This article about tablets in school has something to teach us about tablets at home too. Tablets – iPads, Kindle Fires, Meeps, Nabis, iTouches (see this) – and even the apps on them aren't the main event. They can be seen as the means to an end: creativity, communication, learning, fun (author and game designer Ralph Koster says that "fun is just another word for learning"). What a child brings … [Read more...] about The power of kid-powered tablets
iPod Touch
Apple’s settlement with parents
Interesting: On the one hand, I hear a Nickelodeon executive saying kids are hard-pressed to spend $10 in the Apple App Store, and on the other I read that Apple reached a settlement with an untold number of "parents who sued the company for making it too easy for kids to rack up charges by buying add-ons to games and other apps." That's according to the Washington Post. Parents won't be able to … [Read more...] about Apple’s settlement with parents
Texting apps taking over the world, it seems
You know that texting doesn't just happen on phones, right? Kids can (and do) download a free texting app to any wi-fi-enabled device – iPod Touches, iPads, Android tablets, etc. – and text with their friends for hours without racking up any Verizon, AT&T or other mobile carriers' charges. For the same reason that they're popular in countries where SMS, or text messaging, costs a lot, they're … [Read more...] about Texting apps taking over the world, it seems
Mobile learning’s growing momentum: Study
The tide against cellphones in school – for learning, not just communication – seems to be turning. Student engagement, tight school budgets (or reasonable technology that so many students already own), and the fact that students like using their own devices are the "driving factors," according to a study by Project Tomorrow, which conducts the annual national Speak Up Survey of students, … [Read more...] about Mobile learning’s growing momentum: Study
How 10-year-olds text without a phone
It's a workaround for a kid with an iPod Touch who doesn't yet have a cellphone: Textfree. Writes CNET's Michelle Meyers of her 10-year-old daughter, the app "assigns her a real phone number, and lets her send and receive texts for free." Is there a catch? Not really – unless texting is the reason why you didn't get the kid a cellphone in the first place (at least s/he can't text while driving … [Read more...] about How 10-year-olds text without a phone