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Enter our Back to School 2014 sweepstakes for a gadget-filled Timbuk2 bag!
If you haven't entered our Back to School 2014 sweepstakes yet, you've got some catching up to do. We're giving away 15 Timbuk2 Command messenger bags stuffed with a Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 13 laptop, an LG G3 smartphone from AT&T and much, much more. For a chance to make one of these prizes yours, simply enter the raffle here and on the 14 other eligible Back To School posts (you'll find the complete list at the giveaway page here). Good luck! Winner: congratulations to Chandler C. of Las Vegas, NV.
Wood Blocks for Kids is a construction game that falls flat
Wood Blocks for Kids is a game where players construct buildings by arranging vividly colorful blocks. Players start out by choosing a block set, the first set is free and the other three are available through an in app purchase. After selecting a block set, players can add a block to the scene by tapping on the plus button and then selecting a block, they then drag the block where they want it and let go to drop it into place. There is also a semi-transparent pattern background in each set that players can toggle if they want to follow a pattern or just need some ideas on how to get started. Wood Blocks for Kids is compatible with iPads running iOS 4.3 or later. Players can toggle rotation of blocks on and off in the right side menu. Having rotation on makes the blocks rotate in a weird way that is hard to control. It is usually better to leave rotation off as it is possible to make most buildings with the standard direction pieces. Moving the blocks in Wood Blocks for Kids is very difficult and sometimes blocks get stuck and act as if one point of the block is pinned to the background. Another problem with the blocks is that they are very easy to knock over. This makes your hard work at building up a tower even harder when you try to delete a block. Sometimes these deleted blocks gets stuck in the background, hitting other nearby blocks and causing a domino effect. Having this happen quite a few times takes a lot of the fun out of creating your own buildings. The UI is not very intuitive as you have to go into the add block menu and tap the "menu" button to save what you have been working on in the gallery. This is very confusing and it would make more sense to have a dedicated save button. There could also be better indicators in the UI for the in app purchases. Currently there are locks on the sets that are available for purchase but there isn't much indication that you have to purchase the sets, such as a price, until you tap on the locked set and you see the sign into the App Store popup. Wood Blocks for Kids is a free construction game that doesn't stand up to expectations of fun intuitive gameplay because of the bugs that overwhelm the player too often.
This ABC game is as easy as 123
The ABC Song is a game made up of mini games to teach children their ABCs. Each mini game offers players different ways to learn the alphabet and make connections between letters and objects that represent that letter. The ABC Song is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 4.3 or later. There are nine different mini games in The ABC Song. In Dot to dot, Players tap on circles that are lined up in the shape of a letter in order to transform the dots into the written letter. Only the letters A through C are available without purchasing the full version. Creating the letter by connecting the dots is an interesting take on the typical connect the dot gameplay and the result is a fun way to learn the letter and also the shape of each letter. The ABC paint mini game has players use paint buckets to color in the picture of an animal that represents the letter displayed next to it. For example, there is a "C" letter next to a cat picture for players to color in as if it were a coloring book. Players are limited to the letters A, B, and C in the free version. Coloring in each picture was a lot of fun but it might be more fun if you can actually control the paintbrush and it not be a fill function but a swiping motion to color in picture. In the typewriter mini game players can tap the letters on the virtual keyboard and hear the letters they are tapping. This mini game was not as much fun as the other ones but very useful for learning what the letters look like on a keyboard and hearing how they are pronounced. Players have to follow directions and pop the balloon with the correct letter needed in the Floating bubbles mini game. The letters A-F are available in the free version. Floating bubbles is a great mini game for testing player's ability to distinguish between the different letters to select the correct one. Puzzle fun has players putting puzzle pieces together to form the image of an animal that matches the letter they are working on. There are two modes for the puzzle game, easy and hard. The hard mode features more puzzle pieces to place. The free version of the game has puzzles for the first three letters of the alphabet. The puzzle mini game is a very standard game and didn't offer too many nuances on this gameplay. Children can hear the ABC song and tap on the bubbles to hear a shimmering sound effect and expand the bubbles in the ABC Song mini game in the free version of the game. This mini game has the potential of teaching children the ABC song and encourages singing along which helps children learn the alphabet in a more concrete way. The Animal letters mini game challenges players to match the animal on the right with the letter on the left side of the chalkboard. Children drag the letter to the animal and after the first level, players must choose the correct animal that the letter matches with. For example, the letter "A" matches with the ant but wouldn't match with the bear. You only play the letters A, B, and C in the free version of the game. This mini game does a great job of making connections between the animal and the letter. The eighth mini game is Memory match which is a basic tile matching game featuring letters. You can only play two stages of memory match without purchasing the full version in app. Each time you uncover a tile, a voice says the letter on the tile. This mini game is very rewarding for children as there are a lot of encouraging words whenever they make a match and complete a stage. Finally, Bubble pop is a mini game where players have to pop all the letter bubbles and when players pop a bubble a voice tells them what letter they have just popped. This game is fun and interesting but a little confusing as to what the objective of it is. The ABC Song does a pretty good job of being entertaining and educational at the same time, however, it would be nice if all of the letters were available for free. It is confusing to get into the game and see a pop up asking if you want to purchase the full version to continue learning. It is weird that The ABC Song uses in app purchases and not a dedicated paid and lite version of this game on the app store when children will be using the app and might potentially tap to purchase the full version. The ABC Song is still a good learning tool to try out for free on the App Store but beware that there is a full version available through an in app purchase.
