Photography

Today and tomorrow, I am attending the Evo Conference (FYI – I did the HTML/CSS/WordPress for that site) 😀  Well, partially attending, anyway. I’ve been going to a few sessions and then sneaking back home in between because I’m a social misfit. LOL! The two sessions I attended today were fantastic. The morning session I went to was “Small Business Success” – I’ve been trying to figure out how to grow my business / *if* I should / want to grow my business – so it was really informative and helpful. I decided to go to the Photography workshop in the afternoon. This one was more for personal reasons. We’ve had the Nikon D70 for ages and have very rarely ventured from the automatic setting. I know there’s a lot more the camera can do – and while I’ve had f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, etc. explained to me many times, for some reason, my brain refuses to absorb it. So I went, in the hopes that maybe this time I’d get it. The session was, so far, my favorite. The panelists covered ways to get new/exciting shots, some processing tips – and then afterward, we went outside for a more one-on-one with the panelists. I bombarded Aimee with my questions and she was so nice and helpful – and despite hearing the topic again for the millionth time, having her explain it to me – I think maybe this time I’ll actually be able to keep it stored in my feeble brain! LOL!

She also talked about the importance of just getting the shot you need – with whatever you have available – even if it’s your iPhone camera. On this note she had recommended a few particular apps. One in particular, I purchased the instant I got home. It’s called ShakeItPhoto. (It’s only $0.99 – SO worth it. GO right now and buy it) The “cute” part of the app is it plays off the old Polaroid camera idea, it “prints” the image on the screen – you “shake” it to develop it – but the photos it creates are actually pretty cool. It adds a filter to it that really adds a nice look to the photo. Take a look at this shot I took of Zachary with it – I think it’s instantly one of my favorite photos of him ever:

Road Trip Bingo iPhone/iPad Game

WBright Bunny Studios.

Road Trip Bingo (iPhone): $0.99*

Road Trip Bingo HD (iPad): $1.99*

*price at time of this writing.

Up With a Fish – iPhone game

IUp With a Fish: $0.99*

*price at time of this writing.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go! – eBook for the iPhone/iPad

IOh! The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss, then it’s no surprise. The story is great for children as well as adults – an inspiring view of life’s various adventures. The advice and encouragement the book gives is timeless. Released in time for Graduation, the ebook has three options: read the book yourself, have the book read to you (and you manually turn the pages), or put the whole thing on autoplay and have the book read to you and pages turn automatically.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go!: $3.99*

*price at time of this writing

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish – eBook for the iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad

OOne Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is no exception. This certainly is one my son’s favorite books and despite the fact that we’ve read it enough times that we could probalby recite it back by heart, my son requests this book very often. Now that we have the eBook on the iPhone, he can read it (or rather have it read to him, since he’s not at reading age just yet) as often as he likes (or at least as often as he gets his hands on my phone) 😉

As with all the Dr. Seuss books we’ve gotten from Oceanhouse media, you can read the book yourself, have the book read to you (and have you manually turn the pages), or you can put it on auto-play which will read the story and turn the pages for you. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish has been released to honor World Oceans Day (June 8th) and the book’s 50th anniversary.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish eBook: $3.99*

*price at time of this writing

The Reading Game – iPhone App

TGo download it and check it out! Here’s some info sent to me by the developer:

First of its Kind: Rewards and Tracking as Kids Read Their Books

Parents Can Give Their Child the Gift of Reading

Just in time for summer reading assignments! The Reading Game makes reading books more exciting and fun than ever before. With over 100 rewards to unlock, this game transforms daily reading into kids’ favorite thing. It is simple and easy to use.

Students are already hooked on technology. Now they can harness that energy to prevent the summer slide that causes them to shed their academic skills. This new game encourages students to read every day, to track their reading and be rewarded every time they read.

This app was designed to sustain and improve youngsters’ academic skills. The Reading Game provides the incentive to read more books and receive immediate rewards.

Using The Reading Game, kids can unlock special characters such as the parachuting squirrel, the cute puppy, the weight-lifting robot, the guitar-playing penguin, the surfing alien, and the water-skiing mouse. After they enter the names and total pages of their books, The Reading Game keeps track of the pages they have read and unlocks their rewards. There are over 100 appealing sound effects and songs to unlock as the user reads. While viewing their rewards, users can shake and tilt their phones or iPads to create wild sound effects.

Features:
• Offers over 100 animations.
• Offers over 100 sounds and songs.
• Responds to shaking and tilting with original sounds from the sound rewards.
• Calculates how many pages are left to read.
• Displays the percentage of the book that has been completed.
• Keeps track of the reader’s current page like a bookmark.
• Tracks reading progress with as many books as the user likes.

You can find more info and videos on their site here.

The Reading Game: FREE!*

*Price at time of this post.