Slide.ly makes slideshow creation easy with Flickr, Instagram, and Facebook photos [invites]

If you’ve ever wanted to make a slideshow of photos to commemorate an occasion, or just because the mood struck you, you probably know that it’s not the easiest process in the world. First, you have to find all of the photos that you want to include, and those photos might be scattered all over the web. Second, you have to find the right software to build the show. After that, sharing it can be a chore.
EasyHi, a company that I met with when I was in Israel, built a beautiful platform inSlide.ly that allows you to upload or pull in your Flickr, Instagram, and Facebook photos to create beautiful slideshows with music, and share them easily.
Additionally, the company has an eye on building a community of people who absolutely love building slideshows to share with one another on the site as well.

On with the show

Once you sign up for Slide.ly, and we have 100 exclusive invites for you, you can connect all of your accounts that are associated with photos. Even if you don’t have a reason for creating one, the process is so simple that you’ll be inspired by all of the other people creating them on the platform:

Once you’ve connected your accounts, all you have to do is click on the photos that you’d like to include in your slideshow. You can grab 3 photos from Instagram, 10 from Flickr, 5 from Facebook, and upload a few from your desktop. It doesn’t matter what the source is, all photos will be brought in together as one video slideshow:

After you’ve selected all of your photos, you can drag them around to put them in the order that you want. You can also add some music to the show by using YouTube videos or SoundCloud music, which are all made available from within the Slide.ly site:

After you’ve gotten the perfect combination of pictures and music, you can add a few effects to your show to liven it up a bit. It’s a really fun process and once you’re done you might come up with something like this:
You can embed the slideshow on your site or share it to Twitter, Google+, or Facebook with a click of a button. It’s a really neat platform and I think the company could be on to some big things.

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Juicebox is the easiest way to create responsive photo galleries for your site

If you’ve been looking for an easy way to embed gorgeous galleries on your website or WordPress blog, you don’t have to look any further than Juicebox.
With both free and paid versions, Juicebox is a flexible, incredibly easy-to-use gallery manager, which uses HTML5 and JavaScript to embed photos in your site.
There are several ways you can create image galleries using Juicebox, whether it’s with the Adobe Air desktop app, requiring a little bit of extra effort on your part when it comes to editing the .xml file, using a Photoshop template, a Lightroom plugin, or easiest and most convenient of all, a WordPress plugin.
Juicebox also provides extensive guides on how to embed galleries in an HTML page, a Drupal or Joomla site, or using Dreamweaver and iWeb, among other options making it a truly flexible and universal tool now matter how you choose to run your site.
The easiest way to use Juicebox, however, is undoubtedly by downloading its handyWordPress plugin. With WordPress becoming an increasingly popular choice for photography portfolios, Juicebox really complements the features and themes already on offer thanks to the blogging platform.

Getting started with Juicebox on WordPress

To create a Juicebox gallery on a WordPress page or post, all you have to do is install the plugin, create a new post and upload your images using the native Gallery feature.
You’ll notice that there’s also a new Juicebox button in the menu, where you can configure how the images you uploaded are going to be displayed. After uploading your images, simply click that button, and you can choose the background colour of the embedded gallery as well as the gallery width and height, so it fits right in with your WordPress theme.
It’s also worth noting that the file name for each images is used as photo captions.
In addition to uploading images directly to WordPress, you can also fetch your images from Flickr, using only your Flickr username and the tag of the photos you want displayed.

Adding or removing images is as simple as loading the post and editing the gallery on WordPress, although Juicebox does also give you access to each of the galleries under a dedicated Juicebox tab in the menu.
From there you can edit the title, and access all of the configuration options you had when first creating the gallery.
If we had one complaint about the WordPress plugin, it would be that there appears to be no easy way to determine which part of the image is used as a thumbnail, whereas with the HTML option, you can create your own thumbnails manually.
Upgrading to the Pro version as far as WordPress is concerned will give you access to far more configuration options, providing more control over how your gallery is displayed.
The Pro version of Juicebox also gives you a wide range of additional features, including the ability to add audio and watermarks to your galleries, remove the Juicebox branding and add autoplay support. You can also access  additional theming options, host unlimited images in galleries, and more.
The free version is limited to 50 photos per gallery, which is honestly more than enough. These days, the possibility of someone scrolling through over 50 images on any website is highly unlikely.
Juicebox is one of the easiest ways we’ve come across to create galleries no matter what platform you’re using for your site.
The final product is a sleek, attractive and best of all, responsive gallery, which opens in full-screen mode, with mobile support for both Android and iOS.
Viewers can scroll through the images using the arrow keys, or browse through the thumbnails and go straight to the image that catches their eye.

Want to see it in action? Check out one of the galleries we created.

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Vyclone: This collaborative video app is just what citizen journalists ordered

2011 was a tumultuous year for the Middle East, but the troubles also served as a reminder of the role technology can play in giving everyone a voice.
Live video-streaming platform Bambuser is one example of how citizens took the initiative and reported on events from their own perspective, often from positions unreachable by traditional media outlets. And now as The Guardian reports, a new mobile app is looking to harness the power of roving smartphone-owners to create a compendium of crowdsourced clips that tell the story of key events from multiple perspectives.

