I have not tried this, it simply appeared in my email box.  I checked out the vid and it seems pretty good.  I’ll embed the vid at the end of the post.  The following is from the promotional email.  If anyone tried this with children or know of other like apps, please let me know.

Welcome to the Fun Science Lab, a place to play and experiment!

Made for children ages 5+, Fun Science Lab is an educational app that is meant to give kids a fun way to learn some basic principles of science, through a set of 9 unique “experiments” (mini-games). Each experiment has a unique theme, such as electricity, water, heat, etc., and three difficulty levels. Fun Science Lab encourages kids to interact with the different elements in each experiment, giving them a valuable learning experience that keeps them engaged and ignites their curiosity.

LIST OF FEATURES:

• 9 unique experiments, each with an individual theme
• Themes: Weight, Liquids, Gas, Heat, Pendulum, Colors, Electricity, Sound, Magnets
• Each experiment has 3 difficulty levels, with instructions to help guide you through each one.
• To complete each level, you must accomplish a task or answer a question correctly.
• Every completed level is rewarded with a medal and recorded in the Collection Book. Try to collect all the medals!
• The objects and tools in the experiments can be broken if used incorrectly. This will give children a sense of caution and safety that must be practiced in a real lab.
• When an object is broken, three pieces of a puzzle will appear in the Book of Destruction. Figure out which objects can be broken and collect all the pieces to the puzzles!

**This app is CHILD-FRIENDLY: No advertisements, in-app purchases, or private data collection.

Our updates in the future will include new experiments and levels.

iTunes URL: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fun-science-lab/id519011156?mt=8

YouTube Video: http://youtu.be/4LEMkvJ-xRo

Website App Description Page: http://www.zonkeyinteractive.com/funScienceLab

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LEMkvJ-xRo

Zonkey Interactive is a new kids app developer, starting in early 2012. Fun Science Lab was our first project, but we are working on a couple more apps that will be released in the next couple months. Our goal, like many other children’s app developers, is to make quality products for kids and families to enjoy. More specifically, we are focusing on making educational apps that kids can have fun with and learn something from. Below are our contact links.

Website: http://www.zonkeyinteractive.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zonkeyinteractive

Twitter: @zonkeyapps

As predicted, the flurry of inexpensive tablets (in all its forms) did very little to hurt iPad says, but instead feed off its own as cheaper Android tablets grabbed market share from more powerful tablets trying to compeat with the iPad. As we enter further in to 2012, already there are signs that a sub $100 tablet is going to hit the market, followed later by the sub $75 tablet thus creating a race to the bottom to create an inexpensive yet still functional tablet.   We have already seen a start with the $35 Aakash.

Although there will still be a market for larger more powerful android tablets, there has been no evidence so far that any device has put up a challenge to the iPad dominance in the 10″ category; although the Galaxy Tab did make a good go of it. And with the iPad3 about to enter the market, Apple’s dominance will only become more entrenched for the near future. But that is not the only device Apple has on the drawing board, they also have a 7″. What does this mean for the current players slugging it out in the low end market? Not a thing. The Apple 7″ tablet will not be an inexpensive device, but instead it will try to match or exceed the specs the first iPad, so odds are you will not see it in every 5th graders hands in some of the more social economically challenged area’s. Instead I’m looking forward to the sub $100 tablets.

I remember when I was young that only the rich kids had nice calculators, but within 2 years, it seemed everyone had one, and a few years after that, it was required for classes in middle and high school. This is going to be the same thing with tablets. There will be a time, perhaps in the next 2 or 3 years, that it will be expected that your child will have a tablet to access and turn in homework, in class assignments, textbooks (or at least content not in the textbook) as well as access online libraries, educational apps, and yes, calculators. This will cause an interesting shift in how children are taught, but that is for another post. This does not mean there will not be plenty of iPads in the classroom as well, especially at the collage level, but one can expect a shift to the lest expensive devices and since there will be a mix between OS’s, we can also expect most content to by HTML5.

However, do not think this will happen without a fight. There is a whole industry that is highly invested in printing very expensive text books. What I’m waiting for is a simple way to take notes using a tablet, so far I have not seen a good inexpensive tablet that has good pen input.  So don’t though away your paper and pens just yet.  But you may want to get a good scanner. BTW: I’m fully aware that the kids in the picture are holding TC1000 tablets.  How do I know?  Because I own one

From VentureBeat

Last month I said it would believe it when I see a sub $50 tablet, well know I’ve seen it from VentureBeat.  It costs around $45 to build, but with a $10 discount from the government, we have a $35 tablet. Now this is just for India keep in mind and targeted for some of the poorer villages where kids may not have access to any technology (and thus information from the world) much less something they can take home.   Although its VERY underpowered, as we all expected, it still can be used.  3 hour battery life unless you play video, which is surprisingly good.  The only way they can pull that off is dedicated GPU chip that only renders video.

When you watch the video below, keep in mind that this is running what seem to be out of the box Android 2.2.  Powered by a 366 mhz CPU and 256k mem, such sluggish performance is not unexpected.  I would think that once someone stripped out Android to run thinner, or take android 1.2 and update that OS, you could have something usable. Keep in mind that this device is targeted for education, not playing games or for use quickly on the fly where speed really matters.  I would expect the only things really needed to do is created and read documents, research on the web, and education videos. This device does come with a custom browser but that was not tried since the battery died by then.

When you watch the video try to remember the days when we used to work no 386 computers with 14.4 and 28.8 dial up modems.  We were able to survive then, so if the speed of the AARASH could be say doubled, I would say this is real and shows great promise.

and now… some specs..

Aakash stats at-a-glance

Screen: 7-inches; 800-by-400 pixels; Resistive touchscreen

Operating system: Android 2.2, Froyo

Processor: 366 MHz Connexant; HD Video co-processor (both with graphics accelerators)

Memory: 256MB RAM (internal); 2GB Flash (external)

Storage: 2GB card included, expandable up to 32GB

Ports: Two USB 2.0; 3.5mm audio out jack; 3.5mm audio in jack (No built-in speakers)

Connectivity: GPRS; Wi-Fi 802.11 a,b,g

Power: Up to 180 minutes on battery; AC adapter, 200-240 volt

Weight: 350 grams

Check out the video below from VentureBeat

Course this does not mean you will always see such good 3D performance, given the vast number of Android devices out there, your mileage will vary, but its still a nice demo and I can see a number of pre-med students really loving this.

If you are trying this on a less then stellar Android device, here are a few tips to improve view 3d on slower devices.

So check out the Video below..

Google Body Browser

I was at the WebGL Camp today at SRI and the WebGL team from Google gave us a sneak peak at a web3D medical application called the Google Body Browser. (video)  After watching the video at the link, one can quickly see the possibilities of how this could help anatomical education.

As promised; an initial review of the body browser.

Unlike other web based medical applications I have seen, no Flash, Java, or other plugins are needed. This application will run on any WebGL supported browser. Sure this means only developer or beta versions of FireFox and Chrome right now, but WebGL will be supported by all browsers in 2011 for sure.  Here is a direct link to the Google Body Browser. Here is the link to my video review of it.

Web3d application for learning the bones of the body.

This application really excites me. Last year I got the opportunity to work on an open standards based web3D medical app for learning the bones of the body. After witnessing how that app really helped students learn the bones, I am sold on using web3D for medical education.

Glad to see Google flexing the power of non-plugin based web3D for medical education. Expect a proper writeup review after the app is made public.