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TUAW's Daily App: Songatron
You may remember Jonathan Mann as "that guy who wrote that song Steve played at the Apple event," but of course Mr. Mann is a talented and extremely experienced musician and songwriter who's been churning out a song every single day over on his Songatron website. He's released an app with the same name, and of course, he's written a song and made a video, which you can hear and see above, about the app. The app (surprise) also makes songs -- the idea is that it works like Mad Libs, where you put a word in, and then each song in the app plays, inserting your word where it's meant to go. It's kind of kooky, but just like all of Mann's work, there's enough joy and fun put into it that it works -- even if your words don't line up exactly, hearing it all put together is bound to elicit a laugh or two. You can Facebook, Twitter or email songs that get made, and while there are ten songs to choose from right now, the app's description promises five new songs every month (some of those may end up being in-app purchases). Songatron is available as a universal app for US$1.99. And if you're a Mann fan, stay tuned -- we're told that Mr. Mann will be at Macworld, and we're planning to chat with him there. Should be fun.
Hands on with Dazzling Flashlight 4g for iPhone 4
Dazzling Flashlight 4g is one of several new applications (like this one) that uses the iPhone 4's new built-in rear LED as a flashlight. Over the last day or so, we've heard from other developers who are building similar tools. Cramzy developer Iliya Yordanov was kind enough to send over a build of the app for me to test while the product waits on Apple review. As the video here shows, Dazzling Flashlight 4g offers two kinds of flashlight functionality. It provides the standard "light up the main screen with a bright, white window" that has been on App Store from the beginning -- but it also offers direct control over the back LED flashlight as well. That LED provides strong, clear illumination and is really a nice way to shine light in dark rooms or at night.
