Apps of the Week, February 12th, 2010
February 13th, 2010
In this edition of Apps of the Week, we compose a rap with the “Ginger Kid,” install our very own “panic button” onto our iPhones, and check out exclusive (and free) footage of hot girls from the new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (did we mention that it’s free?).
Ginger Kid
Price: $0.99
This is more of an app for all the South Park fans out there (and anyone a fan of ridiculous viral videos, actually). It all started with this video response from a redheaded teen who was somewhat offended by South Park’s portrayal of “gingers” on TV. The video caught fire, and parodies are in abundance now. So, naturally, there’s an app featuring a soundboard of the Ginger Kid’s best quotes from the video, which you can then make into a rap of your own. Also check out all the videos he’s made, as well as the cartoon parody of this video, which is well worth a few minutes of your time, if you ask us.
My Hot Girlfriend
Price: $1.99
No girlfriend to brag about or pamper this Valentine’s Day weekend? Fear not, there’s an app for you. Sure, there are plenty of “pocket girlfriend” apps to help you simulate having a real girlfriend (who just happens to live in your phone in your pocket), but this app will actually help you convince your friends you really do have a girlfriend. Choose from several images of hot girls in various states of undress, upload a photo of yourself, then edit “your girlfriend” into your photo. Then, live happily ever after with your high-tech concoction of your very own female George Glass. Oy vey.
Panic N Poke
Price: $1.99
As odd of a combo as the features in this app are, we like the idea of having a panic button in your iPhone that might actually work (provided you have access to your phone when you’re in danger, which is actually very unlikely). Panic N Poke has three main features: a panic button, a friend-poking option with address locator, and an anonymous messager with audio snippets from a celebrity soundboard. Sounds weird, yes? The panic button can either sound a loud alarm or a silent one, contacting your emergency contacts that you enter into the app while the “alarm” sounds. There’s also an option claiming to contact 911 services when activated (disclosure: we didn’t try this out, because, well, it’s illegal to call emergency services when it’s not an emergency. We recommend you follow our lead and don’t do it unless necessary, either.) You can cancel your panic alert request (thankfully), but, still, we would recommend avoiding this app while intoxicated.
Which leads us to why this is a weird combo of features. The poke feature allows you to send a poke message to a friend (who doesn’t need an iPhone to receive it, by the way) that will include your location information. We’re assuming this is geared more toward those who need a ride home or can’t remember where they are, a.k.a. those who are probably intoxicated. The third feature allows you to anonymously prank your friends by sending them a message along with an audio attachment of everything from quotes from Anchorman to Journey song clips. Again, who sends a friend an anonymous message with a clip from “Don’t Stop Believin’”? Drunk people, that’s who. Drunk people who probably shouldn’t have access to a panic button just a few tabs away. Just sayin’.
Wlppr
Price: $0.99
In a nice change of pace, this app from Wlppr.com offers you a new interesting artwork every day to use as your iPhone background. The backgrounds range from photographs and illustrations to digital art and abstract pieces. Think of it like a quote-a-day tear-away calendar without the wasted paper and with some cool new stuff to look at every day.
Chili’s
Price: FREE
Who doesn’t love a good chain restaurant? Especially one that has limitless coasters to play with and stack at your will while you wait for your dinner? Chili’s just came out with its own restaurant app, which includes a coaster-flipping game and the usual stuff for a restaurant app: restaurant locator, menu browser, etc. This app also has a “digital waiter” that will help you pick the ideal meal for your occasion, location, tastes, etc. Our mouths are watering already. (No, really, they are.)
The Shoe Salon
Price: FREE
This app may be free, but it’s not quite for those looking for a good deal on a shoe. The luxury retailer Bergdorg Goodman brings us this app that features on high-end designer shoe that they dem the “shoe of the day.” You can purchase the shoe directly from the app, too. Cool for shoe hoarders, bad for people who live with shoe hoarders.
Instant Poetry
Price: $0.99
This app might seem a bit silly at first, but we’re liking it for its simplicity, it’s price, and it’s relevance to the holiday weekend coming up. C’mon, what says “I love you” or “I like-like you” better than a sappy poem over a sappy picture? This app has word cut-outs for you to choose from and put together to create a poem of your own, then lay it over a photo of your choosing. Choose the font color, size, placement, etc. You can then send the photo creation to anyone via e-mail. Just smile and agree with us: It’s cute.
CoverItLive iPhone
Price: FREE
Cover It Live is a tool used mostly by bloggers and journalists, but it’s really a great tool for anyone looking to include as many people as possible in on their events as possible. Cover It Live allows anyone to publish their event, then update readers with real-time reporting and social engagement, including live photos and videos. With this iPhone app, you can launch and run a live event through CoverItLive, publish live commentary, integrate your Twitter account into your feed, upload photos from your iPhone in real-time, and view other event listings from anywhere in the world. This is pretty much a necessity for anyone using Cover It Live and anyone looking to provide real-time coverage for an event.
National Police Scanner Pro
Price: $0.99
If you’ve ever worked in a newsroom or just had a weird uncle who was into that sort of that, you’ve probably had the sometimes unpleasant, often delightful experience of listening to police adventures on a police scanner all day. Instead of lugging around that bulky piece of equipment to get your scanner fix, though, try this app that lets you listen in on police scanner feeds from across the country. They’ll be adding more channels in the future, and the big plus? You can listen to the feeds as you use other apps.
Banksy Art App
Price: $1.99
We’re sharing this app with you out of pure selfishness, as the app itself is nothing particularly special. It’s merely a collection of the pieces by secretive artist Banksy, who is infamous for showing his work at places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art without permission and without anyone catching on for quite a while. His story is a pretty interesting one, and his art is cool to look at. So the app may not be anything awesome, but the content certainly is. We approve.
SI Swimsuit 2010
Price: FREE
Regardless of how you feel about the half-naked lady content, you have to admit, this is one jam-packed, smart app. Oh, and it’s free, a major rarity in the media apps category these days. This app features content from the 2010 Sports Illustration Swimsuit Issue, with mostly videos and photos of the women featured throughout. There are 46 videos (about 90 minutes of footage) available in the app, and supposedly app-exclusive photos, as well. You can upgrade for $1.99 to get even more app-exclusive content, should you not be fulfilled. All in all, the UI is great, the content is clear, and, did we mention it’s free?
iBattery Manager
Price: FREE
We usually skip right over utility apps like battery monitors, as there are simply way too many out there that do practically the same thing: not much. But this is a pretty nifty battery monitor, as it’s A) free and B) breaks down how much time you have with different features on your iPhone based on your battery life. This would certainly be helpful when we’re at 20 percent and blasting our iPod while texting and checking Twitter. Whoops.
Related posts:
Posted in I Cafe