vocabulary
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Daily iPhone App: 7 Little Words for Kids is a well-made word game for youngsters
I'm a big fan of 7 Little Words, a word game that's different from the rest, in that you need to simply figure out vocabulary clues and match up syllables rather than playing Scrabble yet again or lining up letters. Now, the app's creator has returned with a version for children called (surprise) 7 Little Words for Kids. As you'd imagine, the Kids' version is a bit more colorful and easier than the serene and challenging original, but it offers the same very addictive and rewarding gameplay of being given clues for just seven little words, and then assembling a collection of syllables up to form them. The Kids' app features a number of themed stages, colors up the characters a little bit and offers stars as a reward to open up different worlds, but none of these changes are annoying, and all of them should help the game appeal to children. Plus, I couldn't imagine a better-designed game for kids to play -- there are zero ads or in-app purchases in the app, which is very notable considering how successful Seven Little Words has been with IAP. The devs really went out of their way here to make sure this app was kid-friendly and parent-approved, and while I don't have kids of my own, this is one that I'd make sure was in their hands on a long car trip or plane ride. The one qualm I have with the app was that it wasn't formatted correctly on my iPhone 5's longer screen -- again, I'm not sure how you release an app these day without making sure it works on that display. But despite that small issue, 7 Little Words for Kids is a great app for just US$0.99, and a must-buy if you've got some young minds around looking to boost their vocabularies.
Rosetta Stone launches iPad app for well-heeled language learners
The language-learning behemoth known as Rosetta Stone has launched itself into the iPad world with the new TOTALe Companion HD app, a supersized version of the iPhone TOTALe Companion that arrived earlier this year. TOTALe Companion HD delivers access to core Rosetta Stone v4 features on the mobile device: build vocabulary with the Rosetta Course module, and extend/enhance pronunciation with voice recognition. It does not include the Rosetta Studio 'live interaction' video chat, at least not for now. iPad users can sync their progress with the desktop versions of RS. Rosetta Stone may be the dominant brand in computer-aided language learning, but needless to say, it does not come cheap. You can download the iPad app for free, but it doesn't do anything without a corresponding Rosetta Stone account. You activate the app by purchasing the boxed $179 level I lessons for Mac or PC, which provide 3 months of online access (ouch!). Additional levels cost more (it's almost $500 for a five-level course suite), and if you want to continue your access past the 3-month window prices start at $25/month (going as low as $15/month with a 15-month commitment). The $199/299 3 or 6-month online-only (no boxed software) subscription also works with the iPad app. It may not be for the casual student, but if you have a professional or personal need to get conversant in a new tongue pronto, check it out. We will be taking a deeper look at the iPad app shortly. [via CrunchGear]
Lingodroid robots develop their own language, quietly begin plotting against mankind
It's one thing for a robot to learn English, Japanese, or any other language that we humans have already mastered. It's quite another for a pair of bots to develop their own, entirely new lexicon, as these two apparently have. Created by Ruth Schulz and her team of researchers at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, each of these so-called Lingodroids constructed their special language after navigating their way through a labyrinthine space. As they wove around the maze, the Lingobots created spatial maps of their surroundings, with the help of on-board cameras, laser range finders and sonar equipment that helped them avoid walls. They also created words for each mapped location, using a database of syllables. With the mapping complete, the robots would reconvene and communicate their findings to each other, using mounted microphones and speakers. One bot, for example, would spit out a word it had created for the center of the maze ("jaya"), sending both of them off on a "race" to find that spot. If they ended up meeting at the center of the room, they would agree to call it "jaya." From there, they could tell each other about the area they'd just come from, thereby spawning new words for direction and distance, as well. Schulz is now looking to teach her bots how to express more complex ideas, though her work is likely to hit a roadblock once these two develop a phrase for "armed revolt."
