Visit iappso.com/tts.pdf or iappso.com/tts.ibooks for documentation on the new features.
Tap the States allows you to share notes among other select Tap the States users. Notes are stored on a free, third party service called Dropbox. Just think of Dropbox as a personal harddrive (up to 5GB free) in the cloud. The notes can be authored and maintained directly from Tap the States and content is stored in your public Dropbox folder. To share your notes with other Tap the States users, Tap the States generates a URL to your public Dropbox folder. The URL can be e-mailed to other Tap the States users. From the iPad, if the recipient of the e-mail taps on the the URL, Tap the States will automatically launch and allow the user to immediately view your notes. Since the notes are stored in the cloud, anytime you make changes, those changes are directly visible to all users who have your public URL. So, who might use this feature? Obviously Teachers, but also parents and grandparents - Im sure you have many stories to share with your kids about your travels in the US. Just think how those stories will help reinforce your childs learning while they are studying the states.
(New!) Another new feature, requested by several Tap the States users, is the ability to specify which states Tap the States quizzes students on. For example, you might want your students to study the states by region (e.g. Northeast). Similar to the notes feature, this information is stored on Dropbox and your public Dropbox URL is used to configure Tap the States for your users. Again, since this information is stored in the cloud, you can select a different region of states at any time and each user will automatically see those changes.
Enjoy learning about the U.S. by simply and naturally tapping states within a map. Individual states come alive with sound and animations as you move around and explore the map. Details such as state capital, population (total and split out by male/female) are easily accessed. In addition, the state quarter and state flag are showcased along with the state. And dont stop tapping there, tap on the coin for a better look at the beautifully and uniquely designed quarter for each state. If you are feeling playful, tap the quarter and slide your finger to spin it - up, down, left or right. It lands on tails roughly 50% of the time. All data are stored locally except for links to Dropbox.
And more....
* State capital quiz along with scoring. You can even e-mail the results to your teacher. Even though the options are multiple choice, dont underestimate the difficulty. The algorithm used for choosing the city choices is tricky. Adults, be forewarned if you are trying to show off for your kids. If you select the correct city, a map is displayed with a pushpin locating the city. You can pinch to zoom the map or more easily double tap on the pushpin to see more and more details of the map.
* Choose the "Find the State" option to locate states without the help of names prominently displayed on each state. You are prompted to locate a state and given 20 seconds to do it in. The time it takes you to find the state is recorded and once all 50 states are found, you are presented with a report for all the states. Try to improve your times as you get better locating the states. The results can be e-mailed to show off your skills to a teacher or a friend.
* Just for fun, tap on the "Falling States" option to watch the states individually fall and bounce. If you have the patience to watch every state fall, you are treated with each state returning to its rightful location in the map.
* And this is just the beginning. We have many ideas and I know you will have ideas as well. Please share them with us and watch for future releases...