Thank you, Steve Jobs

As most of us found out yesterday, Apple co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs passed away. And I'm sure many found out the same way I did — by reading about it on a device that Mr. Jobs pioneered. In fact, I was at my son's swim lessons; I was about to take a video of his progress when I decided to check in on Twitter and saw the flood of posts about his death.

Now, I normally dislike commenting about any famous person's death. I have never met them, I am not family, so I always think that any words other than a curt, "My condolences," serve only the purpose of feeding the writer's ego. A way to force oneself into a topic, so to speak.

But Steve Jobs is different. No, I have never met him either, and even I'm shocked at my emotions. Why am I so bummed about his death? Enough that I feel compelled to write about it? Because unlike "celebrities" like Amy Winehouse or Elizabeth Taylor, Jobs wasn't just a public figure to me. He's been, in one way or another, a part of my life since the late 80s.

I mourn the loss of Steve Jobs because he helped create a company that truly introduced me into gaming when I played the heck out of Ultima IV on our Apple IIe in all of its pixelated glory. Then, in the late 90s, I celebrated his return to the company by purchasing my very first computer: a PowerBook G3. Now, as a parent, I watch with awe and pride as my young child reads an interactive book on our iPad. I easily record his life's stories by taking photos and videos on my iPhone, and then quickly share them with family and friends through social media. As I sit here typing this on my iMac, my son came up and asked if he could play with the iPad. We are, by definition, an iFamily.

In 1997 Apple revealed its Think Different ad campaign and the "Crazy Ones" commercial, narrated by actor Richard Dreyfuss. Below is the unaired version of the commercial in which Steve Jobs provides the voice-over. In reflection of his life and death, he is undoubtedly the embodiment of whom the ad speaks.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Like him or not, one cannot deny his charisma nor his role in shaping how we communicate today, or for some like me, how we run our daily lives. So thank you, Steve, because your contributions have been a big part of my life, and now in the life of my own child.

Apps For Kids: Monkey Preschool Lunchbox

Opening screen.

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox, by New York-based game developer THUP, is a collection of seven educational mini games for preschool-aged kids. That said, my son has been enjoying the app since he was around two years old.

While far from a new title, this is, hands down, one of the best app purchases I have made. (It's only 99 cents!) My son has been playing with it since late 2009 when I first got it for my iPhone, even though he was still a little too young to understand what he was supposed to do. Regardless, he was immediately attracted to the crisp, colorful artwork and variety of interactivity. The music and voices were lively, not obnoxious — a perk for mom! Even now, at almost four years old, my son still loves to play with this app. Bonus points to THUP for making the app Universal, making it playable on our iPad without an additional purchase.

Colors game.

The seven mini games focus on matching, counting, puzzles, shapes, finding differences, letter recognition, and colors. Each game is quick, simple, and straight-forward. After starting the app and pressing the Play button, a random game starts immediately. You can't choose which game to play; they just cycle through one after another, in what seems like a random order. There's no menu or "home" button, and no settings button — it makes the app sound really basic, but when you have a young, curious child, sometimes the less options there are, the better the experience is.

The games are:

• Matching: flip over eight cards to match pairs of fruit.
• Counting: count the number of fruit on the screen.
• Puzzle: place four puzzle pieces to put the fruit back together.
• Shapes: find and touch a specific shape from the choices given.
• Differences: find and touch the fruit that is different from the rest.
• Letters: choose the fruit that starts with a specific letter.
• Colors: find and touch all the fruit corresponding to a specific color.

Counting game.

Each game screen has written instructions at the top of the page ("Count the fruit."), and voice instructions are given at the start ("This monkey wants six raspberries.").  The monkey responds to the child's action by either cheering for correct choices, or shaking its head for incorrect ones, as well as jumping for joy at the end of each game. After every three games, there is a "reward" page where the child gets to choose a virtual sticker to place on the screen before continuing on.

As I mentioned, this app was really easy for my son to pick up. Even at around two years old, he could easily "play" the counting game because all he had to do was touch each fruit and the app counted for/with him. It's been fun to watch him grow with this app for the last couple of years — I remember how he struggled a bit while placing the puzzle pieces in the right places because his hand-eye coordination was still very young — and now he just loves working on more complex puzzles and matching games. The sticker reward page is also a nice touch, since it helps give him incentive to play for a while and collect stickers.

Earn stickers!

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox (iTunes link) definitely gets two thumbs up from both me and my son. The engaging yet uncomplicated gameplay, the good graphics, and the very low price makes this app a must-have for iParents with young children. For all the time my son has spent on this app, the 99 cents has been more than worth it!