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Six features you don't want to miss in Android 4.2

Android 4.2 is full of new features, some are fairly minor, such as the Settings shortcut in the notification bar. Other features, such an improved photo editing process, are bound to have a bigger impact on the overall user experience.

Here are five new features you can find in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, with the sixth item being a workaround should you decide against lock-screen widgets.

Developer Options Developer Options is an important settings menu for developers and those who like to fiddle with their Android device. For whatever reason in Android 4.2, Google hid the Developer … Read more

Instagram rivals try to lure users away after photo rights flap

Instagram's competitors are pouncing on the company's claim that it will be able to sell users' photos for advertising purposes without payment or notification.

They're hoping that irritation over Instagram's controversial decision -- which came three months after Facebook completed the acquisition -- will lure users away from the popular photo-sharing app, which passed the 100 million user mark in September.

"We will certainly do our best to make sure that Instagram users are aware of 23snaps as an alternative service," Meaghan Fitzgerald, head of marketing for 23snaps, a London-based company that makes an … Read more

Upload a photo to a specific Facebook album on Android, iOS

You can now upload a photo to a specific Facebook album using the iOS and Android apps. There have been various methods in the past to get a photo into a preferred album, but the process is now streamlined.

iOS users will have the ability to add a photo, or photos, to an existing album or create a new album during the upload process. Android users will only be able to upload photos to an existing album. Before uploading a photo, however, Android users can create an album by visiting the Photos tab from the menu and tapping on the … Read more

Adobe Lightroom 4.3 brings Retina display support

Adobe Systems released Lightroom 4.3 today, adding support for MacBook Pros' high-resolution Retina displays and for raw images from 20 new cameras.

The list of supported cameras includes three higher-end compact PowerShot models from Canon, the small S110, the more flexible G15, and the ultrazoom SX50 HS; the new Nikon 1 V2 compact interchangeable-lens model and lower-priced full-frame Nikon D600 SLR; and competing models from Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, and Pentax. However, the D600 support is only preliminary, according to a blog post by Sharad Mangalick.

The Retina support, available only in Lightroom's library and develop modules, means that … Read more

Flickr's new iPhone app puts mobile front and center

Flickr released an overhauled iPhone app today, capping a year of effort to reclaim its lost glory with software that it believes will become central rather than peripheral to using the photo-sharing site.

The new app is designed to show off individual photos better, to ease sign-up for new users, to speed photo browsing, and to improve discovery. Better smartphone support was critical, given how much activity has moved to mobile apps.

"Engagement to a high percentage is happening on mobile," said Markus Spiering, head of the Flickr product at Yahoo. "It really brings Flickr into the … Read more

Instagram photos still visible in tweets (in TweetDeck)

TweetDeck users can still view Instagram photos directly in tweets, despite a much-publicized move by the popular photo-sharing service to shut off its users' ability to tweet images.

Last week, Instagram announced it was ending Twitter Card integration, its most aggressive step to date in its ongoing turf war with Twitter. The upshot of the decision, which Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom announced at Le Web in Paris, was that Twitter users could no longer view Instagram photos directly in tweets.

But for some reason, those photos are still visible when viewing tweets in TweetDeck. Whether that's because of an … Read more

Twitter takes on Instagram with filters

Tuesday's CNET Update has no filter:

The CNET 100 has arrived. We've complied 100 of the most influential technology stories, trends, gadgets and people of 2012. A few may surprise you: we ranked the Galaxy S III ahead of the iPhone 5.

Also in today's news roundup:

- Twitter added photo filters in it's latest move against Instagram. But Instagram also updated its app with new camera options.

- Twitter's new profiles will roll out to every user on Wednesday. So if you don't already have a header photo, your icon will just sit … Read more

Getting started with Twitter photo filters

Twitter has updated its Android and iOS apps with photo filters, following through on the rumors from just a few days ago. The release is timely, considering everyone's favorite photo-filter app, Instagram, just recently pulled integration from Twitter. The benefit of using the Twitter app to filter your photos is that they'll show up natively in Twitter.com and in the mobile apps. Instagram photos appear only as links now, requiring a browser window to view them at Instagram's Web site. If you prefer displaying your filtered photos within Twitter, here's how to get started with … Read more

New Twitter (with filters) not available yet for iPhone

Twitter said today that it was releasing a new version of its iPhone and Android apps that would allow users to filter their photos directly from their devices, a move that directly challenges Instagram's stranglehold on artistic photo sharing. But while the new Android version is already available, the iPhone version is not.

In its blog post announcing the new versions, Twitter said that, "Starting today, you'll be able to edit and refine your photos, right from Twitter. The latest versions of Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android introduce a few new ways to enhance the … Read more

Instagram improves camera, editing, and adds new filter

Instagram rolled out new apps today with promises of a better camera, scaling and cropping functions, control over the blurring of photos and -- of course -- another filter.

The company touted its upgrades in a blog post highlighting the camera's new features for iOS. This includes an Instagram-themed shutter and shutter release button, a preview of the most recent photo on the camera roll, a grid guide for the scale and crop screen, and for those using the iPhone 5, an improved camera roll image selector.

Another improved feature, tilt-shift, allows for more precise blurring and a "… Read more