Kids these days are smartphone savvy. Parents across the world often hand children as young as the age of four an iPhone, Android phone, or Blackberry to play with.

These smartphones are fun centers packed into tiny squares, and fun apps manage to keep kids who travel quiet for hours on end. Give all the appeal that a smartphone has for children, it’s no wonder that big movie studios are starting to cash in on the “apps for kids” trend.



In the past, movies such as "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Shrek Forever After" gained their own apps. Now, the latest cartoon blockbuster “The Smurfs Movie” is already attached to a new iOS game app called “The Smurf Storybook.” This app comes before the release of the movie as a sort of teaser for kids.


Who Needs Previews?
Previews are effective marketing tools if kids manage to catch a preview. For those kids who don’t watch a lot of television or head to the movie theater frequently, previews are a lost cause. Movie studios don’t want to lose this potential audience. So, instead of spending all advertising dollars on creating previews that some kids may miss, these studios are sinking large amounts of money into creating smartphone apps.

Parents are far more likely to purchase a movie preview disguised as a smartphone game app than they are to allow kids to watch hours of television per day. Thus far, pre-movie apps for kids are working like magic. When it comes time for quiet time, it’s far easier to hand a child a smartphone filled with fun games than it is to find other activities to occupy a child’s mind.






What This App Does
The Storybook app contains read-alongs and games for kids to enjoy. One game includes allowing children to find certain mistakes within a storyline. While this all seems like harmless fun, there’s one reason why you may want to think twice before downloading the Smurfs app. This app will get your child hooked on the new Smurfs movie before the movie even debuts.

In addition to games, the Smurfs app includes celebrity voiceovers, characters from the movie, and the whole thing is based upon the storyline from the movie. So, when your kids finally do head to the theater, they will know all about the movie. Needless to say, they’ll also be familiar with the celebrities who are taking part in the film. One has to wonder if movie studios will soon be slipping advertisements into these apps as well (will Smurfette get a hankering for a Coke?).


Cost and Availability
The Smurfs Movie Storybook is currently available on the iPhone and iPad. No Android app release has been created at the time of this writing. If your kids want the new Smurf app, you’ll have to fork over $2.99 for the iStorybook application.

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Japan’s love affair with all things bizarre and electric is not new. Walking the streets of Tokyo can instantly make one feel like a video game character. Bright lights, music, noise of all kinds, colors, and video games line streets, doorways, and even restaurant billboards. So, is it any real wonder that some of the greatest apps come from this intense digital culture?

Cell phones are important in Japan. Japanese cell phone manufacturers produce hundreds of phones every year. Most of these phones sell out quickly. Japan also has a love affair with Apple products (who doesn’t?), and some other best-selling North American phones. But there’s an air in Japan that’s nothing like the North American vibe. Simply, a different way of being – of living. This difference makes Japanese apps better than most other apps on the market.


Existence Not Purpose
Japanese apps don’t necessarily have a direct purpose. Developers may or may not have designed these apps to reach a specific target audience. But most Japanese apps do have one commonality: apps coming from Japan are fun. Not only are they fun, but they’re highly interactive.

Take the app Tiny Riot, for example. Tiny Riot makes a lot of heavy metal, head-banging, noise while you shake and yell at your iPhone. Sure, this app was created in order to help angry Japanese teens deal with anger issues, but it’s also a lot of fun to use. The harder you shake your iPhone, the more noise Tiny Riot makes. It’s just plain fun, and that’s what apps should be.


The Most Successful Apps
Have you ever noticed how the most successful apps tend to be gaming apps? Look, for example at the Angry Bird empire. Angry Birds is, essentially, a video game. But, it’s also a game that’s a lot of fun to play. People have become so hooked to Angry Birds that some can’t put the game down. Granted, Angry Birds is not a Japanese invention, but it’s still a fun app that doesn’t necessarily serve a direct purpose.

This is not to say that North American developers haven’t created some great apps. There are apps that make Twitter easier to use and apps that help you fall asleep, but most of these are targeted and full of purpose. Purpose isn’t a bad thing, but it won’t allow you to let loose and abandon all fear of public embarrassment the way that many Japanese apps do.


Where to Find Japanese Apps
If you don’t speak Japanese, you may want to stick to foreign-made apps that can be used in English. Otherwise, you may be navigating a whole different type of water (who knows, you may find that many Japanese apps are still fun – even if you don’t completely understand the directions!). Thankfully, a lot of great Japanese apps come with English instructions.

To find the best Japanese apps on the market, start by conducting a bit of research. I recommend that you research all the apps you download beforehand (Japanese or not) anyway. This way, you know whether or not you are wasting your hard-earned pennies.

You’ll quickly find that the apps coming out of Japan are simply fun to use, and that’s something worth exploring!

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Mobile computing has been on the rise, especially in the past few years with the introduction of tablets. It seems devices are getting smaller and smaller, but can you really be productive on a tablet or a smartphone?  Intel has been at the forefront making technologies for mobile devices that not only make them powerful, but also make them last a long time.  Last week we had the chance to sit down with Intel and see what all they have in store for the mobile space.  Read on to learn about their new technologies and check out some of the products they brought with them to demo.






The Future of Intel’s Atom Processor
Intel’s Atom processor was a huge hit, we first saw it power a flurry of netbooks.  This really pushed netbooks on to the market and made them successful.  If you thought that the Atom Processor was only powering netbooks you are sadly mistaken.  It powers quite a few different devices and Intel has big plans for it in the next few years.

Let’s start with the very exciting news, you will start to see Intel Atom processor’s in smartphones!  Intel recently announced its 32nm “Medfield” smartphone platform.  This platform is directly aimed to compete with the ARM architecture.  Not only will this platform be powerful, but the battery life will be great.  Intel has said that this architecture is the most efficient on the planet.  The “Medfield” platform is scheduled for production this year, so possibly we will see a device by the end of the year.

In April Intel launched the Atom Z670 platform.  This is the platform you are going to see on many mobile devices like slates, convertibles and sliders.  Intel actually had some of those on display for us.  I think the one that was most compelling to me was the Maestro Evolve III.


This convertible tablet is a hybrid, meaning it can act as a tablet using touch-screen or you can prop it up using the built-in stand and connect a wireless keyboard.  What’s great about this device is that you can load multiple operating systems (Windows 7, Android and MeeGo) and you can switch between them instantly.  This means you can have all of the cool Android apps, then when you need to be productive and write or use something in Windows you just switch right in to Windows mode.  The Evolve III will give you 10+ hours of battery life too!  It is powered by the Intel Z670 1.5GHz processor.

Intel also had the ViewSonic ViewPad 10 to show us.


This tablet can dual-boot so you can run both Android and Windows 7.  It is powered by Intel’s N455 1.66GHz processor.

So let’s get back to netbooks, Intel’s upcoming platform for netbooks is codenamed “Cedar Trail”.  This is the first netbook platform based on Intel’s 32nm technology, and will enable ultra-thin, fanless designs with new capabilities such as Intel’s Rapid Start technology which provides fast resume, Intel Smart Connect Technology which enables an always updated experience even during standby, Intel Wireless Display and PC Synch, which let users wirelessly update and synchronize documents, content and media across multiple devices.  This new platform is going to bring battery life to the next level too with 10 hours of battery life during operation and weeks of standby.  Expect to see mobile and desktop designs based on the “Cedar Trail” platform towards the end of the year.

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