Apple’s special iPad mini keynote event scheduled for today is expected to unveil all-new smaller iPad. The new “iPad mini” is rumoured to feature a 7.85 inch screen with 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi), the same as iPad 2.
The company’s move to introduce a smaller version of the iPad will help iOS penetrate the ebook reader market and compete with the Kindle devices. Apple is widely expected to announce iBooks 3.0 and the announcement of iPad mini could be closely tied to Apple’s education initiatives. The iPad mini will also feature front and rear facing camera, lighting connector and could come in different colors.
According to recent reports, the entry level model of iPad mini is expected to be priced at $329. The new device could prove to be ideal for schools and those who want a tablet put prefer a smaller screen.
Steve Jobs was opposed to the idea of a smaller screen tablet however many believe that it was Eddy Cue who saw the potential of a smaller screen tablet that could help push iOS deeper in education market.
Unlike iPhone 5 media event, Apple will be live streaming the video of the iPad mini keynote event on Apple.com and via Apple TV, the event will kick off at 10 am PDT.
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Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Play at Home with Daniel is the rather long title for a new universal app from PBS Kids for preschoolers. As a father with a two year old daughter this app was a perfect excuse to spend some time with the two things I love, my daughter and my iPad.
My daughter loves my iPad and so getting her to take a look at a new app wasn’t difficult and while she hasn’t seen the original Daniel Tiger show before she was instantly engaged with the app as it launched.
The app is split into four distinct areas and accessing them is via four large buttons with images of the four areas on them for easy identification. There is the Doctor, Bedtime, Bathroom and Sticker Book all with there own set of activities and interactions for your child to interact with.
When playing as the doctor with Daniel as the patient you’ll get to interact with Daniel as you give him a jab, check his heartbeat and check out his tongue by dragging the instruments to him from the side of the screen. You can even give him a sticker to show what a good tiger he’s been!
On in the bathroom you can help Daniel brush his teeth, wash his hands and flush the toilet while in the bedroom you can walk through the steps to help Daniel go to sleep including giving him his blanket & teddy, turning off the light and signing him a lullaby. All of which can be done by simply tapping on the screen.
This is the one complaint that I have about Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and that is there is a combination of controls, some just require a tap, while others need a tap and drag and this inconsistency can prove a little frustrating at times.
The final location is the Sticker Book where your child can interact with the four environments and create their own stories by placing virtual stickers all over the screen. These stickers include all of Daniels’ friends, furniture, artifacts, animals and other items from Daniel Tigers world.
Sticker placement is remembered as you navigate between the various scenes but the only option you have if you want to redo something is to erase everything and start again.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Play at Home with Daniel is a fun and engaging title for your younger children to play with. It’s easy for them to navigate and to control and what’s even better is that the audio isn’t going to drive you as the parent around the bend!
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Play at Home with Daniel is a universal app and is available for $1.99 in the app store now.
[rating: 4/5]
Earlier in the year, Apple removed the iTunes U category in iTunes from iOS and introduced a standalone app dedicated to providing university and educational materials. According to a report from AllThingsD, the Cupertino company is planning to also introduce an app dedicated entirely to podcasts in iOS 6.
Like iTunes U, this would also push the podcast feature out of iTunes and into its own app, which would also operate and access data from Apple’s servers entirely on its own. Apple appears to be taking a similar approach to Facebook, by removing secondary but important features and giving them full fledged accessibility and support.
People familiar with Apple’s plans tell me that when its new iOS 6 software becomes widely available this fall, podcasts will have their own app, where users will be able to discover, download and play them on mobile devices. Users who access iTunes via laptop and desktop machines will still find them in that version of iTunes, though.
The report also mentioned that Apple is working on podcast producing technology which will likely be included in this app for users to create podcasts and share. Apple has removed Audiobooks, iTunes U, and now Podcasts out of the iTunes application, and is continuing to give smaller categories in iTunes, more features.
As a result, the company will likely witness an increased adoption in podcast usage and sharing as well as a boost in revenue from the Audiobooks category. The podcast category will become its own app and is expected ot be introduced in the public release of iOS 6 which will arrive later this fall.
{via 9to5 Mac}
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Apple have been pushing the iPad as an educational device since its launch and this is certainly the case for younger users of the device as more and more apps are introduced to the App Store to engage, educate and entertain children as well as adults.
One of the most recent to attempt to do this is Barefoot World Atlas from Touch Press who already have produced such iconic titles as March of the Dinosaurs and Skulls by Simon Winchester.
