Aviary Blog

Photo Hack Day 3: West Coast Edition

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Erin

Bay Area developers: Aviary is absolutely thrilled to announce that Photo Hack Day is headed west this summer! On July 14-15, 2012, join our awesome headline sponsor, Facebook, and our kind hosts at Dropbox for a third weekend of hacking, cool giveaways, and $10,000 in prize money. Our friends at Sincerely, Walgreens, and Tumblr are also onboard to throw some food, drink, and a few surprises into the mix.

(We’re tempted to cue up some Phantom Planet, for those of you who watched the OC, but we’ll spare you.)

The original Photo Hack Day was the first image-centric hackathon in New York City, bringing together the brightest minds in photography, photo-editing, web design, computer science, and more. In 24 hours, over 200 developers put together an impressive 43 hacks with APIs contributed from 25 companies — a full day display of burgeoning talent in the New York City tech community. NASDAQ, our first headline sponsor, gave away the opportunity to showcase the winners on their screen in Times Square!

After garnering a wonderfully enthusiastic response from the community, we organized Photo Hack Day II, which brought over 250 developers, 30 APIs, the founders of reddit, Tumblr, and Cheezburger Inc., and $10,000 in prizes to General Assembly — plus a livestream of our sister Photo Hack Day taking place simultaneously in Berlin.

Award-winning hacks in the past have included:

PhotoBot, a robotic photo analysis tool that provides suggestions for taking better pictures
Synviary, a collaborative image editing platform
HoneyBadger, a motion detector security system that enables your computer to know who’s looking at your screen

Plus many more exciting, creative projects!

At Photo Hack Day 2, we had 496 RSVPs and a full house at General Assembly (demo tickets sold out a full week before the event!), so we’re looking forward to doing the same on the west coast. Have questions? Check out the event website, or get in touch.

Can’t wait to see you there!

Posted in Aviary, Fun! | 1 Comment

Introducing the official Aviary mobile app

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Maya

Since we released our mobile SDKs (currently available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7), we’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from partners and users alike: everyone loves the convenience of being able to use Aviary within their favorite mobile apps! That said, we still heard from a lot of people who wished they could occasionally use it as a standalone photo editing app on their phone.

Aviary’s focus is on supporting developers, and the photo editor we’re releasing today is intended to be a quick and easy way for developers to evaluate our product before integrating it into their own app, while giving us a way to quickly test new tools and features before releasing them in our SDK. As it turns out, it’s also a great photo editor that we think consumers will really enjoy.

So, today we’re happy to announce that the official Aviary mobile app is now available as a free download for both iPhone and Android! (Windows Phone 7 app coming soon.)

*Note: If you’re already using our Android plugin, there’s no need to install the new app. Just update Aviary on your device and you’ll have all the new features! You’ll still be able to share to Aviary from other apps, but now you can launch it as a standalone app as well.

Beyond the editor features you probably already know and love (lightning fast editing, a super intuitive interface, one-tap auto enhance, beautiful effects, all the tools you need in the palm of your hand), we’ve thrown in a couple extras to show off what Aviary can do:

Scroll through your recent photos in a cover photo-like view from the home screen. (It’s way faster and more satisfying than your phone’s default gallery view.)
Adjust settings to customize and rearrange the order of the tools in the editor. If you’re a developer, this will help you get a sense for how easy it is to customize our tool list in your app. Or if you just love Aviary’s text tool and use it all the time, you can move it to the first page of the editor so you can get to it with just one tap.

You can install Aviary from the App Store or from Google Play. Have fun, and don’t forget to let us know what you think! You can submit feature requests here, or reach out to us directly at contact@aviary.com.