Back to School 2014: The 10 best tablets
By design, tablets are less about work and more about play -- though you'll find some notable exceptions in our roundup of top slates for the back-to-school season. Among them are Microsoft's Surface Pro 3, which features a keyboard case that makes typing on the go bearable, and the ASUS Transformer Book, which also gives you hardware keys via a bundled dock. Of course, there are still plenty of slates made for enjoying your downtime. Click through the gallery below to see them all, and don't forget to check out the rest of our guide! Winner: congratulations to Karen G. of Logan Lake, BC.
Talking Holidays Wheel is decent kids app, but limited
Talking Holidays Wheel: Christmas Halloween Summer is an interesting combination of a children's game and an educational app with a title that can't possibly get anymore self-explanatory. The app includes three wheels for Christmas, Halloween and the season of summer, each with their own symbols for that occasion. When a child lands on a symbol on the wheel, the app announces it out loud in an attempt to teach the child the connection between the word and image. It's a free, universal app available on iOS. I downloaded both the iPhone version and iPad version and immediately gravitated toward the latter. The larger iPad was far more immersive and most likely more enticing to children. It's also easier to play with because the targets like the button to spin the wheel is larger. The app starts up by greeting you with all three holiday wheels where you pick one to start spinning. Each wheel has eight colorful symbols. Christmas features a gift, wreath and Santa Claus among other things. Halloween has a pumpkin and ghost while summer has items like sunglasses and a beach ball. When you decide on a wheel, it enlarges with a shiny red button next to it begging for the child to push it. This sends the wheel spinning until the arrow lands on one of the symbols. When it does, the wheel fades out and the winning symbol bounces in. The app pronounces it in conjunction with displaying a banner naming it at the bottom. Then confetti flies and options to share it via mail, Facebook and Twitter prominently appear. This doesn't seem like the best UI decision, given that if children are playing unsupervised they could easily send unwanted emails or post unwanted images. However, I couldn't get Facebook or Twitter sharing to work at all so I suppose here that's a positive. That's really all there is to the Talking Holidays Wheel app. The educational factor is decent because pairing a visual component with an audible component could help children better identify objects related to these holidays. However, compared to apps that teach the toddler essentials like ABCs, this one doesn't quite feel like something a child (or parent) needs. Most children do just fine learning about holidays on their own because they're inherently fun and exciting already. Speaking of fun, that too is just decent here. While I see young kids enjoying spinning the wheels and getting a small yet delightful treat each time, since there are only eight symbols per wheel, the entertainment factor is bound to run out pretty quickly. Despite some drawbacks, you can't go wrong with free - and that just so happens to be Talking Holidays Wheel's price. An in-app purchase of US$1.99 will remove the ads, but they aren't too obtrusive and the free version is likely more than adequate. If you want to keep your child entertained for a little bit while simultaneously providing some education, give Talking Holidays Wheel a try. Just bear in mind its inability to impress for long hinders its value.
Survey shows parents are open to using tech to monitor unsupervised kids
Privacy issues are a big topic in America right now, but for kids under 17 privacy is almost always going to be dependent upon their parents. There are no unlawful search and seizure laws governing parents, and a new survey indicates that Big Mother and Father may soon be watching. The survey, conducted by the home automation and security company Piper, shows that a majority of parents interviewed would be willing to use technology to monitor their unsupervised children. Of the 500 parents interviewed for Piper's survey, 60 percent indicated they were open to the idea of using technology to monitor their kids when they're unsupervised at home. Still, those kids are probably doing their homework, right? Mom and Dad apparently aren't so sure, as only 5 percent of surveyed guardians said they thought kids would stay on track and complete their homework if left alone. With that in mind, their concern is understandable; these kids are spending a lot of time alone. 40.6 percent of respondents said their children spend four to five days a week unsupervised after school, while 35.2 percent reported their kids spent at least one to two afternoons unsupervised. Interestingly, while 60 percent of these parents are open to monitoring, only half of them think it would actually work. When asked if remote monitoring would make their kids more or less likely to follow the rules at home after school, 47 percent said it wouldn't make a difference. Kids will be kids, after all. What are your feelings on monitoring your children? Should modern technology give parents more control over keeping track of their kids? Are freedom, trust, and autonomy an important part of a youth's development? Let us know in the comments.
