Smule's addictive 99-cent Ocarina turns the iPhone into the ancient flute-like instrument.

Wang and Smith are riding the latest phenomenon to sweep across the tech industry.

MacBook maestro Ge Wang bends the boundaries of computer as musical instrument.

As an instrument Ocarina has been perfectly executed, and is much more suitable for the iPhone’s screen size than the virtual keyboards and guitars that litter the App Store... This is how an iPhone app should be done.

I think, if you're not excited by these insights, and the true breadth of technology going on behind the scenes with the applications Smule is turning out, you're just not a true nerd. Keep your eye on the big brains at Smule — I'm certain we'll be seeing a lot more incredible innovation out of them.

Our top pick of the bunch is Sonic Lighter by Smule; skip right to it if you want to see an impressively developed $1 app.

If you're like me (and gods help you) and you like to manipulate your voice in different ways--you know, to freak your cats or even your wife/girlfriend--Smule has come up with something cool to make your Friday go by faster.

How it accomplishes this functionality, however, is what really makes Smule’s newest application a killer piece of tech. Truth be told, Sonic Vox is creating real time voice effects. To be clear on this point — it is not recording your input, altering it, and playing it back to you. Rather, as you are speaking into your iPhone’s mic, Sonic Vox is using Digital Signal Processing (DSP) in real time to alter the resulting, simultaneous output.

Now Smule is out with another neat party trick, Sonic Vox, a kind of whacky microphone app that lets you change your voice on the fly. Practical applications? Well it does arrive in time for Halloween so you can put an extra scare or chuckle into the neighborhood kids.

One of the coolest features is the ability to see what are supposedly real-time Sonic Boom explosions by people around the globe. Also, if you have a second iPhone with Sonic Lighter, you can use it to light the fuse of the firecracker on your first phone. Talk about synergy.

All in all, if you’re looking for a way to have some momentary fun without losing fingers or something to accompany your friend’s Sonic Lighter purchase, this is it.

Sonic Mule (better known as Smule) – yes you have heard of it.  It’s that lighter on an iPhone thing. Take the time to look a little deeper, it’s not what you think. Smule is more than just the really cute little app.  Much more.

Now the Sonic Lighter iPhone app brings the sacredness of group flame to iPhone users everywhere. Not only can you create fire of your own, but Sonic Lighter allows you to simultaneously light iPhones around you.

Here's why people are going crazy for Sonic Lighter, and are willing to pay $.99. Smule has built in social and viral features that are helping this spread like mad, and they also give this ridiculous but effective incentive to use the app all the time.

You can actually blow on the flame through the iPhone's microphone and have it move around or even blow it out, just as you might with a lit match. You can also manipulate the flame with your finger — and not get burned.

Out of the horde of iPhone applications that fall into the "useless" category, the Sonic Lighter app released Tuesday actually looks pretty cool.

Smule's site even hosts an World Wide Ignition Map that traces recently lit Smule flames around the globe (the East Coast and parts of Europe appear to be pretty heated up over the Sonic Lighter at the moment).

For $.99 cents I will use this amazing app to deliberately blow people's minds while blowing on my iPhone.

But hold on, what’s that, up there? In the Arctic Ocean, hundreds of miles north of the Chukchi Sea, itself north of where Alaska and Russia kiss? It’s a single, solitary Sonic Lighter ignition.

I'm really hoping to see more of these amusements type apps that are low cost, entertaining, and less complex than, say, Spore or other full blown simulation type apps or games.

它将为iPhone用户带来神圣火焰组。有了Sonic Lighter，您不仅可以点燃自己的iPhone，还可同时将您身边其他的iPhone点燃。而能做到这个神奇举动的，仅仅是1美元的软件。

Smule even has a nifty World Wide Ignition Map that traces recently lit flames around the globe.

As virtual lighters go, Sonic Lighter definitely takes best of breed, and kudos to Smule for some innovative work here.

The Smule has got to be one of the most interesting iPhone applications, but interesting does not mean useful.

Yes, I am a part of the iPhone cult. I sacrificed my old metro provider in order to gain favor of Steve Jobs and his apostles. Just like any cult underling, I must show my appreciate to the great Apple lord, and a new iPhone app has made that task all the more easier to do.

Though, for only 99 cents, I can definitely say it’s worth it for a quick entertainment fix…especially if you can get some other friends to buy it. Then you can all sit around, light each other's flames and sit in a dark room listening to Free Bird. Or not.

Smule has started a fire on your iPhone that can be shared with other users to create bonfires. Using a sonic modem, not wi-fi or 3G, users have the ability to “ignite” other Sonic Lighter users by touching the two iPhones together.