Pacca’s Carousel is a mobile and tablet educational language app that combines pre-school play with multi-lingual learning content, introducing charming activities in a choice of five languages for children age 2-6 years. The app was designed by a Saudi mother who was facing trouble teaching Arabic to her children. Looking into the market, she could not find the perfect app, so she designed her own tool to help herself and other mothers.
Sarah Faisal Al-Saud, founder of app creators Anamil Tech, who holds a Ph.D. in Human-computer Interaction, has worked with SMACK, a digital creative agency, to design and develop Pacca’s Carousel.
“I wanted an app for my kids that was fun, age appropriate and safe, which supported language learning to provide an interactive experience in Arabic. I was unable to find one that was engaging and fun for children, which is why I decided to use my background in technology to develop my own educational app for children in Arabic and other languages,” Al-Saud told Arab News.
The app is focused on developing kids’ vocabulary in an engaging way. It does not focus on grammar.
The app uses words from everyday life such as colors, animals, food, and transport. These words are available in any of the five languages they support (Formal Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Cantonese). The parents have the ability to choose the language of their preference.
Al-Saud said, “We have incorporated different languages and activities of self-study books to a certain extent. Our tool also offers activities such as matching, counting, sorting objects in order.
“In the final phase of designing the app, I gave it to five mothers and asked them to use it with their children at home and report back any problems, issues and comments.”
She said they used the outcome of these studies and made some changes to the design.
Pacca’s Carouse has been recently awarded the “Mum’s Love Award” from Babyworld magazine.
“We are now introducing the app to local schools and nurseries in the Kingdom and the Gulf region,” she said.
Pacca’s Carousel is available to download from the App Store, Google Play and the Kurio Store.
Saudi mom designs language tool for kids
Saudi mom designs language tool for kids
Apple to update EU browser options, make more apps deletable
- iPhone maker came under pressure from regulators to make changes after the EU’s sweeping Digital Markets Act took effect on March 7
- Apple users will be able to select a default browser directly from the choice screen after going through a mandatory list of options
STOCKHOLM: Apple will change how users choose browser options in the European Union, add a dedicated section for changing default apps, and make more apps deletable, the company said on Thursday.
The iPhone maker came under pressure from regulators to make changes after the EU’s sweeping Digital Markets Act took effect on March 7, forcing big tech companies to offer mobile users the ability to select from a list of available web browsers on a “choice screen.”
The new rules require mobile software makers to show the choice screen where users can select a browser, search engine and virtual assistant as they set up their phones, which earlier came with preferred options from Apple and Google.
In an update later this year, Apple users will be able to select a default browser directly from the choice screen after going through a mandatory list of options.
A randomly ordered list of 12 browsers per EU country will be shown to the user with short descriptions, and the chosen one will be automatically downloaded, Apple said. The choice screen will also be available on iPads through an update later this year.
Apple released a previous update in response to the new rules in March, but browser companies criticized the design of its choice screen, and the Commission opened an investigation on March 25 saying it suspected that the measures fell short of effective compliance.
The company said it has been in dialogue with the European Commission and believes the new changes will address regulators’ concerns.
It also plans to introduce a dedicated area for default apps where a user will be able to set defaults for messaging, phone calls, spam filters, password managers and keyboards.
Users will also be able to delete certain Apple-made apps such as App Store, Messages, Camera, Photos and Safari. Only Settings and Phone apps would not be deletable.
