I hate Google Photos. But I fear I won’t be able to live without it. I called the Google Photos photo sharing and management app the Turkey of the Year in my 2020 USA TODAY round-up of the apps and gadgets that screwed over consumers last year. Reason: Google Photos was free for all, but starting June 1st, Tuesday, it switches to a paid model after 5 years of bait and switch....

The internet is a strange and wonderful place. As creative professionals we’re all working hard, creating cool stuff and sharing it online with the world. But behind this land of chocolate are not all smiles and sunshine. There are legions of trolls and cyber-vigilantes laying in wait to cause $hit for fun or just to fight their own personal versions of injustice. A recent incident with a cyber-vigilante made me realize how important it is to really think twice about what I share online, what someone can glean from metadata and how I tag my photos....

Instagram has just launched Threads, a new standalone messaging app. Just like sharing Stories and messages only with the people on your Close Friends list, it allows you to focus only on those you really care about. But it’s made to help you communicate with your friends more throughout the day. Perhaps a bit too much. Threads is a messaging app designed to share photos, videos, messages, Stories, and more only with your Close Friends list from Instagram....

Suggested content and people to follow on various platforms is all well and good. But show it me after I’ve looked at what I wanted to see, yeah? Well, no. Not according to Instagram who is apparently testing a new feature that puts suggested content ahead of the people you explicitly chose and want to follow. The Verge reports that the new feature mixes suggested posts along with your regular content, sometimes ahead of photos and videos from people you follow – instead of putting them all at the end when you’ve looked through the feeds from people you actually want to see....

Running with a small crew can be a challenge but if you are coming well prepared, it could be an advantage. Being just one person, or running with a small team means that you can keep things light, move around and generally if you play your cards right, you can set up and teardown relatively fast. While having a big crew is nice, some jobs just call for smaller, light crews....