Piictu

The annual Day of the Turkey is almost upon us, but around Piictu there are a bunch of people still working hard. Others have pushed off for Thanksgiving destinations around the country and the world. Estimates suggest that over 42 million Americans travel more than 50 miles for Thanksgiving.

For those bored on the road, in planes, buses, or trains, here’s a little Piictu entertainment tip: Make a HandTurkey. They are both festive and simple. Channel your inner 6 year-old self. 

For those hosting and cooking, a convenient stream of Thanksgiving Supplies has cropped up with more than a few succulent dishes from Piictu family menus. 

Here at Piictu HQ, the holiday spirit has us excited to launch a Thanksgiving contest. In “Stuffed or Stuffing” we challenge the community to show us their turkeys, their silly stuffing gags, and their stuffed faces after the good bird has come and gone. 

All this reminds us exactly what we’re thankful for here at Piictu HQ…

YOU.

Where would we be without the awesome people who share great photos and start fun streams? 

Last week, the New York Tech community traded its signature jeans and t-shirts for high fashion. The exchange was part of Raise Cache, a one-night fashion fundraiserfor Hack NY. 

To support the creative mission of the night, Rachel Sklar penned a wonderful rewrite of P!nk’s “Raise your Glass.” It was called “Raise your Cache” and we think it offers a succinct, playful version of what life in the New York Tech scene looks like. 

How do we know? Well, we’re in it. Twice. Look for a Piictu dance line at 1:03 and again at 2:42. 

Now to back to work. 

This afternoon, #OccupyWallStreet passed by Piictu HQ setting off a lively hour of protest chants, police sirens, and very serious looking riot police. Good thing we got lunch a bit early. 

They were marching towards Union Square as part of the “November 17th Day of Action,” and judging from the crowds streaming past our front doors, they succeeded. 

Inspired, we added some piics to the “Occupy Wall Street #n17” stream from the scenes of politics on our doorstep. They’re well worth a look. 

Deep in the Piictu labs, our elite team of pixel craftsmen have been busy shaping revolutionary additions to the app. Today, after weeks of tinkering and testing, we unveil their work to the world.

Introducing Piictu 1.2, Update Now!

So what kind of awesome changes can you expect? Many.  

1. INCREDIBLE new Activity tab

Tracks your total number of likes, replies to your streams, and followers all from a single location. Tapping thumbnails now brings you directly to the image liked or replied. Stream additions are previewed on the spot. Distinct texture break shows you what’s new since your last visit. 

2. SWEET new Stream and Reply functions 

When you share an image, there’s a new image preview screen to make sure that piic looks just right. You can also hold over the obscured image while you finalize the title and add friends to confirm how good it looks. 

3. EASILY add photos to existing streams 

Making a new stream but not sure if it someone has already started a similar one? Now Piictu automatically searches for relevant streams in real-time so you can build on an existing stream. Tap on the blue arrow to see what kind of photos are already in those streams. 

4. QUICKLY Mention friends 

Friends are now alphabetically sorted to make finding someone quick and easy. You can also pull in friends not on Piictu yet from your Address Book. So go ahead… be friendly.

but wait, there’s MORE 

That’s just the big stuff. There’s a host of wonderful fixes, animations, and clever tweaks that have found their way into Piictu 1.2.

Go ahead a like a piic on the new app. Yeah… pretty sweet right?

With our headquarters in New York City, it’s easy to think of Piictu as an American-oriented product. But that’s wrong in at least two directions. First, our development team is currently scattered across three continents and second, our downloads have been wonderfully international. 

In fact, over the last month of downloads Italy has racked nearly 14% of the global downloads, topping the US by a full 5%.

Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden round out the top five collecting 20% of global downloads between the three. 

The top 10 pulls in Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Turkey, and India.