Craving Pizza? Just Download the App

In a move sure to thrill its laziest customers, Pizza Hut unveiled Friday its new iPhone application that allows users to order pizza without so much as dialing a number. Simply type in your order, then sit back and wait until it arrives.

Pizza Hut has released an iPhone application that allows users to order pizza and wings without even dialing a number.

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

For those bored with the traditional methods of ordering pizza, the app also has some unconventional tools. If you want extra sauce on your wings, for instance, you shake the phone like a bottle.

And, for those who find ordering pizza too sober a task, the app comes with a racing game named "Hut Racer."

Pizza Hut hopes the app will appeal to customers who rely on their iPhones, said Brian Niccol, Pizza Hut's chief marketing officer.

"As more of our customers are integrating the iPhone and iPod touch into their everyday lives, Pizza Hut wants to be right there with them," Niccol said in a statement. "As a longtime category leader in innovation, creating an App Store application is just one more way we are helping customers place orders in a way that best fits their mobile lifestyle."

And there are myriad other programs (apps for short) taking advantage of the growth of wireless handheld devices.

Here's a small sampling:

Hard of Hearing? Just Grab Your iPhone

People don't normally equate the iPhone with medical innovation, but with the June release of an application that doubles as a hearing aid, they may have to reconsider.

The application, which is called soundAMP, is made by Ginger Labs, a California-based software applications developer, and is available in the iTunes store for $9.99.

Though it's not an actual hearing aid, soundAMP achieves a similar effect. Users just launch the application and then plug in a pair of earphones. The application takes in sound from a microphone (be it built-in, in a headset or from elsewhere) and then amplifies and filters it.

Then you can adjust the volume to your liking with a slider on the touchscreen. You also can replay five or 30 seconds by tapping the appropriate button on the screen. Hearing aids often may be associated with the more mature, but soundAMP's developers insist their product is age neutral -- of equal value to the octogenarian hard of hearing and the college student stuck in the back of a large lecture class.

(As a caveat, if you really are losing your hearing, you should probably visit a doctor -- soundAMP may be novel, but medically certified it is not.)

RunPee Helps Moviegoers With Bathroom Breaks

Soda. Coffee. Water. Next time to you go to the movies, chug 'em all down.

As long as you have a new iPhone app by your side, you'll know when you can escape to the bathroom without missing the best parts.

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Approved by Apple's App store earlier this week, RunPee (yes, really) promises to be the small-bladdered moviegoer's best friend.

The application features all the movies currently playing in theaters and tells users approximately how far into the movie each "pee time" begins, the cue line to listen for and even what they've missed. (When you're on your way back to your seat, you can hit a button to unscramble text that provides a short synopsis.)

"The idea came from watching King Kong the re-make in 2005," said Dan Florio, RunPee's creator, referring to Peter Jackson's marathon three-hour blockbuster. Throughout much of the movie, he said, he was desperate to relieve himself.

"I kept thinking, I wish they would just kill this ape so that I could get to the men's room," he said.

Like a good fan, he waited until the end, but not without noting a good three-minute sequence he could have done without.

"I just could have gone to the men's room during the scene and I could have enjoyed the end of the movie and the movie would have been better," the Orlando, Fla. developer said.

When he walked out of the theater and saw the lines of people waiting to get into the theater, he wanted to share his secret. But being a bit bashful, he kept it to himself.

The idea stayed in remission until August 2008, when he launched RunPee.com.

He said he's watched about 80 percent of the movies to scout out the best "pee times," but added his family has helped. And anyone who's interested can submit ideas to the site.

In January of this year, he partnered with brothers John and Sam Shahidi, and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jordan Palmer, to work on the iPhone app. Download figures aren't available yet, but Florio said traffic to the site has jumped from about 30 unique visitors a day last year to about 3,500 visitors a day.

Although the app is only available for iPhone owners in the U.S., John Shahidi said the plan is to expand to India, China and Australia.

Dunkin' Donuts Goes High-Tech

Thanks to the iPhone, coffee runs are now easier than ever.

In June, Dunkin' Donuts launched an application for the iPhone and Web that helps organize and automate group orders.

Using their computers and mobile devices, customers can initiate orders through 'Dunkin' Run' and alert friends and colleagues that they are willing to be the "Runner."

Each member of the group can add their order to the list and then the Runner can print the choices or use the iPhone to create a checklist so that when they get to the store, they don't miss anyone's order. The app doesn't yet transmit the order to the local donut shop.

"We conceived of Dunkin' Run as a social application that helps hard-working Americans stay slightly more productive," said Baba Shetty, Hill Holliday's Chief Media Officer. "It's based on the idea of reciprocity -- I'll get your coffee today and hopefully you'll get mine tomorrow -- in a way that perfectly complements the 'we're in it together' ethos of the Dunkin' Donuts brand."