Whether work has you always travelling, or you’re just tired of reading Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie to your kids every single night, the Sparkup will take over your bedtime story reading duties if you’re not available, just don’t want to do it.
Using a camera-equipped accessory that clips onto the back cover of a book and image recognition technology, the Sparkup detects and automatically plays back a recording for a given page. So parents can either pre-record themselves reading through a book, page by page, or download a professionally recorded audio track complete with music and sound effects.
The Sparkup itself will set you back $60 when it’s available later this month, while those downloadable audio tracks will presumably cost you a few bucks more. But if you stick with the DIY method it’s a great way to breathe new life into that old stack of Dr Seuss books you’ve got that have had a tough time competing with the iPad.