It seems that self-care has found a new ally in technology. Finch, a self-care widget pet, emerges as a novel tool to assist individuals dealing with various mental health challenges, from anxiety and depression to ADHD. This innovative app centres around a charming virtual bird, which users can accompany on daily adventures, encouraging both the avatar and the user to grow and heal.

Upon commencing your journey with Finch, the app prompts you to set personal goals, which can range from simple daily tasks like getting out of bed to more involved activities such as meal prepping. The goals are suggested with empathy, recognising that everyone’s capabilities and challenges are unique, thus removing any judgment about the ‘difficulty’ of the goals. Users can customise their virtual bird and even name it, adding a personal touch to the experience.

What sets Finch apart is its interactive features that foster a community-centric approach to mental health. Users can connect with friends and family, sharing ‘good vibes’ like virtual hugs or high-fives, enhancing the communal support system.

Additionally, the app offers a plethora of activities aimed at personal growth. From focus timers with ambient sounds to breathing exercises and gentle yoga, these features are occasionally integrated into the user’s routine, promoting mindfulness and self-reflection, and offering rewards in the form of in-game currency. This currency can be used to acquire new accessories for the pet, enhancing the gaming aspect of the app.

The journaling feature is particularly robust, allowing users to document their thoughts and activities freely or in response to prompts. The app analyses these entries to offer insights into emotional patterns, sometimes with amusing inaccuracies, yet often providing valuable reflections on one’s mental state.

Finch provides a weekly summary that attempts to conclude user-inputted data, offering an automated yet insightful look at one’s emotional well-being over time. Users can also opt for the paid version of Finch (Finch Plus), which opens all of the self-care features on the app. A subscription of S$14.98 a month/S$99.98 for 12 months is required to unlock over 100 exercises, access mailbox content, and change tag emojis, among others.

While not a substitute for professional mental health care, Finch offers a unique blend of game-like interaction and mental health support, making it a delightful addition to anyone’s daily routine. This app is recommended for those seeking a sprinkle of joy and digital companionship through a charmingly animated bird, enriching their path to self-care and mental wellness.

Finch is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for free, with an optional membership plan available. More information about Finch can be found on the website.

Natalie

Natalie is a big fan of anything related to movies, TV shows, games, and comics — you name it. When she’s not reading or geeking out about the latest shows on Netflix, she’s probably playing gacha and tabletop games, or daydreaming of meeting her idols.

The post App Of The Month: Finch (September 2024) appeared first on Geek Culture.

Discover a new frontier of personal development with Mindvalley, a transformative learning platform that’s revolutionising the way we approach self-improvement. Whether you’re looking to enhance your mental health, boost your career, or enrich your personal relationships, Mindvalley offers over 100 meticulously curated wellness programmes designed to elevate every aspect of your life.

As August’s App of the Month, Mindvalley stands out with its programmes, each meticulously tailored to improve your body, mind, soul, career, and entrepreneurial skills. Users can dive into specific categories like mental health, where they can select programmes focused on enhancing happiness or life quality. Basic meditation techniques and complex psychological concepts are also offered to help users unlock their full potential. From the comfort of their home, users can access a wealth of knowledge that empowers them to step into their greatness.

The app also offers a unique feature where users can fine-tune their objectives, ensuring the recommendations perfectly align with their personal growth goals. Users can engage with an array of meditations led by world-class experts like Sadhguru, and absorb wisdom from top entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban.

Mindvalley’s interface is user-friendly, making it simple to navigate through an extensive catalog of quests and lessons. Each programme is presented with detailed descriptions of the curriculum and instructor, ensuring you know exactly what to expect. The platform is also equipped with cutting-edge machine-learning technology that enhances your educational experience by adapting to your learning pace and style.

Moreover, the platform’s social features allow you to connect with fellow users, sharing insights and experiences that foster a supportive learning environment within the community. Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking to sharpen your skills or someone starting their personal development journey, Mindvalley offers something for everyone.

Mindvalley is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for free, with an optional membership plan available. More information about Mindvalley can be found on the website.

Natalie

Natalie is a big fan of anything related to movies, TV shows, games, and comics — you name it. When she’s not reading or geeking out about the latest shows on Netflix, she’s probably playing gacha and tabletop games, or daydreaming of meeting her idols.

