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.

Amazon has an “Associates Program,” that pays website operators throughout the country a commission for advertising Amazon on their websites. When visitors click through these ads and reach Amazon.com, the respective associates are paid a small commission. The new law says that this amounts to conducting business in different States, which is denied by Amazon. Amazon says that it has no physical presence in the State and the advertisers are not Amazon’s agents. The company also complains that it is being unfairly singled out. Amazon.com wants this law to be declared invalid as well as asked to be awarded legal proceeding costs.

This is not a new debate, as tax-hungry politicians have for long been insisting that the increase in e-commerce is causing them to lose millions of dollars in sales taxes. There is already a “use tax” rule that says all Americans living in states where sales tax is collected, should pay up taxes for all out-of-state purchases made by them; although, this is not being implemented in many cases. Politicians feel that online retailers are being given an unfair advantage and they are essentially the same as their brick-and-mortar counterparts.

People’s opinions vary on the implementation of sales tax for online retailers. Some feel that many states have tried to force online sellers who have no physical connection, to collect tax on purchases made by their residents. In some earlier cases, the Supreme Court stopped those attempts when the statutes were challenged and they feel that this is what is going to happen even now.

Another section of people that support this sales tax feel that giving an exemption that stores with a local presence do not enjoy, does give online retailers an unfair advantage. They say that such a thing could have been acceptable when the internet was new, but not now. Online stores are anyway at an advantage and have the power to undercut their offline counterparts by not needing a physical presence and that is a great thing, and they certainly do not need a tax exemption to add to that convenience.

In spite of such varied opinions, the general consensus amongst online retailers and internet buyers is that internet shopping should be exempt from any taxes, as it has always been. Online purchasers may not have to deal with brick and mortar; however, they already have much higher shipping costs that need to be paid. Most people shop online for the convenience of it and not because things are cheaper.

The verdict with respect to Amazon.com remains to be seen, as it will have an impact on all other online retailers.

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.

In spite of all these measures taken by the ESRB and parents watching over them, children curiosity gets the better of them and they always manage to do exactly what they should not be doing, such as buying video games rated 18 and above. The unfortunate part is that they are able to get access to these video games at several auction sites online.

A recent investigation revealed shocking results, which show that these violent video games are being supplied to children by almost ninety percent of the shops online. This revelation of how children can get their hands on violent video games that are age-restricted has shocked the investigators.

The investigation was done by engaging volunteers between the ages of twelve and sixteen years of age, who were asked to make forty-four test purchases of video games that are rated 18+, such as video games called GTA IV and Manhunt. They had to make these purchases through postal orders on the internet. Thirty-eight of the volunteers were successful in buying these video games.

However, in spite of the danger this poses, can these sellers be blamed? Sellers explain that since they accept payment in the form of postal orders, they have no idea who they are selling to nor do they have any way of knowing what the age of the buyer could be.

There is a law in place, which says that sellers who sell adult video games to children can face a jail term of up to six months and will also be imposed a fine.

Brandon Cook, the lead officer for age restricted sales at the TSI says, “Traders selling goods over the internet have a responsibility to make sure they have methods in place to avoid breaking the law by making underage sales. If traders cannot be sure that the person they are selling to is over 18 they should not be selling.”

The TSI also mentioned that just as the sellers are to be held responsible for selling such games to children, parents have to take on the important role of monitoring what their children are up to and if the video games they are playing are for their age or not. They have to impose restrictions on children as well as keep an eye open for any inappropriate actions.

Blaming the seller will not help the children, and with so many unscrupulous elements everywhere, it becomes important for parents to take it into their own hands and be totally involved in deciding on the games their children can play. They have to be stern and suspend play if it is found that children lack self-control.

Sellers on their part have to keep in mind that playing games that are much beyond their age changes the thinking and attitude of the children and has long-lasting affect on their future. It becomes every person’s duty to act responsibly and do whatever they can in their power to ensure they find out who they are selling to and ensure that small children are not exposed to video games meant for adults.

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.

Daeko, meaning big lesson with its 17,000 teachers is South Korea’s biggest education company and its most popular programs are English, Mathematics and Korean. This institution has a unique thinking, where they understand that children learn more from a personalized curriculum and developed their own coursework called “eye-level,” which is designed to help teachers get down to the level of the students and give them the flexibility to tailor lessons based on individual needs. Here, teachers do not get paid a fee, instead they hustle up their own students, as many as they can handle and pay 40% to the institution for the study materials and marketing support. They are of course held responsible for showing results and ensuring the children do well.