Nourish knowledge with Gro Garden
Get those green thumbs ready with Gro Garden (US$2.99, universal), an educational app that helps budding explorers discover organic gardening in a creative and competitive way. Did you ever trick your kids into eating their veggies by sneaking the ingredients into some yummy home-baked cookies and brownies? Gro Garden will secretly teach your kids how planting seeds and tending a virtual garden grows the food we feed our friends. Watch them clean up the scraps which get turned into compost. They won't even suspect that new chores have been added to their lists! Gro Garden requires iOS 4.0 or later running on iPhone 3GS and newer. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. The App Store lists Gro Garden as being 112 MB in size, however, after installing it on iPad and checking General Usage in Settings, the size was over 650 MB so know that it can hog some serious disk space. This app was designed for children aged six through eight, but testing revealed even a four-year-old really digs it! Gro Garden is a great way to learn about sustainable farming and organic gardening. You won't see any chemical sprays, just good old-fashioned bug blasting here. Environmental issues are demonstrated in a simple and entertaining way using interactive animation. The possibilities are numerous so game play can be quite competitive when you can no longer escape the need to plant just one more onion to bolster your collection! Oh look, potatoes! Get back here little rain cloud! Gro Garden is unaffected by language barriers because it's a "learn-as-you-play" game with no written instructions. The characters are cute and kids will pick and feed their favorites, but don't worry, no critters go hungry here. There is no third-party advertising or in-app purchases to distract from learning and kids will ask to play it over and over. Feeding our little friends the home-grown, nutritious veggies is a great lesson in eating whole foods, but the incentive for doing so leads to rewards in the form of fattening, processed cupcakes that the little characters become excited over and gobble up. This seems a bit contradictory if one of the educational goals is promoting unprocessed foods. Gro Garden will grow on you and make you think twice about tossing your scraps in the trash. Soon there will be a hungry Connie Compost in your back yard, just waiting to be fed! Be sure to check out Gro Play's range of eco-educational apps including Gro Recycling.
Best educational apps for middle schoolers
It's that time of the year again when parents, teachers and students start thinking about heading back to school. If you have an iOS device, you can supplement your child's education and stimulate them to get involved with quality educational iOS apps. Here are some of the best titles for children in the middle school-aged group: Star Walk 2 - Guide to the Sky Day and Night [iOS Universal; $2.99] Star Walk 2 is an excellent stargazing tool that combines astronomical data with an easy-to-use UI. Just point your iPhone or iPad at the night-time sky and be wowed by the wonders of the universe. More than just a star identification tool, Star Walk 2 also contains 3D models for Planetary nebulae, Constellations, Dwarf planets, comets, asteroids and Man-made satellites. NOVA Elements [iPad; Free] NOVA Elements brings the Periodic Table to life with stunning graphics and mind-blowing videos that showcase the unique properties of the elements. It's a must-have supplement for any chemistry or earth sciences curriculum. Pixel Press Floors: Draw Your Own Video Game [iOS Universal; Free] Pixel Press Floors makes it easy for students to create, publish and play their own games. With its "Draw-in-App" tools", Pixel Press Floors allows students to draw their games, with the app translating the drawing into code. No coding is required. Once published, a game can be shared to the "Arcade", where other users can play levels that the student has created. Though coding is not part of the package, the app teaches students the design and user interface side of app development. Duolingo - Learn Languages for Free [iOS Universal; Free] Duolingo is an enjoyable way to introduce your children to a foreign language. The apps uses short lessons to introduce basic words, common phrases, and grammar. Each lesson introduces its concepts with a mini-game that rewards students as they make progress Languages include Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and English. iTooch Middle School | Math and Language Arts worksheets for 6th, 7th and 8th grade [iOS Universal; Free with in-app purchases] iTooch is the definitive reference for middle schoolers who need extra practice in math and language arts. The app offers 10,000 exercises geared for 6th, 7th and 8th graders. It's a great way to give your kids extra practice in an easy-to-use format that doesn't require the purchase of expensive workbooks or the time-wasting practice of printing out worksheets. The app is free with each subject available for $5.99 each as an in-app purchase. Stop Motion Studio [iOS Universal; Free with in-app purchases] Make creating fun with Stop Motion Studio, one of the top apps for stop motion moviemaking. The app is easy for new users to get started with stop motion moviemaking, yet is robust enough to grow with your children as they improve with their recording and scene-setting techniques. The app is free, but includes in-app purchases for extras like green screen support, remote camera, image import and more.
