Nix Annoying Instagram Photos With New Project From Philadelphia-based Company
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Everyone has those people on Instagram: The ones who post 10 selfies a day, or share only photos of "inspirational" quotes set over stock art.
But whether you're sick of scrolling through dozens of baby snaps or griping over gratuitous fitness posts, a new project from a Philly- and Boston-based company will help you nix those annoying pics from your Instagram feed – anonymously.
"The best thing about Instagram is that it captures and shares a person's unique perspective," Pic Nix's creators write. "Sadly, unique perspectives have started to become anything but... Enter Pic Nix and the little robot that could."
Pic Nix, from A&G Labs, the innovation side of Allen & Gerritsen, is essentially a robot that allows you to channel your frustration with an over-zealous Instagrammer into an anonymous post to that user. You can visit the Pic Nix website to build your post, type in the annoying Instagrammer's handle, choose a graphic and caption, then submit. The post is then sent to an application that controls the Philly-based bot and a Bluetooth keyboard. The bot, nicknamed "B.O.B.," taps the coordinates into an iPhone to simulate a physical post, and the Bluetooth keyboard types the message and posts it in the notifications section of the offending Instagrammer's account on your behalf.
A&G Labs says the whole process takes less than two minutes. It also lets your oversharing target get the intended message – from an anonymous source.
"Short of unfollowing the guilty parties, there hasn't been a way to subtly hint that they're overdoing it [on Instagram]," says Caitlin Vivian, an activation strategist for A&G. "So a&g Labs created Pic Nix, a program that allows people to anonymously call out offending Instagrammers using a robot."
In other words, you no longer have to deal with Aunt Bertha's endless stream of cat photos just because 'unfollowing' her would make Thanksgiving 2014 a tad awkward.
To see how Pic Nix works, click here.