App reviews: Egg, Inc.; Bear

Egg, Inc.

Want to get in on the urban chicken coop trend but don't have the space? If all you want is to manage a chicken farm - and really, who wouldn't? - then maybe the app Egg, Inc. will scratch your entrepreneurial spirit. The premise of the game is simple: Start an egg farm and turn it into an empire through expansion and research. Small details make the game unexpectedly delightful, such as the option to shoot down drones that fly over your property. (Are they part of some corporate egg-spionage? The game doesn't say but will give you money for crashing those drones.)

Running your farm will be easier if you make in-app purchases, but it's possible to thrive without doling out cash. You can also choose to watch ads to get more cash or golden eggs, which is the currency of choice for the really good boosts. The game won't teach you any actual farming skills - unless tapping on a screen like a chicken somehow makes you better at raising them - but it is surprisingly addictive.

Free, for iOS and Android.

Bear

Taking coherent notes on your phone can be a bear of a task, but this app aims to make it easier. The notes are searchable, so you should be able to easily find anything you've written. And if you want to make sure your ideas don't go into hibernation, the app also lets you link notes together to make sure that related thoughts stay connected. Bear's rich editing and tools for marking and organizing notes is also worth mentioning: It's easy to add subheads, create links and change font styles within the app for a more organized note.

Overall, Bear is a very good app for keeping track of your thoughts, whether they come in picture or text form. It has a clean design but still packs in enough features to be useful tool. You can easily get a word count on your note, for example. The app also has a Pro version, which costs $1.50 a month or $15 a year. Upgrading gets you some useful additional features: Its ability to sync across devices is also a great feature for those who use multiple Apple devices.

Free, for iOS.