Writing Wizard makes writing appear like magic
Practicing letter forms can be quite a chore, but Writing Wizard makes it a magical experience anywhere. At US$2.99 on the App Store, this universal app is a terrific value for your iPhone and/or iPad while children are kept engaged in the task of tracing using various methods of coaching and incentives. Parental controls are extremely well thought out. There are no ads or in-app purchases to distract your little Writing Wizard. The app is rated ages 4+ and would make a great gift for a friend or a school organization. The App Store description reports a size of 27.9 MB, so it won't take up a huge amount of space on your device like many educational apps. Writing Wizard requires iOS 5.1 or later so it will even work on hand-me-down devices re-purposed for education. The interface is extremely customizable, fun and easy to navigate with lessons that are incredibly engaging. A fantastic feature is the ability to view recordings of each user's session. The child can work in the app independently while therapists or parents get crucial, visual feedback of the child's progress showing where help or extended practice is most needed. Create custom words for your little Writing Wizard to trace along with audio cues recorded by you for a personalized learning experience. Use a stylus to reinforce proper grip while tracing letters and words or just use a finger to learn the basics of shapes and lines. A child's finger is the magic wand that's always with them! Audio and visual cues guide the user through the exercises which can earn rewards for accuracy in 5-Stars play mode. For safety reasons, collecting user data goes against L'Escapadou's privacy policy, so there are no syncing abilities between devices. If you plan to use this on more than one device with multiple users, you'll need to re-enter customized lessons per user and device which could make it trickier in a school setting. Each of the parental control buttons are locked or can be locked depending on the desired user experience. An addition problem must be solved to access each of these sections preventing children from making changes. Teaching children how to dismiss these if they tap the buttons by accident is easy enough. Enable Guided Access and make it your Accessibility Shortcut to save time when handing off the device because there are activities where swiping will accidentally invoke Notification Center and/or Control Center if you have it enabled. In the case of multiple users taking turns, they will need to tap to select the appropriate user profile in the upper right corner. Realize that young Writing Wizards might forget to look first and play second. The profile name in the upper right corner could be a bit more obvious. An avatar or bolder name might be helpful. Be sure to check out L'Escapadou's range of educational apps where you'll find something magical for every little wizard in your world.
Square Enix back to school sale is counterproductive to studying
Like the inevitable return of Final Fantasy 10's Sin, the first day of school is descending upon students, threatening all known joy and their tireless quest to save the world take a break from the books. You're not even safe until your first class either, because Square Enix has a pop quiz for you: What better way to prepare for the textbooks you'll never read than stocking up on adventures and time-intensive RPGs? The publisher's online store is offering discounts for reasons to procrastinate on homework, with potential savings increasing depending on how many games are purchased. Buying one game is matched with a 20 percent discount, two games earns 30 percent, and three or more reward shoppers with 50 percent off. Not everything in the store is fair game – the related press release lists "pre-orders, new releases, merchandise and soundtracks" as exceptions – but it does include Drakengard 3, Final Fantasy X/X2 HD Remaster, Thief and Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. Older selections are applicable as well, including Just Cause 2 and Final Fantasy 12, but it all depends on you beating other shoppers to the punch before supplies run out. Square Enix's sale is a decent chance to save on games you might have missed, but remember: You can't limit break your way through a stumbling GPA. [Image: Square Enix]
Gro Recycling: Feed your brain with this trash game
Gro Recycling is a fun educational game that teaches children about recycling and the process involved in taking a recyclable material and turning it into a new product. Players must "feed" the right recyclable material to the correct bin and then take the bin to the machine that will take that material and turn it into something new. Gro Recycling is compatible with iOS devices running iOS 5.0 or later. There are six different materials to recycle from plastic to batteries with a matching recycling bin for each one. Each recycling bin character gives a reaction for either liking the material given to them or disliking it. Players learn by trying to give each recycling bin the item and after they get the correct reaction, children will learn what each bin likes the "eat." When players add an item into each bin, there is a little bubble that floats up with the current amount of items in that bin. Players can use this number to test how much of that type of item will fill up a red bar on the recycling machine. You don't have to fill up the machine completely to make a new item, but it is fun to experiment and see what happens when you put just one item vs what happens when you put 50 items. When players decide on an amount to try, they can use the hook to pick up the recycling bin and take it to the recycling machine. Each type of material you can recycle has its own unique music and design that is revealed when you take the bin to the machine. This is one of the more entertaining parts of Gro Recycling because players get to add their own melodic twist to the two selections of music per machine by tapping on the machine parts. This also helps the machine make the new product. When players are done having fun with the music at the machine, they can tap the green button to see the new product they helped make transported to a picnic where some cute characters are having a picnic. The characters eat the new product or in the case of the batteries, enjoy some great music, and then the product becomes recyclable material and the process starts all over again. Gro Recycling is an exciting educational game that does a great job of teaching children about recycling without requiring direction from parents as the characters do all of the work with their reactions to the different materials. Gro Recycling is US$2.99 on the App Store and it is one of the best tools for teaching children about recycling in a fun way.
