WRIO Keyboard ($3)
The QWERTY keyboard layout has been around for a while, but that doesn’t mean it’s still the best way to type on mobile devices. Wrio wants to change decades of muscle memory with a new layout for faster typing on mobile devices. Wrio has adopted hexagonal-shaped keys, and the QWERTY layout is still there in some form — it will just take some time to get used to it. The hexagonal shape makes the keys larger, which helps decrease the amount of typos. To delete something, you swipe right to left, and emojis can be accessed via a gesture. You can read more about Wrio here.
Flare by GoDaddy
Ever had a business idea, but ultimately didn’t follow through? GoDaddy wants to make everyone an entrepreneur with Flare. The app presents you with three ideas from members of the community, and they can be local to your area. You decide whether to skip, snooze, or “love,” these ideas. If an idea gets 10 or more likes, the person who posted it gets to ask the community questions on ways to improve the product or service. Community members can also “pledge” to buy a product so as to ensure definite interest in an idea. Once that process is done, though, it’s up to the individual to advance their idea. Flare is meant to just get your ideas a little social backing, giving you the encouragement to try and bring it to fruition. An Android app will be available in June 2016.
Marsbot
Chatbots have taken 2016 by storm, and Foursquare’s jumping on the trend. Its new app Marsbot is powered by artificial intelligence, and can predict where you’ll want to eat and drink before even you know. When you sign up, you’ll have to answer a series of questions based on your eating habits — so eventually the bot will be able to give you answers on where to eat based on where you are and where you usually go. Marsbot only revolves around food right now, but it’s not unimaginable that it could expand into helping you find other products and services. The app currently only works in San Francisco and New York, and is still very much in development.
IS
It seems as though everyone and their mother has an app to find out where their friends are and what they’re up to. IS is another real-time location-sharing app that also acts like a social media network. You can do typical things like see where your friends are on a map, get notified when a friend is nearby, and see where your friends are headed with future pins. But IS stands out in that you can drop a pin on the map to share you story through pictures and comments. Your friends will be able to chime in and leave comments too, and the “moment” will disappear when everyone leaves the area. Don’t worry, you can also choose what you want to share to ensure privacy.
Blendle
Blendle splashed across headlines earlier this year — it’s one of the first third-party services to offer a pay-per-view method of consuming news and media content from leading publishes like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The best part? If you didn’t like an article’s quality and were disappointed in it, you can request a refund — keep in mind that these articles typically cost a few dimes. Until now, you’ve only been able to use Blendle on the desktop app, but the company has finally come to mobile with well-designed Android and iOS apps, and seems to follow each operating system’s design guidelines as well.
