With the updated apps, you’ll be able to add people to photos for the first time. All you have to do is snap your picture, apply your favorite filter, and in the publishing phase of the process you’ll see a new “Add People” button. From there, you can tag friends, businesses, or anyone and anything with a username.

Of course, you’ve always been able to tag people on Instagram. But before, the tagging system worked a lot like Twitter – you could @ mention users but that’s about it. There was really no way of telling whether the photo’s @ mention was simply there to direct the user to it, or if it meant that user was actually in the photo.

“Photos are memories of the people, places and moments that mean the most to us. We have always sought to give you simple and expressive ways to bring the stories behind your photos to life. Your captions and hashtags capture the ‘what?’ and your Photo Map answers the ‘where?’ but until today we’ve never quite been able to answer the ‘who?’” says Instagram.

All of the photos you’re tagged in will now appear in a new profile section called “Photos of You.” The new feature will have all the same privacy settings of Facebook photos – mainly you’ll be able to control whether or not any tagged photo appears in your Photos of You section. You can adjust your settings to make sure you have to approve every tagged photo before it pops up for everyone to see.

Instagram is giving users until May 16th to familiarize themselves with the tagging feature before everyone’s Photos of You sections go public.

This new feature comes in version 3.5 on both iOS and Android. This update also adds a “report a problem” button to the app and also puts your privacy settings accesible on your profile screen.

Since hitting the Google Play store on Friday, nearly 4,000 users reviews have been logged (3.955). And out of those nearly 4,000 reviews, nearly half of them have given the app group a 1-star rating.

Just over 47%, actually. There are nearly three times as many 1-star ratings as 5-star ratings.

Let’s take a look at some of the 1-star reviews, shall we?

Not an intuitive app. Made my phone so frustratingly complicated to use that I uninstalled after just four or five hours. Unless major changes are made including an easy way to get to my home screen I will not reinstall.

Cool way to use facebook, but with no support for my other widgets, it limits my phone. If I wanted a single company to take over my homescreen appearance, I could use an iphone.

This home app is garbage! Sucks your battery down. Doesn’t let other widgets run. And, to much stuff from people’s profile in your face 24/7.

What the hell is facebook home doing? It’s a homescreen that invades your phone. There s no way at all to access your widgets…can’t see weather, time, nothing…what a big dud!

So, it looks like the major complaints are that it’s invasive, doesn’t play well with others, and drains battery. To be fair, there are plenty of good and even great reviews for Facebook Home – but the negative outweighs the positive in a big way.

As of right now, the average rating is a lackluster 2.4 out of 5.

The way the Google Play operates, reviews are only accepted by people wo have actually downloaded the app in question. So we can assume that the majority of the nearly 1,900 1-star reviews are from people who are legitimately unimpressed with the app. By comparison, the basic Facebook app has a 3.6 average rating, Facebook Messenger sports a 4.4 average rating, and Facebook Pages Manager has a 3.8 average rating. So far, Facebook Home is the bad apple of the group.

Speaking at the Big Tent Summit in India earlier, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt made a sort of off-handed remark about Google Now and whether we’ll be seeing it pop up for iOS in the near future.

“You’ll need to discuss that with Apple,” Schmidt said. “Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of them they approve and some of them they don’t.”

Not exactly crystal in its clarity, but it suggests that Google Now for iOS’ fate currently rests in the hands of Apple.

Now, Apple is denying this. According to CNET, Apple told them that Google Now has not even been submitted to the App Store for approval. Apparently, Schmidt is misinformed, at best.

Nearly a year ago, Google Now launched at an Android-exclusive product. It may be coming to Chrome pretty soon, but it looks like its fate on iOS, if it exists, is up in the air.

Last week, a video “leaked” (or surfaced, depending on whether not not you feel it’s legitimate) showing Google Now for iOS. It looks official enough, and it led many to believe that Google Now would be heading to iPhone and iPad sooner than later.