Geocaching: A fun and high-tech way for kids to learn
It's back to school time, which of course means that the kiddos are gearing up to fill their brains with all sorts of new things. Parents who are looking for ways to keep the kids entertained -- yet still learning -- on weekends, after school and on vacations need look no further than their iPhones and the Geocaching app (US$9.99). Geocaching is all about trying to find containers called caches that have been craftily hidden by others. Some of those containers only hold logbooks for you to sign, while others contain swap items. When someone hides a cache, they give it a name, determine the precise location of the cache using the GPS receiver in their iPhone, and then upload that information to the Geocaching.com website. Other geocachers in an area can attempt to find the hidden cache by using the app to determine what caches are nearby, then looking at maps to determine the rough area where the cache is hidden. It sounds simple, but many caches are truly hidden in plain site and are ridiculously hard to find. Once you've finally found a cache, you sign the logbook, add a swap item (if applicable) and take one with you, then upload your find to the Geocaching.com website. If you're not sure if geocaching sounds like a lot of fun, you can always try out the free Geocaching Intro app, which "guides you through the adventure of finding your first few geocaches." So, it sounds like a big game, right? Well, your kids can end up learning a lot by playing this "game": Map reading: To find their way to a nearby geocache, your kids will need to figure out how to read a map. Figuring out where they currently are and how to get to a cache isn't always as easy as walking in a straight line, so they'll have to be able to "see" geological features like streams, lakes, trees, marshes, cliffs and more, and try to avoid them. Oh, and you can also teach them about things like longitude and latitude while you're at it. GPS and satellites: Your kids are going to get their current position from the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation of satellites. What better way to get them interested in what makes GPS tick, how satellites stay in orbit, how satellites are launched, and more than to tie geocaching and GPS together? Geography: Caches are hidden all over the world. Have a family vacation planned to somewhere exotic? Have the kids do some pre-trip planning on caches to find that are within a reasonable walk of your stopping points for the night. Biology: Many caches are located in parks, fields and wooded areas, although you'll find a lot of them in urban areas, too. But this is a perfect opportunity to have some fun with biology. How many different species of birds can your kids find? What insects are common in the area? Are there any poisonous snakes that might be hiding near the cache? What kind of trees, grasses, and other plants are in the area? Camouflage: Have an artsy kid or two? Have them look into the art of camouflage, how to make something disappear into its surroundings. They can help create a cache, then find a place to hide it and get the coordinates so that it can be added to almost 2.5 million active caches. The list goes on and on, and is limited only by the imagination of the parent -- or educator -- who uses geocaching as a springboard for getting kids interested in a variety of subjects.
Best educational apps for elementary school students
It's that time of the year again when parents, teachers and students start thinking about heading back to school. If you have an iOS device, you can supplement your child's education with a variety of quality educational iOS apps. Here are some of the best titles for children in the elementary school-aged group: Buster! [iPad; Free] Buster! makes it fun for children to master their vocabulary using either single player games or a two-player team mode. The app develops critical word skills such as understanding rhyming, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms, homophones, adjectives, and more. The app ships with a set of core vocabulary games that can be expanded through in-app purchases. Stack the States [iOS Universal; $0.99] Stack the States takes the rote memorization of geography and makes it enjoyable. The app quizzes students on the states, asking them about capitals, state shapes, abbreviations, bordering states, location on the map, nicknames, flags and more. As they answer correctly, children earn individual states that they can stack in order to unlock bonus content. The app uses a combination of unlockable games such as Capital Drop and Pile Up! to keep children engaged. Once students have mastered the US states, they can try their hand at the companion Stack the Countries app, which covers world geography in the same quiz-style game. Cursive Writing Wizard - Trace Letters & Words [iOS Universal; $3.99] L'Escapadou builds upon the success of its Writing Wizard handwriting app with its Cursive Writing Wizard. The app uses the same sound teaching principles introduced in the handwriting version to teach children how to write in cursive. The app uses repetition as well as animations to helps children practice the proper cursive writing techniques. Besides standard letters and words, the customizable app allows parents to add their own words with audio. Barefoot World Atlas [iOS Universal; $4.99] Barefoot World Atlas allows your children to take a virtual trip around the world, introducing them to the countries, cities and people as they travel. With its easy-to-use interface, the app invites children to explore other cultures through a variety of media, including illustrations, photographs, videos and more. Splash Math Worksheet Series [iOS Universal; Various Pricing] Splash Math from StudyPad offers a comprehensive series of self-paced worksheets that'll complement any elementary school math course. The app covers all major math topics and includes extra convenience features such as a scratch pad for problem solving and explanations for incorrect answers. Support for syncing allows progress to be shared across iOS devices, while a dashboard lets parents keep track of their children's progress. MeeGenius Interactive Kids' Storybooks Songbooks [iOS Universal; Free] MeeGenius is a book subscription service that'll help stimulate a love of reading in your children. The app offers songbooks and a read-along narration option to help struggling readers improve their reading ability. MeeGenius