Reviews

Cowabunga! This is one for the Saturday morning cartoon set. E-mail for Kids will give parents hope that their children won't abandon the lost art of correspondence. An e-mail system with the same functions as most, well, "adult" systems, E-mail for Kids camouflages the staid applications with walking, talking, off-the color-palette graphics that will make users forget they're writing letters. Parents serve as supervisors, setting access limits and allotting "stamp" allowances which control the number of letters kids send.

Kids sign on at a screen showing an overhead view of destination choices -- "deserted island," "secret agent island," "space age island," "prehistoric island" and "haunted house island". One click will take you to an island (screen) offering e-mail applications such as letter writing, an address file and incoming mail. Each screen is animated, with a click of the mouse causing flowers to bloom or a piece of paper to fold into an airplane and fly around. The "Kidbox" icon character prompts users to perform actions via audio.

Large font sizes and the surrounding graphics make writing letters easy and fun. The secret agent island even allows you encrypt messages. And for those who still find any kind of written correspondence a chore, E-mail for Kids offers a "Quick Message" function which includes a choice of pre-formatted for occasions like birthdays and holidays.

Kids hop onto a trend at the first whiff of something fun and exciting, and E-mail for kids could be the next trend. Some adults may find themselves regular users as well. And we could see this becoming the "in" thing among college students - masters of combining the unique and the practical.