Macworld | iWorld kicked off Thursday with thousands of attendees coursing through the aisles of Moscone Center West, eager to check out the latest software and accessories for Apple’s growing line of products.
Hundreds of vendors clamored for their attention using a variety of techniques, from good old-fashioned product giveaways to attractive young people on trampolines demonstrating new sport headphones as they did backflips.
Not everything was as dramatic. but there was plenty on the show floor worth getting excited about. Some highlights:
— TeenAgree. All parents worry the first time their teenagers take the family car out on the open road, uncertain whether they’ll be safe. TeenAgree attempts to ease their minds by tracking the kids’ every move. Parent and child both install the app on their smart phones, and parents will be alerted if the child drives too fast, sends a text message or travels outside a certain boundary. Do teenagers hate this app, TeenAgree co-founder Nathan Ooley was asked. “Yes they do,” he said. “You don’t want it when you’re young. but when we’re parents, it’s a different story.” ($4.99 to download, plus $4.99 a month to track up to three kids. Android version also available.)
— TourWrist. There are a variety of free apps that let you take panoramic photos. San Francisco’s TourWrist is the first we’ve seen that lets you shift your perspective simply by moving your device – turn around and the images move with you, as if you’ve been transported inside whatever scene you happen to be looking at. A panorama takes about 45 seconds to shoot, and can be uploaded for free to TourWrist’s website. Users can also browse thousands of other panoramas, which the site calls “tours.” Realtors are already using it to show properties, and TourWrist founder Charles Armstrong says it’s also perfect for capturing vacation photos. (Free.)
— Nivio. this service, available next month, offers a chance to rent apps – or an entire operating system – from the cloud. Users will be able to rent a Windows desktop and display it on iPhones and iPads. the idea is that you can bring an iPhone into the office, plug it into an external display, and instantly start working on an Excel spreadsheet while using the phone as a touchpad. Everything will be free for the first 30 days, and after that prices range from $2 to $15 per month per app. Nivio is also offering any user 10 gigabytes worth of free online storage for life. more info: nivio.com.
— Art Authority. at last, an app that does away with the first rule of museums – no touching the paintings. the Oregon developer of this app has gathered high-resolution images of 50,000 paintings and made them searchable in all sorts of ways: by artist, by style, or even by how close the original is to your current location. A “Pandora for art” feature will show you images like the one you are be looking at. ($4.99)
— Naturespace. the best way to unwind after the chaos of the show floor may be this app, which offers a wide variety of relaxing sounds to help you sleep, meditate or simply relax. the free app comes with six sounds, but a total of 80 are available for between $1 and $4 apiece. and they have the best names of any in-app purchases we’ve ever seen: “Saga of the Moonflowers,” “Boudoir of the Hive Queen,” “The Exponential Coqui,” and – why not? – “Peyote.”
This article appeared on page D – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle