The International Olympics Committee (or the IOC) has teamed up with Foursquare so sports fans can check-in to venues, stadiums and training facilities.

As the Olympics are fast approaching, the IOC has joined forces with location-based service Foursquare so users can work towards a "Get fit for Olympic Day" badge.

Olympic Day is on June the 23rd, the anniversary of the first ever Olympic games, and the new Foursquare badge is designed to get people thinking about their fitness and playing sports in the run up to the big day.

Users will be rewarded for checking into venues, stadiums, training facilities and a number of other locations that have helped to motivate athletes over the years. A number of tips, facts and inspirational messages have been left at certain locations too to make the check-ins a little more fun.

Alex Huot, Head of Social Media for the IOC, said:

"Our integration with foursquare and the ability to leave location-based tips from the athletes is one more way to serve highly engaged fans of the Olympic Games and to integrate social media directly into the Olympic fan experience. We wanted to do something fun and thank our fans who make an effort to stay fit by offering them a chance to win a trip to the Olympics."

The locations and tips currently on the IOC's Foursquare page are all over the globe and include Whistler Blackcomb Mountains, Stadio Olimpico in Rome and Regent's Park in London.

Admittedly a new badge may not be too appealing to those who don't obsessively use Foursquare already, but one badge holder will apparently be winning tickets to the Olympic Games in summer. Hmm, maybe we ARE willing to become Foursquare geeks and aspiring athletes for a few weeks then...

Visit foursquare.com/olympics for more information, cool facts and locations that have inspired some top athletes over the years.

Wow they've been busy over at Facebook HQ, as well as weddings, IPOs and brand new patents, the team has unveiled a brand new app this week to help you manage your Facebook Pages.

The new Facebook Pages Manager allows those who have their own page (or act as an admin on one) to post updates and photos directly onto the page, as well as respond to comments and any other posts from fans.

The app looks exactly like the standard Facebook application, but you don't see any of your personal details, just your pages, an Insights tab with an overview of activity and an Admins tab that allows you to see who else has administrative access to the page.

It may all seem fairly simple, but we're sure the new app will be a godsend for those managing their own page, as they can now do all kinds of things from the palm of their hand.

Available from the app store for free.

We don't think we need to explain the Hashtag App TOO much to our clever little readers. It's basically a mobile app that allows you to track... you guessed it... hashtags. However, you're not just constrained to Twitter, you can track them in a simple feed from Instagram too.

The app is ideal if you're at an event, work in social mediaz and want to monitor a particular client or competition while you're on the move, or if you just have a weird obsession with something, like #sea or #puppies, then you'll ALWAYS get to peek at new content about it. Weirdo.

The app is really simple, you don't need to be logged in to Twitter or Instagram to use it, you just enter your hashtag of choice and pull down to refresh the content. If you want to look for a new one, just start again. Easy.

Available from the app store for free.

[Via TechCrunch]

The Queen's Gallery in London is currently exhibiting a number of fascinating anatomical sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, some of which have never even been displayed before (like, EVER). In order to make the collection more accessible to his fans, as well as art and science enthusiasts, The Royal Collection has developed an impressive, interactive app for the iPad, Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy.

Most people know Leonardo da Vinci as the greatest artist and mind of the Renaissance period, but in actual fact he was also one of the most original and perceptive anatomists of all time. Over the course of his life he made a series of sketches and discoveries, which if uncovered shortly after could well have shaped European knowledge of the subject. But instead his work in the field was lost among his private notes for almost 400 years. Now these incredibly detailed, accurate and in many ways ground-breaking, sketches are part of the Royal Collection and are being exhibited for the next few months at The Queen's Gallery in London.

Shiny Shiny was invited along to the gallery and although it was a great opportunity to take a look at Leonardo da Vinci's work for ourselves, we also got some time to try out the new iPad app all about the exhibition. The Royal Collection worked closely with the application developers over at Touch Press in order to create a one-of-a-kind offering that doesn't just allow users to see Leonardo's work, but enables them to interact with the sketches and learn much more in the process.

The application, called Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy features all 268 pages of his sketches, but it's their super high resolution that's been optimised for the iPad's new Retina Display which makes the app such a treat for the eyes.

Every aspect of the application is super interactive, you can scroll through pages, move sketches around, view them in 3D, enlarge them, play sections as animations and even translate Leonardo's secret notes into English. There's even a quirky spyglass tool, which you can move around the drawings in order to magnify certain elements. However, our favourite feature is that you can spin the body around (see the screenshot above), strip down certain elements of the model's anatomy with a simple swipe and then click on them to see all of the sketches associated with that body part. Very clever.

