Daily Archives: September 1, 2015

Pebble Time Steel Smartwatch Review: Less Smart, More Watch

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In one sense, there’s very little to say about the Pebble Time Steel that hasn’t already been said about the Pebble Time I reviewed earlier in the year. Taking a leaf out of the history books of Palm, the Pebble Time Steel is the ‘upmarket metal-cased’ smartwatch that echoes the Palm V, while the Pebble Time is the slightly cheaper, plastic cased Palm III equivalent, both building on the original.

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Instagram Revamps Direct Messaging Feature

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Today Instagram has updated its iOS and Android apps with new features for its messaging feature called Instagram Direct. Instagram originally launched Instagram Direct in 2013 to privately share photos with one person or small groups. Every month, about 85 million out of Instagram’s 300 million total users use Instagram Direct to send private photos.
Some of the updates includes threaded messages and the ability to send content from your feed as a Direct message. The threaded messages makes it easier for users to interact with each other because you do not have to create a new conversation every time you want to send photos or videos.
There is a quick camera feature so that you can seamlessly respond with a photo or a video in a Direct Message. The size of the emoji in Instagram Direct has been enlarged to really express your thoughts without having to type regular text. And Instagram Direct now lets you name your groups and add up to 15 people to the conversation.
Simplifying The Process Of Sharing A Post
About 40% of the comments on Instagram are “mentions.” Mentions on Instagram happen when a user wants to share a photo with friend by tagging them with the @ symbol. This usually happens when someone sees a photo that is inspiring or funny. Instagram has now added an arrow icon next to the “like” and “comment” icons under every post. When you tap on the arrow icon, you will be able to send that post to a friend or group as a message using Instagram Direct. 
After you share that content with your friends, tapping on the photo or video takes you back to the original post. Hashtag pages and location pages can also be shared with the arrow icon at the top right-hand corner.
Your Privacy Will Not Change
Photos and videos belonging to users that have their accounts set to private will only be visible to approved followers. Essentially, the photos and videos that you send on Instagram Direct are only visible to people that can already see them. 
This is not the only recent major change Instagram added to its app. Last month, Instagram started allowing users to post photos in larger formats other than a square — including portrait and landscape orientations.
The updated Instagram app with these features are within version 7.5 for iOS and Android. You may not see it yet because it appears to still be rolling out. Below is a video demo of how the new features work:

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