PUMA Application Tracks Stocks with Stripping Models

You've probably heard of the Dow, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100. But try this financial index on for size: The PUMA.

The PUMA Index is an iPhone application that tracks global stocks. As stocks go down, PUMA models shed clothing. As stocks go up, the clothing comes back on. The application is timed to the launch of the company's new line of bodywear.

(PUMA)

To celebrate its new line of bodywear, sports clothing company PUMA launched an iPhone application earlier this month that tracks global stocks, but not in the way you might think.

As stocks on the Dow Jones industrial average go up and down, so does one key element on the PUMA models: their clothes.

"Think of it as an entertaining antidote to Wall Street woes," the company said in a statement. "So now if you lose your shirt, at least our models do too."

Though the application might make Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke blush, the models only undress down to their new PUMA threads. As the Dow climbs, the clothes come back on.

The PUMA application is free in Apple's App store, and the company says it can even help save consumers money. Showing the downloaded application to a PUMA sales associate can get you a 20 percent discount. That offer lasts until Nov. 8, 2009.

There are myriad other app developers taking advantage of the growth of wireless handheld devices.

Here's a small sampling:

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App Find Medicinal Marijuana Providers

Smoking marijuana is known to have an adverse effect on memory and concentration, but now, thanks to a new iPhone application, even the foggiest of users should be able to locate their connection -- make that medicinal marijuana provider -- with relative ease.

Launched by AJNAG (Activists Justifying the Natural Agriculture of Ganja), a Web-based community advocating for medical marijuana, the Cannabis app takes those seeking medicinal marijuana through the entire process of obtaining it. The app is downloadable from Apple's store for $2.99.

"Our goal is to put the power of cannabis change in your pocket while you enjoy the most sticky and potent iPhone application available!" the founders say in a statement on their Web site.

Here's how it works. The application displays an interactive map dotted with doctors who can prescribe medicinal marijuana treatment for their patients.

It also shows -- after, presumably, users have procured prescriptions -- the medicinal marijuana suppliers within the users' vicinity. And, what's more, the application includes a database of lawyers who specialize in marijuana-related cases, in should users encounter skeptical local authorities.

To help with grassroots media campaigning, the developers also say they will donate 50 cents for every "Cannabis" purchase to a non-profit reform fund, which they say will be set up once the application reaches 1,000 subscriptions.

Just remember -- Cannabis only works in states where marijuana has been legalized, so if you've scored tickets to a Grateful Dead show in, say, Alabama, don't expect Cannabis to help you score anything else.