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  • Kindle FreeTime Gets New Education Features

    Kindle FreeTime Gets New Education Features

    More and more kids these days are making the switch from TVs and video games to consuming everything on tablets. While tablets are great, the personal nature of the device also makes it harder for parents to make sure their children are fulfilling their obligations before they start to play games or watch TV shows on Netflix. That’s where Amazon FreeTime comes in.

    Amazon announced that its FreeTime app – an app that allows parents to control when and how their children use a Kindle Fire device – will soon be getting an educational shot in the arm. This update will allow parents to set educational goals that their children must complete before they’re allowed to play games or use other entertainment apps on the device.

    “Kindle Fire is already the best tablet for kids and families—and now we’re making it even better,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We know kids spend a lot of time every day looking at screens, and we’re excited to add new tools that help parents make this time more educational. Parents can use features like ‘Learn First’ to ensure study comes before play and set daily educational goals for reading and learning. If you subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited, your kids will enjoy thousands of new educational books, apps, games and videos.”

    Of course, edutainment doesn’t mean what it used to mean. Amazon wants parents to know that there’s plenty of content available in Kindle FreeTime that will make kids want to learn. Here’s what you will find:

  • Thousands of common core-aligned leveled readers and supplemental readers are coming to Kindle FreeTime Unlimited and the Kindle Store—most of these books will be available for the first time digitally. Hundreds of these titles will be available in time for Christmas, with the rest coming early next year, from trusted educational publishers like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Starwalk Kids Media LLC, The Child’s World, Sleeping Bear Press, Lerner Publishing, and Cherry Lake Publishing.
  • Kid-friendly educational apps such as Team Umizoomi Math, Super Why!, Stack the States, Curious George at the Zoo, Elmo Loves 123’s, Write the Alphabet, Kids Learn To Read and more.
  • Award-winning and engaging educational apps from BrainPOP and Agnitus.
  • Over 2,000 educational TV Shows and Movies from well recognized educational content providers including Sesame Street, PBS, Reading Rainbow and BabyFirst TV.
  • Beginning level foreign language video learning programs for Spanish, French, Chinese and more from Little Pim.

    • Alongside all of the educational content, FreeTime will also be updated with two new features to make sure your kids are using the Kindle when you want them to:

  • Bedtime: No more cartoons in the middle of the night—set a Bedtime so FreeTime only works the time of day you choose—for example, between 8 am and 8 pm.
  • Weekend and Weekday Time Limits: All days of the week aren’t created equal—configure educational goals and screen time limits differently for weekends and weekdays.

    • On a final note, Amazon says that parents will soon be able to check out an eBook from a public library and then make it available to their children in FreeTime. Prime members who use the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library will be able to do the same.

    If you want to learn more about FreeTime, check out Amazon’s landing page.

    [Image: Amazon]

  • Kindle Paperwhite Gets Goodreads, FreeTime Integration

    In September of this year, Amazon announced a new Kindle Paperwhite that boasted a better display and easier-to-read text. Now the retailer is delivering an update that will make its latest flagship eReader even more desirable to readers and parents alike.

    Amazon announced today that the new Kindle Paperwhite will be receiving Goodreads and Kindle FreeTime integration via an OTA update over the next few weeks. The Goodreads integration is one of Amazon’s first uses of the service since it purchased the book recommendation platform earlier this year. As for Kindle FreeTime, the feature was already available in Kindle Fire tablets so it only makes sense to see it show up on the Paperwhite as well.

    “The new Kindle Paperwhite is already the best e-reader in the world, and we’re excited to make it even better with new features we think readers will love,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “First, we’re combining the world’s largest e-reading community and the world’s largest community of book lovers with new Goodreads integration. Second, given the great customer response to our tablet version of Kindle FreeTime, we’re excited to extend this feature to Kindle Paperwhite, helping parents encourage their kids to read more.”

    With Goodreads integration, Amazon says you can expect the following on your Paperwhite following the update:

  • Share favorite passages with your Goodreads friends without leaving the book.
  • See what your friends are reading, read their reviews and discover new books to read.
  • When you finish a book, immediately rate it without putting down your Kindle.
  • Keep track of all your reading activity—update your “Currently Reading”, “Read”, and “Want to Read” shelves directly from your Kindle. Easily add your Amazon book purchases, print and digital, to your Goodreads account.

    • As for Kindle FreeTime, parents can now set reading goals for their children. For instance, you can set a goal for your child to read 30 pages a day. After completing the goal, the child will be rewarded an achievement to satiate their desire for instant gratification. Parents can also set milestones, like an achievement to be given when their child has read a combined 1,000 pages.

    If you don’t mind waiting, the above features will be delivered to Kindle Paperwhites via an OTA update in the coming weeks. If you can’t wait to get started on Goodreads, you can download the update today from Amazon’s Kindle software update site.

    [Image: Amazon]

  • Amazon Bolsters Parental Controls with FreeTime for Kindle Fire HD

    Attention parents: Amazon is hoping that a new update to the Kindle fire HD makes you feel more comfortable about leaving your children alone with the tablet.

    In the latest over-the-air update to hit the device, Amazon is introducing Kindle FreeTime, which “provides a dedicated space for kids to interact with books, movies, TV shows, apps, and games.”

    FreeTime allows parents to tailor their kids’ experience by hand-selecting what kinds of content they can access. Once a child is inside FreeTime, they can’t exit without a password. FreeTime also supports time limits, which allow parents to regulate the amount of content the kids can take in on any given day.

    Also in FreeTime: Multiple profile functionality. This way, parents can set up separate account for each of their children – because you obviously don’t want the same restrictions for a 5-year-old and a 12-year-old.

    Amazon tells developers that they don’t need to do anything special to be included in the kid-friendly apps:

    “As a developer, you don’t need to do anything to participate in Kindle FreeTime other than build great products. Simply by including them in the Amazon Mobile App Distribution Program, your apps will be available for parents to include in their children’s personalized experience,” says Amazon.

    Back in May, Amazon updated the Kindle Fire to give it some rudimentary parental controls. Parents could disable certain types of content, or block the Silk browser altogether. It also allowed for them to password-protect their purchases. FreeTime looks like it gives parents more specific control over the content by taking an opt-in approach.