Internet Coach Digital Photo Activity Kit
© 2002 APTE, Inc.
Designed by teachers, this creativity program is straightforward and easy to use. The hub of the program is the Photo Center, a place where kids can select and edit their photos. JPEG, bmp, gif, tiff, pct, and psd files are supported— children grab an existing photo from a file, scan one or take one with a digital camera to begin. Special effects include the usual cropping, rotation, and sharpening, plus crazy effects like swirl, implode and explode. Once students have their photos just the way they'd like them, they can use the images in six creativity areas. Movie Maker lets kids make slide shows, the Writing Center provides templates for newsletters, stationery, stories and reports, and the Travel Center lets kids make passports, journals and postcards. There are also templates for cards, posters, certificates and gift boxes, five logic games to play, and customizable picture frames, calendars and stickers. Template art isn't fancy, and the options within each area are limited, but what you get in terms of ease of use and functionality help make up for these weaknesses. Note 1: A bilingual, English/Spanish version of the program is available. Note 2: A deluxe edition ($100) includes an Argus DC1500 camera, which is a low resolution (352 x 288 dpi) feature-free (e.g., no flash or zoom) digital camera that comes with a USB cable. Testers labeled "Junk." We recommend using a 1 or 2 megapixel camera with this software.
$64.95, Win, Mac
Teaches: creativity, photography, language, art