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'Coding Jam' uses musical blocks to teach kids programming concepts
Last year, Osmo expanded its iPad-based children's learning system with a program that teaches kids to code by linking tangible tiles with on-screen commands. Now the company's expanded its platform with Coding Jam, an add-on that assigns musical tones to a new set of blocks, allowing young learners to tap out tunes in a sequence just like a series of code elements.
Mattel built a $300 Echo for kids
It's late, and you're tired. Before you can knock off for the night, however, there's one thing left to do: read your child a bedtime story. In Mattel's world, you might not have to pick up a book or even put on voices for their favorite characters. That's because it's working on an Echo-style speaker with an assistant called Aristotle. It's built specifically for kids, offering games, facts and soothing sounds on demand. Most importantly, it has the smarts to recognize your little one's less-than-perfect speech and adapt as she gets older and more curious about the wider world.
Spotify revamps its kids category to help with early learning
Spotify already had a variety of content for young listeners, but with the help of educational initiatives Too Small to Fail and Vroom, the streaming service has revised that lineup. The newly revamped "Kids and Family" category features playlists that focus on daytime routines, activities and more. There are options for playtime, bedtime and traveling, just to name a few. Between songs, a collection of celebrities provide tips for other activities to further help build vocabulary. Voice prompts will feature Fantasia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Wiz Khalifa, Tyler Perry, Juanes, Diego Torres, Busy Philipps and more.
Shuddle shuts down its 'Uber for kids' transportation service
Shuddle's ride-sharing service offered parents a way to get their kids safely to school, sports practices and other commitments. However, it seems the company wasn't able to attract enough financial support to keep it afloat. Shuddle sent an email to customers and drivers yesterday informing them that the service would shut down today, April 15th. For over two years, the company touted safe and reliable transportation for children via its family-focused ride-sharing service.
Uber's Family Profiles let you pay for up to 10 people
Many companies offer "Family" programs to make it easier to manage accounts, but they're typically associated with things like mobile plans, streaming services or downloading apps from the App Store. Now, Uber is getting in on the act with its new "Family Profiles," a service that lets you take control of a group of up to 10 friends, family members or colleagues and pay for them on their behalf.
1Password's family plan manages log-ins for up to five people
Music streaming services aren't the only apps where a family plan can come in handy. 1Password, the popular log-in vault software, is offering a new family tier of its own. For $5 a month, up to five people can get individual accounts and password vaults under one subscription. Don't worry, if you have more than five folks in your household, you can add them for an additional $1 per month. If you're familiar with 1Password, you know that there's an individual option that allows you to buy the app for $50 -- which is actually cheaper than this new monthly plan.
Man found not guilty after confiscating his child's iPhone
You can safely say that you have control over your kids' devices when you're living with them, but it's trickier if you split up with your partner and share custody -- and one former couple just learned this the hard way. A Dallas judge has found Ronald Jackson not guilty of a theft charge filed after he took his daughter's iPhone 4S (bought by his ex-partner, Michelle Steppe) as punishment for a rude phone message and refused to give it back. There just wasn't enough evidence to pursue the case, the judge said.
Google's group payments let anyone in your family buy apps
Yesterday, Google launched a Play Music plan that lets up to six family members listen to music for $15 a month. But it also quietly unveiled another interesting feature: Family groups and payments. You first set up a family group by inviting your kin or friends, then add a family payment method that's separate from your personal payments. From there, any member of the group can buy content without your say-so, though you will get an email confirmation for each purchase.
T-Mobile's latest family plan gives everyone 10GB of full-speed data
You knew T-Mobile wasn't going to let Sprint's sweet family plan go unanswered, didn't you? Sure enough, the magenta network has trotted out an upgraded Simple Choice family plan that gives two people unlimited calling, text and 10GB of full-speed data (each, not total) for the same $100 that Sprint is asking. That's not as alluring if you regularly consume gigs upon gigs of internet content (Sprint's data is also unlimited), but T-Mobile is also charging just $20 for every additional line instead of Sprint's $40. If you have phone-toting kids, that could add up. This is also cheaper than what you'd get at AT&T or Verizon, where you're looking at $140 or more to give a family of four 10GB of shared data. You'll have to wait a day (until July 15th) to change plans if you're already a T-Mo family subscriber, but it's probably worth the short wait. Just don't tell Marcelo Claure that.
