The first thing you reach for when you wake up, the last thing you put down before bed: Smartphone usage is nearly ubiquitous among adults.

As consumers, we used to think that social media content was equivalent to a good time, but recently, those things have started to become mutually exclusive.

Being on a college campus can sometimes feel like a living advertisement for Apple.

In the past decade, smartphones have emerged as an entirely new socialization tool. What started as a new form of conversation in text messages has turned into a multifaceted, elaborate platform that works through social media, new apps like Snapchat and, of course, instant messaging.

Though Yik Yak is hardly a new app and not even necessarily new to the Washington University student body, the app has suddenly blown up in popularity.

According to Apple, Siri on the iPhone 4S can help you get things done. But in reality, the digital assistant will only you help you get things done that she deems morally sound. And oddly enough, pursuit of marijuana and dumping a dead body are endeavors that she permits, though getting an abortion is not.

A new iPhone app, released last Friday, allows students to check course listings on the go. Former Washington University student Dan Brewster developed the app, Course Monkey, as part of his iPhone app development class in the 2010 fall semester. It is the University’s first course listing app.

A new MetroLink application for the iPhone is available for free for a short time. Washington University lecturer Todd Sproull developed this app, which provides MetroLink timetables and station information. The app offers the ability to select the station the trains depart from and direction of the destination in order to find departure and arrival times.

The birth of the iPhone has revolutionized the way people interact with the world. The invention brought with it a new market for iPhone applications, spurring the start of new businesses across the nation.

BBM (BlackBerry messenger) just might be the most frequently used word that doesn’t show up in a classic dictionary. BBM is used as a verb (as in “I just BBMed her”), a noun (“Did you get my BBM?”) and even an adjective (“I’m her BBM friend”)–because simply being her friend is clearly not enough.