This one-on-one approach was liked by most Koreans, especially since each class had about 70 students per teacher. Due to the heavy demand for tutoring in different courses, they are now offering 14 courses and even have classes in essay writing or in English and Chinese, which are taught by native speakers.

These high levels of tutoring organizations are believed to have a salutary effect of ensuring high academic achievement on the part of the students of Korea, particularly their high math and science scores.

The Korean obsession with education and the tech-driven economy is pushing the children into a savage competition for places in the top universities and colleges in the nation. This is fueling the boom in the tutoring business.

Their love of learning means huge competition in the education market and statistics show that about 11% of foreign students at U.S. colleges are Korean, who are only behind Indians and Chinese.

Parents are also willing to pay heavy amounts of money towards their children’s education. As a mother of two children says, “We know we’re paying too much, but their lives will be decided by the universities they attend.” After all, it is a known fact that the parents’ love for their kids is the most unselfish act that has no parallels.

What this means, with the current credit crunch, is the inability to get loans except for the most creditworthy of all and for the ones that do secure a loan, it means higher interest rates.

It is very important for families to consider various alternatives before taking a private loan. The variable interest rates and the fees are much higher now, making private student loans far more expensive than the student loans, which carry a low fixed interest rate. There are some states that offer bargain-rates on loans to those children that live or attend college within their borders.

According to Kalman Chany, author of Paying for College Without Going Broke, “Private loans should be a last resort.”

In spite of knowing the issues associated with such loans, many families still go in for private loans. There are other students that do not qualify for the federal loans, either because they are foreign students of because they have less grade points. These students have no other alternative available but to approach the private lenders.

According to experts, there are certain things to keep in mind while looking for a lender. One should not go by the lower rates being advertised. Interest rates depend on the borrower’s credit score and the percentage varies from person to person. Even those students that have good credit usually take the help of either family or relatives with a better credit history to be co-signers. This means, the co-signer is accepting the responsibility of repaying the loan if the student does not pay back.

They also say that comparison of rates between lenders should be done, by filling applications with more than one lender, keeping in mind not to fill more than three or four applications within a few days, as this would damage the credit score, which encourages a lender to charge higher rates of interest. According to Robert Shireman, executive director of nonprofit Project on Student Debt, “Credit bureaus view a lot of loan inquiries as evidence that you’re trying to load up on debt.”

The financial aid office in the school can help with the rates that different lenders charge. Sometimes, they may also have special deals in place for their students. Even the state-affiliate nonprofits can be approached for advice.

Students that do not have anyone to co-sign for them, may have to consider a private loan that does not depend on credit scores. Another way to look for lenders is to check for those that offer low rates to applicants with good credit scores.

Because of the credit crisis, many lenders have stopped giving loans and some lenders are cutting down on the discounts they used to offer on fees and rates. However, borrowers who agree to make loan repayments while studying, may still stand a chance of availing loans with low interest rates.

There is also the problem of lenders leaving the business before the loan is disbursed. It is always good to have a backup if one lender drops out. Unlike lenders, larger banks are least likely to leave since they depend on customer deposits as a source of funds, it could be a good idea to approach the banks.

A good amount of research needs to be done when availing private loans as choosing the wrong option could mean ending up struggling for years to pay the huge interest rates; and every bit of savings counts, in order to survive in this world of escalating costs.

With so many advantages that it affords, it is no surprise that people overlook any drawbacks it may have, such as the security issues. Wi-Fi networks that are unencrypted or open can be easily monitored by others and used to view all the personal information transmitted over the network, unless some sort of security, such as a VPN or a secure web page is used.

In order to protect people’s interests and make them aware of the security aspect of Wi-Fi networks, the FBI has recently issued a warning that the Wi-Fi hotspots or the wireless internet networks are easy prey to hackers.

These wireless internet networks are found at airports, book stores, malls, supermarkets, school campuses, coffee shops and several such places. These networks are installed for the use of residents of different localities; however, security at these places is very low, with no registration or passwords required to use the service. Even emails and instant messages are not encrypted.

This sort of a setting is like a full-fledged feast to a hacker, who can access and steal this private information from anywhere in the world.