Barefoot World Atlas is a 3D interactive globe that highlight 100’s of different places around the world and the things, people and places associated to them.
The touch navigation is intuitive for any iPad user, you can scroll around the the globe with simple a swipe and zoom in and out with two fingers which are all natural gestures for the iPad. This is all done with subtle background music which changes up whenever you zoom in to any specific item.
Zooming in on any of the individual items will bring up a brief description of the item that can also be read out to you in a clear human voice rather than a computerized one. Many of them also include pictures, some of which are interactive, which you can view full screen. Most of them only have one picture and it would be nice to see more of them.
As well as just browsing around the world and selecting items you can also view lists by Feature, Region and Countries. Viewing regions and countries provide even more detail, for example you can find out the climate and weather of a region or information about its wildlife, environment, people and transportation.
Countries meanwhile provide detailed facts about the current time, distance from your current location, population, currency and much, much more. The whole app is a treasure trove of facts and information produced in a beautiful way that will appeal to adult and children alike.
Barefoot World Atlas is priced at $7.99 and it’s unlikely that you could find a paper copy covering such information so wonderfully for half the price.
[rating: 4.5/5]What we like
What to know
At a special education event on Thursday, Apple introduced a revamped version of their iTunes U services. iTunes U is a collection of podcasts in both audio and video formats, from a number of universities in the United States. Topics covered range from chemistry to basketball and offers a range of choices for different lessons and tutorials.
Apple has now removed the iTunes U service from a tab deep within iTunes and has created a brand new application, simply called ‘iTunes U’. This goes in part with Apple’s new push for education, following the release of textbooks for iPad, bringing a number of textbook publishers under the Apple umbrella.
If you’re an educator at a university, college, or K-12 school, now you have an easy way to design and distribute complete courses featuring audio, video, books, and other content. And students and lifelong learners can experience your courses for free through a powerful new app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
The iTunes U app is available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch on the App Store for free [App Store]. This new app brings together all pieces of the iTunes U service, and tightens Apple’s control over their multiple updates to the service over the past few years.
Apple’s education services went into the shadows recently, but is now poised to become a focal point of Apple’s revenue stream and targets a larger audience for their products.
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On Thursday, Apple held a special education event in New York City and introduced a number of software products, including the newest version of iBooks, iBooks 2, bringing textbooks to the iPad from large publishers including Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton-Mifflin.
Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images with drag-and-drop ease. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Preview your book on your iPad at any time. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps. And before you know it, you’re a published author.
Apple also released an iBooks Author application, which allows users to create their own textbooks for the iPad 2. Since then, Apple has posted the video of the event to its site, alongside all other past events.
The Cupertino company also posted the Podcast for the event in both HD and standard formats. Apple is continuously increasing support for iBooks and is attempting to move into the e-reading market to compete with other popular reading devices such as the Nook and Kindle.
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On Thursday, Apple announced, at a special education event in New York City that they have updated the iBooks application to iBooks 2 for iPad to accommodate interactive textbooks, something that has remained unchanged for generations. Apple is looking to redefine the usgae and distribution of textbooks and information, and is using its already available iBookStore and bracnhing out.
Introducing iBooks 2 — now with iBooks textbooks.
– Experience gorgeous Multi-Touch textbooks designed for iPad
– iBooks textbooks are filled with interactive features, diagrams, photos, and videos
– Tap to dive into images with interactive captions, rotate 3D objects, swipe through image galleries, watch videos in full screen, and more
– Use a finger as a highlighter when swiping over text in a textbook
– Take advantage of Study Cards to help you memorize important highlights, notes, and glossary terms
– Tap glossary terms to see definitions of key topics and concepts without leaving the page
With the addition of textbooks in iBooks 2, Apple is trying to make textbooks into what the App Store is today, by increasing reliance on Apple’s services to get books and materials for students. This is very similiar to how Apple created the iTunes Store, revolutionizing music, and the App Store.
Apple is currently partnering with McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which are responsible for 90% of textbook sales in the United States. McGraw-Hill and Pearson are releasing several titles for the iPad today and will be releasing more as time progresses.
Prices of textbooks range from $14.99 or less and allow authors of the textbooks to add information as they like through their ‘iBooks Author’ app which allows users to create their own textbooks. iBooks, which caused a small stir during its introduction and is slowly picking up as a major part of Apple’s education movement.
iBooks 2 is currently available in the App Store as an update to the current application.
