Instagram has broken its self-imposed mold and is now allowing users to bypass the square photo format in favor of landscape and portrait-oriented images.
smartphone apps
Posted inIn Brief
Miss Your Disposable Camera? There’s an App for That
If we’re so fed up with the performativity that accompanies technological advances in photography, why don’t we just trash our iPhones and revert to real Polaroids?
Posted inOpinion
Why Do Short Messaging Platforms Matter?
SAN FRANCISCO — The day before the WhatsApp acquisition was announced, I was just using the app. It’s one of many mobile messaging platforms I use, along with Viber, Line, and WeChat. I used WhatsApp to chat with friends as far away and diverse as Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Western Europe, and with all the other short-messaging apps, I’m regularly chatting with a good chunk of the world.
Posted inOpinion
Finally, a Mobile Way to Explore Nollywood
Chew on this … the Nigerian film industry, aka “Nollywood,” overtook Hollywood in 2009 in terms of the number of films produced, and it is outdone only by Bollywood.
Posted inArt
Experimental iPhone App Lets You Paint Light With Noise
It’s no secret New York City is noisy, from subway platforms where readings have been recorded over 100 decibels to the construction zones constantly tearing down and redeveloping all over the five boroughs. Yet when I was walking around and experimenting with artist Dylan Römer’s new iOS app Sonograph, the abundance of noise became even more apparent. The app uses the iPhone or iPad to record video, or just a photograph, that is then distorted based on the sound coming into the microphone, letting you “paint light with noise.”
Posted inArt
Take a Walk in an Eerie Swedish Forest, All on Your iPhone
“We are not supposed to know what happens in the future,” states the first character you encounter in Year Walk, an iOS game released last month that pushes the boundaries of what experiences can be created through mobile gaming. More than just a series of puzzles or point-and-click game, Year Walk merges myths of Swedish folklore, setting you on a “year walk,” which is a tradition of going out on one’s own at midnight at the end of the year to glimpse into the future. The game itself is beautiful, appearing like layered paper art in washed out tones, but it’s the experience of unsettling, escalating horror that involves sound, confusion, and surreal moments that builds it all into something that’s different from other games out there.
Posted inOpinion
A New Way to Create Shareable, Collaborative Digital Zines
When it comes to sharing content online, we’re spoiled by choice. You can post pictures to your Tumblr or Facebook, videos to YouTube or Vine, and words to … pretty much anything. But what those formats lack is a way to control the narrative of what you post. The Facebook photo album, it should be said, lacks something in novelistic drama. Thankfully, there’s a new app that makes turning your images into digital magazines easier than ever.
Posted inOpinion
Is Flickr’s New App an Instagram Killer?
I was working on this review of Flickr’s new smartphone app when the online world started to grumble about Instagram and some matters that should concern us all.
Posted inSponsored
The Art & Absinthe Guide to Brooklyn
Pernod Absinthe Superieure, creator of art history’s most inspirational spirit, has teamed up with WAGMAG, the Brooklyn art guide, to bring you mobile interaction with the thriving arts community of Brooklyn, NY.
This app features WAGMAG’S monthly gallery and events listings, as well as the best cocktail lounges in the arty-party nabe of Williamsburg. The app features GPS mapping guiding you to the nearest art-and-drinks hot spots, and Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare integration so you can know who is where and what’s happening – right now.
The Art & Absinthe Guide to Brooklyn has just been improved to offer an even better user experience, with easier navigation and more geo-location capabilities.
Posted inNews
Smile! Yoko Ono’s App Will Send It Around The World
Leave it to Yoko Ono to create one of the cheeriest, global participatory art projects with an iPhone.
Posted inArt
The Soundscape of LA Via GPS
LOS ANGELES — For LA’s drivers, the city passes by in a blur, a city protected by glass and one’s own soundtrack. Every experienced Angeleno has a driving mix, a series of podcasts, and, of course, favorite radio stations, to keep them occupied while scooting (or crawling) around town. LA is often a city that’s seen but so rarely heard. Enter the Made in LA Sound Map, a GPS-based iPhone app that detects where you are and automatically plays an interview.
Posted inArt
A Gyroscope Camera App Remembers Where You Were Looking
LOS ANGELES — The beautiful thing about photography is that it captures a moment in time, a presence, a place. But what’s missing is the sense of direction. Now, there’s an app for that.
