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How to protect your child from the top 7 dangers of online gaming

According to research from the Entertainment Software Association, 70% of families have at least one child who plays video games. Mobile is becoming a critical segment of the game industry. NPD Group reports that 59% of U.S. gamers age 2+ play across devices, on dedicated gaming consoles, desktops, laptops or mobile devices. And 34% of gamers who play exclusively one system do so on a mobile device.

While online gaming can provide quality social interaction, there’s also a darker side. From cyber bullying to online predators to hidden costs, there are many concerns when it comes to playing video games online, especially for children. The most important thing a parent can do is to establish a dialogue about safe online usage at a young age and build upon that as your children get older. When they understand the risks and the importance of security, children are more likely to come to you with red flags, alarms or smaller things that worry them.

Here’s a list of the top seven dangers and simple tips to keep your kids safe online.

Cyber bullying

For many kids, the ability to escape into an online world offers relief from real life—no one knows who they are, what school they attend or what they look like. This anonymity cuts both ways, however. This may start out as the gamer version of poor sportsmanship. As noted by Get Safe Online, some players take advantage of their anonymity to “grief” other players by deliberately making the game less enjoyable. This could include “kill stealing,” which is when griefers conquer or capture needed quest targets before other players can get to them; or “chaining” groups of high-level challenges to block the progress of low-level players, causing them to die.

In some cases, griefing escalates to cyber bullying. Although cyber bullying sadly has countless forms, some forms are particular to gaming platforms. In “whispering” cyber bullies target players directly with hurtful and harmful messages, or by spamming global chat channels with derogatory comments about their victims. According to Stay Safe Online, it’s critical for kids and parents to understand their options. Most games allow players to “block” chat and messages from other users, and in some cases, the bully’s words or actions may be a violation of the game’s terms of service. It’s always a good idea to write down or take a screenshot of any offensive conversation and report it to game administrators.

Privacy Problems

Stay Safe Online also recommends that kids never create usernames that are derivatives of their real names, or that might reveal any other personally identifiable information (PII), such as their location or age. According to US-CERT, the social nature of online gaming allows cyber criminals to manipulate conversations. They may single out your child in a general chat channel and then start sending personal messages that ask for detailed personal information. By piecing together data from games and other sources, hackers may be able to access other existing accounts such as social media or establish new accounts—even entire digital identities—in your child’s name. As in any online forum, never give away any personal information and be sure to vary usernames and passwords are across different games, platforms and accounts.

Personal Information on Consoles, Computers and Devices

Another online gaming danger comes from consoles or PCs themselves. When they’ve outlived their usefulness, many families take these devices to the local electronics recycling center or sell them on swap sites. Users often forget how much personal information is in the files saved to these devices and fail to delete their profiles and information, putting their financial and private data at risk. Before getting rid of any computer, game console, tablet or smartphone, you should wipe all personal data from and then perform a factory reset.

The specific tools or procedures needed might vary depending on the type of device, so it’s important to research this for each device. Also, remember that some devices might include storage areas that aren’t affected by the device’s erase functions. If a device uses computer-compatible storage drives, like SD cards, connect them to your computer and securely erase the data. For computers, don’t rely on the “Delete” function or even reformatting. These features are designed to permanently erase all user data from disk drives. Instead, you should use a program that completely removes data by overwriting the data multiple times.

By following these simple tips and strategies, you can start winning more often at online gaming. So what are you waiting for? Start putting these tips into practice today and see how they can help you take your game to the next level!

How to Win at Online Gaming: Proven Strategies That Work

Do you love playing online games? If so, you’re definitely not alone. In fact, online gaming has become one of the most popular pastimes on the internet. But what if you want to take your game to the next level? How can you improve your skills and start winning more often? In this blog post, we will share some tips and strategies that have helped us win at online gaming time and time again!

First and foremost, if you want to win at online gaming, you need to have a positive attitude. Believe in yourself and your ability to succeed. When you approach the game with confidence, it will show in your performance. Additionally, don’t be afraid to take risks. Sometimes, the best way to win is to go for it!

Another important tip is to stay focused and concentrated on the task at hand. It can be easy to get distracted when playing online games, but if you want to win, you need to maintain your focus. Pay attention to what’s happening in the game and make sure you’re making the right moves.

Finally, always remember that practice makes perfect! The more you play, the better you’ll become at the game. If you’re serious about winning, make sure to set aside some time each day to play. The more you play, the better your chances will be of coming out on top!

By following these simple tips and strategies, you can start winning more often at online gaming. So what are you waiting for? Start putting these tips into practice today and see how they can help you take your game to the next level!

With a positive attitude, focus, and practice, anyone can improve their skills and start winning more often at online gaming. Stay confident in yourself and don’t be afraid to take risks—sometimes the best way to win is by going for it. And finally, remember that practice makes perfect. The more you play, the better your chances will be of coming out on top. So what are you waiting for? Start putting these tips into practice today and see how they can help you take your game to the next level!

