A team of graduate students from Champlain College’s not-for-profit Emergent Media Center (EMC) is working with Newfane author Archer Mayor/MarchMedia LLC to create Archer Mayor’s The Lost Case Files, an “interactive mystery game” based on his popular, Vermont-based detective series.... Read more

For many tourists in a foreign country, the language barrier is a problem. Who among us has not frantically mimed “Where is the bathroom?” Particularly useful for Vermonters and Québécois — on both sides of the border — Ascendo has created a comprehensive French-English Dictionary app to help guide native and non-native speakers through a conversation.... Read more

Local Motion, a Burlington-based nonprofit promoting “people-powered” transportation, has offered a Trail Finder map on its website for several years, noting routes for hiking, biking and cross-country skiing over a broad swath of Vermont. Now comes a more convenient mobile version — the Trail Finder app — which was developed by Burlington’s Woodchuck Apps largely pro bono.... Read more

A Single Pebble, the app created for the Burlington restaurant of the same name by Outspring, Inc., is informative and well designed. Like most restaurant apps, it’s meant for attracting diners into the place, but it’s one of the most comprehensive I’ve seen, and its design is excellent.... Read more

For the winter sports enthusiast, Vermont Powder is a simple but effective tool. Produced by the Norfolk, Va.-based Concursive Corporation, the app was originally conceived by a group of skiers who wanted to integrate social-networking tools such as Facebook into their winter pastimes. The result is a solid, user-friendly app that provides a lot of information.... Read more

This Saturday, October 6, the Vermont Italian Club will host Piccola Italia, an Italian pride extravaganza with authentic cuisine, music, tours of Burlington’s original Little Italy and the unveiling of new interpretive signage in the neighborhood. For additional flair at the event, the club teamed up with Coby Brownell, a Champlain College instructor and graduate student, to develop an augmented-reality website, which pairs historically relevant information with a simulated tour.... Read more

The Cynic Guide to the University of Vermont is a simple app intended to provide a very basic overview of the Burlington area (and not, in fact, of the university itself). Developed for the UVM student newspaper, the app was created by New York-based Access Network, which is “dedicated to the empowerment of media brands in the digital landscape,” according to its home page. The Cynic Guide is one in a series of national guides.... Read more

It’s time again for the Burlington Book Festival, which kicks off on the evening of Friday, September 21, and runs through Sunday, September 23. Since there’s no way you can take in all the readings and workshops happening in Burlington this weekend, we’ve spotlighted two outstanding writers and prepared a rough-and-ready guide. Find the whole schedule at burlingtonbookfestival.com.

Fiction Pick

A lesbian comes of age in the heartland ... Read more

For shy types, meeting people can be a problem. Likewise if you always stick to your same old social circle — it’s harder to join in new situations or just find a buddy for a spontaneous outing when all your friends are busy. ShoutPlans is here to help. A new website designed by Social Logic Inc. of Burlington aims to facilitate planning events, meeting new people and connecting more easily with friends you already have.... Read more

If you like nothing better than diving, or dipping, into a body of water on a hot day, the VT Swimming Holes app offers a wealth of information to help you get there. Developed by Waterbury-based cTechnica, the app has an extensive list of literal watering holes in the wilds and woods of Vermont.... Read more