When it comes to movies, sequels are often regarded as inferior, because they may lack what made the original movie so great. This often happens, because the producer wants to take advantage out of the success of the first title. He wants to earn more money, even if he knows that the sequel will never be as good as the first movie. When it comes to computer and video games, I believe that the opposite is true. Games are constantly evolving, and games 20 years ago take 1000 times less space on a hard drive compared to modern games. While it is not always true that the size of the game indicates whether a game is good, my point is that this shows how fast games are changing. Most gamers agree that they are getting more and more fun to play. So what I am trying to say is that you do not have to worry whether the sequel to your favorite game will be better. That is because statistically speaking it is going to be a higher quality product. It will be interesting to see how games will look like in ten or twenty years. How do you think they will change?
There is no doubt that there is substantial progress in technology. This obviously also applies to games, and includes empire management games. I can only wonder how such games will look like in 20-50 years. When I was thinking about it, I remembered a Stargate Atlantis episode. I do not remember the name of the episode, but it was about Shepherd and Rodney who were controlling two rival empires through an interface that looked like a computer. Those empires really existed and were located on a distant planet. Whatever orders were given by Shepherd or Rodney through the computer were in reality applied on the planet. The whole game was very realistic and that is what made it so appealing. Wouldn�t it be great if we would have such realistic games in the future? I think that we might have as the progress in technology is exponential, rather than linear. I am not saying that I would like to control the life of real people like Rodney did, however, I would like the game to be as realistic as possible. Games are already quite realistic, but I am sure that each year they will keep improving – just like it has been for the last two or three decades.
Steven Spielberg is mainly known for movies, however, last year he got involved in creating games. As an example of this is Steven Spielberg�s Boom Blox, which is a puzzle game released for Nintendo Wii. It is being launched by Electronic Arts which seem to be quite happy to cooperate with Spielberg. The game features 400 levels of strategic destruction, but the editor lets players create new levels or take existing levels and elements from the game and incorporate them into all-new level. It will be quite interesting to observe what other games from movie producers are going to get created in the future.
Anyway, games are becoming more and more addictive, and let me explain it first a little bit. A funny and real story that I read some time ago involves a 30 year old man wanted as a murderer who went to Wal-Mart where he started playing Guitar Hero in a gaming section of the supermarket. He became so much engaged in the action that he did not notice police officers who came to the shop looking for him. Probably, if he did not play the game, he could avoid being arrested. However, he was so engaged in the game that he forgot about all the world around him, and did not notice what was going on around him. I wonder if games created by Steven Spielberg will be as much fun.
I wish to discuss Macs and PCs. Macintosh is a computer that is quite popular in the United States, but in Europe it is almost completely unknown. On the other hand, Regular PCs are used across the whole world. I am not going to get engaged in a debate which system is better, but I just want to help you make a decision for anyone who considers buying a new computer.
First of all, I already stated that PCs are a lot more popular. This means that if you live anywhere outside the US, you should probably buy a PC, instead of a Mac. Many argue that it does not matter if Mac is better or not, as it is a computer that is not used almost anywhere in the world. Even if Macs were a bit cheaper than PCs, most computer users would still not want to use them, as they have no way to compete with PCs for the reasons I stated above. Even if you live in US, I also suggest that you use a PC, because you never know if you might need to travel or move to another country. It is better to use a computer that is well known around the world, instead of using a Mac for which you will not be able to buy components or find a service center in the rest of the world. After all, maintenance of a computer is very important and very often you might need to replace fans, cables, or a heatsink.
Some people might say that buying computers is an investment; however, it depends in what situation you are. If you are using a computer for work, then indeed it is an investment. It is an investment because by having a fast computer you are going to perform your job a lot more effectively. It would be hard to be efficient at work if you had a really old PC that would crash often.
On the other hand, buying a computer that has all of the newest components is not an investment at all. That is because computer components are getting less expensive each year, and there are almost no other products the price of which drops so much. That is why I suggest you buy a computer with a processor, graphic card, and other components that you are really going to fully utilize, instead of being convinced by commercials into buying something very expensive that will get outdated soon anyway. Of course, there are some computer users that are going to consider buying the latest computer components. Those might be professionals that work with 3D graphics or perhaps even gamers. Newest games require really fast processing power, so that is why gamers are often those PC users that have the newest and fastest computers.