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The Loop reported on Wednesday that Apple has scheduled an education announcement on January 19th in New York City. The invitation simply reads “Join us for an education announcement in the big Apple” and does not disclose any specific information.
The New York Times later confirmed that the event is going to focus on digital textbooks and that no new hardware would be introduced.
The event will showcase a new push by Apple into the digital textbook business, but will not feature any new devices, according to a person briefed on the event who did not want to be identified talking about it before it occurs.
The event will take place in New York’s famous Guggenheim Museum, and is not open to the public, only press invited as with all other Apple events. Reports of the event were revealed last week, with many online news sources suggesting that Apple was planning to announce new hardware. The event will be highlighting publishing and digital textbooks, suggesting that Apple might ready to revamp their iBooks Store and its offerings from different publishers.
iBooks was released after the announcement of iOS 5 and gained some attention, but definitely not enough to Apple’s liking. With these new improvements, Apple will try to move further into the publishing market.
The event will be held on Thursday, January 19th, however, a time for the event has not been announced. The event will likely be held around 10AM, similar to earlier Apple events.
[Via MacRumors] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-schedules-education-announcement-event-january-19th-new-york-city/feed/ 5The iMac does not carry some of the higher end features such as Thunderbolt technology but has the older mini Display port. Most educational institutions use iMacs in libraries and classrooms with older technology so this lower end iMac is the perfect way for Apple to advertise their computers and software.
Apple has offered Macs to educational institutions in the past and usually negotiated contracts with schools for a very low price. This new offer for the iMac is great for educational institutions looking to upgrade for a lower price. However, Apple has not announced any package orders for institutions for this new lower end iMac.
{via MacRumors}
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The irony of writing a review of an educational game about grammar, named Grammar Police is not lost on me. The chance of getting pulled up on my own grammatical error is extremely high so I must concentrate on my writing as much as the app itself.
Grammar Police is an educational game to help pre-intermediate and intermediate English learners with the details of grammar, something that can be a challenge for people who have English as their first language let alone if it’s your second language.
The game states that it’s suitable for all ages but the cartoon style graphics are certainly going to appeal to younger age groups, which for the most part will be the ones that benefit from the educational aspect of this game.
The game alternates between two types of games. The first challenges you to complete a sentence in the appropriate tense from a selection of words presented on the screen. This is where the story part of the game comes in as the words are being carried by the Tense Gang and getting the right words will ensure that the Tense Gang are caught and that innocent bystanders are captured instead.
Before each level starts you are given the tense of the sentence and the first couple of words at the beginning of the sentence and is your task to complete the sentence appropriately.
Selecting the words can be a little tricky at times as the words overlap each other and you’ll find yourself waiting for the words to untangle themselves. It would also be nice for the tense to appear while you are playing the game, instead if you have forgotten the tense that you are supposed to be playing, you have to pause the game to find out.
The other game requires you to fill in the missing word from a sentence from a range of similar looking and sounding words. You have 3 lives for each game and failure to complete the task will result in the game ending.
Throughout playing this game the level types have remained the same each time I’ve played it, however no two sentences or missing words have repeated themselves which goes to show the large variety of puzzles in this game.
What is disappointing is that you can only play the game by playing through the levels in a linear way, there is no way to select individual levels should you wish to concentrate on a certain type of puzzle.
What is also missing is the ability for multiple players to play the game via multiple profiles, however one reason for this may be the OpenFeint integration which enables a variety of achievements to be unlocked as you play the game.
Grammar Police is a great way for your children to polish up on their grammar in a fun way and certainly make it more of a game rather than homework.
$0.99 (View in iTunes)
Category: Games
Released:Oct 18, 2010
Version:1.0
1.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
12.5 MB
Language:English
Seller:Chamira Fernando
© Arzon
Rated 4+
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Build A Word, an app developed by WordWorld is based on the television series PBS Kids and is designed with children in mind. It is aimed at helping young children improve on their literacy skills and recognize letters and their sounds.
Build A Word is an education app with letters and animals. As soon as you launch the app you are met with letters floating around your screen. In the middle will be an outline of a letter that you have to find. So for example it is showing you the letter ‘F’ you then have to watch the floating letters, when you see the letter you need, drag and drop it on the outlined letter.
The letter is then spoken and you go on to the next letter until you have spelt an animal word. When the word is complete what ever animal it is that you have spelt will appear and do a little animated dance along with the word spoken out. When you have watched it dance you then simply move on to the next word.
Altogether there are 10 animals to spell and say. Which at first is good but after a few plays of the game it is quite repetitive and I felt it could do with more animals or even objects. It isn’t offering much in the way of replay value at the moment.
