Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter developed by Tatem Games is a first person hunting simulation game that puts you in the shoes of a dinosaur hunter. The game throws you into 5 different locations and made me feel like the Australian hunter that thought he was the king but eventually got viciously eaten from either Jurassic Park 2 or 3 (does anybody remember?).
Your goal is to hunt down dinosaurs with a choice of 6 different weapons that most hunters’ use like the rifle, bow & arrow and shotgun. With these weapons at your disposal, you will be hunting all types of familiar dinosaurs such as the Stegosaurus, Velociraptor and of course, the big mama of them all, the T-Rex… Read More
We talked last week about how a certain iPhone bug affected Australian and European iPhone users. It would appear to affect Americans have been affected as well: The United States changed to Daylight Saving Time yesterday. Apple’s iOS has a bug that deactivates all its recurring alarms when Daylight Saving Time is activated on all [...]
I wondered when a contest would emerge that featured the iPhone 4, which I figured would be focused on films. Turns out I was wrong in sense that the Australian Commercial and Media Photographers held a competition for photos taken on the new phone.
TUAW reports that the only other rule was that the pictures must be took using Hipstamatic, an App Store entry that offers old styles of lenses and film emulators. Any other manipulation and they’d bounce you down to New Zealand to box a kangaroo…
Well, maybe not. But there’s no denying that “abc PocketPhonics” is an amazing app. A universal app—it works with both iPhone and iPad—PocketPhonics teaches the basics of reading and writing to young kids. Most surprising? It seems to work.
With reading, the app uses the “synthetic phonics” method supported by US, UK, and Australian governments. Kids are first taught letter sounds (instead of the names of the letters), including hybrid sounds such as “ch” and “sh.” US and UK pronunciations are both included, so you don’t have to worry about your kid picking up the “wrong” accent. (Darn!)
And for writing, the app demonstrates how to draw the letters, instead of just presenting pictures. Kids can then trace the letters’ outlines on the iPad or iPhone using their finger. If you chose, the app will then grade their accuracy. I can see this being very useful for young learners especially—tracing with a finger is infinitely easier than using a pencil. Cursive and print alphabets are both included.
Finally, PocketPhonics rounds out its offering with a sound-based word “spelling game,” which includes over 170 words with accompanying pictures. There’s also a “ParentZone” area where parents can tweak the app’s settings.
Oh, and it’s only $0.99.
While I doubt that a single app will ever be able to replace real-life teaching, abc PocketPhonics certainly looks like a competent, comprehensive app. It won’t teach letter names, but it can get pre-readers “hooked on phonics.”
You do remember those old commercials, right? Don’t you?
Are iPads the future of education?
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