There's an app for that

With the explosive increase in smartphone use, we can now be out of our homes, out of our offices and still be super-connected, productive and even entertained. We've all heard the saying "There's an app for that." And readers who have smartphones have probably already delved into the useful, fun and sometimes crazy world of apps.

Today, we're bringing you a small cross-section of apps and the amazing things they can do.

USEFUL APPS

Today most people can even do their banking from an app. Bank of America, Wells Fargo Mobile, PNC Mobile Banking and others have banking apps that allow you to do a variety of useful things on the go. Check your account balances, pay your bills from your smartphone, find banking locations and even transfer funds on the fly.

Many credit card companies have apps to help manage your account. American Express, Discover and other credit card companies provide their members with many mobile services. Some include the ability to pay their bill, check account balances, view recent transactions, manage multiple cards and check their reward points.

INVESTMENT APPS

If you've got investments, you can stay on top of them with investment apps. Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab and E-Trade have an app that allows you to monitor your portfolio, make trades, research investments and follow breaking market news.

BUDGETING APPS

These are apps for people to create and stick to a budget. Pageonce allows you to track your money and bills in one place. The app will give you bill due date reminders; track frequent flyer miles and rewards programs; and monitor mobile minutes text and data used so you don't go over your limit. A pro upgraded version is available for $12.99.

- CashTrails - Income and Expense Tracker Lite offers you the ability to track both expenses and income, create instant reports and export them. A premium version is also available for $4.99.

- Mint.com Personal Finance has a great feature, the ability to automatically sync with your online accounts to get balances and transactions.

FUN APPS

Pregnancy apps

There are a ton of great pregnancy apps that allow parents-to-be to learn about and track the development of their little one through the 9 months of pregnancy and beyond. The best one we've found so far was one for the iPad called Hello Baby Â- Pregnancy Calendar, from P&G's Pampers, with week-by-week simulations of baby's growth. The app allows you to record an audio and turns your voice recording into what baby would hear from inside mommy's tummy!

Hair MakeOver Lite

Want to discover your most flattering hairstyle, without breaking out the scissors first? Hair MakeOver app uses a real picture of you and superimposes many different kinds of hairstyles, allowing you to "try before you buy" and make a drastic hairstyle change. It's also fun for seeing how silly you look with most hairstyles.

Lie Detector Scanner Free

Another fun, and not to be taken seriously, app is the Lie Detector Scanner Free. It presumably can tell if someone telling a lie by their pulse and the body heat from their fingers. It could be a lot of fun to have friends and family put their fingers on the scanner and start asking questions. When they release their fingers from the scanner, a voice gives the verdict. Unlike most lie detectors the person does not have to answer basic yes or no questions.

6501 Crazy Facts

This app has more than 6001+ of those facts, ranging from science to people, from weather to the human body, from animals to just weird stuff you didn't know (and that you didn't need to know). Tons of random, weird, and bizarre facts packed into one little app!

SILLY APPS

iFart Mobile does exactly what you think it does. It has a full library of gaseous sounds to entertain and distract. Our youngest son loves to play with this app and we just think it is the newest version of the whoopee cushion.

SOMEWHAT DISTURBING, BUT MAYBE NECESSARY APPS

DateCheck

This app allows you to do some research on potential dates. This app needs your potential date's name, phone number or email address. There's a sleaze detector that checks to see if your potential love interests has a criminal record.

NYC Condom Finder by NYC Health

New York City recently launched this app in an effort to reduce STDs and unwanted pregnancies. It allows users to find places all over NYC where they distribute free condoms.

With new apps being created daily, we're sure to see the number of useful, educational, fun and disturbing apps continue to grow!

(c) 2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.