Vyclone: Videos from the masses

Vyclone is a free iOS app that professes to let you “Record life from all angles” – in short, it lets users collaborate from different locations and perspectives to “co-create, sync and share movies”.
So let’s assume you’re watching the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations – topical, I know – and you film a snippet of the procession using your iPhone. Vyclone lets you upload a clip to its servers, where other users can throw their own shots into the mix to create a crowdsourced movie encompassing, literally, different points-of-view.

How it works…

When you first launch the app, it’s clear the preference is that you log-in with your Facebook credentials, but you can set yourself up with your own Vyclone account too.
Once you’re in you can browse existing videos, or start shooting footage yourself.

It’s worth noting that once you upload a video for the Vyclone-using public to access, others can remix it and do as they please. So imagine you’re at a gig and you capture some great footage, it could find its way onto a multimillion-views YouTube hit. So if you’re precious about your ‘work’, this may not be for you.
That said, you can choose what content you want to share publicly through Vyclone, and whether you want to keep it private between you and your buddies. If you don’t choose ‘public’ or ‘private’, it will default to the former.
The app’s terms and conditions are pretty clear though, and there are potential ramifications for rights-issues depending on where your video collaboration ends up. It says:

“By choosing to post the content to the Vyclone website through the app, you are granting pretty much everyone else the right to use, edit and view your content. It’s 21st Century sharing, and we hope you like that. If you don’t, then don’t hit POST to submit your content to the Vyclone website through the app. Got it? Yes? Super.”

The upshot of this is, well, you could upload a clip on the spur of the moment of a really newsworthy event (think: Arab Uprising), and it could find its way onto a CNN montage in no time. But, you have been warned and you likely won’t have a leg to stand on if you object to how your handiwork has been used.
Moving back to the specifics of the app, a nice little feature is that you can search for movies that have already been created nearby, which obviously lends itself well to event-specific video collaborations.
Once you’re done shooting or remixing the movie with the built-in editing tool, you can choose to broadcast your movie across all the usual social networks.
It’s worth noting that the app is UK-only for now, though as The Guardian notes, a full-scale launch should happen this year. And an Android app is in the works too.
So…what do the creators believe the app will be used for?
“Our big regret is that we didn’t have Vyclone ready in time for the Arab unrest or Occupy Wall Street protests, as it would have been a very powerful tool to record what was truly happening,” says Chief Executive David King Lassman in the interviewwith The Guardian’s Stuart Dredge.
“We’re convinced that citizen journalism will be a key application for the product. But the reason we’re putting this out into the public domain is that people will find uses for this that we couldn’t possibly begin to imagine.”
In other words, your only limit is your imagination. Citizen journalism is only one potential use-case for Vyclone.

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FreeAppADay clears up the facts on its relationship with Socialcam (UPDATED)

UPDATE: FreeAppADay CEO Joe Bayen has issued a statement to TNW to clarify its position on its relationship with Socialcam:

Socialcam used their own marketing channels to promote their app on the app store up until April 29th. At which point FreeAppADay gave them additional exposure.

During our initial conversation, which included verifications of his previous statement, Bayen had stated that without FreeAppADay, Socialcam wouldn’t have cracked the top 25. I’m told that the original statement had more to do with the overall hard work and legitimacy of its platform, and not its relationship with Socialcam specifically.
——
Last week I covered some of the tactics being used by social video sharing app Socialcam to climb the charts and engage its users with YouTube videos. In response to the YouTube issue, Socialcam moved quickly to clean up its act.
One side-story of the Socialcam saga is the fact that the company was also using a marketing service called FreeAppADay. Here’s the gist from my original post:

When we reported that Socialcam had hit the #1 free app position on Apple’s app store, I followed up quickly with the fact that the company was using a marketing service called FreeAppADay to drive itself up the charts. Whilst FreeAppADay is normally only used by paid apps going free for a day (SocialCam is free), this type of non-organic growth isn’t “illegal”, and Apple doesn’t seem to mind. Once you get into the top five on the charts, you start experiencing organic growth due to the curiosity of those watching the charts for new apps to download.

I pointed out then that the service wasn’t breaking any rules, it was just a curious part of the entire “Socialcam rise to glory” story. I was told by a source that Socialcam didn’t approach FreeAppADay to use its service, and after speaking to its CEO today, Joe Bayen, I was able to confirm that was indeed the case:

We always strive to showcase to our end-users the very best app in the app store and in this specific case SocialCam met all our criteria to be featured on FreeAppADay. Our junior sales representative did not grasp yet the various plans that we are offering to our developer partners and proceeded to offer our rev-share model to SocialCam which made absolutely no sense since the app was already free.

Bayen told me that after the gaffe the company had started the process of charging Socialcam, but then decided not to. The company makes it clear that “freebies” aren’t the norm for it, so it looks like Socialcam made out pretty good on the deal. Bayen went on a bit further to share how well the campaign went, which started at the end of April or early May:

If it was not for our efforts I can guarantee you that SocialCam would not have been able to crack the top 25.

