I uploaded a YouTube video — colorguard http://youtu.be/kcjyM7GJO1g?a
I uploaded a YouTube video — Pocket Copter http://youtu.be/hcGqxGPHYTQ?a
Infrared radiation (same as your TV remote) @PiranhaJaw22 (YouTube http://youtu.be/safjI_DNNRo?a)
I uploaded a YouTube video — Barbie Hair-Tastic Printables Demonstration at Toy Fair 2011 http://youtu.be/k0Cg0n1yYVY?a
Just posted the #buckyball story video from #toyfair 2011 http://t.co/P63yXkR
I uploaded a YouTube video — How Buckyballs are made http://youtu.be/oBCha5ftLOw?a
I uploaded a YouTube video — Barbie Hair-Tastic Printables http://youtu.be/1RidC41zvPs?a
I uploaded a YouTube video — SpyNet Stealth Video Glasses Toy Fair 2011 Preview http://youtu.be/y8WjIUVdTMk?a
I uploaded a YouTube video — SpyNet Stealth Video Glasses Toy Fair 2011 Preview http://youtu.be/P6Y-0yspk9M?a
No, although this kind of question is thick with potentially clouding variables.
That’s why I was thrilled to find this study from my Alma mater (Michigan State University) that properly addressed the question using statistical techniques to account for the complexity of the question.
Here’s the executive summary of the study called Internet use, videogame playing and cell phone use as predictors of children’s body mass index (BMI), body weight, academic performance, and social and overall self-esteem by Linda A. Jackson, Alexander von Eye, Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Edward A. Witt and Yong Zhao; Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA:
In this research we examined the prediction of children’s body mass index (BMI), body weight, academic performance, social self-esteem and overall self-esteem from their IT (information technology) use, specifically, their Internet use, cell phone use and videogame playing, after controlling for the effects of gender, race, age and household income on these measures. Participants were 482 children whose average age was 12 years old.
One-third was African American and two-thirds were Caucasian American. Results
indicated that IT use did not predict BMI or body weight, contrary to one previous survey and the widespread belief that screen time is responsible for the obesity epidemic among our nation’s children.
Instead, BMI and body weight were higher for African Americans, older children and children from lower income households. The sole and strong positive predictor of visual–spatial skills was videogame playing, which also predicted lower grade point averages (GPAs). Gender and Internet use predicted standardized test scores in reading skills. Females and children who used the Internet more had better reading skills than did males and children who used the Internet less, respectively. Implications of these findings for future research on the benefits and liabilities of IT use are discussed.
I uploaded a YouTube video — Angry Birds: a Case Study http://youtu.be/f0Lx4-3LPgw?a
I uploaded a YouTube video — Toy Fair 2011: Air Swimmers http://youtu.be/C39Ap0HFsPA?a
I uploaded a YouTube video — Toy Fair 2011 Air Hogs Hyperactive http://youtu.be/gnXQ5BWH49s?a
by WARREN BUCKLEITNER
(updated December 28, 2010)
There’s good reason Apple’s iPad ranks up there with a pony on your child’s “most wanted” list. Kids are adapt at sniffing out authentic play opportunities, and when loaded with the right apps, the iPad delivers. But it’s far too easy to clutter a high quality screen with low quality apps. In order to help, here are ten or so of the best, listed from young to old.
I uploaded a YouTube video — Spin Master http://youtu.be/5DHyB9rTU0o?a
What’s next from Vtech, following last year’s MobiGo? An $80 touch tablet-like platform, called InnoPad, designed for ages 4-9. Features include a 5” LCD touch screen, a tilt-sensor, microphone, headphone jack, SD card storage and a USB connection to a computer for downloading additional content.
Software will come on $25 cartridges, and will include E-books that feature Toy Story, Dora the Explorer and Disney Princesses, a music player, games and an Art Studio with painting and drawing applications, for use with either fingers or the included stylus. It also provides a Photo Viewer/Editor. There will be nine cartridges at launch, plus an MP3 player for both videos or songs, a Calculator, Calendar, Notepad, Clock with personalized voice alarm and Friends Address Book.