My word! You can coach your vocabulary for $10
Have you tried the demo for My Word Coach (available via the Wii's Nintendo Channel) and enjoyed it? If so, you might be looking to pick it up cheaply, thereby sparing your wallet and improving your vocabulary in one fell swoop. Currently, then, you can head on over to Amazon and get the game for the hard-to-resist price of $9.99. Like most Amazon sales (excluding the Deal of the Days, of course), this one is without rhyme or reason, so we can't tell you how long it will last.%Gallery-3340%[Via CAG]
Pay only $16.99 for some word ability (word smarts)
Didn't you hear? Simple-minded conversations are so 2007. If you want any respect from your peers (or the streets), you'll need to burst into flowery prose whenever the situation requires. Nowadays, girls won't even look at you if you introduce yourself with anything but a grandiloquent line. Step your vocab game up, kids.Luckily for you, Amazon has just the thing to help you compete with the single sesquipedalians out there, and they've got it for cheap, too! All day today, the online retailer is selling My Word Coach, Ubisoft's vocabulary-training software, for only $16.99, almost half of its regular $29.99 price. Pick it up while you can, because it's not like you can rely on your good looks forever. See also: Promotional Consideration: It pays to have word ability (word smarts)[Via CAG]
Satiate intercontinental voracity with online vocabulary game
Ever feel you're wasting your time with games? Feel like you should be doing something to better yourself or the world around you instead of staring at a screen? Well, with Poverty.com's Free Rice game, you can do your part for personal and global fulfillment without ever stopping the gaming.The self-betterment in Free Rice comes from vocabulary identification questions that automatically adjust to your skills so they're challenging but not impossible. The world-improvement comes from the eponymous free rice, ten grains of which are donated through the UN's World Food Program and the site's advertisers for each right answer you provide. In the past month, over 856 million grains of rice have been donated, with the total rising exponentially day over day.We love the idea, and think this model has potential for all sorts of games. Every Halo headshot can net a donation to Amnesty international (sponsored by Mountain Dew). Every five star Guitar Hero performance could give money to Save the Music (sponsored by VH1, of course). Bill Gates could add few bucks to his foundation for every Achievement point earned. The possibilities are endless.[Via Gene. Thanks Michelle]
Promotional Consideration: Having word ability continues to pay
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out. In last week's edition of Promotional Consideration, we snickered over Ubisoft's scandalous My Word Coach ad, reveling in the juvenility of its baseball/sex metaphor. Imagine our surprise and mirth when we stumbled upon another printed piece promoting the vocabulary trainer, this time targeted at women! While not even half as bawdy as its brother, nor as clever, this advertisement still has some qualities worth examining.
Promotional Consideration: It pays to have word ability (word smarts)
var digg_url='http://digg.com/gaming_news/Practice_vocabulary_get_lucky_according_to_this_ad'; Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.While we've exposed you to sexually-charged promotional materials in the past, much to the disapproval of your uptight parents, the last game we ever expected to feature for its immodest advertising was My Word Coach, a vocabulary trainer due for the DS and Wii this November 6th. Read on for the titillating piece and our analysis on how Ubisoft put together one of the most salacious ads to appear in Nintendo Power in recent memory without baring a single inch of skin.
