flickr rolled out its big redesign a couple of years ago, it also did away with Pro accounts. Unless you were a legacy user, your only real paid options for the photo service were to kill ads or up the storage -- not so hot if you were a serious shutterbug. However, you'll be glad to hear that Flickr just brought Pro back. The new tier is more expensive than before (the same $50 per year as the ad-free version, or $6 per month), but promises to one-up some of the features you've seen in all of Flickr's previous premium offerings. It removes ads for your own browsing as well as for anyone who visits your images, and there are improved stats that help you understand which photos are drawing eyeballs. If you pay for a yearly membership, you also get a 20 percent first-year discount on Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography subscription (no small amount if you regularly edit pictures) and lower-cost shipping for Flickr merchandise like Wall Art.
Your photos are more popular when you use filters, according to Yahoo
Whether or not you think photo filters represent creative assets or the death of photography as we know it, one thing's becoming increasingly clear: they're your ticket to popularity. Yahoo and Georgia Tech researchers have learned that filtered photos (at least, on Flickr) are 21 percent more likely to get views, and 45 percent more likely to receive comments. This doesn't mean that you can throw on any effect you like, mind you. Warmer-looking filters usually get the best results, while colder examples have less of an impact. In short, feel free to tweak your Instagram shots if you feel they lack a certain oomph that will draw in the crowds -- just don't try to be overly dark and edgy.
Flickr builds powerful photo search engine in major redesign
Flickr unveiled an impressive new search function today that aims to make digging through the site's 10 billion or so photos far less of a chore. The unified search results page now includes sections for your own photostream as well as those of people you follow and the rest of the community. A slick new thumbnail view let's you quickly scan through all those results. Users can also filter results by color, size or orientation as well as by specific holidays or events, like graduations or Thanksgiving. The engine itself has also received an upgrade. Its improved search algorithms can reportedly suss out contextual intent from your query. That way, a recent Flickr Blog post explains, "Search for 'London Eye' and you'll no longer get photos of eyes in England, but find the giant Ferris wheel." Even more impressive, the site now offers an auto-tagging option that utilizes the company's image recognition software. Seems the only thing the new search functions can't do is make you a better photographer.
Flickr gives you the choice to put photos in the public domain
Flickr has long had ways to let others use and tweak your photos, but if you want to give up your copyright altogether? You can now do just that. In the wake of Elon Musk releasing SpaceX's photos to public domain, Flickr has added options for public domain and Creative Commons 0 ("no rights reserved") licenses. Choose them and others can do whatever they want with your images, free of charge or even credit. If you see your photography as more of a service for the greater good than a closely guarded treasure, you can loosen the restrictions today. [Image credit: SpaceX, Flickr]
iPhone 5 is the top Flickr camera in 2014
It used to be when you thought of the top cameras being used by photographers, you probably thought of Canon and Nikon. That's not necessarily true these days. Thanks to the EXIF data that is embedded in our digital photos, it's pretty easy to find out exactly what the top cameras are. Photo website PetaPixel gives us a peek into the 2014 camera stats from photo sharing site Flickr, and the times they are a-changing. Canon is still the most popular camera brand for Flickr posters (13.4%), followed by Apple (9.6%), Nikon (9.3%) and Samsung (5.6%). Just looking at smartphones posting to Flickr, Apple's iPhone 5 wins with 10.6%, with the runners up being the iPhone 4S (7%), the iPhone 4 (4.3%), the iPhone 5c (2.0%) and the Samsung Galaxy S3 with 1.2%. That iPhone 5c number seems pretty surprising. It probably is really surprising to Samsung. Last year's number had Nikon as the second most popular brand, and Apple and Nikon have traded places in 2014. The top smartphone cameras are the same as 2013, and those Apple iPhones rank number 1, 2 and 3. The new iPhone 6, which wasn't available during a good part of 2014 has sent 1% of Flickr photos, ranking in 7th place among smartphones. Apple's iPad and iPad mini offered 0.8% and 0.6% respectively. When the iPhone was announced eight years ago few would have guessed that Apple would wind up a popular and dominating camera maker, but that is exactly what has happened. You can see the two-year comparisons on this chart from PetaPixel.