The post App Of The Month: Mindvalley (August 2024) appeared first on Geek Culture.

Summer is synonymous with travel, and Wanderlog is here to enhance your travel experience. This comprehensive travel planning app is perfect for anyone looking to organise trips effectively, offering a suite of tools designed for everything from road trips to group adventures. Wanderlog makes it easy to craft detailed itineraries, organise flights, hotels, and car reservations, set your budget, and manage every detail of your journey, all within a user-friendly interface.

Wanderlog’s real-time collaboration feature stands out, allowing friends to plan together much like they would in Google Docs. You can set permissions for editing or viewing, ensuring that planning is a collaborative effort. Moreover, all your plans are accessible offline, which is particularly useful for road trips or international travels where internet access may be limited.

For road trip enthusiasts, Wanderlog offers robust tools that allow you to add unlimited stops, optimise your route, and view the distance and estimated travel times between locations. This helps ensure that your travel plans are both realistic and enjoyable. The app displays your route on an interactive map, with lines connecting each destination for easy visualisation.

Integration is also seamless with Wanderlog. You can automatically import reservations by forwarding confirmation emails or connecting your Gmail account. Each destination in your itinerary is detailed with descriptions, user ratings, opening hours, and contact information, sourced from top travel guides and platforms like TripAdvisor and Google Travel.

Additionally, the app not only helps you organise your trip, but also inspires your next adventure. Wanderlog features a rich selection of travel guides and user recommendations, enabling you to discover popular attractions and hidden gems. With just one click, you can add suggested activities directly to your itinerary, enriching your travel experience.

Whether travelling solo or with friends, managing finances is crucial. Wanderlog provides tools to set a budget, track every expense, and even split bills among your group, simplifying financial management throughout your trip. After your journey, you can create and share a travel guide to inspire other travellers, making Wanderlog not just a planning tool but also a platform for sharing experiences.

Wanderlog is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for free, with an optional Pro subscription that offers additional features such as exporting trips to Google Maps and linking your Gmail account.

Natalie

Natalie is a big fan of anything related to movies, TV shows, games, and comics — you name it. When she’s not reading or geeking out about the latest shows on Netflix, she’s probably playing gacha and tabletop games, or daydreaming of meeting her idols.

The post App Of The Month: Wanderlog (July 2024) appeared first on Geek Culture.

Demand for emulator apps has only increased with Apple lifting the ban on retro game emulators on the App Store. Now, classic emulator RetroArch has made its way onto the platform, supporting Atari 2600, PSP, and SNES games among various options.

The app has been around for over 20 years and was first developed in 2010, becoming one of the first few established emulators, boasting advanced GPU shader support, dynamic rate control, and audio DSP plugins.

The best part is that it’s entirely free-to-play, and its diverse range of supported console types means you can play hundreds of games on it, from Asteroids to Castlevania, and practically any libretro core game.

The app supports iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV devices running iOS 14 or later, and is currently unavailable on Mac devices. Loading up a game works the same way as any other emulator —download the desired ROM, import it into the app, and you’ll be able to play.

And if you’ve played solo for long enough, the app also has an online multiplayer function where you can challenge players across the globe, or grab a few friends for a gaming session. There’s plenty of customisation in RetroArch that might take a while to get used to, but it enables users to remap buttons or keys for each emulation core or game, fast-forward and rewind, and access gyro controls.

RetroArch is currently free to play on the App Store.

Trinity Sun

Trinity is a geek who enjoys watching anime, superhero and Sci-Fi movies and TV shows. She enjoys gaming (however has terrible gacha luck) and creates cool homebrew campaigns in her free time. She’s always up for a new adventure — with a cosy jacket and a good book in hand.

The post App Of The Month: RetroArch (May 2024) appeared first on Geek Culture.

Gone are the days of jailbreaking to play retro game emulators on iOS devices. After years of stringent regulations, Apple has finally lifted the ban on them, allowing players to revisit the consoles of yesteryear — and legally, to boot. Less than a month later, Delta is leading the charge as an all-in-one emulator, making waves with support for various retro devices, including the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), N64, Nintendo DS, and more.

It’s been a strong start for developer Riley Testut. The app is currently ranked top in the Entertainment category, scoring an average score of 4.9 (out of five) against 13.6K ratings. Being free of charge certainly adds to its appeal, but the host of nifty features is largely responsible for its quick rise to popularity.

For starters, the Delta emulator is compatible with all major console controllers, as well as Bluetooth and wired keyboards. Specific input methods, such as gyroscope and microphone controls, are supported for select titles, while Delta Sync lets users sync their games, save files/states, cheats, controller skins, and mappings between different devices.

Personalisation options are available as well, taking the form of layout customisation, additional button mapping, and custom skin creation. Those looking to share the joy are in luck – the app supports local multiplayer on the NES, SNES, and N64, inviting up to four players in a team.

As with all emulators, Delta requires ROMs (short for “read only memory”), or digital copies of a game, to work. Simply download the desired ROM, import it into the app, and it’ll automatically be sorted to its corresponding platform. To successfully run the game, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

• iPhone and iPod touch – requires iOS 14.0 or later
• Mac – requires macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) or later, and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later
• Apple Vision – requires visionOS 1.0 or later

Delta is available on the Apple App Store for free. For those familiar with the emulator scene, its popularity shouldn’t be a surprise – the app has had five years to iron out any kinks since entering version 1.0 in 2019, and is now recognised as one of the most polished options on the market.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post App Of The Month: Delta Emulator (April 2024) appeared first on Geek Culture.

The greatest charm of simulation games is living a life that the real world doesn’t allow for. With Disney Dreamlight Valley, it’s about basking in a dream world that also features various Disney and Pixar characters, whipping up a double fantasy for fans.

Set in the titular Dreamlight Valley, the game whisks players away to a magical valley populated by these beloved characters, who previously underwent a curse that caused them to lose their memories. There are plenty of familiar genre mainstays, including a customisable player avatar, the ability to gather resources, cook meals, and craft furniture, and friendship levels.

Here’s a full list of villagers who can be befriended:

• Anna
• Ariel
• Beast
• Belle
• Buzz Lightyear
• Donald Duck
• Elsa
• Fairy Godmother
• Gaston
• Goofy
• Jack Skellington
• Kristoff
• Maui
• Merline
• Mickey / Minnie Mouse
• Mirabel
• Moana
• Mother Gothel
• Nala
• Olaf
• Prince Eric
• Rapunzel
• Remy
• Scar
• Scrooge McDuck
• Simba
• Stitch
• Ursula
• Vanellope
• WALL-E
• Woody

Essentially, it’s the Disney-fied version of Animal Crossing, but its own twist. Unlike in the latter gamers, the player’s tool, clothing, and furniture don’t take up inventory slots, and the valley is synced to real time based on the time set on a console or computer.

And while Dreamlight Valley is available on all major platforms, the Apple Arcade version packs in more value by bundling the base game with the A Rift in Time expansion, which is sold separately elsewhere. For subscribers, that means two titles at the price of one — the subscription fare itself, coming in at S$9.98 per month. Additional features include EVE of Wall-E fame as a villager, Pua from Moana as an unlockable companion, three new biomes, an all-new storyline, and multiplayer support of two to four players.

Several other Disney and Pixar characters, such as Cinderella, Mike Wazowski, Pumbaa, Ralph, Sulley, Tiana, and Timon, have also been announced to be added in later updates, bringing more social fun to the idyllic life.

From snapping a sunset selfie with Mirabel to settling on the beach next to Moana, the activities in Dreamlight Valley can be enjoyed across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV with an Apple Arcade subscription. However, do note that this version doesn’t support cross-save with platforms outside of its ecosystem, including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox X|S.

As with any simulator title, one of the best parts about the experience is being able to play it at one’s own pace. There’s no urgent need to complete the story or be updated with the latest happenings, as it doesn’t have any bearing on the leisure activities. Simply hop on between pockets of free time, and soak up the relaxing vibes.

Dreamlight Valley is available now on Apple Arcade.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month: Disney Dreamlight Valley (February 2024) appeared first on Geek Culture.

A cosy adventure through the world of Osterra, Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent is a stunning pixel game with gacha elements. The game was first released in Japan in 2020 as a prequel to Square Enix’s 2018 Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) Octopath Traveler, and is now available as a free-to-play game on the App Store globally.

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent shines in its environmental design, taking players on a quest through snowy forests and grassy plains. There’s plenty of monsters to fight, weapons to craft, and of course, chests to collect — all presented in the charming HD-2D look taken after its mainline cousin.

The game’s gacha system lets you add new characters to your roster, with an in-game currency you can use to get new characters. The game is rather generous when it comes to giving out rubies, so you won’t have to worry about a lack of pulls in the beginning. You’ll get to pick out your starting character from a pool of eight travellers, which provides players with plenty of options. And then it’s time to choose wealth, fame, or power, in different questlines that will bring players in conflict with various enemies, from weaker beasts to Elite Enemies.

While there are eight starting characters, the complete playable roster adds up to 64, each with their own stories to tell. These companions are exclusive to the mobile version, and offer some fresh content for fans of the original game. It’s a narrative time sink, which is certainly a value-add feature for a free-to-play title.

Amid the other new features in Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, the battle system emerges as the most prominent change. Similar to the mainline JRPG, it features turn-based mechanics centred around Shield Points, weapon-type / elemental weaknesses, and Boost Points, but with a twist. Instead of a single four-player team, the mobile title introduces a reserve party system, allowing players to assign another four heroes to the backline. These party members can then be freely swapped in and out at will, with attacking and receiving damage limited only to the front row. 

But don’t get caught up in speedrunning objectives, as the game is equally about exploration and side quests as it is about completing the main story. Leveling up your characters to meet story level prerequisites might take some time, but as with all JRPGs, grinding is inevitably unavoidable. If you’ve got time to kill, are looking for a distraction, and love pixellated art styles, it goes without saying that you’ll definitely enjoy this one.

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent is now available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Trinity Sun

Trinity is a geek who enjoys watching anime, superhero and Sci-Fi movies and TV shows. She enjoys gaming (however has terrible gacha luck) and creates cool homebrew campaigns in her free time. She’s always up for a new adventure — with a cosy jacket and a good book in hand.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month — Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent (January 2024) appeared first on Geek Culture.

Between the time crunch and frustration of getting stuck, puzzle games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. There’s nothing about those experiences that allow for a relaxing time, after all, but Unpacking proves otherwise by adding a meditative element to the mix.

The BAFTA award-winning game from Witch Beam follows a simple premise. Players pull possessions out of boxes, fit them into a new home, and learn clues about the life they are unpacking across eight stages. A total of 35 rooms await, each with their own nooks and crannies that will be explored while stacking plates, hanging towels, and arranging bookshelves.

The best part? There isn’t a timer, metre or score. Unpacking is all about going at your own pace, making it the perfect stress reliever or downtime companion after a long day at work, school, and otherwise. Now that it’s available on both iOS and Apple devices, unwinding can take place anywhere and anywhere – without the need for a secondary device, such as the Nintendo Switch, to boot.

Apart from the red-slash-blue console, the zen game also debuted on PC and Xbox One in 2021. A PlayStation 4 and PS5 version launched a year later, with this smartphone app – released in August – offering even more accessibility to the casual gaming masses. For an optimised experience, the mobile port ships with haptics and touchscreen capabilities, as well as features that easily create snapshots and videos for sharing on social media.

Gameplay, meanwhile, is enjoyment in its simplest form. The game’s nearly wordless nature ensures anyone who may have language or comprehension barriers can still play it, and there are a lot of detail to go around. For instance, the audio design includes over 14,000 foley effects, with each item having multiple unique pick-up and placement sound effects.

The memorable four-to-five-hour adventure isn’t free-to-play, however. Unpacking is priced at US$9.99 on the Apple App Store and US$13.99 on Google Play Store, promising a worthwhile show-not-tell expertise and a poignant narrative brimming with heartfelt sincerity.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month: Unpacking (September 2023) appeared first on Geek Culture.

If you’re a tablet and stylus person instead of the traditional pen and paper type, it’s likely you have scribbled random thoughts or even attempted to write full lecture transcripts in your accompanying notes app.

The new dynamic duo of tablet and stylus have served students and working professionals well for a long time, as the ability to note-take and retrieve information on the go has been proven to be much more efficient than rummaging through your bag or notepad for a hastily scribbled reminder, and get ready for the next level of note-taking with Goodnotes 6.

