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The Seduction
The internet can be an escape from the world for many people, and for some people it can be an escape from themselves.
The internet has become a playground for many people to act out fantasies and take on new identities that were not possible before. This relatively new technology is allowing people to indulge in fantasies in much more sophisticated and "real" ways. The internet provides the dangerous combination of anonymity, impunity and no accountability.
Online Fantasies
Some studies show that as many as two-thirds of people who socialize online change their age or gender - But it is also often taken further. A quiet teenager in an online multiplayer game could be a powerful warlock and rule over a large virtual realm. Or an adult man could pretend to be a 14 year old boy talking to adolescent girls online. Either way, spending hours a day in this virtual identity, disconnected from reality, can lead to skewed and unbalanced real identities.
Addiction?
Although some hesitate to call it an addiction, there are clearly some people who have developed a strong dependency. Often times, getting overly involved in a secondary self is just an outlet for more serious issues. Problems at home or school or shyness and social phobia can lead people to find ways to live a life free of these stresses and anxieties. By pretending to be someone else, one can feel empowered and boost their self esteem while being acknowledged by anonymous others also in the system.
This can have a negative effect, as a person finds that they can relate less and less to those around them. As people spend more time online becoming deeply involved in a virtual identity, they can start to associate themselves more with their online selves than their real selves. Feelings of isolation can be compounded and the only friends one has to turn to are those who know you in the fantasy world.
No one knows the extent of the problem. Many people who get engrossed in another identity online will be spending much of their time in their room or a basement or a dark corner of an internet caf. The relationships that can develop through online chatting and socializing can be very real and satisfying, but without face to face interaction, there is no stability or framework for trust.
If young people become too used to interacting online where anything goes and they can be anybody, it can handicap their real social skills for the future. Online fantasy role playing can be a unhealthy escape for some people who need to confront and cope with more serious issues.
Do you play the game, or does it play you? Need to quit - Learn how http://www.choosehelp.com/internet-addiction
Learn more about the pleasures, and dangers, of virtual living http://www.troubleblog.com/internet-addiction/2008210/
AP - An impatient White House served notice Tuesday on banks and other financial companies receiving billions of dollars in federal help to quit hoarding the money and start making more loans.
Posted by frankvgmgzny | 1:34 PM | 
In years past, shoppers have trampled each other for the last Tickle Me Elmo doll or the latest video game console. So what are the hottest toys and games in 2007? Let's look at what's selling this year.
Nintendo Wii
The #1 toy this year isn't technically a toy. It's the Nintendo Wii video game system. The Wii is the latest console from Japanese maker Nintendo. Nintendo is known for quality of gameplay and the family friendliness of their game lineups, ease of use and game controls. The Wii is different from other video game systems, like the Sony Playstation and XBOX 360, mainly due to the controller. The controller is completely different from any other system available. The Wii controller consists of a remote that is motion sensitive, so that when you swing the remote like a tennis racquet, golf club or sword, you are controlling the character or action on screen. This type of controller is a major innovation and incorporates lots of physical movement into video games, where before there was virtually none. The Wii is also family friendly, with many games that kids and adults can play alone or together. In fact, the Wii has brought video gaming to the masses, where it's not uncommon to see whole families, spanning multiple generations playing a game of Wii tennis or bowling. In addition to the actual Wii video game system, there is no doubt that other hot items will include Wii games, including the massively popular and critically acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero III and Paper Mario. Still, probably the most popular Wii game of all, is free and comes with every Wii console system. That game is Wii Sports, and includes baseball, tennis, bowling, boxing and golf.
EyeClops Bionic Eye
This handheld magnifier is one of the biggest sellers this year. The Bionic Eye is basically a handheld device that magnifies and illuminates whatever you point it at and then transfers that image to your TV screen. It magnifies objects up to 200 times, so you can point it at just about anything and see even the tiniest details, including bugs, fabric, hair, food, and even your own skin.
Monopoly Here and Now Edition
While few families don't have a Monopoly game in their home, this isn't the classic version most people have. This is a completely updated version with new game pieces and new properties. Gone are the 4 railroads and in their place are major US airports. Gone are the utilities, they are replaced by cell phone and Internet companies. Gone are the shoe, old car and hat, all replaced by pieces like a jumbo jet, coffee mug and cell phone. In this Monopoly edition, the prices are all updated too, where Baltic Avenue used to be just $60, it's replacement, Texas Stadium is now $600,000. Sound like too much change? You'll be glad to know that the original Monopoly is still available.
VTech Kidizoom Camera
This digital camera made for kids has large rubberized grips on each side to make it easy for kids to hold and super easy to use controls. It can also take up to 120 photos or even up to 5 minutes of video footage. The camera can also be hooked up to a TV with included cables, so that you can view photos and videos on a big screen.
WebKinz
WebKinz are basically a stuffed animal, but what makes this stuffed animal different is its connection to the web, hence the name, WebKinz. Each plush critter comes with a special code that then allows the child access to an online game and community where they can create a virtual version of their WebKinz character and interact and play with other members.
Transformers Toys
The movie broke records earlier this summer, so understandably this increased interest in the original toys from the 1980's and also in the new versions of the toys. Favorite characters like BumbleBee and Optimus Prime are certain best sellers this year.
Lydia Quinn writes for SmellStickers.com, your online source for scratch and sniff stickers and gift sets. Visit us at http://www.smellstickers.com/
AP - Keanu Reeves says he slowly moved his Porsche forward to get a paparazzo to move out of the way, but never hit him.
