Casual Articles - Computers and Technology

Products to Sell on eBay
There are millions of items up for auction on eBay at any given time. It is truly amazing that you can find almost anything. Where do all of these things come from? There are several different sources that a seller can use to obtain many items to sell on eBay. In this article I will go over different sources, and also include the pros and the cons of each one. The most important thing to consider is how much time you have to invest and your comfort level with a particular source.Garage sales: Garage sales are a great place to find items at a good price to resell. It is almost like a treasure hunt because you never know what you will find. The

there are plenty of books to teach you to write games in Flash. Flashkit website http://www.flashkit.com/index.shtml is a good starting point online.

5. Mobile Phone and PDA games. This has become a big growth area recently and is likely to continue its growth as phones get more powerful. Its also one of the easiest to get into though not all phones are the same. All you need to know is how to write Java games running on the J2ME (Java 2 Mobile Edition) platform. Unlike the console world, Software Development Kits (SDKS) are available for free from mobile phone manufacturers. E.g. http://www.forum.nokia.com/main.html and the best IDEs for J2ME development (Netbeans and Eclipse) are available free. Expect to see MMORPG (Mobile Multiplayer Online Role Play Games) before too long.

Much of this can be done pa

How Much Do You Know About Aging and Long-term Care Insurance?
While aging individuals aren’t the only people who find themselves in need of long-term care, individuals over the age of 65 are more likely to need long-term care than younger age groups.Long-term care is the care needed by individuals who find themselves unable to perform everyday activities such as getting in and out of bed, getting dressed, using the bathroom, and feeding themselves. The inability to perform these activities may be caused by a physical or mental disease or impairment, or it may just be the result of aging. For example, while long-term care is most often needed by aging individuals, a young man in his twenties may need l

In the good old days, back when the Internet had about 10 users and the web was a far off vision, PCs were called Home Computers and anyone could learn to write computer games. Three of us set up in business to write and sell our own games for the ZX Spectrum (Aka Timex/Sinclair) and Commodore 64. We didn’t sell many games but we were saved by getting into the game conversion business. A publisher would release a hit on the Commodore 64 and we’d write the Timex, Amstrad, MSX, CBM 16 etc versions. It took about 3 months for one person to produce a game.

That was 20 years ago and things have changed a lot since then. The games industry is now a massive multi billion dollar business and development teams can number 50 or more. My first game had me as programmer, artist, and beep designer – (well it wasn’t proper sound!). I did everything. Back then games were written in assembler and you had to learn 6502 and Z80. Nowadays with a few exceptions games are written in C and C++. The days of back room programmers aren’t entirely gone- there is also ‘retro remake’ and ‘indie’ scene, e.g. http://retrospec.sgn.net/ but unless you have an exceptionally brilliant idea, you are not likely to get into the mainstream game business as a one man outfit writing Blockbuster PC games.

It’s not all bad news though- if you can program to a very good standard and have learnt some of the techniques- eg 3d maths, artificial intelligence (ai), and can produce demos of your code then you may be able to get a job in the market. There are plenty of books and websites that will guide you through the intricacies of DirectX and before long you’ll be a guru on vertex shaders etc. Sign up on games development sites like http://gamasutra.com/ (it's free) and look for jobs. You will have to be good to get a job and prepared to work long, in some case very long hours. It is quite a tough business – when a game is under development, you’ll live breathe and eat it for 18 months-two years. And you probably won’t work 9-5 all the time.

There are however other ways to get into the games business and I don’t mean console development. There are other ‘genres’ of games that are much easier to get into.

1. MUD – Multi-user dungeons. These have been around for 30 years and were the precursor to the MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games) that now exist. These are still popular and you can find the source code to several of these. I don’t know if any make money- most people are now used to playing them for free. Look here: http://www.ability.org.uk/mud.html

2. Internet/Web based games. There are hundreds of these around. A good starting point is the vast directory at http://www.mpogd.com/ . These range from free to monthly subscriptions. Anyone can set up their own website and games using any web technology- e.g. Perl, PHP, Java.

3. Play By Mail. This has now largely but not entirely moved into the Internet/Web Games area. Flagship magazine is a good source of information – their website is http://flagshipmagazine.com/

4. Flash Games. Flash development is a skill in itself, though programming in ActionScript (which is JavaScript under a different name) is not that hard. There is a definite career path available through programming Flash games and there are plenty of books to teach you to write games in Flash. Flashkit website http://www.flashkit.com/index.shtml is a good starting point online.

