yesterday it was announced that everyone’s favourite like-gaining app, instagram, has released a new gem: hyperlapse. this new app is a surprisingly malleable video function that allows its users to smoothly capture time lapse videos. before this moment, such time lapse could only be attained with a very steady hand or high quality camera equipment.

the app has super powerful built-in stabilisation technology that allows for such time lapse vids to be captured. it’s so easy to use as well, all you do is download it from the app store, tap once to begin recording and tap again to stop, tweak the playback speed to somewhere between 1x-12x then save the clip into your little camera roll. voila! all you do is post it, and you’ll be talk of the town with your cool, non-vine time lapse vid!

here’s a super sick vid that david guttenfelder from national geographic uploaded to insta upon the arrival of this magic app.

every day new apps are being created that are defying the laws of what we previously thought to be impossible without paying thousands upon thousands of dollars for in regards to technology. something that someone would have paid a cinematographer thousands of dollars to do – such as a time lapse video capture – can all be done, by anyone, for free.

this makes me wonder whether or not we as a society are becoming more network literate, or if everything it just being simplified to a point where you literally have to be able to do it if you have at least one functioning brain cell. i mean, i know i for sure am learning so much about new technologies, ideas and what these techniques and skills do, but does that make me network literate or just merely observing of the progression of society around us?