A fresh site for Cyberchase

October 24th, 2011 No comments »

With over eight seasons worth of videos, games and printables, the teams at Thirteen/WNET New York and PBS Kids knew it was time to create a new website that truly showcased all they had to offer. The goal – make the Cyberchase website easier for kids ages 6-12 to find and navigate the breadth of content and reinforce the math curriculum objectives.

With this new approach the Smashing team focused in on ease of access, adding features that showcased the different math topics plus creating learning pathways for kids to follow. “Find It!” makes it easy for kids to dive into topics and find a plethora of associated games, videos and printables. Once kids begin playing, “More Cool Stuff!” helps them discover a pathway to more content based on the math topic or their personal connection to a character.

Cyberchase

The new site is built on the Django framework using a robust tagging system that allows ease of managing the content, along with the associated topics and learning pathways. A custom recommendation engine tracks the user’s interactions, and serves up content that encourages kids to keep learning through play! Optimized for SEO, Cyberchase is more than a TV show, it’s a destination that where kids get the most out of math!

Built to be enjoyed on computers, tablets, and smart phones, kids can explore the award-winning, adventure series and discover that Math is Everywhere!


BarbieTM Princess Charm School Interactive!

October 15th, 2011 No comments »

Random House’s Little Golden Books bring your favorite childhood stories back to you and your family on an iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Starting the collection with The Poky Little Puppy and with the upcoming release of Little Red Hen, you may now enjoy the glitz and glam of the newest Little Golden Book BarbieTM Princess Charm School with your own little princess.

Little Golden Books Princess Charm School

BarbieTM Princess Charm School (based on the brand new DVD sharing the title) brings sparkle to story time as girls tap, swipe, read and play with their favorite fashionista: BarbieTM! Experience Barbie’s latest royal adventure by watching and listening, reading at your own pace or record yourself reading the book to share with a loved one.  Plus, play hide-and-seek and collect stickers to add to customizable storybook scenes.
 

 
Produced in partnership with Random House and Mattel, this app is bound to be a favorite for any little princess.

 

See the app in the iTunes store!


Bot Garage now in iTunes!

October 13th, 2011 1 comment »

Over the past year it has been our privilege to work closely with Random House and David A. Carter and Noelle Carter to concept and develop an application which would capture the essence of the brand-new pop-up book LOTS OF BOTS in a fun for the whole family application.  We are pleased to announce that the culmination of this effort,  Bot Garage , is now available in the App Store!


Available on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch,  Bot Garage  gives you the chance to build your own collection of wonderfully wacky robot friends. With the ability to create over 100,000 unique bots, there’s almost no end to your creativity.

Choose from a wide selection of bot heads, bodies, arms, legs and silly accessories to design the perfect bot, give your bot a name,choose one of 10 cool places to play and watch your bot come to life with animation and sound effects. Then, save your bots and share them with friends!

Bot Garage is now available for purchase in the iTunes store

LOTS OF BOTS, from David A. Carter and Noelle Carter is available wherever books are sold.


Barnes & Noble Color Nook

September 14th, 2011 No comments »

Smashing Ideas is proud to announce that we are now a listed Service Provider for the Barnes & Noble Color Nook platform. Bringing 15 years of development and design experience to the table, we’re excited to be able to add the Color Nook to the ever expanding list of devices we create engaging digital content for. We think it is a great device and we’re looking forward to the upcoming launches of some of the apps we’re working on for our clients!

https://nookdeveloper.barnesandnoble.com/tools-services/service-providers.html

Have a project you need to bring to the Color Nook or want to talk about cross-platform development to iOS/web/Android or any other screen? Get in touch!


Smashing Welcomes Woofster!

September 10th, 2011 No comments »

Super Cute and with Dictionary Power! Woofster joins the Super Why cast of characters and the team at Smashing has a super time collaborating with the show creators to add this character to superwhy.com. Creating the 2D character to fully represent what kids see on-air and adding his personality via animations to the site was a delight. Be sure to catch the premiere of season 2 and check the site weekly as Woofster unlocks new words in his Doggie Dictionary. Plus, stay tuned for the Doggie Dictionary AIR App, which will also be launching within the next few weeks, as well as Woofster’s first game, Journey to the Golden Bone, which will be launching in about a month. Puptastic!!

Woofster with Dictionary Power