Spookly the Square pumpkin comes to the App Store

It’s no secret that we’re a fan of Oceanhouse Media‘s work here at CTA. They do a great job bringing classic children’s books to life through the App Store (they do much more than that, here’s a link). They recently added the Berestain Bears books to their collection but their most popular titles are the Dr. Seuss books they’ve published. Continuing their very successful run in the App Store, they’ve introduced The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin just in time for Halloween. It comes with the original book illustrations and interactive pages that allow you to tap different objects on the page. If you need a break from your 40th time reading the story, you can have Bobby “Boris” Picket (of Monster Mash fame) read the story for you. While we found Boris’ interpretation amusing, but it was much easier to read it ourselves. If you’re not familiar with Spookley, don’t feel bad… we had to do a little research. What we found was a great children’s book that teaches tolerance and acceptance in a way that children can understand. It’s now a made-for-TV movie that airs every year and is on the best-seller list every Halloween. It was [...]

The iPad doesn’t break the bank, but the apps do.

Paul Miller, we hate you… not really. We’ve been putting off this post until this evening so we could give it the full attention it deserves. During our evening rounds, we spotted this post over at Engadget. Thanks, Paul. We want to be a little more blunt with our writing but at least we know that we’re not alone. One thing that we’ve noticed since the introduction of the iPad App Store: app prices are ridiculous. We’re not saying that developers don’t deserve to be paid for their efforts, but the trends that are dominating the App Store need… to… stop… now. There are a few different ways that we’re getting screwed, so here goes. Most everyone was expecting apps to go “universal” so they could run on your iPad or your iPhone/iPod touch. Our worst criticism of the iPad App Store is that most developers decided to avoid that model completely. There are a few who decided to go universal with their apps — one being Oceanhouse Media, the developer responsible for the Dr. Seuss books and one whom we’ve written about in the past — and to all of you who have gone universal… we THANK you. Other [...]

Dr. Seuss apps on sale this Suessday

Yes, we spelled it that way on purpose. (T)Seussday, March 2nd, is the birthday of the wizard of words and to celebrate, all of the applications will be on sale for a cheap $0.99! Each of the eBooks sell for $3.99 on a daily basis, and the camera apps go for $2.99. On the 2nd, you’ll be able to grab the whole collection for $5.94 instead of the usual $20.94. Oceanhouse Media is working exclusively with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring all of the master’s great works to the iPhone and iPod touch — and have a lot of fun on the way. Clicking the image to the right will open iTunes. I have a few of these apps, and I’ve really been impressed with Oceanhouse Media’s work. They aren’t just copying the original books from one medium to the next, they’re putting a tremendous amount of thought into the whole Dr. Seuss experience. Their holiday game “Grinchmas!” was a great success in the App Store and (I’m a little afraid to admit) wasted much of my time over holiday break. Realistically, these applications are not time wasters; they’re a great way to share the world of Dr. Seuss with [...]