Happy App Friday!
Learn reading, math and about the world around you with MarcoPolo World School, and then focus on numbers with Lake Hope: Learning Numbers. Plus, a forewarning about apps that share your location with third-parties, a new report on teens and social media from Common Sense Media, and an amazing fish that can recognize itself in a mirror.
Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes
Lake Hope: Learning Numbers
by Peekaboo Studios
Learn to recognize numbers with this free app. Lake Hope: Learning Numbers is simple, but it does have a clean and straightforward design. A number is spoken and written on the screen, and children pick the correct number from four options. They can learn numbers in sequence, or practice recognizing single and double-digit numbers at random.
MarcoPolo World School
by MarcoPolo Learning, Inc.
MarcoPolo World School is another offering in the comprehensive preschool app category. Daily lessons begin with well-produced videos on a subject (animals, human body, vehicles, etc.) followed by simple activities like letter tracing, word recognition, and basic math. The content is well done, and they promise to release new videos and activities every month, for the price of a monthly subscription.
Enrolling in the free trial is a mandatory step before accessing the app, so be sure to set a reminder for when the free trial ends. Settings for iTunes subscriptions can be managed in your Apple device. Open Settings, select iTunes & App Store, then tap on Apple ID. Select View Apple ID from the options. Once your account information loads, scroll down and select Subscriptions. Tap on the subscription you want to change, and then there will be an option to cancel or renew.
iPhone Apps Caught Sending User Location to Data Monetization Firms
“Using tools to monitor network traffic, the researchers found 24 popular iPhone apps that were collecting location data — like Bluetooth beacons to Wi-Fi network names — to know where a person is and where they visit. These data monetization firms also collect other device data from the accelerometer, battery charge status and cell network names.”
It is still too tempting for companies to collect as much data as they can get away with.
Dozens of popular iPhone apps caught sending user location data to monetization firms
New Report about Teens and Social Media from Common Sense Media
See the infographic to learn about the ubiquitous reality of teens and social media, and reflect on the role grown-ups can play to counterbalance the media’s constant pull. For the full report, visit Common Sense Media’s Research page: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/social-media-social-life-2018.
This Tiny Fish Can Recognize Itself In a Mirror
“If you notice a smudge [on yourself] when you look in the mirror, you wipe it off. Seems simple, but only a few particularly clever species such as orangutans and dolphins share this ability with humans. Even people don’t recognize themselves in the mirror until early childhood.”
Most animals won’t show much self-awareness when looking into a mirror. Maybe they think it’s another animal, or maybe they just lose interest in their own reflection. However, there’s a little fish that will recognize that it has a smudge on it’s body, try to rub it off, and then look back in the mirror to see if it came off. ==> https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/09/fish-cleaner-wrasse-self-aware-mirror-test-intelligence-news/.
