Software

Review: Turn your child into a fruit connoisseur with Baby Learns Fruits HD

Baby Learns Fruits HD is the iPad version of the popular Baby Bus: Baby Learns Fruits app, and it is one of the more engaging offerings from the line. Using the same basic interface and design that has made the Baby Busy line of apps so popular for young children and their parents, Baby Learns Fruits is a great way to engage a young child and help them learn at the same time.

Most Baby Bus apps come with two games, but Baby Learns Fruits HD comes with four, making it even more engaging than others in the series. Games … Read more

Review: Increase your tot's fruit fancy with Baby Learns Fruits

Baby Learns Fruits is perfect for young children, because it is educational and will keep them engaged both physically and intellectually.

Baby Learns Fruit is one of many apps in the Baby Bus line of apps. The idea of these apps is to teach children simple concepts like fruits, vegetables, shapes, colors, numbers, and letters with tap-and-play games. This particular app has four separate games that will ensure your child knows the names of fruits through and through. The interface is a small issue, initially, practically requiring you to change games or move to a different menu for them. Ads … Read more

Review: Teach your children well with Baby Learns Shapes

Baby Learns Shapes is one of many high-quality apps produced in the Baby Bus line that your children will love.

The basic idea behind Baby Learns Shapes is easy to grasp. There are two games that involve matching a specific shape with a cutout. The second game is a matching game as well, but has a collection of objects on screen--children must choose all objects that match a shape shown to them in the game. So a circle might flash onscreen and the child must find all items that are round like a circle. This mechanic is so simple in … Read more

Review: Increase your children's love of produce with Baby Learns Vegetables

Part of the Baby Bus suite of apps, Baby Learns Vegetables, helps a child between the ages of 1-3 learn the basics of vegetables (even if it can't get your little one to eat them).

The opening screen for Baby Learns Vegetables is familiar for anyone who has used a Baby Bus app. A bus with all of the apps currently in the App Store appears here. You can tap the one you've just downloaded or look through and download others. Each is a separate app, however, meaning they will load separately onto your device, and the interface, … Read more

Review: Add spicy captions to your photos with CaptionStudio

The purpose of Caption Studio is to create pretagged photos automatically from your photo library or phone. The concept is basic and may seem, at first, to be a good idea. Why spend hours trying to think of the perfect caption for a new photo if an app will do it for you? Unfortunately, not only are the captions limited, but they also can be vulgar and there are very few options for editing or changing them.

Caption Studio presents very few options when you first open it. Either select an existing photo from your library or take a new … Read more

Review: Baby Learns ABCs HD teaches letter-learning on the iPad

Fairly simple, highly polished, and heavy on the cuteness factor, Baby Learns ABCs HD is perfect for children ages 1-3. Part of the Baby Bus suite, this app is a must-download for parents.

The app features two simple, interactive games for young children. The first is a driving game in which children must move a car to capture the letters that appear onscreen. The second is a sing-along of the ABCs. Both are very rudimentary, but production values are high, which helps to keep the attention of the child using the app, and the interaction level is perfectly matched to … Read more

Review: Baby Learns ABCs sprinkles fun onto the letter-learning process

One in a long line of stylized and thematic apps for children aged 1-3, Baby Learns ABCs is produced as part of the Baby Bus suite of apps and uses the same basic interface and style of delivery as the other free apps it is often marketed with. This is a good thing, of course, as the Baby Bus apps are among the best on the App Store for young children just learning their numbers, shapes, or letters.

The Baby Learns ABCs app, in particular, is one of the better of the Baby Bus apps, combining music, games, and simple … Read more

Review: Baby Learning Shapes HD teaches basic concepts to small children

Part of the Baby Bus suite of learning tools, Baby Learning Shapes HD focuses on teaching shapes to young children.

In the case of this app, the same basic Baby Bus interface greets you when the app is first started. This is one of the apps' biggest weak points as the screen is cluttered with menus, upgrades, and other apps that the developers entice you to download, not to mention ads that your children will almost certainly find a way to tap. Once you get past the home screen interface, however, the game is well-constructed and enjoyable. The animations are … Read more

Review: Bird Sounds Free puts a call to the bird, but does little else

Bird Sounds Free allows users to learn more about the birds they are looking for, at least sonically-speaking. It's easy to use and provides crystal-clear bird calls.

Bird Songs Free is a fairly basic app, providing a very basic interface and limited features beyond the basic functionality promised in the title. It opens with a grid of bird pictures. None of the birds is labeled, so unless you know your way around a chart of bird pictures, you'll be largely tapping at random. There is no way to know the accuracy of the bird calls in the chart … Read more

Review: Boulder Happy Hours alerts users to happy hours across the college town

Boulder Happy Hours is a very useful--though fairly rudimentary--app that alerts users to happy hours in their fair city. If you live anywhere near Boulder, it is definitely worth a download.

The Boulder Happy Hours app is designed to show the happy hour information for every bar and restaurant in the Boulder area. When you open it, you'll find three menus: one for featured happy hours (usually showing only one), one for every location in the database, and one to call a cab, which is a very nice addition for any app focused on drinking. For each location, you … Read more