Activate! (www.activategames.org) is an interactive website that enables teens to easily design and program video games. Activate! is part of AMD’s “Changing the Game” initiative which helps strengthen programs that improve young people’s critical science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills and encourages kids to become more globally conscious citizens by developing digital video games with social content.

Activate! contains tutorials for making games, example games for users to play and will feature a gallery of user-generated games. The publicly available Game Maker software program is being leveraged by Activate! to help create the games. Online activities at Activate! are designed and presented in the form of “challenges” rather than traditional lessons. Each challenge corresponds to a current socially-conscious theme and some challenges may link to special global and social events.
 

It’s said that, “Seeing is believing.” But can we really believe what we see? The JST Virtual Science Center wants people to consider how an individual’s consciousness is connected to the world. Through http://jvsc.jst.go.jp/find/mindlab/english/index.html explore the unconscious functions of the brain with visual illusions and mysterious perceptual phenomena. The site contains four interactive sections, including “Constructing a 3-D world from 2-D images” and “Perceptions beyond sensory input.” Each of the sections features narration plus textual explanation of the various phenomena. Click on the underlined text or arrows to initiate the experiments.
 

Barnes & Noble has launched a new program called Online Storytime (www.bn.com/storytime). This free program features well-known authors and celebrities reading popular books for children. Each Online Storytime event incorporates pan-and-scan filming of the pictures in the book with the author or celebrity providing narration. Research has shown that children exposed to read-aloud storytelling at a young age develop language and literacy skills sooner than those who are not.

The first Online Storytime book available for viewing is “Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly,” read by bestselling author Jane O’Connor. New Online Storytime books will launch the first Tuesday of every month. It’s an excellent effort and children will want to experience each story again and again.
 

A new version of the Skype iPhone application is available which allows iPhone users to make and receive Skype-to-Skype calls and to call mobiles and landlines around the world over their 3G data connection. Skype-to-Skype calls on 3G will be free for a trial period which will run until the end of 2010, plus Skype-to-Skype calls over WiFi will remain free. Note that operator data charges may still apply.
 

The Streak is Dell’s new Android-based Tablet. Dell claims that the Streak is designed to provide people with the best “on-the-go” entertainment, social connection and navigation experience. The Dell Streak leverages Qualcomm’s Snapdragon solution with integrated 1GHz processor to combine the basic functionality, performance and benefits of a laptop in a pocket friendly size. Its 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA display is large enough to present Web pages in their natural form, create a comfortable viewing experience, and make turn-by-turn navigation simple and safe. Plus, the Streak may be used with thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications. Additional features include a high resolution 5 MP camera, VGA front facing camera, removable battery and 2GB of internal dedicated storage. There is also the facility for user accessible Micro SD expandable memory, up to 32 GB.

Dell claims that the Streak was designed with the future in mind and will support over-the-air updates including platform upgrades, Adobe Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 later this year, video chat applications and other software innovations. The device will first retail this month in the UK.