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Up until this weekend I hadn't really been too excited about seeing the upcoming Simpsons feature-length movie. That was until I laid my eyes on the film's Web site.

Like most other movie marketing sites out there, it's full of a lot of Flash with bouncy navigation and a nearly unbearable amount of sound effects. There are the usual mini-games (both of which I might add are quite enjoyable), and links to the movie's MySpace profile (it is Fox, after all). The real gem however, is the Simpsons avatar builder--a piece-by-piece character maker that lets people … Read more

In the cyberworld, Web customization is king--just as the millions of user-centric YouTube videos and MySpace Web pages attest. It's little wonder, then, that avatars, digital representations of you, are growing in function and form.

This collection of downloadable and Web-based avatar generators ranges from the more cartoon-like engines to three-dimensional architectures where users give life to their pint-size replicates. Be sure to tune into the video and photo gallery on my adventures with avatars, with CNET News.com's Neha Tiwari, for a personal take on the highlights and lowlights of some popular avatar builders.… Read more

One of the presenters at yesterday's Launch Silicon Valley event yesterday was Fix8, which makes technology that puts animated avatars on top of Webcam videos.

We've seen this before -- Webcam vendors like Logitech, Creative, and Microsoft have similar software that lets you overlay characters on top of your video stream. The stream can then be read by products like Skype and Eyejot (review). Fix8, though, works with any Webcam, and the company is trying to develop a more serious business around this technology. While the software is free and lets you do fun things (see video clip … Read more

As anyone who has managed to get their hands on a Nintendo Wii will shamefully admit, one of its most fun features is the Mii Channel, its easy-to-use avatar creation tool.

While that's not news, the phenomenon of celebrity avatars making their way across cyberspace is. People are sharing formulas for making celebrities and Wii console numbers to become friends so they can share avatars. There are several sites dedicated to the celebrity-inspired Miis and even contests to see who's making the best one.

Celebrities include everyone from Ali G to Zach Braf. Many of them can be … Read more

It's no secret the Nintendo Wii has been doing extremely well as a gaming platform. One of the best things to do out of the box is play around with the Mii channel, a personal avatar creation tool for tailoring every aspect of your virtual persona. It didn't take long for an enterprising developer from Adobe to re-create the same experience online, which has resulted in the Mii Editor.

Mii Editor is a near-perfect recreation of the Nintendo Mii creation tool, right down to the interface. Users can change face shape, hair, eyebrows, eyes, and small details like glasses and facial hair. The entire setup runs in Adobe Flash, so there's no load time or need to refresh when making changes.

When you're done, there are several export options, including social-network friendly JPEG files and a URL permalink to send to friends. While some of the Wii magic is lost doing this with a mouse and a computer screen, making these things is a blast.

Related: Crave: Let it Bii

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If you want to let the world know of your love for Mii avatars and the Beatles, then this T-shirt is for you.

Jumping on the Nintendo Wii avatar craze, the "Let It Bii" Nerdy Shirts T-shirt features Nintendo Wii Mii avatars of the Fab Four.

The design is an obvious tribute to the Beatles' Let it Be album, even including a clue that Paul may still be dead. (He's looking straight at you.)

I'd say this falls somewhere after the "Blogito, ergo sum" T-shirt in terms of cleverness, but much higher on the … Read more