Thred for iPhone extends its features beyond the world of filters, hashtags, likes and comments. The app allows you to customise your photos by using stickers, adding location, text, links and adding panels. The way people shares photos on Instagram is evolving. Before sharing photos people use multiple apps for editing, adding text, border and more. Thred for iPhone seems to make this process easier by offering all of this functionality within their app.

One of the more interesting and unique features of the app is the ability to add panels. This is a great way to tell a story about an event or just share related photos with your friends. For example, if you were at a party and took many photos you’d probably only upload one or two photos from the same day. However, with Thred you can create panels and upload multiple photos each with a new look and different descriptions to tell the entire story.

The app is available for iPhone for free. It features many stickers and font options to choose from. The user interface is very easy to follow and understand. Checkout Thred for iPhone and let us know what you think in the comment below.

Michael Fassbender who played the role of Magneto in X-Men First Class and X-Men Days of Future Past was not the first choice for the role of Steve Jobs in the biopic. According to reports Christian Bale was the first choice for the main lead however, the talks didn’t materialise. Names of a number of actors approached for the movie started emerging which included George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson. However, a number of reasons lead to these actors not being involved in the project.

The rights for the book titled “Steve Jobs” written by Isaacson was initially purchased by Sony. Later Sony pulled the plug and now Universal will distribute the movie. The film has been adapted by Aaron Sorkin, know for his work on The West Wing and The Social Network.

The biopic is said to show three 30 minute scenes. Each scene will show launch of three major Apple products that Steve Jobs was a part of: the Macintosh in 1984, NeXT in 1988, and the iPod in 2001.

This isn’t the first movie based on Steve Jobs’ life. “Jobs” featuring Ashton Kutcher was released in 2013. In my view the movie was not the best representation of who Jobs was.

It will be interesting to see how this new movie will show the life of Steve Jobs when it releases in the theatres worldwide.

Snapchat a social networking app popular for sharing photos with friends that self-destruct after a few seconds has had a security breach. The servers of Snapchat were hacked that has resulted in usernames and mobile numbers of over 4.6 million users being exposed and possibly available on the internet.

According to reports, Gibson Security on August 27, 2013 had pointed out flaws in Snapchat’s “Find Friends” feature. The exploits were recently made public and as a result hackers were able to access information from Snapchat servers.

Find Friends is an optional service that asks Snapchatters to enter their phone number so that their friends can find their username. This means that if you enter your phone number into Find Friends, someone who has your phone number in his or her address book can find your username.

Snapchat has posted a blog post acknowledging the security breach and explained how the hackers got the information:

… it was possible for an attacker to use the functionality of Find Friends to upload a large number of random phone numbers and match them with Snapchat usernames. On New Years Eve, an attacker released a database of partially redacted phone numbers and usernames. No other information, including Snaps, was leaked or accessed in these attacks.

This security breach is clearly a result of Snapchat not working quick enough to patch the security holes in time. The flaws had been exposed 4 months ago however, the company failed to take action which has now resulted in 4.6 million unhappy users.

The developers are now working on an updated version of the app that will allow users to opt-out of Find Friends feature and will be “improving rate limiting and other restrictions” to avoid such attacks.

Snapchat was recently approached by Facebook for acquisition for about $3 billion however, the company refused the offer. The social networking app to share photos and short video clips is popular among teenagers. Sharing photos without leaving any tracks behind has proved to a successful strategy behind Snapchat’s user base.

Gibson Security has put up a website “GS Lookup – Snapchat” to allow users to check if their details were stolen by entering their username on the website. The site notes that only specific areas of America were included. It also suggests some steps you could take in case your details were stolen.

This is not the first time such a security breach has happened in a social networking application. Recently even Skype was targeted by hackers during the holiday season.

On Thursday, Twitter launched the music app that was nothing but a rumor for the past several weeks. Twitter released the app early Thursday, and called it Twitter #music, with a hashtag in the title to reflect the popular feature from the social networking site. The app integrates a number of other music streaming services such as Rdio and Spotify and also shows previews from iTunes.

