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By: LAURIE WALLMARK,
on 4/12/2013
Editor Lionel Bender discusses changes in the world of children's nonfiction.
http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/03/childrens-nonfiction-publishing-comes-of-age/
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By: Naomi Bates,
on 4/5/2013
So, I'm waiting for Animoto to finish my booktalk preview I show when the kids are all coming in.
As I'm doing that, I started thinking about all the sites and apps I use or think about using when I begin creating my booktalk. So here are some you may find just as amazing to use as I do.
Online image editors:
Thanks to creative online genius,the perfect image editor was born! PicMonkey allows users to upload and modify images from cropping to color to frames and so much more! I use it when creating my book trailers to add depth and complexity to just another flat image. And the extras are awesome! Create/add zombie, vampire, and ghost features as well as themed backgrounds and textures. This is a go-to must have website. Currently, it has no app, but some things are better to manipulate online.
Need to find something out of the ordinary to use for your blog, presentation or to share? Imagechef may be the answer to your needs. Creates anything from personalized notes to word mosaics to so much more. And it's all free! And this site has a companion app, so either way you can create and share.
Video creators, web-based and app-based:
Gotta love Animoto! If you haven't used it for awhile, you're in for a nice surprise. The reconfiguration now includes different video styles, awesome CC music, and instant social media sharing. As always, you can include video and text into this. Worth the price (but you can get an educator discount!) No wonder this is a cornerstone of technology for education! Animoto has an app but search in the iPhone section. Currently there isn't one for the iPad.
If you want to try something new without the headache of learning a difficult platform like Adobe or Sony, make your way over to ProShow Web. Their free account allows users to create a full-on video or trailer with a lot of the intuitive bells and whistles of other video programs. The only caveat is the free version will only allow 15 photos, but text is unlimited. I made a full trailer using Proshow with really excellent results! There's an app for that as well
And the fun continues with those powerful little creatures called apps...
This is what I have in my photography folder on my iPad, and I use these for personal and educational use. The sky's the limit on these!
Image Editing Tools
ColorBlast!Lite: allows you to upload and create a beautifully modified picture that contains color within a black and white photo. Post it on social media or email to yourself. It's addicting!
Instagram: enough said. Contains several filters to give you boring picture pizazz and pop! When you create an account, you can also view it online but only if it's a public account. Allows sharing and email
Photofunia: Take a pic and instantly make it into so many other items, including billboard signs, book pages, magazine covers, and so much more. Also includes many filters you can use within categories. Save, email or share via social media. This is SUPER fun!!
Pho.to Lab: does the same thing as Photofunia and is an excellent alternative. Just have fun with this and the creativity and imagination will begin to flow.
Snapseed: The ultimate in photo editing on your iPad. Contains many tools to edit and diversify your photo. The best way to learn this is download and play with the image already provided. You'll be hooked. Hands down my favorite image editing app.
Pixlromatic: take an image, choose from the many options of filters, backgrounds and frames, and you've successfully modified it into something gorgeous!
Video Apps
Vine: Got six seconds? That's all you get with this nifty video app. Video what's most important to you and Vine creates a collaged video worthy of sharing. You can share or embed them as well as create your own account. People are doing some pretty cool things with this app!
VidRhythm: Okay, I don't use this when creating book trailers, but I had a blast creating one! You pick the song, style, and follow the directions while recording. The end result is, well...just see for yourself :)
Picture Collages
Frametastic: You decide what frames, theme and images to use, the app will put it together for you. Simple as that.
PicCollage: like frametastic, you can build a collage from your pics, Facebook, or camera. Then put in some text, add stickers and your collage is done. Even more than that, with creativity, you can make a quick infographic to send out and share.
By: Jason Boog,
on 2/27/2013
If you use the Amazon Kindle app on your Apple device, you should not install the latest update for the app. According to some sources, the update could hurt your entire library.
Do you like reading eBooks on your iPhone or iPad using Amazon’s Kindle app? Then here’s a tip, don’t download the latest update 3.6.1. This advice is coming straight from Amazon. The company posted this note on the app’s listing in iTunes: “There is a known issue with this update. If you are an existing Kindle for iOS user, we recommend you do not install this update at this time.”
