By touching on the pictures in the screen the words zoom out and it tells you what it is for example, touching on the little girl, you get ‘Sally’ or touching the fish you get (follow me here) ‘Fish’. A quick swipe to the right or left and the page turns to the next and if you want to repeat a page simply touch the words and hear it read to you for the second or fifteenth time!

For those who can read, read on (sorry, could not resist) and are treated to the same features, sans the narration. If you…err…I mean… your little one struggles with the words on the page you can still touch the words and they too will come to life by the same narration.

The Camera Apps are also fun. They let you take pictures and dress them up as if you are the Cat in the Hat, Things, The Grinch or Sally; you can add text to the pictures, stamps or borders and then send them off to loved ones via email and they can also be saved to the Photo Roll so if you make an especially cute one you can save it as a wallpaper.

Oceanhouse Media has done a fantastic job on the eBooks. I bought ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ to read for Christmas and both my 4 and 6 year olds enjoyed it in this format and were sad to see it go, along with Christmas. With all the crappy weather that most of the U.S. has seen over the past few months (and tomorrow is to be no different) there is no better way to spend a day that is wet and the sun is not sunny then to grab a cup of hot cocoa (or whatever warms your belly) a child or two (if its not yours, ask for permission), a book (e or otherwise), Pledge to Particpate and have lots of good fun that is funny!

Have a Seussational Day!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a promo code for the iPhone App, A Surfers Paradise, with the expectation that I comment on it.

A Surfers Paradise ($1.99) is the brain child of Matt Gye and Simon ‘Shagga’ Saffigna. Together, they have won several International Surf film awards. Their vision is to produce a groundbreaking international surfing documentary, delivered in 13, 30 minute installments. The hope is, to excite the imagination of 20 million regular participants through a solid media convergence framework that will ultimately find a home in prime time television world wide. The iPhone app is all part of the media convergence, though honestly, its nothing more than a 2 dollar promotional tool.

The app comes preloaded with 6 native 2-4 minute videos of upcoming shows of the best international surfers.

Pick a clip...any clip...

Upon selecting a video, you are taken to an intro screen. Here, you can read a quick intro to the video you are about watch. You can also leave a comment, rate the video and read comments left by other users.

Each of these videos, according to the producers, are introduced by the ‘best host’.  The host serves no purpose other than eye candy and frankly, she is not needed. My suggestion would be to remove either the intro screen or the ‘host’, but having both makes me feel as if the producers are just falling prey to cheap gimmicks to get me to watch the surf video.

The video quality of the embedded video clips is very good. They show a few seconds of interviews with those in the industry (such as Mike Fanning and Joel Parkinson) discussing various topics of various shows, followed by the standard surf session montage set to music.

Looks like paradise to me!

Sometimes the music works very well with that particular montage, other times it doesn’t; I don’t particularly care for screamo music and definitely not with my surfing. Other songs I found particularly enjoyable and wished the music was credited so that I could have purchased it.

In addition to the embedded 6 videos, you now have access to 15 or so newly released content that can be streamed via Edge, 3G or WiFi. As time goes on the producers promise to deliver more content that you can sync from the website to the App. Video quality on 3G is marginal at best, admittedly, any video that is streamed is only as good as the network in which it is being streamed. In other words, your results will vary, so streaming via WiFi is clearly the way to go. On WiFi, the video is clear and crisp, though not HD, but if your WiFi is good, it is very good.

As the user is basically paying for a promotional tool to launch a fanbase for the not yet finalized show, I would have liked the app to be a bit more innovative. For example, as I mention earlier, credit the music of the artist in the montage and when the user touched the credit on the screen, it took them to the iTunes Store where you could purchase the track. Or credit the surfer they are profiling in that particular montage and again by touching the credit, it takes the user to a page within the app where they can read about that surfer, see the accolades they have accumulated. Develop a psuedo relationship between the user and the surfer so that the user to begins to care about the surfer and in turn looks forward to when the program will air.

Utlimately though you are paying two dollars for a promotional vehicle to what the producers of this content hopes to be parlayed into a primetime TV show, they never state when or where the show will be released. If they ultimately include the finished product in the app, the two dollars you spent on this app will be well justified. Until then, I would pass.

The official description:

Engage in epic online battles with a customized army in a fantasy world of magic, steel and strategy. Build up your army by gaining troops, technology & magic through engaging campaign missions that feature fortress sieges, ambushes, stealth attacks and huge open-field clashes. Then battle your friends online! Receive in-game rewards such as new units & technology each week based on your score in a kingdom.

If you are into online war strategy games and you want relive how things used to be on the iphone, circa 2008, here is your chance to get a highly acclaimed (in ’08) game for free.

I forgot to do yesterdays game, I was traveling and did not get a chance to post. At any rate it was Zombie Pizza. It is back up to full price, but there is a lite version if you are really interested in checking it out before dropping $1.99 on the full price version.

Back in July of ’09, Rope ‘N Fly ($.99) peaked as the number 2 paid App in the App Store. During the time, I downloaded the lite version of the app to see what all the fuss was and throughly enjoyed it. The premise of the game is simple, swing through the city skyscrapers using a rope that you shoot from your wrists. The farther (distance in feet) through the city you go, the more points you score.

You have two options of game play, Speed Mode and Free Mode. Speed Mode you have 30 seconds to get as far as you can where Free Mode you try to get as far as you can without the constraint of time. You can submit your high scores to an online database to see how you rank against fellow Rope ‘N’ Fly players. If you are not happy with your high scores, there is also a training mode where you can practice your inner Spidey.

If you have ever wanted to be Spiderman and swing from building to building, this is the game for you. Its not very complicated or realistic, but its simplicity is what keeps you coming back for more. If you are reading this after the 18th of January, I would still recommend throwing down the buck to get it. The four of you who actually read this today, consider yourself lucky and get it today while its still free.

It is part 1 of 4 of the graphic novel written by Mike Mignola. This series is also the inspiration for Hellboy II (2008).

If you really enjoy the first book, you can either buy the other 3 for .99 cents or $1.99 for entire book for a limited time. Purchasing the entire volume for 2 bucks is fantastic deal, especially if you just want the story line or have a plane to catch and do not want to stop at your local comic book store before heading to the airport.

If you have been wondering how a comic book can translate to the iPhone, this is the perfect opportunity to do so.