Kung Fu Panda -The Videogame

If you enjoyed the movie Kung Fu Panda that came out at the beginning of this month, you’ll definitely enjoy Activision’s Kung Fu Panda video game, too. Going through the game is almost as if you’re reliving the movie’s plot. You’ll embark on an action-packed adventure as you master the kung fu fighting styles of Po the Panda (main character in the movie/game).

”Kung Fu Panda gives kids the chance to experience firsthand their favorite movie moments as well as new levels and hilarious situations created specifically for the game,” says Kim Salzer, vice president of Global Brand Management, Activision Publishing. “The humor, lovable characters and nonstop action will deliver hours of fun that they can enjoy on their own or with parents and friends.”


The game is available in various platforms, but I chose to play it with my Nintendo Wii. As in the movie, you’re on a legendary journey to fulfill Po’s destiny to become the Dragon Warrior and save the world from the enemy Tai Lung. There are 13 levels that span air, water and land as you battle different foes, overcome obstacles and solve some puzzles. These levels feature both moments from the movie and scenes unique to the game.

You use Po’s natural features - his oversized tummy especially - to eliminate your enemies.You can do simple attacks by rolling him around or bounce enemies off his stomach and, of course, simple attacks and combos with kicks added in there, too. His “Panda Style” moves include the Panda Quake, Panda Stumble and the Iron Belly Blast.

You also can earn Kung Fu upgrades that increase your strength, speed and agility while progressing toward the Dragon Warrior status. In addition to Po’s moves, you can master the styles of the other characters - Shifu (wisdom and speed), Monkey (spring-loaded tail attacks), Tigress (fast, fluid, powerful moves), Viper (stealth abilities), Crane (graceful surface-to-air attacks) and Mantis (the smallest but has a strong grab and super-quick burst moves). As you progress deeper into the game, you have to earn the privilege of playing these other characters. Additionally, you collect coins that can eventually earn you upgrades and food (manapua) that give you strength when you’re weak after a battle.


As Po would say, this game is “totally awesome,” but definitely not for a serious gamer. It’s geared more toward KungFu Panda movie fans, especially the younger crowd. This wholesome, inspirational story of a character having a dream, not living up to the traditional fit for the role, but beating all odds and becoming the hero by believing in himself with some perseverance can be a great, positive, encouraging influence for the keiki.

To go through and finish the entire game will probably take about three to five hours, depending on how slow or fast you are. After you play once, you’ll know where everything is and you can enjoy it all over again. The graphics are nothing spectacular, but very cutesy, matching the movie’s feel. It’s very entertaining and worthwhile to buy for your keiki (or the keiki within you).

The Kung Fu Panda video game is rated E10+ for Everyone over 10 years old and sells for $49.99 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii), $39.99 (PlayStation 2), $29.99 (Nintendo DS) or $19.99 (PC). Find it at your nearest GameStop (www.gamestop.com), Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com), or on www.amazon.com. For additional information on the game or to download a demo, visit www.kungfupandagame.com.

The Building Blocks of Roblox

As a kid I would play with LEGO all the time, but I didn’t have enough pieces to make huge LEGO cities or anything really big. For kids these days, there’s ROBLOX. The simplest way I would describe it: it’s NOT LEGO, but it sure appears to be virtual LEGO. It’s basically a digital world-building game that uses generic plastic building blocks, mixed in with avatar (character) chat, 3D environments and physics.

“We created ROBLOX because it was the video game we always wanted to play (as a kid) but could never find,” said David Baszucki, co-founder and CEO of ROBLOX Corporation. “We were all building-toy maniacs as kids - Erector, LEGO, Mechano - you name it!”

ROBLOX initially came out a couple years ago, but I learned about it recently from my husband’s little cousins Matthew and Michael. They’re two extremely smart young boys who are the perfect picture of what a ROBLOX user is - they spend most of their spare time building up their ROBLOX empires. One of them was actually blocked from playing ROBLOX for a few days because he called someone a “noob” (aka newbie, new user) in a chat. I know that doesn’t sound too bad, but that just goes to show how strict the website’s monitoring is.


That goes to show that kids of all ages can safely interact, create and have fun with ROBLOX’s online virtual playground. There are many social websites out there for children, but what makes ROBLOX different is that it feeds their hunger for learning and creativity, on top of satisfying social entertainment needs. Some of the beneficial subjects include math, physics, mechanical engineering, computer programming, logic and game theory. These will all integrate into the gameplay without a second thought. ROBLOX is continually working with schools and educators to better understand how these benefits can enhance the learning process.

