Panic some more please, we’ll give you the tools for it…

Want to know if there’s been an outbreak of swine flu in the neighborhood? There’s an app for that.

Outbreaks Near Me is a location-aware application for the iPhone, basically lets you know in real time if a new case of swine flu has been identified anywhere near you. better (worse?) yet, users can even enter their own data based on their observations or local information.

Can you picture the suburbian housewife making it her daily task?

“It’s about empowering citizens in the cause of public health to both provide them with information and allow them to contribute information to share with others” says the app developer

I mean, the messed-up role the media are playing in this has been put forth too many times for me to repeat it. But, user-generated pandemic evolution information? let’s try and figure out the tiny worldwide niche of most interested users: uh, hypochondriacs??? oh, that should provide some nice, reliable information.

Pizza Hut innovates on Iphone

I stumbled upon this video of the new Pizza Hut Iphone app. found it really worth posting.

Remembering an analysis of conditions of success of an Iphone app i had found in an article (which, for the life of me, i can’t find back).

Basically, a simplistic analysis argued that for an app to be successful relative to time management of users, it had to: either save the user time by facilitating daily chores, or constitute a total waste of time.(the two kinds obviously being used in very different circumstances)

I believe Pizza Hut has done a great job combining the two. By making the “wasting time” functionalities optional, it gives a hungry user the choice of ordering his pizza in the fastest, most efficient, most mobile way yet, and the not-so-hungry user the chance to spend some time surfing across the extras, which coincidentally use almost every innovative functionality of the Iphone, from shaking, to zooming, to tilting…

I guess we’ll hopefully start seeing more and more well-thought branded apps

Iphone app tells you when to go pee during a movie

RunPee is a new, both useful and fun Iphone app designed for moviegoers.

The app basically alerts you at what point of the movie it’s safe for you to go pee so that you don’t miss the best parts, and even gives you a summary of what you missed, once you’re back in your seat.

It also tells you whether you should stay till the end of the credits since some movies include bonus footage afterwards

Solving life’s problems one app at a time…