As befits the date, this week's App Smart column was about Christmas-related apps. We talked about a variety of them, like photo effects or storytelling ones.
My favorite book at this time of year has always been “The Night Before Christmas,†and there's a fabulous interactive e-book version on iTunes free (Peter, Paul and Mary's “The Night Before Christmasâ€). It's great to read with your kids, letting them tap on the screen to activate the hidden special effects in the images - like jingling the stockings hung by the fire. You can also let the app run by itself, reading the story aloud. Older children will be able to work out how to tap the right icon to turn the page.
Fitting for a year where the “Gangnam Style†video became the biggest YouTube hit, there's a free Gangnam SantaBooth app on iOS that may tickle you. It does exactly what you think it does, placing a photo of your head (sporting a Santa hat) into an animation of a character dancing ju st like the music video. It's great for mates, but perhaps not for sending seasonal messages to grandma. For your grandmother, you might find the $2 iOS app Vintage Christmas Cards a suitable alternative; it has a hundred classic greeting card designs to download. You can e-mail them or print them out, personalize them and send them.
Android device owners can customize their devices with live wallpapers. And there are a lot of seasonal options, including another amusing animated Gangnam Santa one. One of the more elegant apps is the Christmas Tree Live Wallpaper app. It's clever enough to let you customize various aspects of the tree to suit your taste. It's free on Google Play.
If you want to track Santa on his speedy journey around the planet delivering gifts, an alternative to the popular NORAD app is Santa Tracker Christmas Free (on iOS or Android). This app graphically maps the sleigh's flight at the right time. But until then it has a lovely 3-D animated graphic of the Earth. And it follows Santa as he prepares, either organizing at the North Pole or flying to check if children have been naughty or nice. Since the animation zips to different parts of the globe, it may be a neat trick for teaching children some geography.
Quick Call
The fun app maker Toca Boca has a new $1 app for iOS and Kindle Fire: Toca Hair Salon 2, successor to the successful first edition. Like the original, but with some new tricks like better graphics and extra styling tools, the light-hearted app is about styling and preparing the hair of some cartoonish characters.
