I live in Hong Kong. And when the news broke that Snowden had decided to take refuge in my city, I was puzzled at first. But then, as I read and listened to pundit after pundit in the US declare that Hong Kong was a crazy choice for a whistleblower on the lam, I began to realize: no, they're absolutely wrong. Choosing Hong Kong is clearly something Edward Snowden thought through, and very well indeed. Heck, many of the reasons why he's probably in Hong Kong are the same reasons I came here, too.

This infographic from the South China Morning Post gives you a good picture of all the potential routes that Snowden's case might take through our legal system. The main thing to note here is the "typical" length of time it takes to move a case between the various appeal courts: a year from the Court of First Instance to the Court of Appeal, and another 3 years to the Court of Final Appeal. As there is nothing "typical" about this case, and since Hong Kong barristers and judges, following the British legal system, worry and deliberate every fine point to death, Snowden's case could easily drag on longer. The most infamous American citizen to grace a Hong Kong courtroom in this century, "Milkshake Murdress"Nancy Kissel, has been dragging out for 10 years, a trial, an appeal, a re-trial and now another appeal.

Tiny Review is a way to caption the world. More than just a photo and more interesting than plain text, Tiny Review lets you capture a feeling, tell a story, share an opinion, tell a joke, or leave a review about a place. Reviews were just the starting point, we suspected that Tiny Review would take its own life as a new place for wit, stories, and creative expression.

We were inspired to create Tiny Review on a recent trip to Tokyo, where tiny shops hide in alleyways and sushi counters go incognito with no signs to lead you to them. How do you discover all the places around you? We didn't care for star ratings—what does 3.5 stars mean anyway?

Instead we wanted to get a feel for a place: who has been there, what have they experienced. Since you can't read paragraphs while walking around dodging traffic, you had to take it in at a glance. Tiny Review was born as three lines plus a photo, and it blew us away. It's so quick and expressive that it's no surprise that it's gone far beyond the reviews we originally pictured.

Q. If I participated in two Photo Walks, how do I submit my images to the contest?

A. Walkers can submit one image per walk that they participated in. To do so, log in at WorldwidePhotoWalk.com, then go to one of your walk pages and upload your image from that walk. After you’re done there, go to your other walk page and upload your image from that walk.
Q. What is a Photo Walk?

A. It’s a social photography event where photographers get together (usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town) to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.

Before, Facebook photos just seemed to be thrown into our profiles with little thought of how they'd look or where they'd get stored. If you choose to share through to Facebook now, your image will appear much bigger than before along with the caption you've added and a link to its public URL.

There are also better sharing features, so simply click "share" under a friend's Instagram image and you can paste it onto your own timeline, to a friend, a group or into a message.

Most importantly, there's now a dedicated album for Instagram photos where they'll go to live. We always found it strange that they didn't get saved anywhere, so we even set up an ifttt.com rule to combat the problem!

That’s what we’re going to review this week: apps to share your life on-the-go. Today we’re starting from Mobli, Molome and Mytubo, two photo social networks that allows you to upload, manage and share your pictures online.

We'll see more brands begin to explore photo sharing at social networks, mimicking the way individuals use these channels to communicate their ideas and experiences through images. Just as Twitter has spawned a new verbal marketing language, hot startups such as Pinterest and the iPhone app Instagram are making it easy for brands to connect visually with consumers online. Powerful photography, long a mainstay of the auto, fashion, and travel industries, will take center stage for brands large and small as they use their digital presence to communicate wordlessly with audiences around the globe.

The post is about using the app Instagram and how it can improve and influence the way you make photographs.

I’ve been making mobile photographs from phones since my Palm Treo in 2000. I have an image from that phone hanging in my house still. It’s a reminder that the best camera you have is the one you have on you. Remember it’s not the camera that makes the photo; it’s the person behind it.

Foodspotting’s relaunch brings with it a new, sleek interface that makes it possible to discover things nearby. You can also hide the things you’d never be interested in, and (in the future) it will use that data to detect trends in what you like and help you find more of it.

But why is this relaunch a good idea? Often, people don’t need restaurant reviews — they need food reviews. If I’m craving tacos, I don’t care about how good the salad is at a given restaurant. In other words, the dish you’re looking for is the most important part of a food search, and Foodspotting shows you exactly what you’ll get in photographs.

And as far as discovery goes, the new app allows you to follow experts and friends so you can find the best food nearby.

1. Why do you use Pinterest?

For me, it’s actually a diversion. When I feel a need to step away from my work routine, I often turn to Pinterest. I don’t subscribe to a lot of print publications so for me, it’s the equivalent of flipping through a magazine. I find ideas and inspiration for food to make (lots of that), styles to try, gifts to give, activities to do with the kids, projects to improve my home, and, a visual insight into the more personal/creative side of individuals in my network.

1. It allows users to comment specifically on ‘moments’. That then publishes the specific scene to your Facebook wall and stores your comment at the specific moment within the timeline.

At scale that creates a very interesting concept: a dialogue that moves along the video’s entire timeline. At scale that also poses a problem: will I want to read all of that content? Not sure… but interesting.

2. The preview UI is terrific. This is what first caught my eye: the pop-up box showcases the specific screenshot, comment and formatting that will appear on Facebook. That’s really good-looking, unique and powerful.

Why is it potentially powerful: first, because I think users like to feel control over what is published and this is a visually, fully controlled experience. Second, it is different… and that means that users will drawn to it (as compared to a standard like button).

Learn everything you need to know about incorporating Pinterest into your company's social media strategy.

Couple this with Pinterest's lifestyle vision, and what its means is that marketers need to find creative ways to promote their brand on the network and truly jive with its vision and user base. In other words, businesses should use the social network to showcase the lifestyle their brand promotes. If you're a shoe vendor, a pinboard of the shoes you sell won't cut it. A pinboard of a few of your shoes interspersed with images of places those shoes could take you, however, is the direction you should be thinking.

AARP's Pinterest account features a pinboard called 'Quotes to Live By,' which is a great example of a business using Pinterest to promote the lifestyle of its brand.

Not surprising. According to Compete, unique visitors to Pinterest.com increased by 429% from September to December 2011, and the social network already boasts a user base of 3.3 million. Pinterest is only growing in popularity as the hottest new social network, and in December 2011, it made Hitwise's list of the top 10 social networks, currently sitting at #5 and beating out big names like LinkedIn and Google+.

picplz makes photo sharing easy with free iPhone and android apps and free photo effects

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