Children’s Technology Review, May 2010
CTR No 122
Volume 18, No. 5, Issue 122
This is a free editorial by Warren Buckleitner. For full access, please subscribe.
Since Hermann Rorschach created his famous personality screening test back in 1921, many have used it to try to figure a person’s state of mind. Giving you the
Rorschach test is simple: I show you something unique (such as an inkblot), and then ask you to describe what you think you see. I then crank your answers through a set of instruments, and “DING,” I know if you’re mentally sound (or not). Now swap the inkblot for something else unique and open ended. An iPad. What do you see? More importantly, how does it make you feel?
Because this is an interactive column, I’ll allow you to sit quietly for a while as you study the photo on this month’s cover, and jot down your thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »
I asked three publishers, a.k.a., “Flashmasters” what they thought about the fact that Adobe Flash won’t run on the iPad. Many children’s interactive products depend on Flash, including Disney’s Club Penguin, StarFall.com and Giggles. I’ll post this on our blog, in case any other publishers want to jump in.
Scott Traylor, CEO, 360KID
In the 20 or so years that I’ve been making interactive products, I’ve seen tools come and go, and used almost all of them. What I’ve found to be most annoying about these tools is that, for the most part, they are not made with an engineer in mind. They are made to sell to the largest development population possible to create the largest revenues/profits possible. In the heat of a project, you will find you all kinds of wacky issues will appear. The most dreaded is the memory leak. There are a number of other specific software needs that these tools don’t provide, but memory leaks prevent me from shipping product. I also find that these tools are also huge processor hogs on computers. Ever leave a browser page open with a Flash asset running and hear your laptop fan start up? Does this mean that I don’t use these tools or don’t even like these tools? No. More than 80% of our work every day is done in Flash. When I used to teach, I had one concept I would introduce early to try to dispel the myth that “a hammer is a hammer.” Some hammers are shiny, some hammers sleek, but choose the hammer that’s best for the project you wish to build. Flash is a good hammer, but it’s not great for building everything. Yes, I feel there are shananigans going on between Apple and Adobe, but I also understand that the processing power of an iPad is finite. Supporting a tool that monopolizes processing power on any platform is problematic. There’s a lot of great Flash product out there created by developers who know their stuff. Is that reason enough to support Flash on the iPad? Sadly, I have to say no. Not when I see the volumes of other Flash product that stinks, created by novice developers that don’t know how to make savvy software. Others will strongly disagree with my position, but this is what my experience as a developer tells me.
Tim Leverette, CEO of Leveractive, LLC
I feel a bit like a child who is being unnecessarily traumatized by two fighting parents, that I both love… Flash has been a pretty enduring tool, even with it’s shortcomings. I think that blaming the tool for all memory and playback issues is not looking at the entire picture. There are definitely memory issues with Flash in general, but on top of that there are many designers who do not know how to use the tool correctly. So I just want to be sure we’re not always blaming the hammer every time we hit our thumbs. I also want to point out that there are two different issues and discussions that are often getting interchanged here. There is the issue of supporting Flash via the browser on the iPad and iPhone platforms. The second issue (the one I care most about) is about supporting Flash exported iPhone Apps via the new Flash CS5 exporter. The new Flash CS5 iPhone exporter exports native iPhone code – it is no longer flash. I am worried about Apple shutting down the new capability of Flash CS5 to export to iPhone/iPad App. Many people out there are using arguments against the CS5 exported self-contained iPhone Apps issue that are only valid against issue #1 – the browser-based Flash issues. It’s easy to confuse the two, but I feel very important not to.
Karina Linch, Senior Vice President, Product Management, BrainPop
This is an issue BrainPOP has been following closely. BrainPOP has a featured free movie everyday, which can be viewed on our homepage, embedded into class blogs, or accessed through our free iPad app. For example, on World Book and Copyright Day, and you can view our free copyright movie and take our copyright quiz on BrainPOP’s website, or on your iPad via the BrainPOP Featured Movie App. Visit http://www.brainpop.com/featured to see today’s featured free movie, get the embed code here: http://www.brainpop.com/educators/featured_movie/ or download the iPad app here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brainpop-featured-movie/id364894352?mt=8 We believe there’s great potential for mobile devices in the hands of students.
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OK, so what do you think?
- Charge the iPad Marge, one week 'till @dustormagic AppCamp! #
- Charge the iPad Marge, one week 'till @dustormagic AppCamp! #
- Just posted: Nearly final agenda at the "Dust or Magic AppCamp at Asilomar" ( http://bit.ly/7EFvI ) #
- Looking at: Max and the Magic Maker; one of the more evolved physics games just out from Legacy http://bit.ly/a4Jq8l #
Can Technology Enhance the Life of a Child?
