Byte The App: Must See Apps Of The Week 7/21

The app stores are teeming with new releases, but who has time to go through them all? We do. Bringing you a selection of the most interesting, creative, and innovative apps each week. Submit your suggestions for next week in the comments below.

Digitally Imported [Android]
After some grumblings last week about the lack of Android apps in this column, this week we’ll be giving the Android special attention to balance things out, with an eye towards equal coverage of both iOS and Android moving forward. So, let’s kick things off with this: an electronic music streaming app, which is the app version of it’s bigger brother, the internet radio station of the same name. It covers many of the subgenres that dance music has procreated over the years, including chiptunes. Choose from 35 radio channels for you to blow your eardrums away with, then put your earphones in and start upsetting your fellow commuters.

Björk: Biophilia [iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad]
Of course we couldn’t pass this app up—Björk’s multimedia project gets its app version, which is free to download but will have apps (tracks) for purchase as they’re released. Currently, you can buy “Crystalline,” which includes a crystal-collecting tunnel game that can be played along with the track. It also features the voice of knowledge, David Attenborough, who introduces the biophilia concept, before you can start exploring it all via the cosmic interface. The song “Cosmogony” is already installed with ten more apps planned for release.

PAW Server [Android]
Turn your phone into a password-protected web server, meaning you can control your phone remotely and access files from it using a desktop web browser from wherever the hell you like. It means you can also turn it into a webcam if you need to or a remote audio recording device for those times when you need to spy on your flatmates. You can even use the app to locate your phone if you misplace it in your home, as so frequently happens.

Ringdroid [Android]
Fishing songs from your lovingly compiled music library, this app lets you turn that dubstep remix of the Glee cast singing thrash metal into a ringtone. So when your phone goes off in public when all around you is deathly quiet, you can seethe with regret at putting on such a ridiculous ringtone. However, you can always change it into something else with the graphical waveform editor, giving you the chance to record sounds or edit them from your music collection, then listen to them before you set it and regret it.

Wikitude World Browser [Android]
This latest version of an augmented reality browser lets you glance at the world with added virtual enhancements and interactive content—linking you up to Wikipedia, reviews of restaurants, and other activities that might be undertaken on a leisurely day off touring a new (or familiar) city. It also lets you search for what you want by typing in the appropriate name and pinpoint your favs on the AR interface. Until those AR goggles come out, we’ll have to make do with apps like this and awkwardly holding our phones in front of our faces.