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A Lethal app for your iPhone

by Steven Sande Jan 15th 2009 at 11:00AM

OK, the headline is a bit misleading. This app won't kill you; in fact, it's designed to inform you about dangerous situations in your vicinity.

Lethal (click opens iTunes) from Elany Arts takes a location from either the iPhone's built-in location services or a list of 300 cities or parks throughout the USA, then provides you with a "lethal index" number. This number ranges between 0 and 400, with 400 being an extremely dangerous location.

The ranking comes from a composite of four scores based on lethal wildlife, crime, disease, and disaster probabilities in each area. The About screen for Lethal notes that the app is designed for informational and entertainment purposes only, so you should use common sense to guide your use of Lethal.

When I let Lethal determine the index for my home, I was surprised to see that it was 207 out of 400, or "somewhat dangerous". The wildlife index was rather high based on black bears and mountain lions in the area. Yes, we do see them on rare occasions in the area, but I'd be much more concerned about a neighbor taking a potshot at me than getting chewed on by a mountain lion.

Still, Lethal is fun (many comments are obviously tongue-in-cheek) and educational. Whether it's worth the US$1.99 introductory price is up to you. Check out the gallery below for screenshots of Lethal in action.



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OK, the headline is a bit misleading. This app won't kill you; in fact, it's designed to inform you about dangerous situations in your...
 

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Erichd

Jason and others @ Elany Arts...

Some suggestions for a future update:

1. "What is your ethnicity?"
- currently, it's incredibly lethal to be a young black male in the US, particularly in Oakland. There are also parts of the country made more lethal simply by being Hispanic-looking, Middle-Eastern looking, redneck-looking, female.

2. Black Bears? Maybe you could explain exactly what the threat is -- Black bears are incredibly docile unless provoked.... and if any wildlife are attempting to reclaim their previous roaming territory, there are appropriate numbers to call for humane treatment.

3. Tips for how to stay safe..... particularly useful for the hyper-paranoid and the actually at-risk.

Oh, cool idea! It almost makes me want to buy a $300+ phone!

January 16 2009 at 2:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Erichd's comment
Jason Latshaw

Eric –

Thanks for the comments. For the first one, do you know any sources that we could find that could give us standard numbers for ethnicity rates? I'd love to take a look at folding that in.

Many of the animals that are potentially dangerous are not really vicious beasts or anything, but rather we're in their domain. Black Bears can be very docile, but they can still be dangerous, so it's good to know when they're in the area.

We are working on the tips for staying safe, that is a definite future upgrade.

You can get one for $199 now!

January 16 2009 at 3:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Erichd

Alright, it appears I had an incorrect log-in saved in 1password, and accidentally submitted my comment with an invalid e-mail.

You might look to the Southern Povery Law Center, who maintain data on hate crime:
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp

i suspect you can find similar data from the ADL, ACLU, and others - and possibly aggregate news on hate crimes in an Alltop fashion.

I'd naturally expect any app containing data on crimes motivated by hate rather than greed to be included in a "Pro" or "Advanced" app that cost a bit more. Some of the extra cost would be a contribution to fighting hate crimes.

Regarding black bears or other animals, the situation are often only as dangerous as we, the humans, allow them to be. And most of the time, a quick phone call to SPCA or Animal Control is the best thing we can do to stay safe and keep others safe.

January 17 2009 at 1:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
drewcopeland

Got it. LOVE IT!

Anyone know what the most dangerous/tame location is in the country?

I know I REALLY didn't like seeing the crime rating for Detroit as I put my wife on a plane heading there!!!

January 15 2009 at 6:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jack

Bought this app day 1 and have been loving it. It's extremely easy to use and a lot of fun as well as informative. Definitely one of the apps that you show off to your non-Iphone friends to make them jealous.

January 15 2009 at 6:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jsfisher

Apparently, you can do it with:

Trails (iphone)
HoudahGEO
Lightroom

http://inside-lightroom.com/2008/12/14/iphone-and-geolocation/

January 15 2009 at 5:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to jsfisher's comment
jsfisher

What? that doesn't make any sense. What am I talking about!
[Sorry, 1Password (also a great program) saved my last comment along with the login and autosubmitted it.]

What I MEANT to say was:

This is an awesome looking program and one of the more innovative ideas I've seen for an iPhone app in the last month.

My friend and I are always making jokes about how we'll think of an idea for an app, and then it will come out the next week. But I sent him a link to this app, saying: "We never would have thought of this but it's so cool."

Well done guys. At 1.99, I'm definitely thinking about picking this one up.

January 15 2009 at 5:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joel

I got this app a few days ago and have been playing with it since, and I am thoroughly impressed. The makers obviously spent a ton of time compiling all of the information into an extremely attractive and entertaining package.

The overall design and animation is some of the best work I've seen an iPhone app so far. I can't wait to see how the app evolves, and what else Elany Arts comes out with. For a first app out the gate this is quite stellar. Grab it now while it's cheap before these guys have a hit on their hands and jack up the price.

January 15 2009 at 1:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

I bought this app and it's surprisingly entertaining. I was interested to find that where I work is much less dangerous than where I live, just 15 miles away. Also, there's a ton of information in there about the various sources of danger. It's really well-rounded for a first-generation application. I'm excited to see what the updates bring.

January 15 2009 at 1:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jselc

I've seen this app on other iphones and I must say it looks so interesting and fun. Plus, the clever and unexpected witticisms can be quite funny. When I get an iphone soon I will be sure to buy it--it's definitely worth the $1.99; I mean, that's LESS than a starbucks latte!

January 15 2009 at 1:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff

What's the score for an Oakland BART station??

January 15 2009 at 12:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Jeff's comment
AA

I wouldn't even try using this App there, your iPhone might blow up

January 15 2009 at 1:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Josh

Yes... "Don't worry, there are plenty of police officers if you need anything!"

January 15 2009 at 2:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Metryq

And while fiddling with the Lethal app on your iPhone, you fail to notice the very thing that kills you -- and you thought texting while driving a train was dangerous!

January 15 2009 at 12:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brian Harris

Hey, you live right by my Dentist!

January 15 2009 at 11:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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