Three Apps To Expand Your Mind Over The Holidays

The holidays are many things - a time to see family. A long break from work. And, of course, they're a time of renewal. So while you have some spare time and a desire to improve yourself, why not let your trusty iPhone or iPad help? With that in mind, here are three great apps that you may not have heard of before, but will help feed your brain before you have to go back to the grind.

Robots for iPad by IEEE Spectrum

I'm going to give you fair warning on this one: it's easy to get sucked into it. IEEE has created what might be one of my all time favorite apps. A walking database of every different type of robot currently in existence. The app lets you browse all of them in a variety of different categories. Tap on a robot, and you'll pull up a detailed list of its specifications.

The app has a number of other fun features, as well. You can mark different robots as favorites to look up later. You can pull up a random robot. You can watch videos of robots. You can rate robots. You can follow news about robots. You can play games about robots. You can learn about the history of robots.

Basically, it's everything you will ever need to know about robots, all packed into one fantastic looking, easy to use app. Get it!

Robots for iPad can be downloaded from the App Store here, with a special holiday price of $1.99.

Meditation Timer Pro by Maxwell Software

If you don't meditate, you seriously need to consider putting 'Start meditating' on the top of your New Year's Resolution list. The practice of meditation is centuries old, and its benefits are proven. It relieves stress and anxiety, it can relieve pain, and has other benefits that scientists are currently studying. From my own perspective, I've found it invaluable.

What's been difficult, however, is finding a decent meditation app. There are dozens on the market, and I've tried several. But Meditation Timer Pro is my favorite. It's clean, it's easy to use, and it has a number of ways to customize it. But perhaps most importantly, it logs your meditations, which is something I've found to be of use when I try to improve my practice.

Meditation Timer Pro can be downloaded from the App Store here for $0.99.

The Fourth Dimension by Drew Olbrich

I've been fascinated by tesseracts and the fourth dimension ever since I was 12 years old and read the Robert Heinlein story "—And He Built a Crooked House—", which is about an architect who built a four-dimensional house. But since we are creatures who inhabit three spatial dimensions, the prospect of a fourth dimension can be hard to grasp.

But if you do want to try to grasp it, I'd honestly say that Drew Olbrich's app is the single best starting point. (Then, I'd suggest moving on to Cliff Pickover's book Surfing Through Hyperspace.) It's a 30 page interactive book, complete with gorgeous animation. Each page slowly walks you through an understanding of spatial dimensions, and the animations, incredibly, will help you get a handle on how a four-dimensional space would work. Plus, it's fun!

The Fourth Dimension can be downloaded from the App Store here for $2.99.

Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here.