Experts say that it is almost like leaving the doors to a house filled with valuables, open. They say that installing firewalls is the first and foremost thing people should do for their computers. However, firewalls do not protect information that is sent to and from a computer, such as instant messages and emails. They only protect information that is available on the computer. It is advisable not to use the wireless network for emailing or sending messages, unless the wireless network has provided access to VPN (virtual private network.) VPN is a highly secure network that encrypts all the information that is sent from and to the computer.

The FBI, keeping people’s interest in mind revealed the following tips on how to keep hackers at bay.

Users must ensure that their laptop security is up-to-date with firewalls, anti-spyware and anti-virus software. Spyware is a program that collects information from your computer secretly. This software is used by some companies who collect marketing data on people that log on to their website, and is also used by hackers.

When on a Wi-Fi network, it is not a good idea to access financial information, such as logging into banks etc., because if a hacker gets hold of this information, it can prove to be dangerous.

When logging to a site, check out the address bar to see if that is an authentic website. Hackers usually set up fake web pages that look like the original website and unsuspecting visitors type in their log-in details. If the address bar looks different from the others, then it is wise to just close the website without typing anything on it.

Another mistake people make is to use the same password for all their online accounts, because it is easy to remember.

Users also must ensure that their computer does not log on to a wireless network automatically. This can be done by adjusting the internet security settings on the computer.

A good precaution is also to turn the computer off when not in use, so that it does not pick up any wireless signals.

FBI says that taking precautions by following all these tips is the only way one can avoid being hacked. Any sort of carelessness could lead to major problems later.

There is nothing smart about using a computer, smartness lies in safeguarding your information on the computer.

There is good news for the kids. Parents may just let them get their way if this obsession proves to be good for their health, and they themselves may start playing alongside their children.

Health researchers in the U.S., who are always searching for ways of find good in everything, are at it again and are looking at the positive influence video games might prove to be.

The Robert Wood Foundation announced that it will give about a dozen research teams, up to $200,000 each, to conduct studies for a couple of years. The aim of the projects will be to measure the effects of playing video games, on the young as well as the old.

Researchers at Cornell University will study how a game played on a mobile phone, which rewards exercise and healthy eating, will influence the behavior of children. University of Florida research team will monitor how playing Crazy Taxi with Play station II will affect the perception in the elderly. University of South Carolina will look into how video games such as EyeToy and Wii can affect people who suffered a stroke, by helping them recover their motor skills.

The idea behind conducting these various studies is the feeling that video games have the potential to teach through reinforcement. Researchers wish to encourage healthy behaviors from obsessions such as video games.

They say that video games become either good or bad based on the perception of the person playing. According to Debra Lieberman who oversees the health game research at the University of California at Santa Barbara, “A good game, or a game where you could actually learn some skills or develop some self-confidence could displace some of the more time-wasting video games that are out there. That could be a win-win in many ways.”

Video games are usually seen as the birth-right of the younger generation but this research will also look into how they can help the elderly, in overcoming the problems they have. The research team at the Union College in New York will look into how participation in a virtual cycling team will affect the exercise behaviors and health of people who are aged 50 and above.

The best part about video games is that they are goal oriented and players are challenged to reach that goal. This encourages people to understand goal setting and ensuring they reach their goals in life. This is what makes video games addictive.

The advantages of playing video games are believed to be numerous; they improve hand-eye coordination, fast paced games may improve people’s eyesight, improve self-esteem, provide mental stimulation, can be enjoyable social interaction and educational games can be a fun way to learn. What parents can do is let the children enjoy their video games as long as they are not playing any violent games.

However, the quintessential mobile has just become more endearing and turned our savior. From now on, it will also call the doctor in case of an emergency and its owner is unwell.

Latest research shows that the mobile technology has been given the capability to call the doctor when the owner of the phone is in danger. This works for patients with chronic health problems, such as people who are at risk for a diabetic collapse or a heart attack. With sensors implanted inside the bodies of such people, doctors will be able to monitor them remotely.

If the “in-body network” of sensors recorded that the person had suddenly collapsed, then an alert would be automatically sent to a surgery or a hospital nearby. These network sensors monitor the patients’ moves and pick up health signs that can prove to be dangerous, such as high blood sugar levels or an attack of asthma, and send an alert via a portable monitor or a home hub.

This research is being carried out at Portsmouth as well as many universities in the UK.

They say that these networks may use a spectrum that is allotted to be used by these sensor networks. The main belief behind this technology is that radio spectrum can be used in many ways to help people.

