Carrier T-Mobile on Monday unveiled a comprehensive digital solution that it says was designed to give parents control over their kids’ online activities and screen time on smartphones and across the Internet-connected devices in their homes.
Apple is getting into children's programming, reports Variety. The outlet says that the company has inked a multi-series deal with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind "Sesame Street" that has won countless awards over its 50-year history.
Apple is now beginning to accept reservations for this summer’s Apple Camp sessions. The annual retail program teaches kids and their parents about Apple products in fun creative ways.
Apple yesterday published a new webpage that brings all of its parental controls in one place.
In response to an open letter penned by investors asking Apple to improve parental controls on iOS, Apple said that they will indeed develop new parental control features which should be coming to iOS in the future.
Facebook on Monday announced it's releasing a preview of a brand new children-focused Messenger app in the United States which parents can remotely monitor and manage using a set of appropriately designed parental controls.
Lego is launching a new augmented reality kid-focused app later today that combines virtual and physical blocks and brick sets, allowing children to fly virtual models around the room.
Google's kid-focused YouTube app received a major update today with a brand new look and feel. Amongst its other enhancements are profiles for each child, plus new parental controls.
Apple TV's universal search function, which lets you use Siri to find content across supported video apps, has gained support for the kids app Holster in the United States.
Apple's support document was updated Friday to reflect the addition. Before, it was supported by the universal search feature for users in Australia and the United Kingdom only.
Aimed at kids aged five and under and billed as the app that lets kids learn through the shows they love, Holster is available on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV with 800+ kids TV episodes, 100+ songs and nursery rhymes, curriculum-based learning games and more.
The app requires a subscription fee of $5 per month.
https://vimeo.com/185792548
A 7-day free trial is available.
The following third-party content providers and apps are currently supported by tvOS's universal search on the fourth-generation Apple TV:
United States: Movies and TV shows in iTunes, A&E, ABC, AMC, Animal Planet GO, Apple Music, BET, Bravo, CBS, Comedy Central, Cooking Channel, Crunchyroll, CuriosityStream, CW Seed, Discover GO, Disney Channel, Disney Jr, Disney XD, DIY, E!, Food Network, FOXNOW, FXNOW, FYI, Hallmark Channel, HBO GO, HBO NOW, HGTV, History, Hopster, Hulu, Investigation Discovery GO, Lifetime, MTV, MUBI, Nat Geo TV, NBC, Netflix, Nick Jr, Nickelodeon, PBS, PBS Kids, Science Channel GO, SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME Anytime, Spike, Starz, Syfy, TBS, Telemundo, The CW, TLC GO, TNT, Travel Channel, Tribeca Shortlist, USA and VH1. Australia: Movies and TV Shows in iTunes, ABC iview, CuriosityStream, Hopster, MUBI, Netflix, Plus7 and Stan. Canada and United Kingdom: Movies and TV shows in iTunes, CuriosityStream, Hopster, MUBI and Netlix France: Movies and TV shows in iTunes, CANAL+, Netflix Germany: Movies and TV shows in iTunes, Galileo, Netflix Japan, Mexico, Netherlands and Spain: Movies in iTunes, Netflix Norway: Movies in iTunes, MUBI, Netflix, NRK TV, TV 2 Sumo Sweden: Movies in iTunes, MUBI, Netflix, SVT Play Other countries: Movies in iTunesYouTube search is supported across all regions. To search for YouTube content, simply use Siri and include the word "YouTube" in your search (i.e. “Search UFO sightings on YouTube”).
The full list of providers for tvOS's universal search function is on Apple’s website.
Apple's retail stores will launch free workshops next month to help kids aged 8-12 learn how to code and program robots in the recently updated Swift Playground app, as well as draw, edit video and more. The sessions will be available from July as part of the company's “Today at Apple” classes which recently launched across Apple Stores globally.
Apple Camp, as it's called, will kick off on July 10 and run through July 28.
The three-day program was designed to help kids broaden their creative horizons by making movies with iMovie, creating interactive books and more using Apple products.
Macworld notes “Today at Apple” offers additional sessions for children, called “Kids Hour”.
This year's summer camps cover the following topics:
Creating characters and composing music—Kids ages 8-12 will create their own stories through drawings and sounds. Campers will start their session by sketching characters and scenes with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, then they’ll explore the basics for composing a track using GarageBand. They’ll bring their story to life by adding vocals and finishing touches. Stories in motion with iMovie—Future filmmakers ages 8-12 will explore the creative process of turning their ideas into real movies. In this three-day session, Campers will learn how to brainstorm and storyboard. Then they’ll get hands-on with movie-making techniques like learning camera angles and editing with iMovie. On the final day, they’ll present their masterpieces. Coding games and programming robots—In this three-day session for kids ages 8-12, we’ll introduce programming through interactive play. Kids will learn visual-based coding by solving puzzles with Tynker. Then they’ll learn how to program Sphero robots, and even create fun stories starring Sphero as the main character.Each workshop offers three 90-minute classes.
To sign up for the upcoming workshops, visit Apple's website.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and other technology leaders met with Donald Trump earlier today, with Cook pushing the US President to make coding a requirement in schools.
Cook has long been a proponent for helping the youngsters learn coding.
“We believe coding should be a required language in all schools,” said Apple's chief executive when his company debuted the Swift Playgrounds app last year.
Learn how to enable Guided Access on your iPhone and iPad to limit what someone else can do on your device by keeping them locked to just one app that's on the screen.
Google today launched a new education-focused apps aimed at kids aged 6-8 years old, called Toontastic 3D. With this app, your youngsters can draw, animate and narrate their own cartoons. The concept and game mechanics are easy to grasp so your kids should feel right at home. They simply move their characters around onscreen to tell their story. The app records their voice and animations and stores content on their device as a video.