Everything is designed and constructed by the members of the ROBLOX community. Once you register, you are given an unlimited supply of building pieces to design and build anything imaginable - buildings, airplanes, giant pinball machines, whatever you can think of! You can choose to play and create alone or receive help from others. Your avatar is completely customizable and I’ve seen some pretty creative ones out there. As others can help you with your projects, you can assist with theirs, while you wander through their worlds.

As time goes on, you are recognized by your participation and earn rewards for your creations based on the quality and popularity. What you receive ranges from specialty badges to ROBUX currency that you can redeem in the ROBLOX catalog for avatar accessories or premium construction materials.


At the moment there’s an Action Adventure Movie Contest for an Action Adventure ROBLOX video (30 seconds to three minutes long). ROBLOX is looking for a clip that shows thrills, chills and a good story - basically anything that shows the characters getting into trouble and then getting themselves out or being saved. It can be an original or a scene from a real movie.

The deadline for this is Sunday, June 29, 3 p.m. (HST). Log onto blog.roblox.com for more information. You will need a PC (or PC emulator if using a Mac) to play ROBLOX, and the standard membership is free. If you’re planning on building more extensive creations, you’ll want to join the Builders Club for $5.95 per month. It also removes all the online adds when you login.

Visit www.roblox.com to create your own character and start building your own virtual 3D world.

Wii Fit - Fitness With A Video Game

Nintendo released the Wii Fit about a month ago,prompting mad rushes to stores with everyone and their brother trying to buy it. I should have been smart and pre-ordered one, but thankfully last Friday I was out and about shopping, randomly saw one last Wii Fit sitting there, and was at the right place at the right time - I grabbed it off the crate! The box was dented, but I really didn’t care since the important part was inside and undamaged.

For you lucky individuals who were able to even buy a Nintendo Wii, I think you’ll enjoy this Wii Fit game. Using the Wii Balance Board as the core,it keeps you active and on your feet instead of just sitting there on the couch holding a game controller. It starts you off by measuring your BMI (Body Mass Index), testing your balance and giving you a Fitness Age.

“Wii Fit will get you moving whether you’ve been playing video games for years or this is your first time,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Wii Fit is easy for anyone to try and is yet another example of how Nintendo continues to expand the world of video games to new audiences.”


You use the board to control the on-screen actions with your movements as you work your way through more than 40 activities and exercises. There are four main categories: strength training (muscle-toning exercises such as push-ups), aerobics (i.e.Hula Hoop,basic step), yoga for flexibility) and balance games (ski or tightrope games). I don’t see this as a complete fitness solution, but it could be a great start for beginners or those too self-conscious to participate in an aerobics or yoga class.

Several people in your household can use the Wii Fit and track each person’s progress separately. You do this with your Mii caricature, and he/she will reflect your fitness level and change as you become more proficient at the activities. The strength training taught me some new core exercises that I can do on a regular mat, and not necessarily on the Wii Fit itself. With the pad, you always have to be in contact with it. That’s sometimes difficult if you’re used to doing the exercises a certain way. As you progress through the game, it unlocks more and more exercises for you to try. The aerobic didn’t really do much for me with its hula hoop, basic step, rhythm boxing, etc.


Although fun, I would not consider Wii Fit to be a complete exercise substitute. It did help me be more aware of my balance, which is important for good posture and decreased back problems. The balance games can be fun for keiki, but a major drawback is it can only handle up to 330 pounds, which locks out the heftier individuals from playing. It also focuses mostly on improving muscle tone and not weight loss with cardio exercises.

Good luck finding Wii Fit (rated E for Everyone). Your best bet is online since none of the stores on-island has any in stock, or you have to be at the right place at the right time as I was. The suggested retail price is $89.99, but at this point you’ll see them online for an inflated $200-ish (i.e. at www.amazon.com from various vendors).

A little side note: The Wii is the first video game system that was included in the President’s Challenge, a program of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports that encourages all Americans to make physical activity a part of their daily lives. The Wii Fit builds on that by encouraging people to keep their bodies moving.

Ringing In the New 3G iPhone

It seems we just saw the release of the iPhone, yet I’ve been anticipating the 3G iPhone for the last few months. Knowing it was going to be announced last week at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 08), I purposely wore my Apple shirt on that day. Several people stopped me and asked if I worked for Apple, which gave me a good laugh each time. I told them that I just wore the shirt because I knew the new 3G iPhone was being announced that day - am I a dork or what?!

I don’t have one in-hand yet, but Apple announced the iPhone 3G will be twice as fast and half the price as the first generation iPhone with its built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services and iPhone 2.0 software (with support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs hundreds of third party applications already built with recently released in iPhone).

