Today in the App Store -- the best free apps, new apps and app updates

Here are some of the best free apps, app updates and new apps that have landed in the App Store recently. All app prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly, so grab them while you can.

Apps Now Free

Calendate [iPhone; Now free, down from $1.99] Personalize your calendar with icons and themes. Enhance your planning with weather forecast and visual calendar view.

Fabrika App [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $9.99] Fabrika is a dynamic drawing engine that turns your screen into a mesmerizing canvas of swirling patterns, blooming right beneath your fingers.

NoteLedge Premium [iPad; Now free, down from $4.99] NoteLedge is a robust note-taking application that allows you to take notes with powerful editing functions such as handwriting, typing, photo-editing, audio and video recording.

NoteLedge Premium [iPhone; Now free, down from $2.99] NoteLedge is a robust note-taking application that allows you to take notes with powerful editing functions such as handwriting, typing, photo-editing, audio and video recording.

PicPlayPost [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $1.99] PicPlayPost® is the first all in one Video and Photo editing tool that offers a full suite of customization options to inspire story telling through captivating video collages.

Puzzlium: Prologue [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $0.99] Search for Puzzlium - the 1st puzzle social network.

Notability [iOS Universal; Now free, down from $2.99] Welcome to Notability, a powerful note-taker on iPad and iPhone: sketch ideas, annotate documents, sign contracts, complete worksheets, keep a journal and more.

New and Notable Apps

Bridge Constructor Medieval [iOS Universal; $1.99]] Dive into the Middle Ages and play the successor to the worldwide #1 hit.

Botanicula [iPad; $4.99] Botanicula is a humor-filled adventure game created by the makers of award-winning Machinarium, studio Amanita Design and Czech band DVA.

Mingle: Action-Based Contacts [iPhone; $0.99] Mingle was built from the ground up to make connecting with your contacts faster, easier, and more enjoyable in every way!

Google Sheets [iOS Universal; Free] Create, edit & collaborate with others on spreadsheets from your iPod, iPhone, or iPad with the free Google Sheets app.

Google Docs [iOS Universal; Free] Create, edit & collaborate with others on documents from your iPod, iPhone, or iPad with the free Google Docs app.

Stickman Basketball[iOS Universal; $1.99] Experience pure basketball fun with fast paced gameplay, an astonishing atmosphere,

Dwarven Den™ - The Mining Puzzle Game [iOS Universal; Free] In Dwarven Den, you play a jolly, little person on an epic quest. Can you dig it?

Updates you don't want to miss

PayPal [iPhone; Free] Pay Smarter. Pay Simpler. Pay Anywhere. Version 5.4.3 brings the following changes:

• Check out the app's new look!

• We've made a bunch of improvements. And fixed some bugs, too.

Geocaching [iPhone; $12.99] Supercharge your geocaching adventures with the official, full-featured Geocaching App. Version 6.2 brings the following changes:

• Let's all welcome the full-featured Geocaching App for iOS to 2014. We've added a refreshed look to match iOS7, plus some fancy new features to make your geocaching experience even better.

• Trackable map – Follow your trackables on a map as they move from geocache to geocache around the world.

• Search by geocache hider – Find geocaches by your favorite hiders from the Advanced Search section.

• GC Code Search – Already know the GC code for the geocache you want to find? Just type it into the search box.

• Adding Catalan and Polish language support

1Password - Password Manager and Secure Wallet [iOS Universal; $8.99] 1Password creates strong, unique passwords for every site, remembers them all for you, and logs you in with a single tap. Version 4.5.1 brings the following changes:

• 1Password can now sync Dropbox data in the background

• Now using the network activity indicator to show when sync is occurring

• Improved conflict resolution during syncing

• Updated translations

• Other bug fixes and improvements

Collective [OS X; $1.99] Meet Collective. Clipboard history for your Mac. Done right.Version 2.0.2 brings the following changes:

• Favorites: Mark a clipping as a favorite and Collective will store it forever, no matter how large your clipping history grows. Filter by your favourites for quick access to clippings you regularly use.

• Shortcuts: Your first 9 favorites are easily added to the clipboard with a simple 1-9 key press. You can also quickly mark / unmark a clipping as a favorite ('M') or filter by favourites ('F').

• Detail Bar: Collective now shows you the line count, character count, image dimension, or file size for your selected clipping.

• Menu Bar: the menu bar icon now directly activates Collective, or you can choose to fully hide the menu bar icon itself to save space. Preferences and other options have been moved to the Details Bar.

• Performance: Collective now uses less power when both idle and active, but yet is also more responsive than ever.

• Refinements: Collective's look has been tweaked in the spirit of recent OS updates, and polished throughout. We think it's the best looking version yet

• Bug Fixes: a lot of small and not-so-small bugs have been squashed. In particular Collective now plays much more nicely with Spaces, Expose, TextExpander, and various other clipboard-altering applications.

Deckset [OS X; $19.99] Deckset is a new, simple way to create presentations. Open your favourite text editor, write down your thoughts and Deckset will turn them into beautiful presentations. Version 1.1.0 brings the following changes:

• A new theme: Plain Jane, featuring Lato by Łukasz Dziedzic

• Scroll through your speaker notes while in presenter display

• Drag images onto the preview window to generate the Markdown

• The Sketchnote theme now supports Czech special characters

• Improved font-sizes on slides with a [left] or [right] images

• Improved layout of inline images

• Minor bugfixes