Of Macs and Tux

New iPhone Apps

By ROM FERIA
March 10, 2010, 10:04am

In a span of several weeks, I have discovered new iPhone apps that I thought I’d share with you. A warning, though, some of these apps might not work with non-iPhone 3GS models. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Buzzie. If you have not tried Google Buzz, then get out of that rock you are living under and check it out! :) Buzz is Google’s new addition to its Gmail service. It is similar to Facebook’s status and Twitter’s tweets, but tightly integrated with your Gmail account, so no need to sign-up. Google has a mobile web version of Buzz, but if you prefer a native mobile client, then you can get Buzzie.

2. Foodspotting. Food-lovers would love this app. This is a native app for Foodspotting.com. What this does is basically allow you to post photos of food that you saw or ate at a particular restaurant, and share it with your friends and/or to the public. “Spots” that you discover and post can also be cross-posted on Twitter and Foursquare. I find this useful when eating out - you can search for restaurants near your current location and get a view of what the food actually looks like (as opposed to seeing it on the menu).

3. Chirpie Pro. If you are like me, I maintain two sets of buddies - on Twitter and on Facebook. I could get all my Twitter posts and automatically post it on Facebook, but that will annoy a lot of my Facebook friends (the same way that it annoys me to see tweets on Facebook). However, there are instances that you need to post on both sites - like say, an important announcement or sharing a URL - then Chirpie Pro is the tool for you. It posts whatever text you write on both sites automatically.

4. oMoby. If you have an Android phone and use Google Goggles, then you know that there is no version available on the iPhone. What Goggles does is short of amazing -- you take a photo of any product (actual object, barcode, photo of item on magazine) and it does some nifty image recognition, matches and identifies it and then gives you a list of results, from the product page to shopping sites with prices, etc. On the iPhone, this is what oMoby does. Try it and see if it works for you.

5. Hipstamatic. Photo-geeks will love this app that gives you access to retro-old-style cameras and effects. It is quite difficult to describe, but if you remember those days when disposable one-time use flashbulbs were available for your instamatic camera, then you’d appreciate this. Definitely a blast from the past!

So there you have it. A couple of new applications that you may want included in your iPhone’s library. Maybe you can share your new finds, too. Send me email at mac.n.tux (gmail).