I really did like this app but there is one thing I felt needed a change. The letters are not pronounced phonetically. Most of the schools now have adapted to this method when teaching children of a pre-school age and when first starting school. So I felt that this could possibly cause confusion to some children who have been taught by this method. Therefore I feel the app needs maybe an option to decide yourself which method of saying these words you would prefer to use when playing. Then the app would cover both practice methods.
The graphics and sounds are good. My own children really enjoyed the animals animated dance and the cute litte sounds they made, the catchy songs were definitely a hit. It is also a great way to teach your children without them realising because they are having fun at the same time.
Price: $0.99 (App Store)
Category: Education
Updated:Aug 11, 2010
Reviewed Version:1.2
Size: 16.4 MB
Language:English
Seller:WordWorld, LLC
© 2009 WordWorld
Requirements:Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
They offer a free service for Developers who are interested in monitoring the mobile app ecosystem. They also offer free analytics tools for developers so they can monitor their own applications’ performance across all app stores. This is done very simply by allowing them access to your iTunes Connect account, either via your username, or a special user name with limited access you setup for them.
I use them, and they are pretty good. I have to admit I was a bit uncomfortable initially with letting them have access to my account. But can say I’ve had no problems.
Their most recent report makes interesting reading :
In total, there are 2,385 applications that are available exclusively for the iPad. The largest category on the iPad is Games with 833 titles (35%), followed by Entertainment and Education with 260 and 205 titles, respectively.
Games and Entertainment applications are more popular on the iPhone than on the iPad: 70% of the most popular applications on the iPhone are published in either one of those categories, compared to 40% on the iPad.
83% of applications on the iPad are paid, while only 73% of all applications are paid on the iPhone. The average price of all paid applications that are solely compatible with iPad is $3.61 compared to $3.55 for applications compatible with iPhone.
Medical applications are most expensive on both the iPad ($9.39) and iPhone ($10.73). On the contrary, Education ($9.10), Healthcare & Fitness ($4.41), Music ($6.86) and Sports ($4.95) applications are significantly more expensive on the iPad. Books are currently cheaper on the iPad than on the iPhone which may be influenced by the iBookstore availability on the iPad.
The full report can be downloaded for free here : [distimo.com] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/35-ipad-apps-games-distimo-report/feed/ 0
Dr Nano iPhone
Dr. Nano – 3D Adventure in the Human Body [rating: 3.5/5]
There are some weird and wonderful applications in the iPhone App Store but even then I don’t think I’ve ever seen one quite like this before. Dr. Nano is a game that crosses education with gaming as you’ll get to learn about human anatomy and biology while playing this internal shoot-em-up.
The aim of Dr Nano is to guide him through the ‘persons’ body while clearing away a variety of nasties including parasites, blood clots, cholesterol and plaque while also keeping your oxygen levels high. Luckily for the patient you have been shrunk to nano size and so swimming around their body is pretty simple, as are the controls.
Moving Dr Nano is via the accelerometer tilting left & right will move Dr Nano while tilting forward and back moves him up and down and after a little bit of practice you’ll be able to steer Dr Nano with ease. The controls are made even easier by the fact that you can also control your speed according to what you are trying to navigate or clear.
The other control is the shooting of your gun which you can do by tapping anywhere on your screen. Just like a flight sim your aim is controlled by your steering and for anyone who is used to this method it will feel like second nature to them.
Prior to each level starting your mission is laid out before you informing you what you need to destroy and then you are on your own, swimming around your patients blood stream killing everything that is thrown at you. While you are on your mission however you must ensure that you keep you oxygen levels high by swimming into red blood cells.
There are 21 levels at present with further levels promised via updates in the future. However the 21 levels are pretty similar, after all there are only so many ways that you can swim around the human body shooting things, and they’re not that difficult either so if you are after more of a challenge I would recommend going for the Expert level straight away.
Considering the limited beauty of the inside of a blood vessel the graphics are solid enough while the background music is relatively soothing, esp. compared to the annoying sounds and music of some games, I certainly don’t find the need turn the sound off.
There’s no multi-player option at the moment but a future release does promise world wide scoring so you will at least be able to compare your high scores with other players.
Dr Nano is pretty good value for money as while some of the levels are repetitive there are a lot of them with the promise of more to follow. If you like this kind of game you won’t be disappointed!
Price: $0.99
The Good
The Not So Good
Reviewed By: Craig Willis
Dr. Nano Gameplay
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