10 Highly Creative iPhone Applications
As an application platform, the iPhone has been embraced by developers to push the envelope of what this device can do. Apps are evolving into great sophistication, from learning to cook to watching live TV.
The iPhone and iTouch are also great tools to channel your creativity. As technology ever-evolves developers are given more tools at their disposal. The following 10 applications are based on a new technology buzz called ‘augmented reality.’ These featured applications vary from functional, educational, to just plain fun and simple.
1. AugMeasure
Ever wanted to measure something, but just didn’t have a measure tape handy? There is finally an application that your father will just love (and perhaps take your iPhone without permission – mine just did). Use your iPhone camera to measure distance and height on any object straight from your camera. This application is free for a limited time only.
2. Virtual Graffiti
If you’re dying like I was to get a can of spray paint and go on an adventure to tag a building this application is for you. Simply, snap an image, add your artistic “tag”, then, once uploaded, your artistic talents will be shown to the world. You can also browse by location because there is integration for Google Maps. Talk about a fun application. Go on, let the creativity out of the closet.
3. Theodolite
Talk about complexity, Theodolite overlays real time information about position, altitude, bearing, and horizontal/vertical inclination on the iPhone’s live camera image, like an electronic viewfinder. Uses are endless, from land surveying to navigation, and the app is great for hiking, boating, hunting, golf, sports, sightseeing, and finding your way around. If your big on your outdoors (and you know what everything means in the description above), this app is a must have.
4. Car Finder
If you are that person that has trouble finding your car in a big parking lot (I can think of a few friends that fall into this category), then this application is for you. Once the car’s location is set, the app creates a visible marker showing the car, its distance away and the direction in which to head. There are other non-AR apps that offer this kind of tool, but we think seeing it on a real-life display will make locating that pesky Honda (if your Asian) a piece of cake.
5. Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy
If you have had the natural curiosity to locate each star in the sky, then this AR app is going to be your newest and greatest toy. And get this its educational (gasp!). Winner of Mac World’s 2009 App Awards (Education), Pocket Universe is the ideal astronomy app for those keen to learn about the night sky. The unique display is generated dynamically depending on your location and time, and then rendered in 3D for a super fast response – flick the sky and it spins around you. What a neat concept!
6. Work Snug
Finally an iPhone app that finds digital nomads a place to lay their weary laptop. It identifies Wi-Fi hotspots and potential workplaces – from coffee shops to professional rent-a-desk office spaces – with user reviews encompassing power provision, atmosphere, noise levels and even the quality of the coffee.
7. Dish Pointer
The mobile version of DishPointer is designed for satellite installers or mobile broadcasters to hold their phones up to the sky and get a virtual overlay of their nearest satellites to know which way to point the darn dish. If you aren’t employed in such a field, yet you have this on your phone, then your nerd-score just went through the stratosphere. Way to go, cable guy.
8. Le Bar Guide
Le Bar Guide will assist you in finding the nearest bar, give you ratings and then even point you to a taxi within stumbling distance. It’s accurate to 20 feet, which is a coincidence, as that’s about our level of accuracy after three pints of the French stuff.
9. Firefighter 360
Catering to both pyromaniacs and Backdraft fantasists, Firefighter 360 will set your immediate location on fire, requiring you, as heroic fireperson, to get out the hose, douse some flames and save some people too. As far as iPhone gaming goes, it’s arguably not a high point. The sound effects are crude and the graphics cartoonish. But it’s an interesting application of AR that makes us excited about the next wave of AR games. Did we mention you get to play a fireperson?
10. Ipew
Want to shoot people in the face with a laser? Yep, there’s an app for that. But, sometimes it’s the simple things in life (kicking leaves, vanilla ice cream, swapping around the keys on a colleague’s keyboard when they’re on vacation) that offer the most pleasure – at least on a short term basis. iPew offers you a choice of weapons and provides gratifying noises as you get someone in your virtual sights and blast them away. Recommended for board meetings, long commutes and those cozy nights in with the in-laws (Come on guys you know what I’m talking about).
June 9th, 2010 at 8:26 am
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June 26th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
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