Google has added millions of dollars in additional revenue to its already deep and sagging pockets. They have reintroduced gambling to Adwords! The search giant has revealed that it has now decided to allow licensed gaming operators to buy paid search ads.

Google used to allow gaming operators to place paid ads previously, but banned them as of 2007; if it can actually be called a ban. There is a reason for saying this. If someone typed “online gambling” it yielded no results because of the ban; however, a small typo, such as “gmabling” instead of gambling, and it is surprising to see the huge number of ads show up royally in the paid Google ads section.

Any small misspelling saw the gambling ads being displayed all through the ban period and as expected almost all the gaming operators took advantage of this open secret. If you look at the sponsored links section of Google, you will find more than 25 pages of such ads, which shows that wily marketers who are always on the prowl to find ways to get in, have managed to find this loophole long back – perhaps just as soon as the ban was implemented. These smart operators may not use the word “gambling” or related words in their ads; but they certainly leave nothing to the imagination. They make sure the message gets across in one way or the other. Example: “Take Advantage Of 100% Bonus On Your First Deposit.” Read the rest of this entry »

If you have seen serious gamers, you would notice they do not just play their games, gaming is a passion with them. They do everything possible to win their games, including using cheat codes. Now there are better and more powerful tools known as game controllers, which is the name given to a tool that lets the player control the game better and are proving to be invaluable. These tools have been created for fanatical gamers who would do anything to get closer to gaming glory.

Hook, Line and Sinker: The best part about games is that one can do everything they are not good at in real life, like fishing. Angling has its share of staunch devotees in the gaming world. Gaming accessory manufacturers have created controllers that look and function exactly like fishing rods. Sega’s version for the Dream Cast is multi-functional and can be used not just as a fishing rod but also for playing tennis games. This tool uses the latest technology and all the player has to do is wave the controller around and press the necessary buttons to get the rod moving on the screen.

Caged Fight: For intense gamers who find just moving their fingers for playing a game not exciting enough, the Dream Machine created by Robert James-Herbert is truly a dream come true. This is a computer game control simulation system that comprises of a steel cage with small points. Players have to stand inside the cage and use their bodies to control the action on the screen. For example, if the player tilts, the vehicle on the screen tilts. It is compatible with every platform. This is one of the most amazing tools a gamer can possess. The only drawback is the price, which is slightly on the higher side at $1,700. But it is certainly worth it for players who look for a real-life gaming experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Facebook seems to land itself into trouble again and again, with lawsuits being filed against it from all corners.

The fight with 02138 ended in a fiasco with the ruling going against Facebook. Let us go back and see what happened. It all began with an article in 02318, an independent magazine geared towards Harvard alumni.

Mark Zuckerberg, as you would know, is the CEO of Facebook, which he founded in 2004. The controversy began when 02138 magazine published an article named “Poking Facebook,” giving a detailed profile of Facebook’s early days, which was the pet project of Mark Zuckerberg, who was then an undergraduate. The author, Luke O’Brien, who was also a Harvard alumnus, dug up old court documents, letters and web site content that painted a cold picture of Zuckerberg as arrogant and an individual with no qualms and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. The documents that were revealed to the public included a huge amount of personal information about Zuckerberg along with his parents’ address, his girlfriend’s address and his Social Security Number.

Even Zuckerberg’s personal journal was not spared. An excerpt from the journal that showed him in bad light was, “I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive,” wrote Zuckerberg, talking about some of the students’ pictures from Harvard. These comments showed him as harsh. Read the rest of this entry »

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia and the name is a combination of “wiki” meaning “quick” in Hawaiian and encyclopedia. It is updated in more than 100 languages and the English version has nearly 2 million articles.

Initially, Wikipedia was just an extension of Nupedia but when Nupedia’s advisory board rejected the idea of a public edited encyclopedia, Wikipedia overtook Nupedia with the quality of content and the number of visitors. In two years time, Nupedia was abandoned and all the content from there incorporated into Wikipedia.

The most unique concept of Wikipedia is that anyone, even under the cover of anonymity can make changes to the content by clicking on the “edit” button, making it a good source of information as it is continually updated with the latest developments. This uniqueness is also what causes the controversies. Many people, including several educational institutions do not take into consideration any references from Wikipedia, as they believe that allowing people to edit the content, makes it an un-authoritative source of information with a huge possibility of vandalized content.

A scientific publication has reported to have done a comparative study of Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia, and the result was that, while Britannica suffered from fact omission, Wikipedia is reported to contain inaccurate information. Read the rest of this entry »

They have proved again and again that they can be better than their adult counterparts in every way. They can be better than us and overtake us, yet make us feel good about being left behind.

They are our kids, who grow up fast enough to teach us things.

Computers are an integral part of a teenager’s life as internet existed when they were born. They live and breathe chatting, emailing and surfing the net.

Their opportunities online are the same as other age groups; in fact, they have more of an advantage due to all their friends being online and because of their capability of creating huge networks of friends in no time.

If you want to get your teenager started off with earning some money during their vacations or if you are a teenager looking to earn some pocket cash, there are many ways money can be made online. Let us take a look at a few:

Game Testing

The amount of time teenagers spend playing games online, they can earn from this passion. There are game companies that are willing to pay them for testing new games and giving feedback on the games.

Product Testing

There are many websites that sell products related to kids and teenagers. These websites take the help of teens to use their product and let them know if they liked it. This is the way these companies make sure the product is good for their target market. Teens enjoy doing this because they are allowed to keep the product in return for the favor. Read the rest of this entry »

Most American kids play video games, however, the center of the game market has shifted older and that is because the first generation gamers continue to play into their adulthood. Such is the magnetism of a good video game. There is a great demand for good games from all age groups and the creators of these games keep releasing improved versions of games to keep players’ excitement alive.