Posted in Android, Aviary, iOS, Mobile | 3 Comments

Introducing Aviary for Windows Phone 7

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Erin

Ever since we announced development plans of the Aviary SDK for Windows Phone, we’ve been fielding emails from very eager developers. Good news! The wait is over, and we have a few juicy details that we’re sure you’re equally excited to hear about:

Redesigned SDK from the ground-up to take advantage of the Metro design principles of Windows Phone
The same, easy integration process: add our editor to your project in as little as 15 minutes, with just a few lines of code
Customizable color theme
Controllable output size based upon developer preferences — you decide what makes the most sense for your app or service
… Not to mention that Aviary for Windows Phone has all the standard features as the rest of our mobile SDKs

For developers looking to expand their repertoire beyond the iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace, our new SDK is a perfect tool to add to your Windows Phone 7 apps. Our friends at Nokia think so, too:

“With the new Aviary SDK for Windows Phone 7, developers can create ground breaking applications that take advantage of the unique features of Nokia Lumia devices, like the Lumia’s Carl Zeiss lens, as well as to bring their existing imaging apps to Windows Phones consumers around the world.” - Bryan Biniak, VP of Global Partner and App Development

Want to see some of the first integrations? Check out our early bird partners:

Rowi
4th & Mayor (available soon)
Rekap
Postcard on the Run (available soon)

“Behind every great photo is a better editor! The Aviary toolset is a great addition to our Postcard on the Run product. We’re excited to release our new Windows Phone product with Aviary’s software and we know our users will be thrilled with the high resolution output. Aviary will make our postcards more memorable and fun to send!” -Josh Brooks, Founder of Postcard on the Run

Windows Phone devs, we’re looking forward to building beautiful products with you. To get started, download the SDK at aviary.com/wp7. Let’s take the Windows Marketplace by storm, together.

Posted in Aviary, Mobile, Windows Phone 7 | 10 Comments

Important Stickers Update to the Aviary iOS SDK

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Nam

If you’re using the iOS SDK, there’s an important update to the build in regards to the sticker archives you should be aware of.

Currently, the sticker archives in the iOS SDK are being stored in the Documents directory, which is backed up by iCloud, but as of late, Apple has begun to reject any apps storing things there that can be re-downloaded.

To solve this issue, we added an extra attribute to the sticker file to mark it as excluded from iCould backups.

Please see our release notes for more details:

https://github.com/AviaryInc/Mobile-Feather-SDK-for-iOS/blob/master/RELEASE.md#version-236—may-10-2012

Please download and update to the latest build to avoid any issues. You can grab it at aviary.com/ios.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to mobile@aviary.

Posted in iOS, Mobile | 2 Comments

Twitpic Adds Aviary to Their New iPhone App

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Nam

Twitpic, a platform that allows you to share your photos and videos, has just announced the launch of their long awaited iPhone app, and has added Aviary’s editor to the mix!

They’ve taken advantage of the ability to customize the look and feel of the editor’s user interface (nice!), and have chosen the 5 tools that they believe makes most sense for their users: Effects, Enhance, Crop, Orientation, and Brightnes.

Download the brand new app here (iTunes Link), or read more about it on their company blog.

To learn more about Aviary’s iOS SDK, or to see how you can do the same for your app, visit aviary.com/ios.

Posted in Aviary, iOS, Partners | 5 Comments

Aviary’s editing tools: now in Google Drive!

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Erin

Google Drive is a brand spankin’ new product from Google that brings a wide range of functionality to the ever-growing realm of cloud storage. To add to the awesomeness, any photo that you upload to Google Drive can be edited with Aviary’s simple photo editor.

Here’s a super simple way to get started.

You’ll need to install Aviary first (get it from the Chrome Webstore!) Once it’s installed, just right click on any photo in your Google Drive and select “Open With > Aviary for Google Drive.”

Our editor will pop up, and the same easy experience you know and love awaits! When you’re done, the updated image will be saved to your Google Drive account.

We’re especially fond of the fact that Google saves versions of your image at various stages in the editing process, so if you change your mind and want to do the process over — without necessarily starting from square one — access to some of your previous edits is as simple as right-clicking the file name and selecting “Manage Revisions.”

To check out the other tools on Google Drive, check out their app offerings here!

As always, if you have any questions, we’d love to help. Reach us any time at contact [at] aviary [dot] com.

