Instagram Update Boosts Camera Features Adds New Filter

Attention all Instagram fans. The popular photo-sharing app you know and love is about to get even better.

Thats because Instagram on Monday updated its iOS and Android apps, and among the many improvements is a brand-new photo filter dubbed Willow. Instagram said the new filter (pictured left) is best suited for portraits, still life, and architecture photographs with contrast.

"Youve asked for more filters, and were excited to announce a brand new filter," Instagram said in a blog post. "Willow is a monochrome filter with subtle purple tones and a translucent glowing white border."

The update also brings major improvements to the camera section of the iOS app. The all-new camera includes an optional grid guide for live photos and a permanent grid for the scale and crop screen. iOS users will also now be able to preview the most recent photo in their camera roll right from the app.

Instagram also revamped the look of its camera to bring it up to speed with the rest of the app, adding a new Instagram-themed shutter and shutter release button.

"The camera has been the core part of the Instagram experience since the day we launched and as a result, weve made significant improvements to its look and speed," Instagram wrote in a blog post.

The latest version also improves the tilt-shift functionality for a "vastly more realistic rendering of depth of field."

"In the past, there had been vast differences in the effective strength of the blur between the preview screen and the output in your feed and camera roll," Instagram said. "With this update the blur you see is now the blur youll get!"

Other improvements include: a redesigned news feed with larger images, a new welcome screen, and infinite scroll on user profiles. In addition, filtered photos are now saved in a separate album called "Instagram" in the iOS camera roll. Plus, users will now find a Foursquare button on location pages that opens the Fourquare app or mobile website with details about the venue.

The latest versions are available for download in Apples App Store and Google Play.

The update comes as Instagram is embroiled in a spat with Twitter. The Facebook-owned photo site recently pulled its support for Twitter Cards, which resulted in some Instagram photos showing up cropped on peoples Twitter feeds. Then, over the weekend, Instagram photos seemingly disappeared from peoples Twitter feeds altogether, though the links remained. Twitter is reportedly working on its own photo-filter feature, however, which might be released in time for the holidays.

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6 reasons to make cycling your New Years Resolution

Yes, Im talking to you there, sitting behind the screen. Heres why you should take up cycling:

1. Its fun. Cycling on a lightweight road bike is like flying without leaving the ground. So much so that in Pat Murphys novel, The City, Not Long After, one of the characters exclaimed this after learning to ride, and said to her friend, "Why didnt you tell me it was like flying?!" Thats how youll feel if youve not ridden a nice road bike before and try one for the first time. Mountain biking is like hiking, but at 10 miles per hour. Long mega-hikes that are only for the masochistic are now easy for you to do in 4 hours.
   
2. Cycling makes you smarter. Theres strong evidence (see Brain Rules or this New York Times article) that aerobic exercises increases cognitive capability. While this goes for all aerobic exercise, aerobic exercise is cyclings forte. Note that cycling at 10mph on a bike path will not grant this benefit. You actually have to go hard enough that you feel a little bit out of breath.
   
3. Cycling makes you feel better. Professor Csikszentmihaly wrote a book called Flow, the psychology of optimal experience. In it he describes happiness as being completely absorbed in a task. Cycling, where youre climbing, descending, or picking your way through traffic, demands that you completely absorb yourself in it. My friend Phil Sung says its an extremely meditative experience for him.
   
4. Cycling improves your balance, since by its very nature, you have to stay on two wheels. If you regularly challenge yourself on dirt roads or by riding a mountain bike off road, you will increase your sense of balance dramatically.
   
5. You can cycle until youre very very old. Aerobic activities like running have many of the same physical and mental benefits, but cycling is unique in that its a low impact activity, so it wont wear out your joints prematurely. My bike clubs full of runners and former tennis players who took up cycling because their doctors told them that they cannot pursue their former sport any more, usually due to joint damage. These folks werent casual tennis players. They were competitive, and they used to say sentences like, "Winning a match isnt a matter of life and death, its much more important than that!" I sat down with some of them over lunch and asked them if they had any regrets about having to take up cycling. One of them said, "Yes. My regret is not taking it up sooner." One of the middle aged members of the club once observed, "You know, the old guys in the bike club are different. They learn things quickly, theyre flexible, and theyre optimistic and not crotchety."
   
6. Cycling is far more time efficient than almost any other sport because you can commute to work by bicycle. Tennis players cant play tennis and magically arrive at work after a tennis game. Cyclists, however, regularly get in some cycling just going to the local grocery store, or getting to work. If youre enthusiastic, you can even travel the world by bicycle and find places most non-cyclists dont know about. For instance, I recently rode a section of road today that was closed to all but cyclists and pedestrians:
   

   From BayArea

   
   

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