Scientists say that this is not only useful in cases of emergencies but can also be programmed to detect if a patient failed to take his medicines. A pill box containing the patient’s medicines would send an automatic reminder, and if the pills are not taken within a certain time, an alarm would go off and a message would be sent to the patient’s family or doctor. Scientists believe that this technology can be very useful for older people who live alone and have the tendency to forget even important things such as taking their medicine on time. Research is going on to add the required communication technology to these devices, most probably using Bluetooth or wireless local area networks.

There is also research being done on “on-body monitors,” which are small devices that people could wear to check their vital health signals, such as their blood pressure and pulse. They can also be used to detect heart conditions, diabetes, asthma and the device would send signals using a wireless technology such as Bluetooth, from the body to the portable monitors, such as a mobile phone or a home hub.

There are also going to be wireless food content scanners that could change the way we shop, as it helps people scan the content of the food wrapper easily, thus ensuring that their dietary requirements are being met. This can be useful for people who have food allergies, such as allergy for nuts as well as diabetics.

All these are still in the initial stages of research and some of these technologies may come into use in the next five to ten years. Finland has already developed a mobile phone that has a nutritional scanner and a similar technology could be in the UK market in the next five years.

Scientists are also looking at another angle where GPS and wireless technologies can ensure better safety levels when driving. Intelligent transport systems that are being developed by car manufacturers will allow cars to communicate with other cars and send alerts. In case of a collision, the emergency services would be called by the car system automatically. This technology may also apply brakes if the car is getting too close to another vehicle. Paramedics at the scene of the accident would carry a small computer with them that would pick up wireless messages from the bracelet in the watch of the driver. This way, the paramedics can gain access to the driver’s medical history.

As beneficial as this technology may prove to be, experts are waiting to see the impact it has on personal privacy, whether the transfer of personal data is appropriate for the benefits. Their opinion is that anything that can help a human being is worth working on.

Once this technology is ready for the market, we are sure to find many screaming pill boxes, at least until people learn to calm them down.

Every person needs mentoring at some point in life. It helps as a motivating factor to do better and excel at work as well as in personal life. Sometimes, these mentoring relationships become invaluable when there is a need to generate solutions to critical challenges that people experience at home or work.

Many online communities that offer mentoring services have mushroomed all over the web and some of them are very professional and include several mentors, each specializing in a field. This ensures the users get expert advice on every problem.

These communities provide users an area to discuss on a wide variety of topics, from how to set up a business to how to deal with a suspicious spouse. People are encouraged to discuss every aspect of their life. If someone is going through a bad phase, it helps to talk to someone who has been in their shoes before and has faced a similar situation.

This need to share is prevalent in most human beings, but often the fear that the other person may not understand, makes them bottle it all up and this is not good for health. Bottling up things may have an adverse affect on the emotional and the physical health of a person.

These community sites are specifically aimed at providing clean and good service that is of benefit to the users, where meaningful interchanges are possible.

With the physical geographic communities breaking down, people are creating communities based on interests. Many such websites have sprung up recently all over the web and the phenomenon could become more important as time passes, as other sources of help or assistance that people usually approach, such as the church or other unions, already started to lose their attraction in certain countries. The comfort of sitting in the comfort of the home and talking to someone in privately, cannot be surpassed.

Creating low pressure environments where people can interact with one another based on their expertise also helps. The best part is that it is totally acceptable here to approach people for help without feeling odd about it.

Users are allowed to post profiles and examples of their work, so that the potential mentor can make a qualified decision on whether the user needs advice or not.

Some people need different pieces of advice from different people, such as a musician looking for advice would need someone who understands music and he may also need some legal advice, where he has to approach a mentor who can advise him on all legal aspects.

There are free sites as well as paid community sites and some sites offer both; so it is basically up to the user to see what suits him best, after reading the site policies. They are many mentors who are volunteers and wish to give back a part of themselves to others.

Online community networks provide individuals worldwide with the information, support and understanding they seek. The internet overcomes the barriers of time and distance and helps to overall improve the quality of our lives. This process can be rewarding to both the mentor as well as the user, as sharing is said to enrich both lives.

Scientists have always been fascinated about building an electronic tongue or a robotic tasting device for use in the improvement of food safety and improving food quality. But before robots can learn to taste food, they will have to chew it first.

