TVSquad

Kids starting to develop breathing problems? Might be time to drag them off the couch and away from Naruto.

Researchers say kids who watch more than five hours of TV a day are more likely to develop asthma, according to a story in Britain's Telegraph. Scientists found that the danger of these kids developing asthma was raised by more than half compared with kids who watch just one hour of TV a day.

As I'm reading this, I realize this theory has nothing to do with TV per se, but rather the fact that kids who watch that much TV are Certified Couch Potatoes. That means: 1) They don't get enough exercise; 2) their breathing is shallower than kids who play stick-ball and build forts in the woods; and 3) they eat more junk food, which leads to fatter kids, which is linked with asthma.

Celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels is joining the exer-gaming trend. The Biggest Loser star is developing her own fitness game for Nintendo Wii. Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 will incorporate Wii's Balance Board into a fitness program. Michaels will provide health advice and exercise routines. She has already released a book (Making the Cut) and a workout DVD called 30 Day Shred.

Michaels hopes that her latest venture will attract younger customers as well as adults, and that it will contribute to the fight against childhood obesity. Fitness Ultimatum follows in the footsteps of Wii Fit, another exercise game released earlier this year. Majesco Entertainment intends to release the game during the upcoming holiday season.

We knew the BBC was considering launching its iPlayer online video service for set top boxes like the Apple TV and possibly even the Xbox 360. But here's one I really didn't see coming. The BBC has announced plans to bring the iPlayer to Nintendo Wii users.

The iPlayer channel should go live for British Wii owners tomorrow, although the BBC is still working on the software and a more advanced version should be released later.

Apparently the BBC also plans to add iPlayer functionality to television sets/set top boxes soon. The service lets Brits watch any program that's aired on the BBC over the past week for free. The service is not likely to become available outside of the UK anytime soon, since it's funded by the television license fee paid by British residents.

[via Automated Home]

Here's a video game that promises to slice up the competition. A cut above. It will serve up a dish full of fun for gamers everywhere. It'll be... All right, you get it. Food cliches. Chop-chop. But, seriously, in a marriage between the Food Network and United Media, Iron Chef: America is coming to the home market. Destineer today announced plans to publish the video game Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine exclusively for the Wii system and Nintendo DS. It's based on the popular food network competition show, which in turn is based on the original Iron Chef in Japan, produced by Fuji Television.

NBC is certainly giving their new comedy Chuck a good PR push, and it's now headed off on something of an unconventional path. The latest bit of Chuck pseudo-PR is a top ten list over at The Bachelor Guy. It's a post reportedly from our hero, Chuck Bartowski, running down the top ten things you'll need when running from assassins.

It's not what I would deem comedy gold or anything, but he manages to get a dig in at the iPhone keyboard, sing the praises of the Wii, and use the word spork, which you just don't see every day. You can also follow along with Chuck on twitter, if you've jumped on that bandwagon.

I give the whole thing extra points just for being different. Maybe it's because I've watched too much TV (is that possible?) over the summer, but at this point in the new season game, I've grown awfully tired of the same promos for the same shows over and over. It's time for premieres, and week after week with new episodes. Until then, the goofy web hijinks are a welcome distraction.

Orb has been a great utility for streaming audio, video, and pictures from your PC to pretty much any machine with a web browser. We've already told you about how you can use Orb to (sort of) turn your PS3 or Wii into a media extender.

But what about an Xbox 360? This week, Orb added support for that console as well. Sure, the 360 is already designed to be a media extender. But it's always nice to have choices, right?

With the PS3 and Wii, you have to use Orb's web interface. Xbox 360 users just have to make sure their console is connected tot heir LAN. Then all you do is go tot he media tab in your Xbox 360, select the media type you want to play (music, video, or photo), click "computer," and select the PC you want to stream content from.

[via EngadgetHD]

The Nintendo Wii includes an editor that allows you to create your own avatar - called a "Mii" - to use while playing Wii games. As you might imagine, it took all of three seconds before people started creating celebrity Miis and uploading them to the internet. Search "mii" in flickr, and you'll find Amy Sedaris as Jerri Blank, Spike Lee and Borat. Kottee hosted a celebrity Mii contest back in December, which resulted in my favorite Mii to date - David Foster Wallace playing tennis.

It was just a matter of time before an Office fanatic had too much time on his hands and created Office Miis - the entire cast of the Emmy Award-winning show as Nintendo avatars. Jim, Dwight and Kevin look the best, but they're all little works of time-wasting, pop culture-inspired art. You can check them out on Flickr.

[Via Digg]