App review: Can You Find It?

Can You Find It? doesn’t offer a lot of innovations in the hidden object puzzle genre, but it doesn’t need to. The game uses a smart hint system, eye-popping photos, and a local high score board to keep players captivated and challenged. Fans of Where’s Waldo and Little Things will feel right at home, looking for a hypothetical needle in a haystack. It will take a while to figure out all the puzzles, but once you do, there’s not a lot to keep players engaged. Until that happens, though, it’s a great diversion.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App review: Textfree Unlimited

Today’s phones are often used more for texting than calling — and the costs of those SMS messages can add up quickly. TextFree Unlimited lets people text as much as they want without causing a spike in their phone bill. The reliability of the app is pretty solid. We didn’t encounter any “dark” periods when testing, regardless of time. Receivers always got their messages promptly and their replies were just as speedy. The volume of ads is annoying, though — and tacking on a recurring annual fee to a free app feels a bit iffy. (The app used to carry a one-time charge of $5.99 for no ads.) Parents will still need to monitor who their kids are texting and what’s being said, but for the budget conscious, this is a good alternative.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Mother Goose Interactive Nursery Rhymes

Mother Goose Interactive Nursery Rhymes strives hard to bring the joy and magic of the classic children’s tales to life, but misfires on a few key points. While the art and illustration are gorgeous, the app only tackles a small number of nursery rhymes — certainly not enough to justify the price. Worse, the narration of the rhymes often doesn’t match the words onscreen, which will be unhelpful to kids who are trying to learn to read via the app. (For example, in “Three Blind Mice,” the text reads “they all ran after the farmer’s wife, who cut off their tails with a carving knife,” but the narrator skips the word “off”.) The extras — a puzzle and a freeform art pad — are fine, but are done better elsewhere for less.

Read more at Common Sense Media


App Review: Touch Maze

Touch-based maze puzzles seem like a great idea for products like the iPhone and iPod Touch, but in order to be fun, the touch sensitivity has to be flawless. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with TOUCH MAZE. All too often, the screen will fail to keep up with users’ finger drags, taking players’ minds off of the solution and focusing it on getting the on-screen marker moving again. That’s a problem when playing a time-based game. The iPad two-player version of the game is a nice twist — and adds to the enjoyment of the app, but ultimately suffers from the same flaws.

Read more at Common Sense Media

Nintendo cuts prices – but why?

Nintendo has announced plans to shave $20 off the price of two versions of its best selling video game system – the Nintendo DS. Effective Sept. 12, the DSi will drop from $170 to $150 and the DSi XL will move from $190 to $170. 

The move follows price cuts in several other regions, but the timing could raise a few questions. We’ve got three theories as to why Nintendo decided to make the move now.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog

Don’t have Hulu-Plus? Get a taste anyway

Hulu Plus is still in its limited preview mode, but if you can’t get an invite – and you just can’t wait watch Hulu on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, there’s now a way to do so. 

Hulu is inviting people to download the free Hulu Plus app to help them test the experience – meaning a limited number of show episodes and clips are viewable by anyone with an iDevice.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog

Apple near deal for TV show rentals?

Rumors started last month that Apple was making a hard push to begin offering streaming rentals of recent television programming for 99 cents. Now those whispers are beginning to solidify a bit. 

Bloomberg reports that the Cupertino-based company is in advanced talks with News Corp. for 99-cent rentals – and CBS and Disney are engaged in similar discussions with Apple.

Read more at Variety’s Technotainment blog

App review: Yertle the Turtle

Yertle the Turtle might not be the best-known book in Dr. Seuss’s catalog, but this app is made with loving reverence to the story. The voice acting is better than many other books that Oceanhouse Media has brought to the market — and the inclusion of a few hidden sound effects in the app make it even more fun. (Touch the illustrations of beleaguered turtle Mack burping or Yertle’s descent from atop his turtle throne and kids will get a giggle.)

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: Science Quiz ?

Despite its funny name, Science Quiz ? is a good basic science teaching tool for grade school kids. It’s a good looking game as well. Developers have taken the time to put a little polish on what is often a dull interface. Questions are written with younger users in mind — although a few might aim a bit lower than necessary. It’s an eclectic mix of questions, ranging from identifying which animals are omnivores to whether a doctor wears a white coat or white pants. The game also makes good use of sound to keep kids playing. They won’t get a big head start on their SATs with this, but kids may learn a thing or two as they play.

Read more at Common Sense Media

App review: A Science Quiz

Unlike some quizzes that are peppered with easy questions to appeal to the masses, A Science Quiz takes its mission seriously and forces players to exercise their knowledge. It’s not a program with many bells and whistles (there’s no cheery sound for right answers and the interface is about as exciting as a test you’d take in school), but the 420 included questions do force you to think and cover a wide variety of topics. There are occasional typos, however, and the accuracy of some answers has been questioned by users.

Read more at Common Sense Media