Flickr's removing free-use images from its photo printing service
It wasn't long ago that Flickr lamented the "cost of lost good will" its Wall Art service caused, but the photo-minded outfit thinks it has a solution: removing Creative Commons-licensed photos from Wall Art's available photos. What's more, the outfit is refunding the sales of CC images made through Wall Art as well. As Flickr vice president Bernardo Hernandez notes on the company blog, Wall Art's photo printing service will continue. However, the only works you'll be able to buy will pull from the Flickr Marketplace artists and stuff in your personal collection. And if you're interested in still selling, Hernandez urges you to sign up for Marketplace for consideration.
How to stop Yahoo from cashing in on your Flickr images
If you post Flickr images with a commercial-use creative commons license, Yahoo has a little surprise: it will soon be free to sell them and keep all the money. It recently decided to peddle canvas prints of selected photos for up to $50, taking 100 percent of the revenue from creative commons users who permit free use of their images. That contrasts with a recent decision it made to give select users with non-commercial-use licenses 51 percent of sales for the same "Wall Art" collections. The new policy has made many of the site's devotees upset -- especially pro account users -- who say that while they're fine with third-party companies using their photos, they're not fine at all with Flickr itself selling them for profit.
Flickr lets you turn other people's photos into wall art for your home
Remember that Wall Art service Flickr launched in October that gave you a way to buy big prints of your own snapshots (or, you know, selfies)? Well, now you can also buy wall-size versions of other people's photographs, though, that doesn't mean you can choose random images posted on the website. The only photos you can purchase from the expanded Wall Art service are those that come from Flickr's licensed artists (who also sell their work through the Marketplace) or from the company's hand-selected list of Creative Commons images.
Prank your friends with a Camera RickRoll
Rickrolling is almost as old as the world wide web itself, but filling someone's iOS Camera Roll with photos of the beloved Rick Astley is something I've never seen done before. This new take on the rickroll requires you to gain access to your friend's device, which might be a bit tricky, but the eventual payoff will definitely be worth it. [Photo via Brownpau]
Track your big events with Widget Countdown
There are big events in life. Some we can't wait for, others we dread. It's easy to put them on the calendar, but thats not as immediately clear as seeing just how many days or hours remain until something happens. Widget Countdown puts your big events front and center where it's easy to keep track of them. The app is US$0.99 and requires iOS 8.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. When initially presented with Widget Countdown my first reaction was, "I don't need yet another calendar." I get by with the built in iOS and Mac OS Calendar, even though I'm not terribly excited with them. I do like and use Fantastical for fast access and creating events and reminders. But, Widget Countdown isn't a calendar. It's not even about counting widgets. This app about setting up and displaying future events. A most importantly, it can display these events within the Notification Center. The app itself is beautifully and thoughtfully designed. It's very easy to create new events directly from your existing calendar events or to manually create them within the app. You can give each event a name, specify a date and/or time, and select a background picture. The app lets you search online for pictures from 500px or Flickr with a keyword search. The result it very nice. It would make a great lock screen, if Apple permitted such a thing (it does not). I find that I don't often launch the app to review my upcoming events. Instead I pull the Notification Center down from the top of the screen and find them displayed there (after adding them by editing which apps to display there). That's the really useful feature of this app. It's just the text, that's enough and what makes this app terrific. I find that limiting the number of things that I include in the countdown to make it easier to think about upcoming events. Add 20 items and the list becomes unweildy. But limit yourself to just four or five events and it's much easier to deal with. When using the app itself you can flick up on the displayed days to reveal the hours remaining. You can also send the image of the event countdown via any of the system services, including Mail, Messages, social media apps, etc. Unfortunately the app adds a commercial message to your image as well, but you can delete that. I still find this practice annoying and tacky, especially for a paid app. Note to app developers and publishers: don't beg for positive reviews with popups in your apps and don't tack on advertisements in messages. If you want to keep track of the big upcoming events in your life, I do like Widget Countdown, especially for the Notification Center access. Don't let that next birthday or anniversary sneak up on you.
