NY1 highlights the coolest and newest apps for your cell phone or mobile device in the twice-weekly segment “App Wrap.” NY1’s Adam Balkin filed the following report.

Comics Apps

Just a couple weeks ago, DC Comics announced it would join Marvel Comics in having its own app that would allow fans to enjoy those comics on their iPhones, iPads or computers.

The good news is these digital comics are easier to keep in mint condition than their real-world counterparts, but the bad news is they probably will not be worth nearly as much 30 years from now.

The app has access to the eCatalogs of both comic book giants, which account for about 80 percent of all comic books, plus ComiXology's Comics app provides access to some smaller publishers.

"You can imagine on a small device, it's not like you can have a whole page right there and be able to read it. You actually have to zoom in on the panels, and a lot of viewers do that by pinching and zooming, but we thought that was a little too much work," said David Steinberger of ComiXology. "So we actually take the time to crop out adjacent frames, zoom way in so it's readable text and then follow what we think the artists and creators had meant for your eye to do."

The DC, Marvel, and Comics apps, out for iPhones and iPads, are all free. The digital comic books themselves usually cost between $1 and $3.

Baby Monitors

Now for the parents of young children, there are apps that turn a smartphone into a baby monitor. The parent leaves the phone on the floor of the child's room and then leaves. If the child starts to cry or call out, the phone's microphone will pick it up. Once the noise goes over a certain decibel level of your choice, it will call whatever number you would like so that you can listen in on it.

For example, if your child is upstairs and you are downstairs while the baby starts crying, the smartphone can call your home phone and you can instantly hear whatever's going on in the baby's room.

Some of the apps have added features like playing a lullaby or a user's recorded message as it places the call to try to get the child back to sleep without a human being's direct intervention.

There are one or several varieties of these apps available for virtually every smartphone, iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys, PalmPilots or Windows mobile devices.

Depending on what features the apps offer, they can be free or cost about $5.