How to ring in the new year with apps

The start of a new year can be stressful. The parties, the dates, the planning. And then, for the cocktail-inclined, the piercing headaches that follow.

But never fear. Smartphone apps will hold your hand through the whole confetti-splashed ordeal, from midnight Friday through those 2011 resolutions.

Here's a look at a few of our favorite New Year's apps. Think of it as app-focused guide to the holiday, in chronological order:

Step 1: Find a date

This goes out to all the procrastinators. If you're still looking for a date for the night of December 31, you only have a few hours to make this happen. Try an app called Skout (free on iPhones and Android), which finds possible mates based on your GPS coordinates. The perfect New Year's Eve date may be across the street from you right now. There, wasn't that easy?

Step 2: Get your party on

So you have a date. You two could walk into a party empty-handed. But where would the merriment be in that? Finish off 2010 in style by bringing the ingredients for a cocktail from the Mad Men Cocktail Culture app (99 cents on the iPhone), which is based on the hip AMC show.

Your friends will be dazzled by your intimate knowledge of muddling and pouring vintage drinks from the '60s -- and if you forget the steps for that Old Fashioned or Brandy Alexander, just check your phone.

When the conversation dies down, casually bring up some of the cocktail facts listed in the app. "Did you know the Old Fashioned was supposedly created for a Civil War general who didn't like the taste of straight whisky?" Why no, no we didn't, your friends will say in awe-struck unison.

Step 3: Prep for midnight

It's a modern tradition for far-flung friends to send each other text messages at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. But isn't that kind of distracting? For those who would rather enjoy the moment the clock strikes 12 than peck at a QWERTY keyboard, try the "OMG! HNY!!" app (free on Android phones).

Program the app in advance to text a message to a pre-determined list of friends. The default note is (you guessed it) "OMG - HNY!!" which stands for, "Oh my God, happy New Year." So you might want to edit before sending.

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