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Top Picks: The movie 'Stronger,' the XE Currency app, and more

The 1Weather app will give you the most updated weather information for your holiday drive, a new PBS 'American Masters' program 'This is Bob Hope' looks at the entertainer's legacy, and more top picks.

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Scott Garfield/Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions/AP
  • By Staff

Heroic story

Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Jeff Bauman, who was injured in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, in the movie Stronger, which is available on DVD and Blu-ray. The film tells the story of Bauman’s adjustment to life after the bombing. Monitor film critic Peter Rainer praises actress Tatiana Maslany’s performance, writing, “Some sequences between Bauman and his on-again-off-again girlfriend (a fine Tatiana Maslany) ... have the grit of lived-in experience.”

Currency help

If you’re headed abroad for the holiday season and can’t quite remember how the currency conversion will work, let the XE Currency app help. It saves the latest conversion information so you can access it later even without an internet connection. You can also track as many as 10 different currencies at the same time. The app is free for iOS and Android.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff

Explore the world

The NPR podcast Wow in the World will educate kids in a fun way about science topics, such as the bleaching of coral reefs and why horses have hooves. The episodes will even make adults chuckle, too. The program, hosted by Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas, is available at http://bit.ly/wowintheworldpodcast.

Weather or not

Make sure you have the most updated weather information for your holiday drive with the 1Weather app, which includes weather information ranging from precipitation predictions to the current phase of the moon – all in a visually pleasing way. You can be sure you’ll be truly ready to be outdoors with the “feels like” temperature information as well. The 1Weather app is free for iOS and Android.

Reuters/File

’Hope’ for many

Bob Hope became beloved by multiple generations for his groundbreaking comedy and the success he found in radio, film, and TV. A new PBS “American Masters” program This is Bob Hope looks at his legacy and includes interviews with comedians such as Conan O’Brien and Margaret Cho about how Hope influenced them as well as Billy Crystal reading Hope’s own words. “This is Bob Hope” airs Dec. 29 at 9 p.m.

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