It was inevitable that a big streamer like Showmax would use the story of the Station Strangler for a 99-minute standalone documentary.

Samantha Harvey's Orbital wins the Booker Prize. The 136-page space novel explores astronauts' reflections on Earth, touching on mourning, desire, and the climate crisis.

Apple has released iOS 17.7.1 and iPadOS 17.7.1 for iPhone and iPad users who are not running iOS 18, which was just updated to includes support for Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1. The software updates include important security fixes, making them important updates to install if you’re still running the prior major ... Read More

Apple has released macOS Sonoma 14.7.1 and MacOS Ventura 13.7.1 for Mac users who have not yet updated to MacOS Sequoia, of which MacOS Sequoia 15.1 with Apple Intelligence was just released. macOS Sonoma 14.7.1 and macOS Ventura 13.7.1 both contain many security fixes, making them important updates to install for Mac user who are ... Read More

Though not common, some Mac users are encountering a strange error message that says “Failed to personalize the software update. Please try again.” when attempting to update their Mac to MacOS Sequoia, and sometimes even with other MacOS software updates too. This is a frustrating error since it prevents the installation of a major system ... Read More

Apple has spent the last few days trickling releases of new Mac hardware, debuting a revamped iMac with an M4 chip and new colors, a redesigned Mac Mini that is smaller in size and now has an M4 chip, and the MacBook Pro lineup has been revamped with M4 processors as well. Each of the ... Read More

If you have an old PowerPC Mac laying around collecting dust in a closet somewhere, you might be able to get some use out of it today by installing a functional modern web browser, like Aquafox. Since so much of what many of us do on computers is done in a web browser, you might ... Read More

Apple Intelligence is here on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and while the system requirements are strict, the Apple devices that are new and powerful enough to use the AI tools now gain some really fantastic features. We’re going to show you six helpful Apple Intelligence features and uses that you’ll find beneficial to your workflow, ... Read More

If you have several iPhone’s, as many people do when they buy a new iPhone, upgrade, get a hand-me-down, develop iPhone software, or develop mobile sites or apps where you test things on multiple devices, you might be in a situation where iPhone Mirroring on the Mac is using an iPhone that you do not ... Read More

The second beta versions of iOS 18.2, MacOS Sequoia 15.2, and iPadOS 18.2 are now available for users participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. The new betas continue to focus on additional Apple Intelligence features, expanding beyond the writing tools, smart replies, and summary features what was initially introduced in iOS ... Read More

You can install and run Windows 11 on a Mac, without having to overwrite the MacOS operating system, by installing Windows 11 into a virtual machine. Virtual machines are self-contained installations of operating systems that can be used for a variety of purposes, from testing to demonstrations, to running software that runs on Windows but ... Read More

Amazon is selling the M2 MacBook Air 13″ model with 16GB RAM for just $749.99, taking $250 off the $999 retail price from Apple. Like many great Amazon deals, they tend to shift quickly, so if you’ve been thinking of getting a 16GB model MacBook Air now might be the time. To get the deal ... Read More

The third betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and MacOS Sequoia 15.2, are available for beta testers of Apple system software. The latest betas continue to emphasize on new Apple Intelligence features, including ChatGPT integration, Genmoji custom Emoji creation, Image Playground for AI image generation, and more. These new AI features are in addition to ... Read More

A fair number of Mac users have discovered that Spotlight Search is not working well in MacOS Sequoia, either missing files, apps, and sometimes not working at all to find any local file. For some users the issues with Spotlight happens right after they update to MacOS Seqouia, and for others it may happen later ... Read More

The iOS 18 update is a fun one with some intriguing new features, mostly for visual tweaks like adding dark mode icons and color hues, and of course there’s Apple Intelligence AI features if your iPhone is new enough to support those features. One of the other major changes in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 ... Read More

Illustrator, writer, and filmmaker Mordicai Gerstein died earlier this month. He leaves behind an amazing body of work which is sure to be read and appreciated; several have already been anointed as modern classics.

Kevin McCloskey delivers fascinating information in digestible, user-friendly formats, which appeal to not only young readers but experienced ones as well.

We hear a lot about diversity and inclusion these days, often as it relates to books for young readers. Just as publishing for children and teens has evolved over the years, so has adults’ perception of youth and what is appropriate for them.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a feeling I’m not alone. My cabin fever is getting worse the longer I’m staying home. The only thing keeping me sane is a pile of books that stimulate lots of ideas and inspire various activities. I’ve just gone through some recent books for kids and thought I’d share a few thoughts about how books can encourage creativity and help build a sense of community, right there at home.  

The world lost an incredible talent with the death of Tomie dePaola. 

