My Secret Circle is the first-ever secure social networking world designed for girls ages eight to 12 and their Internet-cautious parents. This “plug-‘n-play” product is available in a Single Pack for $19.99, and the B.F.F. Dual Pack retails for $29.99, and it allows girls to interact with one another and share pictures in a secure, invisible online world. In addition to security, other key features of My Secret Circle include All-About-Me profile pages with a Diva Designer avatar tool, an online journal that can be kept private or public for friends to read, instant messaging, games and an extensive photo feature in which girls can upload photos, add text, décor and even create slideshows. My Secret Circle is now available exclusively in select Justice stores nationwide.

“We feel My Secret Circle is a great fit for our customer because it provides features that offer girls an opportunity for self expression and individual creativity with an alternative to traditional unsecured online chat and still allows her to socialize with her closest circle of friends,” says Scott Bracale, president of Tween Brands Agency, Inc.

APOLLO 11 BLASTS OFF AGAIN ON JULY 16TH AT WECHOOSETHEMOON.ORG

JFK Presidential Library Site Re-Creates Historic 1969 Mission Online
and Invites the World On Board for a Four-Day Odyssey

Boston, MA – July 13, 2009 – The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is nearing the launch date of their new interactive website designed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, inspired by President Kennedy’s grand vision that made the achievement possible.

WeChooseTheMoon.org, http://www.wechoosethemoon.org, will go live on July 16, 2009 at 8:02 a.m. and will take off at 9:32 a.m. – exactly 40 years to the minute after the historic launch.  The site, powered by AOL, will recreate Apollo 11’s lunar mission, minute by minute, with an interactive experience that lets visitors experience the mission as it happened, using archival audio, video, photos and “real-time” transmissions on the site and via Twitter.

Three Twitter Feeds to Follow

Some of the most revealing and riveting parts of the Apollo 11 journey are the conversations between the spacecraft and Houston, Houston back to the spacecraft and transmissions between Columbia and “Eagle’ after they separate to descend to the lunar surface. Follow them all:

Apollo 11 to Houston = AP11_Spacecraft
Houston to Apollo 11= AP11_Capcom
Eagle to Houston & Columbia = AP11_Eagle

“When President Kennedy challenged the nation to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to earth before the end of the decade, his appeal led to one of the greatest technological achievements in U.S. history,” said Tom Putnam, Director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “WeChooseTheMoon.org will use today’s technology to bring President Kennedy’s vision to life, recreating the historic 1969 Apollo 11 mission and providing a unique opportunity for visitors to experience the adventure as it happened 40 years ago.”

WeChooseTheMoon.org by the numbers:
• 400 NASA photographs and 44 archival videos
• 109 hours, 24 minutes of audio transmissions streamed “as they happened”
• Approximately 700 Mission tweets featuring real-time transmission excerpts
• 102 hours, 45 minutes and 39.9 seconds of mission tracking
• 11 mission-critical events rendered in stunning animation
• 2,223 pages of declassified mission documents influence mission’s authenticity

“The undertaking is pretty massive. We’re joking a lot about how sending millions to the moon in cyberspace in 2009 is going to end up taking just as much time as sending three guys to the moon in 1969,” said Joe Alexander, creative director at The Martin Agency. “But truly, we feel honored to be doing it. There’s a real sense of purpose, living up to JFK’s idea that the space race will bring out the best in us. We don’t want to let JFK – in a real sense, our client – down. So there’s a little pressure, which is good.”

Click here for more information on President Kennedy’s role in the Space Race.

To help extend the experience for users, AOL has integrated a host of special programming features and interactive tools, which are also available at http://news.aol.com/.  Highlights include:
• AOL News, http://news.aol.com/, will feature “11 Things You May Not Know About Apollo 11,” photos and additional content that will help users learn more about this moment in history.
• AOL’s popular kids’ site KOL, http://www.kol.com/, is featuring special content just for the younger set.  Kids can learn about the moon landing in 1969, check out photos, play space games and find links to the top space sites for children.
• AIM, http://www.aim.com, is offering four specially-created Moon Buddy Icons.
• AOL’s social media network Bebo, http://www.bebo.com, is featuring an interactive moon profile where users can share their excitement about the countdown and the live event.
• AOL.com is featuring a moon landing theme for those who want to customize their homepage during the live event.