Reference: Buckleitner, W., (2010). Can technology enhance the life of a young child? Children’s Technology Review, Vol. 18, No. 4. (http://childrenstech.com)
On March 21-23, a group of 150 or so researchers, journalists and publishers joined former colleagues of Fred Rogers to discuss “Creative Curiosity, New Media and Learning.” I was among the attendees (disclosure: my travel expenses were covered). The meeting was hosted by the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media, which is housed at Saint Vincent College in Fred’s home town of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The center is both a meeting facility and a public archive of materials from the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood television program, including one of his grand pianos and several very empty sweaters. The name of the meeting, “Fred Forward” is well-suited for framing the rapid convergence of technologies these days, with the values that Fred Rogers espoused. I saw the event as a rare opportunity to collect expert opinions. After all, how often do you get such a diverse group in one place at one time? With the center’s permission, I conducted some informal interviews. My method was to ask each person a similarly-worded question. “Can technology enhance the life of a child? If so, how?” After the question, I then asked my interviewee for a suggestion about who I should interview next. My sample was 19 responses, three with associated YouTube content. Thanks to all those who were willing to talk into a (Livescribe) pen.
Charge the iPad Marge, one week ’till @dustormagic AppCamp!
- Just posted: Nearly final agenda at the "Dust or Magic AppCamp at Asilomar" ( http://bit.ly/7EFvI ) #
Just posted: Nearly final agenda at the “Dust or Magic AppCamp at Asilomar” ( http://bit.ly/7EFvI )
- Looking at: Max and the Magic Maker; one of the more evolved physics games just out from Legacy http://bit.ly/a4Jq8l #
Looking at: Max and the Magic Maker; one of the more evolved physics games just out from Legacy http://bit.ly/a4Jq8l
- A closer look at the Scratch App Controversy – http://childrenstech.com/blog/2010/04/17/scratchapp/ #
- Reading: Larry Magid puts the UK's Facebook 'Panic Button' idea into context in his Safe and Secure CNET column ( http://bit.ly/bOizzP ) #
Yesterday I learned that Apple had removed an App called “Scratch Viewer 1.4″ from the App store (by way of a Facebook post by Scott Traylor). This decision has ruffled some feathers (see http://computinged.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/apple-removes-scratch-from-ipadiphoneitouch/ for a taste of the comments, including one by Alan Kay).
So I decided to dig a bit deeper into this issue. 
WHAT DOESN’T THIS APP DO?
This app is not Scratch. This might be misleading because it appears the Icon for the App is labeled merely as “Scratch.” The true name is “Scratch Viewer.” So let’s be clear — this is not the free, NSF funded, full-fledged version of programming toolkit called Scratch that we’ve all come to know and love. It’s an $4 App that lets you do something you can currently do for free on your computer.
- Reading: Larry Magid puts the UK's Facebook 'Panic Button' idea into context in his Safe and Secure CNET column ( http://bit.ly/bOizzP ) #
WarioWare D.I.Y includes 90 pre-made games, although you can download more. To create a game, you can use a library of pre-made graphics and a sound editor, or you can borrow elements from other games. The games can be shared over a local wireless connection (providing friends have the program), or swapped online with friends who have your friend code. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Four early reading activities each feature a character from the PBS Super Why program. In Alpha Pig’s Lickety Letter Hunt, your child helps Alpha Pig find his way home by identifying one of three letters presented verbally (e.g., do you see the letter “v?”). In Princess Presto’s Wands-up Writing, the goal is to make objects appear by identifying letter sounds, tracing letters on the touch screen, and writing words. Wonder Red’s Rhyming Time presents words in a multiple choice format. The word is first presented (“press on the word that rhymes with trap”). Children are then shown two choices (DOG and CAP). Finally, Super Why’s Story Save is a fill-in-the-blank activity. As children play, they collect virtual stickers they can use to decorate a sticker book. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Imagine Bikini Bottom as a demolition derby for up to four players, and you get the idea of this game. Content includes 100 boat mobiles that you try to knock off track. You play as one of nine SpongeBob characters and “crash-n-bash” your way to victory within demolition arenas throughout Bikini Bottom. The multi-player game allows up to four players to drive more than 100 customized boat mobiles, while trying to knock off and collect other boat parts in order to earn points and move up levels with the hope of ultimately earning your boat mobile license. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Modeled after the classic See ‘n Say spinner toy, the See ‘n Say app mixes cartoon-like farm animals with clear video of real animals. After you start the App, children see six of the 12 animals (a different selection each time) and can either touch a spinner in the center of the screen to randomly select an animal, or manually turn or “steer” the spinner to an animal they want to see. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Designed for one player, you play as either Ratchet or Clank, as you run, jump, fly and fight your way through over five levels. Each character has unique abilities to help with different jobs. You can fly on Ratchet’s Hoverboots that allow him to travel at high speeds and great heights or utilize Clank’s time-manipulation abilities that can be used to stop Dr. Nefarious, who is attempting to control time himself. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
The Pokémon empire continues to grow, with two more titles that share a nearly identical design, but offer different collections of Pokémon to find and trade. Following the same tried-and-true formula of the original Pokémon games, SoulSilver is a spiced up version of the GBA Pokémon Silver version released ten years ago. These new titles contain 115 new Pokémon (or “pocket monsters”), some wireless game play features, plus a Pokéwalker pedometer that lets you earn game credits by moving around. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
