Best app deals of the day! 6 paid iPhone apps for free for a limited time

Everyone likes apps, but sometimes the best ones are a bit expensive. Now and then, developers make paid apps free for a limited time, but you have to snatch them up while you have the chance. Here are the latest and greatest apps on sale in the iOS App Store.

These apps normally cost money, and this sale lasts for a limited time only. If you go to the App Store and it says the app costs money, that means the deal has expired and you will be charged. 

More: 200 Awesome iPhone Apps | The best Android apps for almost any occasion

Division Flashcard Match Game

Building math skills and learning to divide has never been more fun and intuitive. This app adheres to Common Core Standards for third grade math and was designed by parents and teachers.

Available on:

iOS

SaveAgram

Download videos and photos from Instagram with ease. Simply enter the Instagram link, press ‘Download Instagram,’ and the video and/or photo is saved.

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iOS

Marble Camera

Create charming Marble-style photographs with real-time Marble effects. These effects work great on selfies and other portraits but also for many other subjects.

Available on:

iOS

Fireworks Tap

This app was created for my infant son. Tap the screen and watch the fireworks explode. No extra buttons and no ads to tap on makes this perfect for everyone.

Available on:

iOS

Translate Safari

The app is a Safari extension that translates and speaks aloud the entire web page of Safari app. A must have app to translate and speak aloud foreign language content.

Available on:

iOS

Budget and expense tracking

This app is perfect for tracking expenses quickly and completely. No need to wonder where your money went — see for yourself with this app.

Available on:

iOS

Majority of Steam gamers now use Windows 10

Why it matters to you

If you’re still gaming on Windows 7, you’re quickly becoming a minority as Windows 10 adoption continues to increase.

Closing in on two years since the release of Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 10, a majority of Steam gamers have now moved over to it, leaving previous standout Windows 7 in their wake. While it still has a strong showing, Windows 8.1 is seeing far less usage, and Windows Vista has all but disappeared.

Microsoft made a big play for gamer hearts with Windows 10, making the upgrade from 7 and 8.1 free for a year and offering exclusive features like DirectX 12 support. It has still taken some time for it to be adopted by gamers though and ongoing concerns like AMD Ryzen support don’t help the matter. However, gradually, gamers are moving over to the contemporary OS.

At the time of writing, the Steam Survey results tell us that with the standard and 64-bit versions of Windows 10 combined, 51.2 percent of all Steam users are running them. That gives it quite a lead over previous standout Windows 7 64-bit, which currently has 29.97 percent of the audience. Standard Windows 7 editions control just 4.77 percent now, a drop of nearly half a percent in the last month alone.

More: Customers took a stand against Windows 10’s aggressive upgrades – and won

Windows 8.1 64-bit is still holding on with a 7.72 percent share of the market — and it actually saw a 0.03 percent rise in March. Its 32-bit version is almost nonexistent at this point, though, with just 0.22 percent of Steam gamers running it (thanks MSPowerUser).

Apart from that and standard editions of Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest operating system is eating into all of the other shares. It rose 2.44 percent in the last month, showing impressive growth in such a short period. It cannibalized 1.44 percent from Windows 7 64bit during that time, but will have to go further to make it as redundant as the intermediary Windows 8.1.

Elsewhere in the spectrum, OSX saw a minor decline in March, but did see 0.4 percent of Steam gamers move over to the 10.12.3 64bit release, while Linux gamers appear to be moving to Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS 64bit. The combination of that and a couple of other distros saw an overall increase of 0.02 percent in March, giving Linux a 0.77 percent share of the total gaming market.

For those of you still running Windows 7, why haven’t you made the switch to Windows 10 yet?

PicoBrew’s newest beer-making machine is easier to use and costs under $300

Why it matters to you

The PicoBrew Pico Model C is less expensive than its predecessor, without losing any functionality.

Nobody said brewing your own beer is easy, but PicoBrew has tried to automate the process with its beer makers. With each succession, the appliances have gotten smaller and easier to use, and its newest device, the Pico Model C, is the most user-friendly version yet.

Physically, the device isn’t noticeably smaller than the original Pico, but to help lower the cost, it utilizes a black powder-coated body instead of a stainless steel one, and the OLED display is two lines, so it won’t display the same graphics as the Pico. The bigger differences lie in the keg, which loses the ball-locks that some users found confusing.

“We took the opportunity with the keg to target it a little more toward the new brewer,” Bill Mitchell, PicoBrew’s CEO, told Digital Trends. “It lowers the cost of the product, but it also makes it simpler.” Though it will eventually retail for $549, the Kickstarter campaign drops the price to $279 for very early backers.

More: Store your beer and charge your phone with this high-tech coffee table

The new keg also has a new shape. Though it has the same 1.75-gallon capacity as the old brewing keg, this one is more squat and easier to clean.

