As fun as the popular social photo taking and sharing app Instagram is, there is still one big thing missing: a usable web-interface. The app comes with lots of nice effects and a bunch of sharing options but there still isn’t a website where the users can go to surf through their own or their friends’ photo-streams.
After the publication of the app’s API by its developer Burbn, Inc., a lot of developers started building apps and websites upon Instagram, giving fans the possibility to interact with the service outside the iPhone app.
Carousel is the latest and probably greatest addition to those apps. The Mac exclusive desktop app gives you the ability to scroll through both your photos and your friends’ photos, like them, comment on them, and even save the full-size photos by just dragging them outside the app.
The app is beautifully designed and has a lot of nice little features that’ll make it super easy for Instagram power-users to interact with the service. One of my favourite features is the keyboard short-cuts that make it easier than ever to like or comment on a photo. Another great feature that made me love the app right from the beginning is the option to get Growl-notifications whenever there are new photos available.
We are currently working on a full-length review which you will find here soon. Until then, we encourage you to download the free 15 day trial from the Carousel website and play with it.