French scientist, Gaelle Arvisenet and his team have developed an artificial mouth that can chew apples just like you and me. In fact, most people these days, due to increasing dental problems caused by consumption of processed foods, may not be able to chew properly, but the artificial mouth has firm and strong teeth and it can chew hard foods with ease.

Researches in Nantes, France, have created an artificial mouth that according to them, “Mimics all the first vital steps of human digestion, which are chewing, releasing saliva and breaking down food.”

Researchers say that this could be used as a robotic taste tester to perhaps improve the flavor of food.

Previously, there had been artificial mouths designed, but they were only capable of testing soft foods or for testing the teeth of a robot. However, this is the first time anyone has done anything that relates to hard foods and human digestion.

Digestion starts in the mouth and chewing is an integral part of digestion. This is the reason we were told to count our chews when we were young. Teeth begin the digestion process by breaking down food into small pieces mechanically. If food is not chewed, bigger chunks get into the stomach and undigested food can feed bacteria, causing serious problems.

There are several factors involved in the release of flavor and aromatic compounds in the human mouth. Everything from the chewing, the rate of breakdown of food as well as the temperature, affect the flavor and smell of the food before it gets swallowed.

In order to perfect this mimicking act, researchers had to create a machine that could do most of the above.

This “munching device,” as it is called follows all the steps of human digestion process. It is sized much bigger than the normal human mouth, in fact it is five times bigger. Using an electrical element, this mouth is kept at a constant temperature of 37 degrees C. The internal surfaces are coated with a plastic used for implants and which is chemically resistant.

The top of the artificial mouth chamber, which is the ceiling and the bottom, which is the floor, are attached to different speed motors. Food is placed on the revolving floor of this “mouth,” while the spiky teeth on the ceiling move up and down, crushing the food on the floor. The rotation and compression action enables the same process the food undergoes in the human mouth. The whole process is made more realistic with the addition of artificial saliva which comes through a pipe at the base of the chamber. Helium is also supplied through another tube and it flows though the mouth to provide the effect of breathing.

Researchers studied apple chewing by the device as compared to the humans, and the pulp from both was studied and it was found that the results were very close.

Arvisenet said, “Our aim was not to reproduce the human mouth conditions exactly, but to reproduce the result of mastication.”

With devices like this, the future may see humans getting lazier and using devices to chew for them.

For those that are not aware of what BigTable is, it has been described as a distributed storage system for structured data. It is a database system designed to handle huge amounts of date (petabytes) across thousands of community servers.

The BigTable has been built on Google File System (GFS) and more than sixty of Google’s projects store date in it, including Google Earth, Google Finance, Google Maps, Google Analytics, Blogger, Orkut, YouTube and web indexing. We can understand the vastness and capability of this system, if we can for a moment imagine the amount of data these projects could be playing with.

The original intention behind Google creating its own database is to save on the heavy costs and avail of the benefits of better access and total control over its data. BigTable has proved to be most reliable and successfully provided high applicability, high performance and scalability over the past few years. It has turned out to be a great high-end solution for the above Google projects, handling huge amounts of data, taking care of bulk processing in the backend and real-time data serving.

Although, the BigTable is like a database and resembles one, it provides a different interface. While a full relational data model is not supported by the BigTable; it provides clients dynamic control over data layout and format. It allows them to control the locality of the data and also decide whether they want to serve data from a disk or out of memory.

As of now, BigTable is only used by Google, although access is given by Google to its users, as part of the Google App Engine. According to sources, Google is planning on making BigTable available as a web service to other developers, as it is now sure of the extremely high functionality.

The BigTable launch by Google is being seen as a competition to Amazon Web services (AWS.)

Amazon Web Services provides developers access to a powerful suite of web services that allows them to store huge amounts of data and information, gather information from the net, through Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) for cloud processing power, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) for cloud storage, Amazon Associates Web Service and Alexa web services, among others. Alexa also includes web search, web information, thumb nails and top site ranking services. Amazon only charges its customers for the storage and bandwidth they use and nothing more.

Although, there is no mention of the pricing of Google’s web services, since it is very clearly perceived to be in competition with Amazon’s AWS, assumptions are ripe that Google will go the Amazon way.

With Google’s penchant for doing things perfectly and scoring very high on the reliability factor with its users, if released to the public, this is surely going to be a benefit for thousands of people looking for reliable web services and willing to pay high dollars for the convenience.