“The dip tube is similar to the dip tube you have in a smoothie cup,” said Mitchell. PicoBrew actually looked at smoothie cups for inspiration in order to make something intuitive and dishwasher-safe. The Model C works with the same PicoPacks as the original, and it still makes beer in two hours (this of course doesn’t include the week or so it takes to ferment and carbonate).

The machine recognizes exactly what pack you’ve put in, and it will adjust its settings accordingly. When the machine is helping you out, there’s very little guesswork involved, but there are still some mysteries that go into homebrewing that PicoBrew wants to solve.

Follow the fermentation

One of PicoBrew’s goals is to make novices into beer connoisseurs by teaching them about the whole brewing process. While the original Pico’s directions were mostly easy to follow, the company decided to make an app.

“One of the bits of feedback we got was during the brewing experience, everything was nice and managed, and I can watch it from my browser,” said Mitchell. “Then I’m done brewing and then what?”

With the BeerPulse app, brewers will be able to get a clearer understanding of what happens to their beer during the racking, fermentation, and carbonation phases. Mitchell compared it to having a Tamagotchi: “Your beer is a living thing, so take care of it.”

Thanks to the original Pico, the company realized newbie brewers were having issues with fermentation. They’d be using the fast fermentation method, and without a good idea of what was going on inside the keg, they’d decide it was done before it really was. They were following the chart provided by PicoBrew, but sometimes the cold temperatures in their kitchen would slow the process. The beer would come out tasting yeasty.

To combat the problem, the new Pico will have a low-power mode that lets it act as a temperature sensor. If brewers keep the keg nearby, the Pico can keep tabs on the ambient temperature and let them keep better tabs on the fermentation process. Mitchell said he hopes one day to have remote temperature sensors and hydrometers for kegs instead.

Beer-of-the-month club

The other new feature PicoBrew is rolling out with the Kickstarter campaign is its Brew Unlimited program. Aimed at those who have this brewing thing down to a science, the program provides two PicoPacks per month for $59. As soon as the machine’s RFID reader picks up that you’ve brewed one of the packs, the company will send another. If you have several kegs, you could brew several beers in a day, to get your money’s worth. PicoBrew expects to have around 200 beers by the end of the month.

Recently, the company introduced its FreeStyle packs, so users can choose which grains and hops they want to make into beer.

“To me, that’s the pinnacle of what we’re trying to get customers to do,” said Mitchell. He wants to convert wine drinkers who discuss terroir and tannins to opt for beer that’s perfectly suited to their meal.

Speaking of pairing with food, the Model C actually has the advantage over the old Pico when it comes to sous vide. There will be a special program on the new version, and you’ll be able to throw your bag of food right into the keg. The machine will circulate the water in and out to keep it a consistent temperature. Maybe one day the BrewPulse app will be able to recommend a great beer to go with that sous vided salmon.

Aorus details GTX 1060, 1080 with faster memory

Why it matters to you

If Nvidia’s GTX 1060 and 1080 graphics cards don’t quite offer enough performance for you, these factory overclocked versions might be able to sway you.

Following Nvidia’s announcement at the beginning of March that new, faster memory editions of its GTX 10 series graphics cards were coming soon, Aorus has become one of the first manufacturers to debut its version of them. Its new GTX 1060 and GTX 1080 cards have faster memory and should offer a small bump in overall performance.

Aorus’ GTX 1080 Xtreme Edition 11Gbps GDDR5X card is exactly what it says on the box: it’s the company’s Xtreme Edition GTX 1080, but with faster memory. The original version used 8GB of 10Gbps GDDR5X, but this latest version includes the higher-performing memory, giving it a speed bump.

In contrast, the GTX 1060 uses standard GDDR5 memory, but it is also getting a newly overclocked version from Aorus. It still sports 6GB of memory overall, but this time it offers 9Gbps of bandwidth, versus the 8Gbps of the standard version. It has also increased the memory clock speed by 0.3 percent.

More: Power boost: EVGA boosts clocks and cooling on GTX 1080 Ti designs

On top of that increase, Aorus has raised the core clock of the GTX 1060 9Gbps GDDR5 edition, too. It now runs at 1,623Mhz at base, boosting up to 1,860 Mhz (thanks Videocardz).

Although Aorus hasn’t released its edition yet, these cards join the likes of the newly released Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti, which currently occupies the top of the single graphics card performance charts. Together they offer increased competition for AMD, which is expected to debut Vega-based graphics cards in the coming months.

AMD may also be preparing to debut some more mainstream graphics cards, in the form of the RX 500 range, though little information is known about that particular lineup at this time. Its performance could well threaten Nvidia’s midrange offerings though, so the landscape of graphics hardware is likely to be quite different in a few months.