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By: Kevin McNamee,
on 3/4/2013
Has your instagram stream been inundated with Neutraface-laced images the past few days? If you’re wondering why, it’s because House Industries just launched an iPhone app. The new app allows users to create, edit and share photos with select House fonts and Photo-Lettering alphabets. Three fonts - Plinc Swiss, Bubble Gum and House Slant are included with the initial download. Additional fonts, including Neutraface, can be purchased for 99 cents. Download it for free at the iTunes store.
B/W we’re on Instagram now. yeah!
Features:
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Also worth viewing…
House Industries interview
House Industries & Borge Mogensen
House Industries and Heath Ceramics
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By: Melissa Wiley,
on 4/5/2013
I’m reviewing some new apps for GeekMom, including one I think is going to be quite popular: Mystery Math Town from Artgig. You may recall that I gave high marks to Artgig’s Marble Math & Marble Math Jr. over at Wired a while back. I’ll link to my Mystery Math Town review when it goes live, but I thought I’d give you a heads-up. Fun, absorbing, and is proving an engaging way to slip in some math-fact practice for my Beanie-and-under crew. Including Huck. You can customize for addition, subtraction, multiplication, single digits, double digits, etc.
Yesterday Rilla and I needed to choose our next read-aloud. We decided to spread all the contenders out on my bed. Turned out there were a lot of contenders. I see a couple of repeat-requests snuck in there. (Odd Duck, for example—a graphic novel by Cecil Castellucci, art by Sara Varon. Rilla adores it.)
(I rotated the photo so the titles would be easy to read, and Facebook friends thought I was displaying a giant wall display. I wish!)
After much deliberation, Rilla chose a new arrival, The Big Bad Wolf Goes on Vacation (which I’ve now read aloud three times in two days—once each to the 9yo, 6yo, and 4yo), and then settled in for Ramona the Pest. Her first acquaintance with Ramona. That perfect first sentence—”‘I am not a pest,’ Ramona Quimby told her big sister Beezus.”—had her at hello.
By: Brimful Curiosities,
on 12/1/2012
This December I plan on reviewing several different versions of E. T. A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker. Before I start with the book reviews, I've decided to highlight something a little different, an awesome Nutcracker storybook app that happens to be available for free today on Apple itunes! If you're a fan of the Nutcracker ballet and enjoy the music and the story, this is an app you must absolutely download!
for our Kindle Fire last month. Since both my kids are performing in the Nutcracker this holiday season, I thought they might enjoy an interactive version. I highly recommend this app. Even if you can't get it free, it's still a bargain at $2.99. The app provides a nice introduction to both the music of the Nutcracker and also the basic storyline. , and also Nook.
By: Jason Boog,
on 12/3/2012
At our Media App Summit today, our App-Centered Outreach for Non-Profit and Institutions panel discussion confronted one of the toughest problems facing publishers: how can indie writers, small presses or nonprofits afford to build mobile content?
1. UNICEF project manager Rhazi Kone advised readers to link with academic institutions and young creators. They worked with students at MIT with mobile content, and he explained: “lots of students were really excited to work with us.”
2. Is an app really what you need? If your funds are limited, maybe you should just make sure your website is mobile friendly.
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By: John Nez,
on 12/7/2012
By: Jason Boog,
on 12/12/2012
Wish you could read your favorite literary journal on your digital devices? LitRagger has recently launched, giving indie journals a chance to publish on Apple devices.
Inside of the app, you can subscribe to Bellevue Literary Review, FIELD, Gulf Coast, Hobart, Prairie Schooner, Salamander, Sycamore Review and Willow Springs. If you are interested in adding your literary journal to the mix, you can contact adam [at] litragger [dot] com for more details.
Here’s more from the company: “Apple’s iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch that is designed specifically for literary journals. Built with the needs of small publishers and university-run magazines in mind, LitRagger simplifies the process of digital publication. No more fancy file types. No more formatting nightmares. LitRagger integrates with the print publishing process you already use, making it easier than ever to put your content on the world’s most popular tablet.”
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By: Jason Boog,
on 12/31/2012
The writing lifestyle can kill you. This year, resolve to add some fitness and stress relief to your writing routine.
You should check out AppNewser’s collection of free fitness apps for writers to make sure you stay healthy while writing. In addition, try these five free apps to reduce stress in your daily life.
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By: Beth,
on 1/23/2013
Title: Spaceteam
Platform: iOS
Cost: Free
At a New Year’s party I was introduced to a game that had a room full of 30-year-old nerds yelling things like: “Set shift-sanitizer to three! Contemplate existence! Wormhole, everybody flip!” Spaceteam is a hilarious cooperative game for 2-4 players where you must communicate instructions to your teammates while racing against your ship’s impending destruction. It is fast-paced, funny, and loud, which is why teens will love it. Play this game with a group in a room where you can close the door.
