iPhone apps round-up: Fog-and-draw apps

Also released: Got It!, Flash Drive, In-Flight, MolWeight

Posted on by Philip Michaels, Macworld.com

Things have started to steam up in the App Store. A trio of newly released apps allow you to steam or fog up your iPhone’s touch screen and then draw designs on the virtual fogged up glass.

Take iSteam , a free app from Great Apps. According to the developer, you blow in your iPhone’s mic to haze the screen, using your fingers to draw and write messages on the steamed-up screen just like you would on the bathroom mirror after a hot shower. Droplets also form on the screen, and Great Apps has included finger squeaking noises to add to the realism.

When you’ve grown tired of your design, you can shake the phone to clear it. Or you can send your creation to Great Apps, which promises to feature the best ones on its Web site.

Great Apps says iSteam will work with an iPod touch, though an external mic is required for that device.

In a similar vein, iFog from LibraFestival also lets you blow on your iPhone to draw on the fogged-up screen. (The $1 app is only compatible with iPhones, however.) iFog features different pre-loaded background themes; you can also use photos stored on the iPhone as a background. And the app includes e-mail functionality that lets you send iFog creations to friends.

Zephyr from Smule takes the concept of finger-painting on the iPhone screen and adds a social networking aspect. Move your finger across the screen of your iPhone or iPod touch to draw images and messages made out of snowflakes. The $1 app also generates wind noises and music as you move around the screen.

When you’re done creating a message, the social networking aspect kicks in. You send your message anonymously, where it will be received by another Zephyr user, who taps a heart icon to express “love” for your creation. The more love a message receives, the more it gets passed around.

Other apps of interest that were recently added or updated at the App Store include:

• New Year’s Blowout Horn! And 2009 Countdown , from IntuApps: The free New Year’s Eve-themed for all iPhones and the second-generation iPod touch lets you blow into the microphone to mimic a blowout horn while it counts down to 2009.
• Got It! , from The Dream Apps: The $1 offering is a simple shopping-list app.
• Flash Drive , from Readdle: The $5 file-management app promises to let you use your iPhone or iPod touch as a flash drive from any Windows or Mac computer, with a built-in file viewer for looking at documents on the go.
• In-Flight , from Aftershock Innovations: Currently available for $3, In-Flight offers real-time information on departures and arrivals anywhere in the FAA tracking region.
• MolWeight , from Akkyra Systems: The $2 utility calculates the molecular weight and other key properties of peptides and oligonucleotides from their sequence.
• Audio Note Taker , from Keycode Software: Version 1.1 of the $1 audio note-taking app adds Wi-Fi syncing with nearby Macs, the ability to change audio quality settings, and a new interface.

Got an app you’ve just released to the App Store? Drop us a line.

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