App of the Week: CarZar

The CarZar app for iPhone may not win any productivity points. But if you're a social-networking car nut, it's a great way to capture your automotive sightings and share them with fellow auto freaks.

Whether it's that rare supercar you saw last year on vacation, the bizarre project vehicle you spotted on a trip through the backwoods or a sweet classic parked on your street, CarZar lets you photograph and post your automotive discoveries. The app also leverages the power of social networking sites such as Facebook and Foursquare to let friends know when you've spotted a cool car. And like Foursquare, CarZar lets you earn badges while posting about your passion. Here's how it works.

Social-Networked Car Spotting
After downloading the free CarZar app onto your iPhone, you register by entering the usual information: name, password and email address. You can input your favorite car, first car and favorite movie car, and the app also connects to your social network accounts. A bar across the top of the screen provides a place for a profile photo, your name, favorite car and a running tab of how many followers and badges you've accumulated.

At the bottom of the screen, a bar offers the following options: Spot a Ride, Badges, Friends and My Profile. Using the Spot tab, you can scroll through recent postings from fellow CarZar users. If you see something interesting, tap on the photo for an enlarged image and more information. Or you can tap on the camera icon on the upper right corner and follow the prompts to post your own finds.

Location Aware
When you snap a vehicle image with the smartphone's camera, CarZar tags the location using your iPhone's GPS capability. You can then share the image, as well as vehicle information and comments, with friends across your CarZar social community, earn points and unlock badges to become the CarZar of your favorite brand or type of vehicle. And you can post your finds on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla.