Apps Of The Week: Day One, Crackle, Video Star & Airbag Frank 3D

I’m all about simplicity. Aren’t you? It’s part of why I adore my iPhone so much (and am never further than an arm’s reach away from it). It’s pretty much my “life simplification device,” customized to my style and weirdness.

In this week’s reflection of noteworthy apps, we present to you simple simplicity. I found some easy, breezy solutions for doing things. Things like journaling, streaming free movies, gaming and making a music video. Oh yeah, a music video.

The Mac: Day One

An updated take on an age-old tradition, Day One by Bloom Built is Journaling 2.0. For $4.99 you can use this app to remember, record and track your life in digital format. Upload photos, reminders and standard journal entries of what’s going on in your world. Cool factor? If you’re on the go, Day One will sync up to you iPad or iPhone from iCloud and Dropbox. That means all of your entries will be backed up and secure. Add a passcode lock for additional security.

After reading other reviews, the general consensus is that the simplicity of accessing and using this app is what sells it.

“The app rewards brevity, and after using it for a couple months, it became obvious that Day One is a journal for the Twitter age. I find myself frequently bringing up Day One’s menu bar app to throw random obscenities, thoughts, jokes, and ideas into.”
Ellis Hamburger, The Verge

I recently bought a mini-Moleskin for this exact purpose, but thank Ellis, you’ve intrigued me to try this out.

What do you think of Day One? Let’s track our journalling adventure together on Twitter. I’m @suzykendrick. Oh, and we’ll give a shout out to @hamburger too. 

Download links below

The iPad: Crackle

For my peeps in the U.S., Canada, UK and Australia, this is one free app to have on your radar. Crackle by Crackle lets you watch full-length Hollywood movies and TV series right on your iPad. Unlimited, on-demand viewing of action, comedy, crime, sci-fi, horror, thriller and anime is at your fingertips. The catch? To cover their costs they include some short video ads.

I tried Crackle out and decided to watch Big Daddy — a classic Sandler flick — last night. While the ads were slightly annoying, they were excusable based on the simplicity of this app. The flexibility and cost effectiveness make it an easy choice and a fast solution for quick and painless entertainment. Oh yeah, did I mention Crackle is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, so you can expect quality movies and TV series from Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Classics and more. Schwing!

Download links below

The iPhone: Video Star

Last night, I made a music video of my dog. (That’s not something I’ve ever been able to say before.) The song of choice? Obviously it was B*tch Please by Snoop Dogg (Lion) featuring Nate Dogg and Xzibit. My dog took that track to an entirely new level.

Voice Star changed my life. This free app by Frontier Design Group has to be the simplest way to make your own custom music videos ever. Choose a song from your iTunes library and put your director’s hat on! Choose from hundreds of effects before or during recording. Pause at any time to set up a new scene. No matter how many scenes you shoot, the music stays in perfect sync. Want to get crazy? For an additional charge you can add advanced realtime “green screen” effects.

Where was this app when the “Call Me Maybe” remakes we’re all over the place? Maybe I would have had my dog do one. Hmm, actually I definitely would have. Or maybe I did and it’s here.

Download links below

Game Of The Week: Airbag Frank 3D

 

A good app connoisseur knows that just because a game is free to download, that doesn’t mean it’s totally free to play. Many apps, especially for kids, will draw you in with the offer of a free game only to smack your face later with in-app purchases. We’ve actually talked about this previously on Macgasm TV. You can check out the latest episode here.

You can’t always be there to monitor what your children are doing, so Airbag Frank 3D by dw-c likes to keep it simple! You don’t need to buy additional content to actually make this game playable. In fact, there isn’t even the option of in-app purchasing, so let the kiddos go wild and toss this poor guy around.

Launch Frank from his slingshot by dragging back the rubberband and catapult him into space. Use your arsenal of powerful fruits and jetpacks to help Frank reach new heights. Along the way, Frank will encounter a variety of monsters that might help him to travel further.

Download links below

What app do you use to simplify a difficult task? Let us know in the comments section below.

A dedicated Apple enthusiast since 2007, Suzy is the co-host of Macgasm TV and features editor for Macgasm. Got a cool story idea, hot news tip or just want a stay up-to-date with the latest tech gossip? You can find… Full Bio