X
May 14, 2014 Andy Cush

Last night, an Instagram account ostensibly belonging to the NYPD Vandal Squad began following graffiti writers, photographers, and city institutions (they followed ANIMAL this morning). But even for the Vandal Squad — notorious among writers for their seemingly fanboyish attitude toward graffiti and willingness to steal photos — it seemed a little too brazen to be […]

Read More…

October 11, 2013 Andy Cush

Just about everything Banksy has put up in New York this month has been defaced in some way or destroyed outright shortly after it was publicized. His first Better Out Than In piece was no exception–first, it was tagged up, then the sign was stolen, and the Smart Crew put up a modified version, and finally, […]

Read More…

October 10, 2013 Andy Cush

According to a group of researchers at Brigham Young University, viewing a large number of pictures of food might actually make the food taste worse. That means the endless stream of amateur food photography available to you on Instagram might be ruining your appetite. The Salt Lake Tribune explains: Half the participants viewed 60 pictures of sweets […]

Read More…

September 24, 2013 Andy Cush

File this one under “so stupid it works, by the grace of god.” Matt Heath, a writer and ad man, created “Porn Comments on Instagram Pics,” a Tumblr that is, well, exactly what it sounds like. Yes, there’s already @BESTPORNCOMMENTS, but there’s something about the juxtaposition with these nicely composed images that makes comments like […]

Read More…

September 10, 2013 Andy Cush

While mindlessly cruising Instagram last night, as I am wont to do, I came across an account posting seemingly pro-Assad comments on a particularly funny image from the Onion about the situation in Syria. Morbid curiosity led me to click through to the person’s profile, because whatever your feelings on the politics or the seemingly […]

Read More…

August 7, 2013 Andy Cush

For the second year running, the city government will host its #LoveNYC photography contest, which challenges users to post their best New York photos, adorned with the titular hashtag, for a chance at guest-running the city’s official Instagram account (Did you even know the city had an official Instagram account? We didn’t). Photos can be […]

Read More…

July 23, 2013 Kyle Chayka

Dronestagram, a new social network for the proud owners of unmanned aerial vehicles–not to be confused with a much less cheeky project of the same name–allows users to share their collective explorations in the realm of aerial photography, sharing their breathtaking photos of cityscapes, nature, sports, or whatever else may tickle their fancy, sans shameful Instagram […]

Read More…

July 5, 2013 Kyle Chayka

Beginning on June 27th, the Transportation Security Administration started sharing their own hazy, shamelessly filtered photographs on Instagram. Their handle “tsablogteam” already boasts over 30,000 followers and has been posting photographs of all sorts of confiscated objects — guns, grenades, guns, knives, also guns. It’s nice to see the TSA getting in touch with their creative […]

Read More…

July 3, 2013 Kyle Chayka

Phototrails is a new research project that uses simple media visualization techniques for exploring patterns and trends found in photos shared on Instagram. A joint venture between the University of Pittsburgh, The California Institute for Telecommunication and Information, and the Graduate Center at CUNY is “seeking to map our city-specific behavior by looking at the thousands of images that pour in […]

Read More…

July 1, 2013 Andy Cush

File under: “things you didn’t know you needed an app for.” Actually, file under “things you don’t need an app for, but, if the app exists anyway, you might as well mess around with it a little bit.” Presenting Filter Fakers, a Tumblr bot that automatically posts #nofilter-tagged Instagram filters that, you know, aren’t actually #nofilter. Why […]

Read More…