What if you could live on digitally after you die? Would you do it?
A new app called LivesOn generates a digital “twin” that analyze your Twitter to feed and learn your preferences while you’re still alive. If you choose to use the service and invoke a “will” an “executor” of said will, in the event of your death, activate the app. Once activated, LivesOn will utilize artificial intelligence to power your Twitter feed.
Your new Twitter header is visible on your personal profile page on mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, Android and twitter.com. If it reminds you of Facebook’s cover photo feature, it’s because it is just like it (so it shouldn’t be too confusing). A few simple steps will have you up and running. While the header is only visible if someone visits your profile, it’s still nice to take advantage of the space. Here’s how to set up your header from twitter.com:
Select “settings” from the the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner of your profile page:
Next, select the “Design” option from the left hand side bar:
Click on “Change header” and either upload a photo or take a new one with your camera.
Voila! Your new header. (You can update the header from your phone, as well. Select the “Me” tab and follow the same steps as above.)
Need some inspiration? Here are a few sweet headers I’ve come across.
Ryan Seacrest (@ryanseacrest)
David Armano (@armano)
Marketing Land (@marketingland)
By the way, my new book [RE]FRAME: Little Inspirations For A Larger Purpose is now available from SlimBooks. #reframe
At the top of my list is the easy-to-use filter app for you Insta-addicts (i.e. Instagram users) out there. Vintique has 32 vintage-inspired filters from the vibrant colors reminiscent of a sunny day to canvas-like textures that make your photos appear as works of art. (My personal fave is the “heaven” filter.) The app’s adjustment feature is great if you want to change the fading, vibrance, hue or texture in a filter. This is something you cannot currently do in the Instagram app. There are also 19 vignette options and 26 textures along with an additional 49 frames from which to choose. You can create a truly unique photo that can be shared via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, email or saved to your device’s photo album. If you’ve ever wanted to create an Instagram-like photo without actually posting it to Instagram, this app is perfect to have on hand. Vintique packs quite a filteriffic (I know, it’s not a word) punch at $0.99. If you’re a self-described iPhoneographer, this app is worth every penny.
Coming in at a very close second, in fact, it’s actually tied for first, comes Ptch — from the team at Dreamworks. Ptch is hands down the most intuitive mobile video app around. It has the quality of a more complex platform and the results are better than any other mobile video apps I’ve tested. Ptch is to mobile video what Instagram is to photos. You can easily drag and drop photos and videos from your photo album, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Google Photos and Viddy into your Ptch creation stream in order to create a :60 second video (short and sweet is best). Edit the individual video clips for length, choose whether or not you want the attached background noise and add a text overlay. You can do the same for photos. If you don’t like the placement of a particular photo or video you can simply drag and drop it in a new location. After you create your video masterpiece, throw in a filter, add music (they actually have GOOD music available) and then share it. Anyone on Ptch can “reptch” someone else’s content and add their own creative twist. COMING SOON: You’ll be able to embed Ptchs on your site.
There are more than 400 group texting apps currently available in the App Store. It’s a pretty saturated market, so how do you know which one to download? I’ll save you a lot of time and heartache (or maybe it’s heartburn) and recommend the app that kicks it up a few notches–SendHub. My fave differentiator about this app is the ability to add a free number to your iPhone. You can select from any available area code within the United States and a free number is automatically generated. Now, in addition to my personal cell and Google Voice number, I have a third line with a Las Vegas area code, the place I now live. It’s not just great for group texting, they also offer free calls and texts. They organize calls, voicemail and missed calls together in a single thread. The browser component is pretty sweet, too. You can continue whatever you were doing on your computer, including make calls and text online.
There are browser-based third party apps like Statigr.am that allow you to send private messages to Instagrammers, but they’d have to: 1) use Statigr.am and 2) Log in to see a notification. instaDM is one step closer as it’s mobile based and allows you to real time, private chat with others who also use the app. How do you get others to use the app? Through self promotion, of course. Not a bad little marketing concept on the part of the developers. By clicking the “people” profile in the upper right hand corner you can select “promote my profile” like this:
How do you use the app? After downloading the app, search (by username or full name) Instagram users you’d like to direct message. You’ll first have to see if they have the app, otherwise it’s a no go. The app will show any user you search, even if they’re not currently using the app. So don’t get too excited. It does take a few minutes to get comfortable using the app as it’s not entirely intuitive. If you don’t want to search by user, you can go the promotion route like I did (above) and let people reach out to you.
Once you connect with a user, your conversation will appear as so:
You have the option to view your chat screen or a home screen, of sorts, where you can look at users you’re connected with and either view their recent IG photos or go directly to their IG account (it does not support in-app comment or likes).
When a new message comes through you will get a notification in the app icon, even if you’re not in the app.
A suggestion to the reviewers: It would be great if you could private message photos to other users. Why? There are lots of photo challenges and such that begin with an information/text-based photo. Instead of users having to screenshot the photo, crop it, resave it and repost, the original poster could send it to others. (Suggested by @prestonlogan)
So, if direct messaging on Instagram is important to you, instaDM is made for you.
I discovered this little doozie from Michael Carney at Pando Daily and couldn’t resist. In fact, I originally just sent it to him and realized I wanted to make a bunch and send to friends and family. Hello? Isn’t that what FAVES is all about? Yep. Yep.
Face Craze lets you to morph, mash and combine your facial features with any of their very diverse preloaded models. Simply upload a front facing photo of you, align a few things, select the face you want to use and wait for the magic. The app lets you email or socially share photos as soon as they’re ready.
If you’re one of those people who loves to make scary/funny faces come to life via Photo Booth or who keeps the Fatify on your iPhone home screen, this should do you nicely. At $.99 I’d say it’s worth every penny.
By the way, you can even change your gender. Say hello to Shawn Evans:
