Great Free Android Apps For Kids

In a world filled with smartphones and tablets, kids are bound to be interested in the latest technology that mom and dad are always glued to. Instead of keeping your fancy device from the kids, try these fun and creative apps that will keep your kids occupied for hours. They just might learn something along the way.

Kids Doodle – Color & Draw

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This is one of the best drawing apps aimed at kids on Google Play. It has options to draw with several brushes from neon rainbow to crayon, or more traditional painting styles on a blank canvas. Kids can draw over photos, make short animations with ‘movie’ mode, view their art in a saved gallery, or share it with friends and family via social networks. It’s a wonderful way to let your kids explore the world of art and dabble in animation.

Kids Numbers and Math Lite

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This is a great app for young children just beginning to learn about numbers and basic math. It helps kids learn to count up to 20, with addition, subtraction, match, and comparison. The app speaks many of the numbers aloud to aid learning and comes with mini-games to make the math fun.

How to make Paper Airplanes

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A great app for slightly older kids, this one has an amazing variety of designs for paper airplanes from simple to complex. It guides you at each step in the process with helpful 3D folding animations. It’s a fantastic way to explore geometry and spatial reasoning.

iStoryBooks

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A popular app that provides a bunch of illustrated children’s books, with new books added frequently. Each book comes with an audio track that can read the book aloud for the child. There is a great range of books from classic fairy tales and animal stories to educational books.

HomeWork

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HomeWork is a helpful organization aid for kids to keep on track with their schoolwork. It comes with a variety of features including the ability to add homework assignments, exams, etc. and view them on a daily or weekly schedule where they can be checked off when done. You can even integrate it with your local school’s website or contact information.

[Image Credit: Google Play Store]

Vine Now On Amazon’s Kindle Fire

Popular social video app Vine has just been released as a dedicated app for Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire is the single most popular Android tablet on the market, so this is a smart move by Vine to serve all of those users who use Amazon’s version of Android. There is an Android version of Vine but it was not available for Kindle Fire users until the arrival of this special version just for them.

Vine, which is owned by Twitter, is under assault from several other popular social video apps, namely Instagram. Instagram’s introduction of their 15 second video feature has apparently taken a bite out of Vine’s popularity and share of social video users. Vine now has the advantage with Kindle Fire users, as there is no Instagram app for Kindle Fire tablets.

The app functions just like the iOS and Android versions and has an identical, clean and modern interface. You simply tap and hold to record a short video of up to six seconds and then share it with your friends and other Vine users via Facebook or Twitter. You can view videos from your friends or search for new interesting user feeds.

The Vine app is available now for free on Amazon through your Kindle Fire. If you haven’t tried a social video app yet, you can’t go wrong with Vine.

Source: Vine for Amazon Kindle Fire

[Image Credit: Amazon Store]

Get The Android 4.3 Camera App APK With Improved Interface

The newest Google Play editions of the popular Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One sport an improved camera app. The updated camera app is supposedly going to be rolled out in the Android 4.3 update but for now, these are the only ones that have it. The Android community has kindly uploaded the latest camera apk so you can actually try it out today!

The major change is in the interface layout when using the camera app. In the older camera app, when accessing the basic camera controls, several of the icons are awkwardly placed below the circular display where they can easily be hidden under your thumb. The new app places them just above the shutter button in a semi-circle instead of a full wheel. If you want expanded controls, they also appear in the half circle above the shutter button and displace the basic controls temporarily. This is a very convenient improvement over the original and makes it easier to access everything without moving your thumb. The new placement makes sure nothing is ever obscured by your thumb either.

One more helpful change is the option to take photos with the volume buttons on your phone. It makes the phone function more like a traditional camera and can also help you frame the shot better without your fingers getting in the way of the screen.

You can try the new camera app and changes by grabbing the apk at the link provided. There are instructions there for easy installation on your Android phone. If you can’t wait for Android 4.3 or don’t have one of the few devices that already have the latest camera app, check it out.

