Two decades ago educational software was a luxury item which most schools did not want to incur the cost of. In the twenty-first century it is just an normal routine element of the teaching resources encountered in all schools. In those years many new packages of children’s educational software have been introduced as the next indispensable resource for schools, only to disappear into oblivion within a couple of years.

A minute proportion of education software packages have been successfully integrated into the classroom in the longer term, but Aspex has created educational software which is still in daily use after ten or fifteen years! That is because our software helps pupils to enjoy themselves and at the same time acquire and improve skills which are vital in the twenty-first century. Skills such as controlling a mouse, moving and handling on-screen graphics, budgeting money, and generating ideas for designs, all of which are fast becoming essential abilities in everyday life today.

Survival in this ever changing world, at various historical times and in diverse cultural settings, requires vastly different sets of skills and knowledge. Survival in the wilderness, as Bear Grylls regularly shows us on TV, requires abilities such as rubbing sticks together to create a spark and start a fire, and knowing which plants have roots you can eat and which roots are poisonous. But such knowledge is utterly irrelevant if you are having dinner at the Savoy Grill, for that the required knowledge is how to read the menu, which knives and forks to use for which course and how to employ them!

Children’s learning is at least to some degree a process of acquiring survival skills, and at any single time and place there is a consensus on what children should be taught. Thus, well-born young women in Victorian England were taught to be lady-like, and encouraged to practise their skills in watercolour painting, playing an instrument, singing, reciting and embroidery. These were what they needed to know to acquire a husband of the right type eg RICH!

To be interested in science, Chemistry or Mathematics was regarded as quite unseemly for a Lady and therefore girls were never taught these subjects. My school life started in the late 1950’s, when most cars were still painted black, and instead of having fun with woodwork girls had to sit quietly and do needlework. I can also remember we were given a chalkboard and a stick of chalk for writing lessons when I attended, (and I haven’t got my bus pass yet!). What a massive technological jump has happened in the classroom since then! In the twenty-first century the first thing a child is faced with in the classroom is the omnipresent school computer with all its possibilities, kids educational software programs, school websites and a plethora of resources.

These days children don’t just learn to write, they even publish their own books! Computers and IT have become foundational to our children’s lives and learning whether they are at school or at home. However what they can learn by using the computer is dependent on good quality software and web-based content. Much research and consideration have gone into our Kids educational software products which has resulted in four genuinely content-free, open ended, cross-curricular design software packages for children, Spex for designing rooms in a house, Spexworlds! which is a dream to design a house and other places, tabs for 3D shapes, nets and modeling, and Shapes and Nets a program for children to investigate 2D shapes and 3D shapes.

Our educational software programs inspire children to use their own creativity to make a personal and unique design, perhaps a kitchen layout or a model of a rocket. Meanwhile the learning element just happens while children are having fun! All the educational software mentioned in this article can be found at http://www.aspexsoftware.com

Microsoft has tried to catch up with some of the titans of the gaming world, such as Sony with the release of the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 offers many new features that players will love:

Free limited subscription to online gaming – This allows players who have not been participating in online gaming a chance to see what is available at no charge. All Xbox 360s come with Live-aware – This means you can get a friend invite or see who is online and what they are playing from your Xbox 360. The button in the middle of the controller makes all this very easy.

It offers great media features including listening to music while you play games, the ability to create custom playlists and your own custom soundtracks, the ability to rip songs from original CDs to your Xbox 360 and stream music from your MP3 player to your Xbox 360. You can also create slideshows of photos to share with friends and family. Xbox 360 has a wireless controller. No more tripping over the wires, although it can support two wired controllers through USB ports in the front. The game console is not only great for gamers, but developers as well. It is a powerful machine with an unprecedented amount of RAM – a feature added on the request of developers.

But, Xbox 360 still has some problems that need to be worked out:

Their Japanese third party support is lacking – While some Japanese developers offer software for the Xbox, it is small in number when compared to what the same developers offer for Playstation. While the controller is wireless, it eats batteries rather quickly. Standard alkaline batteries only last about thirty hours, so if you buy Xbox 360, invest in rechargeable batteries to save yourself some money in the end. When they were set up in WalMart stores before days before the launch, many suffered what is known as the Xbox “360 screen of death,” an error screen. The Xbox 360 had also had some problems with overheating. Some report the Xbox 360 system as being very noisy when playing an Xbox 360 disc.

