YouTube — Sweet Talkin’ Ken (in 90 secon… http://youtu.be/1DTEzjHeaXE?a
“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president…”.
-Nelson Mandela (From CCIE daily newsletter)
I uploaded a YouTube video — Hot Wheels Video Racer http://youtu.be/DyYXqdumiOo?a
I uploaded a YouTube video — Hot Wheels Video Racer http://youtu.be/fKde5uQr_2c?a
We received this yesterday from Businesswire; cut and pasted in original format:
Jan. 19, 2011 22:48 UTC
ADDING MULTIMEDIA Nintendo 3DS Brings a Dimensional Shift to the World of Entertainment on March 27
Glasses-Free 3D Gaming System Comes Packed with Features at Suggested Retail Price of $249.99
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The company that changed the world of video games with touch-screen gaming in 2004 and motion-controlled gaming in 2006 now pioneers the next dimensional shift. On March 27, Nintendo introduces portable entertainment in 3D – without the need for special glasses. The Nintendo 3DS™ system will be available in either Cosmo Black or Aqua Blue, and will have a suggested retail price of $249.99. Pricing outside the United States will be established by the local markets, but offer similar consumer value.
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Number of Children's Interactive Media Titles: The First 27 Years vs. The Last Four Years
There’s been a 64.14% increase in commercial children’s interactive media products over the last four years. Said another way, more products have been published in the past 48 months than in the first 27 years of children’s interactive media (graph).
BEHIND THE NUMBERS: From 1984 to 2007, we reviewed 9,306 commercial products for Apple II, IBM/DOS, Windows, Macintosh, OSX, commercial web sites, and cartridges for toy platforms like Leapster and V.smile, sold for children aged 0-to 15-years-of-age. Keep in mind that this is not completely comprehensive. CTR reviews products submitted to for evaluation, or that we found in our research.
Since January 2007, we’ve reviewed an additional 2,291 products; as set containing significantly fewer Windows and Mac titles, with more Nintendo Wii and DS titles and web-related content. Most recently, we’ve seen several promising Kinect titles.
HOW MANY APPS? Since the iTunes App store opened for business in July, 2008, there have been 12,984 apps tagged by apple for “kids” (as of January 9, 2011). This number obviously does not include Android-based apps, and Apple does not reveal how they assign the tags. With the establishment and stability of the iPad, we expect this significant growth trend to continue well into 2014.
Will 3-D exposure cause eye damage? This statement, from the American Academy of Ophthalmology should help adults relax. At this time there are no conclusive studies on the short- and/or long-term effects of 3-D digital products on eye and visual development, health, or function in children, nor are there persuasive, conclusive theories on how 3-D digital products could cause damage in children with healthy eyes. If we hear of any, we’ll pass it along.
Here are the links to some select sessions at Kids at Play at CES, posted by Scott Traylor.
2nd Annual KAPi Awards (Kids At Play Interactive Awards)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IEqw3R-AiA
Dancing Vacuum Robots by Mint Robotics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNlSdbXMdt0
Dueling Keynotes – Jesse Schell & Ge Wang
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XModvXyK-_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uYkJT140lU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7tsBY_BjAs
SIfteo – David Merrill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Ia3hwuFQw
Virtual Worlds – JumpStart, Hot Wheels, Whyville
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2eBXXDCyo
Angry Birds, the toy by Mattel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fedydti9QCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nFxGAARC7o (Daren & Krista version)
Hot Wheels Video Racers by Mattel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xujxUWs-rs
New way to play a vinyl record
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8dCPoLOJHk
This Zumba exercise game lets you learn and practice nine dance styles including Reggaeton, Merengue, Salsa, Cumbia, Hip-Hop, Mambo, Rumba, Flamenco and Calypso. Content includes 30 music tracks, and routines led by Zumba creator Beto and celebrity instructors Gina Grant and Tanya Beardsley. 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.
