NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Apps for Kids Keep Brain Juices Flowing

Content provided by Meg Baker, FoxNews.com

 

Keep the brain juices flowing this summer; download these apps for your kids.

Math equations and books are probably the last thing on your child's mind this summer, but a fun download on your smartphone or iPad could have them thinking differently -- and have them cracking a book and learning.

Sushi Monster
Strengthen math skills with the fun to play Sushi Monster. The free app will have your kids honing their addition and multiplication skills, the game being speed and accuracy with the goal of feeding the monster.

They'll also have to strategize throughout the game, selecting numbers from the sushi counter to make it through the 12 (7 addition, 5 multiplication) sequenced levels. Each step has four rounds to go through before the player has a chance to slay the next monster.

Download Sushi Monster: Apple iTunes
Mobilewalla score: 82 out of 100

Storia
Make reading fun and more enjoyable with the Storia eReading app. The scholastic download comes with five free books, with the option to download your choice of story from a collection of picture, chapter, and interactive books.

The e-books vary in level for ages 3 to 14 and are customizable with audio narration, pronunciation tools, phonics and other vocab activities. For advanced readers there is the option to take notes within the story, highlight key points, and access videos for further real-world information.

Parents can monitor their child’s progress as they swipe through the pages.

Download Storia: Apple iTunes
Mobilewalla score: 76 out of 100

SparkleFish
Kids can create their own adventure tale while learning sentence structure with SparkleFish. The app comes with four free stories and the option to purchase more.

Personalize stories by using your own voice to fill in adjectives, nouns, verbs and other kinds of words to complete silly stories.

Download SparkleFish: Apple iTunes
Mobilewalla score: 23 out of 100

More from FoxNews.com

• iPad, Apps Key to Unlocking Communication Barrier with Autistic Students
• 3 Apps to Make the Everyday Easier While on the Go
• Teachers Can Upgrade the Classroom with these Apps

Credit: Sparkle Fish

---

Email:

---

Get Higher Def From (Some of) Your DVDs

Paying for a digital copy of something you already own might seem silly, but what if that copy were better than the real thing and worked on a different set of devices?

Apple has sold music fans on that idea with its iTunes Match service, which for $24.99 a year delivers high-fidelity copies of your existing songs, even if you grabbed them from some sketchy file-sharing service. Now Walmart's Vudu Disc to Digital invites you to pay $5 for a high-definition digital upgrade of a DVD movie -- or $2 for a same-quality copy of a DVD or Blu-ray Disc.

BLOG: Shrimp-eye Tech Coming Soon to DVD?

Walmart's service is the first implementation of a movie-industry joint venture called UltraViolet meant to provide a play-anywhere-on-anything solution to movies. It's not bad, but you can tell it's a rookie effort from all the wrinkles that the Bentonville, Ark., retailer still needs to iron out.

Start with the selection: The same licensing and participation holdups that cut into the inventory of every other online movie service limit the "thousands" of titles offered here. (A Walmart publicist wouldn't offer a more specific total.) For example, I could order digital copies of "The Matrix," the 2009 version of "Star Trek" and "The Godfather," but not the "Star Wars" trilogy, "Ratatouille" or "This Is Spinal Tap." One complicating factor: The Walt Disney Co. hasn't signed on to UltraViolet.

Then you have the actual process to get one of these copies. You can't just visit Vudu's website, a decent streaming-media option that's been around for several years; you have to show up in person at a Walmart Photo Center desk with discs in hand.

But when I stopped by a Fairfax County, Va., location on Wednesday, the clerk said she wasn't scheduled to be trained in this system for another week. A manager knew the drill and quickly handled the transaction; even though nobody could find the stamp they're supposed to use on the disc to prevent further digital-copy purchases, they let me go anyway.

(D.C.-area tech blogger Dave Zatz had worse luck when he stopped by a Walmart on Monday: He had to return later that afternoon to close the deal.)

When I got home, a 40-minute drive, thanks to Beltway traffic backing up onto local roads, digital copies of "The Matrix" and "Star Trek" were waiting in my account.