Posted by frankvgmgzny | 1:23 PM |
The South African Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector is the new target for technology companies seeking to sell products and services. However, what does this turnaround in attitude mean for the small business owner?
In the past SMEs were seen as too small, with limited resources, requiring too much investment in time and back-up support from vendors. Also, it took too many small transactions to generate the same revenue that a large corporate or government contracts would make. So, the focus was on winning large government tenders and winning corporate clients, which brought in huge revenues once the contract was signed.
As for SMEs, it was much easier to sell them products and services that almost fit, and if the match was not so prefect, that was just too damn bad. You get what you pay for, and SMEs were seen to be paying little.
However, circumstances are changing and recently a number of ICT companies (ICT), such as Telkom, Cisco Systems, Acer and Dell have publicly stated the SME sector is a recognized growth market and they are developing ICT products and services aimed specifically to meet their needs.
African research house BMI-TechKnowledge says while SMEs accounted for 20% of technology companies revenue in 2006, their contribution will grow to 80% by 2015. Cinderella is becoming the favored princess, but what does all this new attention mean for the small business owner?
Your needs count
Technology providers are making an effort to understand the technology needs of SMEs and what particular challenges they have to deal with to thrive.
What this means is that as a favored buyer, you are now a position to make demands, and to give your business to whoever meets those demands best. Before, you could not complain too loudly, as you knew too well your hard earned cash wouldnt be missed too much anyway.
Products that fit
No longer does the SME owner/ manager have to take the technology solution that the salesman wants to sell and make do. The focus is now on ensuring that you get what you need to deliver your products and services efficiently.
Your supplier should also make sure that your technology solutions work efficiently, without uour having to worry about the details of how it works. The SME owner is like a conductor, who guides his orchestra to deliver beautiful music. But he does not have to fine tune the musical instruments or worry about the acoustics of the theatre, an analyst says.
There are still complaints among SMEs that large vendors dumb down on products that were initially intended for the corporate market, but many more entrepreneurs are developing products specifically for small business enterprises. Appropriate funding model
One of the challenges that SMEs face is cash flow SMEs never have too much coming in, and usually there is too much going out. Many vendors now offer funding models for technology investments that do not take hamper your SMEs operations.
Some of them even go as far as to say their funding models that allow you to keep money in your pocket, which you can use for other areas of your business. Find out how they can do that and if this kind of deal will cost you more than just paying cash in the long run.
Biography
Damaria Senne is a journalist and author based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She regularly interviews executives of multinational companies, government officials and regulators in the African communications market and foresees huge opportunities for content development in Africa in the next couple of years. Read her business articles at
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/sme/
AFP - North Korea threatened Tuesday to turn South Korea into "debris" in an unusually strong statement that demanded Seoul halt what the communist state called its policy of confrontation.
Posted by frankvgmgzny | 12:55 AM |
As a Wii fanatic, the best way to get a Wii game is to have it free of charge and a lot of web sites nowadays are giving out these Wii games free for downloading. However, downloading these games for free should be done with extra caution because just like other free downloads online such as music, video or other files, they come with risks as consequences for its free of cost feature resulting to a waste of time and spending more money.
Downsides of Free Wii Games
The most immense threat about downloading free games for your Wii is the threat of getting spyware and viruses on your computer. This can turn out to be a really serious problem for you if you are not extra careful in choosing the right download sites that offer games free of these spyware and viruses. Even if there are remedies for these virus attacks, it would be a totally different matter once the viruses infect your game console and end up paying a technician to repair your Wii for you.
Another downside of downloading free games in unsafe web sites is the possibility that the files you are downloading are damaged. Downloading a game takes a lot of time and it would really be frustrating that you get to realize the damage only after the download has been completed. You just wasted your time waiting for the completion of the download only to find out that the game file is actually damaged.
Safe Downloading
If you really want to save cost without the hassle of putting up with spyware or viruses and the probability that what you are downloading is damaged, then you must be extra careful in picking out the web site where you will be downloading your Wii games. Just because a web site is offering a Wii game download free of charge does not necessarily mean that this web site is unsecured or unsafe for you, your computer and your game console. There are still sites that are safe and it all depends on how you choose your downloading site.
There are sites that offer subscriptions and do not require you to pay for each downloaded game or require you to pay a monthly membership fee. You only need to pay once in these sites in order to have full access of their database for free. For a one time payment, you will be able to download all of the games that you want to have on your Wii console and the best thing is that you are not constrained by a bandwidth limit thus making it possible for you to download Wii games as many times as you want.
However, if you do not want a one time payment, you can just stick to becoming a member of particular download site. These sites also contain large databases of Wii games and not only that; you can also download music and movies in these sites.
The great thing about a site that offers subscriptions is that it guarantees Wii users that their games are virus free and absolutely genuine. For a little amount, you will be freeing yourself from all the stress of spyware, viruses and damaged files. Now, you wont have to worry about spending so much just to get your computer repaired and you Wii as well and you will not be wasting your time and effort downloading for games that do not live up to your expectations.
S. Stammberger is the owner of Download Wii Games - Visit her site and learn about the best places to download Wii games, music, movies, and software.
AP - Just a month ago, a bubbly Jennifer Hudson - who had been striking gold with just about everything she touched - was running down the list of all the projects that she expected would soon dominate her life.
Posted by frankvgmgzny | 12:47 AM |