Although they're clearly the main focus, the app isn't just about looking at the sketches, there's a detailed commentary written by Martin Clayton, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at Windsor Castle, accompanying the content, which explains Leonardo's anatomical investigations in much more detail.

At £9.99 there's no denying this app is pricey, but for the access you're getting to the sketches, the impressive image quality with the new iPad's Retina Display and the chance to properly interact with the work it's definitely worth it for fans of Leonardo's work and those interested in anatomy.

Available from the app store for £9.99.

Find out more about the Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist exhibition.

The popular Pictionary / Words With Friends hybrid Draw Something amassed more than 50 million users in a matter of weeks and a large proportion of our lives in March were spent trying to think of the funniest ways to doodle Bieber and dandruff. However, as we predicted last month, it seems hardly any of us are actively playing with it anymore. Awh.

Despite gaining a huge following in a record-breaking amount of time, according to a recent study, more than half of the Brits who were addicted to Draw Something a month ago now play less than once a week.

The research carried out by discount website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk polled more than 1,000 users and found that 54% log in to play the app less than once a week now, when back in April the study found most people spend at least 10 to 30 minutes perfecting their drawing (or should we say chubby finger doodling) skills.

MyVoucherCodes.co.uk wanted to get to the bottom of why people are suddenly so sick of the app and 47% of those polled said it was because the novelty had worn off, whilst 31% said they were just "bored" of it. We also think it's because there just wasn't enough variety, you can only draw hot sauce and Jordan's breasts so many times before you start to lose the will to live.

Although it may seem sad to mourn the death of an app that held such a special place in our hearts our bosses certainly aren't as upset. Back in April two thirds of Draw Something users admitted to playing the game during work hours, but we're sure Facebook stalking, the logo game and more excessive tweeting can easily fill that void.

[Image via Draw Something Pro]

There are oh so many photo apps out there for editing your mobile snaps, but there's definitely a trend amongst avid Instagrammers at the moment to not just be content with the one, but to combine lots and lots of photos in a quirky way.

The most popular photo-combining-cute-border app is Diptic, but there are a few more available that allow you to stitch everything together, change the shape of the snippets, add different kinds of borders and even create cool reflective effects.

Related: 10 Ways to make your Instagram photos more awesome

If you enjoy taking photos of your face and then editing them beyond recognition, then moreBeaute could be your new favourite app.

Quick and easy-to-use photo application moreBeaute makes your skin look smooth and glowing, a bit like a Barbie or a cherub.

To make your face Mattel-like, simply take a photo using the app, or upload one from your Camera Roll and moreBeaute then makes it look all dreamy. If you want you can then tweak certain elements, like Brightness, Smoothness, Detail and Tone all with handy sliders, so you can view how each affects the photo instantly. You can also toggle between Before and After photos while you edit too, so you can "oo" and "ah" at the differences.

Once you're happy with your new shiny face you can then share your photo to Facebook, Twitter or just your Camera Roll.

Now we're really not saying there's anything wrong with your skin at all how it is. In fact the glowing complexion you get from moreBeaute is a little bit creepy, but if you enjoy playing around with Photoshop, applying blurring techniques and smoothing out imperfections, then this is a really fun and simple way to do it.

But please please PLEASE don't go overboard. You don't want to look like a blow up doll in all of your photos. Or maybe you do. In which case GO WILD.

Available from the app store for free. There's also a premium version too, but the only different is it doesn't have ads, so save your pennies and just ignore the ads. Simple.

Related: PicMonkey: Simple online photo editing with Instagram-style filters

There are a range of different services that promise to turn your Instagram snaps into stickers, calendars and t-shirts, so we're not surprised to see a new company has popped up that lets you turn them into big, beautiful works of art too.

Every week there seems to be a new company piggy-backing on the success of Instagram, offering users the chance to see their photos on all kinds of useless products that they really don't need. However, there's something about Instacanvas that we think could be a bit more successful and appealing, despite the fact its name is sickeningly predictable of course.

If you're particularly proud of your photos, Instacanvas allows you to have them printed on high quality canvas and sent to your home all ready to hang. However, it's also a platform for professional artists and photographers who already have a big Instagram following to connect with others who'd like to buy their artwork. In this way Instacanvas becomes an interesting and potentially very lucrative business model for those looking to make a few extra pennies from their awesome photography skills.

You simply sign up and the site builds you your own gallery, along with a vanity URL and you can then pick which of your snaps you want to feature.

