theBlu

According to its creators, theBlu is a "revolutionary new app?a living, breathing digital art exhibit of ocean habitats and species." Talk about lofty goals for of all things, a screensaver. But, heck, Ted Danson is involved, so how bad can it be? So what is it, exactly? Though theBlu does serve as a screensaver, it's also a visually ravishing game-like social app that takes you under the waves for a delightful escape from this landlocked world. It's the opportunity to learn about that essential 71 percent of Earth's surface, which a large portion of any money you spend in the app will go towards protecting?something to keep in mind for today's observance of World Oceans Day.

Signup and Setup
Both Windows and Mac versions of theBlu are available for download from theBlu.com. Internet Explorer's download protection warned that this is not a commonly installed app; bypass that if you see it. On the Mac, it's a PKG installer, which takes you through setup, but this still tells you to go into your System Preferences and set theBlu as your screensaver. On first run, you can either create an account or enter as a guest. You can sign in simply with a Facebook account. You can also sign up with a simple email registration. The app is technically a beta, but I only ran into the occasional, insignificant glitch.

Once you've got an account, you'll see account icons for famous people you can "follow" a la Twitter. Some of these include Richard Branson, Neil Young, and Queen Noor. You'll meet less lofty folk, too, as you wade through the app. You can then optionally fill out your profile; one box here asks "why do you love the oceans?" That's an easy one?body surfing. But seriously, who doesn't love the sea?

Then you're asked to invite friends. For each new signup you bring along, you'll earn a new rare fish. My first was the Pink Skunk, which actually is a fish rather than a mammal, as the name might suggest. I invited everyone on my Facebook friend list whose name started with an A and who I thought wouldn't be annoyed by the intrusion.

Interface
theBlu takes over your whole display when you launch it, giving you and undersea view of the ocean and playing soothing piano, string, and synth music. After setup and social connections, it's time to explore the deep. To do this, you simply click on species, and you may even decide to adopt one. Hitting Escape will take you right out of this world, by the way. There's a definite 3D video game feel to theBlu. There are levels, more advanced ones are locked, just as in Angry Birds. Just two settings choices are available: music off and show fish name. Showing the fish name is helpful, but takes away from the pure beauty of the scene.

I first traveled to My Habitat, though this wasn't the level I was in to start with. Turns out that My Habitat just contains fish you've purchased. I proceeded to the Coral Reef. It took a surprisingly long amount of travel time. After restarting the app, I was instantly in the Coral Reef. There I saw icons for buying, following. Along the bottom, status updates showed me other users' fish entering my little patch of coral reef. You can click on the user name to see her profile and pals.

A Next View icon let me circle around the reef, for looks from the other sides. Another button let me take a photo, which I could share to Facebook. My view wasn't still: It was more like I was floating in the water, my body swayed by the current and my breathing. The Follow Fish option was more enjoyable than just watching the reef from one spot: You could really enjoy the fish and feel more a part of the surroundings, and the fishes' movements were surprisingly realistic.

The Fish Store
It was time to get more involved. I headed to the Store, where I could choose among Featured, Spheres. Each fish is attached to an ocean nonprofit group, such as Mission Blue, Ocean Elders, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. You get 100 credits to start with, and after that, you can purchase more, starting at $3 for 20 credits, all the way up to $250 for 5000 credits. A $19.99 Pro version of the app adds more species and habitats.

You also get Social Points whenever you connect to another user, for example by simply clicking on their fish. Once you accumulate 500 Social Points, you're awarded more credits for buying fish and entry to habitats. Clicking on a fish also lets you see its designers and programmers, as well as species info.

I bought a Clownfish. After a close up view, my fish entered the reef among other users'. He looked so small and vulnerable, but I couldn't yet afford a hammerhead shark.

You can also purchase other habitats, or "spheres." The selection is tempting; Open Water, The Deep, Outer Seychelles, Cliff, and Micro Habitat. I wanted to see some of those other habitats, so I plunked down my credit card for 100 points?it's that enticing. You can also simply donate, but taking part in the theBlu experience is more fun.

Whenever I bought a fish or habitat, the program suggested I share the fact on Facebook, which I did for the first couple of purchases. You can also snap photos from within the sea, and if you share these they'll appear in your Facebook photo galleries.

Dive In!
I really liked my time in theBlu, and plan on visiting again. It's an ongoing project, so future visits will yield new sights and species. Whether you use this game-like environment simply to enjoy the view, learn, or start supporting ocean causes, it's well worth the short time it takes to install, set up, and learn. So dive in, the water's fine!

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