Flipboard launches direct sharing on iOS, makes magazines from your friends' suggestions

If you've ever stumbled across a Flipboard article that you just had to share with the world, you'll want to grab the iOS app's latest update. The new version lets you share articles directly from the app, delivering notifications to friends if they're already Flipboard readers. All shared articles now show up in a central area, and you can turn this list into a magazine if your friends have impeccable taste. Flipboard hasn't said when Android and Windows users will get to spread the literary wealth, but we'd expect a corresponding app upgrade before long.

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Via: Inside Flipboard

Source: App Store

Tags: app, flipboard, ios, ipad, iphone, mobilepostcross, reading, smartphone, tablet, video Next: Dish and Sprint to trial fixed LTE broadband in Texas
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Weekly Roundup: Instagram Direct, Jawbone Up24 review, Samsung's EMC lab and more!

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Instagram launches Instagram Direct, lets you share photos and videos privately with friends

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Instagram is turning its successful photo and video-sharing service into a communication platform, with the introduction of private messaging. It’s called Instagram Direct, and will be available with version 5.0 of the mobile app, rolling out to iOS and Android users today. A release date for the Windows Phone app, however, wasn’t disclosed.

Instagram has added a new icon in the top-right hand corner of the home screen, which will reveal an inbox full of photos and videos that other users have shared to you specifically. Furthermore, when you go to capture an image or clip with the camera button, you’ll see two new sharing options: Followers and Direct.

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Instagram debuts Direct, letting users share photos and videos with select friends

Invite blocks in hand, we've braved the cold New York weather to pop by Instagram's big event. Naturally, the photo sharing service kicked off with some bullish numbers, noting that it has grown from 80 million to 150 million users this year. But the company's CEO, Kevin Systrom, noted that today was all about looking forward to 2014. The big news was the announcement of Instagram Direct, a way of limiting specific photos and videos to select groups of up to 15 friends (a number the CEO noted serendipitously, is the same as the number of seconds you can shoot in Instgraam video) . The feature exists as a module in the Share To section of the app, showing a drop down of your friends. From there you can select who you want to receive a specific image or video, so if you want to, say, take a picture of your brunch, not every single follower has to look at your scrambled eggs.

All of the "moments" shared through the feature live in an inbox, so you can check out all of those photos in a private feed. Only people you follow can send you images and photos through direct and vice versa. If someone you don't follow attempts to send you something, you'll see a request from them. If you know the person but aren't interested in following them (too many scrambled eggs photos, no doubt), you can chose to receive direct moments from them without following them -- and you can always take them off that list at any time. When the user is still in pending mode, you wont be able to see the image they're sending, making it easier to ignore them.

You can send photos and videos with text, but not text alone, naturally. Images and videos, Systrom added, is what the new feature is all about. According to Systrom, the new feature is all about "connecting people around moments." Once a friend looks at the image, you'll see a check mark next to it. If they like it, you'll see a heart. It's not quite the ephemeral Snapchat-inspired update a number of outlets were predicted, but it'll likely push Instagram usage up even further, as users become less selective about what they send through the service. The update is available in the 5.0 versions of the iOS and Android apps today, by way of the Apple App Store and Google Play, just in time for selective holiday image sending. More info can be found in the source link below.

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Source: Instagram

Tags: instagram, photo, photos Next: Eye-Fi's Windows desktop receiver means you can say goodbye to the SD-card reader .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Instagram Introduces Instagram Direct

Today at a press event in New York, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom has announced that the photo-sharing service is introducing private photo-sharing and messaging. The feature is called Instagram Direct.

Instagram has always been a mostly public social network, with a broadcast structure instead of connections based on mutual friendship, like Facebook. The introduction of Instagram Direct marks a new phase for the company.

Now, users who follow each other will be able to send each other private chat-like messages, which can include photos or videos (of course). Previously, users have only been able to like or publicly comment on pictures.

Here’s how it works:

When you go in to post a picture (the same way that you’ve been posting pictures on Instagram), you’ll see two new tabs on the top of the post: Followers and Direct.

With Direct, you can choose a specific friend and type a special message, and that goes only to your friend. Once that friend opens up the photo, their profile picture within the message gets a check mark, noting that it’s been read. Users can also like direct photo messages, and chat can ensue from there.

You can send Direct messages up to 15 people, and Instagram Direct also offers up suggested recipients.

When you receive a photo, you’ll see a little inbox icon on the top right corner of the app, which will send you directly to your new messages. You can chat privately one-on-one or with a group of people.

People who mutually follow each other can easily send messages to each other. If you don’t follow someone, and they’ve sent you a direct message, it’ll show up as a pending request rather than a received message in your private inbox.

When you accept, that person can henceforth send you direct messages that will land in your inbox.

Instagammers can not send text-only messages to each other, but must send pictures to start the chat function.

Users have had some options for privacy on the network, with the option to block certain users or mark your profile as private, which means you must accept follow requests.

But the move toward a more private, precious Instagram makes sense.

Messaging adds a new layer of engagement to the app. Users can now start up a conversation, which shouldn’t be difficult considering they’re watching their friends lives unfold in pictures.

Here’s a video preview:

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