Yesterday's Top Launches: 5 Tools from January 12, 2026
Several new productivity tools launched yesterday, including an expense-tracking app called Expense6.
Yesterday brought another wave of interesting launches, particularly for professionals looking to streamline their digital workflows. While the lineup covers everything from finance to fun, there's a clear theme of practical tools designed to solve everyday problems without adding complexity. Here’s a closer look at the five products that debuted on January 12, 2026.
Expense6
For anyone who dreads the monthly ritual of sorting through receipts and categorizing expenses, Expense6 looks like a welcome relief. This mobile app aims to simplify financial management by automatically tracking where your money goes and, more importantly, flagging which expenses might be tax-deductible or claimable. The ability to generate quotes, invoices, and receipts on the fly is a solid feature for freelancers or small business owners who are constantly on the move.
The freemium model means you can test the core functionality without commitment, which is essential for a financial tool. You need to feel confident it works for your specific situation before paying. The main question mark hangs over its integration capabilities. Does it sync with your bank accounts and accounting software smoothly, or will it create another data silo? For someone drowning in administrative tasks, the promise of organization is compelling, but the devil will be in the implementation details.
Boom for Mac
Video presentations are a staple of modern work, but looking professional often requires a surprising amount of post-production effort. Boom for Mac tackles this head-on by acting as a layer over your existing video conferencing apps like Zoom and Teams. It lets you incorporate professional layouts, live screen sharing, and other presentation elements without needing to edit a thing afterward.
This is squarely aimed at consultants, educators, and anyone who frequently presents to clients or large groups. The idea of jumping on a call and having a polished, multi-source display ready to go is powerful. The freemium pricing is smart, as it lowers the barrier for individuals to try it out. I’m curious about the performance hit, though. Running Boom on top of a resource-intensive app like Zoom could be taxing on older Macs, so that’s something to watch for. If it’s optimized well, this could become a go-to tool for serious presenters.
Pane
The humble spreadsheet is getting a major AI-powered upgrade with Pane. This web-based tool combines the familiar grid interface with a natural language assistant. Instead of wrestling with complex formulas, you can simply describe what you want to achieve—like “show me sales trends by region for the last quarter”—and the Pane Agent supposedly handles the rest.
This has enormous potential for people who need to analyze data but aren’t spreadsheet experts. Marketing analysts, project managers, and small business owners could save a ton of time. The fact that it’s free at launch is a bold move to attract users. The success of such a tool, however, lives and dies by the intelligence of its AI. If it frequently misinterprets commands or produces inaccurate results, the novelty will wear off fast. It’s one of the more ambitious new developer tools to emerge, focusing on making data manipulation accessible.
Settle It
Group indecision is a universal frustration. Settle It offers a brilliantly simple solution: create a quick poll with multiple options, get a shareable link, and let people vote. No accounts, no downloads, just a fast way to answer questions like “Where should we order lunch?” or “What time works for the meeting?”
Its strength is its sheer simplicity and immediacy. It’s the kind of tool you’d use for a few minutes and then forget about until the next time you need it. Being free and web-based makes it accessible to everyone. The limitation is that it’s designed for ephemeral, low-stakes decisions. You wouldn’t use it for a formal survey or any decision that requires authentication or detailed analytics. But for its intended purpose, it seems perfectly fit.
ScribblePadGames
In a world of glowing screens, ScribblePadGames is a charming outlier. It resurrects the classic pen-and-paper games many of us grew up with, like dots and boxes or word searches, by providing pre-made grids you can print or download as PDFs. It’s a nod to offline, tactile fun for families, road trips, or just a quick mental break.
The freemium model suggests there are premium packs or more elaborate game sets available. This is less a tech product and more a content platform. Its success will depend on the quality and variety of the games offered. It’s a niche product, but for parents or educators looking for screen-free activities, it could be a gem.
Quick Links
For more details on any of yesterday's launches, check out the full project pages: