PresenceThere are literally millions of apps loose in the wild of the Internet. Last year Google tied Apple with 700,000 apps available for Android platforms. The industry hasn’t slowed down since. The following apps are drops in that bucket, but each one is innovative in its own way. If you have an app you love or love to hate, let me know in the comments section and I’ll check it out.
Presence
Big Brother is watching you. A new app lets you watch him. (Well, that’s what I would do with it.) People Power Presence is a cloud-based app that lets users operate an unused smart phone as a wireless video camera that can serve as a monitoring device. It can detect motion and audio, send alerts, and capture images, video, and audio from the event that set it off.
The People Power Presence application recycles old devices while providing a free real-time monitoring system and a secure way to check on loved ones. You’re more likely to use it to keep an eye on the kids, the house and the babysitter than using it to watch The Man. But you could. After installing the app on your phone you place your old phone wherever you want to act as a security camera that you can monitor from anywhere. Presence can alert you when the kids get home from school, when your dog is eating or drinking, or when there is a knock at the front door. The app is free in the iTunes App store.
Wood CameraWood Camera
Thanks to mobile phones millions of photos exist that would have never been snapped before. I can’t remember the last time I heard someone say: “I wish I had my camera on me!” If you have a mobile phone, and most of do, you have a camera.
But that doesn’t mean you’re taking good pictures. Often you’re caught up in swiping, tabbing and fiddling with the phone while the candid moment passes. Bright Mango, the maker of the Wood Camera app, thinks they’ve solved this problem. The app combines multiple image capture and editing features into a single, simple, intuitive interface to make snapping, enhancing and sharing mobile photos fast and easy.
Ranked as the #1 camera app in the U.S. Apple App Store and a top 10 photo app in 31 other countries, Wood Camera is a feature-rich iOS camera and photo editor for the so-called iPhoneographers out there.
Wood Camera version 2.0 features 10 new lenses, 11 new textures, and six new frames for more editing options. It also comes with a new sharpening function that visibly enhances the detail of your images and one-touch sharing directly to Instagram.
Precision hunterPrecision Hunter Lite
If you’re tired of just shooting pictures on your phone why not shoot a firearm instead? (OK, it’s not for everyone.) Precision Hunter Lite is from TrackingPoint, makers of the first Precision Guided Firearm (PGF) for long distance hunting. The iPhone app offers a training module for enthusiasts looking to experience the TrackingPoint PGF technology first hand.
It’s a lot cheaper than the real thing. At $20,000, TrackingPoint’s PGF system lets the average hunter hit magical shots with the help of what they call jet fighter “Lock and Launch” technology. That sounds pretty cool, but I’m not the hunting type. If I’m shooting something in a video game it’s likely to be a Covenant soldier, not a moose. So I turned to friend and hunting expert Travis Demay of Virginia. At first, he was skeptical.
“That Precision Guided (expletive) takes all the skill and fun out of shooting long range. The ammo is more like a little missile and costs a fortune,” he said. Then he downloaded the app and put it through its paces. “Very cool. Very much like the real thing except no real rifle. It is just like lasing a target for air support. Keep the laser on the target and the missile follows the laser to the target and boom!”
That’s a solid endorsement from a survivalist dude who typically eschews high tech for no tech. The app lets users choose their quarry, then enter a virtual world via the HUD to practice their extreme distance hunting skills. Motion controls allow users to move his or her iPad/ iPhone to navigate the onscreen landscape.
This isn’t a cartoony shooting game. Precision Hunter Lite includes instruction on animal anatomy and location of vital organs that will result in clean shots. “Once in the app’s hunting mode, success is only achieved with precise, ethical shot placement on game,” said Bret Boyd, Vice President at TrackingPoint. “On-screen information displays post-hunt statistics, harvest ratio, and vital zone accuracy in order to help users improve their precision on a variety of game.”
The free app is available through the Apple App Store. An Android version is expected later this year.