 [via XDA-Developers]

Experience Social Video on Windows Phone With Keek

Social video sharing platform Keek has arrived for Windows Phone 8. Joining popular platforms for mobile video like Vine and Instagram, Keek is a service that lets users record and upload short video clips. You can share clips, follow users, leave comments, and integrate your videos with other social networks.

You might think Keek is just another wannabe contender in the game for video sharing but it comes with a few unique features that separate it from the pack. First, the time limit is 36 seconds which bests the others by a wide margin. Keek also lets you leave video and text comments which is a fun twist on the usual simple text comments. It also has verified accounts to reduce spam and fraudulent activity so you’ll be more likely to interact with actual people. Keek has two separate options for receiving updates from other users. ‘Follow’ automatically sends each video the user makes to your account while ‘Subscribe’ sends you notifications of updates without sending the video.

The interface is clean and easy to use. The front page has options to browse a top 100, most viewed, and latest ‘keeks”. You can also enter a manual search by hashtag, username, or keyword. Browsing for keeks is easy and similar to other social video apps. Recording and uploading video is incredibly simply too, just tap the record button and send it off.

Keek is available now for free on all Windows Phone 8 phones. It’s a great new take on the social video phenomena and should keep competing apps on their toes. Check it out.

Source: Keek  for Windows Phone

[Image Credit: Windows Phone Store]

Find Work With JobLens By Nokia

JobLens is a comprehensive and powerful assistant for job seekers from Nokia. The app draws from a variety of some of the biggest players in job networking and combines them into a single experience. Anyone who has spent countless hours searching for, applying to, and rushing to interviews for jobs will appreciate the convenience of having everything coordinated in a single app. JobLens uses popular services like LinkedIn, Facebook, Indeed, and Twitter to keep you on top of the latest job listings with less hassle.

Once you’ve linked your appropriate social networks and data to the app, it will automatically generate a helpful list called ‘Jobs Near Me’, based on that data. Based on the people you’re connected to and the type of work you’re looking for, jobs that are right for you will be tagged and displayed on a map and in a list. Even better, the augmented viewer uses the phone’s camera to overlay specific jobs nearby in real time so you can search for jobs on the spot with a sweep of your phone. Or, get turn-by-turn directions to the job location with ‘Get You There’ once you’ve landed an interview.

JobLens uses the power of Live Tiles and Microsoft’s SkyDrive to keep you up to date on the progress of your search. You can pin specific job listings to the Start Screen and check up on them repeatedly or retrieve and update your resume with SkyDrive. Nokia has really thought of nearly everything a job seeker could want with this app.

JobLens is available for all Nokia Lumia users running Windows Phone 8 on the Windows Phone Store. If you want to relieve some of the stress of searching for jobs and are tired of running from site to site, give it a try.

Source: JobLens for Windows Phone

[Image Credit: Windows Phone Store]

 

 

Watch Discovery, TLC, and Animal Planet On Windows Phone 8

Discovery Network has simultaneously released three separate apps for their most popular channels. These include Discovery, TLC, and Animal Planet. They are separate apps but each is very similar in layout and functionality. When you start the app up, you’re greeted with the ‘Featured’ section with tiles for the most popular shows on that particular channel. If the show you want isn’t in that section, you can swipe over to a full list of shows or search for one by text or voice. Each show comes with a full description, extra clips, full episodes, and listings for air times. There is the option to share your favorite episode on social media as well.

The player is simple but all you really need, with a start and pause button and seek bar that can be tapped to jump to a particular spot. The player only works in landscape mode which is also for the best as you get the largest viewing area possible. For those who are always forgetting when the next episode is airing or can’t keep track of all their favorite shows, the apps come with helpful schedules and listings for all upcoming episodes. You can even choose to pin them to your calendar to remind you when a certain episode will air.

If you’re a fan of any of Discovery Network’s shows, check out these three convenient apps for mobile viewing. All three are available free for Windows Phone 8 on the Windows Phone Store.

-> Discovery for Windows Phone

-> Animal Planet For Windows Phone

-> TLC App for Windows Phone