News

So you've decided to close your Instagram account and save your retro photos from the clutches of Facebook. Many users have enjoyed the creative filters on Instagram, which are known for giving the images an analog, film-like look.

The good news is there are many photography apps in the App Store with even better filters. Many of these photo apps are free and provide several options for sharing and showing off your pictures to friends. Here are 8 of the top alternatives to Instagram available on the iPhone.

Now that Instagram has been acquired by Facebook for a cool $1 billion, users are concerned about changes to the service. Even worse, some iPhone owners are concerned that Instagram will soon be inundated by advertisements or modify its privacy policies.

Even though the official statement by CEO Mark Zuckerberg explains that Facebook is "committed to building and growing Instagram independently," this hasn't alleviated everyone's privacy concerns. Luckily for them, there's still time to download all Instagram photos and quit the app forever.

Are you ready for another six months of iPhone 5 rumors? You better be, because the Apple rumor mill is fired up and going full force today! According to 9to5Mac, "Apple has internally seeded a prototype next-generation iPhone with the iPhone 4 design." The new prototype labeled "N96" is being used to test a variation of the A5X chip that powers the new iPad in an iPhone.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White (via AppleInsider) came back from a recent trip to Asia with more "new design" rumors. White told investors that the next-generation iPhone "will be the most significant iPhone upgrade with a four-inch screen and a new, sleek look" that he believes will require a "unibody case." 9toMac also noted in their report that the "actual next-generation iPhone is specifically said to not include the iPhone 4/4S design." However, Apple is using older casings to test the N96 prototype to avoid leaks of the new device. The new iPhone prototype is also supposed to feature 1GB of RAM.

AT&T has started to unlock iPhones for customers who have completed their contract obligations. The process is as simple as contacting AT&T customer support and requesting the unlock on your device. Of course, your account must be in good standing (ie. paid up to date) for AT&T to provide the service.

Once your iPhone is unlocked, you are free to install any replacement micro-SIM card from another compatible GSM carrier. This means you can use your iPhone overseas or with another US carrier such as T-Mobile without resorting to any workarounds or jailbreak unlocking methods.

The iOS Messages app writes timestamps to selected incoming and outgoing SMS, MMS and iMessage notes. Selected because Apple has designed Messages to only write the timestamp after a certain amount of time has passed. This can result in long threads with no record of when the messages were sent.

Now thanks to the SMS Timestamps tweak on Cydia, you can choose to write a timestamp to every message if desired. The tweak also has options to write a timestamp in the Messages app in intervals of 1, 5 or 10 minutes so you know exactly what's going on.