An essential note-taking app that is not only intuitive and fun, the latest version offers additional AI features, collaborative compatibility and even learning tools and assistance to help prepare students better for exams. 

When you open Goodnotes 6, you’ll see either a list or grid layout that displays all your notes, folders and notebooks in a quick and easy-to-read format. You’ll also be able to open a sidebar that will show you a search tool that recognises handwriting, your favourites, and an in-app Marketplace where you can purchase new paper templates, covers, stickers, and more.

Goodnotes 6 combines old school, new school and AI together, so on top of digital writing, users get additional features including access to various page templates, customising the colours of folders, pages, text, etc, and using emojis or stickers to creatively decorate your notes. The incorporation of AI-powered writing aids also means your handwriting will be spell checked, and any errors will be corrected in your own handwriting style. 

When note taking, users have the ability to choose between three pen types: ball, fountain pen and brush pen. All three pen types offer sliders that allow you to choose your stroke width and adjust pressure sensitivity. There is also an eraser tool but if you’re using Goodnotes 6 on the iPad and Apple Pencil, you can simply scribble out any mistakes and the app will automatically erase them. If whatever you’ve written is hard to read, Goodnotes 6 can convert your handwriting to text too. Bonus point: it can distinguish between upper and lower case letters. 

Stickers, images and gifs have taken the digital note taking space by storm in recent years, and Goodnotes 6 supports this multimedia ability. You can simply import them from your device’s camera roll or files and add them to your note via the image button. You can also purchase them from the in-app Marketplace or if you’re a subscriber, you can download some of them for free.

A feature that students will mostly take advantage of the most in Goodnotes 6 is the new interactive exam practice feature. Students can now do SAT test runs where an AI Math Assistant can flag any mistakes they’ve made. It’s not going to tell you the answer but it will help you out with some hints. Goodnotes is currently working on making other standardised tests available, but this is definitely a feature most advantageous for American students at the moment.

The catch? Goodnotes 6 is free to download but users have to unlock all features by subscribing for S$14.98 a year, or purchasing Goodnotes for a one-time payment of S$44.98. You can still get away with making up to three notebooks as a free user, but you’ll receive plenty of customisation options and unlimited notebooks once you’re a subscriber. 

Goodnotes 6 is available on the Apple App Store. An older version, Goodnotes, is available on the Google Play Store, Samsung Store and Microsoft Store.

A'bidah Zaid

Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month: Goodnotes 6 (August 2023) appeared first on Geek Culture.

Photo editing is no longer a thing professional photographers do. When posting a photo on Instagram, it is almost natural to edit the photo – whether on built-in tools in apps such as Instagram or via those available on the smartphone. 

While there are professional software such as Photoshop and Lightroom, they can be intimidating for the average user and costly as well since you’ll require an Adobe account to access full features. So if you’re looking for a free photo-editing app that allows you to edit in a similar capacity to Lightroom, but without spending a cent, then Snapseed is the one for you. 

Snapseed was originally launched in 2011 for the Apple iPad. It was later acquired by Google and became available on Android too. To this day, it is still one of Google’s most well-reviewed apps on both the App Store and Google Store, even if Google doesn’t talk or promote the product. 

On Snapseed, users can edit photos to improve the aesthetics and visual quality of the photo and save, share and export the final photo. What would typically take hours of work on Photoshop or Lightroom now takes seconds with a quick tap of a button. Users can adjust white balance, add filters, fix red-eye, crop, add lens blur and fix skewed lines simply by tapping on an action button in Snapseed’s menu. 

The app also has brush and healing adjustments, just like professional photo editing software, so you can remove pimples on your face or a crowd of people in the background of your holiday photos. Some of these features and tools require some photography background to understand what it can do, but Snapseed is incredibly easy to use once you get the hang of it. 

There are many ways users can manipulate their photos to look more vibrant or moody using various tools. If you’re a new user and are exploring, or have made an edit that you don’t like, you can easily undo the edit. 

Like Lightroom, Snapseed has presets as well. They are easy to use and are adjustable with a tap of a finger on the range slider that pops up while editing. Snapseed has filters that can create new and dramatic effects on your photo, the combination of both is something users can tap on to enhance their photography style and photographs. 

Snapseed’s interface is incredibly intuitive, and beginners can pick it up after a couple of uses. The photo-editing app’s capabilities can also be maximised by professional photographers if they’re looking for a free app to edit while on the go. 

