My Web Daily

.@MyWebDaily reviews: A World of Photo

Spin the bottle is no fun on your own. So why not play spin the android instead with A World of Photo. This is a free worldwide multiplayer social game… which is a lot of marketing-type words to describe an app that’s a lot of fun. Spin your handset on a flat surface to determine a direction from which the app will find another player who wants to snap you a picture on their mobile handset, then wait for someone to request an image from you. 

There is a fairly obvious caveat here for younger players and those of a sensitive disposition – this is after all an unmoderated game so you can never be sure of what you will get back. But I’ve played it quite a bit and have been thoroughly intrigued & never shocked or disappointed. 

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Path

Following on from yesterday's post, Path is another social network you should be aware of. It's an app-based  service for iPhone & Android handsets. It’s been around for over a year but recently had a major revamp and is looking pretty promising. Apart from having a very lovely interface, I like the focus of this service, asking you to create a ‘path’ through your life and populate it with pictures, places, music and conversation. It’s kind of what Facebook was trying to do with their Timelines feature, only a lot less cluttered because it’s been designed this way from the bottom up. Linking posts to FaceBook, Twitter and Foursquare means you don’t have to opt out of these networks completely, which is good news for social junkies. This service is simple and elegant enough that it might just make a respectable mark on the social media genre.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Image Composite Editor

If you’ve ever spent hours trying to stitch together a group of photos you’ve taken to make a panorama (like the ones above I took in a Nairobi slum last year), you might thank me for this free application. Microsoft has made a rather clever Image Composite Editor, otherwise known as ICE. This application works beautifully and so quickly. Just drag & drop your collection of photos into the working panel and let the software do all the hard work for you. There is no limit to the size or number of pictures it will work with, and automatic resizing & exposure blending will give you a seamless finish, even if your camera work was a little ropey. Once finished save in your format of choice, or you can publish it to the Photosynth website for other enthusiasts to enjoy. 

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Feedkite

Trawling through a busy FaceBook news feed can be a tiresome activity, but I still like to catch up with the photos my friends have posted from time to time. Feedkite is a Facebook plugin that uses the travel resources built in to the social network monolith to extract albums from various locations, all wrapped up in a nice simple interface - and not a Farmville post or inane comment about what they ate for breakfast in sight!

 

 

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Color

Social networks are all about connecting with people, no matter where they happen to be – but with Color, a free app for iPhone & Android, it’s all about connecting with people in your immediate proximity, sharing photos, video & chat in real-time to give you a unique & multi-faceted view of an event.

It’s hard to imagine the power of this app when you’re using it on your own. In April they showcased it at a film premier in Manhattan, where 49 people took nearly 800 photos from every angle of the red-carpet – and you can see the end results on their website. With prelaunch funding reportedly a mind-blowing $41 million it’s no surprise the app looks and feels well-made – let’s hope that it lives up to the hype when more people climb on board to create the critical mass.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Animoto

Picture sharing sites are all the rage, but don't you wish you could add a little more pizazz to your album distribution? How about adding a banging rock tune and having the pictures animate on and off in a video you can post on Youtube? But that would be far too much work, right? Wrong. Get your browser along to Animoto.com. Click Get Started to begin – you'll need to register then to make either a 30 short, which is completely free, or full length film which you have to pay for!

I'll let the 60 second video above tell you everything else you need to know!

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Aviary

When creativity strikes you need the right tools to take advantage of it – and at aviary.com you’ll find a whole flock of artistic apps to bring creativity to the cloud. This suite provides tools for working with photos, graphics & sound – all named after different types of bird.

This is a great suite of tools for anyone who is in a creative business and wants to share and collaborate in the cloud. The applications look good and are easy to use, with a great range of features to help you make something beautiful. The only slight downside is the amount of time it takes to save large files – but that’s working in the cloud for you. With a range of mobile apps to boast about as well, it seems hard to believe that such powerful creative tools are offered on this website free of charge.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Instagram

Smartphone cameras are so powerful now they can take a pretty good picture, but you can get a little more creative with instagram – a great free iPhone app that helps you create funky, artistic & retro-looking images & then share them with the world. This app has been around for ages & is incredibly popular - recently hitting the 27million users mark. What's even more interesting though is that 67% of those have used the app in the last 24 hours, so it's a thriving active user base. If you haven't downloaded it yet it's definitely worth a look to create interesting pictures - and there is a version for Android handsets coming soon too.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Format126

Format126 is a free iPhone app inspired by retro film and cameras from the 1960's, which treats your  photos with a selection of effects to give them that classic 'Instamatic' appeal. You don't have to be a David Bailey to get on with this app. Just snap a pic, or grab a shot from your camera roll, then play around with the filters until you get a look you like. You can't tweak the settings, but effects do render really quickly, and I love the retro feel of the results.

There are 8 filters to choose from, as well as three extra cropping and framing effects, including vignetting and the classic square format look you got from those old point and shoot cameras. For inspiration take a look at the Flickr group to see what masterpieces other people are creating with this nifty little tool.

.@MyWebDaily reviews: Lightbox Photos

Social sharing on your smartphone is all the rage these days & Lightbox for android is a great free example. Created by a team in London with fairly healthy start-up funding of $1.1 million, the app lets you capture, edit & add effects to your camera-roll, and then share them through the usual social media channels. The app also lets you download photos shared by friends through FaceBook & Twitter – and there is an offline mode for those times when you’re stuck in the middle of a field with no network connection.