This 17 screen ebook nicely mixes jigsaw puzzles with a collecting theme, creating a good language enrichment experience for young early readers. It runs on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, and joins four well designed apps for iPad, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, and The Princess and the Frog. Embedded in the story are hidden honey jars that can be touched to be collected. There are also four easy to play jigsaw puzzles with large, drag and drop pieces. 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.
Waldo, star of the 1987-vintage books by Martin Handford, comes to your clear iPad screen in this sequel to Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey App (versions also run on iPhone and iPod touch). After you log in, you choose a play mode, and then start searching in Hollywood sets. Each set has a theme, such as Robin Hood, The Wild West and The Three Musketeers. 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.
This printed dinosaur book-turned-iPad app is rich with content (over 600 dinosaurs are listed) but it has some rough design spots. The app, by “Dino” Don Lessem, certainly does a good job living up to it’s “most complete” claim. You can either simply swipe through the 112 pages, one page at a time, or jump to a specific page using a set of side-scrolling thumbnails. Each page contains a huge, beautiful close-up of a dinosaur, picture information, and a dramatically narrated paragraph describing the dinosaur on the screen. At any point, you can jump to a contents window, navigate using a family tree, browse dinosaur profiles, or look at 14 short videos that illustrate how the dinosaurs move. 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.
Thomas the Tank leaves the Island of Sodor for the very first time to build a new Search and Rescue Center, in this 23 screen eBook. When Thomas helps a friend in need, he is rewarded with a trip to the mainland. Along the way, he gets lost at sea and finds himself on the mysterious Misty Island, where he meets Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand. Together they help Thomas find his way home. This is the first iPad Thomas app. Thomas Tilt & Go was released previously for iPhone/iPod Touch. 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.
Designed to playfully introduce young children to 26 sea creatures that might be seen when surfing, this 80 screen ebook was written and narrated by Shaun Tomson, a professional surfer. There are three options: Read it to Me – with words highlighted as they are read; Read it Yourself; and StoryTalk, which allows a parent or other family member to record the narration. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Point your iPod Touch, iPad or iPhone at the sky (or ceiling) to harness the power of an augmented reality system paired with a database of the stars. The program uses your camera, compass, current location and accelerometers to know which star you’re looking at. In 2010, an iPad edition was released with an updated database with constellations and messier objects. 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.
Touch a planet, moon or comet to explore, in this carefully crafted interactive science poster that covers every corner of our Solar System. After the dramatic symphonic introduction (which can be skipped), you can start exploring. You notice a location-based slider on the screen bottom, that starts with the center of the solar system (the Sun) and moves out to the distant comets. This space-line serves as a constant table of contents, helping you to jump around quickly through huge distances. To learn more about a planet or moon, touch it or turn it to pull up more photos taken from NASA or the Hubble. Content includes about 200 “pages” of interactive information, presented book style. Note that a high level of reading is required, and English appears to be the only language option. 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.
This collection of 16 tightly scripted, one player games is designed to introduce typical school readiness concepts to a young child. In the Wii version, children hold the Wii Remote like handlebars. Note that this is one of two new Sesame Street titles. The other is Sesame Street: Cookies Counting Carnival. Both run on Wii, Windows and DS. This title features Elmo and Zoe. Extras include a “Wii Gameplay Helper” — a soft cover for your Wii remote that hides buttons. Using this is optional. The DS version includes a Sesame Street stylus; also not required to play the game. After you pick one of the four player profiles, you start exploring the Zoo. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Here’s a fun twist on math drills that uses a tried and true metaphor– rockets, to keep things interesting. You start by building a rocket by dragging and dropping different parts into place. Each part can be resized, and there are plenty of silly parts… like soda cans, to make a pretty weird looking rocket. But each part also costs money, which you earn by solving math fact problems. Content includes 90 rocket parts. You can fly your rocket into outer space, where you can earn more money by touching the answers to 56 types of math problems, ranging from “touch all the numbers less than 100″ to “touch the coins to add up to 41 cents”. 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.
