colorstudiohd
Latest
Griffin and Crayola intro contact-free Light Marker, drawing workstations
Griffin and Crayola are already best of friends through their ColorStudio HD collaboration for the iPad. They're deepening that relationship at CES with a handful of iPad accessories and apps based around the quintessential crayon. Heading up the pack, the Crayola Light Marker you see above upgrades the earlier input by letting kids draw in the air; they can splatter (thankfully virtual) paint and play other games without scribbling directly on the tablet's screen. A pair of cradles are joining the marker, including the Digital Activity Center portable lap desk (after the break) and the briefcase-like Color & Play Workstation. The software side is being rounded out with special Barbie and Hot Wheels versions of the ColorStudio HD app, each of which has drawings themed around the perennial favorite toys. Griffin expects the Light Marker, Digital Activity Center and Color & Play Workstation to reach young artists' hands in the spring for $30, $40 and $20 respectively; the specialized iPad apps should arrive later in January, each for $3. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Crayola's ColorStudio HD now available, iMarker at Best Buy
Griffin announced via its Facebook page that its collaboration with Crayola, ColorStudio HD for iPad, is now available. We first heard of it just before CES, when news of the app along with the new iMarker stylus came out. The US$29.99 marker-styled accessory allows kids -- or any other coloring enthusiast -- to color more than 50 interactive coloring pages. A trial mode, available if you download the map but do not own the stylus, allows you to paint three pictures with your finger. iMarker is now available through Best Buy and Griffin's site, and we will be getting our hands on it to give is a good run-through.
Crayola and Griffin unite for ColorStudio HD on iPad, custom iMarker stylus
Guess what just popped up to the top of our "must-see at CES" list? Chances are, if you're an iPad owner with small kids, you too will be enthralled by the promise and the premise of Crayola's collaboration with peripheral maker Griffin Technologies: ColorStudio HD for iPad, including the Crayola iMarker stylus. Coming in "Spring 2011" for the iPad, the US$29.95 hardware and software combo will put the wax-based experience of crayon drawing into a new digital realm. Once the free-with-purchase app is downloaded to the iPad (and I'm curious how exactly that's going to work -- a gift code that you get once you register the product? Or a free app that simply doesn't work without the stylus?), the would-be artist can draw away on more than 50 interactive coloring pages, games, musical environments and the like. The app will be able to differentiate the iMarker's touch point from a fingertip swipe, so coloring and controlling the UI will be distinct operations. This capability would be fascinating if Crayola and Griffin chose to license it for grown-up painting apps like ArtRage, but I imagine that kids will simply grok the difference between a marker and their fingers the same way they understand that distinction in the real world. Good luck getting the iPad out of the back seat during car trips now. One drawback, as Kelly H pointed out today: this increases the chances of other, non-iPad-safe markers being used inappropriately on other flat glowing surfaces. Deep breath and count to 10, parents.
