Sesame Street has just unveiled the first of multiple apps that will be released for children.
Today’s toddlers are using smartphones even before they know how to read, but Big Bird and the Sesame Street gang are now working together with augmented reality technology to help to close that gap with a fun and fascinating mobile experience for kids.
Preschoolers will be able to use the devices to help to recognize the sounds of written words.
This augmented reality innovation is a joint effort between the Sesame Workshop and Qualcom. Their “Big Bird’s Words” app was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show, where the beloved yellow character took center stage.
The augmented reality app is designed for children to use on their parents’ smartphones.
It allows kids to use augmented reality technology in order to discover words in the real world so that Big Bird can help to sound them out. When the child aims the device at the word, he or she can then listen as the Sesame Street character gives them a hint by providing the sound of the first letter and the sound of the word as a whole. For instance, when a child points at the word “Milk”, Big Bird would help out by saying “You found the word Milk! It starts with the letter M.”
The Big Bird’s Words app is expected to become available to the public in mid 2013. Though the augmented reality application won’t be available for a few months, it will be the first of at least two releases by Sesame Street, aimed at preschoolers. Another app that can be expected following the initial release will be “Abby’s Fairy Rock”, which will feature that far newer, but highly beloved character.
According to the Dave Glauber, form the Content Lab at the Sesame Workshop, during his keynote, “We know that kids are entering kindergarten with a vocabulary gap.” It was during this speech that the augmented reality smartphone app was first presented by Qualcomm. Glauber proceeded to explain that “With this app we can introduce kids to words wherever they are and give them an understanding of what those words mean.”
A new research analysis predicts that this achievement will be made by 2015.
The Chinese mobile payments marketplace is starting to show some very promising figures that are suggesting that this could be one of the dominant worldwide players and that it may be one of the examples that are set for other countries regarding the way in which the technologies can be adopted successfully.
The data from a recent report has indicated that China could be ready for an explosion in this area.
Analysys International, a market research firm, has now released the results of its most recent analysis, which has indicated that by 2015, the mobile payments made within the People’s Republic of China will break the $114 billion mark (CNY712.3 billion). This would mean that in two years, the transactions over that channel will be greater in that nation than in any other country in the world.
The mobile payments report also indicated additional achievements within the next two years.
Beyond the total value of the transactions themselves, Analysis International is also projecting that by 2015, the payments made over third party internet platforms will reach $2.24 trillion (CHY 13.92 trillion), as per the report that was made in China Tech News.
Once the 2012 license structure was fully implemented, companies offering third party transactions started to boost their presence within the mobile payments marketplace. Furthermore, a growing number of traditional payment organizations are beginning to take their first steps into the digital environment, which is boosting the need for those third party providers. This increase in the number of opportunities is further encouraging the growth of the number of those enterprises.
Similarly, the report explained that the recent establishment of the mobile payments standards are having a considerable impact on the marketplace. This made it possible for foreign investors to be able to take their own steps into the smartphone and tablet marketplaces. This is allowing for a much more rapid development of the technology and is boosting the public awareness. The result is that device users are building their acceptance of the transaction method and are starting to choose those options when it comes time to make a purchase.