Set to the tune of Clair de Lune, which softly plays on a piano, the 54 page story is crafted carefully so that every touch of the screen is used; from the subtle page turns, to the pull down table of contents, that springs up or down like a window shade. The biggest accomplishment of this title is that it manages to do this all without getting in the way of Beatrix Potter’s original story. Interactive elements include pull-tabs, spin-wheels, spring-mounted elements, as well as items that float based on the motion of 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.
Inspired by the board game of the same name, Pictureka is a hidden picture game where you race the clock to see how many objects you can find in 60 seconds. You race to earn points. There are both adventure modes and a turn-based mode that lets you compete against another player. 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.
This game features play-by-play announcing by Tim Kitzrow, two campaign modes (Classic and Remix Tour), realistic looking players modeled after famous NBA players, Boss Battles against basketball legends, the rosters and logos of 30 NBA Teams, plus 100 unlockable items that include teams, characters, privileges, and mascots. 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.
This 23 screen book is about Nash, a 7 year old boy who likes to break things — a theme that any child can understand. Each page has one or multi-stage hot spots, plus pull tabs and dials that let you do the smashing (and un-smashing). The story has a happy ending, as Nash learns how to control his impulses. Written by Bill Doyle, with illustrations by Try Cummings. 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.
This nicely produced adaptation of Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock characters turns your iPad into a clean, beautifully illustrated, narrated story book. There are 27 pages displayed vertically, and three modes: read it myself, read to me and autoplay. In the “read it myself” mode, children can swipe their way through the book, one page at a time, front or back, listening to the text read aloud by the same male narrator that is in every FrogDogMedia production. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The game of Marbles moves to the iPad screen, with Marble Mixer, a four player game with three modes: Monster Picnic (see how many times you can hit a monster’s mouth in 1 minute), Space Mania (try to get your marble to stop on a score ring, or push your opponent’s marble into the hole in the middle of the turntable) and Table Tactics (a turn-based game where you try to score as many points as you can with ten marbles). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This app could be viewed as a sophisticated advertisement for a muffin business. Based on a true story, this app tells the story of a Brooklyn woman named Jessica who decides to start her own muffin business. After she perfects the recipe, she peddles her muffins on a home-made muffin bicycle, around New York City. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Smule’s second music simulator is equally as amazing as it’s first — Magic Piano — but, like the instrument it emulates, it’s harder to pick up and play. Content includes a set of lessons that teach finger placement on a virtual fingerboard, posture, and even things like where to rest your chin on the iPad’s screen. In the tutorials, you are told where to put your hands on the virtual fret board, by Guitar-Hero-style pitch markers that move from left to right across the screen, showing you where to place your fingers on the screen. The 39 song songbook ranges from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to Nearer My God to Thee. There’s also an in-app link to the app store, where you can purchase advanced pieces. 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.
Well designed but very challenging, this picture searching program follows a tried-and-true formula that translates well to the iPad’s clear touch screen. While it isn’t designed specifically for children, it’s the kind of app that a child (or adult) can do. It is also fun to do as a huddle game, with many people helping to spot the hidden item. You start by logging into one of four game-save slots, which saves progress automatically. The goal is to search through ten scenes that consist of hundreds of tiny, clear items, shown against a single color background and arranged into an outline that you instantly recognize (e.g., a dog, shoe or pair of scissors). 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.
