02.Health and fitness
BrainyApp
Price: Free
Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
You don’t have to be a brainiac to use BrainyApp, but you might just become a bit smarter. This app from Alzheimer’s Australia and health fund Bupa is designed to help you improve your brain health and may just help stave off Alzheimer’s. It provides information for better brain and body health, helps you rate and track your progress through a brain health survey and includes brain games to stimulate your grey matter. The app is free, so it’s a no-brainer. CC issue Jan/Feb 2012.
MelApp
Price: $1.99
Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
Despite, or perhaps because of, the vast amount of health-related information now available to anybody with a web browser, doctors tend to frown on self-diagnosis. But tools that help alert users to possible health problems are increasingly popular. Take MelApp, for example, this clever app uses the iPhone camera and sophisticated pattern recognition software to provide a potential early warning system against skin cancer. Just take a pic of a skin mole or suspect spot and upload it for analysis to receive a risk assessment only seconds later. Of course, this handy freckle checker makes no medical claims but it may prompt you to see a specialist and that might just be a lifesaver. CC issue Sept/Oct 2011.
Travel
Link
Price: $2.49
Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad.
If you live in NSW and use public transport Link is indispensable. This interactive guide to buses, trains and ferries can help you plan a multi-stage trip to almost anywhere efficiently, including walking time. And if you tend to nod off on public transport, it can even wake you before your stop. The free Link Express version lacks search history and favourites. For Sydney commuters only, there’s also the invaluable TripView ($2.49) which is a commuters’ dream. It shows train, bus and ferry timetables and lets you plan point-to-point trips. The free TripView Lite version doesn’t save your trips for future reference but is otherwise fully featured. CC issue July/Aug 2011.