When your family vacation takes you farther than just up the street or across the state, airline travel is often your best bet. While flying to your destination is the speediest way to go, it presents certain challenges for you and your children. Before you book your flight, here are some things to consider as you plan your trip.
For many children, the window seat is the Holy Grail of travel perks. If your family includes young siblings, prepare to play referee. Work out an arrangement in which preferential seating, whether it is the window or aisle seat, is enjoyed equally by each child. This allows you to bypass potentially noisy spats and accusations of unfairness.
A charity has raised concerns that a generation of children are becoming living zombies from sleep deprivation due to computer game addiction.
Social workers at Wing South West say it has serious concerns over an increasing number of young computer gamers who are ‘stoned’ from sleep deprivation.
They said youngsters were in danger of losing empathy and the compassion of ‘genuine relationships’.
“We have a number of young people who most of the time look almost stoned, not necessarily on drugs, but just with sleep deprivation because they’re gaming all the time,” the Daily Mail quoted Paul Bowser, who works with young people at Wings South West in Bideford, as saying.
“Whether it’s an obsession or an addiction, I don’t know. It’s certainly different from a few years ago, partly because the technology wasn’t there,” he said.
Robert Hart Fletcher, who runs Kids and Media, a charity giving information about children’s use of digital media, stated “Gaming is a phenomenon that’s been around quite a while.Now we are starting to see the effects in behaviour of young people.”
“In the past people had genuine relationships with empathy and compassion which has been replaced by this virtual relationship where they are not necessarily having to show empathy or compassion.
“That’s starting perhaps to change the way they interact on a day to day basis,” he added. more information...
A recent live event saw the introduction of the latest Alienware x51 PC in San Francisco. The device is an effort from Alienware in creating a regular gaming computer. The standard processor that will be used on the Alienware x51 PC is a dual-core Core i3 processor from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). Other processor options that users have are a Core i5 and a Core i7 processor.
The graphics card options will be provided by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). The Alienware x51 PC will also utilize the H61 Express Chipset from Intel. The standard RAM for the Alienware x51 PC is 4GB which can be increased up to around 8GB. The device will also feature a 1TB hard drive. The device will also feature a slot-loading DVD burner for the standard model and users have the option for a Blu-Ray Disc player.
The Alienware x51 PC also features an integrated Wi-Fi connectivity for all models of the device. According to the company, the entire system can be upgraded by the users of the device including the motherboard.
The Alienware x51 PC will be the first slim tower desktop offering of Alienware, which is something new to the desktop offerings of the company. With the slim design, observers indicated that it will be a problem to store the device.
Industry watchers have also noted that the low price tag of the Alienware x51 PC shows that it is not always true that gaming PCs are always expensive. This will allow users to play games using Alienware hardware without spending too much for the hardware.
Speculations have also emerged on whether gamers will accept the Alienware x51 PC. It may be possible for the device to duplicate success of the MX14 series of laptops from Alienware. The laptops of Alienware are more popular in the market compared to its desktop devices.
On advantage that the Alienware x51 PC has over its rivals is that only a small number of its rivals are offering a similar device at that price tag.more information...
There’s a new set of numbers out today puzzling analysts in the gaming industry. The data has been released for game sales in November, and though year on year they’re relatively flat, there’s one stat that’s really standing out.
There’s been a huge increase in PC box retail sales, a format which has long been thought to almost be extinct with most PC players embracing digital distribution as their means of acquiring games. There was a 57 percent increase over the previous year, which is an exceptionally strange figure as it’s a huge jump seemingly out of nowhere..
The closest thing we have to an answer? The launch of Battlefield 3 and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, two games with very large PC fanbases. Battlefield’s DICE has long been a servant to PC gamers, doing their best to make their titles the absolute highest quality on the computer while many other titles would be content to simply port from a console. Skyrim is a huge PC title due to the amount the game is able to be modded, which opens up new possibilities for the game visually and gameplay-wise that simply aren’t available on consoles.
But the question still remains as to why it’s box retail sales that have increased this much. At least in Battlefield’s case it might have something to do with the fact that the game isn’t available on the widely popular Steam distribution client, and must be bought and downloaded through EA Origin, which has been notoriously annoying to use for gamers ever since its launch. Granted, there is still Origin integration if you buy the physical game, but a lot less so, and perhaps many gamers wanted to skip the hassle of downloading from the flawed system. But enough to make a 57% jump in ALL box PC sales? I doubt it, and much of that number will remain a mystery.more information...
Microsoft is releasing an update to its Xbox Live service tonight which will transform the Xbox into a full-on media center. If you own a Kinect, you’ll be able to access movies, music, and streaming services through voice commands. It’s an update that makes the Xbox 360 a powerful home entertainment device, and pushes the ball further toward the vision of PC-TV integration that Bill Gates has been touting for years.
Tim Carmody says that this time, Microsoft is getting it right and Apple is doing it wrong:
The major mistake made by most gadget reporters and future of technology speculators is drawing too close an analogy between smartphones and smart televisions. We’ve assumed that the next generation of televisions would have a silver-bullet user interface, as gesture-enabled touchscreens were for smartphones. And every time a new user interface comes along, whether it’s Microsoft’s Kinect or Apple’s Siri, we argue that it’s the future of television.
As a consequence, we’ve misunderstood television’s user interface problem. It’s not really about too many cables and too many remotes, as annoying as that can be. It’s really about having the right kind of user interface for the task at hand.
That means pluralism, not minimalism. It means that remote controls and game controllers, with all their ugly buttons, aren’t going away, because they’re actually quite good at what they do.
