Mosaic by Mixbook is an app that actually results in its user receiving a real package of photos in the mail. Our other top apps this week are not quite as ambitious, but they’re all interesting in other ways. There’s a big update to a great music discovery app, a new recipe app, a 5K training app and an app for kids to learn about the forest.
Mosaic By Mixbook (Free)
With the glut of digital photography apps, it can be easy to forget that photos were once a tangible thing. Mosaic by Mixbook gets us back closer to that time by taking 20 photos you upload into a photo book for $20. You can preview the book before you purchase it, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting before it’s actually assembled. The book arrives just four days later and suddenly your collection of digital photos now has a physical home.
Band of the Day (Free)
Band of the Day, the app where you can discover one new musical act each day, is back with a major update. Band of the Day now features a “mix tape” feature that’s a lot like those seen in radio station apps. You can listen to a collection of tracks from previous featured bands. There’s also a new related artist tab, so you can see who else sounds like the band you’re currently listening to. Band of the Day now also features an easier-to-find biography and review section for each day’s band, so you can research while you rock out.
Ottolenghi Recipes (Free)
The recipes of Yotam Ottolenghi may be a bit pricey, but they’re a bit more advanced than the kind of recipes you’d find in your average food app. Yotam will give you step-by-step, hands free instructions for making things like Shakshuka, Chermoula-marinated whole sea bass with capers, red peppers and preserved lemon and for the sweet-tooth chefs, dark chocolate mousse with baileys and mascarpone cream. The app also has a shopping list that you can add ingredients to as well as a button to label your favorite recipes for quick reference.
Zombies, Run! 5K Training (Free)
Zombies, Run! 5K Training is easily the most interesting training app I have ever seen. The app features not only a professionally designed 8-week training regimen designed to prepare you to run a 5K, but it does so while featuring a narrative audio adventure about a zombie apocalypse. The idea behind the app is that listening to the story will make you want to keep training. There are 25 workouts in the 8-week program and the audio adventure will have you running to find supplies and protect your town from a horde of oncoming zombies.
Scholastic First Discovery: The Forest for iPhone ($3.99)
Now that fall is here and the leaves have left barren tree branches, kids might have more questions than ever about their nearby forests and Scholastic First Discovery: The Forest for iPhone hopefully has the answers. The app lets kids interact with a digital forest. They can learn by tapping on different types of leaves and trees and can even change the seasons in the app to see what the forest looks like in various states. There is also a focus within the app of animals and plants that live in the forest. There is also an iPad version.