Matt Munson, the cofounder and CEO at Instacanvas, told Fast Company:

"It started with the idea that there are these billions and billions of photos being created every day on Instagram and other social media platforms, and some of us on the team had an interest in selling artwork, and some of us had talked about buying it. And as we looked around all we were seeing on the walls of our apartment was mass-produced artwork that we'd bought at Ikea or Target--things we really had no personal connection to."

As you'd expect there are a few issues that arise as soon as you start delving deeper into the workings of Instacanvas, for instance, artists make only 20% of the cost of each print. As the starting price is $40 that means only $8 for those behind the image, which is a little bit low, no?

Many are also questioning who really owns all of our Instagram content now that it's been gobbled up by big bad Facebook, but Munson said:

"We haven't seen any inkling that that would ever change, and obviously there would be an enormous backlash in the community--so in that sense they'd be destroying the value of the entity they'd just acquired...It's a very different thing the way people use Instagram to take a beautiful picture they want to share with the world verus a picture of your friends having a beer at a party on Facebook."

Related: 10 Services that turn your Instagram photos into cool products

[Via Fast Company]

If you feel that your snaps of cakes and cats just don't look as good as they used to, try following some of our simple tips to make your Instagram photos a little bit more awesome.

When we all first started using Instagram last year, like crazed, filter-obsessed zombies, uploading photos of trees and tea and cats before choosing a simple effect with a cheesy border was totally acceptable. However, over the past few months we've all started taking our Instagram activity a little more seriously, whether it's making basic edits before uploading, adding filters from another app or combining lots of photos into one messy collage. We're onto you all.

So to help you out, here are our top ten tips to make your Instagram photos look even better, whether it's a basic photography lesson or apps to enhance the way your photos look before you go on to share them with your followers.

The long-awaited Spotify application for the iPad has been released today, but don't just expect a big version of the current mobile app, this latest offering really plays to the tablet's strengths.

Up until now Spotify lovers with an iPad have been able to play their favourite tracks, but only from the music streaming service's mobile app, which looks tiny in comparison to the tablet's screen and doesn't make the most of its functionality. Well today, after waiting for what feels like eons for it to arrive, the Spotify iPad app is finally here.

The new Spotify app isn't just a bigger version of the mobile version, but it has a slide-out navigation panel, a trending playlists section (based on both location and friends) and full, individually-tweaked support for both landscape and portrait orientations.

The search functionality has been updated too, with band biography information and pictures offered up alongside tracks, while all album art work and interface features make full use of the new iPad's Retina Display.

Available from iTunes for free.

Where can you get manicure tips from Zooey Deschanel, photos of Snopp Dogg posing with his new sneakers and cheesy snaps of Jamie Oliver's crazy-named kids?

Instagram has gone from strength to strength since it was first launched back in 2012 (yeah it's only two, what a bright little toddler it is) with all kinds of different people and organisations signing up for a piece of the photo pie, including brands, news organisations, fashion houses, sports stars and obviously celebrities.

The great thing about celebrities being on Instagram is that we feel like we're REALLY getting a sneak peek into their fancy showbiz lives, which is much more appealing than reading unsubstantiated gossip. Well, sometimes.

There are a LOT of cool celebrities using Instagram right now, but here's our pick of the top 10. Oh and feel free to add your favourites in the comments:

The new iPad/iPad 3/third generation iPad has been with us for more than a month now, but we STILL don't really care what it's officially called, we just want to know what to do on it to please our eyes.

The new tablet from Apple boasts a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display, and last month we collected together 10 of the best Retina Display apps that had been given a super high resolution update to coincide with the shiny new launch. So now, a month on, we've collected together 10 more including a few quirky games, news applications and some that are oh so sensible and make us more productive too.

Video capturing, editing and sharing app SocialCam is tipped to be the 'Instagram-for-video' but why is it already so popular when most of us actually prefer sharing photos, right?

Many are claiming that SocialCam will be the app that gets us crazily sharing and applying filters to our videos in the same way we do with Instagram. It allows you to capture video content, edit it, apply filters to it and then share it anywhere and everywhere.

Not only are you sharing and adding filters in the same way you would with Instagram, but the app's interface is similar too. There's a feed of activity, a tab with the most popular content, information about your friends and adding new ones and activity relating to you and your videos.

The big red record button in the middle gets you started (no kidding) and once you press that you can swipe through different filters, so you see the effects as you record, you don't have to add them afterwards. You then record your silly dancing, or singing, or cookery video, give it a title and select its privacy level before going on to edit it. You can add music (there's a selection of ten snippets that are all quite cheesy but fairly usable) and add themes (these let you layer text and borders over the video).

