I got my nails done a few weeks ago, and it felt great, but I highly recommend trying Wanna Nails (iOS, Android) before you head into the salon so you aren't fumbling around with colour choices. And if you're more a DIY person for nail maintenance, you can avoid purchasing a colour you end up hating. Let the powers of augmented reality help you preview different colours on your nails with the tap of a finger.

Mac: Widgets? Old and busted. Filling your Notification Center full of apps and services? The more stuffed it gets, the less useful it is. At least, I don't like having to scroll up and down through pages' worth of items if I need a quick glance at my most meaningful data.

Windows: Most computer geeks know about WinDirStat, an incredibly useful utility that shows which folders and files are taking up so much room on your drive. It's a must-have app, because you'll be surprised - heck, I've been surprised - how many times you might find some random, triple-buried folder on your desktop that's using an unseemly amount of space.

Nobody likes a boring home screen. And while you get a number of default options within Android to pretty up your device, you can get a lot more creative if you build your own live wallpaper. KLWP Live Wallpaper Maker is the perfect "the sky is the limit" app, for its usefulness is directly correlated to how much time you're willing to spend in it, making the live wallpaper of your dreams.

Android: If you're not a fan of using Google Play Music to manage and listen to podcasts - and we don't blame you there - you can still get your podcasts in Android without having to install a third-party app. Just do a quick Google search for what you want to listen to, drop a shortcut to the show onto your home screen, and tap it whenever you feel like enriching your life with hours and hours of commentary.

Opera released a new web browser this week that makes it easier to browse the web on your phone using one hand.

This one's almost a cop-out, since all Windows users should know about WinDirStat by now. This app has been out for nearly 15 years, and it's one of the most helpful tools you can use to clean up your hard drive.

Microsoft just updated its Translator app for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire devices to support new optimised language packs that are (allegedly) up to 23 per cent better at helping you figure out how to say "where is the bathroom" on your next vacation. They also eat up around half as much space on your phone when you download them -- a wise move, since you don't want to be stuck without the ability to ask for directions if you're lost on your travels.

This app isn't something you'll probably have to use very often -- we hope -- but it's a great tool if you're upgrading your system and need to move everything from an old hard drive to a new drive.

If you've been gaming on Valve's Steam service for a decent amount of time, you've probably heard of Steam Mover. It's a great tool for transferring your multi-gigabyte Steam games to different hard drives on your system, in case your primary hard drive is running out of space (or bursting at the seams).

Now that the New Payments Platform (NPP) is live and banks are slowly coming to the party in offering access to their own PayID system for transferring funds, the spotlight has turned to security. Is the NPP platform safe for consumers? Can your PayID be compromised or hacked in some way? Or is it really a reverse lookup system for mobile phone numbers?

Every year around this time all my friends start sharing their "Best 9" photos of the year from Instagram. Do we all necessarily need to relive all those memories? Probably not. But they can be fun to look at and share nonetheless.

Android: Once upon a time, Facebook's Messenger app was just a way to send chat message to your friends. Over the years the social network has loaded the app with features such as the ability to send GIFs and play games with your friends. The app has its own personal assistant, and now every time you open it you're also hit in the face with all your friend's Stories. It's a lot of information, and all that information needs a decent amount of bandwidth to work and display on your phone.

What if you could throw a virtual party whenever you want that your friends from around the world could attend at a second's notice? That's the idea behind Houseparty, an iOS and Android video chatting app designed for spontaneous conversation.

Sure, event photographers are great, but what about all those pictures your wedding and party guests are taking on their smartphones? Tracking down all those great images can be a huge pain after the event, but it doesn't have to be. If you get your guests to download this app first, you'll get all their photos instantly, and everyone can still snap pictures using the regular camera app on their iPhone or Android device.

There was a day a few years ago where I received 1000 emails. I'm super careful about using my email address on online forms and what not, but every single time I go to a conference or attend an industry event I somehow manage to get signed up for another dozen or so related lists thanks to someone passing out my deets. Thankfully, there's now an AI assistant for that.

iOS: If you want to get any information about the Wi-Fi network you're connected to on your iPhone, you'd usually have to jump into the Settings. Wi-Fi Widget puts that info on the widgets screen.

Accounting for over one billion smartphone sales last year, Android is by far the most common operating system. It’s no surprise then that the OS is a prime target for malware and compromised security. While Google is very active in making Android safer, there are also a range of third party apps available. Read on to find out how to improve your security.

Dashcams are a very handy way to keep a record of any driving incidents, and potentially save a hefty insurance excess. In an effort to make them even more useful, DashCam app Nexar plans to use advanced AI algorithms to recognise bad drivers, and warn other road users. It’s a lofty goal, but not without a few problems.