Spaceteam uses your wireless internet connection to link your team’s devices. It’s the only cooperative app game I know of that requires players to be in the same room. Each player’s screen has a control panel where you can manipulate various controls: buttons, levers, dials, etc. Many of these are labeled with lengthy, difficult to pronounce technobabble names. Some are instead labeled with things that sound normal, but come off as non sequiturs in the context of a spaceship, like a panel labeled “laundry” with a button labeled “sort.” Instructions appear at the top of your screen. Some of these may pertain to the controls you can see, but more likely, they will be things you need to tell the other players to do. You need to tell them quickly because each instruction has a timer, and you’re going to find yourself telling them loudly because everyone will be giving instructions at the same time. Successfully complete an adequate amount of these prompts and advance to the next level, where things will only get worse. There may be wormholes, which can only be bypassed when everyone flips their device upside down, asteroids that require you to shake your device, green slime that spreads across your control panel, and instruments coming loose and swinging wildly back and forth as you try to manipulate them. Wipe up that slime, hold the plasma gauge in place and remember to “work together… as a spaceteam.”
Why should you play this loud, zany game in your library? It’s a great icebreaker for new groups. You could try it at a Teen Advisory Board meeting to get people communicating with each other and working together. Trying to read the technobabble is an exercise in amusement and pronunciation and trying to beat higher levels is a real challenge. Play with a small group and see how many levels you can solve, or play with several groups and see who can get the farthest. Better yet, see who can be the quietest while still successfully completing the game’s instructions. Recommend this game to fans of science fiction and wordplay.
Learn more about the runaway success of Spaceteam over at developer Henry Smith’s blog, Breaking the Code. His most recent post includes some creative reviews and a picture of a sixth grade science class playing Spaceteam.
For more app recommendations, visit the YALSA App of the Week Archive.
By: Melissa Wiley,
on 1/30/2013
1) I like to pull out a bunch of our poetry books and let each kid (from Rose on down) pick one, and while I’m busy with something else, the kids each choose a poem to read to the rest of us. They enjoy the hunt, and I love hearing which poems have captured their hearts.
2) The Art Puzzle HD app. Another mom on my local homeschooling list mentioned it—we were sharing our favorites—and I love love love this app. You select a puzzle from paintings by artists like Van Gogh, Klimt, Bruegel*, Picasso, Renoir, and Dali. (More paintings are available via in-app purchase.) There are four levels of complexity and I’m finding even the second-easiest level to be challenging in some of these pieces—all Monet’s little dabs of color make for a puzzling puzzle indeed. There’s a gentle soundtrack of classical music (limited in repertoire but lovely choices—The Four Seasons, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Clair de Lune, the Elgar cello concerto I love—things I’m happy to listen to over and over, and am happy to have my kids hear). You can toggle the music off whenever you like. If you like (or wanted to like but the kids’ interest flagged) Mommy, That’s a Renoir, you’ll like this app. Best picture study resource I’ve seen in a long time. My only complaint is: no Carl Larsson!
*Wikipedia tells me he dropped the H from his name at some point. Who knew?
3) Earworms continues to be a hit with my older girls. Rose and Bean are nearly done with German Volume 2 now. Rilla and Huck have picked up a lot along the way. Jane is enjoying the Japanese version.
4) A liberal dose of fairy tales and nursery rhymes for my younger set. Nothing new here, just noting it because it’s bringing me so much joy these days.
5) Winter Holiday as a read-aloud. Though I do still hanker after the Gabriel Woolf audio recordings that Alice’s gang fell in love with ages ago. (Scroll down to the final comment on that post—hilarious!)
6) Sunday family Shakespeare readings. Still working our way through The Tempest. Sunday can’t come fast enough.
By: Emily Smith Pearce,
on 1/31/2013
Ever since seeing David Hockney’s iPad art at the Louisiana Museum outside Copenhagen, I’d been wanting to try it myself.
Now that I have an iPad, I read this article about painting/ drawing apps and jumped right in. The good thing is many of the apps are free or have a free trial version, so it’s a low-risk leap.