“Just one year after launching the iPhone, we’re launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “ iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year.”

The iPhone 3G is able to give you faster access to the Internet and e-mail over your cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) for voice and data connectivity. It supports 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. Additionally, the iPhone 3G makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications to browse the web, look-up map directions or check e-mail while you’re on a call.

In addition, with the iPhone 3G’s much-anticipated iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) and key enterprise features, it allows developers to create awesome applications that leverage the iPhone’s Multi-Touch user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS capabilities on its unique mobile platform. You’ll also be able to do real-time mapping (with progress tracking), turn on parental controls, save images directly from a webpage/e-mail them to your iPhone to transfer back to your photo library, and a scientific calculator was added.

Another iPhone 3G add-on is the new App Store. It provides a variety of downloadable native applications including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. As long as you have a connection, it’s accessible from just about anywhere. Some of the applications are free, and some you need to pay for, but either way, the App Store will notify you when new ones are available for download.


Additionally, the iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe, a new Internet service that pushes e-mail, contacts and calendars from an online “cloud” to native applications on the iPhone, iPod touch Macs and PCs. With MobileMe e-mail, messages are pushed instantly to the iPhone, removing the need to manually check e-mail and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. Using an iPhone, you can snap a photo, post it to directly MobileMe Gallery for sharing with your family and friends.

“Think of MobileMe as ‘Exchange for the rest of us,’” said Jobs. “Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push e-mail, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get.” The MobileMe web applications are ad-free and provide a desktop-like experience that allows you to drag and drop, click and drag, and use keyboard shortcuts. It includes a 20GB online shortage capability, and will cost $99 per year, available July 11.

Also on July 11, the iPhone 3G will finally hit the market in more than 70 countries, and will sell for $199 for the 8GB or $299 for the16GB (black or white). It requires a two-year contract with AT&T, and you’ll be able to find them at your nearest Apple Store or AT&T Store. Talk time is 10 hours while using a 2G network, and five hours using 3G. While web browsing, you’ll see five to six hours, seven with video playback, and 24 hours with audio playback.

For you existing iPhone owners, the iPhone 2.0 software will be available as a free software update via iTunes 7.7. Visit www.apple.com/iphone for more information.

Showing Off Your Keiki On TotSpot

There’s something about this year and babies. I know at least five gals who gave birth within the last six months! That in mind, a new website was launched a couple weeks ago called TotSpot.com. It’s a site for you parents to publish a private and secure page about your keiki to share with family and friends. It’s part online baby book, parent journal and social network - basically a private/secure version of MySpace or Facebook for toddlers.

TotSpot is uniquely designed around the needs and wants of parents with children ages 0-12 and expectant mothers. You can create life stage-oriented content such as Firsts (milestones - smiles, trips/activities, friends, words, etc.) and Growth Charts as well as share photos/videos.

All content on TotSpot is time-tagged so that memories can be cataloged and organized into an elegant and compelling narrative. “Parents have a deep desire to share the story of their children with friends and family,” says Michael Broukhim, co-founder of the website. “TotSpot is the first site to provide a simple and safe destination to do this all in one place.”


Knowing that, the biggest concern you probably have is your keiki’s safety and security. TotSpot’s privacy settings prevent anyone from seeing your child’s page unless the parents (or guardians) have explicitly invited that individual.

TotSpot’s stats feature enables you to know exactly who has visited your keiki’s page. TotSpot believes in data portability, and the “Your Kid, Your Content” policy ensures that you always “own” the content about your children.

“There are very few social networks that are doing that,” says Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research. “It’s an indicator that TotSpot really cares about their customers owning their own experiences.” Since I don’t have any kids yet, I used the closest I have to a child to set up the account -my parrot Duncan. I added in as much information as I could, including his growth chart (although fully grown at 8 inches and a weight of 5 ounces), journal updates (what he ate and the toys he played with) and Firsts (foods, trip, kiss and words). I also easily uploaded his photos from my Flickr account. In addition, it gives you the option to grab photos from your Picasa, SmugMug or 23hq accounts.


TotSpot was founded by Broukhim and Adam Katz, two recent graduates of Harvard University. Both come from tight-knit extended families, and the inspiration for the site came from their experiences receiving updates from friends and family members about their children."We noticed that our family members shared a lot of content about their kids via e-mail, and we thought there must be a better and more compelling way to do this,” says Katz. “When we discovered that there wasn’t, we started building TotSpot.”

Obviously there are certain items I cannot update - many of the Firsts: holding a bottle, losing a tooth, school, book, rode a tri-cycle, etc. Despite that, I think this can sort of work for pet owners. After all, they are your babies, too!