For a free app, Snapseed is impressive for the amount of photo manipulation control it gives you. It’s not exactly like professional software like Photoshop or Lightroom but it shares enough similarities and capabilities with the latter. With Snapseed, professional-looking and aesthetically pleasing photos can still be created on the go and for free. It’s an amazing starting point for amateurs and is a great playground for intermediate users and professionals. 

Snapseed is free and is available on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad, and on the Google Play Store for Android devices.

A'bidah Zaid

Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month: Snapseed (July 2023) appeared first on Geek Culture.

It’s always fun and exciting to embark on a new adventure overseas, but travelling does come with its fair share of woes. For many, under-packing has become a rite of passage, elicting an unwelcome dose of anxiety and panic that can sour the experience.

PackPoint is one of the most reliable solutions to this common occurrence, seeking to become the ultimate packing companion for anyone who hates packing, or has a tendency to forget about their travel essentials. The handy app configures trip lists according to a user’s specific plans, and tells them exactly what to bring based on length of travel, weather at the destination, and activities planned for the trip.

It starts from a simple information-keying process – all travellers need to do is punch in the city they are going to, the departure date, and the number of nights they will be staying there. The app will then take over and build a packing list that takes these various details into account, including the nature of travel (business/leisure), the need for warm or cold clothes, and a reminder to bring along an umbrella if the forecast calls for rain. There’s even a Laundry and Repeat Basics option, which covers considerations like access to laundry facilities, and the willingness to rewear basics like shirts and pants.

Once each item is packed, individuals can easily check it off the list, or swipe to remove if they don’t it. The ease of use is further enhanced by a simple, easy-to-navigate and intuitive interface, so there’s no need to go through hoops to enjoy packing convenience.

PackPoint is available free-of-charge on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, but there’s also a paid-for premium version (US$2.99/S$3.98) that removes ads, offers custom packing templates, and integrates TripIt and Evernote. With travelling now back in fashion, the app is certainly worth checking out.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month: PackPoint (June 2023) appeared first on Geek Culture.

Time is precious, so the wise manage their daily lives by scheduling and organising various tasks and events via a calendar. Yes, there are plenty of calendars out there like Google Calendar and even the in-built calendar on your Apple device, but a calendar app that we’ve been loving and testing over the past year is TimeTree. 

TimeTree is a calendar app that allows you to create multiple calendars and have them all in one app across various devices and platforms. You can download the app for Android and iPhone, or access it via web on PC. Plus points if you’re using it on an iPhone because you can easily turn the app into a widget and have a quick glance of your day when you unlock your phone every morning. 

There are many reasons why TimeTree is the ideal calendar app. On top of being available across all devices, it’s flexible and easy to use, designed much like a paper desk mat calendar that’s on the go with you always. Its clean, minimalist design makes scheduling and keying in events fuss-free and direct, and users can also add location, URL, notes and a to-do list to the event. If it’s important, you can set a counter to count down to the day as well as turn on notifications. For recurring events, all that needs to be done is inform TimeTree of the frequency, and the app will add it into next year’s, month’s or week’s calendar for you.

On a personal calendar, you can distinguish between work, school or personal events by assigning various colours to your entry. There are many different colours to choose from — soft violet, emerald green, modern cyan, deep sky blue, pastel brown, midnight black, apple red, pink, coral pink and bright orange — so scheduling your life becomes more organised and events are easier to identify. TimeTree allows you to have up to 20 calendars as well, making it easy to set up separate calendars for the various facets of your life.

The biggest plus for us though, is that you can share a calendar with other users who like you, will be able to input entries, personalise said entries with to-do lists, notes, and the like, and colour-code them. Whatever you can do, an added member can do too. This makes organising and planning with others much simpler, whether you’re running a business with multiple employees or come from a big family. You can add up to 200 members to a calendar and remove them with a click of a button just as easily.

As working adults, it’s much tougher to spend time with loved ones — nine-to-five day jobs are so so exhausting that weekends are for lazing in bed or staying home with family. But what if your best friend is a freelancer and has a sporadic schedule, or your partner works the night shift? TimeTree offers a solution in the form of a feature that allows chatting with shared members, and seeing the events they’ve added and deleted.