Posted in Aviary | 6 Comments

Aviary Announces Partnership With Flickr, Brings Editing Capabilities to 75 Million Users

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Erin

It’s a big day at Aviary! We’re excited to announce our partnership with Flickr, which brings our photo editing platform to a vibrant and bustling photo community.

With 3.5 million photos uploaded to Flickr per day, our editor will help enrich the experience of sharing memories for photographers and viewers alike, providing new, visual ways to engage with images hosted on the site.

To access Aviary’s editing tools in Flickr:

(1) Click on the Actions tab, then select Edit photo with Aviary.

(2) Our editor will pop up, giving you access to fourteen simple tools.

(3) A few clicks are all it takes to tweak your photo to your liking.

Like what you see? Perfect, you’re all done. Carry on!

We’re absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to share our passion for photos with the millions of users, with myriad interests. From diehard travel photographers to amateur hobbyists shooting candids of their loved ones, Aviary’s creative tools will provide a sleek, simple way to quickly fix pictures; after all, a faster, easier editing experience means that users have more time to spend exploring everything Flickr has to offer. Plus, since Aviary is 100% mobile friendly, you can edit your Flickr photos on your tablet too!

As we spend the next few weeks unrolling editing capabilities to the entirety of Flickr’s community, we’re paying extra attention to your thoughts and feedback. Please let us know what you think – your opinions will help shape the future of the Aviary editor.

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out what our friends at Flickr have to say about the partnership.

Have fun and stay awesome!

Love,

Team Aviary

Posted in Aviary, Partners | 6 Comments

Important UDID Announcement for Aviary’s iOS SDK

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Nam

If you’re currently using Aviary’s iOS SDK inside your app, there’s an important update you should be aware of in regards to the recent report of Apple rejecting apps for accessing unique device identifiers (UDIDs).

We don’t collect UDIDs, but the analytics library our SDK uses does access them. We do not expect the inclusion of this library, or of the Aviary SDK, to cause any problems with future versions of your app being accepted to the app store, but just as a precaution we have updated to the newest version of the analytics library which prevents UDIDs from transmitting in clear text.

Please download and update to the newest SDK (v 2.3.4) here:

www.aviary.com/ios

Note: You must be logged in to download the SDK.

As a nice bonus, the new version of the Aviary iOS SDK includes some color customization options, and higher resolution output (up to 3MP). You can read about all the new updates on our changelog. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email us at mobile[AT]aviary.com.

Posted in Aviary, iOS, Mobile | 1 Comment

Photo Hack Day 2

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Erin

32 hours, 250 bagels, 300+ tacos, 300+ burritos, 12 buckets of BBQ chicken, 20 quarts of pulled pork, 12 pans of cornbread, 20 quarts of mashed potatoes, 150 cookies, 80 boxes of pizza (640 slices total), 27 cases of water (432 bottles total), 384 beers, and 28 cases of soda (448 cans total) later…

On February 25-26, Aviary had the pleasure of throwing Photo Hack Day 2, the first — and biggest — photo hackathon to take place in New York City (…and, as far as we know, the world).

With 496 RSVPs and 250 developers in attendance, 30 participating companies, headline sponsorship from Nokia Developer, and $10,000 in prize money, PHD2 trumped its summer predecessor in terms of scale. An astounding 58 hacks were registered to demo by the time Sunday rolled around. General Assembly was at maximum capacity for hackers and attendees alike; the spin on this winter’s hackathon — additional emphasis on mobile development — opened the floodgates for hackers waiting to test their iOS, Android, and Windows Phone chops.

The Friends of the Web team at PHD2; Aviary developers pull a late night; Sunday demo day attendees; Aviary CEO Avi Muchnick with the judging panel.

Saturday evening consisted of Google hangouts with hackers simultaneously building their own projects at Photo Hack Day Berlin, ample BBQ, and beer from the good folks at Sixpoint and Lost Tribes.

