Want to See Cool Graphics?

Do you want to see cool graphics with your music in iTunes? The visualizer, hidden under the file menu, speeds up and slows down with your music. I can’t really explain what it does, but you should try it. Have fun.

A Little Late, But…

I know it’s a little late, but this is interesting in my opinion. On July 17, all Mac OS 10.2- 10.4 users will have the correct date displayed on the dock icon for iCal. If you have Leopard, the only way to see this is to look at the icon for iCal that is in the applications folder. The site wasn’t working that day and I just now remembered. I hope you found this interesting.

Review of X-Moto

X-Moto

This is a silly but fun motorcycle racing game. You are a character, though you can’t choose which character, driving through odd rocky courses collecting strawberries. You can do wheelies and change your direction, but you must be careful not to land on your head.

Ages: 6+

Difficulty: 5

Fun: 4

Price: FREE!

Where: Apple Downloads

Update: Check out this other review: http://opensourcethefuture.blog.co.in/2008/12/02/xmoto/

Review of Redline

Redline

Redline is a car racing game with interesting 3D graphics. It worked on our game test computer, a PowerPC iMac G5 running 10.4.11 (my friends machine). Though it was a little choppy, the graphics were OK. The graphics and sound effects weren’t my favorite, and your car doesn’t get damaged when you run into a wall. In the demo we were stuck with two courses, both raining so it was harder.

Ages: 8+

Difficulty: 5

Fun: 3

Price: $25, free demo

Where: Ambrosia Software

We’re Sorry!

We are very sorry that MacKIds hasn’t been updated for so long. We were having technical difficulties and I did a garden at the county fair. We ended up switching it to WordPress. I also got an iPod Touch so hopefully I can do more posts as MacKids Mobile. Sorry about that quiet period. All the articles appear under the same day because when we took down the old site, I posted the articles from it on to the new one in the same day.

Best First Mac For Kids?

What do you think is the best first Mac for a younger kid? I found an article on ECT News about Mac vs. Windows, though the article ended up talking about what Macs are best.

Their choices, in order, were Mac Mini, iMac, and MacBook. They suggested Mac Mini because it is portable for house and car. My thought was that means the computer is easier to drop, and requires an extra monitor. Mac Mini in the car? Yah, I guess if you had a TV screen in the back of your car, but it still seems a little weird.

How about the MacBook. It also has the disadvantage of being small and lightweight. It is good because it is portable and doesn’t require extra monitor.

Now for the final choice, the iMac. This was my favorite choice because it is heavy, so you can’t carry it around and drop it. It also has a disadvantage because it isn’t portable, it weighs a lot and takes up lots of desk space.

What do you think? Post a comment with your choice.

New Domain Name!

You can now reach this blog by going to www.mackidsblog.com! Yippee!

Review of Zak and Jack MonsterTown

Here is our third posting of Mac OS X game reviews. I will update the list with new reviews later. Fun ratings and difficulty ratings are on a scale of one to five.

Zak and Jack MonsterTown

You are two purple monsters shooting at fish coming at you. You can pick up better weapons that are more powerful. You must avoid things that stop you from shooting for a minute. The levels get harder and harder as you go on.

Ages: 5-10

Difficulty: 4

Fun: 3

Price: $19.99, free demo

Where: http://www.download.com/Zak-Jack-Monstertown/3000-2099_4-10555797.html

Review of Snowball Run

Here is our second posting of Mac OS X game reviews. I will update the list with new reviews later. Fun ratings and difficulty ratings are on a scale of one to five.

Snowball Run

In Snowball Run you are a penguin who is running around on a snowball. There are three levels of difficulty and each has 20-40 levels. The whole game is based in a carnival sort of thing up in the clouds. In the early levels there are fences on the edges but they disappear later on. If you fall off, you parachute down and lose a life. You can pick up fish for bonuses and extra lives. I like the game because it’s colorful and fun, but don’t like it because you can’t come back to a game you have saved. Overall it gets a pretty good rating from me. I recommend using a USB video game controller, I explain how to use them here.

Age group: 4+

Difficulty rating: 4

Fun rating: 3

Price: $19.99

Where: http://www.tucows.com/preview/323113

USB Video Game Controller?

Review of USB Overdrive X

Do you have an old USB video game controller laying around? I had two old controllers laying around and some games I wanted the joysticks for. If the controllers are old, you can’t use their software. I was very annoyed with how few programs are out there. I did manage to find one program though. A program called USB Overdrive X. USB Overdrive lets you program all the buttons on your controller separately. If you push a button it will show you which button you are pushing and lets you give it a key command. It works very well on my iMac Intel Core 2 Duo. You can tell it to program the controller for just one program or all programs.

Difficulty rating (one being easy, five being hard): 2

Price: $20.00, free demo has no limits.

Where: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/13443

New Use For GPS

Are you looking for something to do outside this summer? If you have a handheld GPS (global positioning system) you can do a new sport called Geocaching. Geocaching is a sport where one player takes their GPS unit and hides a little container with a log book to sign. They save the latitude and longitude coordinates on their GPS and post it on www.geocaching.com. Other cachers can now put the coordinates into their GPS and go find the container and sign the log. It is lots of fun to do, go check it out.

Fun rating: 5

Where: www.geocaching.com, explained at www.geocaching.com/about

Review of Super Tux Kart

Here is our first posting of Mac OS X game reviews. I will update the list with new reviews later. Fun ratings and difficulty ratings are on a scale of one to five.

Super Tux Kart

Super Tux Kart is a very fun 3D racing game. You have a selection of silly characters like two penguins, an octopus, an icebox, and others. There is also a selection of oddly shaped tracks with different scenery. You can run into blocks which give you speed boosts or weapons. There are a few rockets and a land mine. Overall it reminds me a lot of MarioKarts for the Nintendo DS.

 

Age group: 5+

Difficulty rating: 3

Fun Rating: 4

Price: FREE!

Where: http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/Downloads

Welcome!

Welcome to MacKids – the blog about the Mac for kids, written by kids.