Ding dong! Santa Calling!

This year, Squeaky has been lucky enough to receive a special message from the big man himself. The great FC, Father Christmas.  He's called her from his Portable North Pole to give her a personal Christmas message!  What a lucky girl she is!

Ho ho ho!

Well, I say she's had it. She hasn't just YET, because right now she's in her bed (or at least she should be, but a cheeky face has appeared round the corner of the door at least 4 times this evening, and she's heading rapidly towards Santa's naughty list!), and I'm keeping the video back as a special surprise for tomorrow.  I'm mean like that sometimes.

I've watched the video though, after creating it, and I was spellbound. It's so cute.  I was able to check the pronunciation of Squeaky's name (clue: it's not actually Squeaky!), add photos, personal information, and her own challenge of the year.  Ad the premium version adds even more options.  There's choices for adults as well as children, both of the naughty and nice variety.  I'm tempted to make one for Squeaky's daddy, but I'm not sure which list he's on!

Has Squeaky been good enough for the Nice List?  Well, you'll have to join Santa's elves & wait and see.

Oh, the suspense!

You can create your very own personal video message from Santa at PNP - Portable North Pole, and make Christmas magic for a child (or adult!) in your life.

You can even get a 20% discount off digital items on the website until 1 January 2014, using my code BLG20BKP.

We also had a play with PNP's other release for the year - Santa Sprint.  This is an app which we downloaded to the iThing, featuring Santa's helpful elves collecting cookies & other Christmas items in return for a story from the Big Man Himself.  The self same Santa (being the only one, it would be!) reads a special Christmas story - though this one's not personalised.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin

Much as I love the content of both the personal video, and the Santa Sprint game, I've got a couple of little niggles, though they might say more about my technical ineptitude than anything else.  It took me a good couple of attempts to create the video - so much so that I let my upgrade code expire because I just couldn't make it work.  And even now, having managed to successfully add the Santa Sprint app to my iThing, I can't actually give you a link to it in the app store, because I simply can't find it!  I know it's there, I know it exists, but it must be in a kind of electronic Bermuda Triangle, as I can't see it anywhere.  If you do find it, let me know!

PNP - Portable North Pole, and the Santa Sprint game are really adorable, and I'm sure you know a child or two who would love their own message.  As long as you're not as technologically incapable as me, I'm sure you can make Christmas magic for the believers in your life.

Disclosure: I was provided with a free download of the Santa Sprint app, and an upgrade code for the PNP - Portable North Pole video (unused) free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for convenience only, I will not receive reward for their use, nor use of the discount code featured in this post.

Peppa Pig Daddy Pig's Puddle Jump App Review

We've recently become the proud owners of an iPad in Squeaky Towers, and that means something important. No longer do I have to look at press releases and adverts for apps that are only available for Apple products with an envious look in my eye (and a glare towards my elderly android phone)  So when the chance arose for Squeaky to try out the latest Peppa Pig app - Daddy Pig's Puddle Jump, I was hot on the download button.

Daddy Pig's Puddle Jump app is pretty much what it says in the title.  You can choose to be Daddy Pig, Peppa or George, and guide your character to jump over bushes, on trampolines, down slopes and into muddy puddles.  You're awarded one, two or three mud splats depending on how well you do on each round.

Except it's pretty much impossible to work out how the splats are awarded.  We've been back & forth through the levels, and nothing seems to make any difference. Hit the puddles, jump higher, miss bushes, run faster, hit the trampoline at the end. I really can't tell, and that's a bit disheartening for a very competitive three year old, who is determined to get three splats on every level, but can't find out how.

Sadly too, the puddle jump app is the only game on this app.  For £1.49, the same price as other Peppa games, it doesn't hold the attention that long.  Maybe we've been spoiled with Happy Mrs Chicken and Polly Parrot (both of which have recently updated & have a new mini game each!), with 5 mini games and the stickers to play with, but this is a stand alone game, and even though Squeaky is a Peppa obsessive, she gets bored with it quickly, and moves on to other apps, or trying to sabotage my emails.

How?

Unless your child has already got the other Peppa Pig apps, and is the kind of obsessive completest who has to have absolutely everything in every possible format (see my Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy collection!), then this isn't the best value Peppa app available.  Squeaky enjoys it, but enjoys others more.

Peppa Pig, Daddy Pig's Puddle Jump is available from iTunes for £1.49.

Disclosure: I was provided with a code to download this app free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for convenience only, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme and will not receive reward for their use.

Read Write Phonics App Review

I mentioned before that I am now somehow the owner of a phone that's considerably smarter than me.  So much so that I'm still having difficulty working out how to answer calls, and only discovered yesterday that it wasn't set up to receive picture messages.  This gives you some idea of my phone-related talents.

Typically of a 21st century child though, Squeaky has no such concerns.  My old, non-functioning dumb-phones (the opposite of a smart phone) hold no interest for her any more.  Mine is fascinating.  I don't really want to encourage her to see my phone as a toy, it's on a 2 year contract & I'd kind of like to get to the end of the 2 years without wrecking it.  But there are times, supervised, when a phone is a rather good distraction.  I'd like the distractions she gets involved with to have some sort of educational value, rather than just cartoons.

