So what’s the big deal about Instagram?

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Okay I admit I’m late to the game. The app has been out for a while now. I’ll also admit I’m only checking it out because I was bored. Apps like these are a dime and dozen on the App Store, so what makes Instagram kind of special? I mean there’s tweets and blog posts about how this is going to kill Flickr. So what’s the big deal right? 

It make photosharing easy and cross posts to all the well known social platforms, with a twist: It comes with a bunch of filters that would make your photos look like oldshool polaroid takes.

I only wish it shared a link via Flickr, if you chose to cross post. I certainly see why they would want to use their own image hosting on top to attract new users. So I guess it’s no big deal since I can push a copy to Flickr during or after the post. 

1 caveat, there’s not enough filters. It’s like cowbells, you can never have enough cowbells. 

Bottom line it’s fun it’s easy and it’s ridiculously oldschool. 

PS: I highly doubt this will ever kill Flickr. That’s even more ridiculous than the oldschool-ness of this app. 

iOS 4.3 now allows FaceTime from iPhone 4 to email address

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Back in iOS 4.1 release the iPod touch was first given the ability to initiate FaceTime through email addresses. Then FaceTime for Mac came out of beta and it functioned the same. Then iPad 2 announcements came about, once again FaceTime was initiated through email. Finally after iOS 4.3 release the iPhone 4 (GSM model) now allows for the same FaceTime functionalities. 

I didn’t see this mentioned anywhere, felt like sharing. 

8 GB RAM installed!

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Just got the package from Newegg and installed the brand spanking new 8 GB of DDR3-1066 RAM into my mid-2010 MacBook Pro. Paid $74.99 and got free shipping! I can already feel the advantages of more RAM, this upgrade is a great performance enhancement! Considering this upgrade used to cost $1200, the price I paid is a steal. 

2 things down: Momentus XT, more memory (you can never have enough memory). 

Now the save for SSD begins. 

 

iWork + Box.net WebDAV = must have for iPad

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I have been searching for a WebDAV compatible cloud storage service since I started playing with Pages on the iPad. 16 GB is plenty for storage if you’re only doing word processing and simple spreadsheets but since Apple gimped the iPad’s file manager (it’s non-existent), I had to resort to some Googling to finally settling on using Box.net. 

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Apple’s iWork suite for iPad (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) natively support MobileMe’s iDisk function. But a MobileMe subscription costs $99! There are so many free cloud storage services nowadays that charging for $99 a year is just outrageous. If Dropbox can give me 2 GB for free with a dead easy sync app for every platform, why would I pay for MobileMe to get iDisk that’s supported by Apple devices only? That’s stupid, roll out free MobileMe or die. 

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So if you’re like me and is unwilling to sync with iTunes to get at the files created on your iPad, here’s how to get WebDAV working with Box.net. 

  1. Sign up with Box. 
  2. Setup Box’s WebDAV details with iWork apps. 

Server: http://box.net/dav
Username: your Box username
Password: your Box password

Done. 

PS: Dropbox can be extended with WebDAV functions using a 3rd party called DropDAV. It works relatively well and is painless to setup, but I wrote this for Box because it had native WebDAV support. There is however a problem with Box, there is no Mac desktop client. Kind of silly if you think about it. So if you prefer Dropbox (I always have) then check out DropDAV. 

It may be time to give Netflix Canada another shot

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I signed up for a trial and kept it for 3 months when Netflix first launched in Canada and the content available was horrendous compared to the US. Things have changed in the few months since and now into Q1 of 2011 Netflix is steadily adding more content to the Canadian market daily. 

If this continues I may once again consider subscribing to Netflix and this time probably keep it for good. 

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