They're Back

Those cute Tamagotchi's are back.....!!!! I remembered my high school days when i first learned about this new craze game from one of my classmate. She bring with this little keychain in our school, and i was curious to know what it was. Soon after, there were various imitations popping up everywhere. But just like any other toy, it was soon forgotten by my friend and me.

Then a month ago, my 8 year-old daughter shows me her new toy. She received it from her "Tinang" (short for Tita and Ninang). It was a similar keychain, but this time a bit bigger. I still remembered the name of the toy even already a decade ago. And that is a new Tamagotchi.

What exactly is a Tamagotchi? It's a digital pet that you feed, play games with, clean up after, cure when sick, train, and other things you do with real pets. It is housed in an egg-shaped computer, with only 3 easy buttons to operate; select, enter and cancel, that comes in a variety of designs for girls and boys ages 4 and up.

It was so fascinating to see old toys taken out of the toy chest, then seeing how imagination, creativity and even technology give it something new. The old version of Tamagotchi could only you feed, play, clean and cure your pet. Once it died, you just started all over again. But this latest one, the Tamagotchi Connection Version 3 ever lets you find a match through the matchmaker. Once the matchmaker finds a suitable "spouse", a new baby may appear on the screen. Once this happens, the parent will still be on the screen with the baby. After a while, the parent will leave the screen and you can now name and take care of the new Tamagotchi. The more generations you are able to raise, the better.

Aside from keeping your pets happy, the game also gives you "gotchi" points. The more points you collect, the more you can spend to get special items like more variety of food or toys like baseball bats or fishing poles. You can also secret codes and passwords to visit Tamagotchi Town over at http://www.tamatown.com/. You can also travel around the world, visit the Tamagotchi King, and even see the parents at Tamagotchi Town. These are just some of the newer innovations of the game. With the integration of the internet, users are given more things to do with their Tamagotchis. I have to admit that the old Tamagotchi game became very boring.

What's even better in the new version? The use of infrared. Yes, two people with a Tamagotchi each can play together. Their pets can interact with each other---visit, play a game, or give presents. They can even become good friends and later turn out to be partners. You'll know this with their friendship level meter.

Ohhh.....and you don't have to worry about your Tamagotchi at night when you're sleeping. Since you set it to your real time, it sleeps throughout the whole night starting at around 7PM, and it wakes up at about 8AM the following day. And in case you go out of town and no one can take care of your Tamagotchi for you, or you just don't want to deal with it for a while, you can just pause your Tamagotchi. The clock will continue to run, but your pet's growth is put on hold until you un-pause it.

They have created a whole new Tamagotchi world. All in all, it's a fun game. And with all the innovations and integration of newer technology, there's more reason to pick up a Tamagotchi. And aside from that, it comes out with 3 refreshed games, 20 additional character and 24 new design styles. If nothing else, at least it teaches your child to be a little bit more responsible.

GBA SP

The Game Boy Advance was cool, but the Game Boy Advance SP is even cooler. With its clamshell design, the GBA SP looks like a laptop that was hit with a shrinking ray, and with its front light, you can now see what you're playing even at night.

The amazing backlit screen brings out the sharpness and graphic richness of the huge library of Game Boy Advance games. It delivers unsurpassed gameplay experience.

With two great new colors, (graphite and pearl blue)......and an ultra-cool brighter backlit screen, the Game Boy Advance SP looks better than ever.

Experience all the fun of portable gaming.......pick up the one that best fits your personality!

Moving Image

With film, each picture is a distinct frame of light-sensitive chemicals on film. In order to take moving images, you need some serious equipment and a Hollywood studio behind you. But because a digital picture is just a series of 1s and 0s that can be recorded to a cheap computer hard drive, the difference between still and moving images becomes easily surmountable. And, as video only requires low-resolution image capture (between 0.1 and 0.5megapixel), the hardware can be even cheaper than a still camera--you can now pick up a USB webcam without burning a hole in your pocket. Many digicams and camcorders will double as webcams too. The problem with these solutions, however, is that they rely on slow USB 1.1 connections, offering sub-VGA resolutions at jerky framerates.

Fortunately, the arrival of high-speed broadband internet has been mirrored by the rise of two high-speed computer ports-- FireWire and, more recently, USB 2.0. These allow relatively cheap cameras to capture smooth, full-screen video. Visit site like http://www.ispq.com/ and you'll find easy - not to mention cheap - ways to communicate live with friends and family around the world or send videomails. New applications are springing up to meet demand - from visual instant messaging to group videochats, in which your browser becomes a virtual bar where you can meet people with similar interests or proclivities.

Mobile Cameraphones

How often do you hear the words "I wish i had my camera"? How many embarrassing, hilarious and downright gross incidents have been lost to time?

The sad truth is, most people don't carry a camera. Most people just carry a mobile. So the development of camera phones is a huge milestone for digital photography--and indignity. Of course, a camera on a phone is nothing without MMS--the development of text-only SMS messaging that allows you to send pictures to email addresses and other mobile phones. And unlike videophones, picture messaging handsets allow you to be in control of the image you are presenting, rather than subjecting yourself to the harsh scrutiny of a live link. Which makes creativity---and lying---so much easier!