ios6

Instagram is in the process of pushing out version 3.1.0 of its photo sharing app. For iOS, the new version updates the app to be compatible with iOS 6 and the taller screen of the iPhone 5, doing away with the annoying gap that owners of the new phone have been seeing. While it's certainly a welcome improvement for Instagram devotees, seeing an app be updated for the new display isn't exactly a rare sight these days.

What's interesting is what the new update eliminates: live filters are gone.

iPhoneography has made some significant advancements in the past couple of weeks due to the launch of the iPhone 5 and the release of iOS 6. Here's a brief report on some of the interesting improvements and changes.

Back in 2011, it was discovered that iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 5 had a hidden panorama feature that was built into the operating system but not ordinarily available through the devices. Methods were discovered for unlocking the feature, which we all assumed was simply a half-baked feature that wasn't ready for release at the time.

It seems that Apple engineers have been busy polishing the feature in the 10 months since then, as the panorama feature was announced yesterday at the iPhone 5's unveiling. For those of you who are content with your iOS 5 device, here's some good news for you: iPhone 4S users will get the new panorama mode as well when iOS 6 is rolled out on September 19th, 2012.

It looks like previous rumors about an updated photo stream in iOS6 were right. Apple has officially announced what they're calling "shared photo streams," which are exactly what they sound like: mark certain photos or albums as "shared," choose who you would like to share them with, and you're done. The folks you chose to share the album with will get a notification (if they have an iOS6 device or a Mac with Mountain Lion) and be able to browse, like and comment on your pictures in iPhoto, Aperture, or even on AppleTV. Non-Apple users will have to settle with browsing your shared photos on the web.