Technology has already created myriad new ways for parents to interact with their children, whether by narrating their own storybook videos or by playing an iPhone game on a shared walk through the park. A new option is Story Something , a site that generates personalized e-stories in which the kids listening are the heroes.

Now in private beta, Story Something targets busy parents of kids aged three through eight with a collection of original stories that can be personalized and accessed online or via email. The company has commissioned a team of professional authors to write its stories, which currently number around 50 or so. Parents begin by choosing a theme, browsing by topic or age through choices such as dragons, pets or superheroes, according to a report in TechCrunch. Along with making their selection, they also enter their child’s name and age. Story Something then generates a personalized story that can be viewed online or emailed to parents, enabling them to read it from their iPhone or Kindle. Parents can build a virtual bookshelf of their favourites, TechCrunch reported, and they can even get a new story emailed to them every day.

Currently a TechCrunch50 finalist, San Francisco-based Story Something is reportedly planning to include stories submitted by parents alongside those written by its contributing authors. We’d hope there will be some kind of a reward system for that, allowing contributing parents to share in any earnings their stories bring in, as well as community features that enable rating and sharing. And how about adding the ability to turn the best-loved stories into printed and bound books through a partnership with Blurb—or an option for grandparents, say, to narrate and record them? With fresh content that can’t be found elsewhere, the opportunities abound!

via Springwise

It couldn’t have been long after the invention of the cell phone that parents discovered how useful the devices can be for distracting and entertaining young children. Aiming to provide a more enriching experience than simply playing with the buttons or watching movies, iStoryTime is a new iPhone application that’s designed to bring stories to life.

Parents with an iPhone 3G, iPhone or iPod touch can now turn their handset into educational entertainment for kids aged two to seven while they’re on the go. Six original narrated stories with illustrations are currently available for USD 1.99 each on the iPhone App Store, with many more in the works, including versions for Android. “Binky the Pink Elephant,” for example, tells the story of a little elephant’s discovery that being different can be good. iStoryTime self-navigating and self-narrating book application is designed for use even by two-year-olds, flipping the pages automatically while the child follows along. Kids can choose between two narrators—an adult or a child’s voice—or read the book on their own. In addition, the words to the story are included onscreen so beginning readers can make associations between what they hear and the words they see.

Graham Farrar, founder of California-based iStoryTime and parent company FrogDogMedia, explains: ““iStoryTime”:http://www.istorytimeapp.com provides mind-enriching entertainment for the kids while making life a little easier for mom or dad. Instead of having to resort to movies or video games to occupy your child when you need a few minutes to finish the grocery shopping, are out at a restaurant, or stuck in traffic, you can give them a story they’ll will want to hear and see again and again.”

Launched in April, iStoryTime e-books are available globally, but only in English. One to partner with for regional translations…?

via Springwise

Speakaboos is a site that aims to bring classic children’s stories into the digital world, primarily through storybook videos featuring celebrity narration, illustrations and original music. Stories including Arthur, Snow White and Aesop’s Fables are available for free viewing on the site, accompanied by links to educational activities, games and contests. The stories can also be downloaded for USD 0.99 per title, and are available on iTunes.com and Rhapsody.com as well. Launched in October with more than 30 titles, New York-based Speakaboos just recently added a holiday collection. The company donates at least 15 percent of all revenues to child-focused charities including the National Education Association and The Creative Coalition.

There are other sites out there that offer digital storytelling for kids, of course—including Storyline Online, which also features celebrity narrators. What’s especially interesting about Speakaboos , however, is a forthcoming feature that will let parents and kids create their own versions of its video stories. The site’s “Record Your Own” feature will allow kids, parents, grandparents or even teachers to record their own voices reading (or singing) their favorite story, song or nursery rhyme. The result will be a fun, karaoke version kids can share with their friends, for example, or a personalized story a parent or grandparent can use to help tuck their loved ones into bed even when they’re not there.

If there’s anything better than a site with high-quality content, it’s a site that lets consumers create and share their own. Now, how about adding a marketplace feature that lets the storytelling whizzes of Generation C(ontent) turn their creations into some well-deserved C(ash)….? That’s a story that will continue to be retold again and again!

Kids can already publish their own stories in book form thanks to Tikatok, which we covered earlier this year, and soon they’ll be able to record their own voices narrating classic stories, fairy tales, nursery rhymes and lullabies with accompanying video and music.

via Springwise

Telling tales: Mobile app combines book with phone

Tokyo – The iPhone has been reappropriated as a children’s storybook, with an imaginative new mobile phone application that extends the smartphone’s capabilities.

The ‘Phone Book’ project by Mobile Art Lab uses the iPhone to create a hybrid digital/analogue storytelling tool. Users slot their mobile device into a pocket in a specially designed picture book; as they turn the pages of the book, the action on the iPhone screen changes. Using the smartphone’s touch screen, the moving images become interactive additions to the story.

With printed content under threat from new digital book devices, new innovations – often creating new hybrids of the two – are changing the way consumers engage with media content.

via LSN:Network