USE: PUSHBULLET

Find yourself missing phone calls or text messages while you're at your computer? Maybe you had Spotify cranked up too loud, or maybe you forgot to unmute your phone? Perhaps you just didn't want to be bothered to pick it up and see what it said? Well worry no more. Thanks to Pushbullet, you can have all of your phone's notifications sent to your computer, and can even respond to text messages without ever touching your phone. It works with a wide variety of software and devices, and once you start using it, it quickly becomes one of those things that you wonder how you ever lived without. GET IT HERE: PUSHBULLET

MINESWEEPER REBORN

Those of you who have yet to make the switch to a Windows 8 machine are missing out on one of the most weirdly addictive games I've come across in a long time. Available as a free download from the Windows Store, "Microsoft Minesweeper" is ostensibly just a prettier update of the classic time-waster. But one of the features the game brings to the table is a new "Adventure" mode, which casts you as an intrepid explorer, roaming through caves to find treasure while trying to avoid a variety of traps. This simple little shift in how the game is played has completely revitalized it, and in the process added a new twist to platform games as well. While it initially seems relatively easy, things eventually get very difficult. I have yet to make it past Level 20, but seeing as I can't seem to make it through a day without popping in to play at least once, it should only be a matter of time before I do.

And as a quick side note, as of late I also appear to have developed an addiction to Werther's Original candies, which I suppose officially marks me as having made the transition to being old.