Paper is like Instagram for drawing

Instagram and Paper’s minimal functionality isn’t just for the sake of “simplicity” out of moral adherence to “simplicity” in design; it’s a form of editorializing. It’s telling me what looks good, and tries as hard as it can to keep me from making something look bad. Even the limited options of iPhoto let me make something look truly terrible if I slip up on the sliders, but Instagram firmly puts its foot down and tells me “no.” When I’m drawing with real-life tools, I can easily go off the rails and either spend too much time attempting to “finish a piece,” or get lazy and limit myself to a single tool like a pencil that never really expresses a final vision.

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"One billion dollars might seem like a high price to pay for a company with 13 employees and not…"

Facebook, instagram, mobile

“One billion dollars might seem like a high price to pay for a company with 13 employees and not much, if anything, in the way of revenues. But that’s what Facebook will pay to acquire Instagram, maker of a popular photo-sharing app for mobile phones. And though at first glance the deal might seem nutty, it may turn out to be a brilliant strategic maneuver—and a bargain to boot.”

– Dan Lyons likes Facebook’s billion dollar bet on Instagram for one big reason: mobile. (via cheatsheet)