Record and publish your own microcasts, play as an architect and building manager, and have your illusions about the state of the world set right in this week’s app roundup.

iMovie 4.0

Apple’s iMovie for iOS update removes the black bars for iPhone X users, but more importantly it now runs on Apple’s Metal API. That means that video effects and editing are just about as fast as it’s possible to be on your iPhone or iPad, and without taxing the battery too much.

Available for: iPhone, iPad

Cost: Free

Get it from: App Store

Burst

Burst your news bubble.

Burst aims to solve our problem that we live in a news bubble, only ever seeing coverage from sources which match our existing points of view. Burst, by Reddit, presents news stories — so far so normal. But it then aggregates comments from all across Reddit to give you a sample of different views of the story:

With comments from liberal, moderate, and conservative subreddits in one place, Burst gives you perspective over every discussion happening on reddit

It’s a grand idea, although one which relies on people who are open-minded enough to try it out. Which means middle-and-left-leaning iPhone users, right now.

Available for: iPhone

Cost: Free with in-app purchases

Get it from: App Store

Wavelength

Wavelength is an app for recording, editing, and publishing microcasts. What are microcasts? Tiny, short podcasts, designed to be both quick to create, and quick to listen to. Microcasts don’t have to be low-quality. They’re just low on clutter, usually focusing on a single point of news or discussion. With Wavelength, you can create and publish a microcast episode as easily as posting a Tweet.

Available for: iPhone

Cost: $0.99

Get it from: App Store

Project Highrise

Project Highrise may sound like some kind of productivity app for teams, but it is in fact something even more interesting. It’s an app that lets you play as an architect, attending to all the fascinating minutiae of designing, building, and managing a skyscraper. Let’s take a couple of quotes from the App Store blurb:

Open restaurants and retail stores, build luxury apartments, install vending machines, offer yoga classes and even build fountains to meet your tenants ever-growing demands.

And:

Will you create an exclusive office highrise that attracts business leaders from around the world? Will you construct luxury apartments in the sky, penthouses for the elite and playgrounds for the famous? The choice is yours.

And what a choice it is. With all that excitement, it’s like totally different from a boring, everyday day job.

Available for: iPad

Cost: $3.99 with in-app purchases

Get it from: App Store