Visit www.vtechkids.com/download to see a list of downloadable content. VTech promises “over 100″ download titles by the end of this year. A Learning Lodge Navigator is designed to track progress.
I uploaded a YouTube video — Scott Traylor http://youtu.be/HAbp4JvJaWg?a
Based on the animated film, this game lets you take on the role of Yogi Bear in his efforts to save Jellystone Park from shutting down. The DS version is a traditional side-scrolling platformer for one player, where you try to steer Yogi through a maze, collecting food and parts to gadgets, while avoiding skunks, mean squirrels and tourists. There are three game-save slots, and progress is saved automatically. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This collection of 20 action, strategy, puzzle, trivia and card games has something for everyone. Most are variations on a theme of familiar casual games. In Feeding Frosty you move a snowman around the screen to see how big you can grow it, while avoiding bad guys. In Boxdrop, you create stacks of number blocks that add up to 21. If you don’t like a game, it’s easy to exit and play something else. 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.
Why watch a cartoon when you can make one? This pirate-themed cartoon storyboarding toolkit exploits the iPad’s microphone, touch screen and web connectivity for the sake of creating and sharing puppet-show like productions. You’re forced to start with a story planner, where you can arrange the general parts of your production. To create your cartoon, you choose a background — a blank screen is an option– or finger-paint your own, using a rudimentary set of creativity tools (too few drawing options, no fill or undo, too many color choices). Next, you drag one or more “toys” onto the screen, from up to 20 possible, or you can draw your own. By choosing “Start Animation” you can move your character around your screen, puppet-show style, as you talk, sing or play into the iPad’s microphone. Next you can select background music, from about 20 classical selections, and watch your scene. If you don’t like it, you simply re-record, and move to the next scene. 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 regular-sized Ken doll doubles as an easy to use voice recorder and sound morpher. To get started you press a button on Ken’s chest and start talking. Up to five seconds of sound is captured, and can be played back in three voice styles — low, regular, and 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.
Designed to give future gymnasts a taste of competitive gymnastics, this is a collection of step-by-step exercises. After you sign in (progress is saved) to one of the three game save slots, you can take a tutorial, compete, or design your own routine. As the title implies, the game features Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson, in four events (uneven bars, balance beam, floor and vault). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This one player exploration game is only Pokémon’s second appearance on the Wii. Using the Wii Remote turned sideways (handlebar style), you navigate through the PokéPark or participate in one of the races or other skill games that are scattered around the park. In the story, the rare Pokémon Mew summons Pikachu to the PokéPark to find the missing Sky Prism Pieces. You play as Pikachu in each zone of the PokéPark, exchanging bits of dialog (reading required) with different characters who need things, in order to get to the next level. Once you befriend a Pokémon, you play as them in a puzzle, making this game a fun way to meet a variety of better known Pokémon characters. It also keeps things interesting. 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 work with the uDraw GameTablet (required) this is a screen adaptation of the board game where you sketch and guess clues. Content includes 3,000 clues, for up to four players or teams, and games can be saved for long-term play. The clues range in difficulty level. There are three game modes: Pictionary; Pictionary Mania; and Free Draw. 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 maze game features four penguin characters featured in the TV series from Nickelodeon and DreamWorks (Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private). You start by picking one of three game save slots (progress is saved automatically) and then start with an easy maze, set inside a zoo. The idea is to get all four penguins in the same place in the maze. 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 app mixes a variety of logic puzzles with a witty story. The story– about an FBI puzzle inspector, is full of twists and turns. There are three game-save slots; useful for multiple player homes. 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 is a collection of 17 puzzles of six varieties. The most noteworthy and familiar are the I SPY-like, hidden object games, which have you searching the screen until your eyes ache. In the story mode, adapted from the modern Nancy Drew books, Nancy tries to help a wedding take place by finding all the items needed for the ceremony. You interrogate 15 suspects — reading required — and complete the games in order to solve the crime. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Underwear comes to your iPad, in this set of four activities that feature underwear as the main theme, as drawn by cartoonist Todd Parr. There are four activities: a coloring book, an underwear matching game, an underwear catching game, and a game of underwear concentration. