This Sunday, I schlepped up to the home of one of DC’s technology hubs, iStrategy labs in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of DC, and witnessed some amazing product and services demos as part of start up NewME accelerator‘s pop up program.
The NewME incubator program is housed in San Francisco, and traditionally includes a 12-week intensive course followed by demos. The program is geared towards educating and elevating those underrepresented in the tech and mobile app development sector.
My hometown, DC, was the first of a series of 3-day “pop up” versions to be held nationwide at various cities this year.
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| AppTalia founder Rashin Taheri |
Two of the top three winners for the DC competition presented desktop and mobile apps that are beneficial to children. It says a lot about the future of app development. Tech-Savvy parents are it!
The 2nd place winner at the DC pop up was AppTalia. The company launched when mom Rashin Taheri noticed her daughter, Talia, beginning at age 3, started asking all these “why” questions. Rather than brush her off, she would answer her kid’s queries. Recognizing that the US lags behind other developed nations in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for its youth, Taheri sought out to create an app that would help parents get their little ones interested in this field at a very you age.
And as a Persian mother, Rashin wanted to teach her children her native language and looked for Persian language apps in the App Store and was shocked to discover there were none. With that, she also set out to create the first Persian mobile applications for children. AppTalia was thus born.
Launched last March out of her Virginia home, AppTalia is geared towards tech-savvy parents who appreciate the value of mobile technology for helping educate their kids.
The apps teach complex topics like biology, chemistry, physiology, the universe and the human body and supplement the learning via interactive stories and exercises.
To increase the learning opportunities, the app teaches in several languages as well. Very neat! The imagery is vibrant and colorful and sure to grab and keep the attention of little ones.
Learn more from the app video below:
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
