Who said you had go to CES in Las Vegas to have your mind blown by the latest technology. Just head over to the App Store for this nifty 3D Scanner that you can install on your iPhone. At $0.99, it’s likely a cheaper way to geek out than airfare and hotel accommodations in Nevada. From the minds at Trimensional, this app uses the standard equipment on your iPhone or latest generation iPod Touch – the camera and the screen. Rather than traditional 3D technology that requires multiple camera angles, this application uses the basic depth-perception ability out there – shadows. According to their website,…

Translating technology has come a long way since Babblefish. A new iPhone App called Word Lens combines augmented reality, real-time translation and character-recognition software that will have you heading to that Mexican restaurant you always wanted to try but couldn’t read the menu. The app looks for characters through the iPhone camera and translates them in real time, replacing the foreign words with their English counterparts (and visa-versa). For over 2 years, Quest Visual founders Otavio Good and John DeWeese have been working on the technology that will aid travelers abroad….

Apparently, Ben the Bodyguard is some sort of data-security app. The truth is, after a quick Google, there’s excruciatingly little information as of yet. But one thing’s for sure: the promotional website for the app is gorgeous. You really, really need to check this out, it’s a brilliant concept. Based on its total awesomeness, though, it’ll probably freak out if you’re on IE. So, like, fair warning. With a website this well-designed, hell, I’d buy the app almost regardless of what it was….

Despite the fact that Wired Magazine has said that the web is dead, the browser-based internet is still thriving. And why shouldn’t it? The web is open, accessible to anyone with a browser and is also widely adaptable. A browser window is many things: a television screen, a newspaper, a chat window, a social network or a webcam display. But all of these uses of the web now compete with things that, instead of running through a browser, run in their own specific world: apps. Apps work through the internet, but not on the web proper. For that reason, they are less democratic and open than the web. While…

Google TV finally has a site to help those still confused about what the hell it is to get their learn on. If I wasn’t excited about Google TV before (I wasn’t), I’m incrementally more now. First of all, the branding and visual identity is slick as a leak at a dish soap factory. Typically, Google sucks completely beyond belief at all things designy, but I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed – they’ve really gone all-out to make Google TV do the opposite of be crap. Y’know, in the brand department, anyway. To be honest, the experience overall looks pretty ballin’, as well. Network channels get a sexy launch portal,…

Many have tried but all have failed to get an app approved that works with BitTorrent. All have failed, that is, until now. IS Drive by Derek Kepner likely made it through the screening process because it didn’t use the no-no word: “Torrent”. Instead, its description on the AppStore page is very innocent: This app allows you to check and manage the downloads in your ImageShack Drive account. For downloaded videos, you can even view thumbnails (if ImageShack is able to provide them). Reading between the lines, the idea is that it has capabilities that some people may use for illegal purposes, but…

Say what you will about Apple and its ‘walled garden’ – because even if it’s true, it must be a really damn pretty garden. We seem to be liking it just fine. According to Asymco, a Helsinki-based industry analysis advisory firm, both total song and app downloads are on the rise. But the latter especially. Like… really especially. We’re talking more than twice as fast. While it took the iTunes store 5 years to push 6.3 billion songs, the App Store has done it in half the time and, assuming Asymco is on the money and the trend continues, it’ll have the former beat before the year’s end. That’s some kind…

The other day, while digging around for the day’s news, I chose not to cover an iPad app that seemed to be grabbing a bit of attention. This iPad app was Flipboard, the social news doodad that presents your Twitter and Facebook accounts as a sexy analog of print media. ‘So what,’ I said, ‘it’s an app. Whatever.’ Boy, do I have egg on my face. Colour me all kinds of mistaken. Hype for the app has reached a fever pitch, and an ocean of users attempt to log in. ”Due to overwhelming interest,” the app’s error message reads, “we are currently limiting the rate at which we are accepting new Facebook and Twitter…

Man, the iPhone 4 isn’t even out yet and already the ‘cleverest app’ game has arguably been taken to its logical conclusion. Utilizing the iPhone 4′s gyroscope, the Drunkometer is the brainchild of web designers 23, and boasts a host of handy features, such as drunk-dial prevention, a Google Maps overlay that prevents you from accidentally ingesting unhealthy food, Foursquare integration (I lold), and a big red button to call your ‘Rescue Buddy’. To activate the Drunkometer, you simply perform a few simple balance tests while sober to calibrate the app. Once drunk, the app measures your ‘wobble…

According to a new study of recent chart activity on the App Store, apps that are costing money are more “sticky” on the top apps chart than free apps. Distimo released the study today revealing that many apps considered paid apps are much more likely to hold their spot on the top of the charts for longer periods of time than their free app brethren. Lately there has been a trend of apps on the App Store going free, and the charts have been changing rapidly with each new free application lasting only an average of one week, while some paid apps held their spot at the top of the charts for over a hundred…