It’s difficult to encapsulate the impact of Andrea Davis Pinkney on readers and in publishing for young readers. She is an award-winning author, accomplished editor, visionary publisher, and now the co-curator of a museum exhibition.

Sports are important to young people on many levels. When participating, they experience teamwork, self-discipline, following rules, and just plain fun. Often, children see role models in professional athletes. But professional sports can provide an introduction to history, depicting the times in which they are played. Also like the world we live in, games have evolved over time to respond to events and social changes.

War is back in daily headlines. It’s devastating to think about the impact on children here and where the actual fighting is taking place.

Lulu Delacre’s recent book, Cool Green (Candlewick) takes readers on a trip around the world, led by a grandfather with his granddaughter, introducing readers to a range of trees in lyrical text punctuated by fascinating information accompanied by informative and varied illustration. It’s a gorgeous book and Lulu has answered questions that I posed to her.

I’m not sure why, but Brazil seems to be somewhat overlooked by photographers. It doesn’t quite add up for those who have extensively traveled the country. It’s such a beautiful nation. Hopefully, this guide to the best places in Brazil for photography will encourage a few photographers to give this wonderfully diverse country a chance. In this guide, I’ll delve into some of the top spots to capture stunning photos in Brazil, while also addressing some of the logistical challenges […]

The post The Best Places in Brazil for Photography appeared first on Brendan van Son Photography.

The genres of photography are so often mischaracterized. But, most of these genres are at least pretty obvious. In street photography, you’re photographing the street life. In landscape photography, you’re photographing the landscapes. And of course in wildlife photography you’re photographing the, well, you get the idea. So what is travel photography? What makes travel photography so interesting is that it isn’t a subject that you’re photographing: it’s an activity. But also, it is a subject…? Wait… let me explain. […]

The post What is Travel Photography? appeared first on Brendan van Son Photography.

I’ve been toying at the idea of recording a podcast about my thoughts on AI photography for a while now. For a while, I’ve put it off because I really don’t know if I want to add any more volume to a subject that’s already been talked about and debated for a while. But, it seems like AI photography, or even just AI photography tools aren’t going anywhere. So, here are my thoughts, questions, and my own personal ethics when […]

The post Is AI Photography Here to Stay? Ethics, Goals, and Questions. appeared first on Brendan van Son Photography.

With so few words, most of them kid-friendly, it should be a piece of cake. But it depends on who’s holding the whisk. Translator Daniel Hahn say,"I believe my job as a translator is to preserve all the dimensions of a book, not just one of them. When I find complexity, my job is to keep complexity, or more accurately to reconstruct it. And some of the most complex books I’ve reconstructed have been children’s picture books."

Author, poet, aviator and adventurer par excellence, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is one of the most well-known French writers in contemporary history. This year marks the 80th anniversary of his most famous publication, Le petit prince (The Little Prince) published in 1943. Le petit prince is translated into over 250 languages with adaptations into radio plays, films, ballets, operas, musicals, children’s board books, and even an animated film. You can find a copy in Yiddish or the Burundian language of Kirundi.

With school on break, along with all the homework, tests and early start times that come with it, parents often assume that young people’s stress and anxiety will take a pause as well. However, that’s not always the case, especially as the novelty of summer dwindles. Without the daily structure of school and extracurricular activities, kids may struggle with boredom or restlessness. Maintaining a routine during the summer can be a powerful tool for supporting children’s mental health, and parents can play a crucial role in establishing and reinforcing this structure.

Teachers can use evidence-based strategies for delivering vocabulary instruction to improve reading comprehension and vice versa by integrating literacy across content areas. These should engage students in active processing, which is essential to student learning and retention.

Teachers can assess young students’ literacy skills and knowledge by encouraging them to produce books based on animal facts.

A new children's book transforms a sad, scared and anxious little boy into a superhero. The book is called "Cape," in honor of the bright-red cape the little boy wears and finds comfort in following the death of his father. "Cape" is Kevin Johnson's debut picture book, and it's vividly illustrated by artist Kitt Thomas.

Tennessee’s third set of test scores from the pandemic era improved again across all core subjects and grades, even exceeding pre-pandemic proficiency rates in English language arts and social studies. The academic snapshot suggests that Tennessee’s early investments in summer learning camps and intensive tutoring are paying off to counter three straight years of COVID-related disruptions. But the performance of historically underserved students — including children with disabilities, those from low-income families, and students of color — still lags.

Most classroom walls display rules about arriving on time or raising hands to speak. Tim Smyth’s has a sign reminding students: “You’re Not Allowed to Ask Which is Better, Marvel or DC.” Even as he sidesteps fervent debates about which comic book publisher is superior, Smyth leans into comics and graphic novels in his 10th and 11th grade social studies classes at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pa. He believes they can offer students an engaging entry point into history and world cultures.

