Elevate - Maximize Your Cognitive Skills

Name: Elevate
By: Elevate, Inc.

Price: FREE (iOS) | FREE (Android) + In-App Purchase

Category: Education

There's more than one reason Elevate was named 2014 App of the Year​ by Apple's App Store.  Not only is it fun, beautiful, and addictive, but it also works to train your brain in a variety of challenging skill sets that are actually useful in the real world. This engaging app will keep you coming back everyday and leave you feeling mentally energized. The more you train, the more you gain!

While there are plenty of other brain-training apps out there, Elevate rises above the rest through its artistic design and perfect balance between fun and challenging gameplay. Improve your proficiency in Speaking, Writing, Reading, Listening, and Math through 29 cognitive training activities, which adjust over time based on performance. The better you get, the harder they get.  Work your way up towards the ultimate Expert status in each category and track your progress over time through high scores, total accrued points, and training milestones.

The Pro upgrade unlocks additional training games, offers unlimited access, and provides in-depth rankings to see how you stack up against other users.  So far, the free version has been enough to keep me busy, but I could certainly imagine ramping up my training in the future.

If this is starting to sound more like a homework assignment and less like an app you would actually use, don't despair!  Elevate encourages you to play 3 quick and beautifully animated mini-games each day.  In just a few minutes per week you'll be well on your way towards improvements in memory, focus, estimation, and a variety of other useful skills. 

You already exercise your body, so why not workout your brain and push that mental capacity to the max?

• Download iOS App

• Download Android App

Betterment - Set Your Investments on Autopilot

Name: Betterment
By: Betterment

Price: FREE (iOS) | FREE (Android) + Paid Service

Category: Finance

Betterment makes it easy for anyone to invest in a low-cost, globally diversified portfolio based on Nobel Prize-winning investment theories. Sure, you could spend your own time setting up a diversified portfolio, or you could hire an investment manager to do it for you, but Betterment offers a third option that saves both time and money.  

Betterment streamlines the process of investing your money wisely. The intuitive web interface allows you to customize your risk and strategy to target specific goals, such as building wealth for a long-term retirement fund or accruing a short term safety net, and always stay on track through automated deposits and performance analysis. It also offers automatic rebalancing, dividend reinvestment, tax optimization, and fractional shares, making sure all of your money is working towards maximum returns.

Once you initially set up your goals, risk level, and auto-deposits, you can sit back and track your progress through their app, which offers an in-depth breakdown of your portfolio, returns, activity, and allows you to make bank transfers to or from your account. 

Fees are structured as a low percentage of your overall funds, ranging from 0.15-0.35% per year and are charged on a quarterly basis. This means you can make as many deposits and withdrawals as you'd like without paying processing fees that most other services charge.  This makes your Betterment funds extremely liquid - simply transfer cash back to your bank account whenever you need it.  Sign up now for a free 30 day trial!

I trust Betterment to manage my investments and highly recommend that you explore their service for yourself.

• Try it FREE for 30 Days

• Download iOS App

• Download Android App

Pager - Bring Doctors to Your Door

Name: Pager
By: TECHCARE, INC.

Price: FREE (iOS) + Paid Service

Category: Medical

Imagine if we could travel back to the days where doctors actually came to us while we waited comfortably in our homes. This is exactly what Pager offers - a house call service that let's you summon a doctor to your door whenever you or a loved one is sick, injured, or just needs a check up. 

Pager is a pay-per-use service, but it's free to download to your iPhone. After a quick account setup, you'll see three options for requesting a doctor visit: 

Upon selection, a doctor will contact you to confirm and will be at your door in under two hours. It's that easy! Sit back and relax, knowing a board-certified doctor is on their way to offer you personalized, quality care. 

One of the best features for busy professionals is that doctors are on-call from 8am through 10pm, everyday.  They'll come to your home or office with all of their supplies to prescribe medicine, perform diagnostic tests, stitch up wounds, order lab tests, etc.

Currently, new users pay just $49 for their first visit, and a flat $199 after that. No hidden fees or extra add-ons - you'll know the exact cost before committing. Pager also notes that these fees are reimbursable by most healthcare insurance plans, and they are working with top healthcare companies to eventually have the fees covered up front. 

As of now, the service is only available in New York City, but they are working to expand to other cities in the future. Check their website for the latest news.

The next time you can't get out of bed, you'll be thankful to have Pager installed, and a doctor a few taps away.  

• pager.com

• Download iOS App

1 Second Everyday - Capture and Share Your Life

Name: 1 Second Everyday
By: Cesar Kuriyama

Price: $2.99 (iOS) | FREE (Android) + In-App Purchase

Category: Photo & Video

Can you remember what you did every day last year?  What about the year before that?  I can. 1 Second Everyday by Cesar Kuriyama is one of my most important and impressive apps, because it preserves my favorite memories and mashes them all together into a single video montage that's easy to digest, exciting to relive, and fun to share.

My 1 Second Everyday Year in Review - 2014

1 Second Everyday (1SE) has changed the way I record videos - for the better!  The app makes it easy to select your favorite second of video from each day of your life. Rather than taking a dozen videos at every special event or shooting long clips I'll probably never end up watching all the way through, I shoot just enough footage to capture the moment. Then I put the phone away and enjoy that moment.  All I need is one good second!

And what about all the rest of the days where I'm not at an exciting event? All those in between days that matter just as much but don't always draw out the camera?  Because of this app, I am reminded to take at least one video each day to capture my everyday life - the meals I've cooked, the snow on the ground, the nights curled up on the couch with popcorn and a movie.  When I look back at my 1SE video montage, some of my favorite moments happened on the most normal of days. Without this app, precious memories might have faded with time.

Once all these seconds are mashed together, the final video tells a story of your life over time.  Watch a whole month in 30 seconds or a full year in about 6 minutes.  Each single second often triggers memories of entire days. I can relive full experiences just from these quick snapshots and share so much of my life with a single video.

1 Second Everyday definitely ranks highly in the Apposphere, and I urge everyone to give it a shot.

• 1secondeveryday.com

• Download iOS App

• Download Android App