Here’s my first stab at it:
Yes, my feet are gorgeous! I know, I know. You don’t have to tell me. I drew this with my fingers using Brushes (the same app David Hockney uses). Brushes is wonderfully simple and great for quick impressions.The picture is nothing special, but on the iPad itself, my kids love being able to watch the video of how it came together. I couldn’t get that feature to transfer here, but if you know how to do it, give me a shout.
Here’s a funny article about trying to become David Hockney via Brushes. You can guess how that turned out.
Below are a couple of sketches made using the free trial version of Sketchbook Pro. These are also done with my fingers, both in Florida where the hubs and I had a nice relaxing week to ourselves in early December.
Sketchbook Pro lets you to easily change brush size and tool choice (i.e. brush, airbrush, pencil). And with both programs, it’s easy to get just the color you want with the stroke of a finger. Sketchbook Pro lets you make colors more or less transparent, which makes for some cool effects. It takes a bit of getting used to, though, that the paint is so consistent. In other words, your “paint” doesn’t really blend with other colors, and it never runs out.
The “paint” is most like watercolor, though unlike watercolor, you can undo your strokes as often as you like. You could easily get carried away with self-correction. I tried not to but used ”undo” as an excuse to take risks I wouldn’t have taken with real watercolors. I think that’s one of the greatest strengths of all of the art apps I’ve tried—the ability to try new things with no risk, and to make a picture quickly without getting out and putting away all of your materials.
Using your finger to draw is a little clunky. These three were all done before I got my Sensu Brush/ Stylus, and now that I have it, I’ll probably skip finger drawing.
I enjoyed both of these apps, but I found myself wanting more features and more detail. I decided it was time to try the apps with pricetags. More about app art to come.
If you make art on your mobile device, what do you do with the images? David Hockney prefers to let his iPad work live only in the digital world, but I think it could be reproduced a number of ways. What do you think? Have you tried producing a “real” version of your digital images? I’d love to hear how it’s gone.
By: Beth,
on 9/5/2012
Title: Wikiweb
Cost: $4.99
Platform: iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad – requires iOS 5 or later
It’s back to school time and this month the YALSA App of the Week bloggers are noting that and focusing each week on apps that are good for students and teachers. We’ll cover research, science, math, and staying organized. If you have a favorite school related app feel free to post information about it in the comments on our App of the Week posts. And, don’t forget, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) is taking nominations for Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. You can make a nomination on the AASL website.
Anyone who still laments the loss of Google’s Wonder Wheel, or is looking for a tool to help teens to see connections between ideas will want to give Wikiweb a try.
There are two sides to the Wikiweb screen. The left side of the screen shows the map of a search and the connections between terms and ideas. On the right is where articles from Wikipedia (Wikiweb just searches Wikipedia) are displayed that relate to a specific search term or phrase. Check out the video from Wikiweb that provides a good overview of how the app works.
In some ways the power of Wikiweb is in the way that a researcher can build a diagram by tapping on various links in a Wikipedia article. For example, I started with a Hunger Games search. Instead of tapping on the hexagon that appeared on the left of the screen I built my own web by tapping on different links within The Hunger Games and related articles in Wikipedia. I tapped on Suzanne Collins in that article and then tapped on Nickelodeon, and then went back to Suzanne Collins and tapped on Katniss Everdeen. With each tap a hexagon was added to the map which showed the connections between the different people, organizations, and so on all related to The Hunger Games in some way. It’s a good way to see how and why connections exist.
Of course it is possible to have Wikiweb build a map for you and that’s accomplished by simply tapping on the hexagon for a particular term or phrase. It can be surprising to see what appears in those maps built by Wikiweb and it could work really well to have teens search a topic of interest, look at the connections Wikiweb shows on their map and talk about the value of those connections. Teens could then create their own map that shows the connections that they think are most valuable related to their topic of interest.
Maps can be shared via email and Twitter. If students are working on a project together they could build maps and share them with each other to show their ideas and what they think their team should focus on.
The app isn’t perfect. I wish that it was possible to have all labels appear. They come and go based on what’s on the screen. (Although when a map is shared all of the labels appear.) But, even with a few flaws, this is an app that can help teens think through their research and visualize ideas.
For more app recommendations visit the App of the Week Archive.
By: Dianna Dilworth,
on 9/7/2012
Author David Foster Wallace‘s iconic book Infinite Jest has been brought to life in map form thanks to the work of D.C.-based artist William Beutler. Infinite Atlas, as the project is called, chronicles all of the locations mentioned in the book, both real and fictional, and pinpoints them on a map. Users can search entires on the map and read footnotes about the locations and how they apply to the various characters in the book.
