App Wrap: "AppTag Laser Blaster," "Lookout"
YNN highlights the coolest and newest apps for your cell phone or mobile device in the twice-weekly segment “App Wrap.” YNN's Adam Balkin filed the following report.
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AppTag Laser Blaster
If you want to stop your child from stealing your smartphone, then do not get the AppTag Laser Blaster, a potentially addictive peripheral.
The way the app works is that you stick your iPhone, iPod touch or Android phone in the front of an AppTag Laser Blaster, which is shaped like a laser tag gun. Using augmented reality, it allows several people with AppTag Laser Blasters to chase each other around and play their own little laser tag game.
"When you pull the trigger, there's an infrared beam that comes out the front and hits your opponent's gun and all the scores are kept up to date on the game server," says Jon Atherton of Hex3.
There is also a single-player mode, where you do things like shoot a virtual can laid over the real world.
The AppTag Laser Blasters, which got funding through the crowd-funding site KickStarter, will hit shelves in about a month at $60 per blaster.
Lookout
To help you do battle against those trying to attack your smartphone for real, there is the Lookout mobile security app. Just like your computer, it can scan for viruses or malware.
But here's where the app gets scary or, rather, reminds you how scary apps can be. A privacy advisor tab that you can click on will show you which apps of yours are tracking your location, getting identity info on you, accessing your messages or accessing your contacts. While you'd expect some apps you'd expect to do those things, it may concern you to see something like a game pop up as something that knows where you are and is searching for information on you.
There's also a feature for finding your phone, even if it's stuck under a cushion in your house. Set it to scream and it'll do exactly that.
Lookout is for iOS and Android devices. There's a free version that does the virus scan, finds your phone and backs up your files. The premium version, which includes the feature that tells you what other apps are doing, requires a $29.99 per year subscription fee.