Apps

A mini-planetarium at the tips of your fingers, for one. See what else is on the docket for this week's top apps for kids.

LAS VEGAS -- Kids want to play with iPads just as much as we do, but handing over a stylus for them to draw and paint could be a dangerous gateway for pounding and scratching the surface. Griffin launched at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Sunday the Crayola Light Marker for the iPad, which allows young users to draw just by moving their hands in the air.

This week's top kids apps cover everything from orchestras to Dr. Seuss. Read on.

Musical artists like Nouvelle Vague and Björk have already started using mobile and tablet apps as a way to promote or add value to their records, but a recent project called The Book of Sarth is using the app format to a slightly different end. A graphic novel and album mash-up, the app is an intriguing rethink of what album artwork can be in the digital age — and may even prove to be a platform for a new kind of narrative storytelling....

An iPhone without apps would be like a zebra without its stripes — plain and boring. As we all know by now, the ability to download and run third-party apps is the x-factor for mobile devices, particularly smartphones. SEE ALSO: 5 Best iPad Apps of 2012 Getting great new apps, many of which are free, makes your phone feel new and exciting. Scroll through the gallery above to view our picks for the top six iPhone apps of 2012.

The iPhone, land of endless choice. First, you’ll want to grab Twitter, Kindle, Facebook, Find My iPhone, Shazam (it's still a magical thing), and Apple’s Remote app for controlling iTunes remotely. But then you get to the hard questions. Which to-do app to get? Which map alternative is worth downloading over Apple’s default? Is there a weather app that offers the perfect balance of hourly updates and animated doppler imagery? What are the best games to get to avoid the family during the inevitable...

This holiday season, you've plugged that very important hole in your life — the one between your smartphone and your computer. Whether it's the 9.7-inch iPad or the new 7.9-inch iPad mini, you're now in possession of a device that not only has a great screen and a fast processor, but one that gains you access into one of the best app stores on the planet. The iOS App Store has an incredible number of great apps and games, but the best ones can be hard to find among the huge selection. Of course you...

It’s Christmas morning and the sound of pitter patter can be heard around the home as children and even adults scurry towards the Christmas tree in order to get started opening their presents. What did you get? An iPad? An iPhone? Power it on and let’s take a look at some of the apps that you’re really going to want to download onto that brand new device first....

If you were lucky enough to receive a new iPad for the holidays this year, we hope you have fun exploring what the tablet has to offer. By now you've probably acquainted yourself with the built-in apps on your iPad, so you may want to reach outside the sandbox for more interesting fare. The App Store, which you can access on your iPad or via iTunes on your computer, features more than 750,000 downloadable apps. If there’s something you want to do on your iPad, chances are good you can find a tool for it...

In this week's Top 5 Kids Apps, your kid will learn counting and language and scroll their way through a beautiful interactive e-book.

Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children's Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology toys and video games. Download a free issue of CTR here. In this week's Top 5 Kids Apps, your kids can play with a spatial puzzle that lets them reassemble photographs they upload themselves. There's also a chance to learn and have fun with geography trivia and explore Australia with an illustrated story.

Looking for great apps for your kids? Here are the top 5 apps for kids this week.

You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll commit untold violence! This week’s roundup of iOS apps offers users the full range of human emotions....

Amazon has released a new version of its Kindle app for iOS, which has been updated with X-Ray for books. The feature — which had been exclusive to Kindle hardware until it was introduced for textbooks on iOS in late October — provides a useful graph that highlights all mentions of characters, places, and concepts throughout the entire book. For more information on a given topic, X-Ray points you to Wikipedia and Shelfari, Amazon's literature-focused community encyclopedia. After marketing X-Ray as a...

Amazon has issued an update to its Kindle app for iOS today, introducing its excellent X-Ray for Books feature which has been a big selling point for the company’s own Kindle hardware. If you’re not already familiar with it, X-Ray allows you to see the “bones of the book,” Amazon says, helping you learn more about its characters, places, and phrases.

Google on Tuesday released a major update to its Gmail iOS app, with a new look and several new features headlined by multiple-account support. Amazon also rolled out a new version of its Kindle app, which sports deeper integration of its touted X-Ray feature.

Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children's Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology...

If Game of Thrones has you interested in tackling George R. R. Martin’s six-book A Song of Ice and Fire series but you’re put off by the story’s hundreds of characters and locations, there’s new hope. Mashable reports that Random House’s new iOS companion app called A World of Ice and Fire has all the maps, character biographies, and family trees you’ll need to keep the sprawl under control....

My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the second highest-grossing independent film ever, depended on an organic groundswell of praise in 2002 to become a sleeper box office hit. Lead...

Do you want to buy a gift card for the Apple Store or for iTunes? Or maybe an Amazon card would be better. It all depends on what the gift recipient is likely to buy. We break down your options.

In this day and age, learning a different language — especially at a young age — is essential. This week, take a look at an app that hel…

This week’s roundup of iOS apps offers new ways to shop, track your life, and make new websites. Already this week we brought you news of the Angry Birds Star Wars game, word of updates to the Clear and FreshBooks apps, as well as the announcement that Microsoft Office may finally be available on iOS in 2013....

Sony has become the latest company to bring its digital book service to iOS with the new Reader app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Available to download for free from the App Store, the app offers access to all the books you have stored in your Reader library, and allows you to sync your bookmarks between other Reader devices.

We’ve got quite the variety for you this week: Apps to help settle your kids down for bed and introduce them to the basic steps of cartoon an…

New York- and Seoul-based Moglue (last year’s TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing finalist) has rolled out a few changes to make it easier to create and publish interactive ebooks on smartphones and tablets. Its ebook publishing platform now consists of two main elements, MoglueBuilder (used to create content-rich ebooks without programming skills) and MoglueViewer (used to preview ebooks on target…