Sprint promo gives your family 12GB of shared data for $90 per month
Sprint is still bending over backwards to get you to switch to its network, and this time it's hoping to bring your whole family on board. The carrier is running a Family Share Pack promotion until March 12th that gives you 12GB of shared data for $90 per month (with waived line access fees) through the end of March 2016 -- a hefty bargain versus the 10GB T-Mobile is offering in its $100 deal. Sprint will also buy out your existing contract, albeit through gift cards, if you switch from another provider. This isn't the biggest deal given that your bill will get much bigger once the promo is over and those access fees kick in. All the same, it could be worth the effort if you were already bent on dropping your existing carrier (particularly AT&T or Verizon, which charge $160 for 10GB) and live in a Sprint-friendly area.
Virgin Mobile first prepaid US carrier with LTE data sharing plans
If your family can't agree on anything, a mobile data sharing plan on a two-year contract may not be the best idea. Virgin Mobile USA will now let you part company quickly if need be with its latest offering: prepaid 4G family data sharing plans, now available at Walmart. You can go month-to-month for $65 with two lines sharing 4GB or up to $115 with four lines and 12GB total of LTE data. The latter plan works out to a tempting $28.75 per month per person, with each member getting a 3GB share per month, provided nobody pigs out on data. T-Mobile, AT&T and others offer no-contract plans already, though all are post-paid, month-by-month services. The possible negative to Virgin's prepaid plan is that you'll be on Sprint's mobile network, which is far and away the slowest in the US. Update: As pointed out by a reader, Virgin is far from the first no-contract carrier, as AT&T, T-Mobile and others have shared no-contract plans. However, Virgin claims it's the first prepaid carrier with such an offering, so we've updated the post with that info. Thanks Seth! [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Sound Off! What are some games and gadgets that are fun for the whole family?
The holidays are here and many of us are traveling to visit families located far and wide. While it's always good to see our relatives, it's not as enjoyable to talk politics with Grandpa all day. We really need some entertaining ways to keep everyone sane. Fortunately there's a variety of games available on our tablets, phones, computers, and digital media streamers that are perfect for groups. What are your favorite standbys? Head over to the Engadget forums and share the games and gadgets you play with your family in order to keep things relaxing and fun. [Image credit: Amit Gupta / Flickr]
T-Mobile's new family plan gives everyone unlimited data
With the exception of Sprint, the big four US carriers tend to cap your data on family plans. T-Mobile's current offering only gives one person unfettered internet access, and even Sprint's $100 per month promo asks you to split a finite amount of data with your kin -- not so hot if Junior likes to marathon YouTube shows. Things are looking up, though. T-Mobile is launching a new (if "limited time") Simple Choice family plan on December 10th that gives everyone unlimited data. The base plan starts at $100 per month for two lines that also include unlimited voice and text, plus 5GB of data tethering per line. That's only half as many included lines as Sprint, but it's a better value if you're willing to pay extra to avoid limits. It beats the stuffing out of what you'll get at AT&T and Verizon, at least. The two carriers respectively start at $130 and $100 for 10GB of data on two lines, and you'll have to pay both for more capacity and more lines.
Enter the tech-powered playground of the future
There are playmats where you build the roads in seconds, a ballpit where the balls are as big as you, and a drawing-board where your doodles come to life. This is Team Lab's "Theme Park of the Future" .. but it isn't really a theme park. It's an attempt to bring projection mapping, motion gestures into contact with fundamental playtime activities -- and even expand on kids' creativity. You just need a handful of projectors, some giant walls, and a scanner or two.
Wizard101 and Pirate101 rack up 50 million players combined
The Spiral, KingsIsle's online universe, is one of the most underrated success stories in the MMO genre. After six years of operation, Wizard101 (and its spin-off Pirate101) have tallied up over 50 million lifetime players (that's total players ever). The big numbers don't stop there, either. These two games have seen more than 1.46 trillion gold earned, 2.1 billion quests completed, and 3 million player homes inhabited. One pet-happy player even collected 4,986 companions and thus earned a place in the history books. To celebrate the milestone, KingsIsle is giving away a free monolith housing item in both Wizard101 and Pirate 101. You can check out more crazy numbers in the infographic after the break.
