Hello from all of us on the Flipnote Hatena team. This is Aaron at Hatena's offices in Kyoto, Japan with another edition of our weekly news blog.
I enjoyed seeing how people worldwide approached the topic of "Text". I didn't realize that many people would creating Flipnotes about sending text messages ("texting") with mobile phones, and was quite surprised to see so many of those. There were many great Flipnotes posted and we hope you enjoy watching our favorites in the news this week.
This week's topic is based on the Japanese term "Shokuyoku no Aki" which literally translates to English as "Autumn, for hearty appetites". In the Autumn in Japan there are many delicious foods available such as Matsutake mushrooms (see photo below), persimmons, chestnuts, sanma (Pacific saury fish), sweet potatoes and salmon. Though diets and the foods that people like are different in all parts of the world, most people universally like to eat. For this reason I've broadly translated the title of the weekly topic to "Eating" and I hope that you can get inspired to create some Flipnotes about this.
Below are some photos of a few traditional Japanese autumn foods to whet your appetites:
Thanks for taking the time to check out the news this week and for posting all of your wonderful Flipnotes. Don't forget to eat well and enjoy some seasonal foods during the autumn -- it's a perfect match for those of you who have hearty appetites!
New limited edition themes: Forest Animals Collection
From now until October 15, 2010 (Friday), you'll get one chance to win a prize for every 10 stars you exchange for themes in the Color Star Exchange. If you're lucky you might win the weekly limited edition theme.
This week's limited edition theme features a cute chipmunk, and is available until September 30, 2010.
For more information about the Forest Animals Collection tap on the "Get Special Themes!" button on the top menu of Flipnote Hatena for Nintendo DSi.
This week's new themes
The Flipnote team has created two new Creator's Room themes that are available in the Color Star Exchange this week. Below are some screenshots and details about the new themes.
★Add an industrial look to your Creator's Room with this theme featuring a giant crane and smokestacks. (20 color stars).
★This theme features 5 funny characters on a polka-dotted blue background. (20 color stars).
The best of last week's topic: "Text"
We've selected some of the best Flipnotes posted from around the world that we hope you'll enjoy.
You can see all of the Flipnotes posted about last week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
You can also see the Flipnotes for last week's topic by entering the command 
via "Command Search" on Flipnote Hatena for Nintendo DSi.
Hatena's favorite "Text" Flipnotes from the Americas region
★ Athena (id:Atalina) made this nice animation of the "letter train".
★ Dudoy (id:dudoynjustine) created this Flipnote with animated text that contains a special message for someone.
★ Corjy (id:Corjy) animated the letters of the alphabet with great detail in this Flipnote.
★ phoenix (id:CandiPhoenixes) made all kinds of fun combinations of pictures and words with the letters of the alphabet.
★ sullivan (id:piperpiper1) drew a neat character that quickly jumps and moves around on text.
★ The letters of the alphabet morph together nicely in this Flipnote by Morphaman (id:FlipFreak)
Hatena's favorite "Text" Flipnotes from the Europe & Oceania region
★ Learn how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet in Italian in this Flipnote by SuperCesco (id:SuperCesco)
★ callum (id:CJK) made a series of letters from trees in this fun and creative Flipnote.
★ katt (id:katt2) created this amazing Flipnote where words made from the letters A-M are expressed with animation and sounds.
★ Heiza (id:zifrappadingue) animated the letters of the alphabet with wonderful fluid motion.
★ Mr.Gurgles (id:J-dude) made this Flipnote with funny alien-like characters who take the shape of the letters of the alphabet.
★ …∴ToaTom∴… (id:ToaTom) created an apple in this Flipnote by animating the letters of the word apple.
Hatena's favorite"Text" Flipnotes from Japan
★ Mososhiru (id:mososiru) animated a stick figure who bounces around on the word "Ugomemo", which means "Flipnote" in Japanese.
★ (=へ=) used the Kanji characters for "fire", "flames", "smoke", "wind", "clouds", "water", and "end" to make this Flipnote.
★ Euro created this Flipnote where a pen writes the Japanese word meaning "soft" ("fuwafuwa") that then becomes soft and gets pinched by a pair of fingers.
★ This Flipnote by Shio (id:sioo) is a good way to learn some basic Japanese. The Kanji character for "person" walks and trips on the character for "rock". The person then falls over under a tree made from the characters for "tree" and "leaves". The character for "bug" flies by, and then the character for "water" falls from the sky. Finally the person falls in the character for "hole".
★ ma-na (id:e29k10) made this Flipnote where a flock of birds spell out the word "Ugomemo", which means "Flipnote" in Japanese.
★ A cute character named "Kan-chan" creates various Japanese words in this cute Flipnote by Friza (id:homuta)
This week's topic: "Eating" (9/24/2010 - 10/1/2010)
In many parts of the world the summer has come to an end and it's time to harvest all kinds of wonderful autumn foods. To capture the spirit of the autumn season and all of the wonderful things to eat, we would like you to create Flipnotes that are about the topic of "eating".
Create Flipnotes about eating foods that you like, or about special foods for this time of the year in your part of world. You might even want to animate foods and bring them life in your Flipnotes. See where your creativity takes you!
We're looking forward to seeing your Flipnotes, and will feature some of the best ones next week here in the Flipnote Hatena Weekly News. Post the Flipnotes you create to channel 7 from Flipnote Hatena on your Nintendo DSi.
Also, please do not use copyrighted music in your Flipnotes if you want them to be featured here. Check out some of the sites below for Creative Commons licensable and other royalty free music:
You can see all of the Flipnotes currently posted about this week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
Weekly Frog Sighting
If you are interested in having your frog photo or illustration featured in the "Weekly Frog Sighting" section of the blog please post them on Hatena Haiku and we might feature it here.
Please submit only original photos/illustrations that you have created yourself.
★ This photo of a frog sprinkler was posted by a721pikachu
★ Edgar6 posted this cool drawing of the Flipnote Frog.
Please let us know what you think about the Flipnote Hatena Weekly News blog by posting any comments you might have in the box below. Thanks!
★ You can also see comments posted by Nintendo DSi users by viewing the comments for the Flipnote below:
