It might be a bit of a slow time for the App Store, but we’ve found a few great apps — a couple of them big updates to existing apps you’ll enjoy — to help get through. Check out the updates for music-sniffing app, SoundHound, and social networker, Path, below on our list, plus another app that’ll help you save a little money when driving over the river and through the woods this week.
SoundHound update (iPhone) Free
Ever hear a song in a store or restaurant and wish you could figure out what it is? SoundHound can, in as little as four seconds — it can even identify a track if you hum the tune. You can also access lyrics and song and band information from the app, or speak the name of a track or musician to get more info about them as well.
Best of all, SoundHound’s just been updated, so even if you’re using the free version rather than the $4.99 premium one, you can identify an unlimited number of songs. The update also features a lot of new sharing options, so you can instantly notify followers and friends on Twitter and Facebook about what you’re listening to or looking for, with one button — or set the app to drop updates to social networking sites automatically.
Path update (iPhone) Free
The small-scale social networking service that links you up with a maximum of 50 close friends — in order to help you share images and updates from your life with only those you trust the most — has just been updated to offer even more sharing features. Path originally was about sharing photos in a more private setting than something like the social networking behemoth Facebook, where sometimes photo-sharing can get out of hand, as well as fall out of your control. With Path, only a small group of friends on the app are clued into your photo and status updates, protecting you from the more acquaintance-level followers you might have on Facebook.
In addition to sharing photos, Path has just been updated to allow videos into the mix. Also tossed in are Push notifications and the ability to respond to newly posted photos with text or email messages, plus other small but useful features, like the ability to double-tap any photo to bring it to full screen. Path also now supports the new generation, camera-sporting iPod Touch.
GasBuddy (iPhone, iPad) Free
GasBuddy is a simple but useful concept: users log-in and find gas prices they’ve seen in their areas, allowing other uses in the community to pull up their neighborhoods and exploit the best price at the pump around. The app does the same thing as the GasBuddy.com website, allowing you to search by zip code to find prices in your area, and encouraging you to log any you see yourself in order to help others save when they fill-up.
You can get your prices delivered in the app in either a list format, which includes the gas station’s name, location and price, or see all prices and locations pinged on a Google map for you to follow. GasBuddy is simple, and best of all, free — which is exactly the best price to help with the whole “saving money” theme the app is going for.