The Pokémon empire continues to grow, with two more titles that share a nearly identical design, but offer different collections of Pokémon to find and trade. Following the same tried-and-true formula of the original Pokémon games, HeartGold is a spiced up version of the GBA Pokémon Gold version released ten years ago. These new titles contain 115 new Pokémon (or “pocket monsters”), some wireless game play features, plus a Pokéwalker pedometer that lets you earn game credits by moving around. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Featuring good music and bad design, this preschool app starts with a view of a farm that was modeled after the original Little People farm toy set. Various items launch short animated routines or games.
For example, touching a large turtle (hey, what’s a dog-sized turtle doing on a farm?) starts a multiple-choice matching game where you “touch two turtles that look the same.” The idea is valid, but the game starts too hard for the intended age range and has no contextual value. Inside the barn, children can play the haystack game, a memory puzzle where they track a moving haystack with their eyes. Two other activities include wiping mud off the screen, which is fun, despite frequent prompts to “move your finger back and forth to clean it all up.” Finally, there are two twitching children near the barnyard. When they’re touched, children hear a nice rendition of “Turkey and the Straw.” As they listen they can make the children move to the music by touching them. Created by IDEO LLC for Fisher-Price. Teaches: classification, fine motor skills, memory. Fisher-Price, Inc.. www.fisher-price.com, $1.99. Best for ages 3-5.
Rating: 
or .56%
In Avatar The Game, you either fight with the Na’vi, Pandora’s indigenous people, or against them, as a soldier of the RDA Corporation, using customizable weapons or clan-specific skills. As you unlock levels, you acquire new skills. You can also create your own character, drive the vehicles and ride the animals of Pandora. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
You begin by plugging in your iPad into a Windows or Macintosh computer (required), and starting iTunes (also required). This starts the standard registration process, and some free trial offers to subscription-based data services; all easily skippable. Next, you log into your favorite Wi-Fi zones (also required). The next parts are familiar to anyone who has ever synced an iPod Touch or an iPhone with a computer. You can decide which apps you want to transfer, from the huge selection of free choices, along with your movies, podcasts and photos. Or you can give Apple your credit card and download some of the new iPad native apps already on the market. These titles, in the $5 – $10 range, have markedly better graphics and sounds. Regular iPod Touch apps appear in a regular sized window on the iPad’s larger screen, with a “2x button” in the lower corner, making it easy to quickly fill the screen. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Based on the DreamWorks Animation movie, this game lets you train dragons, explore the Island of Berk as Hiccup or Astrid in Story Mode, and battle in dragon tournaments for Viking victory in Action Mode. The “Create Your Dragon” feature allows you to customize six different types of dragons. You can also “level up” your dragon’s speed, power, fire and other abilities through training to face the Viking challenge and become the ultimate dragon trainer. You can then use your trained dragons to battle friends. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This handheld GPS receiver is designed to lead you to one of the 250,000 geocache locations that are pre-loaded into the device’s memory. After you insert the two AAA batteries, you turn on the unit and go outside in order tune into the GPS satellites. The display shows compass heading, latitude and longitude as well as the ability to save your finds in memory. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Turn your iPad into an easel with this drawing experience. Content includes just two brush sizes (a bit limited), 60 colored pencils that look realistic on the textured paper, 70 crayon colors and four types of sprinkles. The sticker library includes 140 cars, animals, trains and toys; all of interest to children, fully moveable, and resizable with a pinch or a pull. Other features include one-touch saving to your photo library and the ability to email or tweet your picture in twitpic format, as long as you have existing accounts in place. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Based on the book Dragonology, this scavenger hunt game for the Nintendo DS lets you explore an interactive journal, travel the world, and learn ancient tracking skills to find dangerous dragons to study, protect and preserve. As you progress from apprentice to Master of Dragonology, you will build your own Dragonological Encyclopedia, and collect dragon curiosities which include dragon claws, scales, and teeth. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Strikingly beautiful graphics, a fun format, but limited game play and content are the hallmarks of the iPad version of Disney Fairies Fly (called just “Fairies Fly” in Apple’s App Store). Note that limited versions were previously released for iPhone and iPod Touch. The beauty comes with a price. This is a large (458 MB) download. To fly, you simply tilt the screen to control your fairy as you progress through a side scrolling maze, moving up or down to collect items such as flowers or orbs, while avoiding hazards like stinging bees and thunder clouds. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Introduced in 1962, the Fisher-Price Classic Chatter Telephone now has an app. Unfortunately, the play pattern is nothing like original wooden toy, where you could dial the phone, or (better yet) pull the phone around with a string as the eyeballs moved (see a short video of a newer version of the toy, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N0MQ9L1Ywc).
Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
In the story, you help Sylvie Leroux, a young archaeologist, as she travels to Malta at the request of her uncle, a world renowned historian. When she arrives, she discovers he is missing and it is now up to you to help her save the professor and decipher the clues to the secrets of the Knights Hospitaller order. Content includes 50 locations, 14 minigames, and a special game mode called Hidden World, that allows you to play classic hidden object levels. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
If there were such a thing as PhotoShop for your pocket, it might resemble something like the iPad version of Brushes ($10, brushesapp.com). Originally designed for iPhone and iPod Touch, Brushes iPad Edition offers a set of non-watered down menus that let you adjust brush size and texture, down to the pixel. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Named after the main character in “Alice in Wonderland”, Alice has recently been upgraded.
Like MIT’s Scratch and Alan Kay’s Squeak, Alice is a free programming language for children that can be downloaded and installed on a Macintosh, Windows or Linux computer. It is designed to turn programming into a drag-and-drop process. Alice was funded by Electronic Arts, Sun Microsystems, DARPA, Intel, Microsoft, NSF, and ONR. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Reading: Larry Magid puts the UK’s Facebook ‘Panic Button’ idea into context in his Safe and Secure CNET column ( http://bit.ly/bOizzP )
- Recent AppCampers: Kathleen Kremer/Fisher-Price; Colombo (ITP) @ Dust or Magic AppCamp at Asilomar ( http://bit.ly/7EFvI ) #dustormagic #
- I subscribed to buckleit's channel on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/buckleit?feature=autoshare_twitter #
- Recent AppCampers: Kathleen Kremer/Fisher-Price; Colombo (ITP) @ Dust or Magic AppCamp at Asilomar ( http://bit.ly/7EFvI ) #dustormagic #
Most recent AppCampers include Kathleen Kremer, Ph.D of Fisher-Price and Michael Colombo (ITP’s latest) @ Dust or Magic AppCamp at Asilomar! ( http://bit.ly/7EFvI ) #dustormagic
Coming next week (April 12) from Netflix, the addition of the Nintendo Wii as a video streaming option, joining other platforms including Sony’s PS3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Apple’s iPad.
Providing you have an active NetFlix subscription ($9/month), along with a web-connected Wii, you start by inserting a special DVD provided free from Netflix, just as you would a regular game.
When it’s movie time, you bribe your Wii away from your child, and start the Netflix movie viewer, logging into your account. Next, you pick your movies and start buffering. If the Internet winds are blowing your way, your Wii Remote soon is transformed into a real remote.
- I stand corrected although the process was not available when this video… (YouTube http://youtu.be/mNsEFE_qfOk?a) #
- Looking at: Don't miss Anne Bubnic's useful collection of web safety related resources: Cybersafety Games ( http://bit.ly/aKtdlH ) #
- Reading: "Text Alerts for Baby Care – Gadgetwise Blog – NYTimes.com" ( http://nyti.ms/dcCjbY ) #childrenstech #
I presented four children, aged 2 to 11 (three boys and one girl) with the choice of an iPad and the new shiney red (larger) Nintendo DSi XL.
I asked “Which do you want to play with?” None of the children had ever seen either, although all had played both on iPod Touches, iPhones or Nintendo DS lites. The highly unscientific sample results? iPad 3, DSi XL 1. So far, the iPad wins in the novelty test. Later, after playing with this Fisher-Price app, this two year old stepped on the screen. It survived.
Below: Google Earth was the first App the older kids wanted to try.
- I stand corrected although the process was not available when this video… (YouTube http://youtu.be/mNsEFE_qfOk?a) #