Fun and fabulous gadget for Oculus Rift users. Seeing yourself in third-person perspective (TPP) in the real world, is a cool piece of virtual tech! It’s a virtual whirl. This home made Wall-E style add on for Rift looks like a lot of fun to build and could be a novel way to experience the world.… and you can make it out of bits and bolts lying around your home and in your computer.
Panelists at CynKids tablet webinar shared some terrific insights on best practices to expand brands into the tablet realm.
Some highlights:
– Kids are finding their way to brand websites through tablet apps. As of March, PBS Kids is getting 13 million unique visitors a month, many directly from apps, said Abby Jenkins, director of content for PBS Kids Digital.
“We like to show variety in our apps, different characters, different aspects of the curriculum” to attract a variety of kids and parents, she said.
– Discover-ability remains a challenge. “This is the biggest issue when developing apps for tablets,” said Caroline Fraser, VP, digital products and production, at Scholastic Media. Scholastic releases apps around big programming events and anniversaries, “so we have increased marketing muscle around them.”
– When developing an app, don’t overlook the unique ergonomics of a 3-year old. “It’s very difficult for kids to move around with a heavy tablet,” said Mindy Brooks, Sesame Workshop director of research and education. “We don’t allow for tilting and moving the tablet within apps.” The other reason Sesame says no to tilting: “We don’t want the kids dropping and shattering mom’s iPad.” Fair enough.
– Kids are interacting with content across multiple, emerging platforms. Keep up. “Technology is anything that was developed after you were born,” said Graham Farrar, president of Cupcake Digital’s iStoryTime. “You ignore a platform at your peril.”
Source: Cynopsis media.
Are you a R2-D2 fan? Would you like to work as volunteer agent for Tony Dyson, the man that built R2D2.
Tony would like to visit more conventions (Cons) worldwide.
If you think this would be fun, please contact Chantal Harvey on facebook.
On January 24, an American survey of 1,500 parents of kids 2-10 by The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, founded by Sesame Workshop, tells us that 57% of these parents believes their children learn significantly from educational media. The parents also state that learning from mobile devices falls short when compared to other platforms.
The study, Learning at Home: Families’ Educational Media Use in America, speaks of a drop in educational media use after the earliest years.
As screen media use goes up, the proportion devoted to educational content goes down, from 78% of all screen media among 2-4-year-olds to 39% among 5-7-year-olds to 27% among 8-10-year-olds.
Remember; at a young age the parents provide the choice of media, but as soon as the child gets to choose, things change dramatically. Key is creating and providing higher quality and more fun media, as it tells us that non educational content is more fun. I wonder why there has been so little improvement in for example e-books for children, there are of course exceptions, but mostly they still show pretty primitive animations. Kids will not settle for that, not anymore.
I agree with Dr. Michael H. Levine, the Center’s exec director. “As we work to raise education standards and improve students’ success, we must provide higher quality media options-especially on mobile-that will help engage and educate today’s older children.”
Among other key findings:
– 2-4-year olds spend more time per day on educational media than any other age group – 1 hr, 16 mins compared with 50 minutes for 5-7-yr-olds and 42 minutes for 8-10-yr-olds.
– Television continues to dominate, with children spending an average 42 minutes a day with educational TV compared to 5 minutes with educational content on mobile devices and computers and 3 minutes with educational video games.
– 39% of parents say their child has learned “a lot” about any subject from mobile compared to 52% for TV.
– Children are reading an average 40 minutes per day, including 29 minutes with print, 8 minutes on computers, and 5 minutes using e-platforms.
– There are significant differences among racial groups. Both African-American (60%) and Hispanic-Latino (52%) parents are more likely than White (37%) parents to consider interactive media a very or somewhat important source for the lessons their children most need to learn.
Tony Dyson, the man behind R2-D2, the most lovable little robot in the world, is now casting his magical spell on the world of children’s e-Books by adding advanced animation on every page. Welcome to the world of Bobbekins.
One of the most innovative ideas for children’s e-Books this year, the magical world of Bobbekins is true to the style of storytelling of old, but designed for children of today.
It speaks from the heart and minds of its authors of magical worlds and dreams that can come true, but it never speaks down to your child in any way.
The man behind Star Wars R2-D2. The versatile Emmy nominated Film SFX supervisor is the creative genius at the helm of many of the biggest SCI-FI movies to date. Among them are Superman 2, Moon Raker, Dragon Slayer, and of course, The Empire Strikes Back. “Professor Anthony John Dyson obss”
When it comes to Robot technicians Tony is quite unique, as well as building one of the most famous Robots ever, R2-D2 he has also designed and built Robots for some of the largest electronic companies in the world, for example Sony, Philips and Toshiba.
You can also find examples of his creations on permanent display in one of the most prestige’s museums in the world ‘Smithsonian Institution’ and R2-D2 was one of the very first Robots to be honored in the ‘Carnegie Mellon University’ Robot Hall of Fame and Tony was also Nominated for an ‘Emmy’ for the Sony television commercial.
On January 24, an American survey of 1,500 parents of kids 2-10 by The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, founded by Sesame Workshop, tells us that 57% of these parents believes their children learn significantly from educational media. The parents also state that learning from mobile devices falls short when compared to other platforms.
The study, Learning at Home: Families’ Educational Media Use in America, speaks of a drop in educational media use after the earliest years.
As screen media use goes up, the proportion devoted to educational content goes down, from 78% of all screen media among 2-4-year-olds to 39% among 5-7-year-olds to 27% among 8-10-year-olds.
Remember; at a young age the parents provide the choice of media, but as soon as the child gets to choose, things change dramatically. Key is creating and providing higher quality and more fun media, as it tells us that non educational content is more fun. I wonder why there has been so little improvement in for example e-books for children, there are of course exceptions, but mostly they still show pretty primitive animations. Kids will not settle for that, not anymore.
I agree with Dr. Michael H. Levine, the Center’s exec director. “As we work to raise education standards and improve students’ success, we must provide higher quality media options-especially on mobile-that will help engage and educate today’s older children.”
Among other key findings:
– 2-4-year olds spend more time per day on educational media than any other age group – 1 hr, 16 mins compared with 50 minutes for 5-7-yr-olds and 42 minutes for 8-10-yr-olds.
– Television continues to dominate, with children spending an average 42 minutes a day with educational TV compared to 5 minutes with educational content on mobile devices and computers and 3 minutes with educational video games.
– 39% of parents say their child has learned “a lot” about any subject from mobile compared to 52% for TV.
– Children are reading an average 40 minutes per day, including 29 minutes with print, 8 minutes on computers, and 5 minutes using e-platforms.
They do spend a lot of time traveling from planet to planet, helping others. One day Bobby Bobbekin, that’s Sue and Clive’s father, found this amazing world that he named ‘Toy City’. He had never seen anything like it, ever. Right from the very first time he saw it, it was like a dream come true. The city had something that the Bobbekins had been wishing for, for a long-long time; somewhere that they could call their home.
Vancouver, Washington – USA
August 14 to 18, 2013
UPCOMING DEADLINE
March 18, 2013 – Late Deadline
The 5th Annual COLUMBIA GORGE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (CGIFF).
A unique and fast-growing community arts and culture festival, CGIFF brings together filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, and artists from around the world to participate in a free-to-attend and open-to-all event packed with screenings, workshops, and panels, right in the heart of beautiful Vancouver, Washington.
CGIFF showcases a variety of local, national, and international films, exhibiting a broad range of work about current affairs and relevant topics that directly affect communities. The Festival welcomes student, independent, and professional works of all genres, and features red carpet premieres, screenings with Q&As, and live music showcases. CGIFF also honors films, filmmakers, and screenwriters with a number of awards for outstanding achievement. In its first four seasons, CGIFF has presented over $20,000 USD worth of cash and prizes.
CGIFF is a non-profit project from Angaelica, an arts- and ecology-oriented collaborative designed to promote the ability of individual communities to achieve powerful social good. Angaelica’s efforts support artists, collaborative projects, and ecologically sound farming, all under the banner of creating a stronger, healthier, more interconnected global culture.
Click here to SUBMIT your work
Scratch! International Animation Film Festival – (2nd Edition)
14/15 June 2013 – Lecce (Italy)
Scratch! is an International Animation Film Festival at second edition open to short movies (max. 20 min).
This festival is exclusively an animation festival
Three competitive categories:
1) 3d/VFX.
2) traditional animation, 2d digital animation, mixed media, stop motion.
3) Music Videos.
Scratch! will take place in Lecce, Italy
Submission is free!
Deadline 30th of April 2013.
Marfa, Texas – USA
June 26 to 30, 2013
March 11, 2013 – Regular Deadline
The Marfa Film Festival, set in gorgeous Texas, has become a beacon for amazing filmmakers, industry, and press from around the world.
As a non-competitive film festival, the MMF Marfa Film Festival offers no first place prizes and selects no winners, instead offering selected films a remarkable screening experience and the opportunity to forge connections with audiences and artists in a variety of disciplines. Festival alumni have gone on to earn numerous awards including Oscars, Emmys, and top honors at festivals around the world. In previous years, MFF has honored Dennis Hopper, Larry McMurtry, Lou Reed, and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. At MFF, films are screened one-at-a-time, ensuring each selected participant benefits from the full attention he or she deserves.
They accept Narratives, Documentaries, Animated Films, and Music Videos of any genre, addressing any topic. Films must screen within defined runtimes, detailed below. Marfa Film Festival places no restriction on an entry’s production date or premier status. We also welcome abandoned classics from decades past and never before seen indies.
Thanks to MFF’s remote location and low pollution, visitors are treated to screening experiences they simply won’t find anywhere else, including night-time cinema celebrations under a blanket of stars thicker than most attendees have ever seen. At its core, MFF represents a blend of cowboy, auteur, and home-grown artistic cultures that continues to blaze its own trail along the festival landscape. The result is a unique kind of magic that pulls visitors back again and again.
Submit your work HERE
Chantal Harvey 