includes five free eBooks with the option to buy additional titles through in-app purchases. A $4.99 monthly subscription provides unlimited access to over 800 books, including a larger selection of classics and new titles. There's also a free Book of the Day offer for children who access the book library via the iOS app. BrainPOP Featured Movie [iOS Universal; Free] Enjoy the educational videos and quizzes on BrainPop's website? Now you can bring that experience to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. The BrainPop app provides fresh, new content each day that covers topics in science, math, social studies, english, engineering & technology, arts & music, and health. Similar to the website, the app supports several subscription options -- a free plan with access to the free daily movie and quiz, a $1.99 monthly Explorer subscription with access up to five movies and quizzes or unlimited access to more than 750 movies and quizzes for $6.99 per month. The BrainPop app is geared for upper elementary, while the companion Brain Pop Jr app is designed for younger students.
Team Stream is one stop shopping for all your sports information
Team Stream lets you follow all your favorite teams: MLB, NFL, NCAA, NHL, NBA and more; plus your favorite players, including all those on your fantasy teams. If you use an app for scores, another one to track your favorite baseball team, a third for your favorite college team and even another one to follow your fantasy team, Bleacher Report has the solution that gives you all that information and more in a single app and its free. It works on all iOs devices running iOs 7.0 or later. The navigation and set up is easy, just select the edit button in the upper left corner and then go through all the sports, players, and other choices. This personalizes the app just the way you need it to satisfy your individual needs. In the list you will find your local teams based on your location. There will be several people choices like your fantasy team members, MLB players, NBA players and top news stories. You can add as many as you like and will get notifications whenever they do something newsworthy. I entered many of my favorite teams and a player. The notifications started almost immediately, each one appearing on my device individually. If you go to the app you can access all of the latest ones by tapping the small arrow next to the Team Stream name at the top. Team Stream offers more than just team and player news. You can select NFL news or MLB news and other longer form stories. For example, you can add "Uniform Watch", one of my personal favorites, to keep track of all the changes teams are making in their uniforms. For example new Cardinal pitcher John Lackey acquired his favorite number 41 from current Cardinal pitcher Pat Neshek. You will also find a "Trending" stream in the choices so you can keep up to date on the very latest and most popular stories. After using the app for a couple of days I found that it performed quickly and supplied me with just about every bit of information I needed. Team Stream will remain on my phone and be my go-to choice for everything sports related.
Best educational apps for pre-schoolers
It's that time of the year again when parents, teachers and students start thinking about school. If you have an iOS device, you can supplement your child's education with a variety of quality educational iOS apps. Here are some of the best titles for children in the preschool group: TallyTots [iOS Universal; $2.99] With a variety of activities, your child will never get tired of learning about their numbers. TallyTots combines puzzles or minigames that teach your child about basic numbers, number order and sorting. With big numbers and bright colors, TallyTots is designed with kids in mind. Endless Alphabet [iOS Universal; $6.99] Endless Alphabet from Originator features more than 50 words that your child can spell in a letter-dragging mini-game that helps children identify their letters, spell words and improve their dexterity simultaneously. The app features cute characters, clear enunciation of letter sounds and delightful animations that reward a child when they complete a word. Originator also produces the similar Endless Numbers and Endless Reader apps that together with Endless Alphabet will help your pre-schooler learn to spell, count and read. Sago Mini Music Box [iOS Universal; $2.99] Introduce your children to the world of music with Sago Mini Music Box. The touch-anywhere app makes it rewarding for your toddler-aged child to explore the app as every tap is linked to a wonderful sound. The app includes children's classics such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Sago Sago has an entire series of apps to entertain and educate the little ones in your household. JumpStart Preschool Magic of Learning [iOS Universal; $1.99] JumpStart brings its educational games to the iPad with its Preschool Magic of Learning app. The educational title features a series of minigames starring the familiar Frankie the Dog. Unlike other educational titles that focus on one subject, the JumpStart app targets the older preschooler with games that introduce reading, uppercase and lowercase letters, counting and more. Writing Wizard - Kids Learn to Write Letters & Words [iOS Universal; $2.99] If you are going to purchase a letter writing app for your young students, then you should check out Writing Wizard by L'Escapadou. With its colorful interface and robust reporting system, Writing Wizard is engaging for children and informative for parents. AniMatch: Animal Pairs and Sounds Matching Game [iOS Universal; $0.99] With its big buttons and wonderful animal sounds, AniMatch from Lima Sky is a delightful app for younger children. The app challenges your preschooler to a match the animal tiles in a pairing game that'll help them develop their concentration, memory and cognitive skills. Peekaboo Barn [iOS Universal; $1.99] Peekaboo Barn teaches animals sounds using friendly farm animals. The app allows you child to explore a barn with doors that open with a tap. Each time your child opens the barn doors they are rewarded with an animal sound and a new animation. Besides US english, the app also includes modules for Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Japanese, Swedish, Dutch, Italian, German, French and UK English. Not only does this bring international support, it also allows your children to learn the animal names in different languages.