Instead, they’ll be connected to and complemented by specialized interface devices like cameras, microphones, and touchscreen smartphones and tablets. These will take over some functions, introduce new ones, or even duplicate functionality.
It’s not one ring to rule them all. It’s e pluribus unum.
In other words, it’s the multi-faceted approach Microsoft is taking, pushing lots of devices and content and partnerships with content providers. But, Tim adds, “when I say “Apple is wrong,” I really mean that the conventional wisdom about what Apple will do is wrong.”
Tim is skeptical that a high-cost, high-tech Apple TV will sell at a premium price point, as some analysts are suggesting. Instead, look to the Xbox and the Microsoft approach, ad hoc and late to the game though it may appear (where is the Windows Tablet after all?)
As with all things tech it’s impossible to say. One thing is certain, though: lots of Xbox Live subscribers will get very little sleep tonight.more information...
While children who play violent computer games are more aggressive, there's no evidence to support claims that the games themselves cause kids' aggressive behaviour, the Swedish Media Council (Statens medieråd) has concluded.
The findings come following a review more than 100 articles about violent computer games and aggression which have been published in international scientific journals since 2000.
According to the Council's review, there is a clear, statistically significant link between violent computer games and aggressive behaviour.
However, many of the studies use different methods to measure aggression, many of which lack a clear connection to violent behaviour.
In addition, a great deal of the research exploring causal links between violent computer games and aggressive behaviour “suffer from serious methodological deficiencies” and don't provide sufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship.
The few studies that have attempted to examine other causes of aggression found that factors such as poor physical health or family problems can explain both violent behaviour and a propensity to play violent computer games.
There is also too little research into the hypothesis that violent video games may cause violent behaviour among people with certain personality traits.
As a result, the Council concludes, “there is no evidence that violent computer games cause aggressive behaviour”.
“If research can't provide any simple answers about how games make children aggressive, perhaps we adults should stop judging the games children play based on whether they are violent or not,” Media Council researcher Ulf Dalquist said in a statement.
Speaking with the Aftonbladet newspaper Dalquist said that a number of longitudinal studies included in the review showed “beyond a reasonable doubt” that family conflicts and poor health among children can make children more drawn to computer games and result in a higher level of aggression.
And while the games themselves may not cause aggressive behaviour among children, parents should nevertheless be aware of the games their children play.
“As parents, we can stand and freeze on the sidelines of a football pitch or listen to out of tune recorder concerts – but we can't engage in their computer gaming. It may not be about how much violence a game contains, but rather what sort of values the game expresses,” he told the newspaper.more information...
Activision chief Bobby Kotick is downplaying concerns that Electronic Arts (EA) could steal World of Warcraft market share with its upcoming Star Wars multiplayer game which is due to hit stores on December 20.
Kotick, who is known for his outspoken opinions and controversial remarks, also questioned whether EA would even make any money off the game as it has to pay Lucas Arts big bucks for licensing rights.
"Lucas is going to be the principal beneficiary of the success of Star Wars," Kotick claimed in a statement quoted byReuters.
"We've been in business with Lucas for a long time and the economics will always accrue to the benefit of Lucas, so I don't really understand how the economics work for Electronic Arts."
According to Kotick, it is difficult for gaming studios to successfully field a multiplayer title that appeals to the masses like WoW.
"If you look at the history of the people investing in an MMO and achieving success, it's a small number," Kotick claimed.
But Lazard analyst Atul Bagga believes Star Wars: The Old Republic, which EA has apparently spent $100 million to develop, is likely to attract 1.5 million to 2 million subscribers.
More importantly, 3-4 million "World of Warcraft" players may buy the game - which could spell trouble for Kotick’s Activision, as the company recently lost 800,000 Warcraft subscribers.
Then again, Activision's Skylanders has outperformed expectations and will likely sell out in the United States this holiday season.
"(Skylanders) are in high demand. Retailers across the board are concerned that they will be out of inventory well before Christmas... There's nothing we can do because they are made offshore and we can't get product made that quickly," added Kotick.more information...
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty warps into stores on July 27, but if there are no vendors within your psionic matrix, you will also be able to purchase StarCraft II via digital download on July 27.
Players planning to purchase the game digitally can cut down their waiting time by downloading the game client in advance, so all you’ll need to do on July 27 is install, activate, and play. more information...
If online reports are to be believed, Google could be cooking up a rival for Facebook -- and bringing the maker of popular social games like "FarmVille" with them.
Google Games, built around some sort of partnership with casual-gaming company Zynga, is in the works and would be part of a larger social network called Google Me, according to technology blog Tech Crunch.
Statements from notable internet players, including Digg founder Kevin Rose and a former Facebook chief technical officer, have suggested in recent weeks that the search-engine giant is working on a social network geared toward rivaling Facebook.
TechCrunch this weekend reported that unnamed sources said Google has invested between $100 and $200 million in Zynga, the maker of successful online social games like "FarmVille" and "Mafia Wars."
The investment part of the deal was confirmed last month and a "larger strategic project" is still in the works, according to that report.
A Zynga spokeswoman said Monday that the company has no comment on the reports. A Google spokesman referred questions to the company's media-relations e-mail account, which did not respond to inquiries.
The popularity of Zynga's games -- more than 50 million people play them on any given day, according to developerAnalytics -- could bring considerable heft to any online networking or gaming project Google launched.
The obvious question then would become whether the "Farmville" maker would pull its games from Facebook. That would be a tall order considering the success those games have seen. more information... Source:http://edition.cnn.com/