Once you've completed your masterpiece you can send a link to your contacts, tag people in the video and then choose which social networks you want to share it with, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, Posterous or Tumblr. Once you're done that the video will be shared in your feed too.

It's all very simple to use and there's also a comprehensive settings page that allows you to manage privacy, who's following you, how people follow you, etc, which is good to know considering some people might be a little apprehensive about sharing their videos.

Although SocialCam looks great, we wonder whether people are ever really going to share video content as much as they would photo content? We highly doubt it, but if you're capturing bits and pieces of video and need something simple that makes your creations look cool then we bet SocialCam will be your new favourite application.

Available from iTunes for free.

Related: 10 Best video editing apps for the iPhone: iMovie, Viddy and iSupr8

A new app called Currently Famous collects together all of the sleaziest and shallowest celebrity gossip stories from Twitter and delivers them to you in a super accessible (and obviously pink) format that after three days will turn your brain into actual mush (probably).

In our eyes there are a few different breeds of Twitter user, the most hilarious are the marketing and social media types, the tweens who TLK LYK DIS INNIT and of course the celebrity stalkers.

The celebrity stalkers are fascinating specimens. They don't see Twitter as a promotional tool or a place to gather interesting insight about the world, but as a magical portal between the normal, rubbish world of regular people and the sparkling world of the famous. You can identify them because they'll mention which celebrities they love in their bio (YES THEY ACTUALLY DO THIS), will have attempted to start a conversation with Kim Kardashian in the past 24 hours, often talk in caps (who does that, right?!), completely lose it when a z-list celeb says thanks for their stupid compliment and are often posing with the peace sign in their default photo.

Yes they drive us INSANE, but we're pretty sure they account for 80% of the Twitter population.

From what we can tell there are very few apps and services that have really taken advantage of this worrying yet fascinating celebrity obsession that has infected the brains of so many young teenagers.

However, Currently Famous could prove to be really popular among the celebrity obsessives because it collects together top trending celebrity stories so you have to do even less reading than usual. Why don't we just hook ourselves up to the crazy eye opening machine from A Clockwork Orange, turn on MTV or E! and be done with it?!

According to the app's developers, it uses a "sophisticated algorithm" to monitor the micro-blogging platform for the latest stories that most users are talking about. For those who can't go a few minutes without a celebrity fix, luckily Currently Famous is updated every few minutes, giving you a constant stream of (supposedly) the juiciest celebrity gossip. Because why spend time actually working or getting on with your life when you could find out that two minor celebrities had sex in a taxi last night after falling out of a club?

You can browse through all of the latest stories and then save them to read later or share them among your equally obsessed friends on Facebook, or just feed everything back to Twitter for a soul destroying circle of celebrity rubbish.

Avoid Currently Famous like the plague if the Daily Mail's sidebar of doom makes your blood boil, but download away if your sole aim in life is to get Katy Perry to re-tweet you.

Available from iTunes for Free.

[Via The Next Web]

Draw Something has released a new update today that allows users to make snarky comments, save their masterpieces and share them to Facebook and Twitter. Oh. BRILLIANT.

We've all played Draw Something so much over the past few months that we're awesome at drawing beaches, meatballs and Jordan's breasts. Last week we thought we were all getting a bit sick of the insanely popular Pictionary-meets-Words With Friends hybrid, but it seems we just had to prioritise a little better. Drawing a photo of Bieber is in actual fact NOT as important as working/eating/sleeping. Who knew.

Well now fellow Draw Something addicts will be happy to learn their favourite app received an update today, which allows them to write comments to those they're playing with, save their creations to their camera roll and then share them with their friends on Facebook and Twitter too. They're all very understandable updates, but we're not sure how excited we are to see our Facebook news feeds clogged up with those HILARIOUS drawings.

The thing is we get it. We get the hot sauce bottle that looks like a penis was SO FREAKING FUNNY at the time. However, unfortunately the whole sharing-you-doodles-all-the-time phenomenon makes us feel like we're exposed to irritating in-joke after nauseating in-joke.

If you haven't got Draw Something already (we're envious of your social lives) then download it from iTunes for free.

Spotify is set to roll out a big new makeover to its Android offering complete with easier navigation, high-res album artwork and a range of cool new features.

If you're a Spotify-loving Android user you've probably always feel like you've had a bit of a raw deal when it comes to the mobile application of the uber-popular streaming service. While iPhone owners get a slick, clean interface, the Android version of Spotify has always been a bit of a... well... mess.

Until now that is, as it looks like CEO Daniel Ek and his gang have finally recognised this, as Tech Digest has just been sent a preview build of a forthcoming Android makeover for the app, which now looks and feels much much better.