Joystiq goes back to school
With some of our readers heading back to school, the team at Joystiq started to discuss the games that have mechanics or stories that could apply to standard school curriculum. Of course there are obvious choices: the Civilization series can teach players about history and planning, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego can teach players geography and critical thinking. But here are a few less obvious choices for you to consider playing while you try to get a leg up on that school work. Have some less obvious suggestions for back to school video games? Tell us in the comments and we may it to our featured gallery! >>Explore the curriculum<<
Heading to college? Buy a Mac and receive a $100 Apple Store Gift Card
Apple today began sending out emails alerting folks to a new back-to-school promotion. With the new promotion, individuals who purchase a Mac for college by September 9 will receive a $100 Apple Store Gift Card. College-bound kids who purchase an iPad or an iPhone will similarly be eligible for a $50 Apple Store Gift Card. Qualifying consumers eligible for the gift card include college students, students accepted to a college next year, parents buying a product for a college student, and "faculty or staff members from any grade level."
NodeBeat's stunning visual music creation will blow you away
NodeBeat describes itself as "the intuitive and fun visual music app for all ages." The app, available on iPhone for US$0.99 and separately on iPad as NodeBeat HD for $2.99, uses visual "nodes" to build rhythms. Generator nodes send a pulse to its connected notes and the notes then emit sound. The more nodes you drag onto the screen, the more complex your rhythm will be. It sounds advanced, but the learning curve is delightfully minimal. When you open the app for the first time, NodeBeat asks you if you want to start off by creating your own music from scratch or listening to randomly generated tunes. I recommend listening first to get a feel for how the app works. Each visual element contributes to the sound in some way. The large square sends out a drum sound, the large circles send out regular sounds and the small circles are the notes that produce what's sent to them. Each color is assigned a different pitch. For instance, among the circular generator nodes there are three colors: red is high-pitched, yellow is in the middle and blue is low-pitched. Then among the eight smaller note nodes there are another eight colors. According to NodeBeat, this combination is able to produce a range of 7 octaves, or 56 different notes. Even Mariah Carey can't compete with this. Even just mentioning these features you'd be able to get by using NodeBeat pretty well. The possibilities are endless with the combinations of notes and sounds, but pop open the settings drawer by tapping the icon on the bottom right to reveal an entirely new world of customization options and features. The stand-out feature here is the record button, which brings up a list of your saved records and enables you to record the music playing by tapping "Start Recording." When you're done, you can play it back, share it through email or SoundCloud and even export it to other apps like iMovie. The audio tab is for advanced users who want to dig deeper into the musical aspect of NodeBeat with options to edit the waveform (basically the harshness of the sound in my experience,) key, lowest octave, scale, echo, attack and more. In the rhythm tab, additional tweaks can change the tempo and which note gets a beat. Even the Node tab enables less conventional changes like whether a note or generator can float freely. Virtually everything a music junkie could ask for is available in NodeBeat. Anyone is able to toy around to achieve the exact sound they're looking for down to the finest details, and I find that utterly impressive. Apart from the audio, the visuals are also just gorgeous in the app. I can imagine setting my iPad down on my dock in the living room with friends over and letting NodeBeat deliver ambient music paired with a stunning graphical representation. Plus, anyone could walk over and have fun with it by customizing the nodes or even just pressing down anywhere in the app to add some notes like an invisible piano. NodeBeat is in the App Store as two separate apps: the iPhone version for $0.99 and the iPad (HD) version for $2.99, but truth be told not much sets the two apart other than size. That said, size matters with NodeBeat as I greatly preferred the experience on the iPad. The extra space allows for more freedom with your hands to play around with the music. While I do wish NodeBeat was a single universal app, both versions are well worth their respective prices. NodeBeat is fun enough for any inexperienced music enthusiast to play with and enjoy, but also has an abundance of advanced features to cater to power users and professional music lovers. NodeBeat easily shines among other visual music apps in the App Store and lives up to its aforementioned self-description. Purchase the iPad app or iPhone app and fall in love with it like I did.