Last but not least, it has great integration with other existing calendar apps that you might already be using. Assuming that you use Apple Calendar for personal events and Google Calendar for work tasks, you’ll still be able to transfer all these events to TimeTree simply by tapping ‘Copy Events from the OS Calendar’ in the specific calendar’s settings. 

TimeTree and all of its functions are completely free, though there is a premium plan available that allows users to add files to an entry, remove banner ads and receive dedicated support for S$3.98 per month or S$41.98 for 12 months. 

A'bidah Zaid

Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month (April 2023): TimeTree appeared first on Geek Culture.

It’s often been said that Apple doesn’t create as much as it innovates upon what was developed before, and that much is true. From the iPhone, iPad, Facetime, AirPods, AirTags, iTunes, and more, the Apple version pretty much sticks, since most tablets are referred to as iPads, earphones are also known as AirPods, and you don’t just video call someone – you FaceTime them. Freeform, Apple’s latest collaborative app looks to want to do the same, by redefining the open task management tool that many of us have used in one form or another, from Evernote, Slack, Google Doc Editors, Slack, Trello and more.

Such tools offer real-time capabilities to work on changes introduced by others, monitor completion, offer feedback and track deliverables, and more importantly, introduce new elements into a project, without requiring anyone to leave the app environment to say, watch a video, preview a photo or create a graphic or table.

Offered free as part of iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1, Freeform is Apple’s collaborative whiteboard app where participants can add content and while it can be used on an iPhone, iPad and Mac, Freeform benefits most from the unrestrained input from the Apple Pencil. The infinite concept also means there are no outer limits as the size of your whiteboard expands each time elements are added, from writing, drawing, adding graphs, icons, Sticky notes, images, videos for all involved to see, learn and add upon. If you’re familiar with the collaborative elements from Google’s free Doc Editors, Freeform is like a souped up version where you can invite collaborators to the same board, track their input and even get on a FaceTime call within the environment to provide real-time feedback and input.

Want to create a table and add a short video describing what you need, or an explainer to brief others? You can. Comment directly on an image for the designer to make a proper edit the next day? Yep. Assign elements to someone to remind them or for them to offer additional input? Oh, and be alerted when their portion has been updated? It’s all there, and the beauty of Freeform is that it allows most of the activity to take place within the app, so there’s no need to add a URL for others to preview a portion of a site – just take a screenshot and plonk it in. It’s the same with a video – there’s no need to host it elsewhere. 

To aid in the creation of useful content, the app comes with a library of tools, from shapes and icons of everyday objects, from flat, geometric, animals and over a dozen other categories, Sticky Notes, text boxes, and tools for drawing, writing and more. Users can create multiple whiteboards and invite users directly from the app, and a link will appear on iMessage for them to open up Freeform to access your board. 

Of course, the real consideration is how easy it is to use? As the board is hotels on iCloud, updates made by someone else, while in real-time, do take some time to be reflected on your device. Photos and video take somewhat longer to appear, but there is a grid that appears on an element that someone is working on, so you know if someone is busy on one portion of the board, and you can work on something else. How will this apply when up to 99 people can be invited to one board? That remains to be seen. In our review of the Beta version, not all updates were correctly reflected between two users though that could have been an early bug.

Any board that can grow will also need to be searchable, and Freeform allows that for text input, but for now, you cannot search for say, a hand-drawn table or pie chart, unless you remember to catalog elements on your board with a simple text description. There isn’t a Track Changes function either, so you cannot go back to view the original input, and compare it to an update made by someone else, nor can you simply open the board one morning, to see what everyone else has added the night before. 

Granted, Freeform is still in its early stages, and Apple is likely working to improve on it, and add new features to make collaborations more effective. The current version is great for parents to see the status of their child’s homework done in real time, or to introduce new ideas to a project. The current default mode is to scroll down to add new portions to a board in a linear manner, and our workflow has to understand that someone else might add information above and around a whiteboard, and not automatically scroll up all the time.

If you’re used to simply working on text documents, Freeform offers a significant upgrade on the possibilities out there. Those of us used to Slack or Trello won’t necessarily see a need to make a complete change here, as Freeform is currently only for Apple device users. iPhone users are also limited by the screen size, which requires much scrolling on what would eventually and inevitably be larger boards. 

