The (Great !!!!) Adobe team, which we  have worked closely with in the past months, helped to solve some KIDO’Z specific issues and made a huge improvements in the overall performance. All of that enables us to deliver now even better online experience for millions of  kids around the globe.

More Power:

The KIDO’Z Application now uses less CPU and up to 30% less memory.

This means that users should see an immediate improvement in performance, particularly on less powerful machines.

More Speed:

Adobe AIR 2 has an improved JavaScript engine which works up to twice as fast as the old one. This means that many of  your child’s  favorite sites will now work  faster and more efficiently with the KIDO’Z Browser.

More Stability

A new integrated browser together with some major bugs fixing, improves KIDO’Z’s stability and eliminates all crashing issues that some of you had when browsing certain sites.

To take advantage of the new Adobe Air 2, simply go to:
http://get.adobe.com/air/ and upgrade.

(No need to upgrade the KIDO’Z application)

Just a quick note to let you know about the new outfits we  have just added.

The items can be found in the shirts and trousers sections when editing the avatar.

For those of you that are not familiar with avatar editing, it can be done by navigating from the main menu on the bottom to “Places” and then pressing on the “Edit” button.

The new outfits are  available  for our KIDO’Z PLUS subscribers only.

For more details about KIDO’Z PLUS and how to upgrade please click here.

If you would like your kid to learn and develop English skills (whether its as a foreign language or as a first language), or if you are running a school’s English program, then this exciting new venture is likely to interest you!

We at KIDO’Z are proud to announce our premium partnership with Adventure City. What this means for you and your kids is that they can now learn English from the basic ABC skills right up to reading and writing..and all in the safe and kid-friendly environment of KIDO’Z.

This partnership is the perfect match - giving this interactive kids’ learning program its ideal home in an interactive, safe and user-friendly kids’ environment.

Adventure City is an online learning environment for young learners of English as a foreign language or as a first language, and is suitable for kids age 4-12 years old.

Adventure City is home to hundreds of interactive educational tools, activities, games and stories for kids - promoting stimulation, learning and fun. There are different learning levels from beginner to intermediate, and kids don’t even have to have any prior English/computer skills to use the program.

It is a remarkable tool for both school learning and at-home supplementary learning for kids, as it can be used in conjunction with any English learning program.

And now, this unique educational program can be found in KIDO’Z as one of the KIDO’Z Premium Packages.

All KIDO’Z users are automatically given a trial version of Adventure City for 7 days to test out and explore the program. This trial version is available exclusively for KIDO’Z users.

Then, to sign up to the Adventure City Premium Package, parents/educators simply need to join for a small monthly/annual fee. This can be done easily through the KIDO’Z Parental Control Account.

If you have any comments or questions on the Adventure City Package, please contact us at info@kidoz.net and we will respond asap.

Begin your child’s first English adventure now!

After they’ve had their playdates, parties and fun at school, kids are now able to also socialize on the web through KIDO’Z, and parents are able to build these social networks for their kids!

We are really excited to be experiencing the KIDO’Z journey with all the parents and kids in the KIDO’Z Community and we thank you for all your support this past year.

In honor of New Year 2010, we have a KIDO’Z PLUS Special for all our KIDO’Z users…

KIDO’Z PLUS will be open to everyone for 7 whole days! until 3.1 2010 you and your kids will be able to enjoy all the fun features of KIDO’Z PLUS at NO CHARGE!!

Happy New Year and all the best for 2010 !

The KIDO’Z Team

According to a survey conducted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Cox Communications, approximately only 50% of the parents surveyed were monitoring their children’s internet activity on a daily or weekly basis. The remaining 50% of the parents claimed not to have or were unsure if they have monitoring software on their computer(s).

With KIDO’Z, kids are not only protected in a kid-friendly, secure environment, but parents are also able to track their kids’ Internet usage with KIDO’Z STATISTICS.

KIDO’Z STATISTICS gives parents detailed usage reports of their child’s KIDO’Z usage.

These usage reports show:

• Daily Time Spent on KIDO’Z
• Favorite Tools
• Usage Pattern per day
• Most Popular Content

KIDO’Z STATISTICS is easily accessed by parents through the KIDO’Z Parental Control Account by clicking on the STATISTICS tab, and is available only to KIDO’Z PLUS users.

Here is a quick video tutorial showing How to Access KIDO’Z STATISTICS:

To have full access to this useful tool, you can easily become a KIDO’Z PLUS user by upgrading through your Parental Control Account.

Have a good week!

Nici, KIDO’Z

The rich mail editor allows the kids to draw, paint, edit background and animation and write. It also allows them to express themselves and their creativity and more then that is allows them to share it and to communicate with friends and family even if they still can’t read or write.

The KIDO’Z MAIL gives preschoolers the power to share their art work with their parents or to communicate with their grandparents or to exchange cool Ecards with their friends. This generated a lot of excitement  and thousands of KIDO’Z Mails are being sent daily.

As the system is not based on language or text it is interesting to see how kids from all over the world are in many ways “speaking” the same visual language.

Click on the picture below to watch a gallery of some of the KIDO’Z Mails that we’ve gotten over the last  few days.

]]> http://kidoz.net/blog/kids_from_all_over_the_world_-speak_one_language/feed/ http://kidoz.net/blog/new_kidoz_with_social_network_and_email_for_kid/ http://kidoz.net/blog/new_kidoz_with_social_network_and_email_for_kid/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:14:49 +0000 admin http://kidoz.net/blog/?p=480 Hi Everyone,
We are happy to announce the new KIDO’Z version with new and exciting tools ,features and content…

So what’s new?
You all know how great KIDO’Z already is as a kids environment to browse sites, watch videos and play games , this new version takes Kids’ Internet to the next level with its introduction of a unique social layer for kids.