Begun, the iPhone 7 renders have
The iPhone 6 Plus is just finally getting settled into my pocket -- my front pocket, not my back pocket because I'm not 13 years old and I take care of my devices like an adult so they don't bend -- but there are already some that are looking forward to the iPhone 7. One of those people is Jimmy Benson, who has whipped up these fantastic iPhone 7 renders that show a sharper body style and a reimagined home button. Other tweaks from the existing iPhone 6 models include an edge-to-edge display, a completely solid back panel, and five app columns instead of the current four. It's a pretty slick looking device, but we all know by the time the iPhone 7 launches we'll be able to embed our smartphones into our brains anyway, so it doesn't really matter. [Photo credit: Jimmy Benson]
Taste the Apple rainbow
The Apple logo is a fairly common subject of custom pastry artists -- the Apple pie jokes write themselves -- but rarely do any intrepid chefs attempt to recreate the colorful retro look. Flickr user Pingiwingi knocked it out of the park with this cake, which looks almost too good to eat. Bravo! [Photo credit: Pingiwingi]
Flickr chooses a great time to launch its iPad app
Apple has chosen to focus on the iPad's camera abilities with the upcoming Air 2 (we wish they wouldn't) and apparently, finally snagged Flickr's attention. Yahoo's photo sharing service somehow managed to beat Instagram to the punch so perhaps the introduction of its first iPad-ready app (four years after Apple's slate arrived) isn't that late. So what's in the (now universal) Flickr iOS app? iPad-optimized layouts for members to browse pictures whether their own or others that "cascade in a lovely waterfall format." If you must take a picture with your tablet, the app can record photos or videos with live filters and a full suite of editing tools. It requires iOS 8 to work, and some of the upgrades that stretch across devices include support for the new sharing extensions, photo detail editing and a new unified search. The update is live in the app store now, and of course there's no time like 3AM ET on a Saturday to give it a try.
Flickr wants to turn your photos into wall-worthy art
You've probably seen websites that turn your digital photos into posters and other real-world art, but they're typically separate from the photo sites you use. Wouldn't it be nice if you could order those large prints on a whim while you're browsing your albums? Flickr clearly thinks so, as it just launched a new Wall Art service that converts any of your photos into board-mounted decor that should be worthy of your living room. You can change the size to match the space you want to fill (up to 20 inches by 30 inches), and there's a wrap-around canvas option if you're aiming for a slightly more dramatic effect. Just choose those pics carefully -- your house guests might not see the artistic merit behind immortalizing your latest selfie.
Mac-ception
Sometimes you can't help but feel like you're just living inside your computer on a daily basis. Paul McCoubrie captured that feeling perfectly with this picture. [Photo credit: Paul McCoubrie]
The Mac II Book
I'm going to go ahead and assume that this isn't an officially licensed Apple product. I have to admit, my favorite feature is the fact, while it's a laptop, it has a built-in wired mouse. Now that's some serious innovation! Think different, after all. [Photo credit: MJHagen]
The headless PowerBook
According to the photo's Flickr description, this poor 12-inch PowerBook took a nasty spill down some wooden stairs, resulting in the defacing you see before you. The computer continued to function after losing its head thanks to an external monitor, but after an unfortunate power cord tripping incident led to a more serious tumble (this was before the days of MagSafe after all), it finally met its maker. We salute you for your service, sweet prince. [Photo credit: Brian Pennington]
The iWatch is dead, long live the iWatch
Up until Apple officially unveils a wearable, this little beauty is a close as any of us have ever gotten to an Apple smartwatch. The 6th generation iPod nano is still a pretty impressive little device, and with the ability to view photos, track calories burned, count your steps, play music and record voice memos, it's actually more feature-packed than many devices flying under the smartwatch banner. If (or when) Apple pulls the curtain back on the iWatch, the device it most closely resembles probably won't be something Samsung, Motorola or LG has recently launch, but instead the tiny little media device it introduced way back in 2010. Ahead of its time? Perhaps. Now it's time for round two. [Photo credit: Aaron Muszalski]
PowerBook takes a dive
Ever wonder what a PowerBook would look like after falling from the top of a building? Apparently that's exactly what happened to this poor fella. The photographer who snapped this tragic picture doesn't provide much detail beyond the fact that it was thrown, but judging by the damage the laptop suffered, it looks like it tumbled from higher than the second or third floor. [Photo credit: Aaronx]
The $5 PowerBook
I love my MacBook Air, but I couldn't possibly turn down a deal like this. A fiver for a gorgeous machine like that? Look at that screen, those massive hinges, and that classic trackball embedded right in the center. What a beauty. [Photo credit: Oskay]