But as free tools go with unlimited capacity goes, Freeform is what the rudimentary Evernote and Google Doc editors should have turned into years ago if it tried.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month (December 2022): Freeform appeared first on Geek Culture.

When there are so many chats to juggle, things can get overwhelming at times. For those who specifically have separate business and private messaging apps, that’s twice the catch-up, and that’s when Singlebox Plus presents a solution.

An all-in-one messaging and emailing app, it gathers a variety of chat services into a single platform, so users can manage multiple accounts simultaneously. The support extends to popular platforms like Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, WeChat, Messenger, Telegram, Google Hangouts, Skype, Zendesk, and many more, but that’s not the only thing Singlebox Plus has going for it. Since it allows each service to be added multiple times, working professionals will be able to switch between different-purpose chats easily without mixing them up.

Here’s the biggest plus, though — the app doesn’t just limit itself to messaging. The likes of GitHub, LinkedIn, Asana, Trello, Udemy, and more are also able to find find a home here, which makes workflow organisation a fuss-free, efficient affair. For even better productivity, Singlebox Plus can double up as a default email client or calendar app, boasting compatibility with services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook, and Fastmail.

Other notable features include password protection, Touch ID security, and customisable elements. With it, users will be able to personalise everything, from icons and colours to notification scheduling.

These features do come at a one-time fee of US$24.99 / S$34.98 on the Mac App Store, but there is a free version for those who want to give it a go first on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Of course, that means there will be some limitations, which in this case, refer to basic functions and support for up to two accounts or services. Still, it’s a good starting point, and offers a taste of the benefits that come with a more organised workspace. Clutter? Never heard of that.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month (August 2022): Singlebox Plus appeared first on Geek Culture.

Not all PC titles have found success on the mobile gaming platform, but Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends Mobile paints a different story altogether. Instead of being merely a direct port of its PC counterpart, the battle royale title is its own standalone experience — and it’s one that has resulted in smooth, enjoyable on-the-go gameplay.

The mobile game, for the most part, isn’t a huge departure from Apex Legends, which eases the transition for existing players. It features the same three-member-per-team format, weapon loadouts, and run-and-slide mechanic alongside the familiar World’s Edge map, with a character roster that includes the original Legends from the latter: Bangalore, Bloodhound, Caustic, Gibraltar, Lifeline, Mirage, Octane, Pathfinder, and Wraith. With the arrival of Season 2, Loba has joined the list as well, though her kit does see a slight change.

In the original battle royale, her Black Market ultimate ability comes in extremely handy during low-loot moments — especially amidst frenetic firing action — but the mobile version takes things up a notch by allowing players to grab teammate banners. Intuitive and optimised elements like these help to elevate Apex Legends Mobile to the, well, apex of mobile first-person shooter games, and dispel the notion that small-screen gaming is dull or incomparable to the PC experience.

The platform-exclusive Legend, Fade, is another upgrade over its sibling. Armed with a recall ability reminiscent of Overwatch‘s Tracer, he brings an added touch of fast-paced action to the battlefield (much like Octane), and grants more choice for solo players looking to jump in and wreck havoc. Other notable features include a third-person camera switch, the automatic pick-up of ammunition (in accordance to the equipped gun) and healing items, improved backpack capacity, and a battle pass system.

There are different game modes to explore and enjoy as well. Apart from the standard battle royale format, players can opt for the team deathmatch, ranked battle royale, and the occasional limited-time modes for a change in pace if they so wish.

As a mobile title, however, Apex Legends Mobile does have some flaws, such as increased visual clutter and difficulty in technical execution when it comes to maneuverability and fundamental tactics like Shield Swapping  (grabbing a dead enemy’s shield in the middle of a fight to refill your bar). Still, it’s not meant to be a substitute for the original, and has made its mark as a polished mobile shooter that keeps the battle royale experience more accessible to the gaming crowd, especially when they are on the move.

This makes it friendlier for newcomers who want to dive into the world of Apex Legends on the small screen, which can be accessed via both the Google Play Store and App Store. Existing players can join the fray for a similar-yet-different gameplay experience as well.

Si Jia

Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.

The post Geek Culture’s App Of The Month (July 2022): Apex Legends Mobile appeared first on Geek Culture.