Wizard101 adds four new dungeons
Wizardry is not a safe profession these days. Wizard101 has grown even more dangerous with the addition of four brand-new dungeons spread across the game's level range, and Massively fully expects multiple online casualties to result from this irresponsible action. The new dungeons are the snowy Shangri-Baa Mountains (level 25), Barkingham Palace (level 40), the House of Scales (level 60), and Castle Darkmoor (level 100). The latter is vital for wizards seeking a new spell for their arsenal, as a Castle Darkmoor quest will award one new shadow-enhanced card for each school of magic. The November update came with other improvements to the game, including bypassing combat idlers' turns, more member benefits, and savable equipment sets. We've got a video covering the shadow-enchanced spells for you to watch after the break.
Rdio slashes the cost of its family plans to match Spotify
Spotify and YouTube may currently be dominating the music streaming headlines, but Rdio isn't prepared to let them have things all their own way. Just as its Swedish rival begins to roll out its new Family plans, the streaming service that does still have access to Taylor Swift's back catalogue is cutting the price of its own. From today, Rdio's Family Plans have been lowered to £5 for each additional user; two listeners now only need to pay £14.99, three must cough up £19.99 and so on. If that looks a little familiar, it's because the company is now completely mirroring Spotify's multi-user subscription pricing. While Rdio has offered Family Plan upgrades since 2011, cost is key: the music provider won't want to give its users another incentive to jump across to its biggest competitor.
Fully crossplatform LEGO Minifigures Online is coming to the Kindle Fire HDX
Funcom has today announced a partnership with Amazon that will put LEGO Minifigures Online on Amazon Fire TV as well as the Kindle Fire HDX line of tablets. Says the studio, Working with Amazon on this project includes support for the Fire TV game controller as well as Amazon's store and payment systems. Fire TV is currently widely available in North America and Germany, and is launching in the United Kingdom in November 2014. LEGO Minifigures Online is scheduled to go live on Fire TV at the end of 2014. Funcom will also be bringing LEGO Minifigures Online to the HDX line of Fire tablets. The game will be optimized for these devices and will fully support Amazon's store and payment systems for these devices. This version of LEGO Minifigures Online is set to go live at the end of Q1 2015. Of note, Funcom promises that the family-friendly MMO will feature full cross-platform play across "Windows PC, Mac, iOS tablets, Android tablets, Fire TV and Fire tablets," making it one of the few MMOs playable on pretty much everything with the possible exception of your toaster. We've included the game's recent Space World trailer below.
Cirqle for iPhone offers social photo sharing
Social and photography are two very crowded markets in the App Store. Getting noticed is the first trick; gathering a following is the next. The developers of Cirqle for iPhone (free) are hoping their combination of communal photo streams, or "cirqles," will succeed in both areas. It's a compelling idea and the execution is pretty well done, but I'm not convinced it's compelling enough to lure customers away from established services. Cirqle lets you shoot photos and organize them into albums called "cirqles." When you shoot a photo, you have three share options: Curated, Open and Private. A Curated cirqle is open only to those you invite. Participants can view the images in your cirqle and contribute their own. Private cirqles are just for you. No one will ever find them via search or other means. That leaves Open. This is where it gets interesting. You can use the app to browse a list of Open cirqles, or search for keywords. Once you've found one that you like, you're free to check it out. For example, I found one that features photos taken around New York City. It was fun to look at neighborhoods and landmarks I've seen before. From there, I could subscribe to the cirqle to receive notification of new contributions, or apply to be a contributor. Once the cirqle's owner approves my request, I'm free to add my own shots of NYC to the collaborative effort. Sounds neat, right? Well it is. The UI is pretty and there are even featured cirqles full of high-quality images. The only problem I see is convincing family and friends to use yet another social service. It's true that it isn't necessary for your loved ones to participate, but I think it'll be a lot more compelling if they do. I imagine creating an invite-only Curated cirqle for a family vacation, holiday get-together or other noteworthy, memorable event. I think Cirqle is pretty and well done, yet I know "selling" it to siblings, etc. who are already using Path, Facebook, Twitter and so on will be a tough job. Give Cirqle a try and let me know what you think. It's a well-executed resident of a very crowded market.
Spotify finally has subscription sharing for an extra $5 per user
Spotify has just addressed one of the main beefs with its service: the lack of ability to share a premium subscription. With Spotify Family, you can now share your $9.99 plan with up to four other folks for an extra $5 per. That means the price starts at $14.99 for you and one friend, going up to $29.99 with five people altogether, for a savings of $5 to $20. They won't be stuck with your musical taste, either, as each member will get their own account with separate playlists, recommendations and more. That makes Spotify's premium service pretty tempting, and don't worry if your family or friends aren't music lovers -- that never stopped Sprint's Framily subscribers.
