512 Pixels

Daniel Jalkut:

Instagram customers who feel betrayed: you either pay for a product, or it pays for you. Twitter is going the same way, eventually.

In the world of VC-funded services, this is the cold, hard truth.

According to Mac Rumors, the next iPhone might look a lot like a small iPad 2 or 3.

The site describes a phone with a flat back with rounded corners, unibody construction and 4G/LTE connectivity.

While I usually don’t get excited about rumors like this, I can’t help myself this time. That thing looks really good.

David Smith’s InstaBackup app looks like a nice way to grab all your hipstery, filter-laden photos before Facebook sells them to China for a profit.

via @mpanzarino

If RIM calls your ecosystem a cesspool, something’s wrong.

Facebook PR:

Facebook announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.

The total consideration for San Francisco-based Instagram is approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close later this quarter.

Everything was ready, so I figured I’d launch the book a few days early. ( Members have had access since Thursday.)

Thanks to everyone who helped make this project possible. Seriously, I can’t believe this thing is out the door. I sincerely hope you guys enjoy it.

You can download it for your Kindle here, or purchase an iBooks.app-compatible ePub here.

“Sometimes, new technology is not progress.”

Drafts is a new iPhone app that makes capturing and sharing text super easy and super fast.

I like to think of it Launch Center for words. It’s the smartest, most flexible note app I’ve used yet on iOS.

It can send text to Twitter using iOS 5’s built-in account tools. Drafts can also send text directly to Tweetbot, opening the “New Tweet” sheet.

The handy word and character count is great for this usage.

With full Markdown support, I can write in the syntax I’m used to working in. I can preview my Markdown to make sure I didn’t miss an * and then copy it to the clipboard for use in another app or email it, all from within Drafts.

In beta testing, it quickly became my go-to application for just jotting stuff down. Since it saves recent drafts, it’s a great place to stash little notes throughout the day that don’t really belong anywhere else. With so many options to get things out of Drafts, I don’t worry about data lock-in.

Drafts will be available in the iOS App Store on the 9th for just a buck. It’s one of those apps I wonder how I lived without it for so long.

The update uses iCloud to sync Timelines, DMs and mute filters.

Now, where’s that Mac app?

Holy crap.

These are some good tips from Scott Jordan.

Larry Page:

We have always wanted Google to be a company that is deserving of great love. But we recognize this is an ambitious goal because most large companies are not well-loved, or even seemingly set up with that in mind. We’re lucky to have a very direct relationship with our users, which creates a strong incentive for us to do the right thing. For every magic moment we create—like the ability to drop a photo into Google and search by image—we have a very happy user. And when our products don’t work or we make mistakes, it’s easy for users to go elsewhere because our competition is only a click away.

He’s right about that last bit, for sure.