Qwingle is a calendar app built for families and teens
Qwingle, which requires iOS 7 and is available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, is a family focused calendar app that might be just the thing you need to manage back to school schedules. First off, this app is designed to be basic, fun and visually appealing. Its main focus is tracking social events. Think of Qwingle like one of those family planning wall calendars with cute stickers and brightly colored labels. If you are a visual person, like me, you'll appreciate the color-coded categories and icons, as a lot of calendars don't have this. There's an option to filter events by category, as well. As far as contact management goes, you can sort your contacts into groups. There are suggested group names, but it's possible to edit them based on your needs. The default groups will clue you in on the type of person who would get the most out of Qwingle. There are some interesting social features. There's a status update option, similar to standard social networks. You can share these updates, as well as events, on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. People in a group can comment and like an event or status within Qwingle. All of this combined with the option to upload photos to events and status updates, makes the app function like a social diary. If you want an event to be visible to only yourself or a specific group, set it to private. Only those invited will see it. A few other things to note: When you add an event location, Qwingle links you to directions and a weather forecast. Plus, there are special offers for nearby restaurants, theaters, accommodations and other attractions. A big drawback here is that your contacts must also use the app. Because of this, only a very specific subset of people will use it. There will be a lot of individuals who won't want to bother with another calendar. That being said, Qwingle is great for busy families who need to stay in touch and keep track of each other's schedules. Since it's back to school season, managing everyone's time while you get back into the groove of things is a juggling act. The social features allow you to communicate with your kids when you change your schedule. Likewise, they can let you know their afterschool plans. Sure you can text, but it's nice having schedules and related conversations all in one place. Even if you have another calendar app like Tempo to keep track of your professional life, adding a family focused calendar to your productivity arsenal might be useful in maintaining your sanity. The app will also appeal to teens and college age kids who want organize and share their plans with a select group of friends. Qwingle can become something of an exclusive inner circle secret. The social sharing aspect is an added bonus. For the average person, Qwingle doesn't give you any reason to use it. But that's okay. It's not built for everyone. It's for a very specific demographic. Yet, even within the sphere of family centric calendars, Qwingle's social features likely aren't enough to make it more attractive than other options, like Cozi. Still, Qwingle is free, so it's worth the test drive, especially during the back to school rush.
Felix StretchWrite transforms any pen or pencil into a stylus
Despite Steve Jobs' dislike of styluses as pointing and writing devices for smartphones and tablets, a lot of people find the pointy sticks to be a necessity for accuracy. But there are still some issues with styluses -- they're usually more expensive than they need to be, and it's hard to find one that will make everyone happy in terms of how it feels in the hand. The Felix StretchWrite bands (US$9.99 for two) adds stylus functionality to any pen or pencil, meaning you can transform your favorite writing tool into a stylus. To get an idea of how the StretchWrite works, think of taking a big rubber band and stretching it over the point and eraser on a pencil. Now, give that rubber band a capacitive nub on one end and a hole on the other (for the pencil or pen tip), add some grippy bumps to the surface, and you have a StretchWrite. They come in packs of two -- either red and gray or pink and blue -- so you can have two styluses for about half the price of a single inexpensive stylus from other vendors. Testing the StretchWrites, I grabbed a pile of pens and a sharpened pencil, and tried a StretchWrite on each of 'em. Cheap throwaway pen I picked up at a Macworld booth? Worked fine. A Sharpie? Worked well with the cap still on, although the "tip" end was a bit squishy. Same with a large, comfy pen that I got from a vendor. What I found is that StretchWrite works best on the really cheap stick-type pens -- think BIC pens -- and on pencils. At $10 for two, you won't have to worry about losing one (or both) of these. You'll also have immediate access to either a pen or pencil by flipping your "stylus", which is pretty handy as well. Toss 'em into a backpack pocket along with pens and pencils, and you have the perfect spur-of-the-moment lightweight stylus. While StretchWrite doesn't provide the same feel or accuracy as a "professional" stylus, it's perfect for students and ought to be a back-to-school necessity for iPad-toting students. Rating: 3 stars out of 4 stars possible
