Amazon brings Cloud Drive Photos app to Android, keeps your shots safe

Looks like releasing its first in-house-built mobile game for Android (and other platforms) wasn't quite enough for the online retail giant. Amazon announced earlier that its Cloud Drive Photos application is now available on Android for both handset and tablets, giving users of Google's OS a cloud-based hub to use for uploading, saving, sharing and viewing pictures -- of course this also includes the retailer's kind handout of 5G of free storage, though folks could easily upgrade to 20GB for a $10 per-year fee. The Cloud Drive Photos app is up for download now, so hit that Google Play link below if you're looking foryet another place to keep all those awesome shots you snap with your device.

[Source: Engadget]

Facebook starts really, truly deleting removed photos

For those who haven't kept track, Facebook has had a years-long history of only maybe-sort-of-more-or-less purging our photos: they could be removed from a profile, but they would sometimes float around the site's content delivery networks for months or years, just waiting for a prospective employer to spot those embarrassing frosh week snapshots by accident. As Ars Technica discovered through experiments and official remarks, that problem should now be solved. In the wake of a months-long photo storage system migration and an updated deletion policy, Facebook now won't let removed photos sit for more than 30 days in the content network stream before they're scrubbed once and for all. The improved reaction time isn't as rapid as for a service like Instagram, where photos vanish almost immediately, but it might be a lifesaver for privacy advocates -- or just anyone who's ever worn a lampshade on their head in a moment of insobriety.

[Source: Engadget]

Path unveils 2.5: Larger photos, movie sharing, and a 'nudge'

Path, the social-networking app designed to keep users in touch with family and close friends, rolled out a major update this evening for the iPhone and Android platforms that brings a variety of new features, including the ability to "nudge" friends.

Version 2.5 of the app, the first major update to the mobile app since November 2011, introduces book and movie sharing, larger images, and new photo editing tools.

Photos will now appear larger in home feeds, and users will have the option of adding filters. Users can snap photos by touching the volume button or immediately switch to capturing video with a single tap of the video screen.

The new version also allows users to share movies and books with friends, as well as get reviews and actor and author information without leaving Path.

"It's our hope that these additions to Path allow [users] to watch and read what your friends are watching and reading," the company said in a company blog post announcing the rollout.

Path streamlined the intro process with a short tour called Path 101 designed to get new users up and running more quickly.

One of the more interesting new features of the app allows users to "nudge" inactive friends and family. Like Facebook's "poke," the feature encourages inactive friends to post what they've been up to. It also allows users to send friend suggestions to friends and add personal voice messages.

[Source: cnet]

 

Glopho launches the world’s first social network for news photos

Today sees the launch of Glopho, a unique online photo-sharing service designed specifically to allow anyone to “make the news” with the pictures they take. Now the millions of people with a camera in their pocket, budding amateur photographers or seasoned professionals can all share the moments they capture and the crowd can decide what is news.
 
The riots, the Royal procession or the dog on a skateboard; any photo can be easily and immediately shared via the Glopho website and mobile apps and then onwards through Facebook, Twitter or other social channels. Glopho is completely free to use and takes ‘citizen photo-journalism’ to new levels by introducing unique crowd-sourcing and news curation elements to photo-sharing.
 
Glopho is complementary to existing social networks.  It allows everyone to easily share the pictures they take not just with their friends and family, but with the wider world.  Users can follow their favourite photographers and their friends to see all the news they share, every day.
 
The Glopho website shows photos in a rolling format in simple category windows - Reality, Locality and Celebrity – alongside the Users’ Choice, Editor’s Choice and Latest images.  Pictures carry the photographer’s own description to explain the ‘what, where and when’ and can be tagged to make them easy to find.  Users can personalise their homepage to show their own photos and those of their friends, as well as the other photographers they follow.
 
Glopho apps are available in both iPhone and Android versions to make it even easier for people to post their pictures and enjoy looking at Glopho while on the go. Those using digital cameras rather than smartphones can upload their pictures via their computer or laptop.
 
Founder and CEO of Glopho, Simon Walker, said:
 
“I have believed for some time that we are all now news photographers and just need an easy and effective way to share with the outside world the pictures we take each day. News is happening all around us and, more than ever, we are well-equipped to capture those moments digitally.  The explosion of social media has also given us, both as individuals and collectively, a bigger voice than ever.  Glopho harnesses these phenomena and provides the perfect space to share what we witness and decide together what we call news.”              
 
Glopho is the brainchild of award-winning photojournalist and picture editor Simon Walker, now founder and CEO of Glopho.  The idea and the business he has created has been developed over the last two years. Thorough Beta testing has allowed iterative development and the creation of the current proposition which is launched fully to the public today. Further developments including new features and improved app usability are scheduled to be released over the next 2 months, with releases planned for every 2-3 weeks.
 
Glopho’s revenue model will see it earning money in two ways.  Firstly, from advertisers paying to launch their own ‘premium galleries’, allowing them to get greater value from increasingly content-led social marketing strategies.  Secondly, Glopho will take a share of the fees earned by photographers when pictures are sold to news and other outlets wanting to use any images from the site.
 
In its recent first round of funding, Glopho closed an SEIS-eligible round of £150k, corner-stoned by a London Business Angels Network syndicate, and joined by a number of other experienced private investors.
 
Glopho is run by a top flight management team of experienced senior professionals including founder Simon Walker (CEO), Erik Wenngren (Chairman), James Serjeant (CFO), Richard Ireland (CMO) and Karl Knoflach (CTO).