Just win

Now that we can put all of these specifics to rest, the question “if you could potentially sell your company for a billion dollars. What lengths would you go to find success?” still stands.
In Socialcam’s case, it looks like it got very lucky in that it used a service that advertises itself as being able to help developers find their way up the App Store charts by promoting it to its users through its website, other apps, and more. Again, Apple doesn’t seem to mind, so at the end of the day it’s a job well done byFreeAppADay.
Now that we’re hopefully over the “Instagram for video” debate, I’m interested to see which players come up big with features and value for its users. Because that is how you win.
UPDATE 2: According to a source, along with actual app data, Socialcam reached the #2 spot on the app store on approximately April 24th, which would contest the FreeAppADay CEO’s claim that “If it was not for our efforts I can guarantee you that SocialCam would not have been able to crack the top 25.”:

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Windows Phone may have crossed the 12 million unit mark

Over a year ago, TNW noted a correlation between the number of active Windows Phone Facebook users and the number of Windows Phone handsets that had been sold. After some calculation, we discerned that there was a ratio of 6.756 handsets sold per active user of the application. In January we posited that, based on the number of active app users, some 2 million Windows Phone handsets had been sold.
One week later, Microsoft confirmed our numbers. It was almost silly timing, really.
However, that’s all old potato, so what are we doing today? Taking the ratio to the current number of active Windows Phone Facebook users, of course. Now, this wasn’t our plan, at least not today. The fine chaps over at WMPowerUser had the idea, and we agree that the timing is fortuitous; currently, everyone wants to know what sort of impact Nokia is having on Windows Phone sales. By the way, it appears to be a positive one.
Now, to the chart!

Before we dive into the math-mongering, that rise in sales figures, right after the start of new year, is likely due to Nokia’s arrival as a Windows Phone OEM.
Now, shall we mathmagic? Yes. Yesterday, Windows Phone’s Facebook app broke past the 1.9 million active user mark. Using our ratio, that implies that some 12,836,400 Windows Phone handsets have been sold. To be conservative, we round down to 12 million.
What does that number mean? Not much, given that it stands apart from context; would 15 million have been a material improvement, or 10 million a painful decrease? However, it does give us an idea of how large the hardware install base is for Windows Phone.
One last note: these figures, and the ratio that we use, lose their credibility over time. As people buy a second Windows Phone handset, they remain a single Facebook user, while two phones have been sold, for example. So, keep in mind that this is all highly speculative.
But really, Microsoft, it’s time to tell us how Windows Phone is doing.

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Windows Phone has quietly picked up 7% of the Chinese market

We’ve seen precious little from Microsoft in terms of sales and market share figures for its Windows Phone platform lately, and so when the company speaks, we listen. A recent report in the Dutch publication Emerce contains a fact, attributed to Microsoft that surprised us: Windows Phone has snagged some 7% of the Chinese market.
Microsoft’s Michel van der Bel, its COO of in the region, characterized the company’s progress in the following way [Text via Emerce, translated by Google, edited by TNW]:

“We’ve only just begun. Our smartphones and PC-tablet hybrids [TNW: Windows 8], are suitable for the consumer, and are easy to integrate into an existing business infrastructure. This flexibility allows us to better respond to the cosumerization of IT than our competitors.”

According to WindowPhonePowerUser, Apple’s iPhone controls 6% of the Chinese market, implying that Microsoft has managed to slip past its rival with its handsets in the massive country, and emerging, critical smartphone locale. Of course, the iPhone has yet to officially touch down in the country, so the achievement is of dubious value. However, WMPowerUser’s report does note that Android controls nearly 70% of China’s smartphone market, so Windows Phone remains a smaller fry.
Still, progress is progress, and such work in a country like China is key to Microsoft’s goal of building a global brand for its phones, making it less reliant on markets that are more hotly contested, such as the United States.
7% is nothing but a start, but a start it is.

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Upcoming Microsoft deal: Buy a Windows 7 PC, upgrade to Windows 8 for a mere $15

Microsoft, in a bid to keep Windows 7 PC sales strong through to the end of the operating system’s lifecycle, has a plan: offer people a dead cheap Windows 8 upgrade , thus making the option of waiting for the upcoming operating system to drop a poor decision.
How cheap will the deal be? According to Paul Thurrott, the bump to Windows 8 will cost a mere $15. Of course, this sort of promotion is hardly new – Microsoft does something similar every time it releases a new operating system. It helps people get onto the new code quickly, and ensures that Windows revenue doesn’t take a massive dive in the quarter preceding the new operating system’s release.
Even worse, as the company doesn’t formally announce the release date of the software for some time, not offering a cheap upgrade could add to consumer uncertainty, which might lead to a wallet-closing situation.
One more note, however: this time ’round the upgrade bush, Microsoft is pushing people to Windows 8 Pro, and not its normal flavor. There won’t be (so far as can be told) an upgrade to the vanilla Windows 8 edition. Why MSFT is pushing people to Pro is hard to say, and until we have a final feature breakdown of the various editions of the operating system we won’t be able to say much more.
The promotion is set to kick off on June 2nd, so if you were thinking about picking up a new machine, you might want to count to ten before you pull the trigger.

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