Photosynth Stitches Regular Photos Into a 3-D World

Microsoft is helping to digitally map the world -- one app at a time.

With Photosynth, your digital photos are incorporated into a 3-D environment that can be linked to Facebook or Bing Maps. If the app catches on, users could create a virtual world of their favorite places and experiences. 

Here's how it works: Take a series of photos of, say, a new museum display. Photosynth pieces them together and seamlessly stitches them into Bing Maps. Other users who search for information on that artwork or museum can view your panorama.

"After capturing a great panorama of a museum you love or a beautiful garden, choose to publish to Bing Maps and it could be seen by the world," the Bing team wrote in a blog post. "From the map, 'dive in' and see your panorama next to that museum. Or, experience it seamlessly alongside the museum's listing in Bing (if tagged with the location name)."

iPhone App Saves You From Your Calorie-loving Self

If you're on a diet, Meal Snap is exactly the kind of app you've been waiting for. 

Take a photo of your meal, your afternoon snack or your queso-fueled binge, and Meal Snap will magically tell you how many calories you've consumed.

The app uses object-recognition technology to analyze the shape and color of the photographed food. It then compares it to a database of more than 100,000 images to identify exactly what you're consuming. 

Meal Snap makes calorie tracking that much easier. But can you handle the truth?

New App Shares Your Photos with People by Proximity ... Automatically

Imagine being able to view every photo taken by the people around you -- even if they're complete strangers.

A new app called Color can do just that. The free download enables users to share and collect photos, videos and text based on proximity, not on friend lists.

Any Color users in your vicinity will automatically see the images and video that you create. The creators want users to "share together in a new, moving social network." Talk about social networking. But how will users feel about their privacy when, for example, they're caught on camera doing something they wouldn't want shared?

Practice Safe Text: Get This App!

Don't end up like this girl, who texted her way right into a mall fountain.

Get Type 'n' Go, a new app available through the Apple store that allows you to see where you're going while you text. Using your iPhone's camera, Type 'n' Go displays your text and your camera's view simultaneously, giving you a clear picture of what's in front of you. 

Simple but brilliant!

Location-sharing App Keeps Private Data Safe

Credit: AFTAUFor those of you who work and play hard, and have shied away from social networking in order to maintain a semblance of professionalism, Locacino is the app for you!

A more-secure location-sharing application, Locacino captures end-user security and privacy preferences to provide users with a higher degree of control over their privacy settings. It also provides a glimpse into how people really share information between friends over the Internet.

Like FourSquare and Facebook Places, Locacino allows users to track their friends' physical location, but in Locacino, users can also see who is viewing their profiles and location updates, which may lead users to rethink and modify their privacy settings. After all, everyone has info we'd like to keep from others.

The app also allows users to configure when to share information. For example, users can let their work colleagues know their physical location on weekdays, but not on weekends when they're at the club.