While many teachers are embracing generative artificial intelligence—the technology behind powerful new tools that analyze huge amounts of online data and then use it to create unique text and images from basic prompts—others are still wary of the technology and even feel overwhelmed by it. For that latter group, Kristen Brooks, a technology specialist in Cherokee County schools outside of Atlanta, has three simple strategies for teachers to get their feet wet.

Engaging in storytelling gives students an opportunity to connect with each other and understand classroom expectations. Teacher Matthew James Friday says, "I tell a story every day for the first two or three weeks. I also suggest that the students can become storytellers themselves. All they need to do is write a story at home. After a few weeks of my telling stories, something magical always happens: A student brings in a story."

Every year, educators worry about “summer slide,” the potential for learning loss when children are not in school. This issue is more pronounced among low-income families who don’t have access to summer camps or other enrichment activities. One way to battle summer slide is through reading for fun, which is associated with many academic and health benefits, including strengthening the brain, increasing ability to empathize, reducing stress and building vocabulary.

Pandemic academic recovery in both reading and math is lagging notably behind pre-COVID achievement trends for students in grades 4-8 during the 2022-23 school year, according to a new report by NWEA analyzing MAP Growth test scores of 6.7 million students across 20,000 public schools. Third-graders were the only group who saw improvements, and they were slight, according to NWEA, an educational research organization recently acquired by learning technology company HMH.

A few tips for ensuring that students—particularly those with disabilities and English learners—and their families get the year off to a good start.

Philadelphia and other cities are quietly building installations like the “Urban Thinkscape” to layer on learning where families already spend time. On a tiny triangular lot in the city’s Belmont neighborhood, kids waiting with their parents for the No. 40 bus can also work on their executive functioning skills, playing a hopscotch variation designed to train their brains. In Chicago, a wooden game mounted on the wall of a laundromat teaches children, in two languages, how to find color patterns in a lineup of detergent bottle tops.

Parents of kids with ADHD often say their kids miss social cues, such as when peers are bored, hurt or offended, according to Amori Mikami, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada. “It can lead to a lot of outbursts or temper tantrums or whining and complaining or arguing with the friend,” she said. Mikami researches peer relationships, specifically focusing on children with ADHD. Additionally, she developed a parental friendship coaching (PFC) model where parents of elementary school-age kids can learn to support their child in making friends.

The science of reading, while typically villainized for solely advocating phonics, is misrepresented as a phonics program, while really, it is a body of research that informs the most effective way to teach decoding and language comprehension. The definition of the science of reading, provided by The Reading League, is “the vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing.” The term “science of reading” does not equate to phonics. That term does not equate to comprehension.

A new FutureEd report, The Reading Revolution: How States Are Scaling Literacy Reform, tells the story of how Mississippi, Tennessee and other states at the vanguard of the reading revolution have redesigned reading instruction and raised student achievement in thousands of public schools through bold, state-level leadership. These states have addressed every aspect of early literacy, from how teachers and prospective teachers are trained to the curriculum they use, how students are assessed and whether children are retained rather than promoted to the next grade.

Billions of dollars were funneled to school districts across the U.S. to help them make up for learning loss from the pandemic. But new research shows that even with that extra money, school districts are still struggling to close the gaps in reading, writing and math. Stephanie Sy discussed the findings with Karyn Lewis of the Center for School and Student Progress and a lead researcher at NWEA.

I’m writing this for all the parents out there: Don’t leave your child’s reading success to chance. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I was one of those parents. Sure, my wife and I read to our son every night, and we had plenty of books, newspapers and magazines around the house. Our local public school spent a lot of time on literacy too, but I cringe now as I look back on how they did it. They taught kids to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words using pictures, the first letter or other context clues.

Folk tales are meant to be flexible things, open-source stories infinitely moldable to the needs of teller and era. That’s the wonder of them — and of “The Skull,” an old Tyrolean yarn distilled to its droll essentials and marvelously reimagined by the Caldecott medalist (and national treasure) Jon Klassen. Klassen’s version, accompanied by a generous helping of his odd and beautiful illustrations, follows a young girl named Otilla who, one snowy night, “finally” runs away from home. She becomes hopelessly lost in a deep, dark forest.

The itinerary on my 13-day Norwegian cruise was too packed. Spending only two of the 13 days at sea left me exhausted, even as a seasoned cruiser.

Some things you should never do on a dog walk include approaching unfamiliar pets, using an extendable leash, and not picking up waste, experts said.

Denzel Washington may have let slip that director Ryan Coogler is working on a third "Black Panther" film, which Marvel has not yet announced.