KIDO’Z FRIENDS
Your kids can now socialize and communicate with other KIDO’Z friends, friends being other kids, you the parents, grandparents or any other family members. All friends are added and managed by you the parents via the parental control area , ensuring that your kids are safe at all times and can communicate only with persons you have approved.

KIDO’Z MAIL
The KIDO’Z MAIL enables your Kids to send and receive emails and e-cards, the KIDO’Z MAIL visual editor includes drawing tools and libraries of animated backgrounds and stickers that can be added allowing your kids to express themselves and their creativity and to communicate even if they still don’t know how to read or write.

KIDO’Z PLACES
KIDO’Z PLACES is where friends, self-expression and creativity meet , each kid on KIDO’Z now gets a PLACE where he can edit his virtual space and create his identity , his avatar. Friends can visit each others places and communicate with each other directly from there.

KIDO’Z PLUS
The new version also introduces the first KIDO’Z Premium Package, KIDO’Z PLUS has even more specialized tools and content, and is available at a small monthly fee. KIDO’Z PLUS includes:
• KIDO’Z STATISTICS, which gives parents detailed usage reports of their child’s KIDO’Z usage
• KIDO’Z SECURITY Advanced Security Settings
• Full Access to avatar styling
• Full Access to room editing
• Tons of cool items for the email

How do I upgrade ?
If you have KIDO’Z installed on your computer upgrade should start automatically next time you start the application. You can also just go directly to our homepage and install it from there http://kidoz.net

We hope you and your kids will enjoy the new version and we will be more than happy to get feedback from you.

The former National Geographic Kids Entertainment (NGKE) President and Founder, Donna Friedman Meir, has just joined the KIDO’Z Leading Team in the role of Chief of Content and Strategy.

Donna is a top kids’ entertainment executive, power mom and Harvard University Magna Cum Laude Graduate. She was even named one of the top 25 most powerful women in television by Electronic Media in 2002!

Donna’s professional background spans more than two decades in the Kids’ Entertainment industry, and prior to National Geographic Kids, she was the Executive Vice-President of Programming at Kids’ WB! and held several senior posts at Nickelodeon, where she made a huge impact in the organization.

She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband Gadi and her two kids, Alyla and Joss, who are founding (and passionate!) members of the KIDO’Z community.

Donna’s expertise in the Kids’ Entertainment industry will add tremendous value in shaping the content and overall creative strategy for KIDO’Z, to ensure that it becomes the leading content platform for kids on the web.

Donna joining the KIDO’Z Team comes at an opportune time, as we will be launching the latest KIDO’Z version (v2.0) later this month! This version will bring users even more exciting features, tools and content, and Donna will be instrumental in making sure that both kids and parents are delighted, excited, educated and entertained even more than ever before!

There has been a huge media buzz around this announcement all weekend long.

To take a look at our full media press release, please click here.

Have a great week!

Nici, KIDO’Z

In this digital age, gone are the days of encyclopedias and other such archaic supplementary learning tools.

Information has never been more accessible as it is through the Internet. For this reason, the Internet is a valuable learning tool for kids even as young as toddler age.

Kids can learn so much from the Internet both to complement their school curriculum as well as to learn exciting new things about the world around them. Through the web, the world is their oyster, and they have access to almost limitless knowledge and interactive educational materials through websites, video content and games.

KIDO’Z provides access to hundreds of educational Youtube videos for kids. Videos are uploaded continuously by parents and teachers, and are moderated by the KIDO’Z Team before being added to the relevant channels. KIDO’Z has a number of educational video channels, such as the Learning Channel, Science Channel and ‘How-to’ Channel.

Educational games provide kids with a fun means of gaining knowledge and improving skills. Brain Safari and Type n Pop are two examples of such educational games that can be found in KIDO’Z.

Brain Safari is a series of different games that develop logic and memory skills, while Type n Pop improves kids’ typing skills.

There is a huge amount of great educational websites available for children of all ages, covering a range of subjects. It is therefore a challenge for parents to find sites that are most suitable for their kid(s).

We at KIDO’Z are here to do that for you and here are some examples of websites in KIDO’Z that focus on kids’ learning and education:

SuperWHY! is the animated PBS TV series for kids and has a cool website targeting kids aged 3-6 years old.

SuperWHY! is a great learning tool for kids and teaches them important reading skills, such as the alphabet, spelling and rhyming.

It does this in a fun and interactive way using four energetic characters each of whom represent a different learning skill. Kids will love the stimulating games, activities, videos and catchy tunes.

National Geographic Kids brings the natural world into your living room and opens kids eyes to new knowledge.
The website is full of educational content and imagery about wildlife, geography, people and places. Content is updated monthly to ensure a continuous fresh perspective of the world.
Kids will be educated in a fun and meaningful way with facts, games, stories and activities.

WordWorld brings kids into a magical world of words to teach preschool kids how to spell, and shows them in a visual and fun way how to create words. In WordWorld, words come alive and by doing so, make learning how to spell and read an adventure for young kids.

WordWorld is an educational PBS series for preschool kids.

Perhaps your child has other educational sites and/or videos that he/she likes best or you have other examples that you have found on the web. If so, we would love for you to add these to KIDO’Z through the Parental Control Account.

If you are unsure how to add new websites, please click here for the full video demonstration, and this tutorial shows you how to add new videos.

Happy Learning and we hope that the new school year has gotten off to a great start!

Nici, KIDO’Z