This week’s roundup includes Pedometer++, an app reportedly great at creating guilt when users discover how little they walk during the day. Also on the roster: George Harrison, wedding planning, and a detailed look inside the human body.
The $25 Essential Anatomy 3 updates one of the coolest apps out there, filled with 3D models of every human system imaginable. Developers say this version offers more detail but uses less processing power from the iPad, and includes a grand total of 4000 anatomical structures for study and review. Plus: The lymphatic system has been added!
Beatles fans will surely rejoice at this $1 app for iOS, which explores George Harrison’s guitar collection, featuring “instruments that the legendary artist played on some of the most famous songs in music history.” It include 360-degree views of each guitar, detailed descriptions of each instrument and its history, and audio of Harrison introducing the guitars and demonstrating their tone. This week’s update expands the iPad app for iPhone use, as well.
Even weddings are better with the iPhone—The Knot has long since proved this with its free wedding planning app. Version 2.0 launched last week with a (bridal) shower of new features, including the ability to browse through hundreds of real weddings and contact the vendors who helped make them possible; revamped vendor searching that includes 30 categories—ranging from floritst to caterer and beyond—and can be filtered by price; a “to-do” checklist; and tools to help you manage both your guest list and your budget.
Apple hasn’t gotten around to making an iOS-driven smartwatch yet, but that doesn’t mean iPhone users are left behind the latest fad. Version 2.0 of the free Pebble Smartwatch app for iPhone now includes a directory of “watchapps” that can be installed on your watch and monitored, via Bluetooth, from your phone. It also stores a history of your notifications, and includes a “locker” of your favorite apps to track and manage for your Pebble.
You’ve surely seen plenty of DJ apps during your time on the iPad. Pacemaker, a free offering for iPad, is different: It draws from users’ Spotify library to play and mix tunes, freeing users from the limits of their own music libraries. (It also works with iTunes, however.) Adventurous DJs can drop $2 per in-app upgrade to add effects like reverb, echoes, beatskip and more.
This app reportedly has massive guilt-inducing qualities, so don’t say we didn’t warn you. Pedometer++ is pretty much what it sounds like—an app that tracks the number of steps you take each day, and it does so running in the background on minimal battery power. Version 2.0 has an updated design and improved data-sharing capabilities—but one caution: It works only with the iPhone 5s.
The $1 Peek Calendar app for iPhone looks a lot like Clear, the popular get-things-done app; it features a similar color scheme and similar gestures (drag or swipe to the right to peek and view the length and the location of events), but with a focus on when things need to be done rather than simply being a list of tasks. The app uses the native iOS database, so that events in your native iPhone calendar will also appear in Peek.
Version 9.0 of this $10 Google Analytics app for iPhone and iPad is packed with new goodies: It’s updated to match the look and feel of iOS 7, but more importantly it can now tell users how many people are looking at their site right now. Users can double-tap a row of information to create filters and get the best understanding of their traffic; there are also a number of bug fixes and performance issues that have been addressed in the new release.
Google Maps (pictured) can now notify users when a faster route becomes available in navigation mode … Flipboard lets users save items to Safari’s reading list … Marvel Run Jump Smash! lets your favorite Marvel characters do just that.
Author: Joel Mathis
Joel Mathis is a regular contributor to Macworld and TechHive. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and young son.