Much of this can be done pa

Outsourcing Leaders Speak Up
Offshore Outsourcing is an emotional subject these days and many senior managers are uncomfortable talking openly about their company's projects for fear of being labeled unpatriotic job killers. One fellow from California told me that when he accepted a posting to run his company's offshore facility in Philippines, a number of co-workers came to his office to let him know he was "tearing apart the very fabric of our nation."Even big-talking CEO's, who can usually be counted upon to hype their company's cost reduction strategies, are often remarkably silent about offshore outsourcing. They seem to put the subject on a similar level as pornogr

und!). I did everything. Back then games were written in assembler and you had to learn 6502 and Z80. Nowadays with a few exceptions games are written in C and C++. The days of back room programmers aren’t entirely gone- there is also ‘retro remake’ and ‘indie’ scene, e.g. http://retrospec.sgn.net/ but unless you have an exceptionally brilliant idea, you are not likely to get into the mainstream game business as a one man outfit writing Blockbuster PC games.

There are however other ways to get into the games business and I don’t mean console development. There are other ‘genres’ of games that are much easier to get into.

3. Play By Mail. This has now largely but not entirely moved into the Internet/Web Games area. Flagship magazine is a good source of information – their website is http://flagshipmagazine.com/

Much of this can be done pa

E-Government is the Future of Democracy and Governance
E-Government is in principle nothing new. The Internet is primarily a communications medium, not a space to do things, other than buy the odd book, CD or bottle of wine. And yet there are hundreds of projects up and down the country, online communities, pressure groups and learning centres where e-Government is happening.E-Government might enable a citizen to access the form they need to fill out to order a copy of their birth certificate without needing to know that the Health Department handles the request. Other services that citizens want online include renewing a driver's license, voting on the Internet, filing taxes, and obtaining p

e a guru on vertex shaders etc. Sign up on games development sites like http://gamasutra.com/ (it's free) and look for jobs. You will have to be good to get a job and prepared to work long, in some case very long hours. It is quite a tough business – when a game is under development, you’ll live breathe and eat it for 18 months-two years. And you probably won’t work 9-5 all the time.

There are however other ways to get into the games business and I don’t mean console development. There are other ‘genres’ of games that are much easier to get into.

3. Play By Mail. This has now largely but not entirely moved into the Internet/Web Games area. Flagship magazine is a good source of information – their website is http://flagshipmagazine.com/

Much of this can be done pa

Vincent James has Created the Ultimate Direct Marketing Guide-And How You Can Benefit from it
Choosing the right method to market your business may be a hard decision at first… There are many methods for you to consider, however you may only have a limited budget, as most of us do. You’ll soon find out that marketing one product or service is a pretty expensive endeavor, or it may force you to use advertising techniques that are not exactly complementary to your business goals.Vincent James, author of the 12 Month Millionaire created practically a blueprint that will assist anyone who wants to get started in the direct marketing business get off to an amazing start. I’m going to go over some generalities. If you seek more information

make money- most people are now used to playing them for free. Look here: http://www.ability.org.uk/mud.html

3. Play By Mail. This has now largely but not entirely moved into the Internet/Web Games area. Flagship magazine is a good source of information – their website is http://flagshipmagazine.com/

Much of this can be done pa

Google Adsense: How Much Can I Earn?
Google adsense is a program where a webmaster can earn money by adding the google adsense codes to their webpages and blogs. Google started this program in the middle of 2003 and today there millions of websites which have these ads placed on their websites.Google provides 468x60, 728x90, 120x600 and 300x250 text banner ads and image ads of various sizes. There is no maximum ceiling on the amount of money you can earn through clicks. Google pays every month.You cannot predict how much you can earn from clicks, as it depends on how much the advertisers pay per click for google adwords. For instance if there are 3 google ads shown in you

there are plenty of books to teach you to write games in Flash. Flashkit website http://www.flashkit.com/index.shtml is a good starting point online.

Much of this can be done part time in your evenings/weekends but be careful that you don’t let it take over your life and also that your employer doesn’t have any claim on software that you develop. Some employers have clauses that let them claim anything you develop. There are ways round this, often involving a wife or loved one who can be assigned ownership but take legal advice if in any doubt.

If you are learning to program games, don’t neglect the power of the web. Sourceforge.net is home to thousands of open source projects and many of those are games. Also game source for commercial games Quake I, II and III has been released by ID and can be found here http://www.idsoftware.com/business/techdownloads/

These are GPL’d so you wouldn’t be able to write games based on them and sell them without giving away the source code but you could write Mods. Several game modders have released very popular Mods free and have managed to get into the industry because of their quality. There are many games projects where you can sign up and program- this is an excellent way to learn new skills and make friends.

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If you were playing catcher in baseball and got run over on a play at the plate, everyone would likely agree that is just part of the game. But what if you were playing catcher and not involved in a play when a runner decided to blind-side you? That's not part of the game, but should you have the ability to bring a suit if you get hurt? Some recent high profile cases tell us you can.

Usually when we discuss arbitrage we are dealing with the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities, or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices. However, in the real estate business a different form of arbitrage frequently comes into play. In this case, interest rate arbitrage. Unlike a purchase/sale arbitrage, in real estate we often use a borrow/invest arbitrage.

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