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Put a reading teacher in your Nintendo DS, in this single cartridge title that can track up to three children. In the “Learning Track” mode, children work through 10 lessons, each taking about five minutes. The lessons first introduce the concept and later activities provide practice by way of multiple-choice games, a reading comprehension game, or a spelling drill where you drag and drop letters into place to spell words. The lessons are presented in sequence, not unlike the way they would be presented in a typical first grade classroom. 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 is a firefighter-themed app, featuring something fire-related to do on each page. Children can pull the fire alarm, slide up, slide down, move, touch and poke various objects with sound effects. They can use a touch tone pad to enter 9-1-1, ring a bell at the fire station, dress a firefighter and so on. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
I Love You Through and Through is a nice adaptation of the book by the same name, by Bernadette Rosetti-Shustak (illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church). It is part of Scholastic Media’s “Touch & Tilt” line of apps. There are two ways to explore the 13 pages, which you swipe to turn. You can lean the screen from left to right, or tap on the text or the illustration to launch a one-step animation. Options allow parents to turn off the music and narration so the child can read the story on his/her own, or have the story read to them. 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 interactive children’s book features a 3D graphic effect to make the pages look as if they are part of a pop-up book, laying on a turntable. Because you can rotate the turntable by touching, the book elements have a 3D appearance. There are three modes: Read to Me, Read it Myself, and Autoplay, and three language settings: English, French and German. 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 is a collection of 30 multi-player (1-4 simultaneous) mini-games, exclusive to the Wii. You race to earn points by aiming a water gun at burning windows, dodging a bull dozer, decorating Mater in the shop, and more. The theme is inspired by the Cars Toon animated shorts and features Mater, Lightning McQueen and the Cars gang, and the narration is right out of a movie. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Pink, noisy (with the default settings) but potentially fun, this dog grooming program follows a tried-and-true simulation format. You start by choosing one of six fluffy-looking dogs and then earn money by brushing it, teaching it tricks, and then go shopping. All the dogs are cute and furry; there are no basset hounds in this program. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This single DS cartridge puts an entire 1980′s arcade — with 50 games, in your pocket. The titles, from both Atari arcade and Atari 2600, include Asteroids, Pong, Missile Command, and Space Duel. Each features the original sounds and graphics, but the controls have been adapted for the DS, and in some games, like Centipede, you turn the DS sideways. If you have a friend with a DS, you can compete in 20 of the games, which offer single card multi-player features (these include Space Duel and Pong). Multi-card play is available for head-to-head games, meaning your friend must also have a copy of the game. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Mark Zuckerberg’s dad “Rather than impose upon your kids…support their strengths & things they’re passionate about.” http://t.co/XZYDxvU
Inspired from the animated movie with the same name, this game features two wolves, named Kate and Humphrey, who are featured in two games: Log Racing and Goose Golf.
The goal is to score in both games in order to bring peace to Jasper Park. There are 30 levels in each game. Teaches: fine motor coordination. Storm City Entertainment. www.stormcityentertainment.com, $30. Best for ages 8-up.
Rating: 
or .76%
This is a non-interactive story about girls with big ambitions. There are 28 short stories (one per page) that describe a girl who takes the lead and works to solve problems, like helping a duck cross the road, or helping an older neighbor get outside. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Sometimes the rate of technology-driven change can leave you dazed. That’s what inspired this letter to my Grandmother who died 20 years ago. She lived 96 years with an extremely active mind — to her last day, and was a living witness to the dawn of the information age. She was always curious about technology and would’ve wanted to know what was next. Here’s my report, sent via hMail (heaven mail).
Grandma, you’d better have a seat. The President is an African American, and you can use a credit card to buy a cup of coffee, and just about everything else. You’d love the checkout counters in grocery stores these days. They use lasers to read the labels, and some don’t even have clerks.
Wikipedia is the new Encyclopedia Britannica, and search engines are something we use alot, for just about everything. Google is— well — how do I even begin to explain Google except that it’s become a Swiss Army knife for your curiosity, whether it’s for the spelling of an exotic pastry, or the number of calories in your himmels torte.
