apps

Mercedes-Benz and partner Hughes Telematics hope buyers will embrace a new in-car telematics system tied to smartphone apps. The system, branded "mbrace," will let drivers use their iPhones or BlackBerry devices to lock and unlock car doors, locate their vehicles on a map, and contact roadside assistance. Mercedes is the first carmaker to offer the service, which was developed by Atlanta-based Hughes.

Cell phones have increasingly become mobile labs and tech tools for researchers, and now NASA has gotten in on the act. A postage-stamp-sized chemical sensor allows iPhones to sniff out low airborne concentrations of chemicals such as ammonia, chlorine gas and methane.

A puff from a "sample jet" helps sense any airborne chemicals. That information gets processed by a silicon chip consisting of 16 nanosensors, and then passes on to another phone or computer through any Wi-Fi or telecom network.

Talk about meta: Zoho Creator is a Web 2.0 application for creating Web 2.0 applications. Sound intimidating? It's not. There's no coding; everything is done through menus and buttons. And there are a number of premade apps—including an expense tracker, a dating-profile form and an app to sort your albums—that you can use as templates and then customize to fit your needs. You can share your final app with the world or keep it private. Check out the Expense Tracker I began futzing with here.  —Mike Haney