Welcome to this week's edition of COMPUTING WITH KIDS. This Internet magazine is written by Jinny Gudmundsen, the editor of Computing With Kids Magazine (formerly Choosing Children's Software magazine). Every week on Fridays, you will receive a copy of this ezine. Here is this week's column: If you are interested in subscribing to this weekly ezine, just click here—it only costs $15.00/year and you will receive 52 issues a year! Since this is an online magazine, we will deliver each weekly issue to your email account every Friday. Each weekly issue will contain a review of something new in children's technology media. Here is a sample review:

By Jinny Gudmundsen

Digi Makeover Published on November 17th, 2006

With Digi Makeover from Radica, tween girls can digitally experiment with their own appearance and the appearance of six other models. Girls can try out different hairstyles, makeup, and accessories. The game works by plugging the Digi Makeover touchpad into a television using the audio/video input jacks. Girls make decisions by pushing buttons on the touchpad to select from possible options shown on the TV screen. They can experiment with six teenage models, or use the touchpad's embedded digital camera to import a photo of themselves. Once a model is selected, girls can change her hairstyle, eyes, lips, blush, dimples, face paint, and accessories. Numerous options and color palettes are available in each category. With the makeup choices, girls blend it onto a face by rubbing a stylus back and forth on the screen. The more you rub, the darker the makeup appears. While girl testers were excited about trying out new hairstyles on their own faces, they said most of the hairstyles don't look realistic. Instead, girls thought the styles looked like bad Halloween wigs, but one tester did get a kick out of seeing herself punked out in purple hair. The makeup options also produced mixed results. While it was fun to change eye color, it was difficult to apply subtle eye makeup. Models frequently looked like they were off to attend a heavy metal band concert. And trying to undo previous actions often resulted in wiping clean all your previous work. Because Digi Makeover is being released in the wake of the new Dove commercial "Evolution," families might want to use both as a way to start a discussion with preadolescent girls about false representations of beauty. The "Evolution" ad uses time-lapse photography to show an average-looking girl transformed into a breathtaking billboard beauty by using makeup and photo manipulation. Likewise, this software can show girls how makeup and digital tools can radically alter the way they look. If you're a parent, you'll have to wrestle with whether Digi Makeover could lower your daughter's self-esteem by sending the message that girls aren't pretty without makeup. Or perhaps, like the Dove "Evolution" commercial, Digi Makeover might help educate girls that makeup can create fake beauty, so they should be skeptical of the glamour shown on billboards and in magazines. Some parents, however, probably won't look for deeper meaning in Digi Makeover and consider it another way for young girls to play dress up. Regardless of where families come out on this debate, Digi Makeover, while initially interesting, won't keep girls' attention for long given its clunky design. And at $60, families would be better off using their tech dollars on something like a Dance Dance Revolution title, which offers longevity and a positive message about being physically active.		The Bottom Line Digital makeover software that has a clunky design, is expensive, and can possibly send a mixed message to young impressionable tweens.
Summary Age  8 - 14 Platform  Plug and Play with Television Price  $60.00 Category  Girl Software Grade  ISBN  Company  Radica http://www.girltech.com

All software is judged on a five star scale by looking at the following five factors: educational, fun, ease of use, value, technical.

Jinny Gudmundsen is the Editor of Computing With Kids magazine. If you have questions or comments, please write to: jinny@ComputingWithKids.com.

© 2008 Computing With Kids jinny@ComputingWithKids.com