Meet Apple's 12 best app winners
Student developers at the Apple Worldwide Developer's conference say they're ready to bring Siri to the masses, and make the personal digital assistant more useful. Jefferson Graham reports.
Student scholarship winners at WWDC(Photo: Martin Klimek)
SAN FRANCISCO - What are the greatest, state-of-the-art apps for Apple iPhones, iPads, TVs and the Watch?
Apple this week handed out awards to 12 app makers who are stretching the boundaries in what the company calls its Design Awards. The nods are given to put a spotlight on the best and brightest in app world.
We sat down with most of the winners for an extended podcast at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) here to talk about their apps, the state of the app world and their take on new app features that Apple introduced at WWDC. Be sure to listen all the way for the bonus at the end, when we asked each of the developers to name the 5-7 apps they use on their phones every day.
First, the winners:
--Complete Anatomy[1] is a free app for the iPad, offering 3D visualizations that “utterly transforms the way people can learn about the human body,” says Apple.
--Streaks[2] is a $4 to do list for iPhones and the Watch that looks to build good habits into a daily routine. Get notifications about everything for walking the dog to going to the gym.
--Zova[3] is a free workout companion, primarily aimed at Apple TV, with high-resolution workout videos.
--Frame.IO[4] is a free tool for video collaboration, to offer review notes and feedback.
--Ulysses[5] is the most expensive app on the list, at $45, and is a text editor that aims to be a less bulky version of MS Word.
--The $2 Chameleon Run [6]game is a race for the iPhone and iPad, but really shines on Apple TV, where you can use the Siri remote to advance play, via your voice.
--Lara Croft GO[7] is a $5 puzzle game that is a past award winner from Apple--the company called it the best game of 2015.
--Inks[8] is a $2 pinball type game with exploding ink, while two DJ programs are Auxy[9] and djay Pro[10], using visual, color coding and support among multiple Apple devices.
--Lastly, the Linum [11] app is a connect the dot game created by student Joaquin Vila, while Dividr[12] is a 2D arcade type game that's also from students, Josh Deichmann, Patrick Pistor, and Erik Lydick.
Niall Johnston, president of 3D4Medical (Photo: Martin Klimek)
Some 5,000 developers attended the Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference here, where the big news was how Apple was opening up Siri to outside app makers, who have big plans for the personal digital assistant. In other words--Siri will now be more relevant and reliable, thanks to them.
At WWDC, we also sat down with winners of Apple’s scholarship program, which awards some 350 students who are computer and app savvy, the chance to attend WWDC and mix and mingle with company and industry experts.
We spoke with several of the winners about Apple’s move to bring Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant to third party app developers like themselves.
Siri, which gets some stuff right, other times not so much, can be new and improved, the students say.
Student scholarship winners at WWDC. (Photo: Martin Klimek)
"Siri's been good, but there's so much we can do with Siri," says Gregg Mojica, 17, from Buffalo, New York. "It's just a matter of time until things start changing."
Anusha Khan, a fellow scholarship winner from Virginia said consumers never understood the full potential of Siri, "because it wasn't open to us developers to incorporate it into our apps. There's a whole world of opportunities. I can't wait to go home and start coding."
Follow USA TODAY tech columnist and #TalkingTech host Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham and listen to the daily podcast on Stitcher, iTunes, TuneIn and SoundCloud.
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References
- ^ Complete Anatomy (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Streaks (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Zova (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Frame.IO (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Ulysses (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Chameleon Run (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Lara Croft GO (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Inks (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Auxy (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ djay Pro (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Linum (developer.apple.com)
- ^ Dividr (itunes.apple.com)