Bill Gates is the John D. Rockefeller of philanthropy; Steve Jobs is the Henry Ford of inventions, especially after he figured out music players and phones. His iPhone has no dial. Or dial tone. Or wires. Even Thomas Edison’s light bulb has been reinvented — no more filaments or heat.
These days, guess what most teen agers want more than a drivers license? A smart phone with a data plan! This smart phone thing is probably the most amazing single gadget I could show you to exemplify how things have changed… it’s so small you can hold it in the palm of your hand and wrap your fingers completely around it. But don’t underestimate what it can do! It’s your camera, weatherman, alarm clock, calculator, and lets you use that Google thing I told you about. For a few dollars, you can load apps on it that make it into a book, movie player, flashlight, bank, to-do-list, travel agent. Remember those maps you used to keep folded up in your glove compartment? Today’s cars have talking GPS receivers that use satellites to tell you where to drive. That would’ve certainly saved you and Grandpa from a lot of arguments.
Remember that video game arcade where all the kids used to hang out and waste time playing games like Pac Man? To them, Mario is the new Mickey Mouse, and joy sticks have been replaced by handheld controllers that can track your hand movements. A new generation of camera-based sensors let you control your clear, wall-sized screen with a wave of your hand! Kids text instead of passing notes during lunch, and they still get in trouble.
- The gigabyte is the new kilobyte.
- The terabyte is the new megabyte.
- The iPad is the new laptop, the laptop the new PC.
- The Nintendo DSi is the new Leapster.
- The iPod Touch is the new Nintendo DSi.
- Broadband is the new rabbit ear antenna.
- Thumb drives are the new floppy disk.
- Facebook is the new yearbook.
- Status updates are your new bumper sticker.
- eBay is the new yard sale.
- Spam is something you get a dose of, every day.
Folks, February is going to be significant for children’s interactive media; hang onto your seats. Three events will be on our radar screens. iKids is a new one-day only event created by Kidscreen Magazine (disclaimer: I write a column) which will include a children’s App contest. The following day, I’ll be across town at Engage Expo to host the 11th annual Dust or Magic Journalist Huddle (4 PM at Javits Center). See the video from last year at http://bit.ly/gV1VRW. Besides these events, the American International Toy Fair which kicks off on February 13; will be creating plenty of news. Here are two trends I’ve noticed already, covered in this issue:
1. NEW WAYS TO CREATE. During a pre-Toy Fair press event for Mattel/Fisher-Price, I noticed two traditional toys that have been modified so that you can put your ideas inside of them. See Hot Wheels Video Racer (page 15) and Sweet Talkin’ Ken. Also consider ToonTastic, a new app that turns your iPad into a puppet show. See the full review on page 13.
2. WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CHILDREN’S APP TSUNAMI. Last month, The Boston Globe’s Beth Teitell asked me to try to estimate the number of children’s interactive products on the market for an article on children’s apps, so I had a closer look at Apple’s iTunes app store, with kids in mind. See last week’s post if you’re curious. In other news:
The Future of Children’s Portable Gaming Takes Shape
They have cameras, microphones, touch screens, accelerometers, Wi-Fi, App stores, in-room game sharing, rechargeable batteries, and crystal clear color screens. They cost about $250 each (although we’re not sure on the NGP price). But most importantly, they fit easily in your pocket. Now that we have the specs on the next generation Sony handheld device (see page 13) it’s not difficult to connect the dots, to better understand the next generation of children’s portable game hardware. Some key points:
• Since our last issue, the American Academy of Opthalmology has weighed in on the 3D eye issue. There’s probably less to worry about than you think. (see http://bit.ly/dMpqME).
• The NGP has multi-touch on BOTH SIDES (front and back) — plus cameras and motion sensitivity. For the first time in Sony gaming history, software will be cartridge based, like the Nintendo DS. More NGP details are on page 17.
• The iPod Touch has a pretty important big brother (or sister) — the iPad; and more Android-based apps and hardware is arriving every day.
Also in this issue: LittleClickers with the theme of teeth, and an essay called “A Letter to 20 Years Ago.”