App Review: DinoMixer

digitalchristopherrobin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:00:11 +0000

Like many kids, I went through a phase where I LOVED dinosaurs. Well before Jurassic Park (the book!) I would spend hours flipping through dinosaur books and imagining what it might have been like to be an early mammal scurrying around in the shadows of the mighty T-Rex. If this sounds like your kid, then DinoMixer is the app that you’ve been looking for.

Put together by the creator of Zark.com (the first longform web comic), DinoMixer is a great way for younger kids to satisfy all of their dino-cravings. The app’s interface is straightforward — you can slide your finger across the screen horizontally to change backgrounds (there are six to choose from..) and slide your finger vertically to mix and match various dinosaur parts. If you like, for example, you can put the head of a Triceratops on the body of a Tyranosaurus and give it the tail of an Edmontosaurus. And, for kids who just like to see what happens, you can just shake to get a whole new combination of dino-parts.

The fun of mixing and matching the dinosaur parts is complemented nicely by the education you get when you correctly match the head, body and tail of a dinosaur – and its name is revealed. While this app may not be for all kids (my daughter is perhaps a bit too young for it and lost interest quickly..), it’s perfect for any youngster that is fascinated by dinosaurs. If that sounds like your kid, you can get the app here.

App Review: Bebot

digitalchristopherrobin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:56:04 +0000

Mozart As A Child

Mozart wrote his first symphony in 1764 at the age of just eight years old. This, of course, was preceded by an early childhood that consisted of studying the violin and playing concerts for European nobility. Had he been born but 250 years later, my guess is that his daily violin practice would have been balanced by some time spent with the iPhone app Bebot, and that his father would have been pushing him to perform on YouTube rather than just for the nobles.

I’m also willing to venture that someday very soon a latter day musical wunderkid will create breathtakingly fresh iPhone-powered music that we will all treasure. Experimentation has already begun, as evidenced by The Mentalist’s cover of MGMT’s song “Kids”. This video, which was first released earlier this year, is worth taking a look at as an example of some of the musical creation that the iPhone is enabling:

It may be tempting to dismiss something like this as a PR stunt — which it surely was — but that would be to miss the greater possibilities that a performance like this demonstrates. Put simply, the iPhone has not only enabled us to carry around the tools of an entire orchestra in our pocket, but it has facilitated the creation of completely new ways of musical expression. It is here where Bebot succeeds.

The app’s interface is simple — you’re presented with a robot butler character that you can make “sing” in different ways depending upon where you touch on the screen.

Bebot - Robot Synth

The simplicity of Bebot’s interface should not be confused with a lack of possibility. Within the settings sections of the app, you can assign and customize various synthesized voices and effects. You can change the scale, make different notes available, and allow loop creation. Truly the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Obviously some of the younger kids may need help customizing the app, but even the littlest ones will be able to explore the soundscapes this app can create simply by touching and dragging their fingers across the screen.

Words always fail me a bit when attempting to describe music, which makes it hard to discuss some of the sonic possibilities that Bebot brings alive. The magic of this app is definitely best experienced first-hand — if you’re interested in seeing what your child can create with a new tool like this, you can get Bebot here. Highly recommended.

the ikids blog » Ages 4-6

App Review: DinoMixer

App Review: Bebot