NAMOO, Pixelmator, and other awesome apps of the week

In the same week AAPL shares started reversing its downwards trend and Tim Cook discovered an “iPhone” in a 346-year-old painting, the App Store saw the arrival of some major new apps and updates.

What are our picks for the best of the week? Check them out below.

Google – the Official Search app

Google’s official iOS app got a massive speed boost this week, significantly cutting down loading times using new Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology, while adding sports highlights baked into Google Now cards.

“Each time you open the app or do a search, everything will load just a bit quicker,” Google explains. “Whether you can notice the difference or not, these small improvements will save app users a combined 6.5 million hours this year.” Overall, pages which support AMP are said to load up to four times faster than other pages, while consuming up to ten times less data.

One for the severely time-limited, perhaps?

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

NAMOO — Wonders of Plant Life

I love gorgeously-designed education apps, and NAMOO — Wonders of Plant Life more than qualifies. Aimed at kids 9-11 (although, let’s face it, I’m in my thirties and enjoyed it), NAMOO offers learning chapters on areas like tree anatomy, fertilization and the like.

It’s great stuff and, while this week has seen news stories about schools ditching iPads in favor of returning to desktops or laptops, the existence of tools like NAMOO reminds me of why (in the right context) educational iPad apps can be so amazing and beneficial.

Available for: iPad
Cost: $2.99
Get it from: App Store

AmpMe

AmpMe, a great music app which syncs playback between multiple devices to create one giant boombox, now works with YouTube — courtesy of a new update which lets users sync their favorite music videos seamlessly with friends.

Until now, AmpMe has been able to play music only from your local library and from SoundCloud, although its new update means you can now choose from hundreds of millions of music videos en route to getting the party started wherever you are — and without the need for a pricey Bluetooth speaker.

Available for: iPhone, iPad
Cost: Free
Get it from: App Store

Pixelmator for Mac

Powerful (but affordable) image editor Pixelmator just got a big update for Mac, now coming with an ever-so-useful Photos extension on OS X which lets users make quick retouching edits to images without leaving Apple’s app.

The update also introduces a new Quick Selection tool, which makes it possible to paint over an object you want to select, with the software then automatically identifying its individual parts. Finally, there’s a new Magnetic Selection tool, a long list of improvements to existing features, and assorted bug fixes. If you’re not already a Pixelmator user, this is a great time to come aboard!

Available for: Mac
Cost: $29.99 (free if you’re an existing user)
Get it from: App Store