KidZui - The Internet for Kids (Mac) for Mac

CNET Editors' review

by: Seth Rosenblatt on December 08, 2008

KidZui seems like a kiddified browser with social networking rolled in. Children can find their favorite YouTube videos, rate content using tags, and share opinions with other KidZui friends, all from a colorful interface with big buttons and labels. KidZui is anything but a standard kids' browser, though, and what makes it so unique is precisely why it's such a safe tool for children.

KidZui is a closed system, not filter-driven, so all content that's available has been approved by editors into a whitelist database. Kids can explore the Internet by using the search/URI bar, or search by a left-nav sidebar that's organized by topics including science, movies and TV, games, sports, and animals. Just below the search bar are three tabs, for Web browsing, photos, and video. The latter two work much like Google's Image and Video searches, where you type what you're looking for into the URI bar, and the tab automatically narrows it down to the specific type of content you want.

Parental registration is required before your child can create an online identity. Kids can customize their avatars to a limited degree in the free version, with more options available via upgrading. Free KidZui is fully functional, but the paid upgrade definitely offers more. Among the additions, children get more content rating tags, more avatar clothing, and more backgrounds, while parents get the ability to block individual sites, can view an unlimited history of the child's browsing, and can force-add sites to their children's favorites list.

KidZui offers kids one of the safest methods we've seen to use the Web, while parents get the peace of mind that their children are learning and having fun while remaining the final arbiter of the Internet experience.