But all those dramatic stakes can get a little overwhelming, particularly for those of us trying to weather an assortment of pandemics and recessions. Sometimes you just want to pull out your phone for a simple activity that won’t knock over the first domino leading to Tesla stock tanking or the destablization of El Salvador. The Tech.co team put their heads together to come up with a handful of the best apps that you may not have known about or simply haven’t taken the time to check out amid an endless torrent of news. Most of them are free, but none of them will cost you more than a few bucks. And if you find one or two that you like, you’ll be entering the new year with a renewed love for the types of technology that won’t actually inspire any existential dread. That’s a win in our book. The pixel scenery in the Living Worlds app is the real deal, and stands apart from any modern attempts to capture this blocky, era-specific art style. Plus, each artwork has a lot more going on than you might think: The sun rises and sets in real time for each one, and some will evolve depending on the time of the month, with an autumn tree’s leaves turning from green to orange to red, or a winter scene growing more snowy before finally adding a Christmas tree on the 25th.
January through April sounds are now in the app… Update to get the latest 😁 pic.twitter.com/9BfJzXkFTS — Living Worlds (@LivingWorldsArt) April 1, 2022 If you want to try cutting down on your screen time, you ought to replace it with something, and any ’90s lovers could do a lot worse than the rainy forests, sunny beaches, or jungle waterfalls in this app. If you were on the internet at all for the first couple months of 2022, you probably don’t need an explainer about Wordle. The guessing game was a quick sensation, thanks in part to the incredibly sharable grid of emoji circles that could be used to hint at how someone else had managed to guess the day’s word. First created by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle, Wordle was snapped up by the New York Times for a seven-figure sum soon after it became a hit, and was folded into their roster of puzzle games like the Spelling Bee and the paper’s official crossword. You can play online, or you can download either the standalone Wordle app for Android or find Wordle inside the NYT Crossword app if you have an Apple device. Once you download Libby, you’ll be guided through how to pick your local library branch and enter your library card details. Your library system will need to be paying for Libby, however, so it’s not available to everyone. But it’s a great resource for plenty of free books that you don’t even have to leave home to access, and it even lets users highlight favorite phrases or set a virtual bookmark to save their place. Forest offers additional perks like a collaboration mode that lets you join other users of the app and all focus together: If one of you strays, everyone’s tree dies. Users earn currency while using the app, which can be used to unlock other types of trees. Virtual coins can also be used to pay for real trees to be planted, with the app creators claiming almost 1,500,000 being planted to date. “I stuck it on while I was writing this,” Jack says, “and not only did I not feel tempted to break off to gawk at the latest Musk/Twitter headlines, I stayed 100% focused, and am now the proud owner of a digital Christmas tree, complete with presents.” The Poolsuite.FM app is a lesson in fully committing to the bit, with an interface that recreates and remixes the long-abandoned typographic styles of old VHS logos, Nokia 3310 mobile devices, or the 8-bit Commodore 64 computer. It’s ultimately a simple music player, but it radiates enough personality that you can practically smell the tanning oil. Check out the website, where you can play a feed of on-theme YouTube clips and sign the guestbook. Well, after you wait for it to boot up. In 2023, we recommend freeing yourself from body image fears and kicking back with a game of Wordle while vibing to some city pop.
title: “Tech Co S Favorite Apps Of 2022” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Arthur Williamson”
But all those dramatic stakes can get a little overwhelming, particularly for those of us trying to weather an assortment of pandemics and recessions. Sometimes you just want to pull out your phone for a simple activity that won’t knock over the first domino leading to Tesla stock tanking or the destablization of El Salvador. The Tech.co team put their heads together to come up with a handful of the best apps that you may not have known about or simply haven’t taken the time to check out amid an endless torrent of news. Most of them are free, but none of them will cost you more than a few bucks. And if you find one or two that you like, you’ll be entering the new year with a renewed love for the types of technology that won’t actually inspire any existential dread. That’s a win in our book. The pixel scenery in the Living Worlds app is the real deal, and stands apart from any modern attempts to capture this blocky, era-specific art style. Plus, each artwork has a lot more going on than you might think: The sun rises and sets in real time for each one, and some will evolve depending on the time of the month, with an autumn tree’s leaves turning from green to orange to red, or a winter scene growing more snowy before finally adding a Christmas tree on the 25th.
January through April sounds are now in the app… Update to get the latest 😁 pic.twitter.com/9BfJzXkFTS — Living Worlds (@LivingWorldsArt) April 1, 2022 If you want to try cutting down on your screen time, you ought to replace it with something, and any ’90s lovers could do a lot worse than the rainy forests, sunny beaches, or jungle waterfalls in this app. If you were on the internet at all for the first couple months of 2022, you probably don’t need an explainer about Wordle. The guessing game was a quick sensation, thanks in part to the incredibly sharable grid of emoji circles that could be used to hint at how someone else had managed to guess the day’s word. First created by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle, Wordle was snapped up by the New York Times for a seven-figure sum soon after it became a hit, and was folded into their roster of puzzle games like the Spelling Bee and the paper’s official crossword. You can play online, or you can download either the standalone Wordle app for Android or find Wordle inside the NYT Crossword app if you have an Apple device. Once you download Libby, you’ll be guided through how to pick your local library branch and enter your library card details. Your library system will need to be paying for Libby, however, so it’s not available to everyone. But it’s a great resource for plenty of free books that you don’t even have to leave home to access, and it even lets users highlight favorite phrases or set a virtual bookmark to save their place. Forest offers additional perks like a collaboration mode that lets you join other users of the app and all focus together: If one of you strays, everyone’s tree dies. Users earn currency while using the app, which can be used to unlock other types of trees. Virtual coins can also be used to pay for real trees to be planted, with the app creators claiming almost 1,500,000 being planted to date. “I stuck it on while I was writing this,” Jack says, “and not only did I not feel tempted to break off to gawk at the latest Musk/Twitter headlines, I stayed 100% focused, and am now the proud owner of a digital Christmas tree, complete with presents.” The Poolsuite.FM app is a lesson in fully committing to the bit, with an interface that recreates and remixes the long-abandoned typographic styles of old VHS logos, Nokia 3310 mobile devices, or the 8-bit Commodore 64 computer. It’s ultimately a simple music player, but it radiates enough personality that you can practically smell the tanning oil. Check out the website, where you can play a feed of on-theme YouTube clips and sign the guestbook. Well, after you wait for it to boot up. In 2023, we recommend freeing yourself from body image fears and kicking back with a game of Wordle while vibing to some city pop.