Many people are eagerly awaiting the release of Playstation 3, which may occur as soon as November of this year. It has been said that the Playstation 3 has an outward feel (which allows it to stand vertically or horizontally on its own), as opposed to the Xbox 360’s inward feel. It is a much larger console than the Playstation 2 and closer to the original size of the Xbox. Game discs slide into the console like CDs slide into a car player.

Here are a few attractive features of the Playstation 3:

It is always on, so you can access your Playstation 3 from anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection. With a Playstation Portable, you can connect to your Playstation 3 and transfer media such as music and movies. The Playstation 3 appears to be much more powerful than that Xbox 360, Ninetindo Revolution, and Playstation 2. Initial reports say it will be twice as fast as the Xbox 360. Developers and publishers of over 230 games have announced titles for Playstation 3 games.

Here are a few reported cons and problems with the Playstation 360:

Comes with only 256 MB, less than the 512 MB the Xbox 360 will come with. Their Playstation Network Platform (the online service) is still in development and may not be ready by the time Playstation 3 is released.

The launch of the Playstation 3 has already been delayed due to disk problems.

Both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are incredible gaming consoles. It seems that although the Xbox 360 came out first, the best bet is still the Playstation 3. The strongest point of the Xbox 360 is its online functionality, but Sony may be working on something similar to Xbox Live right now. However, Microsoft is closing the gap with Xbox 360 and probably will eventually catch up with Sony in gaming consoles. For some users, it may come down to something as simple as which one is more compatible with the games they already own.

In our fast paced and technology savvy society we only want the best when it comes to the top gaming experience. The latest in the highest performance gaming experience however comes from a source you probably won’t be expecting…

In general the most serious of gamers are considered to be a very demanding group of people. They know their computers inside out and they know what they want from them but did you know that many of these serious gamers are opting for laptops over desktops?

Things have really changed in the world of laptops. There have been some major developments in not only the way that laptops are constructed but also the technology that is placed in them. Quad processors are now available in gaming laptops but what really has broken the gaming barrier is the introduction of SLI technology which makes hooking up two or more Graphics Cards or GPUs possible within laptops. Throw in much more RAM at higher speeds and you have the formula for higher performance gaming in a smaller package.

This new technology has now made the laptop nearly or as powerful as your desktop PC; so it’s no wonder that more and more gamers are switching from their desktop PC in favor of a laptop. These laptops aren’t just any laptops however; they are specifically built, pimped out if you like, to be able to run and play games better than your standard laptop or desktop computer.

Gaming laptops are the elite; they are the top of the line laptops for all of your gaming needs. The reason for this is that these laptops are built to perfection and not only that, they can also be built and tailor made to fulfil everything that you need to have the ultimate machine when it comes to your gaming laptop.

Custom building a laptop to meet a certain specification is what many gamers are now choosing over buying a standard laptop that simply meets the requirements needed; these gamers want to take it a step further. They want to, in essence, produce their own blueprints for what will be the best gaming machine on the market.

If you’re ordering a gaming laptop from some of the gaming specialist like Alienware, Rock in the UK, or even a local HP or Dell XPS rig; and you can config or order the amount of RAM, type of Processors and most importantly, the type of GPU or Graphics Card you want in your gaming laptop. Obviously, the more cash you’re willing to spend, the more ‘pinped-out’ your gaming laptop will be.

It has only been in recent times that laptops have shown what potential they have to be the best of the best in the computer world. They are powerful mobile machines that are made to feature vital components to make the laptop the fastest, sharpest and brightest it can be; it makes a laptop the perfect gaming machine.

Whatever your gaming habits are you are able to pimp out a laptop to make a gaming monster to rival others. You can design your own gaming system and then have it custom built by experts. When you design your gaming laptop there are certain considerations that I’m sure you are already aware of, that you will need to include in your gaming laptop to make it the best it can be.