All of the music in the app will give users a preview until they log into their Spotify Premium or Rdio account. Twitter also introduced the service on the web for users who stream music on their computers and for those who use Spotify or Rdio on the web on a regular basis. Twitter #music uses Twitter as its main source of music and aggregates the most popular emerging artists and songs and also utilizes a user’s follow lists to recommend other music that the user may like.

Twitter #music is very similar to something such as Apple’s Genius suggestions in iTunes, but uses other music streaming services and Twitter to aggregate and recommend new music. ABC News released more specific details on the Twitter #music app:

The Popular page shows you new music that’s trending across Twitter while the Emerging tab shows “hidden talent found in tweets.” While those two parts feed you information about what the collective Twitterverse is jamming to, the last two focus on who you follow and your personal music taste.

The Suggested tab shows artists you might like based on the artists you follow on the service and who they follow. And finally the #NowPlaying tab shows songs your friends are listening to or tweeting about. For instance, if your friend tweets that they are listening to a song by Justin Bieber, that song will show up on that page.

Twitter #music is now available as a free download on the App Store {Direct Link} and on the web.

{Via MacRumors}

According to a report from Bloomberg, popular social networking and microblogging service, Twitter is planning to introduce a standalone music app, being called ‘Twitter Music’. The app will bring streaming music capabilities to iOS users, similar to other services such as Pandora and Spotify.

The report does note, however, that streaming will rely on Berlin, Germany based SoundCloud. SoundCloud allows for artists to upload their music via a web URL, which can then be embedded on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Users can then leave comments on the music and interact with one another, which is likely what is attracting Twitter to creating such a service.

News of Twitter’s new venture has been relatively recent, with music labels hearing about it earlier this week and a report from CNet noting that Twitter had acquired music discovery service, We Are Hunted last year. We Are Hunted is a San Francisco based company that allows users to discover music from blogs, social networks, and BitTorrents and organizes them in a tile-based format for easy access.

With the new ‘Twitter Music’ app, Twitter would be competing with other social networks such as Facebook and Instagram which have been making a number of changes to their services. This includes Facebook’s new Graph Search feature and News Feed. Twitter appears to be targeting iOS specifically, having also introduced video sharing app, Vine to the platform.

{Via AppleInsider}

Apple introduced its “Find My Friends” application in late 2011 with iOS 5, allowing iOS users to track their friends in real time, and display their own location using the GPS on their device. Now it seems that Facebook has something similiar in mind.

According to Bloomberg, the social networking giant is working on a location based app similiar to “Find My Friends” which would allow users to automatically share their location with their Facebook friends. The application would run in the background so it can consistently update the location of the user and friends of the user.

The app, scheduled for release by mid-March, is designed to help users find nearby friends and would run even when the program isn’t open on a handset, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.

The team developing Facebook’s location software is being led by Peter Deng, a product director who joined from Google in 2007, one person said. The group also includes engineers from Glancee, a location-tracking startup Facebook acquired in May, and Gowalla, a location-based social network whose assets were purchased in December 2011, the person said.

Although Apple was the first to introduce an app with this technology, it seems more practical for Facebook who would have a existing and significantly larger user base. The social networking site could also use the locations of its users to further understand a person’s likes and dislikes, which can be used for advertising purposes.

Facebook will likely give users the option to turn off their feature if they wish, as they have done with their Photo Sync feature. It is unclear how many users would feel comfortable having Facebook automatically upload their location, let alone use it for ad purposes.

{Via iMore}

With new features such as Graph Search coming to Facebook, it appears that the social networking site is looking to challenge search giant, Google. Facebook is now beginning to add new features all around, including Voice Calling to the site’s iOS Messenger app. Voice Calling through the Facebook iOS Messenger app is currently available in both the US and in Canada.