Fully supporting Android 4.0, the app has been redesigned from the ground up to make use of Android at its best. It now features a left-hand slide-out panel for navigating social sections and browsing pals' playlists, checking out new releases, your inbox and app settings.

Album artwork now comes in high-resolution, while the related artist tab appears for the first time in mobiles too.

There are also a host of other little improvements, such as locally downloaded playlists appearing at the top of your playlist pile instead of dotted among you many created song collections, meaning you'll easily be able to avoid tapping into your 3G allowance.

And there's still more to come; Spotify will be adding folder support and Last FM scrobbling before the app goes live in Google Play in the near future.

[Via Tech Digest]

We're all STILL obsessed with Instagram-style filters that make our photos look like they were taken by our grandparents, so we were happy to find an online tool for adding our own vintage filters, which is free, super easy-to-use AND comes with a lot of simple editing features too.

PicMonkey is an online photo editing tool that allows you to simply drag photos across onto your browser to begin tweaking things without messing around with logging onto the site.

Once you've uploaded a photo you can start using the tools down the left-hand side. There are basic adjustments, like cropping, rotating and sharpening tools, as well as a huge selection of frames and textures. If you like touching up your photos you'll find a number of options to make your face look even more beautiful, like Blemish Fix and Spray Tan. You can also add text and shapes onto your images too. However, we're most excited about all of the awesome filters, like Warhol, Lomo, HDR, Sepia and Cross Process, which can all be adjusted and customised.

It obviously can't be compared to the likes of Photoshop, but if you just want a few simple editing tools and like your vintage filters then PicMonkey is far easier to use and a much cheaper alternative that you can access from anywhere.

We're not sure why a crazed orange monkey keeps popping up on your images by the way, but it's not there when you save your final masterpiece, so don't worry.

Check it out: picmonkey.com

A new app called Facewatch will provide members of the public with photos and CCTV images of unidentified subjects in an effort to help police find wanted individuals. But will it cause more harm than good?

A strange new application for most popular mobile devices called Facewatch aims to help normal people weed out criminals by showing them photos and CCTV images. Users are then encouraged to look through them and contact the police if anyone looks familiar.

There's nothing particularly ground-breaking about the app, news channels and websites often show photos of wanted people, as do TV programmes like Crimewatch. However, it seems a little creepy that you can enter in your postcode to see a list of (potentially) nearby offenders.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, who works in the Specialist Crime and Operations department in London, told The Telegraph:

"The general public can support us in this - both by providing us with images - and then helping us to identify those who are responsible for committing crime.

"I would encourage as many people as possible to use the app to view these images and send in information."

Now we get that there are good intentions behind this application, but we can't help but think some crazy people will see it as an excuse to go and find potential offenders. Or have we been watching too many super hero movies?!

The app is available from the Blackberry App World and iTunes for free. I'll be Hit Girl if you be Kick Ass. Deal?

[Via Telegraph]

Figure might be our new favourite music making app, as it allows you to create impressive tracks from your mobile with a super intuitive touch interface and good quality sounds powered by Reason.

There are a lot of apps out there for music lovers, but we've fallen for new music app Figure in a big way. Brought to us by the team behind Reason, Figure is a very simple application that has even complete beginners making music in a matter of minutes.

However, that doesn't mean you don't have plenty of choice, you can play around with drums, bass, leads and synths, then tweak the rhythm, range and scale step with a number of dedicated wheels in real-time or record your tracks too. It's the app's touch interface that makes it really stand out, allowing you to slide, spin and swipe through the different controls in a way we've never seen before from such a cheap music application.

Figure may be great, but don't expect miracles, it is an iPhone app that you can buy for under a pound after all and won't allow you to put HUGE tracks together. However, if you've got a few spare minutes and want to play around with a fun app that's got a rather special interface, then Figure is for you, regardless of whether you're a beginner or a seasoned producer.

Check out this awesome video of Figure in action.

Available from iTunes for 69p.

[Via iSO50]

If you're a fan of Instagram's vintage hues and women's breasts then new website Boobstagram pushes together your two favourite things into a lovely library of cleavage.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that Boobstagram is a website dedicated to filtered boob photos taken with Instagram. We're not sure whether staring at photos of breasts is more acceptable with a pretentious Nashville filter and vintage-style border or the lowest point of our lives to date.

You may be outraged, disgusted, fascinated or already browsing to the twentieth page of the site. Whatever your view you have to admit that it's pretty hilarious (yet oh so predictable) that this vintage photography/pervy hybrid exists on the interwebz.

[Via TNT Magazine]