Little Pim – Language Fun For Kids

September 17, 2012 by 6 Comments

With school starting up, parents and kids everywhere are looking for that slight edge to bring their kids from middle of the class to top of the class. It is a fact that children who learn foreign languages early in life have a much easier time learning new languages later on in life. With this in mind, we have Little Pim. This cute little panda helps kids learn languages like Chinese, Spanish, Italian, German, English, French, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Hebrew, and Portuguese. Little Pim teaches children not by associated words with translations or drills, but with actions and sounds, so kids don’t have to translate to learn- they just learn.

This way, instead of memorizing one word, they memorize strings of actions, where the words are simply the building blocks to the underlying concepts. Pim is a blast for kids, it is so much fun Little Man actually asks to watch on a regular basis. If it is good enough to be requested instead of assigned, that is pretty good in our house, especially for something educational.

Little Pim is also the winner of 10 top consumer awards for his educational DVDs. Pimis now available as a digital download as well. So now Pim can be everywhere you are! Pim is even available as an app on the iPad and is the winner of the 2012 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval.

About Little Pim:

Little Pim is an award-winning foreign language learning program for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Between birth and the age of six, the human brain is hard-wired for language learning, and Little Pim helps families take advantage of this brief window, by making language learning easy, fun [Read more…]

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Totoya iPad case

September 10, 2012 by 3 Comments

Ok so what is a Totoya? Other then a misspelling of Toyota. 🙂 It is a cool digital and physical life toy for your kids- and it’s really cute.

This toy has two equally important characteristics. One is the physical fluffy part, it is a big white cute monster which doubles as a tablet case and a plush for kids. The monster is about the size of a small pillow case, or just a bit bigger then an iPad itself. Once inside the Totoya, your iPad is completely enclosed all around by a layer of plush creature, saving it from possible disaster. The stuffing is soft and huggable, giving your iPad a more natural, stuffede-animal feel. This extra softness is especially useful once we get to the digital component of the product, part two- the app.

The app itself is available on the App Store for free, and is a personality for your new Totoya monster. There are a few variants available, including YetYet, Robotto, YetX, and RobX. (Two of which are for your iPad and two of which [Read more…]

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National Geographic Apps

September 5, 2012 by 3 Comments

Check out this digital fun for kids!

National Geographic has a great new app for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The app is called Look & Learn Animal Alphabet. The app consists of 6 games containing over 60 animals and 100 photographs. The games are: A-Z animals, which teaches kids letters by associating them with animals, sounds and fun facts. Find the ABC’s is letter choosing to reveal a funny animal picture and fact. Connect the Letters is like connect he dots but with numbers and animals of course. Flamingo Flier is a game where you control a flamingo and must collect letters in the African landscape. Learn to Write teaches kids how to write letters and give them cool rewards after every letter. Mask Maker is the pure fun in this line up it lets you take photos with your device then put a funny animal mask on the photo and save ro email ti to your friends and family.

This app will keep your kids [Read more…]

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Vipre Antivirus

August 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of GFI for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Vipre Antivirus software was developed by GFI software. GFI Software specializes in small and middle size business IT solutions. Thus making them a perfect company to site with against the evil malware and virus’s of the internet. Gfi first got into the released Vipre in 2010 and since has been improving and keeping systems across the globe safe and secure. GFI are Microsoft Gold Partners as well as the Winning on Windows Award and Microsoft Fusion Award. And these aren’ t the only wards which Vipre has earned. It has also been on the VB100 best award, about.com Readers ‘ Choice Award and is AV-Test Certified.

All the awards in the world mean jack in the real world unless the software actually works. I can say this software does work. The greatest part of Vipre is its strength and its light weight. Vipre has a very small foot print and only uses minimal hardware. This is very nice compared [Read more…]

Filed Under: electronics, technology

Top 5 Translation Apps for Overseas Travelers

July 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

Being a stranger in a strange land can be fun for a while – right up until you order the
special and wind up with a plate of live squid or you hop on a train to get back to your
hotel and wake up in another country. While most people will struggle to use pocket
translation books (populated by ridiculously tiny print) modern technology can make your
trip a little easier with a slew of translation apps. Here are a few of the best.