AppNewser has more about how it works: “Entries on the map include the page number, a description of the place and the characters involved. For example, ‘Marlborough/Marlboro Street’ first appears on page 23. Here is the description: “location of prestigious gallery where the ‘last woman’s old art through / location of brownstone where JOI and Avril lived before Mario and HI were born.” Readers can also search the map based on a list of characters.”
The project was born out of Beutler’s first effort, which he called Infinite Boston, which launched in July. Infinite Boston included about 50 locations around the city of Boston.
A printed version of the Infinite Atlas Map is available for purchase.
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By: Dianna Dilworth,
on 9/7/2012
Eli Horowitz, former managing editor and publisher of McSweeney’s, and Russell Quinn, co-founder of the digital studio Spoiled Milk, have set out to explore how we consume literature with a new serialized story app that changes based on the reader’s location and on a growing database of user-generated input.
The Silent History, promises to be “a comprehensive account of the condition and its consequences, encompassing the years 2011 through 2043.” It goes beyond a Choose-Your-Own adventure novel with different potential endings, by taking advantage of the reader’s GPS location.
Buzzfeed explains how it works: “readers download an app and then receive daily doses of fictive oral history (‘Testimonials’) that they can read wherever. This is where the main plot unfolds. But the real innovation comes in the related, secondary piece: the geo-tagged ‘Field Reports’ that can only be downloaded when the reader is standing in a specific place, as shown by the mapping interface on the app. Currently, there are between 300 and 400 Field Reports written for locations around the world, but that will grow as readers add their own stories.”
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By: ian sands,
on 9/11/2012
By: LAURIE WALLMARK,
on 9/13/2012
If you want to write an app, you need to read and play apps already out there.
http://www.juliehedlund.com/2012/08/27/the-one-thing-you-must-do-if-you-want-to-write-storybook-apps/
By: Michael Thorn,
on 9/25/2012
Apps Blog Post by Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge:
The more I thought about all this technology, and how my own three and five year-old sons use apps, the more I realised that the best children's apps are successful because of a pair of more traditional qualities.Add a CommentGreat storytelling. Strong characters.
It seems apps aren't so revolutionary after all, but that's a good thing. Treat any claims that apps are set to kill off books with the derision they deserve. Apps are just another form of storytelling, and one that sit alongside printed books rather than trying to replace them.
(This, hopefully, will head off the crotchety commenters who appear whenever I write about children's apps for The Guardian, saying things like "You idiot! Children should be reading BOOKS, not staring at a screen!" Ridiculous, since children in even the geekiest households are doing both, not replacing the former with the latter.)
Children love great stories and strong characters, whether they're on a screen or a printed page.
By: John Nez,
on 9/25/2012
By: admin,
on 9/26/2012
Join fellow publishers, entrepreneurs, developers, and digital content strategists at Media App Summit, December 3 in New York City. Learn strategies the experts use to effectively retain and engage their audiences in the turbulent mobile world. You’ll save $300 when you register by Thursday.
Evan Ratliff, co-founder and editor of Atavist, explores how to maximize the social media presence and cross-platform exposure of your app during the presentation, New Distribution Models for eBooks and Apps. This panel discusses some of the tools and strategies which are now available to market and publicize apps and ideas.
Matthew Cavnar, VP of business development at Vook, shares advice for making your app more discoverable in vast online destinations during Maximizing Discoverability & Profitability in Book App Marketplaces. You’ll learn how to create eye-catching content, rise up the Top App lists, and promote your app in the right places.
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By: LAURIE WALLMARK,
on 9/28/2012
How to help people hear about and find your book app.
http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2012/01/guest-post-elizabeth-o-dulemba-on.html
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By: Kathy Weller,
on 10/5/2012
By: admin,
on 11/29/2012
Media App Summit is this Monday in New York City and the insight and contacts you’ll get from attending are unparalleled.
While other events focus entirely on one aspect of social media or the media app ecosystem, our events explore the full spectrum of technical and business opportunities both within and beyond the realm of publishing, media, and the mobile-first world.
Prices increase onsite, so hurry and purchase your pass before Monday, December 3.
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This really sounds wonderful!
Awww man, this is what happens when you get behind on your blog reading. You miss the freebie :)
I might still get it though......