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TMCNet: NOW WE'RE HAVING iFun: APPS FOR SMARTPHONES CAN BE PRACTICAL OR EVEN EDUCATIONAL ? BUT MANY ARE ABOUT LAUGHS

[January 17, 2010]

NOW WE'RE HAVING iFun: APPS FOR SMARTPHONES CAN BE PRACTICAL OR EVEN EDUCATIONAL ? BUT MANY ARE ABOUT LAUGHS

Jan 17, 2010 (Albuquerque Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Gary Eden tries to lighten things up at the Veterans Administration in Albuquerque where he works.

Sometimes he pulls out his iPhone and goes to the "Excuse Me" application, or app, as it is called. This app provides 16 flatulent sound effects as well as features to initiate them, such as motion detection, a timer and random selection.


"It's been fun at business meetings," says Eden, 58, who also delights in his "More Cowbell" app, which allows him to shake or tap his iPhone to elicit the distinctive bell sound.

While many of the apps that smartphone owners can download for free or a small fee are practical, others are pure fun and games. Need to keep track of the calories you're consuming? There's an app for that, as the commercials say. But what if you want to yuk it up at the office? Raise some eyebrows? End a bad date? Very likely, there's an app for that, too.

With more than 100,000 apps available through Apple's App Store and thousands of apps coming online every day for Verizon's Droid and Google's Nexus One, there appears to be no limit to the smartphone antics. Apple reports more than 3 billion user downloads since the iPhone was released in June 2007. With Androidbased Droid released last November and Nexus One coming out earlier this month, the Android Market is up to about 20,000 apps.

One of Tyler Bushnell's most-used apps on his iPhone is "Bubble Wrap," which is exactly what you think it is, says the 22-year-old New Mexico Tech student.

"It's satisfying to pop real bubble wrap, but once it's all popped it's gone." With his iPhone app, "it's endless," he says. "It never runs out." Cartoon sound effects, such as "Boink!" "Honk!" "Clang!" and the always popular "Boing!" are on Camile O'Briant's iPhone. A professional photographer, the Albuquerque woman readily admits that the "Toon Effects" app "really has no practical use whatsoever." On the other hand, she says, "it's fun and free." That's sort of the point.

Most apps are under $5 or free, and many are, as O'Briant notes, of no practical use. Some draw their interest from scatological humor, political incorrectness or pop culture idiosyncrasies. Some offer games, cartoons, sound effects, trivia and some are just plain silly.

What really works for University of New Mexico student Jenna Aguilar is being locked and loaded. With her "Shotgun" app she pumps her arm back and forth to load the shotgun graphic on the screen, and then she jerks her hand as if in response to a recoil while a shotgun sound effect is emitted from her phone.

Aguilar is also fond of her "Done Drinking" app, in which a bottle-toting cartoon figure wobbles his way home. The farther he gets, the more he drinks and the more difficult it becomes to keep him upright, which is accomplished by tilting the iPhone up, down, left and right, as well as by tapping on the screen.

Outside the Apple Store in the ABQ Uptown shopping center, a 19-year-old woman who identified herself only as "V" recommends the voice-altering "Smack Talk" app. It features an animated guinea pig, puppy, kitten and Chihuahua that mimic what you say in a variety of squeaky, helium-intoned voices, or deep, resonant voices. The mimicry is accompanied by lip-synced animation of the onscreen critters. The app, V says, is a fun favorite among her friends and presents all sorts of possibilities of livening up dull lectures at school.

Equine podiatrist Stacie Shain of Tome downloaded an app called "Funny Light" that turns her iPhone screen into a flashlight, but a tap on the screen with a finger elicits voices warning her, "I see a monster" or "Can you check under the bed, too?" or "Step into the light." Suppose you find yourself in an awkward social situation, such as a blind date with somebody in whom you have no interest or chemistry. The solution for 19-year-old Albuquerque resident Chris Statzula is to call on the "Fake-A-Call" application on his iPhone. In advance of the social engagement, he selects the time for the call, the ring tone and the fake name and number to appear on the phone's screen.

