A New Algebraic Math App: Polynomial Long Division
Adding to his extensive collection of simple but effective and clear math apps, Esa Helttula has now introduced Polynomial Long Division.
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Skylanders Battlegrounds Suggests iOS Portal
“Skylanders Battlegrounds” and “Skylanders Lost Islands” have just popped up as trademarks. We investigate to see what these new Skylanders games may have to offer, and whether this means a Portal-powered iPad game.
Continue ReadingHelp Kids Learn Their ABCs the Super Why! Way
SUPER WHY! ABC Adventures: Alphabet is the new game from PBS Kids available for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. It teaches kids the alphabet through a series of mini activities that promote letter recognition and pronunciation amongst other skills.
Continue ReadingXStylus Touch for iPad Offers Balance and Accuracy
The design of the XStylus is somewhat unique. A solid piece of polished stainless steel is pinned between a white or black plastic pen body so that it can be rotated 180 degrees — when the alloy piece is inserted …
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The Spider-Man AR Book
My son loves Spider-Man. He watches the Ultimate Spider-Man on Saturday mornings. He wears Spider-Man shoes. He has the toys and he wears the shirts. One thing he didn’t have until recently, was a Spider-Man game.
Continue ReadingHot Wheels On the iPad
Apps can turn the iPad into many different things but a racing track wasn’t one that I expected. With the free Mattel Hot Wheels app and the purchase of Hot Wheels Apptivity Cars ($19.95), that’s exactly what happens.
Continue ReadingOur (Mostly) Electronics-Free Summer: Update #3
We are finally at the end of our summertime experiment of my kids not doing any electronics. It started out as an attempt to get my kids to engage with their surroundings more, playing outside, with each other, and with …
Continue ReadingFeel Renewed With the SleepClock
There are three main categories of iOS speaker docks: the ones meant to replace your home stereo, the portables versions that offer sound on the go and the bedroom models that are intended to be an iPhone or iPad-friendly replacement …
Continue ReadingPat Schroeder Interview and The House That Went On Strike
Exclusive interview with woman pioneer and former Rep. Patricia Schroeder, and a look at her latest project: The House That Went on Strike.
Continue ReadingReview: Game of Life: Zapped Edition for iPad
The Game of Life was first created over 40 years ago by Reuben Klamer. Since its creation, the game has undergone some changes to keep up with the times. None of the changes have been quite as drastic as they are in the latest edition, The Game of Life: zAPPed Edition for iPad .
Continue ReadingClub Caveman Raises the Bar for iPad Storytelling
By expanding the scope of user interaction and raising game animation to movie quality, Club Caveman hopes to elevate kids’ engagement with narrative and push the limits on what an iPad does with storytelling. Ben Sweat of Caffeine-Free talks about …
Continue ReadingPowerbag Backpack by Fūl: Carry Your Stuff, Charge Your Gadgets
It can be a pain when you’re on the move and don’t want to stuff a charger and a bunch of cables and connectors into your bag. That’s where the Powerbag Backpack 3000 comes into play. It provides not only a sturdy backpack with plenty of pockets for all your stuff, but a built in charger and connectors so you can charge no matter where you go.
Continue ReadingAnsel and Clair Apps Branch Out, Lower Price
Following their most excellent iPad app from 2011, Ansel & Clair’s Adventures in Africa, Cognitive Kid has now come out with a new iPad app, Ansel and Clair: Cretaceous Dinosaurs, as well as adapted their Adventures in Africa app to …
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Welcome Back Reading Rainbow, We Missed You!
When I was in school, Reading Rainbow was one of my favorite TV shows. The signature theme song would get stuck in my head for most of the day after watching whichever episode my teacher put on for us. Levar Burton felt like a friend I had met in the library and I looked forward to the books he would use in each episode. The thing I really liked about Levar was how excited and eager he was to read each book. I feel like his enthusiasm to read rubbed of on me a little bit.
Continue ReadingEasily Charge Devices at Home or On the Go With Idapt
These days, most of us have several electronic devices that have specialized charging cables. Keeping track of them, and remembering to bring them when we travel, can sometimes be a challenge. One solution to this problem is to use a specialized charger that can charge multiple devices at once.
Continue ReadingKickstarter: Hone Means No More Searching For Keys
There’s nothing quite as frustrating as getting ready to leave the house in the morning and not being able to find your keys. This is usually more likely to happen on a day when you’re already running late or you overslept and can’t see straight or your kids are missing a shoe, or a glove or their school bags. It’s one of those moments of parenting hell that we’ve all endured. Lucky for all of us, the days of searching the house for our keys are soon to disappear thanks to the folks behind Hone.