Yahoo has released two major updates for flickr today – one for iOS and the other for the Web version. The iOS app received much of the attention as it now features a number of enhancements that has the venerable photo service becoming more like Instagram.

The first thing you’ll notice about the new flickr app is that it encourages users to take pictures with the app and play around with it using all the new filters within the app. Photos can also be corrected and cropped from within the app.

After that, users can share their flickr photos on any number of social media outlets, including Twitter. Unlike Instagram, flickr photos will show up on Twitter cards. Beyond that, users can upload unlimited photos from their camera rolls, and take advantage of all the site features on flickr proper.

The photos themselves now contain accompanying details like geotags, which camera was used, and the people tagged in said photo. Users can also pinch-to-zoom on photos and no quality will be lost for high resolution photos. It’s especially helpful for those who want to take a close look at fine details.

The final addition to the iOS app is improved discoverability. The app makes it easier to find photos from friends and photographers that you follow. The app also features a new Explore tab that’s always updated with the latest most interesting photos.

The iOS app wasn’t the only flickr product to be updated as the original Web site has also received a few upgrades. The Web site now features a new navigation bar and a new Explore page. The navigation bar has been shortened and simplified. It will be rolling out to users over the next few days. As for the Explore page, the photos have been aligned in a justified format so that it’s easy to view the most interesting photos uploaded in the past 24 hours.

You can grab the new iOS app from the App Store now.

After a month of waiting, Android users will finally be rewarded for their patience. An insider at Facebook told Engadget that the social network is in the final testing phase for its new native Android app. The original Facebook app for Android was built off of HTML5, and was either bad or awful depending on your device. Going native should help fix most of the problems that plague the current app.

Unfortunately, there is no time frame for when the new app will be available. It could become available this week, or it could become available at the end of the year. Facebook’s testing periods can be notoriously long if they feel that the product isn’t up to snuff just yet.

As such, Facebook had better make sure their first native Android app is perfect when it launches. Mobile is becoming increasingly important to Facebook. Android is especially important as a NPD study from May found that 70 percent of Android users use their phones primarily for Facebook. That’s a massive market that Zuckerberg and pals can tap into for some of that sweet mobile ad revenue.

I know I’m not alone when I wish that Facebook would hurry up with the new Android app. Hopefully this news means that it’s on the fast track to getting out of their hands, and into ours.

Today, they’re finally launching the I’m Voting app, which was first announced in early July as one of the key products of the Facebook/CNN partnership.

“With Election Day right around the corner, it’s time for everyone to get involved, understand the issues, and make a commitment to participate. We believe that the power of friends – the social dynamic that creates a societal impact — will result in a more involved citizenry that turns out on Election Day, informed about the most critical issues facing the nation,” says Facebook’s U.S. Politics & Government Team.

When you first launch the app, you’ll be asked to take a very simple voting pledge. all you have to do it click “Yes, I’m voting” to get started. If you don’t want to make that kind of a crazy commitment (?), you can skip it and head on to the meat of the app.

The I’m Voting dashboard consists of questions, maps, results breakdowns, and a comment section – everything you need to get the political discussions going. Users can cycle through questions like…

What’s your political leaning?
Which issue matter most to you?
If the election were held today, who’d get your vote?
Should the public be able to see all of a candidate’s previous tax returns?
Should Americans be required to have health insurance?
Should states be able to enact tougher immigration laws than the federal government’s?

…and many more. You can click on “Support” for whichever position you choose and then decide if you want that answer pushed to your Timeline and your friends’ news feeds & tickers by simply checking or unchecking the share box. Every page has a comments section that you can once again choose whether or not to post to your Timeline.

Here’s a sample of the page layout:

Facebook says that the app will also become a “second screen” for CNN on-air and online content. Presumably, that means that the network will use data compiled from the app in its broadcasts.

