Do you have a stage 5 clinger that you’re just finding it difficult to cut loose? Perhaps you want to celebrate your 2 year anniversary by moving in a different direction. What if you find breaking up with your significant other on Facebook is too impersonal? There’s an app called Erase Ur X that can help you dump that special person in your life, without actually having to do all the hard work yourself!

EraseUrX will create a personalized message for your soon-to-be-ex, you can send a photo from your camera roll, or record an audio file to be sent as a message to the lucky recipient. This way that person gets the same news you would’ve delivered in person, but without you having to see them cry or risk getting slapped or punched. No more emotional drain.

And if you are truly curious, I am definitely being sarcastic. I have issues with anyone who would choose to break up with their significant other this way. But I’m not really surprised that an app like this is around. Rather, I’m surprised it took this long for somebody to come up with the idea and follow through with it.

According to the app’s Twitter, the app is coming soon to the App Store, but doesn’t specify when.

Here’s my question of curiosity: How did the beta testers try it out? Is one of the requirements of beta testing that you actually have to break up with someone using this app? I suppose you could let your recipient know it’s pretend, but still.

Check out EraseUrX’s website here.

]]> http://www.yournextapp.com/2010/01/need-to-break-up-with-your-significant-other-theres-an-app-for-that-too/feed/ 0 http://www.yournextapp.com/2009/09/date-check-is-iphone-stalkerware/ http://www.yournextapp.com/2009/09/date-check-is-iphone-stalkerware/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:04:38 +0000 Brad http://www.yournextapp.com/?p=499 Ready to learn about an app coming out that will give you the heebie jeebies?

The app is called Date Check, and when unveiled at an industry expo this week called Demo, was quickly dubbed “Stalkerware” by most who were in attendance. So what exactly does this app do that is so creepy?

Date Check is geared towards singles who want to make sure their coffee date isn’t a total sleazeball by performing a background check on them.

Some of the things you can learn about your potential soulmate include:

• “Sleaze Detector” – performs criminal check to see if anyone with that name has DUI charges, arrests, drug possessions, etc.
• Net worth – Determines if they are homeowners and what kind of property value they have
• Checks social networking sites such as LinkedIn, to verify employment and education
• Living Situation – names/ages of family or roommates living at subject’s address (useful if your date still lives with their parents)
• Compatibility – birth date and astrological sign

A bit invasive, no? “Date Check is like having a private investigator in your purse,” John Arnold, co-founder of Intelius and executive vice president of business development, said. “Letting a stranger into your life is a huge risk, and in the age of Internet anonymity, a simple online search isn’t enough to tell you everything you need to know. ” (courtesy ABCNews)

The app is supposed to be launched this week but I can’t currently find it in the App Store. Date Check will also be available on Android and Blackberry devices sometime in October.

Check out this YouTube video of the app.

I know you’re dying to hear my opinion. It’s mixed. I want to say it’s a total invasion of privacy but it sounds as though the app is just accessing publicly available information. It’s very similar to the debate about Google Street View, which takes pictures of things that anyone would see driving down the road but yet has privacy advocates going nuts. I don’t see much of a difference here. Especially when it comes to the way technology just chucks our personal info out there for everyone to see in the form of LinkedIn and Facebook, amongst other services.

It can be used for both good and bad. While quite helpful for lonely singles out there just trying to find a good match, it allows more sensitive information about individuals to be much more easily accessible, which means it could be a concern if it gets in the wrong hands. What if you have an ex that’s trying to hunt you down or stalk you, and you’ve purposely changed your phone number to get away from them? Date Check will not be in your favor!

Nevertheless, the app is coming and will be free up front but the services inside will likely cost up to $40, depending on the types of searches done (and the frequency as well).

For more information, check out PhoneDog.

If you have friends with iPhones, have some spare time and would enjoy the opportunity to beta test a new iPhone app, here is a great chance for you to do so. The new app going through beta testing right now is called hideNtweet and is looking for willing and able iPhone 3G users to participate.

As the name implies, this particular app will use Twitter accounts to help you communicate with the other participants. For the sake of privacy and competition, however, little additional information is provided. All that is known publicly at this point is that it’s a game of Hide and Seek that utilizes your iPhone’s camera, GPS, and Twitter. To touch home or tag others, take a picture of them with your camera.

Designed and developed by Dove Valley Apps, hideNtweet aims to add a social aspect to iPhone gaming that few other apps attempt to do yet. We don’t have any screenshots yet, but visit hideNtweet’s website to apply for the beta. The site will explain in detail exactly what you’ll need to send in your application to have a good chance at being chosen.

UPDATE: HideNTweet is now available for free at the App Store. You can also download it via iTunes below.

At least, not yet.

According to Google Latitude’s website, that should be changing sometime soon. And why shouldn’t it? With the GPS included in the iPhone 3G (and who knows what will be included in the new iPhones rumored to come out this summer with OS 3.0), there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work.

It turns out that Google is working on Latitude as a new feature for the iPhone. We are pretty sure it will be added in as a feature for Google Maps, and not as a separate app to be downloaded. This is exactly what Google did with the Street View feature on the iPhone. So unless a new OS update comes out before 3.0 (2.3? 2.2.2?), we should see Latitude become a reality this summer.

Google Latitude allows you to see exactly where your friends are, in case you want to meet up with them or are getting lost trying to find their house. It also allows those friends to type in short status messages (a la Facebook style) about themselves.

via Google Latitude