Each spring, the city of Austin, Texas hosts the South by Southwest Festival, also known as SXSW. It was originally a music and film festival, but the interactive world has weaved its way into the festival and many of the sessions are about new interactive media and it is a launch pad for new, cutting edge technology every year. The interactive side of the festival even has its own abbreviation, SXSWi. We wanted to highlight some of the best interactive applications to come out of SXSWi this year and list the details about what makes them so innovative and ground breaking.
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Here is our top 10 free apps introduced at SXSWi:
1. Takes.Takes is a freeiOS application that takes your regular still photos taken with your camera phone and makes moving film out of them. It gives you the options to add overlays and music too.
2. Hater. Although hating is not such a positive thing for the world, it is often necessary to keep businesses with terrible service or products in check. This application allows you to share what you hate with your social networks. Let’s face it, everyone loves to be a hater sometimes, and complaining in social media is one way to get your problem with a corporation solved rather quickly. Hater is free for download on iOS.
3. Yappem. Do you like to review the companies you do business with and share it with your social network? Most of us have been doing that for free for quite a while. Yappem gives you missions to complete and rewards you for brand loyalty of your favorite products and sharing your reviews of them. Available for free on both iOS and Android systems.
4. Younity. This is a very convenient and free iOS application to have, as it automatically syncs files for you across all your screens. No need to intentionally share files, Younity does this for you automatically. Never worry again about needing a file and not having it because it is on a different computer or portable device you don’t have with you.
5. Thread Caller ID. This innovative design gives you everything you need about your contact when they are calling you. Perfect for business, or just the busy networker, this application replaces your plain old caller idea and shows you the recent interactions with the caller. In addition to knowing who is calling you, it gives you access to the last email they sent you, last Facebook update, late Tweet they posted, and all recent text messages. Catch up on the caller stats immediately and for free on your Android devices with this SXSW Accelerator Award Finalist.
6. Hinge. They always say that the best way to meet people is through friends. This application takes away the need to ask your friends to be matchmakers and lets Facebook do it for them. The application allows you to rate friends of friends anonymously, but if that person also shows interest in you, the application sends an introductory email to both of you. It’s a great way to meet new people since you already have a friend in common. Free application for iOS. See how it works.
7. MessageMe. This free messaging application is free for both iOS and Android systems. MessageMe takes individual and group messaging to a new level with the ability to send contacts pictures (both your own and from Google Images), videos (your own and from YouTube), a voice message, a doodle, your location, or a short music clip from its library.
8. Localeur. This free application is great for the traveler. It allows you to get the inside scoop from locals of the area by crowd sourcing information.
9. Par Works Mars. This is a groundbreaking augmented reality application that allows you to see the world for what it really is. When you view locations through your smart phone’s camera the application highlights areas that have more information in the database. Learn about the places you travel or new things about the world around you that you see every day but never knew before. Free download on both iOS and Android systems. Also a SXSW Accelerator Award Finalist.
10. ProxtoMe.Make new friends in your area based on your interests. This is not a new idea, but hopefully finally finds the right combination to get off the ground and succeed. ProxToMe helps you discover people nearby with similar tastes or interests. The application allows you to chat, share files, and connect in social media.
Author Bio: Brian Lakeman is author and Brand Manager for Activ8me NBN, Australia’s leading fibre broadband provider.