Whenever someone sends you an attachment via email you should be careful to make sure you will not get infected by a virus. It is easy to click and open a file with a virus, and if you do not have proper antivirus protection, then your computer will be infected. You may lose sensitive data because of that. You might even be forced to format your hard drive. One way to protect yourself from potential viruses is to know which file types are safe to open and which are not. Here is a short list:
� .doc, .xls, .pub, .ppt are files which can be opened by Microsoft Office. It is unlikely for any of them to contain a virus.
� .htm, .html, .php .jpg, .png, .gif are files that are very popular on the Internet as they are responsible for pages and for displaying images. They will probably not contain viruses as well.
� .mov, .avi or .mpg are video files that are relatively safe when it comes to virus infections; however, some people reported that they can contain spyware. Having a good firewall program should protect you.
� .exe is an executive file type, which means that it can be a software program, but it also may be a virus. This is the file type that is the most likely to contain a virus.
The key principle is to be careful, and do not open any files from people that you do not trust. Remember that .exe is the most dangerous file type. Take proper precautions, and do not let viruses harm your computer.
Many passwords nowadays are being hacked for various reasons. Usually, this is due to the inability of choosing a good password. If you want to create a good password, you may wish to follow a few simple tips. If you do so, the probability of your password getting hacked will drop dramatically. Here are a few tips on how to create a password that will be a lot harder to crack:
1. Avoid first names and surnames.
2. Avoid things that might be easily associated with you like your hobbies, phone numbers etc.
3. Avoid common words in any language whether it be English or Chinese.
4. Use a combination of letters and numbers. Try to mix them.
5. Create a password that you can remember so that you will not have to write it anywhere.
6. Make your password quite long. The longer it is, the better.
7. Do not use keyboard sequences like, for example, “qwerty”.
8. Plan on changing your password from time to time.
9. If possible, have one password that you will use for all your accounts in different places. That will make it easy for you to remember all of your passwords.
I am certain that all of the above points are quite logical. Just use common sense when creating a password and you should be fine.
When you walk down the streets, you probably always see many signs. I see them all the time the moment I leave my home. It seems that signs are everywhere I go. Signs usually advertise businesses. It is not uncommon for a company to look for a NY sign maker to make signs even better. Signs need to be designed in a professional way, because they represent a company which they advertise. My advice is that you do not settle on mediocre signs, but rather opt for something special, something that will make your business stand out from the crowd. You can design your sing in any way you want it. If you need some help with sign design, do not hesitate to ask for it.
Xbox 360 is one of the three most popular consoles along with Playstation and Nintendo Wii. Those three giants are competing with each other which is definitely good for the consumers. That is because competition results in higher quality products. I think that each console has a lot to offer, but there are some things which Xbox 360 is missing. Here they are:
-Lack of free multiplayer support. Playstation offers free multiplayer support, but for this feature you will have to pay $50 if you have Xbox 360. Multiplayer games are becoming increasingly popular these days because they are simply a lot of fun.
-Lack of free Wi-Fi feature. You need to spend around $100 for a Wi-fi adaptor, while all of the other consoles have built-in Wi-Fi support.
-Problems playing videos. Other consoles simply support more video files. While you may not have a problem with playback of popular files types, you may encounter some problems with less known file formats.
As we can see, there is definitely some room for improvement, and hopefully there will be a solution to the above problems at some point. In these tough economic times each company wants to sell as many consoles as possible.
There are a lot of trekkies out there who love the Star Trek universe. I am sure that one of the reasons they love it, is because it represents a future where access to technological advances is almost limitless. With so many people watching Star Trek it is an interesting question to ask whether Star Trek has influenced any technological advancements in the recent years. Star Trek depicts technological gadgets and devices that are extremely useful, and it is interesting to note that we may already have access to some of the devices featured on Star Trek. For example, the hypospray that was used for painless injections is currently available and operates on the principle of applying ultrasonic waves to a small area of skin, opening microscopic pores, and allowing medication to pass into a patient�s bloodstream. It might not have all of the functions of the Star Trek�s hypospray, however, it is incredible that we already have such an invention. I am also pretty certain that Pocket PCs might have been inspired by Sci-Fi movies, as such small devices appear to be very popular in many movies. After all, carrying a small computer with you at all times can be very useful. I wonder what other devices from Sci-Fi movies may appear in our everyday lives.