As with Twitter, TotSpot is built on Ruby on Rails, a free web application framework designed to make web development quick and efficient. There’s definitely something unique about this website. Tell all the new and expecting parents in your life about it - www.totspot.com.

Text Messages For Earthquake/Cyclone Relief

Last week Verizon Wireless announced its support for the recent earthquake and cyclone relief efforts by enabling Verizon Wireless customers to donate money to Save the Children. This is done by sending text messages to “4SAVE.” I think this is a great, creative idea to give to this cause. Too bad it’s only for Verizon Wireless customers.

“Our customers across the country send more than 10 billion text messages per month, and we’re glad we’ve put this technology to use for such an important cause,” said Mark Yamauchi, director of sales for Hawaii. “On behalf of everyone at Verizon Wireless here in Hawaii, we’re happy to be able to facilitate the giving to help people in both countries.”

If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer with a phone capable of texting, send a message to 4SAVE (47283) with the word “quake” to contribute to earthquake relief or “cyclone” to contribute to cyclone relief. You’ll receive a reply message asking you to confirm a $5 donation to Save the Children for your designated program by pushing “Y” on your keypad. If you wish to donate more, you can send up to four additional messages for $25 to each effort.

“Because Save the Children has been working in Myanmar and China for more than a decade, we were positioned to respond to the immediate needs of hundreds of thousands of families when the disasters struck,” said Charles MacCormack, president and chief executive officer of Save the Children. “Our staff has been working tirelessly to provide food, water and health-care supplies to the people affected by these emergencies, but there are still many more who need help. We thank Verizon Wireless for their support of our efforts and for giving their customers a way to help these communities recover and rebuild.”

All donations will appear on your next monthly bill and are tax-deductible. This program ends July 31, 2008. Visit www.savethechildren.org for more information.

Windows 7 - Vista's Successor

Windows Vista just came out not too long ago, but already we see its successor, Windows 7, on the horizon. At The Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital conference a couple weeks ago, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and chief executive Steve Ballmer talked about this new operating system to be released in late 2009.

From what I’ve seen, the interface looks extremely similar to the Microsoft Surface with touch screen capabilities (based on Microsoft’s multi-touch software). It will have a “Touchable Paint” program that allows you to paint with your fingers, a multi-touch photo gallery with two-finger zoom, multi-touch piano application, a mapping application that pulls data from Microsoft’s Live Maps/Microsoft Virtual Earth and a similar dock look to what we see in Apple’s OS X.

“We are at an interesting juncture where almost all of the interaction is with the computer and mouse today and over the years to come,” Gates said. “The role of speech, vision, ink - all of those will become huge.”

He’s referring to gadgets that give you the ability to control it with voice commands or electronic ink (touch) - we’ll be up-to-date with Star Trek soon! Taking into consideration what we’ve seen with Apple’s iPhone revolution, Windows 7 could be the next big step in the PC development realm.

In addition, soon we’ll probably see companies come out with multi-touch screens ready for Windows 7. In fact, Albatron is ready with its 22-inch LCD (1680x1050). It has a sensor on each side of the display, and scalable to 24 inches (and more with an extra sensor). Rumors say this screen will only cost 20 percent more than an average LCD monitor. That’s not bad for what it can do.

Right now there aren’t many details out there for what else it has in store, but stay tuned ...

Getting Creative With Modbook

Walking through Axiotron’s booth at this year’s Macworld was so colorful, with artists all over the place drawing their creations on Modbooks.As soon as I saw these, I wanted to grab one and take it home with me! Luckily I have one in-hand at the moment, but have to reluctantly return it soon.

The Modbook isn’t quite a mainstream computer, and it’s the only “Tablet Mac"around.You can draw and write directly on the screen with a special pen, and I would describe it as an off-the-shelf MacBook laptop modified with a special converter kit minus a keyboard and mouse. Perhaps it’s not the best for an everyday computer, but it makes a perfect canvas for a graphic artist.

The first thing I noticed while playing with the Modbook’s included Axiotron Digitizer Pen is, if you hold it just above the screen, it senses the pen and you can move it around as a mouse. It has two programmable side buttons, a digital eraser and three different replaceable pen tips.

It has 512 levels of pen pressure sensitivity to offer you fast and accurate responses.Additionally, no batteries are required for the pen, and the radio-based digitizer technology allows you to draw and sketch with your hand resting on the screen. I’m not sure if this is a common occurrence with other Modbooks, but the one I had kept freezing up and would not recognize the pen. Since there’s no keyboard, I would have to do a hard-reboot each time. If you really need to, you can always plug in a keyboard/mouse through the USB port or connect it via Bluetooth.


