Tag: BlueFinger »

Oz Wizard is a lovely interactive universal storybook based on the classic children’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. Choose to have this story read out loud, or read by oneself. When narrated, sentences are highlighted as they are read - helpful for new readers.

This application is based on the classic story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and varies from the well-known movie, as does the original book. I am excited to introduce my son to this version, which has kept some important details intact from the children’s book that had been changed for the movie. Although simplified, this is a nice introduction to the world of Oz for preschoolers who may not have the attention span for the many chapters of the original book. Being a universal app, this storybook looks nice on the iPhone, but I really enjoy how the watercolor illustrations with slight anime influences look on the large screen of the iPad.

Although not abundant, I appreciate the interactive elements of this book, some allowing the readers to integrate themselves into the story by doing such things as helping the scarecrow get down off his post, saving him, or tapping three times to help Dorothy go home - my favorite interaction of this storybook. Other interactions have educational components such as tapping to hear the names associated with the object being tapped, nice for the youngest of players. I do wish that when the gang faces the flying monkeys, the Cowardly Lion had more of a role in this related interaction to further illustrate this moment of the story - an opportunity that I felt was missed.

Although not as intuitive as some storybook interfaces, I like the choice of highlighting not just the specific word being narrated, but longer phrases instead, a style that I think may helpful in furthering children's abilities to read full sentences.

Passionate fans of L. Frank Baum may feel that a lot is missing from this classic book, but I think this is a good start in getting children interested in this timeless and wonderful children's storybook.

As a person that works on a computer for a living, I will have to cop to sometimes lacking a smidgen in the social norms and common sense department.  Though I am no social ignoramus, there comes a time when a person that you are conversing with is harder to read than a left turn sign from the cockpit of a race car.  It is moments like this that having a app to do the heaving lifting for you might be a handy aid.  Thus, the Mind Scan Camera was born.

Never again will you be left scratching your head over confusing body language, because the development team over at BlueFinger, Inc. has developed an innovative emotion analysis technology.  With recognition for up to ten different emotions, all you need to do is import an image into this handy little app and it does all of the rest.  In another awesome perk of the software, they even added in a beta version of their real-time scanning software for no additional cost!  Here is a video that promotes some of the key features:

Okay, I am going to level with you, this may not be the most cutting edge piece of software that ever graced the App Store, but it sure is neat.  Impressive as the tech may be, it is pretty evident that the functionality will be gimmicky at best.  That said, there is quite a bit of fun that could be had at another person's expense, using a entertaining toy like this.

If nothing else, Mind Scan Camera could make one heck of a conversation piece at a party.  "Why hello there beautiful lady.  What seems to be troubling you?  How did I know that? Let me show you this neat app."  The rest is history, just be sure that you name your beautiful nerd/supermodel hybrid children after me.

Give the app a download.  Who knows? It might just change your life!

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