Like I’ve said before, 2012 is the first truly social election. Not only are the candidates more invested in getting out their message (and the vote) via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. – but voters have a better opportunity to share and debate than ever before. Politics on Facebook gets a bad rap – and rightfully so sometimes. People are oftentimes as*holes, to put it bluntly.

But sharing your opinions on the issues via Open Graph app – that has to be better than a snarky status, right?

Disclaimer: I am guilty of many a snarky political status.

A Pinterest spokesperson sent us this statement:

“We’re excited about the Android platform and are working hard on building a great app. However, we don’t have plans to announce anything @ I/O.”

They’re still going to be there according to I/O app, but they apparently won’t be announcing the app. Your guess is as good as mine now.

Original story below:

Google I/O is almost upon us. We can expect plenty of announcements including the Nexus 7, but what about apps? It seems that everybody’s favorite virtual pinboard is giving Android some love at the event.

Thanks to the eagle-eyed folks over at Ausdroid, they found that the Pinterest team is going to be at Google I/O. What’s interesting about their inclusion is the description on the Google I/O App for Android. It says:

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the Web. Now available for Android.

If you look on Google Play right now, there is no Pinterest app. The only apps available right now are third-party Pinterest viewer apps that use the API and charge people for a service that’s free. An app straight from the Pinterest team would be free and native. It’s a one-two punch of awesome for Pinterest fanatics who happen to be on Android.

Since the Pinterest app is not a thing yet, does that mean that the Google I/O app is lying? Not at all, it just means that the app is probably going to be announced at Google I/O. Any company, including Google, loves to make a big deal whenever a major service hits their platform. There’s no better stage for such an announcement than I/O.

As for the actual app itself, we’ll have to wait till the event proper this week to find out what it looks like. Going by recent trends, it’s safe to assume that the app will contain some Android 4.0-specific features while extending support back to Android 2.3. It might even get some kind of fancy design to compliment its move to Android, but it will probably look just like the iOS app.

The app is similar to Cydia, which does the same thing but is only available on jail-broken phones. Apparently this isn’t sitting well with Cydia’s creator, whom Apple would not allow to sell on the Apple Store. He sent out a tweet letting everyone know he was not involved in the project and filed a complaint with Apple.

Follow @rpetrich

Ryan Petrich
@rpetrich

Filed my first complaint in iTunes Connect today. DisplayRecorder in the App Store is not mine in spite of it using the same marketing

 Reply  ·  Retweet  ·  Favorite
5 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

This new version does have some functions that Cydia does not, like the ability to export the videos to YouTube or Camera Roll. It also has the option to tweak video and audio, and record from the microphone or pickup sounds coming from things on the screen.

Apple does not allow screen capture apps on its devices because it mimics the native screenshot capabilities on iOS. “Display Recorder” appears to take a series of screen caps to convert to video, so there is a good possibility that the app could be removed from the store in the near future. So, if this is something you are dying to have, you had better act fast.

The App was released by third party developer Bugun Software sells for $1.99 in the iTunes Store.

[BusinessInsider via 9to5Mac]

Joining the already in existence My Xbox Live App for iOS, Microsoft have now released the same app for Android. Could Microsoft be setting up the inevitable rollout of SmartGlass later this year?

So what does My Xbox Live for Android bring to the table? Pretty much the same stuff from the iOS version. It allows you to track and compare your achievements with your Xbox Live friends, change your avatar, message your friends on Xbox Live and edit your live photo.

My Xbox Live for Android requires an Android smartphone running 2.2 or higher and a WGVA screen resolution or higher. You can get it for your Android phone on Google Play.

As an aside, I tested out My Xbox Live on my HTC Inspire 4G and it works flawlessly. It’s smooth and suffers no lag on my admittedly old phone. Even though my Xbox 360 has been broken for a year now, it still picks up on my Games for Windows Live games and all the achievements I have earned in them so far.

Coinciding with the release of the Android app, Microsoft has updated the currently available iOS app to include more functionality on the iPhone. This functionality includes the ability to control content on the Xbox 360. Users will be able to use the iPhone as a remote control while playing back content like video and music.