Android grasps the crown from Microsoft as world’s most popular OS

Why it matters to you

While Windows has been the world’s most popular operating system for decades, Android is finally emerging from its shadow — and casting one of its own.

Move over, Windows. It’s now Android that has grasped the crown. As per a new report from StatCounter, the independent web analytics company, Android became the most popular operating system in the world when it came to total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile combined in March. This marks the first time that Android has bested Microsoft Windows in this metric.

With a 37.93-percent market share, Android just eked out Windows, which still saw an impressive 37.91 percent of usage. Still, it’s a notable event. “This is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter. “It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market, which it has held since the 1980s. It also represents a major breakthrough for Android which held just 2.4 percent of global internet usage share only five years ago.”

More: Google Pixel vs. Samsung Galaxy S8: Which is the better Android phone?

So what gave? According to Cullen, it seems likely that the influx of smartphones and their internet capabilities helped catapult Android ahead. After all, Android is the undisputed leader in terms of mobile platforms. Moreover, traditional PCs (many of which run Windows) saw a decline in sales, though it’s worth pointing out that Windows is still the obvious leader when it comes to the worldwide operating system desktop market (PC and laptop) — it claimed an 84-percent internet usage share in March.

Certain regions of the world also contributed to Android’s victory last month — for example, while Windows was the most popular OS across all platforms in North America and Europe, the story was very different in Asia, where Android won a 52.2-percent market share, compared to just 29.2 percent for Windows.

“Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield moved on,” concluded Cullen. “It will be difficult for Microsoft to make inroads in mobile but the next paradigm shift might give it the opportunity to regain dominance. That could be in Augmented Reality, AI, Voice, or Continuum (a product that aims to replace a desktop and smartphone with a single Microsoft-powered phone).”

Watch our HTC U Ultra video review!

Five or six years ago, HTC was a titan of the smartphone world. But the past half-decade hasn’t been kind to the Taiwanese company. It’s lost money, market share and several high-profile designers and executives.

Nevertheless, HTC’s still here, and still making pretty good phones, both under its own brand name and for Google under the Pixel contract. The latest high-ender to come out of HTC is this, the U Ultra.

So does HTC still have some of its old magic left? Or, at US$750, is it asking too much for too little? Let’s find out — this is our review of the HTC U Ultra. It’s the first phablet-sized HTC flagship in more than three years, and while it’s a big, bezelly beast, it also packs an impressive glass-backed design, and internals upgraded from last year’s HTC 10. Check out our video to find out if that’s enough to compete with the coming onslaught from Samsung and LG.

• Android Central on YouTube
• HTC U Ultra review
• MrMobile’s take on the HTC U Ultra

HTC U: How ‘Edge Sense’ will work on HTC’s next flagship

The HTC U may have a seriously cool, unique feature, and this is how it will work.

HTC is still dealing with tepid reviews of its latest device, the U Ultra, but the company has more tricks up its sleeve in 2017. We’re expecting a proper flagship to debut sometime this month, likely called the HTC U, which is expected to possess one particularly noteworthy gimmick feature that will be interesting to see in person.

We’ve heard about the feature before, but according to Android Headlines, which received an internal document from HTC, the HTC U will sport side bezels that detect force: a short squeeze for one action and a long squeeze for another. The feature is called ‘Edge Sense’ and, used right, has the potential to be quite interesting — as long as app developers support it.

As you can see from a leaked on-device setup page, the idea is to program the device to be able to accept your “power of grip” so as to prevent misfires, since, well, you actually have to hold the phone on those same metal bezels. The concept isn’t entirely new, but it’s new to Android and to HTC, and done right has the potential to do some interesting things.

Other than Edge Sense, the HTC U looks like a pretty typical 2017 flagship at this point.

The leaked documents also talk about some camera features, including auto scene detection and the choice between super-accurate and super-3D audio recording. And the specs seem downright quotidian given what we’ve seen from the likes of the Galaxy S8 and LG G6 this year: a 5.5-inch 2560×1440 IPS display; a Snapdragon 835 platform, 4GB of RAM in most markets, with 6GB in China; 64GB internal storage in most markets except China which gets 128GB; a 12MP rear UltraPixel camera, a 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0; Android 7.1 Nougat; and a front fingerprint sensor/home button combo.

It’s unclear why HTC is shying away from removing the capacitive home button, since it was one of the first companies to go all-in on virtual buttons with the HTC One M8, but as a result the HTC U will likely be a little chunkier than other flagships this year. We’ll have to wait a few weeks longer to find out, though.

HTC 10

• HTC 10 review
• HTC 10 specs
• All HTC 10 news
• These are the HTC 10 colors
• Join our HTC 10 forums

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These are the Oculus Rift games launching in April

What Rift games are coming out in April?