You will be looking at getting the fastest processor, largest amount of RAM and best resolution. Not just any laptop will do for a gamer; you need what is essentially considered to be a powerhouse that can handle the intense graphics of some of the best 3D games that are on the market today. So you need to keep in mind the fact that you are unable to upgrade the graphics card in many laptops so when you are custom building your ultimate gaming laptop it is highly important that you buy a laptop with the fastest graphics card that you can; the latest DirectX graphics cards are highly recommended. Most gamers go with high-end NVIDIA or ATI GPUs which usually gives them the best performance.

If you are a gamer who is looking into what makes up the best gaming laptop I suggest that you take it one step further like many people already have done, and get your gaming laptop custom built. This way you get the best of all worlds. You get a fast processor, high quality graphics card and a large amount of RAM.

Custom building laptops is what you need if you want the best from your gaming laptop. So get your gaming laptop specs figured out now and get them sent out to the laptop manufacturers. Ordering your custom gaming rig online is easy and fast to do and you will be gaming with the best of them in no time!

Many of you may have come across sites before that claim they are giving away free gadgets. They claim that you can get yourself virtually anything for free including games consoles, iPhones, HDTVs, iPods, Amazon Vouchers and even cold hard cash!

Believe it or not, the service these websites are offering are completely legitimate and they do actually work (as I have found out for myself). In this article I am going to explain how the process works and how you too can receive free gadgets online!

Where can you get these Free Gadgets from?

Well I know of a well established site which specializes in providing information about certain free gadgets that you can claim online.

Free Consoles – Is dedicated to helping its users get their hands on the latest games consoles for free. It also provides information about how to get other gadgets for free.

How can websites afford to give away expensive gadgets?

The whole process revolves around a form of marketing known as affiliate marketing. This allows customers to receive the latest gadgets for free from what are known as “Referral Sites”. The freebie sites get money for advertising other companies’ offers and then receive a fee for gaining them new a new lead. These fees add up and pay for the customer’s free gift.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you wanted to get yourself a Free Nintendo DS Lite.

The first thing you would do is sign up to the Freebie Site and create a free account. You will then be asked to participate in an advertiser’s offer.

The most popular U.K offers include a LoveFilm Free Trial, Coral.co.uk and Books Direct.

There are similar U.S.A/Canadian offers available such as the Free Blockbuster trial, Netflix offer or even a free credit report check.

After completing an offer you will then be asked to refer some friends/family to repeat this process and complete an offer of their own. This is why they are known to many as Referral Websites. In order to receive your Free Nintendo DS Lite you would need to acquire five referrals. This is very easy to achieve because well all have a few friends/family members who wouldn’t mind signing up for a no obligation free trial and receive some free DVDs (whilst helping you earn your free gadget at the same time).

Once you have your 5 referrals that’s it, you have fulfilled the requirements to receive your Free DS Lite. All you have to do is click the order button and wait for it to be delivered directly from Amazon within a few days.

How and Why does this technique work?

Here is a quick summary of how it all works out in monetary terms.

Who

Total Spend

What they got out of it

You

£0, Nothing!

A Free Nintendo DS Lite plus a Free DVD trial.

Referral Website

£100 on your DS.

6 lots of commission (your offer + your 5 referral’s offers) of around £30 from the advertiser.

Profit = £80

Advertiser

e.g. Coral/Blockbuster/LoveFilm

£180 – nothing compared to an advertising campaign.

6 potential customers who have already tried their service and may wish to become a full time member, potentially earning them in excess of their £180 spend.

In conclusion: It’s a Win:Win situation! You get your free gadget, the Referral Site makes a profit, and the advertisers get new customers!

Have any proof?

I sure do!

Here is a link to the “I got my free item” section of a popular freebie website. This thread shows that over £215,000 worth of free gadgets have been claimed by this forum’s community alone over the past 3 years. Some members have received in excess of £25,000 worth of freebies!

This system has also been tested by the BBC and featured on the BBC Newsnight Program a while ago.

Summary:

If you want to receive the latest gadgets for free and don’t mind trying out a free trial or another free offer then give it a try. You will be receiving your first free gadget in no time at all!

Want to get started?

Simply visit: Free Consoles