It’s rainy and drab outside and the only thing making us feel better is watching videos in which Applegirl shows off her amazing abilities with the iPhone. This YouTube sensation performs hit songs using a collection of apps on several different iPhones. Yesterday it was a three-phone version of Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” and today she’s taken a stab at Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface” using four phones.
She seems to use a mix of looping drum beat apps, guitar chord apps, and, for Pokerface, the T-Pain autotune app for that modern vocal sound. Here’s a look at both videos. However, here’s a heads up–Applegirl doesn’t get into the swing of things with Irreplaceable till 1:34 into the video and the cat making the rounds in Poker Face is very distracting.
Geeks across the galaxy, rejoice! Soon you’ll be able to release your inner Jedi and vanquish evil forces with your iPhone–or rather with the new “Star Wars: Lightsaber Duel” app, due to be released next month.
The new dueling app builds on an existing iPhone app, “Lightsaber Unleashed,” which was a one-person game that turned your screen into a glowing lightsaber, and made an official-sounding “whoosh” as you brandished your phone. But the new app is a two-geek affair that promises to enhance your lightsaber experience.
If you and a friend both have the app, you’ll be able to use Bluetooth to duel with one another–although it isn’t yet clear how the app declares a victor. Advertisements for the new app also declare that it will feature 11 new characters from the Star Wars series, which presumably means that you can decide whose lightsaber you want to wield, and whether you swear allegiance to the Rebel Alliance or the Dark Side.
Plus, for the many people who think lightsaber duels are pointless without dramatic accompanying music, here’s some news. The app has thoughtfully provided a selection of music to pick from as you duke it out.
THQ Wireless, the makers of Lightsaber Duel have also ramped up the graphics and animations and hope to have the product ready by April. There’s still no word yet on how much it would cost to download. The previous app was free.
Now we know what students do for fun over at Stanford University. If this video is to be believed, they wave their iPhones around while wearing speakers strapped to their hands. (Actually, the whole production seems kind of like using a weirding module, so maybe they’re onto something.) The speakers amplify the different sounds produced by various iPhone apps to create a glorious symphony, courtesy of the MoPho (Mobile Phone) Orchestra.
Some of the music apps are quite fun–like the one called the “Ocarina” that transforms your iPhone into a 12,000-year-old wind instrument (but with more apps). Check out the video below for a demonstration of both ancient music and modern compositions played on the iPhone, from Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.
A Texas doctor claims that you can now kill your acne while you chat on the phone with your friends. Houston dermatologist Greg Pearson says that his AcneApp, available at Apple’s app store for $1.99, is a great way to clear your mug of unseemly spots.
The AcneApp emits alternating bursts of red and blue light from the iPhone’s screen. All users have to do is run the program then hold the phone up to their faces.
Dr. Pearson says the phone needs to be held to the face for about two minutes a day, and callers have to remember to switch sides for maximum benefit. He isn’t quite sure of the results, and he can’t promote the app’s medical benefits because it hasn’t been FDA-approved. Nevertheless, Pearson told Fox TV that the app has been designed with “some science” in mind.
You can get directions, make dinner reservations, break up via text and now, thanks to the latest app, you can get live streaming mugshots on your phone! Wait–is that mom?
Arrested! Mobile Mugshots prides itself on “Real People! Real Arrests! Real Mugshots! We collect mugshots from jails all over the USA and post them for you to view.”
The iPhone app, gratis on iTunes, serves up police pics from around the United States with full names, birth date, age, the date and time of arrest as well as the alleged crime.
Finally, a way to track Lindsay Lohan’s movements!
For those too busy (or self-important?) to pocket the iPhone while walking down the street and too safety-conscious to blunder out into traffic while texting, we’ve got just the app for you, via Gadget Venue:
The application is called Type and Walk and makes use of the camera on your iPhone to push video in to the background of an application where you can type on top of the video, thus being able to see obstacles as you are walking.
Type n Walk was designed to work with your favorite apps — not try to replace them. Use it to compose your email, text message, status update, or tweet and paste it into your target app (or the browser) to send.
Yes, the app shows you the same thing you’d see if you just looked ahead of you without the iPhone, the same way people have for thousands of years, and animals before them for millions of years. Is it genius? A signal that our species has really, finally gone too far with this technology thing?
So you’ve sufficiently gorged yourself on turkey and deviled eggs, now it’s time to flop onto the couch and slip away into a tryptophan coma. Luckily, the Pzizz Relax iPhone app will ensure you get the perfect post-meal nap, even on your relative’s horribly uncomfortable, left-over-from-the-70s couch. From Macworld:
Pzizz Relax…enables you to create a customized, relaxing sleep soundtrack. With a combination of soothing music, positive and calming words, and just-right wake-up alarm, I found Pzizz Relax did the trick for me nearly ever time I tried to take a midday 20- or 30-minute snooze break. With Pzizz Relax playing on my headphones, I was able to fall asleep quickly and wake up, when I was supposed to, feeling refreshed. That’s what the app is trying to assist with.
So hopefully you can shake that mid-day turkey hangover and be back at it for dinner.
The iLingual app is clever translation software that speaks foreign phrases with video of your mouth saying the words. Launch the app, snap a picture of your mouth (or someone else’s) and hold the iPhone in front of your mouth. The software animates your mouth to make it look like you’re actually speaking French (or German or Arabic). Well, sorta.
See for yourself below:
The best part about this iPhone app? It’s free. We mean, c’est gratuit.
It’s Friday at last. So to help you goof off and avoid work, we bring you a double dose of time vampire iPhone apps.
First up, for the cat lovers out there who tragically don’t have any cats, comes CatPaint, a $0.99 app that lets you add images of cats to pics that you’ve snapped with your iPhone.
Davander Mobile has launched CatPaint, an app that lets you add cuteness—in feline form—to any photo on your iPhone or iPod touch. You grab a photo, choose a kitten, and then tap to place it anywhere within the image.
But the makers of the add-a-cat app must have realized that it’s possible to get carried away by your enthusiasm in such a situation. CatPaint uses the iPhone’s accelerometer as a delete function: Shake gently to remove the most recently added cat, or shake violently to purge all felines from the image.
From one internet meme to an app that incorporates them all—teh internets. Brace yourself for a lolpocalypse, according to their description on YouTube:
THE MOST EXCITING IPHONE GAME EVER! Coming soon (already submitted to the App Store) to the iPhone or iPod Touch. A (cyber)space shooter of epic proportions. Collect lolcats, dodge popups, feed trolls, avoid viruses, break through firewalls. It’s EPIC.
The iPhone app is called Blower and it works by moving air through the speakers of your iPhone (strictly speaking, the same thing happens when you play music through those speakers, but let’s not be too harsh on the novelty part of the application).
Check out the app in action:
Or you can use it to blow away “herbs.”
This actually seems like a lot more work than just, you know, breathing on the candles, or dragging your hand across the table. Whatever, it’s only $0.99.
Discoblog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's written by Veronique Greenwood and Valerie Ross. Email tips and suggestions to vgreenwood [at] discovermagazine [dot] com.
Geeks across the galaxy, rejoice! Soon you’ll be able to release your inner Jedi and vanquish evil forces with your iPhone–or rather with the new “Star Wars: Lightsaber Duel” app, due to be released next month.
A Texas doctor claims that you can now kill your acne while you chat on the phone with your friends. Houston dermatologist Greg Pearson says that his AcneApp, available at Apple’s app store for $1.99, is a great way to clear your mug of unseemly spots.
It’s Friday at last. So to help you goof off and avoid work, we bring you a double dose of time vampire 