I’m far from an artist, but I had tons of fun drawing with it in Photoshop. It’s amazing how sensitive the pen is to pressure on the screen. It automatically adjusts to how hard you press.Using this without a keyboard was a big challenge. I’m used to typing out everything with a regular keyboard, but with the Modbook I had to pull up the on-screen keyboard and manually type in what I needed to (mainly on webpages).Another drawback is that you cannot rotate the display - it’s always in landscape view.

Each Modbook comes pre-installed with Mac OS X Leopard, a built-in iSight camera, an integrated 24x DVD Combo drive or 8x DVD SuperDrive and a builtin Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS is a cool feature, but not very practical for everyday use. It’s based on the SiRFstarIII chipset, and you can turn it off to save the battery.

The Modbook’s shell and interior display are built from top-grade, aircraft-quality magnesium alloy, providing you with superior structural strength.A triple layer of metal plating - nickel over copper topped with chrome - results in an extremely scratch-resistant and aesthetically pleasing surface. The LCD panel is strengthened with Axiotron’s ForceGlass and layered with an anti-reflective coating to create a brighter image, and an etched surface to provide a paper-type drawing and writing sensation.

Overall the Modbook is a great machine, but a little heavy at 5.5 pounds. Additionally, it’s a bit pricey, starting at $2,279 for a 2.1 GHz model with a 120GB hard drive (or $2,479 for the 2.4 GHz/160GB).You can purchase it at www.axiotron.com.

Logitech’s Harmony One Remote

Although I wasn’t able to spend more than a minute with it at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) because of the huge crowd, one of my favorite items was Logitech’s Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote. After all, it did win the CES 2008 Design and Engineering Award: Best of Innovations in Home Entertainment Accessories. Thankfully I was able to hog one for myself for the last couple of weeks and program it to function with my TV, PVR, Apple TV, PlayStation 3, etc.

“The Harmony advanced universal remotes have been highly successful at providing easy, one-touch access to favorite activities, such as watching TV, playing a video game or listening to music - all with a single remote,” said Ashish Arora, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s Harmony business unit. “To further improve our lineup, while developing Harmony One, we sought to intimately understand the interaction between people, their remotes and their entertainment systems. In fact, Harmony One is the result of our most comprehensive research and development undertaking ever - more than 20,000 hours.”


All this hard work is reflected in the remote’s ergonomic design and physical look. No matter how big or small your hands are, left- or right-handed, the remote will fit comfortably in your hand. The shape is so unique you’ll barely need to look down to control it. Only the 40 most-essential buttons are on the Harmony One, so you can find the right one quickly. Each is individually sculpted, providing useful cues so you can operate it by touch instead of sight.

As with some of Logitech’s other remotes, this has a motion sensor that automatically turns on the LCD screen when you pick up the remote. It also shuts off automatically for energy conservation. The included charging cradle is much more reliable than previous models, where there seemed to be something wrong with the charging contacts. With the Harmony One I haven’t seen any issues yet. On a full battery charge it will probably last you about a week to week-and-a-half. I’ve been testing this out for about two weeks now and I haven’t had to charge it yet.

Another major thing I noticed is the 2.2-inch color LCD touch screen. It’s a huge upgrade over previous models, especially with its two glowing touch-sensitive buttons on both sides that allow you to scroll between the screens of soft (touch) buttons (i.e. options, devices or activities). The image display is sharp and responsive to your touch, using Logitech’s capacitive touch-screen technology. It responds to electrical charges from your fingertips, not pressure.


A single Harmony One can replace up to 15 remotes. With Logitech’s database (updated almost daily), you can control more than 225,000 devices from more than 5,000 brands. In other words, just about any home entertainment device can be controlled with this little remote.

Programming it is very simple and not at all time-consuming. You plug it in to your computer - make sure you have a good Internet connection - answer an online questionnaire and choose your home theater components from a list. You then define the roles in activity-based functions. I have mine programmed to “PlayStation 3,” “Digital Cable DVR” and “Apple TV” (in that order) and they’re displayed on the touch screen. For the average user, you’ll most likely see it as “Watch TV,” Watch A DVD” or “Harmony One Advanced Universal remote.”

Harmony One is definitely the best latest universal remote out there on the market today. Aslight drawback is that it only does the IR frequency. It’s not a big deal, but other high-end remotes I’ve seen have RF capability. It is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X, and retails for $249.99. Find it on Logitech’s website at www.logitech.com, your nearest Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com), or www.amazon.com.