Fun Kids' Activities for iPhone & iPod Touch

For $2.99, you can download to iPhones and iPod Touch interactive "children's books" packed with activities young children will enjoy. They can "rub" the screen to uncover pictures, listen to stories, color pictures, read aloud, and create paintings—right on an iPhone or iPod Touch. The first book is available at the Apple Apps Store, and new ones should be coming out about once a month. The reviews look very positive for this new type of book for preschool and primary level students. You can link to the Apple Apps Store from ikidsplay.com or from your iPhone or iPod Touch. Print versions of the books are available online and at bookstores according to CoolestGadgets.com.

Beware of Fake iPods

Reports of fake iPods being sold at under market price are cropping up all over. If a deal for an iPod seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. Wondering how you can tell a real one from a fake? Take a look at the “Know Your Knockoffs” section of the article Buyer Beware: 'Tis the Season for Faux iPods . Of course the easiest place to get fooled is buying the iPod over the Internet. But even at the a mall you can end up with fake goods. Read this article if you are tempted to go the bargain route this holiday season.

AAC to MP3

Sometimes I think kids are driven to download illegally because they don’t know how to convert what they have legally into something they can use. Take AAC music files. Even if you don’t an iPod, you may end up with AAC files because those are the default format used by the popular iTunes Software to rip CDs, and the program will prompt you to convert WMAs to AACs upon initial use if you are a Windows users. That may be fine for you as more and more portable devices are adding AAC support. But there are times – it has definitely happened to me—that is would be nice to have MP3 files instead. So how do you do that? Take a look at what the MP3 Insider has to say on the subject on the CNET site.