Here are a few of the latest releases that are considered to be some of the best and provide the excitement needed in a game:

GRID for Xbox 360

The fuel prices are scary and can deviate anyone from their roady aspirations. But a far better alternative is to burn the road and the rubber, speeding along miles of digital asphalt with GRID.

GRID is a well-made racer that outshines almost all other racers with its brilliant cinematic flair and tremendous handling mechanism. It not only manages to perfect the most basic elements of the past, but also shifts the gears of innovation to an all new high with the fantastic flashback system and scores with a superb visual presentation. It takes players to different race locations in three continents. Players compete on the most prestigious race tracks on power packed race cars, then go on to compete in competitions that are city-based, through to road races and urban street races.

There is a lengthy career mode where it is possible to earn stacks of cash and reputation points by competing in events and challenges. The basic mantra is to earn more by winning more and go deeper into the game.

All these features can be accessed online and they work perfectly. Races are fast, fiery and exhilarating. The game has a flashback system, which allows the player to literally rewind and resume action whenever possible. It saves a lot of time as there is no need to restart the game every time because of a silly mistake. Read the rest of this entry »

Getting a new laptop is fun and exciting with all the new software the manufacturer loads. The excitement soon gives way to an understanding that two weeks of McAfee Anti Virus or one month of Earthlink does not really serve any purpose. Most of the programs may not be useful and can even slow down the computer. Who needs them?

A wise thing would be to uninstall whatever is not required and clean up the hard drive and start installing stuff that is useful. Most people are under the opinion that installing new software means spending more money. However, it does not have to be that way.

A lot of applications are available free of charge and are open source, which means that people have the option to alter the program to suit their needs it they possess the skill or have the inclination to.

Here are a few things that many people find useful and all of them can be installed without spending a penny.

Firefox - The Firefox web browser is what most people use on their laptops. Many people are of the opinion that it is better than Internet Explorer; however, it is a personal preference. Firefox gives the option of adding new features with the use of extensions, which are add-ons to Firefox that allow the user to do anything they wish to, such as saving chunks of any website to their Google Notebook. One of the most favorite extensions are, PicLens, which gives any photo site the feel of Flickr or even MySpace, and makes scanning and scrolling photos fun and easy. There is a whole lot more to Firefox, which can only be experienced. Read the rest of this entry »

People love buying online and one reason is the freedom from sales tax. Looks like things are about to change and soon we will be telling our children and grandchildren of the “good old days” when there were no taxes online.

Tax-hungry politicians are attempting to force Amazon.com to collect sales taxes from people that reside out of the state. If this really happens, Amazon.com is only the beginning and all other online retailers will have to follow suit. People then will only be left with fond memories of days when it was easy to order items over the internet without having to pay any sales taxes.

Currently, if someone residing in California orders an item from Amazon.com, which is based in Seattle, there is no sales tax charged at the time of the purchase. The reason is because Amazon has no offices in California. There is a long-standing rule that says a retailer must have a physical presence to be able to collect taxes.

However, politicians who are pro sales taxes are trying to find ways to circumvent this rule and New York State has recently succeeded in getting an approval by legislators that says Amazon and other online retailers that have no physical presence in the state, should collect sales tax on purchases made by New Yorkers.

Amazon is not willing to take this lying down and is all set for a legal battle, and as a first step has sued the State of New York. It challenged the new statute by filing a complaint in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, that the new law was vague, unconstitutional, and too broad. Read the rest of this entry »

Who would have thought the day would come when playing a video game can prove to be harmful? Along with technological advancement, the video game culture underwent a huge change, with violence and sex making its way even into the video game arena. There are many types of video games, each with its own distinctive content. The rating for these games is done by the Entertainment System Rating Board (ESRB) to give information about the content of the games, for buyers to decide whether it is meant for children or for adults.

The ESRB uses rating symbols, such as EC (early childhood,) E (everyone,) M (Mature) and many others as well as several descriptors to describe what is in a game. Some descriptors are - animated blood that means depiction of discolored blood, which does not look real; blood depicts normal blood; violence refers to conflicts that are aggressive in nature; sexual violence depicts violent sexual acts such as rape. These are just some of the descriptors and there are many more that are used to describe comic, humor, gambling, drugs, language, mature humor etc.

Parents of small children usually look at these ratings to see what sort of games their kids are playing and keep a check on them, as well as to ensure they do not play games that are violent or sexually inclined, at a young and impressionable age. Read the rest of this entry »

Good marks have always been perceived as critical to the future success of a child. Most of us remember our parents telling us that to achieve something in life, it is necessary to get a good education.

Private tutoring is a rapidly expanding industry around the world, including countries such as U.S. spending heavily on tutoring.

Korean parents are no different where education goes, in fact their children are said to spend twelve hours a day at school and even a 3-year old has English language tutors.

You would understand the extent of interest that Koreans show in children’s education by the fact that the Korean Air Force is said to ground its planes, during the college entrance exams so as not to disturb the students.

The pride of most Korean families hinges on what universities their children attend, which is the reason why Koreans shell out more for schooling of kids aged 5 to 21 years of age, than any other country in the OECD.

OECD, which is the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international organization that consists of thirty countries that follow the principles of free market economy and representative democracy. Countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan and others are all part of this organization. Read the rest of this entry »