“Putting a man on the moon was one of mankind’s greatest achievements and we are proud to partner with the JFK Presidential Library and Museum and The Martin Agency to bring the historic event to life online.  This site will give audiences young and old a way to experience the Apollo 11 mission as it happened by combining the latest technology and social media tools with a wealth of archival material,” said Bill Wilson, president of AOL’s MediaGlow. “In addition to powering the site, AOL is also promoting the online event through its vast network, which reaches more than 200 million users worldwide.”

People interested in experiencing the virtual re-creation of Apollo 11 can preregister to receive event email reminders and get regular “real-time” updates during the four-day mission from July16th through July 20th. After the four-day event, the site will become a self-guided tour that visitors can explore at their own pace.

The Martin Agency conceived the WeChooseTheMoon.org site concept and partnered with Domani Studios of New York for all animation and interactive production.  Hosting for WeChooseTheMoon.org is provided by AOL.  Visitors to the site can also experience a four day rebroadcast of the live radio transmissions which will be powered by AOL’s SHOUTcast – an online radio directory that features more than 30,000 professional and community-programmed stations from around the world.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Kennedy Library Foundation seek to promote, through educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.

The game unfolds in a story style. You are the former racing town Speedville’s last hope to save it from becoming a giant landfill. The last famous racer disappeared in a freak hot air balloon accident. You help bring racing back to Speedville by traveling around and helping out your friends with their requests and racing for them in various tournaments. As you help them they give you blueprints for more advanced parts that you can have built and installed on your car to make it faster. It’s not much of a plot, but it sure is fun and who plays racing games for their plot anyway?

This seems especially designed to be female friendly since you constantly get to decorate your car and change things on it, or even your character. There are even a few girly tracks, like the one where you visit a salon to get your helmet head taken care of. Or one of the things you can send to your fellow racers is a pink bunny called Bunny Love. It covers their screens completely with pink bunnies so they can’t see anything, and you can rush past them.

Fans of kart style races won’t be able to help but see the similarities to Mario Kart for Wii. Instead of red shells, you have a heat seeking water melon accelerator. Instead of turning into a bullet to get back in the game, you get picked up by a UFO. Instead of banana peels, you have slippery pumpkins. You can drift, jump, and superboost as well. There are secret pathways with goodies on each track too.

If you are a Mario Kart racing fan, and you can do all the tracks forwards and backwards in your sleep, then you probably will want to check this game out. It offers all the racing fun of Mario Kart, while letting you customize your own character and car. Overall’s it’s a lot of fun. However, it seemed that the controls lacked the precise control and real feel of driving that Mario Kart offers. The game also lacks the ability for online play, which would have added a ton of re-playability. However, you can play with up to four players. Also, a Nintendo DS specific feature allows you to race up to four players using a wifi connection.

Don’t get us wrong, this game is fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Kids ages 8-12 (the target audience of the whole MySims genre) will absolutely love it. But if you are a Kart racing purist (if such a thing exists…) then you will probably want to play Mario Kart before you go and buy MySims Racing. However, if you are just starting out in racing, this is a great first time racers game. There are so many training and easy courses that its easy to feel like you are doing really good. At the same time, you can opt for the more challenging ones and win more upgrades and goodies. This retails for about $40. That is without the racing wheel, although it was very easy to play without it.

The good: Characters and cars are fun to design, graphics are great, plenty of fun power-ups.
The bad: No online play. It could use to be a little more challenging.

• Over 600 customizable items to choose from
• Style yourself and friends over and over again
• Check your message box to see who needs help with an outfit
• Store your favorite outfits in your wardrobe and use them again later
• Invite up to three of your friends to a Dress-Up party and rate one another on your styling skills
• T-Shirt designer customize your own T-Shirt to wear or share with friends
• Interoperability with the entire MyGames Series releasing this Summer-Share a full makeover from My Make-Up with My Dress Up and chat with your other My Dress Up, My Make-Up, and My Secret Diary friends, via DS Wireless Communications

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