On Friday, March 25, 2016 at 8:05:15 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I was at the local bar when a guy asked someome what song was playing on
the jukebox. He didn't know, but another guy grabbed his cellphone,
pushed a few bottons, and less than a half minute later he said the name
of the song as well as the artist, what album it was on and more...

I looked at the guy and said "how did you do that?". He said its a phone
app. The microphone in the phone listens to a sample of the music, and
can identify exactly what it is. Later on, I went over to the jukebox,
and played an old song from the mid-1960s, which was not a real well
known band. Sure enough, the phone knew what it was.....

I have to admit, I was impressed!


Shazam is the app. I had it loaded on my phone at one time, but after
the novelty of playing with it, I never used it.




It's getting to the point that I have to ask what CANT these phones do,
rather than ask what they CAN do.... I've even seen a special doorbell
advertised which shows who is at your door. Not only when you're in the
house, but anywhere you are. That's crazy, but I have to admit, it's
kind of cool. The only lacking feature is the shotgun that pops out of
the wall when a salesman or burgular comes to the door.


Costco is selling that video doorbell for $180. I guess it has some
advantages, like if a burglar is ringing your doorbell prior to breaking
in when you're away. But not enough utility there to make it attractive
for me.



This same guy then walked over to a pool table and set his phone in the
middle of the table. A circular level appeared, and he checked to see if
the table was level (it was slightly off).


I have that on my phone.



Last summer while camping, someone pointed their phone at the sky, and
it showed all the constellations and their names. Very cool!


I didn't know about that one. A friend has an electronic viewing device
that you sight through, get the crosshairs on the target of interest,
push a button and it tells you what it is. Works in reverse too, you
can look up planets, stars, select one and it will direct you via arrows
in the viewing port to where it is in the sky.




I also heard they have an app that will tell a person their
blood-alcohol level. I'm not sure how it senses that though.


I wound think it would require some kind of plug-in, attachment, etc.



I just have a basic flip-phone, and I dont really want a smartphone just
for calls and the few texts I send, but I'd almost consider getting one
just for some of the apps they can have.


Problem is that until recently, every carrier I had experience with,
you had to have a data plan with them to use any kind of internet access,
even wifi. I finally found one that doesn't require that. If you can
find one in your area, then you can use those neat apps without having
a monthly data plan. Otherwise, you're going to have to pay whatever
the extra cost for a data plan is. I guess now that's becoming less of
an issue, with the plans dropping to $35 - $45. When they were $80+ it
was more of an issue.