Mobile mission
The wireless world is heating up, particularly in the teen market, and the next phase for targeting youth is mobile phone entertainment. FLOW, a Brussels-based company which provides mobile content, has created MiniFizz – a real-time, downloadable mission/adventure program for your cellphone that features a group of animated, funky young women. There’s the white-haired LisaFizz, for example, who travels the world as a fashion correspondent for NHK in Japan, while the open-minded LolaFizz is in college, studying sexology. According to the company, the program should be available for Siemens-branded phones soon.
They’ll make great (fake) pets…
Out of Japan comes the latest in the string of fake, interactive pets. Yubinori-PiPi (The Birdie That Perches On Your Finger) by Japan’s Tomy is a 4-cm-tall fluffy little bird that chirps when nestled in your palm and bursts into song when wiggled. Meanwhile, Takara’s Utainumonogatari (Song Dog Story) are little dogs that sleep and then break into song – from show tunes to pop hits. They can sing alone or in tune with their other furry friends, and they all have floppable ears and flappable jaws. Toy pets have been all the rage with kids and even adults in Japan for a while now, so it’s just a matter of time before they become huge here, particularly since the technology keeps getting better and better.
