Black Eyed Peas' new video is an augmented-reality iPhone app

When the Black Eyed Peas shoved a Daft Punk-esque rocket up Dirty Dancing's theme tune for their single The Time, it was deeply horrifying. The silver lining is it's now spawned one of the more nifty music apps for iPhone and iPad.

The app is called BEP 360, and it's just gone live on Apple's App Store. At its core is an interactive video for The Time that puts you in the middle of the action. Literally. "Physically look around to change the view as you experience the song in innovative 360-degree video," explains the App Store description.

Just thank your lucky stars this wasn't done for My Humps, eh?

The app also uses augmented reality to let you point your iPhone camera at the latest Peas album, and see the characters pop up and dance, with chat bubbles letting you read their latest tweet.

There are photo-sharing features too, where you can upload pics to the BEP Earth community, and take a pic with the band member of your choice (will.i.am, Fergie and, er, the other two).

Whether you like the Black Eyed Peas' music or not, BEP360 is a good example of a band app that's looking to push the boundaries of iOS, rather than just serve up news and marketing messages.

will.i.am is so enthused by all things appy that he's set up his own company to make them -- called, with soul-crushing inevitability, will.i.apps -- and is hoping to make more 360 video apps for other artists.

Oh, and if you're wondering what The Time sounds like, be our guests...