animated

Do they give awards for "Most Inventive Re-Imagining of a Classic Paper Game"? If so, I nominate Hanged for iPhone (which should also be in the running for "Best Stop-Motion Love Story" and "Game Most Likely to Make You Pull Out Your iPhone and Tell Friends, 'You Gotta See This!'")

If that sounds like a lot of gushing for what is essentially Hangman: Extreme Makeover Edition, it's because Hanged is such a clever and pleasant surprise.

The game has no menus, no instructions--it is just Hangman, after all. I don't want to … Read more

At heart, are dogs as unpleasant as human beings?

The question pummels at my sinews today because an iPhone app of unusual enlightenment has been brought to my attention.

It's called FidoFactor. And what sets it apart from all those fart-obsessed, teeny-titillating iPhone apps is that, to use a phrase created by the company itself, it's "like Yelp for dogs."

We've all yelped for a dog at some point in our lives, but staring at this concept made me think that this app (and its accompanying site) would be the equivalent of reading reviews from … Read more

She's like the Ashton Kutcher of the ape world: an orangutan in the Vienna Zoo now has a Facebook fan page to showcase the photos she takes with a digital camera. The orangutan, named Nonja, uses a Samsung ST 1000 point-and-shoot that automatically uploads the photos.

When this post was published, Nonja had over 9,000 "fans" subscribed to her page.

But there's a catch: coverage of the camera-toting ape in the U.K.'s Daily Mail explains that the camera has been modified to dispense a raisin whenever the shutter button is pushed. So Nonja … Read more

Natali Del Conte fills Justin's diminutive shoes today, and boy it could not be more appropriate with today's stories. Big news of the day is daytime talk show goddess Oprah Winfrey's plans to end "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and we're hoping our very own Natali Del Conte will take over.

According to WholeFitness.com, staring at breasts for 10 minutes will prolong a man's life by 5 years. Yes, this could possibly be the greatest piece of health care news ever, and we're hoping they incorporate it into the current legislation.

After some really awesome voicemails, we finally get into some tech talk with high-definition primetime entertainment. The majority of shows have switched over to high-definition broadcasts, but we're particularly disappointed that "Family Guy" and "American Dad" aren't available in high definition yet. Jeff gets really disappointed to learn that almost all cartoons are animated in South Korea. Guess that makes "American Dad" even more ironic. Included in the same list is "America's Top Model." Wilson is particularly disappointed.

Jeff will be out next week, so hopefully it won't be Wilson alone curled up in a snuggie talking about Apple and washing machines. In the meantime, be sure to keep sending in those voicemails as we prep for Thanksgiving. If you're in the New York metropolitan area, be sure to check out Ms. Del Conte on WCBS as she hosts the local news for Black Friday.

We like the idea behind Magic Whiteboard; networked users can draw collaboratively on the same image from different computers. Unfortunately, the program's execution leaves a lot to be desired.

The program's interface is cute, with the drawing area framed by a border featuring cartoon animals and gnomes. The actual drawing features are lacking, and will be disappointing to kids who are already familiar with programs like Microsoft Paint. There's a pencil feature whose width can be adjusted on a scale from 1 to 18, and an eraser, but that's it. The really awful thing about this … Read more

Electric Sheep is a free screensaver that lets your computer join a global network of computers processing "electric sheep"--striking, ever-changing, abstract fractal animations generated with a genetic algorithm (taking their name from the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick).

Your computer downloads and displays sheep from the current "flock" as your screensaver, while running in the background, your CPU contributes to the parallel computation and mutation of new sheep, joining thousands of other computers around the world. You can also vote on sheep with your up and down … Read more

The days of cats amusing themselves with bits of string and dogs spending hours playing with their own, er, equipment are long gone. Sophisticated modern pets demand the latest high-tech gadgets to keep them stimulated, satisfied, and in 24-hour digital contact with their owners. We reveal what today's plugged-in pets are barking for.

Read more of "The best pet gadgets ever made" at Crave UK.

Children can have fun coloring cyber style with this computer-based coloring book. Coloring Book 10: Baby Animals includes a selection of baby animal drawings that children fill in by clicking on colors in preloaded palettes. Parents can help their children print their finished artwork with a few simple clicks.

Coloring Book 10: Baby Animals features a colorful, easy-to-use interface that children of all ages should be able to navigate. The program's drawings are simple, so older children may not find them challenging enough. Each drawing is "colored" by selecting colors from the palettes that ring the edges … Read more

Five Little Monkeys is a colorful sing-along app designed for toddlers and preschoolers, with three different versions--country, rock, and pop--of the popular simian head-injury song ("Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head..." etc.). Kids can select which version they want to hear using a visual menu, and then they watch the ever-dwindling squad of monkeys bouncing on said bed, as karaoke-style subtitles run below. You touch a monkey to trigger the next line of the song, at which point an owl--apparently a doctor, with a white coat and a head mirror--breaks … Read more