According to The Verge, the Voice Calling feature was previously limited to Canada but is now being opened up to users in the United States. The feature arrived as an update in early January, and appears to be similar to Google’s Voice feature.

What this means is that if you live in the US, you can now call other Facebook users for free over Wi-Fi or using your phone’s data connection while you’re on the go. When you call someone, a push notification appears on their screen that says “Ellis Hamburger is calling,” for example. The feature is especially critical for people with bad cell service at work or at home, and for those who want to conserve cell phone minutes. It’s also a huge step for Facebook — which with a single feature emerges as one of the largest communities of VoIP users in the world. Yes, competitors Viber, Vonage, and Skype have had the feature for some time, but all have much smaller user bases.

With Voice Calling, Facebook has an upper edge over Google, particularly because of its existing user base, and because it is a social networking site as opposed to Google’s email and search service. It is also competing with other services such as Skype. Facebook Messenger will now allow the already popular iPod touch to become a calling device for teenagers, particularly because the device is targeted towards that age-group.

Voice calling can be accessed by opening the Facebook Messenger application, opening up a chat with a friend, and click the ‘i’ button. After the page appears, a button should say “Free Call”, which will then connect the two users to a voice call. Not all Facebook users are currently able to use the feature as it is slowly rolling out across the United States. Facebook Messenger is currently available as a free app on the iOS App Store [Direct Link].

{Image via Mashable}

Starting today with Facebook Gifts, you can instantly gift your friends iTunes digital gifts and recommend albums, movies, games, apps, and more available on the iTunes Store.

Search for a specific song or album to recommend, or let your friend decide. iTunes digital gifts are available for $10, $15, $25, or $50.

According to AllThingsD, the partnership between Apple and Facebook includes Facebook into a $260 million dollar business for third-party businesses which equates to about 13% of total sales.

So that adds up to around, say, a $260 million-dollar market size for physical iTunes cards split among participating retailers, of which Facebook will now be an active participant. That pie is small compared to Facebook’s overall revenue ($3.71 billion in 2011), but another digital product with less overhead and high demand is definitely a win for Facebook’s Gifts department

This partnership will help both Facebook and Apple, which have had issues working together in the past, particularly during negotiations over Facebook being integrated into Apple’s iTunes based social network, Ping. Ping was Apple’s failed social media experiment and frayed the relationship between the two companies.

However, the two companies worked together to integrate Facebook into iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Now, Facebook can benefit from selling the iTunes gift cards through its service and Apple can benefit from increased sales of the gift cards, as well as more iTunes users.

{Via MacRumors}

That’s not to say that Instagram isn’t a great app, it is, but there are better apps out there and Wood Camera for iPhone is certainly one of them, do read on though and I’ll tell you why.

Lenses are one of the main things users of camera apps like to use and Wood Camera has 23 of these, they’re your standard lenses but something that is unique about them is the ability to take pictures with the filter enabled. This can save you a lot of time if you have a lot of pictures that you want to take and add lens effects too.

Applying filters is just one of many adjustments that you can make to your pictures with 17 different textures, 12 frames and my favorite features of the vignettes which enables you to highlight specific areas of the photographs.

All of these features come with the ability to apply how big the effect is via a slider which puts you in control of how your photographs looks. Applying all of these features is easy to do with all the options available along the bottom of the screen.

You can also easily take a quick full screen view of your creation via a switch at the top of the screen and from a technical perspective Wood Camera will import your iPhone 4S pictures at the full 8 mega-pixel resolution to ensure that your pictures can look as best as possible.

Of course it’s no good creating this these pieces of art if you can’t share them with the world and there are no shortage of options there either. All of the major social networks are there from Twitter and Facebook to Flickr and even Instagram as well as to your camera roll or via email.

One final nice option is the ability to have Wood Camera launch to the photo taking screen meaning that it can be a true replacement to the stock camera application.

So if you are one of those people who wasn’t happy when Instagram were brought by Facebook or are just looking for a great camera / picture editing app then Wood Camera for iPhone could be just the app for you and is available for $1.99 from Apple’s App Store.

