Turn your iPhone into a fiddle and learn to play it, find accommodations quickly and easily, and shop for daily deals with today’s Fresh iPhone Apps.
Magic Fiddle (iPad) $2.99
App developer Smule won quite a bit of acclaim for Ocarina, an app that used the iPhone’s touch screen and microphone to basically turn it into a kind of flute. Magic Fiddle works on the same principle for the iPad: the device’s touch screen and size makes it a great emulator for help teach you to play violin.
Magic Fiddle is part musical instrument, part competitive game. It might not teach you to play the real stringed instrument (see also: the massive disparity between Guitar Hero skill and the actual ability to play guitar), but it’s easy enough and smart enough to impart some dexterity and understanding of how to play the fiddle. The app also ranks your ability to play its 20 different songs and even has leaderboards to compare your skills to those of other iPad virtuosos.
Airbnb (iPhone) Free
Airbnb is designed to help find great accommodations at discount prices — the kind of app you want to check before you go on vacation or plan a stay in a strange city. It links users into a huge international community, combining people with space to rent (though it seems to be more about nightly rates than long-term leases) with travelers who are looking for a place to stay.
You can book your space straight out of the app, list a space and see what it’s worth, find a space fast when you need somewhere to stay that night, and even send messages to your host (or your guests) from within the app.
Daily Wish from American Express (iPhone) Free
American Express cardmembers might already be familiar with Daily Wish, a shopping service to offer discounts on products through partnerships with various brands. The new app basically the Daily Wish website mobile, which already features a lot of products.
The big draw of Daily Wish on iPhone are the featured deals that are exclusive to the app — that’s right, checking out AMEX’s app for deals provides you with even more deals! Another cool feature brings reminders about upcoming product deals you’ve already flagged, either through the app or on the Daily Wish website, pretty much ensuring you’ll never miss another opportunity to save money on something you want from the shopping service.