As you are probably aware, one of our focuses this month was mobile apps. In the process of researching for blog posts, social media posts and just keeping up to date with marketing trends, you would be surprised how many completely random, but admittedly pretty cool, mobile apps you can uncover. Over the past couple of months, I have come across some really interesting mobile apps that unfortunately did not really fit with my weekly mobile app blog topics. So, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share these finds with you and to round out my month of mobile apps blog posts.
Yes, I love Friends. Yes, I find any opportunity to reference it.
Spotsetter
The idea for this app came from Johnny Lee and Stephen Tse (former Google Maps employee) five years ago while they were living in New York City and trying to find bars that played Lakers games. Desperate to watch their favorite team, they were shocked to find that there was no app or easy search to find such bars…and Spotsetter was born. Termed a “social search” app, Spotsetter trolls your social networks and tells you where to go based on where your friends have been. As Fast Company put it:
“You pull it up and authenticate through Facebook. Spotsetter then dives into your social graph, doing its best to reckon which of your friends is the sushi-phile, or which is the ramen aficionado. Spotsetter offers up suggestions on whose advice to take on what matter; you can manually override these, telling the app that it’s really Peter and not Paul whose advice you’ll take on burrito joints, at least while in Texas.”
Foursquare, Yelp and even Instagram and Twitter have proved that people love to share what they do, where they go and their personal reviews. Furthermore, people love to follow these actions and opinions of others. Spotsetter combines a little bit of all these apps becoming a Yelp-Google Maps-FourSquare hybrid.
Smile Drive
Created in conjunction with Volkswagen and Google, the Smile Drive app attempts to bring some fun to your drive. How? By making driving a social experience. When you sign into your Google account on your phone, the app automatically syncs with the Bluetooth system in your car. The app then records things such as location, distance, time and weather on each of your drives which you can then share with others. If you aren’t alone in the car, you can add your carpool buddies to the trip so that they can share status updates and photos along the way. Every time you pass another Volkswagen with Smile Drive, you get a punch and you will earn stickers for “special moments on the road”. Try it out on your next road trip!
I’m Stuck
Stuck in what you might ask? Traffic. Congestion. A pothole perhaps. The I’m Stuck app was created by Building America’s Future, a political coalition which promotes more investment in infrastructure such as roads and bridges. The next time you find yourself stuck in traffic, delayed on a subway, or almost bottoming out your car with a pothole the size of the Grand Canyon, pull out your cell phone (not while driving of course) and open the I’m Stuck app which allows you to immediately make direct email contact with your U.S. Representative or Senator to voice your frustration. Cathartic and potentially making a different in our national infrastructure. Win-Win.
Drinking Buddy
We all love the opportunity to have fun with friends, significant others and family whether at a restaurant, bar, party, etc. However, we always want to make sure we drink responsibly and the Drinking Buddy app helps you do that! Drinking Buddy allows you to enter the drinks you have had throughout the night so you can track your Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). When your BAC goes above a level of your choice, your phone automatically gets a cue to call a friend/taxi (that you choose when you are sober) so you always remember to get a safe ride home. In addition, there is game aspect that allows you to test your reaction time. You can even track your alcohol consumption across weeks or months to track your drinking habits for health purposes. The app costs $0.99 but a portion of every sale is donated to charities and nonprofits that fight against drunk driving and alcoholism.
BuzzTheBar & BarEye & FlowTab & Coaster
Patrons often get frustrated waiting in line at a bar or trying desperately to get the bartenders attention so they can order a drink...there are 4 apps for that. BuzzTheBar, BarEye, FlowTab, and Coaster have all been created to help patrons order drinks with their smartphones. Generally speaking, the apps route a patron’s drink order to the bartender’s iPad and then send the patron a push notification when the drink is ready to be picked up. Most of these apps even let you enter your payment information so you don’t even need to start a tab or fumble for cash in a crowded bar. Before you put your phone away, make sure you enter your drink into your Drinking Buddy app so you are drinking responsibly.
Belly
Loyalty cards. A great idea in theory until your wallet gets jam packed with cards from hundreds of stores and you kick yourself after you leave for forgetting to use the card or not being able to find it amid all the others you are carrying around. Belly solves those problems by putting all of your loyalty programs into one app. Unlike other apps that let you load your existing cards into one place, Belly goes to the businesses and allows them to host their loyalty services through the Belly app. No cards. No confusion. No missed savings.
MySmartEye
This is a truly incredible app conceptualized by StarHub, a telecommunications company in Singapore. The goal of the app is to make visually impaired individuals aware of their surroundings. MySmartEye allows a visually impaired person to take a picture of their surroundings with their smartphone. The image is then described through the voice-over feature built into their smartphone. Even more impressive, all of these verbal descriptions are done through micro-volunteers who log in via their Facebook account. What’s more rewarding then being able to describe the world for someone who is not fortunate enough to experience it themselves?