Alexis Ohanian, Ben Huh, and David Karp, founders of reddit, Cheezburger Inc., and Tumblr, respectively, joined Aviary CEO Avi Muchnick and the developers in attendance to share their thoughts on engineering creative systems, the strength of image-based communities, advice on community governance, and the intersection of public policy and internet. Their answers ranged from insightful (as expected) to surprising: for instance, Ben Huh, mastermind behind LOLcats and the ensuing barrage of feline-relevant memes, revealed that he does not — or more importantly, cannot — own a cat… due to allergies. (WHO KNEW?!)

From L to R: Ben Huh (Cheezburger, Inc.), Alexis Ohanian (reddit), David Karp (tumblr), and Avi Muchnick (Aviary).

Sunday’s demos ran the gamut from funny and lighthearted to the incredibly practical. Some of our favorites:

David Hu’s “Linstagram” and “Linterest”
Vivek Bhagwat and Hans Hyttinen’s “Here, Have a Kitty!”
Max Stoller, Spencer Fry, and Andrew Mercando’s “Player Status”)
Mason Du’s “Sweet Potato”, which generates unique photo montages made of other photos
Arcadius Kazimierski’s “Face Value”, which used Face.com’s facial recognition API to recognize dollar bills for the blind

The judging panel was equally diverse, with Jason Black (Nokia), Jason Morrow (betaworks), Jim Estrin (The New York Times), and Jamal Fanaian (Flickr) holding court on hacks and demos. In the end, Yufei Liu and his collaborative image editing platform, Synviary, emerged as the big winner of the weekend, sweeping up first place, people’s choice, and the Aviary company prize for a grand total of $7,500 in prize money.

Here are the final results from the weekend:

First place: Yufei Liu, “Synviary”
Second place: Matt Grasser, Nick Ihm, Christopher Guess, and Emily Duong, “What Is Up”
Third place: Mike Kelberman, Liangjie Xia, and Chris Bell, “Rotobooth”
People’s Choice: Yufei Liu, “Synviary”

We’ll publish a full list with the winners of company prizes once we get confirmation. For now, refer to our HackerLeague page to see what was created over the weekend!

For more photos from #PHD2, check out the Photo Hack Day Flickr group or sneak a peek at The Bosco’s photo booth mug shots! You can also read the event writeup from the perspective of Mr. Estrin in Beta620, a New York Times blog.

Big thanks to all of the hackers, companies, and attendees who made Photo Hack Day 2 a success! Looking forward to seeing you all at the next hackathon.

Cheers,

The Aviary team

Posted in Fun! | 2 Comments

Partner Spotlight: MailChimp

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Erin

Aviary provides a simple editor for web and mobile that developers can embed in their apps with just a few lines of code! Read on to see what MailChimp did with our tools, or check out our featured partners to see how they’re putting our editor to use.

MailChimp makes it easy to design, share, and track email newsletters that connect businesses and services with their users. Their range of templates, fonts, and features translate to a highly customizable campaign, and we’re happy to announce that Aviary has been added to their extensive list of tools.

Now that you can edit your photos in MailChimp, there’s no element of email that you can’t tweak or perfect — what better way to reach your audience than sending them a newsletter that is exactly as you like it?

Check out MailChimp’s email newsletter service now!

Best of all, you can access Aviary’s editing tools within MailChimp in three clicks. Observe!

Step 1. From the template page, drag and drop an image into MailChimp’s upload functionality.

Step 2. A preview of the image that you upload will appear in the right hand side of the floating box. Beneath the image, you’ll see an Edit button. Click it to open Aviary’s editor.

Step 3. Perfect your image with Aviary’s range of editing tools. Tweak colors with our brightness, saturation, and contrast feature, apply filters to change the feel of a photo, or opt for one-click fixes with our enhance tools. Hit apply when you’re finished, save your changes, and your image is ready to go!

More good news: We’ve added resize — back by popular demand — to our already-extensive list!

We’re particularly fond of MailChimp’s integration: it’s sleek, intuitive, and feels wonderfully natural in their existing workflow. To learn more, check out their website or visit Aviary to see how our editing tools can help you!