"Then you just wait until the phone rings and you can pull it out, stare at the screen and announce, 'Sorry, but I have to take this.' Then you can walk away or make an excuse for leaving," he says.

Of course there are plenty of serious, functional iPhone apps that allow people to access news, weather, stock quotes and more.

Albuquerque real estate developer Jeff Henry, 55, lost 40 pounds in two months using the "Lose It" app. It allows users to create a profile based on weight, height, gender and age. "Lose It" tracks daily caloric intake and caloric burn from exercise, as well as calculates calories from specific foods and portions listed on a searchable database.

"It was really easy and it really worked," Henry says.

The iPhone app store and the Android Market provide information for people who want to develop apps.

One such company is the Maryland-based Splaysoft, founded by Richard de Los Santos.

"I can turn around a functional app in less than a week, but a more sophisticated app could take months," de Los Santos says.

Splaysoft has created dozens of apps to provide people a forum for swapping drinking, jail and war stories, playing games, accessing news by topic or from government departments, and sharing messages and photos.

Money from downloaded iPhone apps is split, with 70 percent going to the developer and 30 percent to Apple, while apps that are downloaded for free have space that can be sold to advertisers, with all of the revenue being kept by the developer. Splaysoft pays Apple a $99 yearly licensing fee, regardless of the number of apps that are accepted and made available at the App Store, he says.

"People absolutely can make money creating apps, but the market is changing, big developers are jumping in and production qualities are going way up," he says. "But there's still a market for small developers." Pick the right apps Here's a look at oddball apps available on smartphones from Apple's iPhone to the Droid to the Blackberry and the newest entry -- Google's Nexus One.

FOR THE ANDROID MARKET: Light Racer 3D (free basic/$2.99 full) Futuristic motorcycles race to the death in a 3D arena. Think "Tron." Pickup Lines (free) With this app you can share your best pickup lines, view and rate the ones others have used, and send some of the better ones to your friends.

FOR THE iPHONE MARKET: Zombie Pizza (99 cents) As organs pass on a conveyor belt, you assemble pizzas topped with eyeballs, guts and brains to feed to organhungry zombies. If the Zombie Rage Meter gets too high, the creatures come crashing through the door. Keep them fed or become dead. Cro-Mag Rally ($1.99) The Flintstones have nothing on you when you drive a prehistoric hot rod. Your iPhone is the steering wheel to avoid obstacles while launching primitive weapons like Bone Bombs and Heat-Seeking Homing Pigeons. So easy even a caveman can do it.

Flick Fishing (99 cents) Turn your iPhone into a fishing rod as you cast out and reel in big catches. No need to talk about "the one that got away" because there are plenty of fish in this sea.

PocketGuitar (99 cents) Consider this an upgrade from the air guitar. Your iPhone or iTouch screen provides frets for fingers as well as a space for picking and strumming along with a large selection of songs and musical styles.

Etch a Sketch ($4.99) The classic drawing board shrinks to iPhone size, complete with virtual knobs to control the drawing stylus. Of course, you can cheat by tapping and dragging your fingers across the screen. This version also lets you add shapes and colors, as well as import pictures from your photo library for a special Etch a Sketch embellishment. Shake your iPhone to erase the image and start all over again.

Mouth Off (99 cents) Place your iPhone or iTouch in front of your mouth and speak as your choice of three dozen cartoon mouths move in sync with your voice.

FOR THE BLACKBERRY MARKET: MobilePets Online (free) Looking for a lovable companion who greets you at the door and shows you unconditional love? Then look no further than your cell phone, where with a touch of a button, you can adopt a MobilePet.

Graffiti Writer ($2.99) Represent your homies with real graffiti you design yourself. Journal app-titude Beyond fun and games at the office, if you just want to sound smart at the watercooler, you can now stay informed by downloading an iPhone app to get the Journal.

The app, available starting Monday, provides practical, up-to-the-minute local, national and international news, including the ABQNews Seeker, news video, sports, weather and "as seen in print" versions of the Journal.

To download the app to your phone, go to abqjournal. com/iphone.

To see more of the Albuquerque Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.abqjournal.com. Copyright (c) 2010, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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