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The new iOS app MixBit is ready to take on Vine and Instagram in the rapidly growing world of social video sharing. MixBit allows users to capture 16 second "bits" (1 second longer than Instagram), and edit them together to create longer videos. Users can use their own bits, or any publicly shared video content from other MixBit contributors to create their own remixes.

MixBit creators Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who are also the founders of YouTube, say remixing other people's videos is the principal goal of the new service.

“The whole purpose of MixBit is to reuse the content within the system,” explained Hurley. “I really want to focus on great stories that people can tell.”

Hurley and Chen believe younger users will prefer MixBit to Vine and Instagram because of its video editing tools. Vine offers zero editing options, while Instagram only features a few basic choices. One thing MitBix does not offer is the ability to create individual profiles. Instead, users must upload their content anonymously to a communal pool of clips. MitBix also doesn't allow its users to comment on other people's work. However, Hurley did say they're working on adding these options in the future.

A few days after Vine introduced new features like "Revining", Instagram countered by adding landscape mode for both images and video. While Vine users are stuck shooting their six second videos in portrait mode, Instagram users can now shoot their fifteen second videos anyway they want. Hopefully Instagram users will take advantage of this new feature and escape the clutches of the dreaded Vertical Video Syndrome. Instagram version 4.0.2 also brings Cinema support to the front-facing camera. This feature was introduced for the rear-facing camera when video was originally launched for the app. The upgrade is available now for all current users. New users can download Instagram from the App Store for free.

Not to be outdone by Instagram, Twitter has added photo filters to its iOS app. Twitter version 5.2 brings eight different filters, the ability to crop and scale images, and an easy to use grid view for finding the best looking filters for your photos.

Earlier this month, Instagram decided to disable the ability to properly display images on Twitter. Twitter users are now forced to visit Instagram’s website to correctly view images posted via the Instagram app. Instagram’s chief executive, Kevin Systrom said in an interview: “We’ve decided that right now, what makes sense, is to direct our users to the Instagram website".

Instagram fans will want to check out Instacube, a digital picture frame from designer D2M (Design to Matter). The Instacube allows Instagram users to easily display their photo feeds via Wi-Fi on a 6.5-inch, 600×600 capacitive touch screen. The 7.5-inch frame is powered by Google Android and an ARM processor. It features 4GB of internal memory and has 256MB of RAM.

Instacube is easy to use. All it requires is a Wi-Fi connection and an Instagram account. There are only three buttons: one for toggling feeds, one for power and one for liking photos. Instacube is fed from the cloud so you can easily tell it to display custom content, or just let it feed photos from your stream.

If you're one of the 80 million Instagram users who haven't freaked out and closed their Instagram accounts since the acquisition by Facebook, the iPhone app has been updated to 3.0. The latest version of the photo sharing software has several redesigned components and adds new features.

Although many alternatives to Instagram exist, the service remains highly popular for those with mobile phones. Visual tweaks and improved performance are just the beginning of what's been incorporated into Instagram 3.0. Infinite scrolling on photo feeds is now possible, and spam comments can be reported.