geekosystem

Being the head of any government isn't exactly an easy job. When it comes down to it, leaders have to make decisions based on the best information they have available to them at the time. If that data proves to be faulty or somehow outdated, they can get reamed for making the wrong call. Thank goodness there's apparently an app for that. David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has been using an app on his iPad to keep track of real-time data on stuff like housing and jobs.

As it turns out, being the most technologically advanced national cemetery is something that national cemeteries apparently aspire to. That's what Arlington National Cemetery would have us believe, anyway, and that they're definitely top dog when it comes down to it. Part of this advancement includes the release of a smartphone app to help visitors track down specific graves. It even includes pictures of each and every headstone. Welcome to the future of the dead.

Uber, the folks behind the glorious on-demand car service app that operates out of San Francisco and other cities, has officially shuttered their taxi services in New York City after just over a month of operation. Their more expensive black car service will continue to operate unimpeded, but their attempt to recruit the more traditional yellow taxis to the fold has failed for now. New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission's legal hurdles proved to be too much.

For anyone that has children, Netflix's "Just for Kids" portal can truly be like a gift from above. The treasure trove of kid-friendly shows available dwarfs just about any other offering. This portal, unfortunately, has been mostly confined to the television via consoles or the web. There was no good way to have them watch their shows without occupying at least one major screen -- and therefore the entire room with the screen -- in the process. That time has come to an end; Netflix has finally launched "Just for Kids" on the iPad.

For those that haven't been following along, Apple's iOS 6 removes the standard YouTube app that everyone previously had available to them on their homescreen. This was, apparently, a big deal for everyone that religiously checked for the latest Epic Rap Battles of History via their phone. Luckily, Google quickly noted that they'd be releasing their own standalone app for the formerly standard service. Today, that app has finally been made available.

At Google's I/O conference yesterday, the company announced that an iOS version of the much beloved Chrome browser would be available in the app store. Released several hours later, the app quickly became the most downloaded app on the store. However, if you're expecting the lightning-fast desktop browsing experience you've come to expect, you might be disappointed.

If you just can't keep up with what Mars is doing these days due to the hustle-bustle of your awesome, exciting, too-busy-for-Mars lifestyle, has NASA got the thing for you. Presenting: An iPhone app that sends new pictures of Mars directly to your phone, so you can still be that amateur Martian hunter you've always wanted to be, while being an adult and grabbing a coffee on the way to do spreadsheets at the office.

While the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, continues to snake its way through Congress, some citizens are attempting to take their concerns to the companies which support the legislation. For instance, a recent boycott of GoDaddy resulted in a surprising about-face for the company. However, the designers of the Boycott SOPA app for Android want to take it a step further. Using the app, shoppers can quickly weed out products from companies which have thrown their support behind SOPA. 

Stonehenge has been mystifying people for quite a long time, but getting to the massive circle of standing stones could pose a problem for many. Happily, the Stonehenge Experience app for iOS tackles this problem with gusto, aiming to bring you the sights and even the sounds of Stonehenge regardless of where you may be.

Irish airline Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary is looking to make flying with his company just a little more enjoyable. To that end, he's looking to provide a smartphone and tablet app for passengers that would grant them access to entertainment options, including some controversial additions like video games and gambling. Also porn. Did we mention the porn? He wants to charge passengers for watching pornography on his planes. Of course, there are some major obstacles.

After months of will-they won't-they tension, Apple and Facebook have set aside their differences and released a native version of the world's most popular social networking service for the iPad, the world's most popular tablet. It's sure to be a match made in heaven. For Facebook, the service has just found another way to keep more users looking at and using Facebook. Though a perfectly serviceable web app has been available in the interim, this new version has integrated gesture controls, and can take advantage of the iPad's front and rear cameras. Though some of these features will make their way into the iPod version, the iPad app has apparently been designed to take advantage of the extra screen real estate with an emphasis on fullscreen photos and videos. For Apple, the release of the app could signal the start of better relations between the two companies.

Android users should be wary as a new malware app has been discovered posing as a Google+ app. This app is particularly nasty, as it gathers GPS data, call logs, text messages, and even records phone calls before sending the information off to a remote server. It can also receive commands from text messages sent to the phone from the app's shadowy puppet master. Frequent readers may feel that this sounds eerily familiar. According to Trend Micro, the app is the third variant of the malicious ANDROIDOS_NICKISPY.A, and is being given the .C designation. Unlike previous versions, the .C app can also answer calls without the user's knowledge. It seems that when an infected phone receives calls from specific numbers, the phone's screen remains black, goes into silent mode, and hides the dial pad. Presumably, this is another means by which the app's creators can communicate with infected phones. Fortunately, the app is not available for download within the Android app store. There's some more good news, as well: The auto-answer function only affects phones running the 2.2 version of the Android OS, and the app can be removed simply by uninstalling the app. However, the fact that the app apparently installs itself after the phone visits a malicious website is more than a little troubling. Stay vigilant, Android users. (via TechCrunch, image via Trend Micro)

There are two shocking facets about the image above. First off, there's a woman walking around New York's Bryant Park in a helmet completely covered in iPads. She's part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the new Cosmo for Guys iPad app. The second -- and most shocking -- aspect of this story is that Cosmo for Guys is a real thing. Setting aside how Cosmo content translated for men appears to come off as creepy and misogynist  (that's a story for another day, possibly another site), it's a pretty clever campaign. The iPad helmet displays video from the opposite side, and feeds an outside view into glasses worn by the model. Brave fellows who walk up and touch one of the four fully-functional iPads trigger the Cosmo for Guys app. Get it? It's the app that let's you get inside a woman's head! Not creepy at all!

For most of us, waiting for the subway or train is just another daily time sink. Sure, you could read the paper or listen to music, but more often people can also be found pursuing less productive activities like counting rats and avoiding making awkward eye contact with strangers. But a new project by grocery retailer Tesco has commuters in South Korea actually crossing things off their to-do list while they wait, by grocery shopping on the train platform.

To improve their online sales, Tesco covered the walls of a South Korean subway station with pictures of their merchandise arranged as though on store shelves. Each item was tagged with a QR code, the black-and-white squares that can be read by smartphones. In the morning, commuters can scan the codes with their phones to fill up a virtual shopping cart. They pay for their items using an app, and then at the end of the day the food is delivered to their homes.

Georgia Tech researcher Grant Schindler has come up with a pretty clever use for the iPhone 4: Use it to create 3D models. It's a simple process that proves that while there are over 350,000 apps, there's still plenty of new ideas for the iPhone platform. Schindler's app, called Trimensional, works by shining light on a person's face from four directions, and recording the results. These are compiled into a single image that users of the advanced version of the software can export to a 3D printer and create a model of their face, or whatever they scanned. Cleverly, Trimensional does not require any additional equipment to perform the scan, such as a light kit. Instead, it uses the iPhone's screen as a light source, and records the images with the front-facing camera. Schindler describes the scanning process as answering a series of questions. From the Georgia Tech Digital Lounge:

If I take a scan of my face, the app asks ‘what does the image look like if I shine the light from the left side, what does it look like from the right side,’ and so on. There’s one three-dimensional answer per pixel, and combining all those answers results in the full 3-D model[.]

Read on after the break for a video of Trimensional in action.