Facebook released a new mobile application for iOS called Poke on Friday, leveraging the social network’s longstanding “Poke” feature in order to send short text, picture and video messages as well as the more traditional poke. Users have the option of adding their location to each poke, as well as sending each message to multiple recipients at once.

Scribblenauts was originally designed for and released on the Nintendo DS, and remains one of the platform’s must-have titles. The Wii U launch title and Steam top-seller Scribblenauts Unlimited has been pleasing pundits and end users alike with its crisp graphics, clever gameplay and endless possibilities, but the original DS version is not to be missed. Available on iOS as a universal app for both iPhone and iPad

Valve announced on Thursday that its previously invite-only Steam client for Linux is now available for all to download, test out and submit feedback. The announcement came shortly after Steam received a platform-wide update, with Valve welcoming Linux gamers to the service in what is turning out to be a very interesting year for the publisher.

We absolutely love the Humble Indie Bundle here at MakeUseOf, as you’ve probably noticed from our relentless reporting of past events. This time it’s back for it’s seventh outing of cheap independently-developed games, inviting users to pay what they want for four games and a film with the chance to pick up two more indie titles for paying more than the average donation.

2012 ended up being a pretty disappointing year for some of the most successful and well-respected companies including Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook. Tim Cook, Steve Ballmer, and Mark Zuckerberg might want to ask Santa for a better 2013, but it’s far more important that they learn from the mistakes they made this year. Let’s take a look at what went wrong for tech’s biggest companies in 2012.

YouTube has released a new free iOS app called Capture that focuses on recording, enhancing and uploading video as quickly as possible. The app is ready to record from the moment the app is opened, and allows users to make minor edits like colour correction, image stabilisation and adding music from YouTube’s free background tracks.

Twitter users will be pleased to hear that the world’s most popular microblogging service has finally started rolling out the option to download all past updates made via the service. The option to download an archive has started to appear at the bottom of the Settings page for select accounts on Twitter’s main website.

While jailbreakers have already figured out a way to ditch Apple Maps and replace it with Google instead, you don’t need to jailbreak in order to use Siri and Google Maps together. Simply append your query for directions with the words “via transit” and Siri will reveal a list of transport maps installed, allowing you to choose Google Maps to handle your request instead.

YouTube is indisputably the world’s biggest video sharing site but for many, Vimeo is where the comments and critique really matter. Not only a place to showcase your artwork, Vimeo also has a passionate community full of indie filmmakers, experimental artists and those with a penchant for the moving image. This makes it an incredibly creative and helpful community, complete with a Video School section.

App Store addicts can once again leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute and purchase gifts for their friends straight from their iPhones and iPads using the mobile storefront. After Apple’s iOS 6 update in September removed gifting entirely, the option to buy an app for someone else has returned and can now be found in the “Share” menu accessed via the button in the top-right corner of the app description.

In June I switched over from a combination of Windows and Linux to pretty much using OS X solely, and being largely familiar with Windows software (and painfully aware of the lack of many Linux alternatives) I had to replace a few oft-used programs with Mac-friendly alternatives. At some point I realised I was bereft of a file recovery tool and it was at that point I discovered PhotoRec.

The highly anticipated Google Maps iOS app has now finally arrived in the app store. The app, which is not yet optimised for iPad, features a new vector-based map which cuts down on data usage and provides sharper graphics along with features like turn-by-turn navigation and Google Street View.

You’d have thought the world was coming to an end when James discovered that Windows Home Server – Microsoft’s $50 set-and-forget network storage solution – was being axed in favour of a far more expensive successor. Thankfully he soon discovered that all hope was not lost thanks to Amahi, a free Linux-based home server. If you’ve been thinking about doing a spot of home improvement recently then why not start with your very own home server?

Police in the Australian state of Victoria have recently warned drivers about the potential dangers of relying on Apple’s notoriously unfinished Maps app bundled with iOS 6. In a news story posted on the Victorian Police News website, authorities from the remote town of Mildura warned that the navigation app has been diverting drivers 70 kilometres (43 miles) off-course into the heart of the Murray-Sunset National Park. As similar problems could occur anywhere in the world, iPhone (and iPad) users from all countries are reminded that they can still access Google Maps on their devices by visiting maps.google.com in their browser.

Beeple is the name by which graphic artist, 3D animator, musician, director and all-round skilled practitioner of visual awesomeness, Mike Winkelmann of Wisconsin, USA. Mike is pretty well-versed in a range of software including Cinema 4D and Illustrator, industry-standard stuff for creating beautiful static and motion graphics. His work is a treat for the senses, and you can learn from example.