App of the Day – iPhone Text Meme – What would Charley Bucket text?

Today’s app is a tool that could be used either on a PC/Mac based browser or on your iPpad. The iPhone Text Generator reminds us of all those funny examples of text conversation “fails” that you might see on facebook or other sites.

The website enables you to generate your own customised conversations/ exchanges of texts via the on-line form. However, rather than just seeing this as a way to create silly or rude jokes, why not see it as another great presentation and thinking tool. We could begin to ask if Charlie Bucket had an iPhone  what and who would he text when he discovered the golden ticket ? Or how about when Stig is discovered by Barney? What would Roald Dahl’s  Twits text to each other and what might a string of text on Alex Rider‘s phone say?

The site allows you to download your work as a PNG file , which is handy if the conversation stretches on beyond one screen. The only downside I can see is that the site carries ads and external links, which can not be vouched for and are worth just vetting before you show the site.

I am sure there are more possibilities and I ‘d love to hear them in the comments section.

You can find the text generator here.

Related articles

• Mememize! For iPhone Lets You Add More Than A 100 Memes To Your Photos Along With Captions (fashionely.wordpress.com)

App of the Day – Creatorverse

If I was to list the criteria for what makes a good app, or what attracts me to any application, then one point on my list would be “something that is unique or unusual“. I love apps that stand out or do something a bit different. Yesterday I came across Creatorverse and today I have devoted a couple of hours getting to grips with it.

Creatorverse gives you the power to create simple “machines”,  games or interactive art work through physics and object manipulation. It has been built by Linden Labs, a company that has previously brought us the ground breaking Second Life On-line world.

App of the Day Talking Rex

Today’s app, has most definitely been chosen by my boys. They love speaking to the dinosaur and hearing him echo what they say. Apart from repeating your words in a dinosaur voice he also fetches bones, fights with a friend and eats hunks of steak you chuck at him.

I have looked at other talking apps, but sometimes the content and behaviour are not always appropriate. For instance, in a popular talking cat app you get to punch the feline in the face. I am not sure that sends the right message, but maybe I am just a cat lover!

The dinosaur’s monologues can be saved as films and uploaded to YouTube, so there is scope for using this as a presentation tool. Quite simply pupils could record poems or some of their MFL learning and share this online. It could also be a tool to engage those reluctant speakers in your class.

I am not going to claim that this a great autism app, and frankly I get tired of those that do make claims about apps and ASD. However I did notice that Dylan, 9 and autistic, who had limited language did spend some considerable time talking to the T Rex.

The other huge plus point for this app is that currently it is free, as it is normally just 69p.

App of The Day : Aging Booth

A search for “booth” on the App Store currently returns over 137 results. I know I have just scrolled through them all. Apps of this nature are pretty ephemeral and their use is limited in a school context, so you don’t want to be paying too much. Aging Booth stood out for me though, amongst the multitude of face changing tools  it fitted much of the criteria I use for what makes a good primary school app. It is only 69p too, which also made it stand out!

First and foremost Ii liked the ease of use. Simply position your face, now line up the eyes, chin and mouth  and then wait for the wrinkles to arrive. Other apps have too many buttons for fine tuning brightness, contrast and whatever else. But it is possible with this booth to get a pretty impressive effect with just a few clicks. Furthermore, other face distorting tools I looked at such as a Wanted poster tool, presented me with inappropriate language or an overdose of easily clicked links to other apps, there are links here but they are small and unobtrusive.

This app only does one transformation and there is no opportunity for post production or edits. What’s more,  as this is a standalone and quite minimal tool, there is no opportunity to morph your teacher or fellow pupil into a “fat face” or some other ridicule worthy image. Unless of course you allow pupils to follow the tiny links and download Ugly or Fat Booth of course.

This is as a result of using the app, I don’t normally look like this!

In terms of improvement for the app and others it would be great to see an education focused version. This would have all of the social networking share facilities removed, along with any other external links.

Other than just having a bit of a laugh in the staff room are there genuine uses for this app? I like the idea that one school did around time travel, where the children were asked to imagine themselves in the future. This opens up lots of opportunities for PSHE and discussion around hopes , dreams and ambition.

And here is another variation on the theme of ageing and time travel. I found on a Pinterest board.with the instructions:

1st use “aging booth app” to age the students to 100 years old.
2nd print full-page picture in black and white.
3rd cut ovals to make frames and attach white notebook paper at the bottom to write about their life after a 100 years, describe themselves at 100 etc.

Repinned from School by Jamye Rhodes Hall
Doesn’t this display look really effective?

Source: via Felicia on Pinterest

Plea for Apps to review

I have just gone past my 50th blog post and my thanks to all of you that have read, commented or retweeted this site in some way. ICT excites me as I see at first hand the way that it can transform lessons, engage learners and give voice and expression to those that may struggle with a stick of graphite and a bit of lined paper.

I really would like to flag and review new and interesting Apps or websites that are designed for primary age children. But they have to be something a bit special. So if you would like me to review, try out and possibly even make a short video of your app or site then use the contact me button or the comments section below. Ideally I need;

• a promo code
• a press pack
• some time to play with your application either with a class or with my family

If your product is innovative, exciting and not just “another app” then I’ll post a review here and tweet it out.

BTW – not looking for financial gain here – just trying to track down new and exciting applications for ICT.

 

Stories About Me App

Last night I tried out  Stories About Me. a new app  aimed at writing Social Stories with children with autism which was released  earlier this week.. The app is described as follows:

Stories About Me allows parents and teachers to create their own social stories for their children and students. Blending photos, text, and voice recordings into a talking picture book, children can playback rich media stories of their own personal experiences.
Swiping advances the pages and tapping plays the audio; simple as that!
Creating, editing, and ordering stories is easy and simple. Sharing stories and backing them up is made possible with Dropbox integration. Parental lock feature prevents accidental edits or deletions.