Best Windows apps this week
One-hundred and eighty-three in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 8.x and Windows 10 in the past seven days.
This week has seen the release of several exciting new applications and games for the Windows platform, as well as updates for existing apps such as Viber, Forza Motosport 6 and Dailymotion.
As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me via email instead.
Discounts this week
The following discounts are provided by Red Stripe Deals, a weekly changing list of offers, and the Deals Hub application.
- Drawboard PDF, a PDF editor, for $4.99
- KVADPhoto+ PRO, a photo editing app, for $1.99
- Earth 3D, a 3D model of the earth, for $1.49
- My Very Hungry Caterpillar, a game for kids for $1.99
- Jewel Tree: Match It (Full), a match-3 type of puzzle game for $0.99
- Crayola Bubbles, an educational game for children for $0.99
- Solitaire Mystery: Four Seasons (Full), a hidden object and solitaire game for $0.99
App of the week
You can pin any web page to the Windows 10 Start menu in Microsoft Edge by selecting the "pin this page to Start" option of the browser's main menu.
Web Tiles enables you to change the site's tile icon and text, so that it does not look as generic or bland on the Start menu.
You need to use the share to Web Tiles option when you want to use it for that, and select the suggested icon or pick a custom image for it for the local system instead.
You may also change the suggested tile title before you save it as a tile to the start menu.
Other apps
Bomberman 94 ($2.49, free trial available)
Bomberman 94 is a faithful adaption of the classic game of bomb planting and extras grabbing.
You can play the game with a keyboard, pad or touch with touch being selected by default.
Bomberman 94 is a single player game that features a single player campaign that you can play through.
Frogger's Crackout ($1.49, free trial available)
Frogger's Crackout by Konami is a breakout variant featuring the iconic Frogger.
Your task in the game is to clear the level of bricks by breaking them with balls.
The core difference to other Breakout games is that it uses a slingshot mechanic to determine the ball's acceleration.
The hidden object adventure game is free to install and try out but the full game needs to be purchased from within the game.
It features all the traits of other games of its kinds: beautiful graphics, a mystery that needs to be solved, various puzzles, and characters to interact with.
LastPass: Free Password Manager (Edge extension)
The LastPass password manager extension for Microsoft Edge made an appearance in the Store last week.
While it was available for installation at that time, the developers have since then increased the minimum build number required to install the extension to one that has not been released yet publicly.
The release of the password manager extension for Edge marks yet another important step for the web browser.
Tickerfeed is an interesting news application that uses push notifications to deliver news on the device it is running on.
You can use it to subscribe to popular feeds without account, or create an account to make use of custom tickers (like RSS feeds).
Using push notifications is just an option however, and you may use the application directly for updates as well.
Vieather is -- yet another -- weather application for Windows 10.
It uses your location to display weather information but features a search as well that you can use to look up weather reports of other locations in the world.
The weather report screen looks crowded on first glance but the layout does make sense once you grow accustomed to it.
It display current weather conditions, a weather forecast with high and low temperature limits, and a detailed hourly forecast for the current day.
Notable updates
Dailymotion app updated. UWP app now, integrated Cortana Search, account creation and casting support are among the major new features.
Forza Motorsport 6: Apex updated. Players can modify core engine settings now when they set Dynamic Optimization to custom. This includes unlocking the framerate, and disabling MSAA, and Anisotropic Filtering.
PicArts 3.0 brings along with it a new card design, and reorganized Explorer, Profile, My Network and Contests page.
Viber updated with new UI.