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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: 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

Allure Energy latest to file infringement suit against Nest

Allure Energy sued Nest Labs yesterday, claiming that the company's much-celebrated Nest Learning Thermostat infringed on its patent.

Filing the suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the Austin, Texas-based Allure alleged that its patent for the invention of an "Auto-adaptable energy management apparatus" trumped Nest's right to develop, market, and sell a smart thermostat.

Allure said it first began designing its product, which is known as EverSense, in 2009, and filed it patent application in 2010. The company said in a release that it also got a patent for &… Read more

Nest buys MyEnergy, giving users more data on power usage

Nest, makers of the Learning Thermostat, said Tuesday that it has bought MyEnergy, a move geared towards helping customers and utilities alike get a better handle on power usage.

In a release, Nest said that MyEnergy has built a nationwide user base with an online service that provides users with a single place for studying their power usage and bills. The tool is meant to allow people to track their usage and costs and to compare that usage both over time and to neighbors. The company's utility partners use the service to offer their customers, especially those who aren'… Read more

Justin Kitch launches 'Curious' learning network (podcast)

It's called a "marketplace for online learning" and its goal is to connect students and teachers in a wide variety of subjects from salsa dancing to knife sharpening. If there is something you can teach or want to learn, Curious.com could be the place to start.

Co-founded by Justin Kitch, a former Intuit executive who founded Homestead, Curious.com empowers teachers to not only post video lessons but use other tools such as exercises, projects, discussion boards, and the ability to attach files. Teachers decide if their classes are free or if there is a charge … Read more