By Collin Kelley
Editor
Apps for your smartphone and tablet are now in use for everything from banking to photography, and now there are two local ones worth exploring if you’re a fan of shopping and the performing arts.
Dave Stevens of Stevens Interactive Productions (pictured) has invented an augmented reality app, Theatre Plus Network (facebook.com\theatreplus), that makes images in print materials come to life. Once you download the app, you aim your smartphone’s camera at a graphic, program or poster and it instantly comes to life with music, video and other animated information. The Atlanta Opera, Alliance Theatre, Fox Theatre and Atlanta Symphony are already using the app and more arts groups are regularly coming online.
The app is available for both iPhone and Android apps and Stevens is planning to extend the app’s reach in the future to newspapers and magazines.
The other new noteworthy app is called The Nearby (thenearby.com), an iPhone app designed to help shoppers find locally owned shops and boutiques. The app was launched last year in Charlotte NC by Laura Vinroot Poole, who was frustrated that her own small businesses were losing shoppers to big box and online stores.
Since launching in Atlanta in January, The Nearby has more than 5,000 followers and is adding shops and boutiques regularly. The app lets shoppers create a list of participating stores they want to follow, which are then listed in order of proximity to their current location. Participating shops regularly post information about new merchandise, special events, sales and customers can comment or chat with the shop.
