Facebook is going to go through its IPO later this week, so today it seems to me that it would be a good idea to look at where it came from. I’m not sure the following video will help in that regard, but who cares. It’s hilarious.

I’ll be honest with you; I just wanted to share this video. It was made by cdza, an experimental theatrical group. Check out their website for more details and to see their other videos.

Author and journalist Susan Orlean (left) has written two nonfiction pieces that have been turned into films. She’ll discuss her new book, Rin Tin Tin, in Mediabistro’s first online Literary Festival & Workshops starting July 16. Other speakers include Rebecca Skloot, Jason Boog, and Jason Allen Ashlock. Register now.

Italian designer Antonio De Rosa of ADR Studio Design has imagined what the Instagram app would look like turned into an actual camera. He made the above YouTube video with the schematics demonstrating the digital camera that is shaped like and has the features of the app, but works almost like a polaroid because it has a printer built in.

De Rosa is trying to raise $50,000 to get the camera built through an Indiegogo pledge page. Here is more about the Instagram Socialmatic project: “Take your shoot with Instagram Socialmatic, make your photo cool as you want and share it directly on Facebook trough the powerful InstaOs. If you want, you can print it directly on Instagram Paper Sheets, thanks to the internal printer. Every Instagram printed photo reports on front side your Instagram nickname and a QR code, to be followed by another Instagrammer, simply pointing his/her Socialmatic on your printed QR Code.”

What apps would you turn into a real life object?

Augmented reality has been around for any number of years but up until now you usually needed a special app to work with your camera so it could show you the special effect. Thanks to Wikitude, that’s about to change.

This startup has just released a new SDK which in the long run is going to enable you to use various tricks of augmented reality on any enabled webpage. This software development kit isn’t for the end user, so it’s not of much use yet. Instead it’s a tool for developers to use when they build websites.

It’s only after the webpage is built that things get interesting. You’ll be able to point your camera at a scene and see location data, geotags, and other useful info that’s not visible to the naked eye.

So what can developers and publishers do with it? Wikitude explains more in this video: Read more

Street View on Google is still the bestselling free Android app for the week, according to research from Google Play. The app lets users explore locations with maps that have photos of the actual streets. Google Play Books joins the list, knocking Instagram off of the list this week.

Below, we’ve listed the top free Android apps of the week. The list links to Google Play’s research about the individual apps, including user reviews.

To prepare for Mediabistro’s upcoming Publishing App Summit on December 4, 2012, we spotlight the top free apps every week–helping our readers discover, enjoy and analyze successful content. Read more

Do you have a hard time keeping your finances in order?  There are a number of apps designed to help you keep track of your spending and manage your money.

In the last six months, the Forbes Lifetime Financial Planning app, a free app that helps you plan for your financial future, has ranked in the top 150 in iTunes for finance apps. Here’s more about the app: “Our calculator can help you raise spending power and make lifestyle decisions. It shows how your living standard is impacted by changing jobs, contributing to retirement accounts, raising children, down-sizing your home, retiring early, waiting to collect Social Security, and more. You can easily test difference scenarios, and share or save your results.”

Below, we’ve collected five other free tools you can use for iOS and Android devices; they can be downloaded at Google Play, Amazon’s Appstore and Apple’s App Store.

Read more

When the DIY furniture giant unveiled their first TV last month, some bloggers rolled their eyes, cracked jokes, and didn’t take it seriously. But it looks like Ikea has put more work into this TV than it first appeared.

Ikea is including the base and an integrated Blu-ray player so you can watch or listen to whatever content you have on hand. But the Uppleva is also Wifi capable, and earlier this week Ikea confirmed that this TV would ship with apps.  They haven’t released all the details yet, but you should be able to stream content from Vimeo, Dailymotion, Youtube, and other popular video sites. It’s also reportedly going to come with a web browser, though that app hasn’t been named.

Ikea plans to launch the Uppleva in Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden next month, with expansion to additional stores and territories in Europe in the fall, and bring Uppleva to the U.S. in 2013. It’s expected to sell for $960 and up and come in a number of screen sizes (from 24″ to 48″).

No one knows what Apple plans to do with the next iPhone, but that’s not stopping everyone from speculating. The WSJ joined the fray this morning with some old rumors.

The iPhone has had a 3.5″ screen ever since it debuted in 2007, but the rumor going around right now is that the next one will have a 4″ screen.  According to the Journal’s sources, the larger screen will give the iPhone a better shot against Android smartphones, which have been steadily been getting bigger. A 4.8″ screen is not uncommon and the Samsung Galaxy Note even has a 5.3″ screen.

The WSJ has more details:

Until now, Apple has never changed the size of the iPhone’s screen, which has always been 3.5 inches from the first model that debuted in 2007. For the next iPhone, which analysts predict will come out in the fall, Apple is working with multiple screen makers including South Korea’s LG Display Co., Japan’s Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Inc., a new company created last month by three Japanese companies and the government, some of the people said.

I myself think the screens are too big in the 4.8″ range, with the 5.3″ Note simply being ridiculous. But would you buy a larger iPhone?

The Pew Research Center regularly pools US consumers on all sorts of things from gadgets to buying habits. One recent poll involved app buying habits of smartphone and tablet owner. It turns out that watching videos isn’t the only activity that shifted from TVs to tablets.

The survey results found that parents who owned tablets (or a smartphone) were more likely to download apps for use by a kid (57% vs 16%). Parents were also more likely overall to download apps when compared to non-parents (84% vs 69%). Read more

Dot Com Infoway created an infographic called “Apponomics: The World of Mobile Apps” exploring some key statistics about iOS, Android and Windows apps.

We’ve embedded the whole infographic below–all media professionals need to pay attention to these changes, they show where app users are headed over the next three years.

Check it out: “According to the infographic’s statistics, there are 585,000 apps on the Apple store, 450,000 apps on the Android market and 82,234 apps available at present on Microsoft’s store. An interesting fact is that more than 300,000 mobile apps have been developed in the last three years.”

Read more

For some time now Mozilla has been hinting that the next version of Firefox for Android would have a major interface redesign, and it’s finally here. The beta release of FF14 is now available for download in Google Play. It has a new interface as well as a number of performance enhancements, support for Adobe Flash, a new start page, and more.

It requires Android 2.2 or above, and it might not be available for all devices.

Firefox beta