mip's scan

2D Animation For Kids

I was watching my 8 year old work on the computer this morning.  She's been through my Youth Technology Camp program and loved the animation streams I taught.  She uses a tool called MOHO from Lost Marble and has created some great 2D cartoon animations on her PC.  What caught my attention this morning was a new software application from Lost Marble that she was using in conjunction with MOHO.

Papagayo is a lip-syncing program designed to help you line up phonemes (mouth shapes) with the actual recorded sound of actors speaking. Papagayo makes it easy to lip sync animated characters by making the process very simple - just type in the words being spoken (or copy/paste them from the animation's script), then drag the words on top of the sound's waveform until they line up with the proper sounds.

It's amazing to see what kids can do with their computers - they seem to just think differently about how to use them.  If you want something for your kids to do on your home PC instead of just surfing the web, chatting on Messenger or playing games then click here to check out Papagayo.  Remember, you need to download MOHO first.

PSP and iPod - a Video Comparison

So you're still torn over which device you'll get.  You love the PSP's beautiful large screen but also love the iPod's sleek compact form-factor.  I don't envy you dear reader - its a tough choice to make.

So here's a link to a review that was done comparing the video quality between the two devices that PSPWorld did.  Even they have trouble saying who the winner is.  As I stated in the past - its not really an apples to Apples comparison (sorry for the pun - I couldn't resist).  Each device as far as I'm concerned satisfies different needs.

As an added point, I disagree on the point of view that the PSPWorld review makes about the video quality being better on the iPod.  I use PSP Movie Creator and it creates fantastic looking video for the PSP that I felt looked better than the video I saw on an iPod 2 weekends ago.