I made my first visit to COMDEX in Las Vegas last November. This is the premier trade show in the computer industry and it was great. There were a lot of new products introduced, including the $199 Dell Axim and the $300 HP h1910 iPAQ Pocket PCs, 3GB CF cards from Pretec, wireless applications, software, and more. And this was just stuff for the Pocket and Handheld PCs. Although many products and companies caught my attention, one extraordinary endeavor stood out from the rest.
Serving future generations
I met a charming lady named Jutka T. Emoke Barabas, who is the co-founder, president, and CEO of 9Isles International, Inc. Headquartered in Hawaii, the company has as its mission the visionary goal of serving future generations and promoting world peace by supporting family values and educating people globally.
Jutka was born in Hungary in 1951 at the end of the Stalin era. She was imprisoned for writing critically about the regime but escaped to Switzerland in 1972 by hiding in a wooden box labeled "air cargo." After furthering her education at the University of Zurich and Hawaii Pacific University, she became a Swiss citizen in 1985. She was awarded the State of Zurich literary award in 1987 for her book, Apprenticeship of a Refugee. Now living in Hawaii, she became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
Along with her three partners, Zoltan Laszio Horvath, Kutasi Katalin, and Zoltan Toth, who all live in Hungary, Jutka works to create Pocket PC products that help fulfill their company's mission and that are based on education, entertainment, and excitement. Most importantly, their products offer an alternative to all the destruction and brutality generated in most computer games.
The 9Isles International Team
Aerobeak Goes on a Ride
9Isles recently released their first game for the Pocket PC, Aerobeak Goes on a Ride. Aerobeak is a "manu," the Polynesian word for bird. In this game Aerobeak travels through two worlds, with nine levels of play, scoring points for picking up the designated number of pineapples in the fastest time possible while avoiding lurking dangers. A new version is currently being developed which will add new characters that interact with each other, more scenes from the enchanted island of Hawaii, a "game in the game" supplement, and more worlds and levels of play. The game has educational elements such as questions and logical puzzles.
Jutka was kind enough to let me download this game to try it out before it was released. Actually, I had someone else, who is better at these Pocket PC games, test it for me. My 7-year-old grandson Ben was at our home for Thanksgiving and spent over an hour playing it. He graded it an "A"! (His other favorite games on the Pocket PC are Scrabble and SimCity 2000.) I like the simpler games a grandpa can understand, like FreeCell (www.softspd.com) and SoftET Koule (www.softet.com). But with some help from Ben, I did manage to take a bike ride with Aerobeak. We went across an "enchanted isle" picking up pineapples while trying to avoid running into palm trees and rocks, as well as steering clear of some not-so-friendly creatures. When we got in trouble, there were pop-up multiple choice questions to help us get moving again, and help educate us about our environment, science, history, geography, and more.
Aerobeak might not make it into Allen Gall's Games Roundup. But if you're a parent or grandparent who has had your fill of the terror and violence in most video games, this is a great game for kids to play on a Pocket PC. I think adults will enjoy it, too.
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