Tag: Geography »

MindSnacks has been filling the App Store with knowledge for a while now, and U.S. Geography by MindSnacks is the developer's first non language-based offering. Their new app helps beginning to intermediate geography students to learn about the 50 States through eight different mini-games on a virtual road trip through the US. The difficulty can be adjusted to match the user's level, and the app itself uses a special algorithm to further tweak the experience as it's used.

Flags, nicknames, mottos, shapes, capitols, landmarks, cities, cultures, and a whole lot more are covered for each state, too. So if you don't know what the State Bird of Illinois is, U.S. Geography by MindSnacks is a good place to start looking.

8 addictive and unique games, including 2 games entirely new to MindSnacks
Custom state maps detailing cities, landforms, landmarks and more.
600+ hand-drawn images to help associate facts with states
1000+ trivia questions to constantly challenge your brain
Personalized learning algorithms to maximize memorization, retention, and contextual usage
Vast library of facts to help you lay the metaphorical smack down on any trivia night
COPPA compliant
Aligned with National Geographic’s Geography Standards

This week at 148Apps.com, we helped everyone looking to expand their iOS device's musical footprint with a round-up of Bluetooth speakers. Site editor Rob LeFebvre says, "Bluetooth is a fantastic technology. It lets me connect my iPhone or iPad to a ton of different devices, including speakers, keyboards, other computers, headphones, and mice without wires. The latest version, 4.0, draws very little power and features an increased signal range of up to 100 feet.

148Apps received three different portable Bluetooth speakers recently, and we decided to put them all through their paces, to better understand which ones might be better for specific uses. We’ll be looking at the Braven 600, the CubeEdge, the Disco 2, and the Logitech Boombox."

Get more of Rob's take on these units at 148Apps.

Over at GiggleApps.com, Amy Solomon was in a traveling mood, as she reviewed Geography Drive USA, calling it, "A wonderfully engaging educational app that teaches about American geography in ways children will love.
As one can imagine, it is not uncommon for friends and family to ask me to recommend apps for their children in grade school as many apps out there are for preschool-aged children. Geography Drive USA is a title that I can easily recommend as an application that is both highly educational and a lot of fun."

Read Amy's full review at GiggleApps.

And at AndroidRundown.com, our KickStarter Spotlight of the week covered Pixel Kingdom. Joseph Bertolini writes, "Today we’re looking at a game that is the brainchild of a college sophomore from Central Florida and it is a fresh take on the game-type that was popularized by games such as Plants vs. Zombies; where waves of enemies come down set lanes, and it is up to the player to deploy defenses down each specific aisle. Named Pixel Kingdom it is a small twist on this idea is that here these defenses are actively moving down their lane in an endless battlefield against the ranks of evil. Thrown in are a handful of bosses that fill multiple lanes, such as random dragon attacks."

Read the full spotlight at AndroidRundown.

So there you have it - another week in the life of the 148Apps network of sites. Stick with us every day by following us on Twitter or Pinterest and Liking us on Facebook. There's more content just right around the corner.

The world may be a great big place, but technology continues to make it smaller and smaller. Now, it can fit on your iPad thanks to the release of the Barefoot World Atlas. This fun app is a great way to teach kids all about the world in which they live, and may even provide a few fun facts for grownups as well.

Navigating the atlas is as simple as dragging a finger across the screen and using the pinch zoom to get a close look at places of interest. As you fly down into the countries and regions you can tap on icons that teach you all about the people, places and animals that make up the area, and get a better sense of what's beyond your front door.

The atlas was created and narrated by BBC Presenter Nick Crane, in conjunction with Touch Press and England's Royal Geographic Society. It's a beautiful, entertaining way to start teaching kids how to think globally and learn all they can in an increasingly interconnected world.

Realising that the world is a globe and thus in theory someone on the other side of the world is in the exact same spot as I am now is a very odd thing to get to grips with. Written down it sounds a little like madness so it's no wonder that once upon a time people thought the world was flat. After all, if there's no easy opportunity to travel the world, how could anyone realise that actually the world doesn't stop at a certain point?

That brief, bordering on philosophical piece of rambling aside, Dig2China provides its users with the opportunity to see exactly where they would be if they were able to dig a hole through to the other side of the earth right that second. The phone vibrates as it 'tunnels' its way through the planet in order to surface at the other side.

Once the app pinpoints the new location, fun facts like the current time, weather and official language are shown plus there's a Wikipedia link for further information. Dig2China makes for an ideal yet fun geography app for young and old.

It's out now priced at $0.99.

Instabam sounds familiar doesn't it? Near identical to Instagram, right? There's a reason for that. Instabam is an app that uses the Instagram API to enable users to quickly view photos that have been taken near them by people who have been using Instagram.

It's a neat little idea and one that produces some interesting results. Instabam shows all the photos taken near the user at the time of use. It's then possible to adjust the distance of the search as well as view the location of each photo on a map.

Instabam looks set to be a fantastic way of not only learning more about the scenery and interests of those around the user's local area, but also to find new people on Instagram to follow. An update for Instabam is promised with the ability to 'Like' and 'Follow' users from within the app which should make the app an ideal addition to fans of social photography.

Instabam is available now for free for all iOS devices.

Vito Technology has wowed us before with their beautiful Star Walk stargazing app. Now they're trying their hands at another educational project. This time, it's a world factbook, but with a twist. Geo Walk is a concise, limited encyclopedia that focuses on a global view—literally. The app presents you with an icon-dotted globe, and you can tap any of the markers to read about that particular area and its points of interest.

This is great for putting articles into geographical perspective. The pyramids hover over Egypt, while spinning over to Antarctica might show you penguins. Don't know where something is? No problem; you can switch to an object list.

The application features three main categories: Place, Flora & Fauna, and People. Each entry boasts a colorful picture and a small article about the object. (Willis Tower is the fifth-largest tower in the world!)

While Geo Walk is in no way a complete encyclopedia, it's not trying to be. Instead, it's about exploring the globe digitally, and putting things into perspective. Similarly to Star Walk, it's not meant to be a comprehensive reference, but to ignite your curiosity and teach you a few things in the process. That's something that kids and adults alike should be able to enjoy.

Check it out in the App Store!