Apps of the Week: Pitchfork, Zamurai, Voodo 2, and more...

About four days after Halloween, I get a call from my family asking whether I’ll be cooking Thanksgiving dinner. About a week after that, I usually get a call from my friends asking if I’m hosting this year’s White Elephant gift exchange. Yes, the Holidays have begun.

If you are looking for DIY party ideas, need an organizer, or just want to forget your troubles and do something fun, we have a list of apps and games that we think you will enjoy…

Makr

I love making stuff. You’ll find that I regularly have more glue on my fingernails than polish. I save practically everything in hopes of using it for a project in the future. This DIY app offers a wide selection of templates that you can use to make your own invitations, business cards, and more. Each template is fully customizable so you can change the color, texture, and text. Then, you can either purchase the PDF pattern and make your own items, or order professional prints. This iPad-only app is available for free.

Pitchfork Weekly

Just because I like to craft, doesn’t mean I don’t like to rock. In fact, I love listening to my 1980s thrash metal music while I’m knitting scarves. Don’t judge me. Pitchfork is an online music magazine that has been around since the mid-1990s. The content focuses on new independent artists and bands, but covers a wide variety of genres and decades. This app features daily news, reviews, and features from the website. There is also video and audio content so you can discover new music while reading about it. This app is available for free.

Zamurai: Mobile Whiteboard

O.K., so, you are in a meeting and your team is collaborating on ideas. Someone is taking notes on the conference room whiteboard. When the meeting is over, the last thing you will want to do is try to recreate that mess on a piece of paper. This app takes out the work of writing on a whiteboard and lets you collaborate with your team through iOS. There are pre-made icons and illustrations, so you won’t be embarrassed to show that you can’t make a cube. You can type, draw, and change colors of your collaborative efforts and easily share them with others. This iPad-only app is available for free.

Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies

Sid Meier is back with an all-new turn-based dogfighting adventure. This time, you will be fighting U.S. against the Japanese in WWII themed missions. Choose your plane from authentic reproductions of real fighters from WWII. There are more than 180 missions that feature historical events, like battles that took place at Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guadalcanal. You can earn promotions, upgrade your pilots’ abilities, and become the best flying ace in the military. Play single player campaign mode, or compete with others online through Game Center. This game is available for $4.99.

Sorcery! 2

This was a big week for board game style sequel apps. This paper adventure is the second installment of Steve Jackson’s original gamebook games. Players are transported to the city of Khare where they are faced with underground enemies, thieving street urchins, and an adventure that seemingly traps them within the city walls forever. With each new encounter, players are faced with making decisions that will either give them hope or cause their doom. Cast spells and fight enemies in melee combat as you try to unlock the mysteries of the North Gate. This game is available for $4.99.

Alpha Zen

The creators of the popular Color Zen puzzle game are back with a sequel of their own. Solve word puzzles and build quotes from pop culture, literature, and philosophy and connect them to your friends’ Facebook status. There are 120 levels that include classic quotes. The colorful display will lull you into a relaxed state while the music will put you into a trance. Use your skills in puzzle solving to get you through the game, which never really ends because your friends are always updating their statuses, giving you new puzzles to solve. This game is available for free.

Voodo 2 – Easy Todo

With the holidays just around the corner, people are going to need some serious to-do help. There are parties to plan, menus to create, and presents to buy. With so many things on the horizon, Voodo 2 helps you keep track of everything with a comprehensive tagging system that helps you organize your tasks by category. You can sync this app with Google Calendar to keep your daily projects close at hand. Add names, phone numbers, addresses, and more to access even more information, like location finder and instant calling, right from within the app. This app is available for $2.99.

Apps of the Week: Pitchfork, Zamurai, Voodo 2, and more…