Continue ReadingUltimate Dinosaurs: Giants From Gondwana at the ROM
My family and I visited Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (the ROM) over the weekend to take in the museum’s latest exhibit. Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants From Gondwana opened a few weeks ago and is available as an add-on to the standard …
Continue ReadingZooka Bluetooth Speaker
Carbon Audio is formed from a few members of the New design studio in Portland, who set out to make great audio solutions for specific needs. First up: the Zooka was designed to raise the iPad’s audio capacity to better …
Continue ReadingSeidio: Expert Portfolio Case Review
This self-proposed Apple junkie is at it again. This week I’m looking at the Seidio Expert case for the iPad.
Continue ReadingPlugged or Unplugged? Given the Choice, Will Kids Opt for a Balanced Summer?
I share some of the concerns Jenny has about her kids and the easy/constant access to electronics, although I tend to take a somewhat less black and white stance. My house is pretty wired (or unwired these days, although not …
Continue ReadingCharge On The Go With myCharge Portable Power Bank 6000
It’s a problem when you have one device running low on batteries, but it’s even more difficult when you have two or three all in need of a little juice. I’ve run into this on road trips with my family. We’ve each got a gadget but the car only has two outlets so that means a spiderweb of wires and splitters. It also means we’re all searching for outlets at hotel stops and then trying not to leave anything behind the next day. The myCharge Portable Power Bank 6000 is an easy solution to this problem.
Continue ReadingChoose Your Own Adventure eBooks Deliver Excitement and Functionality
Two months ago I announced that Choose Your Own Adventure books were now available in the iBookstore. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to try out one of the books on my iPad. I have to say, it is great. …
Continue ReadingCloudFTP: Expanding Your iPad With WiFi Access to External Storage
The CloudFTP device was originally a Kickstarter project that was successfully funded back in January 2012. It’s now a retail product available for purchase by anyone, and it fills a much-needed gap for iPad users who have various mobile storage …
Continue ReadingAccuracy, Speed, and Comfort on iPad With Wacom Bamboo Stylus
There are two things I still don’t like about a touchscreen… one is accuracy and the other is the difficulty in drawing or writing on screen. I’ve used a stylus on the iPad before; I cannot remember which brand it …
Continue ReadingFathers Day Gift Guide – For the Kid at Heart
I’m lucky to have a husband who is a kid at heart because it makes shopping for him easy and fun. Most of the time, I can get his presents at my local toy store or comic book shop. It was this unique trait that inspired me to put together the ultimate Father’s Day gift guide for the kid at heart. So, without further adieu, I give you the gift guide for the dad who prefers transformers over ties and Legos over soap on a rope.
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Father’s Day Gifts with Ulterior Motives: iGrill
On Mother’s Day, they tend to advertise a lot of things like vacuums and ironing boards. I think that’s a little mean. It’s like giving someone a gift that says, “Clean my house!” I’ll admit that I’m occasionally guilty of doing this for Father’s Day, although my gifts usually say “Cook for me!” He likes cooking, and I like eating, so I refuse to feel guilty about it. This year, I received a review model of the iDevices iGrill, and I wanted to see if it qualifies as good gift encouragement for tasty smoked meats.
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Review: Hand Stylus Shows Promise
I’ve been going through a bunch of styluses lately. It turns out they mostly suck. Picture trying to write something with a hot dog encased in metal. Not exactly an artists dream, and usually I just give up and used my finger. You know, one of the ten styluses Steve Jobs said we carried with us all the time? The Hand Stylus ended up not sucking. Hooray!
Continue ReadingM-Edge SuperShell Cover Adds Some Bounce to Your iPhone
Most of the iPhone cases I receive are intended to offer a combination of protection and style. Adequate protection to minimize damage if the iPhone is inadvertently dropped, while minimizing bulk so the device still retains some of it stylish …
Continue ReadingLogitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad
It had me at “Hello.” IPad 2 and iPad 3 compatible, this keyboard is one of my new favorite toys. At first glance, it was already showing up my current iPad keyboard. Not only is the new Logitech keyboard shiny, it also looks great on my iPad and it’s slim enough to fit in my current Mickey Mouse iPad sleeve.My previous keyboard was bulky and added a lot of weight to my device. This keyboard feels lighter and easier to take with me.
Continue ReadingMontessori Letter Sounds: Another Winning App From Les Trois Elles
Last year, as I prepped for a trip to Seattle, I wrote about one of my all-time favorite apps, Numberland, by Les Trois Elles. It was not an app that I was asked to review, or given for free. I found it through a great aggregator called “Moms With Apps” and gave it a try. I loved it so much that I reviewed it, and then contacted the company to tell them how much I appreciated such a smart, interactive, and highly layered app for learning.
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