The library of Oculus Rift games continues to grow each month, both on the Oculus store and on Steam. To help you decide what to save up for, or just to give you something to look forward to, here are the Rift games confirmed to be coming April 2017.

See the full list of April Oculus Rift games at VR Heads!

Samsung to launch huge flagship store in Toronto’s Eaton Centre mall

Samsung is launching a massive retail store in Toronto’s downtown.

Samsung is set to launch an enormous 21,000 square-foot retail space in one of the most-visited malls in Canada, Toronto’s Eaton Centre. The company has announced that the “innovative space” will look out onto Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square, the city’s equivalent (in importance, not size) to New York City’s Times Square, and span two storeys.

“Our new Samsung Experience Store at CF Toronto Eaton Centre is, simply, unlike anything we’ve ever launched before in Canada. From the moment our guests join us, they will experience the Samsung Galaxy Life connected ecosystem. The dynamic and innovative space will bring our guests closer to the Samsung brand and our latest innovation, enabling them to get closer to what they are passionate about and reach their full potential” said Patricia Heath, vice president of retail at Samsung Canada.

The store will have more than just Galaxy S8s and Galaxy Tab S3s on display, though: there will be a “Canadian-first, fully functioning Samsung demo kitchen,” along with a Gear VR and Gear 360 zone to test virtual reality and 360-degree photography and video, and a Samsung Smart Service area where people can get their devices repaired on-site and have their new ones set up with the help of so-called “Galaxy Consultants.”

The site will open this summer and will be four times the size of the equivalent Apple Store in the same mall.

Samsung

Samsung is a massive South Korea-based multinational company that makes some of the best-selling phones, tablets and mobile accessories, but also spans industries such as televisions, appliances and semiconductors (like memory and processors). Samsung is the largest Android device manufacturer worldwide.

• Best Samsung phones
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge review
• Best microSD card for Android

Best microSD Cards for Galaxy S8

What are the best microSD cards for the Galaxy S8?

Following in the footsteps of the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S8 offers support for microSD cards so you can increase the storage of the phone. This time around, however, Samsung has increased the onboard storage from 32GB up to 64GB, so many people may find that more than enough. But if you’re worried about filling that 64GB up with music, video or pictures, you should grab a microSD card and put it all there so you can easily access it.

Here are some of the best options to put in your new Galaxy S8.

Lexar 32GB microSD

If the 64GB that Samsung gives you inside the Galaxy S8 isn’t enough for your daily needs, adding a bit more doesn’t have to cost a ton. Lexar’s high-performance card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s and is capable of handling 4K video. To make syncing files to and from your computer easy, Lexar includes a USB 3.0 reader in the packaging.

Adding 32GB of storage to a 64GB phone may seem a bit weird, but if you aren’t looking to spend a lot this may be the way to go at under $20 for the card.

See at Amazon

SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSD

SanDisk is a well-known company when it comes to memory cards and storage products, and cards like this show you why. It comes with a 10-year warranty and has quick transfer speeds (up to 80MB/s), so it should check many of the boxes that you look for in a microSD card. The price is great as well at just over $40 most of the time.

See at Amazon

Samsung EVO 128GB microSD

This is not Samsung’s top-end offering but it comes with decent speeds and a price tag to match. With up to 48MB/s for read and write you can keep the card updated easily, and it can handle 1080p video without a problem. If you want a Samsung-branded card that doesn’t break the bank, this is the one to go with.

See at Amazon

PNY Elite 128GB microSD

If you’re not looking to spend a ton but don’t want a poor quality card, this is a great option. With read speeds of up to 85Mb/s this card is no slouch, and with a price of around $35 it is hard to beat for the price. For those thinking of grabbing a smaller capacity card, this is worth the couple of extra bucks to gain the additional space.

See at Amazon

SanDisk Ultra 200GB microSD

If you’re looking to add a ton of extra storage at a relatively low cost, SanDisk’s 200GB microSD card is the way to go. This card from SanDisk provides transfer speeds of up to 90MB/s and can record Full HD video. If you like to keep your digital library with you at all times, you’ll want one of these.

We’ve seen the price drop significantly over the past year, and most of the times you can find it for under $80.

See at Amazon

Samsung 256GB EVO+ microSD

Samsung’s own 256GB option is one of the best to go for if you are ready to just go all out on storage. With read speeds of up to 95MB/s and write speeds of up to 90MB/s you can quickly and easily transfer files to and from the phone. With the speed and storage capacity comes a larger price tag on this card, but if you want the biggest on the market this is the way to go.

See at Amazon

Your favorite?

Do you have a favorite microSD card that isn’t listed here? Be sure to drop a comment below and let us know which card it is, and why you like it!

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ hands-on preview!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

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