A look at My Word Coach (and DS-Wii connectivity)
Ubisoft let fly with the details on their latest new Nintendo title, the now-official My Word Coach, a vocabulary trainer with various single and multiplayer modes. Let us be among the first to say it: we're excited. In fact, we're doubleplus excited, because you need this game.Yes, you. You. Right there. We've been reading your forum and LiveJournal posts for years. You didn't loose anything (unless you dig archery), and you're really doesn't refer to anything owned, but rather, something that is. And while there may be more than two versions of the homophones too and to, only one of these can be used to communicate that you also want something (like delicious ice cream).But enough with the lecture. The most exciting bit about My Word Coach is on the Wii side of the news, as the title is coming out for both platforms. Before you protest that the Wii isn't perhaps best suited for writing, check this out: you can use your DS to control the Wii version. According to IGN, there are several ways in which the DS can be utilized, and "you won't even need a DS copy of the game for this particular mode" (in reference to a mode that requires players fill in the missing letter of a word). This seems to intimate that for other modes, both the Wii and DS versions of the game may be necessary for full interaction. While that has a lot of potential, we just hope it's worth the expense.%Gallery-3340%
Leo Laporte wants to rebrand podcasts as 'netcasts' - I agree
If you're a TWiT fan (or a listener of almost any of Leo's other 200 podcasts), you might have heard in the past couple of weeks that he's pushing to change the term 'podcast' to 'netcast.' He's even gone so far as to start using it in his lingo on the shows (at least on the few of his shows I can keep up with), and is looking to trademark the term. Now before you run off and flame TWiT's forums, just hear the man out - because I think he has a good idea.Leo has a couple of reasons for hoping to move the mountain that is now podcasting. The first is Apple's recent bullish attitude towards the terms 'pod' and 'podcast,' as they've been filing their own trademarks and sending nastygrams to companies who get even just a little too close to using these words in their names or products. For a term that was born out of the grassroots web broadcasting movement and coined out of love for Apple's little music player, this understandably felt like a slap in the face to many - including even Leo, who was recently dubbed podcaster of the year. Of course, on the flip side of that coin, I can also understand Apple's interest in protecting their product likeness and the word 'pod.' After all - when else has such a goofy, nerdy word become such an icon? Oh what a twisted web of vocabulary and intellectual property we weave.Leo's second reason, and one that I feel is a bit more significant, is the implication of the deep roots the term 'podcasting' itself has grown, in light of its relationship to the iPod as a word and a product. Leo laments that to so many of podcasting's new target demographic (i.e. - all the non-early adopters who aren't listening to them, yet), the term 'podcast' itself implies that one needs an iPod to download and listen to them. Of course, it's pretty obvious to us nerds that this assumption couldn't be farther from the truth, but that is exactly Leo's point - he wants to change the term to drop that stigma for 'the other half;' the people who might or might not have heard of podcasting, but ultimately don't know much about it. Podcasting is all about leveling the playing field so anyone with some talent can share it with the world - but in this context, the term 'podcasting' is a bit counterproductive to the effort of breaking down the walls for one and all.Let's face it - there are a lot of other DAPs out there, and a ton of other products on which one can listen to music. The 'song' wasn't renamed to 'pong' or 'iPong' - maybe it would be better, and more accessible, to adopt a generic term like 'netcast,' so more listeners can join the party.
Japanese hardware sales, 28 August - 3 September: verbose edition
As per our fine comrades at the affluent webcomic Penny Arcade, we residing at the fanboy congregated to bestow upon you a post of great vim. Certainly, the readership is quite familiar with the veritable monarchy that the DS Lite has been erecting via its accrued sales numbers; today, the standing ruler has evidently resisted its supplantation. The fact that the DS Lite might even transcend a neoteric console (in its third revision!) is a statement of certain verisimilitude, as we can easily ascertain from the following quantitative analysis: - DS Lite: 228,939 65,665 (40.22%) - PSP: 27,499 2,446 (8.17%) - PS2: 22,703 874 (4.00%) - GBA SP: 2,751 32 (1.18%) - Game Boy Micro: 1,791 28 (1.54%) - Xbox 360: 1,250 53 (4.43%) - Gamecube: 855 18 (2.15%) - DS Phat: 320 90 (21.96%) - GBA: 22 8 (57.14%) - Xbox: 0 12 (100.00%) One might even conjecture that the leading candidate was, at one point, an inscrutable conundrum. [Source: Media Create]
Researchers create virtual bots that teach each other
New Scientist reports that researchers at Plymouth University in the U.K. have created a pair of virtual robots that can teach each other words by simply demonstrating various tasks and actions (sound familiar?). The bots start out with one performing simple functions like bending an elbow which the other one copies, then repeating the action while also describing it, causing the student bot to pick up the meaning of the words. The teacher then uses the newly formed vocabulary to gradually convey more and more complex actions, which the student acts out. If you're worried about the little buggers getting a little too smart, you'll be pleased to know that they currently top out at a vocabulary of about 100 words and are, of course, virtual. However, the researchers do eventually see the technology being put to use in real robots in the future, possibly even teaching us humans a few tricks.
