March 1, 2014 (Vol. 34, No. 5)

URL:
http://bit.ly/1gAWS6o

Rating:
Strong Points: Nice photographs, quiz feature
Weak Points: Could add more educational information, a bit expensive

Platform:
iPad/iPhone

Cost:
$3.99

Summary:

The Insect Collection app taps into the public’s combined curiosity for things creepy and crawly and love of applying artistic filters and silly annotations to photographs. Merging education and whimsy, this app provides photos and informative descriptions for a random assortment of insect species, and also includes a number of photo-editing tools that allow users to make artistic or silly modifications to the insect photos. For instance, in addition to adding color filters to the photographs, users can add cartoon hats and mustaches, speech bubbles, and text. The resulting creations can be saved to the device’s camera roll or emailed. On the educational end, the app includes some good information, although the length and level of detail of the informational blurbs varies among entries. The quiz feature (which asks users to identify the species in the photo using a multiple-choice format) adds another nice educational touch to the app.

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