The My Xbox Live app for the iPad has been updated to include retina display support. Microsoft has also improved authentication making it easier to connect to Xbox Live with Apple’s tablet. You can grab the iOS download at the App Store.

Of course, Major Nelson is quick to point out that these updates are not SmartGlass. You could make the argument that Microsoft is preparing for SmartGlass though, especially with the content control features that are in the updated iPhone app.

In the age of the smartphone and the tablet, fewer and fewer people are turning to their television or to traditional print sources for their news. If you’re an iPad user who wants to know what’s going on in the world, odds are you don’t run to a TV and switch on CNN, and you don’t run out and buy a copy of the New York Times. You pull out your iPad and, depending on the immediacy of the story, you check your social network of choice, or you open up a news app, be it an app from a traditional news organization like USA Today, or a news aggregator like Zite or Flipboard.

The problem is, most of those apps rely on text. Many of them incorporate video, but even the apps published by traditionally TV-based news organizations – like CNN – rely heavily on text-based reporting for their smartphone and tablet apps. That creates an interesting gap in the mobile news space. That’s where Newslook comes in.

Newslook is a curated news aggregator focused exclusively on video content. While Newslook has been around on the web for awhile now, they recently broadened their scope to include an app for Apple’s iPad. The app brings all the features users love about Newslook’s homepage to the iPad, and even adds some interesting new features. WebProNews’s Abby Johnson recently spoke to Newslook CEO and founder Fred Silverman about the app and about Newslook in general.

Newslook was born out of Silverman’s growing awareness that the news market was changing. Following a long career in traditional television media, Silverman came to the realization that new technology would allow him to tell a story that would have required an hour of traditional TV in “a matter of minutes.” Silverman told WPN that “when I looked around I realized that there was no video news service as it were.” Even the traditional news channels – Fox, CNN, etc. – have shifted their focus to include more punditry and less actual news. Newslook is designed to fill that gap.

Using his contacts in various media organizations, Silverman struck deals with numerous news organizations including Reuters, AP, and others to create Newslook. The site now includes content from 60 different providers. Newslook’s editorial team sifts through the video content from the providers and selects the best content to go on Newslook. The same team also edits the videos’ metadata to make it easier for users to search for and categorize content.

The iPad app takes the same content from the Newslook website and adds a channel feature that allows users to customize their news experience. Silverman notes that “people like to consume content around things that are interesting to them.” What Newslook for iPad does “is really allow you a platform to create channels around the things that interest you the most.” What’s more, it’s possible to share your channels with the rest of Newslook’s users. The app had 5,000 channels at launch, and is continually growing. What’s more, the variety of topics is quite broad. As Silverman points out, “it’s a news app, but we define news in a pretty broad way.”

Silverman goes on to say that one of Newslook’s strengths is its focus on video and on premium content. Newslook, Silverman says, is for people who want to see the news. What separates Newslook from other video services like YouTube is that while YouTube is just a platform for video, “we’re more of an editorial company.” There’s very little user-generated content on Newslook. It’s nearly all premium content from Newslook’s provider partners. What’s more, not everyone can be one of Newslook’s partners. Silverman says that they hand-pick providers, and that “we’re very careful about who we work with” because they “very much believe in the quality of premium content.

That’s not to say that Newslook’s content is all that limited, though. There are currently 44,000 videos in Newslook’s archive.

Moving forward, you can expect to see Newslook on a growing variety of platforms. In addition to the iPad app, they also have a Google TV app. When asked what’s next for Newslook, Silverman said that the next step would be an improved second-generation iPad app. The channel approach, he said, is new for Newslook, and they’re paying close attention to user feedback in order to make sure they get it right. Beyond that, he sees iPhone and Android versions coming over the next year or so.

You can check out Newslook’s website for more information. Newslook for iPad is available as a free download from the iOS App Store.