On a 40-inch HDTV plugged into a Blu-ray player running a Vudu app, "The Matrix" looked substantially sharper than that Sony player's upconversion of the DVD, although I could still see jagged edges and other signs of video compression when I stood closer to the screen.

On a Mac desktop and a Windows laptop, however, the Vudu site only delivered standard-definition streams and downloads of each movie. Vudu's iPad app (no Android version is available) stopped at standard-def streaming too. None of these DVDs' extra features, like outtakes or directors' commentaries, were available.

ANALYSIS: Why Does Netflix Hate the DVD Business?

When you can get an SD backup of a DVD, extras and all, using a variety of free software, Walmart's $5 HD option looks like less of a deal -- even if it's half of Amazon's price. Also unpleasant: having to download an extra app to get a download of either movie on a PC or Mac, then seeing the laptop's slow processor fail to play the 1.8-gigabyte "Star Trek" download without stuttering.

Walmart's got company in this disc-to-digital dream. Apple launched its iTunes Digital Copy option, which provides iTunes-compatible downloads of some discs, back in 2008. Movie studios have since been working on their own versions of the idea; my Blu-ray edition of "Apollo 13" came with a choice of a digital copy from iTunes, Vudu or Amazon.

That's the upside -- studios have realized that we don't carry DVD players everywhere. But can they pick a standard and stay with it?

Credits: Rob Pegoraro/Discovery

---

Email:

---

How Do You Gift-Wrap An MP3 File?

The simplest question stumped me a few days ago: If somebody gives you music for Christmas, how do you want to get it?

The easy answer was "not in CD form." We haven't bought anything on disc in a while -- aside from kids' music for our daughter, notwithstanding the short lifespan of any shiny plastic object in the hands of a toddler. Digital files are cheaper, more portable, don't require buying an entire album to get the two good songs on it, have zero shipping costs and can't be lost as long as you take a moment to back them up.

PHOTOS: Seven Formerly Popular Websites That Are Dying

But how exactly does one hand over an ethereal bundle of bits to somebody?

It seems that we figured out how to replace physical purchases of music, books and movies with digital versions without coming to an agreement on how we package them as presents.

DNEWS VIDEO: Gadgets and Gizmos

The actual procurement mechanics aren't difficult. The blissful absence of "digital rights management" usage restrictions at Apple, Amazon and other music stores allow you to download a song and then present it to a recipient as you wish. That's where consensus evaporates.

Do you save the music or whatever file that you're giving on a USB flash drive or SD Card, then wrap that and stuff it in a stocking? That at least provides a secondary gift; some flash drives look weird enough to serve as conversation pieces in their own right, while others can double as jewelry. But friends with desk drawers overflowing with spare USB drives and memory cards (as in, most tech journalists) probably don't need any more.

Do you print out the Web page listing the song or album you just bought -- or maybe a screen shot of those files in a folder on your computer--and then wrap that in one way or another before transferring the actual files over at the recipient's convenience? That allows a certain amount of artistic expression, especially if you know origami. Sadly, my own folding talents stop at paper airplanes.

The Best of 2011

One reader suggested via Twitter that it would be more ingenious to kidnap the recipient's MP3 player, load the file in question on it, and then wrap up the hardware as a gift. I like that idea, although the timing of this can get tricky or yield some awkward moments.

Or you could simply take advantage of the gift-giving options most digital stores provide for faraway recipients. Apple's iTunes Store lets you send music, videos, audiobooks and apps as gifts -- although its iBooks doesn't allow this option, yet another way in which that e-book store invites its own irrelevance. Amazon lets you send music and Kindle e-books as presents too. But if you want the recipient to "open" these gifts, so to speak, at the same time as others you're giving, you'll have to get up early Christmas morning.

One thing seems clear: As our entertainment moves from atoms to bits, we're going to have more digital-etiquette quandaries like this. Another remains unchanged from the analog world: Giving a gift certificate is your easiest but least creative option.

Credit: Rob Pegoraro/Discovery

---

Email:

---

Click Here if You're Mad at Facebook or Netflix

Each week we at Discovery News honor the best of our readers' comments across our Facebook and Twitter feeds! Watch the video below for my response to your angriest, most insightful and funniest comments. This week you were mad at technology -- and so were we.