  1. iTranslate. Okay, let’s be honest: this app is free to download but a lot of the
    features will require payment (at prices of $0.99 to $1.99 a pop). That said, there is a lot
    to love about this translation application, which features 50 languages (20 of which have
    spoken translation), a dictionary, speech-to-speech mode (handy for conversations), and
    options to save phrases. It may cost you a bit for some of the neat features, but even
    without them you get a basic translation tool that’s better than most of the offerings out
    there.
  2. Word Lens. Many travelers know the frustration of looking at signs in foreign
    countries and having no idea if they’re giving you directions to your hotel or offering you
    a bowl of fried rice. This app lets you take pics of signage in order to have it translated.
    It doesn’t have a lot of language options yet, and although the app itself is free you will
    have to pay as much as $4.99 for each one you download, but the upside is that you
    only need to buy the languages you want to use, rather than shelling out for a program
    that comes with dozens that you’ll never need. And the first time you use it to read a
    menu in France or a train schedule in Spain it will be worth every cent.
  3. SayHi Translate. This app will [Read more…]
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Please Pardon My Dust …

July 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I am migrating!
This should not take long- and I believe this site will stay functional for most, if not all, of the time during the migration. [Read more…]

Filed Under: technology

TheFind App

May 30, 2012 by 3 Comments

TheFind is a great new app. We have discussed this before and as a refresher, TheFind.com is an app for android and the iOS platform where you have access to thousands of catalogs. This app is great and its free check them out here TheFind. TheFind is compatible with most phones. tablets, ipod, etc. IF its ‘smart’ then this will probably work on it.

This app is easy to find and use. In our case we hoped onto the Android Store and searched for TheFind. It quickly pulled up the app and installation was a breeze. The download was quick as well. The interface is graphic instead of text which is nice. The opening screen has a splash of catalogs. From here you can either browse their current catalogs or search for a specific item you are looking for. Maybe a sale on [Read more…]

Filed Under: technology

U-Verse Review: Will AT&T survive the changing field of telecommunications?

April 26, 2012 by 8 Comments

AT&T has been the leading network provider since the telephone networks were established. Not
without good reason though. AT&T is the pioneer when it comes to telecommunications. The nature of
the company is rooted to the invention of the telephone itself. After Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone, Bell tried to sell the patent to Western Union. The telegraph and mailing giant refused
the offer. Bell was then forced to sell the patent to his financial backers. These two backers had later
found the company that grew to be AT&T.

Due to its head start in the telephone industry, AT&T has always been in the lead. Perhaps no one would
argue about this as AT&T still currently has the most number of subscribers among all the network
carriers in the USA. It also ranks as the 14th wealthiest country in the world, second only to petrol
companies.

Currently, AT&T is planning to use its lead on wireless communications to dominate another market;
specifically, the TV industry. Because of advancements in IT technology, almost all forms of data can
now be sent as a computer file. Because of this and the switch of the TV to digital signals, AT&T, who is
already well versed in the field of wireless (and wired) communications and data transmission, had seen
TV as a viable investment.

This latest set of services that is offered by AT&T is called the U-Verse. U-verse is the newest brand for
AT&T’s TV, internet, and telephone services. The big question is: “Will U-Verse be enough for AT&T to
completely dominate the communications industry?”

We will be answering this question by observing the key criteria for customer subscription namely
internet speed, TV package, telephone services, data reception, customer support, and bundle price.
You can always skip to the summary if you do not want to view the nitty-gritty of it. But if you want
informed opinion and some explanation regarding the scores, then I encourage you to read through.

INTERNET SPEED
AT&T U-verse offers a basic internet package for $38 at 3 Mbps. Its premium package is offered at $63
per month with the speed of up to 24 Mbps. Sure it’s not as fast as Verizon FiOS but it sure makes up for
it. However, there are other more competitive internet providers, such as Verizon and Comcast, that are
providing faster traffic at the same affordable rate. According to a study made By FCC, verizon Ranked
number 1 in terms of speed, Cox and Comcast battles it out for number 2 and AT&T is in a tight battle
with everybody else in the middle. In terms of internet speed and reliability, AT&T U-Verse has much to
prove; hence an 8 out of 10.

TV PACKAGES
Like its internet service, AT&T’s TV packages are affordable and competitive. U-Verse offers only local
channels with its basic package, but starts to shine at the higher tiers as it can offer up to 430 channels
(with access to 145 High Definition Channels). However, it is not enough to topple down leading TV
providers such as DirecTV and Comcast Xfinity as these two have better HD channel selection and
more channels to offer (DirecTV). Verizon FiOS also have a better DVR than AT&T. AT&T’s TV package is
competitive, but not the best. We will be giving AT&T 8 out of 10 because of this.

TELEPHONE SERVICES
AT&T [Read more…]

Filed Under: technology