Back in 2010, we shared that Facebook had a zombie photo problem: a test photo that we deleted from the service in October was still accessible for four or five months. Ars Technica has been following up on the issue, and reports that a fix is on the horizon:

“The systems we used for photo storage a few years ago did not always delete images from content delivery networks in a reasonable period of time even though they were immediately removed from the site,” Facebook spokesperson Frederic Wolens told Ars via e-mail.

[...] “We have been working hard to move our photo storage to newer systems which do ensure photos are fully deleted within 45 days of the removal request being received,” Wolens said. “This process is nearly complete and there is only a very small percentage of user photos still on the old system awaiting migration, the URL you provided was stored on this legacy system. We expect this process to be completed within the next month or two, at which point we will verify the migration is complete and we will disable all the old content.”

In our tests, a Flickr photo was removed from the servers about 10 minutes after it was “deleted” on the service. In other news, Facebook has rolled out a new lightbox that displays photos at a whopping 960×720 (see screenshot above), and the Facebook iPhone app that we saw leaked screenshots of is apparently dead in the water.

Image credit: zombie toys! by massdistraction

Photographer and developer Ben Syverson has created an iPhone camera app called Mattebox that mimics the Konica Hexar, a luxury point-and-shoot from 1993 that was powerful enough for professionals but simple and intuitive enough for beginners. It’s one of the most beautifully designed camera apps we’ve seen yet, and comes with a number of fancy features baked into it (e.g. dual stage shutter release, highlight recovery, advanced B&W conversion). The app costs $4 over in the iTunes App Store.

Mattebox (via TOP)

Curious about where people like to take pictures in your part of the world? Sightsmap is a simple Google Map app that takes geo data from the photos uploaded to Panoramio (now a Google service) and uses it to generate a heatmap.

Want to travel the world through photographs? Wander is a new free app that can help you do that. It connects you with strangers around the world through photo-based conversation threads. Create a profile, and the app will suggest guides for you. Once you’ve established a connection with a “photo penpal”, you share lives for a week through photo-based missions, allowing you to glimpse into what life is like for a person. Once the week is over, you’re given a new guide to provide you with a whole new experience.

Wander (via Mashable)

It looks like Microsoft is finally putting its war chest and brilliant minds to good use: the company has released a new free app for Windows Phone users called Face Swap. The app uses face detection to let you quickly switch the faces of subjects in your photos. Simply shake the phone and faces will be swapped! The resulting face swap photos can be saved or shared on social networking websites. Hopefully they turn this into a web app soon.

Face Swap (via Engadget)

Instagram is holding onto its place as the darling of the mobile photo sharing world. After adding a whopping two million new users in a month thanks to Thanksgiving and the release of the iPhone 4S, the app now has a shiny new trophy for its shelf: it has been selected as Apple’s “iPhone App of the Year“. The future is looking extremely bright for the 13-month-old, 7-man company: Goldman Sachs recently designated it as a potential IPO candidate and founder Kevin Systrom expects the membership base to double once the Android version arrives.

(via TechCrunch)

Just launched this week, Lighting Diagram is another simple web-based tool that lets photographers create and share lighting diagrams and the photos created with the setups.

Lighting Diagram (via PhotographyBLOG)

If you enjoyed the beautiful 360-degree helicopter ride video we shared earlier today, then Condition One is an iPad app for you. It uses immersive video as a way to pull viewers into news stories — viewers control the camera by simply moving their iPad around!

The Condition ONE app gives users the ability to look in any direction while viewing footage. By pivoting and tilting the iPad, one literally manipulates the corresponding field of view. The highly sensitive motion controls produce the illusion of looking through a window into another reality, giving a visceral sense of ‘being there’.

Condition ONE will offer highly engaging storytelling with a focus on visual content conducive to being experienced firsthand.

It’s available as a free app through the iTunes store (with an Android version coming next year), so what are you waiting for?

Condition One (via NYT)

Thanks for the tip, Nelson!

HDR guru Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs has just released a new iPad app called Stuck On Earth that lets you travel the world through photographs. In addition to being a gorgeous way to view travel photos, the app serves as a high-tech travel guide, allowing users build and plan “trips” (collecting photos into groups).
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“Idea Mine” is an upcoming iOS app by Canon that helps photographers save and generate ideas. The idea is that photo ideas can always be broken down into four components: location, subject, feeling, and technique. Provide the app with these four things, and it will store your idea for you to come back to later on. If you need some inspiration, hitting the “randomize” button will fill in the fields for you — kinda like a photographic mad libs.
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