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Here are the 5 mobile apps to download this week

App stores are crowded places these days, and because storage space on your phone is often at a premium, you’ll want to fill it with not only the best, but also the most helpful apps out there. Because they come and go quicker than the latest fashion trends, and digging through Google Play, the iTunes App Store, or any of the others is such a mission; a little nudge in the right direction is often very welcome. Here are the apps we think you need to check out this week.

Password Chef

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 4.14.43 PM

Websites and user databases are often compromised, and can leave anyone with an account on the hacked service vulnerable. Plus if you use the same password for multiple accounts, attackers will be able to access just about anything you have behind the layer of flimsy protection. When it comes to your internet usage, having a good password is paramount.

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That’s where Password Chef comes in. This method of password creation gives you the unique string of characters needed to meet stringent password requirements and make your code hard to crack. At the same time, it makes managing those passwords easy. Your complex passwords are stored in app, accessible only with a PIN code, giving you the ability to recall them on the go. The recipes as they’re referred to are stored only locally so no one will be able to crack the app’s servers and get your secret login—it exists only on your device.

Instant

Instant

Are you into the idea of the quantified self? It’s possible to track just about every bit of your activity, from how many steps you take a day to how much time you spend on your phone, and everything in between. Instead of having to jump back and forth between apps to track down your numbers, Instant puts it all in one place. It’s your very own personal dashboard to monitor your activity. Over time, it will generate statistics and analysis that will help you figure out exactly what your average day looks like.

Sounds app

Soundsapp

Great music should be every bit as shareable as an awesome picture, but it’s lagged behind. Sounds aims to change that by invading other popular sharing services with a blast of the best tunes. Sounds lets you discover new music with curated lists from sources that know their stuff. When you hear something you like, you can easily share it via Snapchat, Instagram, Messenger, and Tinder with the built-in music keyboard.

AmpMe

AmpMe

We all stream music from our smartphones, but the devices aren’t great for playing those jams out loud—at least, not on their own. AmpMe lets you and your friends create a surround-sound effect anywhere you are by syncing up everyone’s device and playing the same song through each set of speakers. This creates a unified and amplified sound that lets you start a party on the fly and fill any space, from your car to your living room, with a wall of music.

Bumpn

Bumpn

College campuses are essentially condensed cities. There’s a lot going on any given night, and almost no way to keep track of it all. Bumpn aims to be the social network for your local campus. This location-driven app connects users with their campus community and shows what’s going on throughout the school. Share photos and videos to show your friends what you’re up to or meet new people when you see something interesting pop up on your feed.

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Your Pixel 7 is about to get a whole lot less buggy — here’s why
Two Google Pixel 7 Pro smartphones.

Google is rolling out a new Android 13 update that fixes 46 bugs and performance issues for the Pixel 7. The fixes range from squashing smaller bugs to larger, systemwide updates that do things like optimize battery life and overall performance, making this one of the most substantial Pixel 7 updates to date. While the update, Android 13 QPR2, provides a lot of fixes for the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro specifically, it also cleans up performance for the entire Pixel 6 line as well.

There are plenty of small fixes in the update. However, the bigger ones seem like they're going to noticeably improve the user experience for all Pixel 7 owners on just about every front.

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Forget Twitter — this social media app has ChatGPT built-in
Koo app store listing

Koo, a social media app developed in India that pushes itself as a Twitter replacement, is deploying ChatGPT smarts to prop its appeal. The company says Koo is the “first microblogging platform in the world” to integrate ChatGPT to boost the creative flow. Koo follows in the footsteps of Snapchat in deploying ChatGPT for some cutting-edge AI bragging rights.
At the moment, the ChatGPT integration is only available to creators with a sizeable following or those with a verified badge. However, it will soon be available for everyone without any follower count restriction. So far, the company hasn’t said anything about charging users for the feature, or whether it might be moved to a premium tier in the near future, considering the fact that OpenAI’s viral tool is embracing the API route for commercial usage.

Aside from text prompts, Koo users can also use the voice dictation feature to interact with the AI. The draft section of Koo app will let users accomplish tasks like “finding the top news of the day or asking for a quote from a well-known personality or even asking for the post or a blog to be written.” The latter is worrisome, which I’ve briefly discussed below. There's also some precedent for that out there with apps like Paragraph AI doing everything from generating content in various styles to taking over even your messaging app conversations.
Koo is pushing itself as a Twitter alternative and says it has accumulated over 50 million downloads ... but hasn’t disclosed the number of users. However, it looks like the Koo is trying to boost its appeal by recruiting the hottest new tool on the internet, one that will also be immensely convenient to churn out human-like thoughtful content in bulk — which is again the easy route to grabbing more eyeballs.

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Watch the Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max face off in brutal drop test
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Samsung’s latest flagship, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, is one of the year's best phones. It comes equipped with the powerful new, purpose-build Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip, a 200MP main camera, and Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back of the device (which means heavy durability).

But there’s another question — how does Gorilla Glass Victus 2 hold up against Apple’s confidently-named 'Ceramic Shield' on the iPhone 14 Pro Max? YouTuber PhoneBuff did a drop test to find that very answer.

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