I was really pleased to be offered the chance to review Read Write Phonics, a new app developed for Android phones (an iPhone version is being developed to be released later in the year).  The app is designed for children aged 3-6 years, and aims to help teach them the 44 phonic sounds that make up the English language (and you thought the alphabet was just 26 letters!), write basic letter shapes, and how to blend the different sounds to make words.

B-A-T. Bat.

At 2, Squeaky is still a little bit young for the finer points of the app, but that didn't stop her trying.  She loved the sun logo at the start, and was fascinated by the voice reading the letters and words, and did start to copy the words after a few attempts.  While she is playing on her own in this photo, she can't actually operate the app herself yet, so we play together.  That makes it a great bonding activity, as we can talk about the words as well.

The app was developed by parents Simon & Seema, eager to encourage a love of reading in their son, and to help him on his way before starting school. They found there wasn't an app on the market that did this, and so they made their own!  They researched phonics programmes used in schools, and created an app that works alongside these, using the correct sounds, and encouraging children to do the same.

The app is voiced by a friendly sounding female voice, which is lovely and clear, without an accent.  Squeaky liked the voice, and enjoyed starting to copy her in the Read and Phonics sections of the app.  The Read section has beautiful, simple, illustrations of the words, and this is the section we've spent the most time with so far, as she's able to recognise the pictures, and to start to recognise that the written word means the same thing as the picture and spoken word.

The Write section is still far in advance of Squeaky's capabilities at this stage, but in the interests of a full review, I tried it out myself.  I liked the little green pencil that traces the letter shapes before you take your turn, it really reminded me of the "magic pencil" in Words and Pictures on tv when I was in school.  I found tracing the letters well enough to get a 3 star result quite difficult, though that might be because my sausage-fingers are too big and I couldn't see where I was going. As the app is designed for children, with smaller hands, I suspect they would find it much easier.  (Also, I have appalling handwriting, that might have contributed.  This is a blog and not a handwritten diary for a reason, you know!)

I really like the fact that the app does work on different levels, there are simple words and longer ones, and the three areas of phonic learning, meaning the app can grow with the child. I think that represents great value for money, rather than purchasing an app that concentrates on a single aspect, then having to look for another as your child progresses.

Take a look at this video, which shows the app in action.



Read Write Phonics is available from Google Play for £1.49.

I was provided with a free download of the Read Write Phonics app for the purposes of this review. I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own.  I am not a member of any affiliate schemes or programmes, links are provided for your convenience, I will not receive any reward for their use.

How smart is your phone?

I've got a confession to make. Until a couple of weeks ago, I had what I politely termed a "stupid phone". The opposite of a smart phone. It could make calls, send texts, take photos, and that was about it.  But when the touchscreen sensors all moved about an inch to the right and I couldn't press half the buttons any more, I decided it was time to join the 21st Century, and got myself an Android phone.

Evi

I'm still learning the ins & outs of having a phone that can do more than my first computer could.  (To tell the truth, it can probably do more than my current computer, as soon as I download a spider solitaire app!)  To help me, I've added Evi.

Evi is an artificial intelligence app that takes the hassle out of searching.  The artificial intelligence reviews and learns from information gathered in searches, giving you more accurate & useful results, and compares facts to derive new information.  You can feed back into the database if you think an answer was particularly useful, or if it didn't return what you were hoping for, which means that future answers will be all the more accurate as Evi learns from her hits & misses.

Click to enlarge

Ask Evi where to go for a coffee, and she'll use GPS information from your phone to work out where you are, and then give you a list of nearby coffee shops, with their addresses and contact details. Evi understands natural language too.  If you fancy a coffee, with a traditional search engine, you'd need to search "Coffee shops in Merthyr Tydfil", with Evi I can just say "I need a coffee", and interact with her as though I was talking to a friend.  She talks back, search results are shown on screen, and read aloud (if Evi finds a list, she reads back the reply, not the whole list) Bear in mind though, that like any "find my nearest" type app, Evi can only find places that have registered with one or more online directory. She can't see that nice new shop round the corner that just opened last week & isn't listed anywhere.  You could tell her about it though.

According to Evi HQ, around 250,000 of her users have been asking Easter related questions recently, and Evi has put together a top ten list of Easter Egg recipes, including Easter Egg popcorn balls, Easter Egg bread, and my favourite, Caramel Easter Egg Muffins.  Oh my, I feel a spot of baking coming on.  Evi has got loads of recipes at her virtual fingertips, and will even make suggestions of what to try - I asked her for an omlette filling, and she suggested a lovely sounding ricotta filling, which I'm dying to try out after I've done the shopping.

If you're stuck for ideas to entertain the family over the Easter break, Evi is a fab source of ideas.  You could make me some of those muffins (hint, hint!) or loads of other tasty treats, or ask her for nearby easter egg hunts, craft ideas for your easter egg boxes and tinfoil, or just the nearest place to buy some headache tablets.

In case you're wondering, Evi can't tell you who will win Britain's Got Talent.  In her own words, she can't see into the future.  So that's my money-making scheme down the drain.  But she's answered almost all the rest of my questions, I finally stumped her with "Why is Davina McCall so annoying?"

Evi is free to download for Android phones from Google Play (the new name for the Android Market), or 69p for iPhones from the App Store, and was developed by Cambridge-based True Knowledge.