AppAdvice App Of The Week For January 28, 2013

Every week, our staff will handpick an app from the past two weeks that we believe is a must-download for your iPhone or iPad. These apps will always be from various categories, but they are chosen because our own staff members love it and have been using them daily. So here are this week’s picks! Enjoy!

Vine - Make a scene

Have you ever wanted to capture more than still photos of your life, but don’t want a full blown video? Now you can capture life six-seconds at a time with Vine.

Twitter bought out Vine Inc. last year, but the two services are going to remain separate. Users can create a Vine account using their Twitter handle, or create it separately with an email address.

Once you have your profile set up, the fun begins. You can find your Twitter or Facebook friends to follow in Vine. If your friends aren’t already using the app yet, then you can find interesting new people to follow by exploring the Popular, Global Feed, and Editor’s Choice vines.

The real fun, though, is creating your own vines to share with others. To do this, just tap on the record button, and then tap and hold on the screen to capture moments. Vine will only record when you actively have your finger on the screen, so this can be used to create smooth videos or even a stop motion effect. Each Vine must be six seconds exactly, and you can see your progress with the green bar at the top. When you have your moment captured, you can give it a caption, choose the networks your want to share it on, and it’s off to your home feed.

Your vines as well as others will auto-play (with sound) and loop. Users can leave comments on vines and even “like” them by tapping on the smiley face.

Our staff has become quite addicted to creating and watching vines, so make sure to join in on the fun. Vine is free in the App Store for your iPhone.

Don’t miss my original review of Vine here.

Honorable Mention Stow - the modern packing list

Are you planning on doing some traveling? Then you will definitely need to have Stow on hand to make packing a bit easier.

Stow features a clean and elegant interface, and is quite easy to use. The app features various templates, which will come with items that you will probably need for the trip. For example, there is a Camping template, which will include items like sleeping bags, tent, and marshmallows. If you’re going on a business trip, it will have items like your laptop, iPad, chargers, notebooks and pens, and other items that you may require.

Stow allows you to create separate user profiles in the app as well, so if you are packing for multiple people, you can add that information in the app to make it easier to keep track of everyone. The templates will generate items for each person that is added on a trip.

While the templates are nice, they may not have everything you plan to bring. You can add additional items manually, and even change the number of units for each item. Notes can also be added to each individual item, should you need it. Stow also allows users to pack for the weather, such as rain gear or hot weather accessories.

Stow is becoming our best friend this week for Macworld, so we highly recommend checking it out if you are going on some trips in the near future. You can get it for $1.99 in the App Store for your iPhone.

Don’t miss our original review of Stow - the modern packing list here.

Mentioned apps

Related articles