What we like

• Use filters while taking pictures
• Multiple editing options
• Launch to camera option

What to know

• No iPad version

Facebook, one of the world’s leading social media websites has moved ahead with plans to solidify their efforts in the editing and distribution of photos by purchasing photography app, Instagram.

Instagram, a popular iPhone app, recently added to Android as well was introduced in 2010 for iPhone, and has since grown to include over 30 million registered accounts.

Facebook announced on Monday that they are buying out the company for $1 billion USD and will be bringing the 13 employees over to Facebook to help the social network with other image and photography solutions.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new acquisition in one of his blog posts, noting that Facebook will be “keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.”

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

Instagram has gained lots of attention since its introduction, being named Apple’s iPhone app of the year for 2011. The company has achieved great milestones, specifically in adding new users, creating new features, and devising a simple and easy to use software to edit photos and share them. This is exactly what Facebook has been looking for, and this acquisition will likely benefit them greatly.

{via MacRumors}

Google’s Orkut social networking service has finally received an iPhone app. On Wednesday, Google introduced Orkut for iPhone, allowing users of Google’s social networking site, access the service on the go.

The official Orkut app for iOS connects you to your friends and family. Now you can send scraps, see your friends updates, upload photos and browse your friends albums anywhere you go. Never miss a conversation again because you are not in front of your computer: get the free Orkut app and stay connected.

• Update your status
• Check your scraps and messages
• Reply to your friends birthdays
• Check your friends updates
• Browse your friends profiles, scraps and photos
• Take new photos and upload them directly to your Orkut albums
• Share your life anywhere, anytime with the people you care about

Although not as popular as Facebook, Orkut as gained a large amount of users from Brazil and India, with almost 80% of its users residing in those two countries. Orkut is also used in countries where Google+ is not available.

Google+ is currently offered in the United States, and with Facebook leading the way, Orkut is still lagging behind in international markets. Orkut for iPhone is now available in the App Store for Free and utilizes all features of the desktop version, similar to Google+.

{via iMore}

A new social networking application called Color hit the App Store today, and unlike any other social network this one uses location-based technology to share photos, comments, and videos with other Color users located within 150 feet. Instead of adding friends or following other users, the network works on location data alone to provide a list of other Color users in close proximity, allowing you to enjoy the photographs they’ve uploaded.

It’s a unique new way of interacting with other people that requires no login ID or password, no friending, and more importantly no way of controlling who can and cannot view the pictures you’ve uploaded. Bill Nguyen, one of Color’s creators, described the application to the Associated Press:

“The days of having to say anything are done. There’re no more profiles, there’s no more friending, there’s no more electronic dog fence created by Facebook. It’s all over. This is the post-PC world. It’s a brand new way of sharing.”

Color has instantly rocketed into the limelight since its launch thanks to the team behind the application, Color Lab, which consists Bill Nguyen, founder of Lala (purchased by Apple); Peter Pham of BillShrink; and DJ Patil, former chief scientist of LinkedIn. The company secured a whopping $41 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank before the application was even launched.

Privacy is of course a concern for Color users – with no way of limiting who can view your photos, they’re free for anyone to take a look at once they’re published. The company’s privacy terms for the application states:

“When you create content using our app, that content is immediately published to any unique user who has the app open near you, and often to unique users with whom you’ve had past contact with (whether they are geographically close or not). That content is also published and available for viewing through various social media sites. Unique users can view your content and can send to anyone a link to your content, the content of other unique users, or compilations that include your content. Anyone: from grandparents to bosses.”

Despite the application’s backing and the brains behind the whole idea, Color still hasn’t gotten off to a great start in its iOS debut. A slow takeoff means that early adopters don’t really have enough users around them to interact with, and this, coupled with software bugs and slow loading times, means the application has received bad ratings and reviews in the App Store. However, we’ll give it a little more time before brandishing it a flop.