Leave Your Thoughts

Ahh, the sound of school bells signals the blissful end of summer...and now those hellions can stop bugging you and get back to school. But along with the traditional pens and paper, most kids want laptops, digital music players and other expensive technological doo-dads.

But one "gadget" that is both practical, fun and affordable is the external hard disk. A long time favorite of busy business professionals and weary road warriors, the external drive is making big inroads into the home computer arena, especially for students.

What is an External Hard Drive?

An external drive is simply a regular computer hard drive that has been encased in a special metal enclosure with USB cables so that it can be connected to your desktop or laptop computer. Once hooked to a USB port, you can quickly and easily transfer massive amounts of data: documents, graphics, photographs, etc. from your standard computer to the external.

This the reason external devices became very popular for backup devices in business environments. But lovers of MP3s and digital photography also saw the potential of having "movable" storage devices and rapidly started filling theirs up with music, videos and graphic art files.

Why Should Your Student Use One?

As kids become more mobile, often traveling from home to school, to after school programs, to friends' homes before returning home; their school work (done on the family PC) can quickly become lost or corrupted. And while the dog didn't eat his homework, it's just as distressing for both child and parent to realize that someone accidentally deleted a student's 20 page book report!

With a external drive, all work can be both saved to and opened from the enclosed disk. No muss, no lost papers! If your student has shot a home made video they wish to show to their science class then it is a simple matter of unplugging the drive, taking it to school and returning it safely home.

How Tough is an External Hard Drive?

Kids are rough on things. They accidentally drop book bags and backpacks on hard, concrete surfaces or careless plop them onto the wet ground. So how will an external drive hold up? While being in a metal case prevents, direct contact with the hard drive, it is still very vulnerable to drops and falls while turned on. Teach your student how to care for their hard drive while it's running.

But once turned off, the hard drive can withstand a certain amount of abuse. But like all electronics, your external drive doesn't work well when exposed to moisture or water. So the best way I have found to provide a little extra padding for the case plus give it nice waterproof cover, it to invest in one of those soft-sided, insulated lunch bags you can get in most any department store.

The these lunch boxes are already waterproofed or at least water resistant, have nice roomy interiors large enough for most enclosures with space to spare to cables and power cords. They have soft padded sides which add another layer of protection for the drive. Plus as an added bonus, these bags are so common place, they don't signal "steal me!" like laptop cases do.

Now that you know a little bit more about external hard drives, you are ready to do some exploring on your own to find an drive that fits both your student's lifestyle and your budget.

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Each year billions of dollars are earned by the video gaming industry through the sales of hardware and software. Rather than risk a nickel of that potential income, games creators work very hard at putting out products that are not only fun and entertaining, but that are also stable and that make sense from a playability point of view.

This is where you come in. As the tester, you take a game and break it down. Play each and every possible angle in the game and look for flaws or design issues that the programmers will need to fix before a full release.

The Freelance Tester

There are gamers who have a bit more experience as well as motivation that helps them take their game testing ambitions to the next level. These gamers will search out companies who produce games and offer to test their upcoming release for bugs, playability and other features. This type of work pays well but it requires the video game tester to be able to communicate and write very clearly. The tester must be able to communicate his / her thoughts regarding why a certain aspect of a game was good or bad. As a freelance video game tester, you'll play unreleased games and provide written feedback to the developer and return this information within the companies deadline. Another aspect of the freelancers expectations would be confidentiality. With the vast amounts of money and time invested by software developers, security is one of their biggest concerns, so you will be expected to keep all the information discreet. They must feel that the game tester they hire is not only a video game enthusiast, but a professional who will not reveal any unreleased game information.

Becoming A Full Time Company Game Tester

This is the pinnacle of video game testing. It is possible to get hired by large game developers for a full time game testing position, but the jobs are very difficult to get. They require a high level of communication and writing skills plus plenty of experience. Getting the full time gig however can offer a high paying, secure job doing what you enjoy most - gaming! On the other hand, you may spend 40 hours a week playing the exact same game and recording multiple reports on game strategies, functionality, game maneuvering, game errors and character design. Many gamers build up the experience needed to get these types of positions by working as freelance video game testers until they have built up a solid resume of completed assignments. A bit of time spent sharpening up your writing skills combined with your interest in gaming and a desire to share your knowledge with others can easily add up to a great job!

I've got blisters on my thumbs and bloodshot eyes, what could possibly make that worthwhile? Oh yeah, getting paid to earn them. You need to check this out. http://www.squidoo.com/videogamecareers

AP - Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come.