![]() ![]() But like millions of people, Diederich likes playing games on his phone, too. "It's a good way to kill time."ĭiederich provides budget and program support as a contractor with the Department of Energy, and his phone is mostly filled with apps that allow him to track news and financial information. "I get a lot more out of it than my BlackBerry," he says. Riding home on the subway the other day, Joe Diederich was playing Tetris on his new iPhone. Some are even starting to change communications almost as profoundly as the devices they run on. There's a blurred line between apps that offer dumb distraction and those that turn into serious hobbies that the user might learn from. And not all of them are mere distractions. Such apps could be seen merely as the digital equivalent of whoopee cushions.īut these apps also say something about the nature of consumer culture, particularly in the digital age. 20 Travel Apps Recommended By National GeographicĪmerican culture has long been filled with novelties.One allows guys to keep track of their girlfriends' monthly cycles, while one NPR house favorite turns the speaker's mouth into a cartoon. For example, they make the front of a phone look like it has a crack in it, or they make the phone say "dude" over and over again in different voices. They serve only one purpose, which may be silly or sometimes downright offensive. We thought there was money to be made."Īpple's iTunes store - as well as the app stores for competing phones such as Android - is filled with novelty applications. "The iFart phenomenon was part of what started the gold rush in the app world," he says. Many people thought the "app" that produces indelicate noises on iPhones was juvenile or funny (or both), but Yewchuk sensed a business opportunity. ![]() When he first heard the iFart, Tim Yewchuk was inspired. Many, like iFart or Poop the World, are dumb distractions, but others might actually teach you something. ![]() Novelty apps have become an essential part of the smart phone experience. ![]()
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