   

FUNNIEST TWEETS OF THE WEEK

Yes, H.G. Wells brought us visions of the future -- and we hightlighted them in this slide show. But there was definitely one we missed. Thanks to @alyssastafford for pointing out the fact that Wells also predicted the rise of the mustache in the 21st century.

Also, we feel like we gave our readers fair warning this week about their angry aquarium fish with this article. Obviously, it was just in the nick of time for @Asia_Surf.

 

 

Browser Plug-In Reveals Who's on the Same Page

WhoIsLive: Free

Have you ever wondered who's looking at your Facebook page at any given moment? Who hasn't, right? Well a new browser plug-in now in beta can not only tell you, it can also let you strike up a conversation with them.

NEWS: Facebook Can Serve as Personality Test

Now available for Firefox and Internet Explorer -- a Chrome version is coming soon -- WhoIsLive creates a sidebar in your browser that lists the other people who are looking at the same web page you are, whether on Facebook or elsewhere. For each visitor, WhoIsLive displays the person's full name and photo along with a link to their Facebook profile. Using that list, you can broadcast a message for everyone else on the page to see, or you can chat with people individually. The only catch, it seems, is that others must also have installed WhoIsLive to show up on your list; otherwise, you won't know they're there.

Credit: WhoIsLive

---

Email:

---

iPhone App Scans Moles for Signs of Skin Cancer

Skin Scan app: $4.99

There are mobile apps for virtually every entertainment purpose under the sun, but how about one that could save your life? That's essentially the purpose of Skin Scan, an iPhone app from Cronian Labs that monitors the moles on your skin for signs of melanoma.

NEWS: Portable Scanner Analyzes Cancer Cells in an Hour

Now available in Apple's iTunes store, Skin Scan begins with a photo of any and all moles you want to monitor. Using a proprietary mathematical algorithm, it calculates for each the fractal dimension of the mole and surrounding skin and builds a structural map that reveals the different growth patterns of the tissues involved. Through this map, Skin Scan can then determine if the mole shows any abnormal development and alert you if a medical visit is required -- if one is, it will even help you find a doctor in your area. Otherwise, you can save the photos you take for comparison over time.

[Via Springwise]

Credit: Springwise

---

Email:

---

Enjoy Extra Shark Week Content via Mobile App

Shark Week Live apps for iPhone and iPad: Free

Viewers of Discovery Channel's Shark Week extravaganza this week are already in for a treat that includes 17 hours of content, seven all-new specials and -- for the first time ever -- Shark Week Live, with extra, behind-the-scenes synchronized material. You can participate in Shark Week Live online, but two new apps for iPhone and iPad let you sit back, relax and enjoy the material from the comfort of your couch.

NEWS: Up Close and Personal With Elusive Shark

Simply download the version for iPhone or iPad from Apple's iTunes store. Then, while you're watching Shark Week TV shows this week, launch the app for a variety of synchronized content. Exclusive production photos, maps, graphs and illustrations are available via Shark Week Live, for example, as are incredible shark facts not included on the TV shows. You can also compete against other Shark Week Live users via multiple choice quizzes and prediction events, and you'll be able to share your opinion with live, instant polling. The only catch? Shark Week Live is synched to the live broadcast, so it won't work if you watch via DVR.

---

Email:

---

Mobile App Uses Sound to Keep Mosquitoes Away

Mosquito Buster: Free

Mosquitoes are a summertime nuisance in many parts of the world, and often the deterrents available to hold them at bay are almost as unpleasant as the insects are. A new smart phone app from Japanese software maker Sea's Garden, however, now offers an alternative to all those malodorous candles, lotions, oils and sprays.

NEWS: Mosquitoes Fooled by Smelly Molecules

Instead of repellent fragrances, the Mosquito Buster app uses sound to keep mosquitoes away. Specifically, it causes the user's smart phone to emit a high-frequency noise that's inaudible to humans but that the pesky insects reportedly can't stand. Two additional settings on the app use different frequencies to repel mice and -- believe it or not -- children as well. Mosquito Buster is coming soon to Apple's App Store, Sea's Garden says.

