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Posts Tagged ‘iPhone’

Got a light? Branded applications popping up on iPhone Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Came across an interesting article on iMedia Connection about how brands are starting to use branded iPhone applications. I say ’starting’, because the article quotes research by Ubercool’s Michael Tchong that uncovered less than 10 branded applications on the iPhone, out of the more than 16,000 developed so far.

If you have an iPhone, download the Zippo’s Virtual Lighter application. It lets you customise your own lighter with a range of funky designs and colours. You just flick your phone to the left to open the lighter, spin the wheel and you have a fully functioning virtual lighter! Blow into the microphone and you can make the flame waver. It’s perfect for calling for an encore at the next concert you attend. Oh, and even though there isn’t a link to Zippo’s website from the app, the company reports that the Virtual Lighter has been downloaded 2.5 million times, and online lighter sales have spiked since the application was launched.

Maybe not as cool as Ocarina, which turns your iPhone into a pan flute and lets you listen to tunes from around the globe, but as the Blues Brothers sang, “Whaddya want for nothing - a rubber biscuit?”


It’s music to Apple’s ears Thursday, February 19th, 2009

I am the first to admit I have been a “PC guy” since PCs first came on the market (though, I might add, I look nothing like the PC guy in the Apple ads - well, aside from the glasses and balding pate). But I was convinced to buy an iPhone and it has been an eye-opener for me (pun intended). I have been experimenting with the various iPhone applications and my favourite one (my wife would argue that iFart is my favourite application, at least in terms of chuckle factor, but that’s another story…) has been Ocarina, where you blow into the phone’s microphone and use it as a pan flute. The very cool thing about this is that as well as making your own music you can use it in social mode, which allows you to listen in to what some of the 600,000 Ocarina users around the globe are playing, right now.

This is turning out to be a great social media tool. If you need to be convinced, here are a couple of links: a story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald and a video of a group of ‘artists’ playing “Stairway to Heaven” on their Ocarinas.