Ever wonder how many players can be on a defensive formation at once? This interactive quiz is designed to teach you the fundamentals of US football in an interactive and easy to understand way. Content is organized into quarters. The First Quarter – Who’s Who – introduces each player’s position on the field; Second Quarter deals with features on a football field; Third Quarter is all about downs, and Fourth Quarter – Know the Score – shows the points for touchdowns, extra points, field goals, etc. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Turn your iPad into a beautifully illustrated story book, with this 38 page (screen) iPad version of the Kung Fu Panda movie (the icon is called “KFP Holiday). If your child liked the movie, he or she will also like this storybook. That’s because the illustrations are taken directly from the movie, pixel per pixel. The book follows the movie, highlighting each key moment, and the narration sounds like it came from the movie as well. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Each letter becomes a toy, in this alphabet book. Interactive Alphabet for iPad starts with a large, colorful alphabet. Touch a letter and you see an associated image. For F, you see a fan, along with the words “F is for Fan.” The X shows a working Xylophone that can be played. 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 series by Norman Bridwell, this $5 app features Clifford the Big Red Dog with a two topics many children find of interest: vehicles and motion. As children swipe through the story, they can tilt from side to side to make the trees sway, waves roll and cars move. At any time, a child can touch a bone on the bottom of the screen to start a rather unlrelated driving game, where you drive the vehicles in the story and try to collect bones for Clifford by turning the screen left or right (like a steering wheel). 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.
Go George Go! consists of two play patterns: Dress Up and Mazes. You start by dressing up George with an outfit by dragging and dropping different uniform parts into place. If you dress him as a farmer, you see him in a farm-themed maze, where you move either by tilting the screen, or by tracing a path with your finger. There are two levels of difficulty. 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 Nintendo DS edition of Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure has a fun story and theme, but pervasive background music, pushy narration and some poorly designed games that don’t help children understand what to do or what they’ve done wrong. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Inspired by the 3D animated film, Disney Tangled, this game is full of stereotypes, and fun. Following the movie story, you can explore different environments like Rapunzel’s house. In the Wii version, you can take on the role of Rapunzel and use her golden hair to pull objects, climb, and swing. As Flynn you can climb walls, clear obstacles, engage in sword fights, and use his Flynntuition to find hidden treasures. In the DS version you can play a variety of puzzles and mini games, brush Rapunzel’s hair, paint Flynn’s wanted posters, make cupcakes, race goats and groom horses. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This app is more of an ornate annotated photo library, with no narration, search options nor language options. Featured in many of the photos is legendary dinosaur collector Barnum Brown, responsible for finding many of the artifacts on display today. There are many WWI-era photos of Brown and his team at work, digging dusty bones out of the sand.
Note that the app is part of a 2011 exhibit called the World’s Largest Dinosaurs designed to highlight Sauropods, which grew up to 150 feet long. The exhibit will include a life-sized model of a 60-foot Mamenchisaurus that you can walk inside. Other apps from the museum include Cosmic Discoveries (a 1,000 image mosaic) and American Museum of Natural History Explorer, designed as an “indoor GPS” which pinpoints a user’s location within the Museum and offers turn-by-turn directions. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Featuring characters from the Jim Henson Company TV show, The Dinosaur Train, children start by finding hidden dinosaur eggs in a scene in this app. Next comes a multiple-choice style matching game where you put eggs into the correct nest, based on color and pattern. There is also a baby/mother matching game that includes dino-terms (a matching game with two choices), and a coloring activity where you fill in a scene. There are versions for both the iPhone and iPad. Other PBS Kids apps include Super Why! and Martha Speaks Dog Party. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Children can follow fourteen cookie recipes, step by step. You start by picking a recipe (e.g., “Strawberry Sugar Cookie”). Next you make the dough by adding the ingredients into the mixing bowl, one touch at a time. To crack an egg, you tap it; to slice a bar of butter, you swipe. To pour an ingredient, you have to tilt the iPad. Next you roll the dough, and pick a stamp (e.g., a sailboat or a pine tree… there are a lot). Then, you can decorate a cookie with frosting and sprinkles. To eat your cookie, you tap on it. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Part of the Tickle Tap Apps series, Boogie Bopper lets children play ten simple melodies like Bingo and Mary Had a Little Lamb by touching a rainbow shaped xylophone, with circle-shaped keys arranged from low to high. 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.