[Via Japan Trends]

Credit: Sea's Garden

---

Email:

---

New App Counts Calories Through Photos Of Food

Want to know how many calories you are going to consume when you reach for that cheese burger or slice of pie? Take a picture of it using your iPhone. A new app called MealSnap allows users to photograph food and get the calorie count.

"We've heard from members over the years that calorie counting can be time consuming and harder for some of our users to sustain over time," said the developer DailyBurn's CEO Andy Smith in a press release.

"We knew we had to come up with a solution -- one that provides people the simplest way possible for them to become aware of what they put into their body and understand their daily consumption."

GET MORE NEWS ABOUT SMARTPHONE APPS

The solution is this: Users snap a picture of their meal and within minutes the photo is matched to a MealSnap database of 500,000 food items. The app then sends a alert with a range of calories for the photographed food.

Bacon, eggs and hashbrowns? You'll be taking in between 290 to 436 calories. Mixed salad with goat cheese? That'll cost you 330 to 495 calories. You may be better off with roasted red peppers and toast for 111 to 166 calories.

"The database can quickly help identity the food, how many calories there are, proteins, fat, carbs, vitamins, whatever you may want to know," Smith was quoted saying by Reuters. "Users can then choose to share what they've eaten on Twitter or FourSquare, leading to social accountability."

As well, MealSnap can act as a food diary. Once the app is installed, users can browse the photo log and visually keep track of their diet. MealSnap is available on iTunes for $2.99.

Photo: Imagemore Co., Ltd./Corbis

---

Email:

---

New iPhone 4 Won't Stop Android

Note: This is the first in a series of posts on why Google's Android will soon eclipse Apple's iPhone in quality and popularity.

The much ballyhooed iPhone 4 hit stores last Thursday and as of today have netted Apple $1.7 billion in sales. And that should have a good ripple effect on businesses that have developed apps for the phone.

The iPhone's App Store is the 800-pound gorilla in the mobile world, with more than 225,000 apps. Google's Android Market has only 73,000 apps, but that says nothing about its astonishing growth. Android has doubled the number of apps in the Market every three months since 2009. And although the release of the iPhone 4 seems to have put a dent in the Android's market growth for now, I don't think the damage will last, and here's why.

Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, is a bit of a control freak. That comes across in each of the products his company makes, from the MacBook to the iPhone. The App Store is no different. The company requires complete control over every app that ends up in the store, requiring an extensive application process. It's all done in the name of guaranteeing the world "freedom from porn," as Jobs says.

And it all seems so arbitrary. Take the case of Mark Fiore. He's an editorial cartoonist for SFGate.com, the San Fransisco Chronicle's website. He developed an editorial cartoons app for the store called NewsToons, which was rejected last December, because it "mocked public figures." Editorial cartoonists exist almost solely to mock public figures, so it seemed that Fiore was out of luck.

Then he won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. Suddenly, Apple changed its mind, and asked Fiore to resubmit his app. And wouldn't you know it, the app was accepted!

Developers resent this level of arbitrary control, and Fiore isn't the only case. Why did the App Store allow the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, but remove an app for people to buy sexy swimsuits? No explanation was given, beyond Apple's requirement for developers that it can ban "overtly sexual apps."

Developers need a stable environment to develop apps in, a place that is worth investing months of their lives and thousands of their dollars in. The App Store can't provide that stable environment. These content restrictions make it difficult for a controversial app to get in.

The Android market is more laissez faire. Developers still have to sign this agreement to get in the club, but it is far more reasonable than Apple's contract.

Unlike the iPhone, Android apps don't have to be acquired from the Android Market. Apps can be obtained from any source, including a developer's own website. Apple will never let its precious iPhone be that open.

The iPhone has a lot going for it right now, and its much larger app selection is one of the most important reasons it's more popular than the Android. But at this pace, the Android Market will quickly catch up with the iPhone in the number of apps. When developers realize they can reach an enormous mobile market without bowing to Apple's draconian restrictions, they will jump ship in huge numbers, and bring even more smart phone customers with them.

Tomorrow is part 2 of why the Android will over take the iPhone in the mobile market. Stay tuned!

Photo: Ming Yeung/Getty Images

---

Email:

---