Don’t forget to have fun too! Online gaming should be enjoyable so make sure to find a balance between playing to win and playing for fun. With a little bit of effort, you can start seeing some serious improvements in your game play. Good luck!

Do you have any other tips or strategies that have helped you win at online gaming? Share them with us in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you! And if you found this blog post

Cleanse up your online reputation

Cleanse up your online reputation

What can you do if you need to clean up your internet presence for a job search? Plenty. We’ve outlined each important step that every job seeker should take. You’ll learn how to uncover search results, remove negative content and develop a positive online presence.

But make no mistake: It’s not easy to manage your online reputation. In the next sections we’ll break down several strategies to give you a clean slate and a great reputation.

Start Early

If you’ve just entered the employment market, you may be eager to rush out and apply for jobs right away.Slow down. Consider your online reputation first.

Recruiters and hiring managers will consider your online presence. So if your reputation isn’t up to snuff, employers will take one look at your online reputation and run.

Before you pound the pavement, improve your online presence. But remember this: it takes time and effort to clean up a messy reputation. However, you’ll always see a return on your investment.

Potential employers may not initially check applicants’ online reputations, but they may eventually do so before making an offer.

Google Yourself

Employers will turn to Google to assess your online reputation. That’s why it’s so important to know what they’re likely to find. Here are some quick takeaways from our article about how to Google yourself:

Is it attractive to employers, or could it cause a problem?

Take note of any results that match you, both positive and negative.

Be sure to check out the first few pages (30-40 results) in Google.

List your active profiles as well as any dead ones where you haven’t posted in years. It could be embarrassing if a potential employer finds an old gaming profile you started in high school. If you find things that you don’t like, log in and update or delete old accounts.

You should also examine social media profiles to see how they can be viewed publicly. Most have the option to view a public timeline or offer a “view as” option so you can see how others view your profile.

It’s critical to make note of other people who share your name. They can seriously influence your search results and may confuse potential employers. If you share a name with a criminal, porn star, or other unsavory character, you may have trouble landing a job. Make sure you use an up-to-date photo in all of your professional profiles to help employers suss out which ones belong to you. You can also attempt to drown out the imposters with positive results that are relevant to you (more on that later).

Look for Red Flags

First and foremost, you’ll want to put out the fires. While it’s important to develop a positive online reputation, the first thing you need to do is clean up the bad stuff. Employers are on the hunt for reasons to dismiss your application, so don’t give them any.

Red flags can include:

Embarrassing or inappropriate photos

Negative or inappropriate language or strong opinions

Complaints about current or former employers

Poor grammar or spelling

Association with negative characters

References to illegal activity, drinking, or drug use

Legal challenges

Inconsistencies between your resume and online presence

Any indication that a candidate lacks maturity or good judgement

You must take action if your search results have any of those red flags. Do your best to delete what you control, remove things if you can or bury what you can’t clean up.

Don’t Go Nuclear

Some job seekers decide that their online presence will be too difficult to clean up so they take the nuclear option. They delete their social media accounts, change their last names and obliterate their online identity.

While that approach can disassociate your name from negative content, it’s far more likely to make employers suspicious. Most will wonder why you have no presence online – and they may even question if you have something to hide.

But more importantly, it leaves you with a blank slate. That might sound appealing, but it’s actually dangerous. It means there’s nothing to hold back damaging content should something surface. It’s far better to develop a mostly positive reputation with a few blemishes than to have nothing at all.

Further, a good online reputation isn’t just about cleansing the negative. It’s also important to accentuate the positive. If you delete your entire internet presence, you will give up control of your online reputation as well as your ability to connect. Remember that you can positively interact with recruiters, hiring managers, companies, and others in your network.

Remove Negative Results

Once you know what you’re up against, you’ll need to remove search results from Google if you can. That’s a piece of cake to do on websites, blogs or profiles that you control. However, you may meet resistance if you need to remove content from third party websites.

Take charge of your content

If you’re dealing with comments, posts, or photos that you’ve put up yourself, just log in and delete them. It’s best to completely remove content rather than hide it behind privacy settings. You should also clean up your friends and connections, and review your likes, comments, shares and follows.

Lock down your privacy

Review your privacy settings, and make posts and photos available to friends only. You may even consider filtering your friends into different audiences for different posts. But remember that everything can potentially become public.

Ask friends for help

It’s trickier to remove negative results that other people have shared. Ask friends to take down content that looks unprofessional. Mention that you’re applying for jobs so they’ll be more likely to act quickly for you. If they can’t or won’t, remove the tags and delete the content from your wall.

Politely request removal

Blogs or websites may rank higher on search engines and cause more damage to your reputation. Negative articles and bad reviews can really come back to haunt you and can have potential employers running for the hills. To make matters worse, some website owners will not change or take down content willingly. Tread lightly, be polite, and explain how the content is could hurt your employability. Do not get caught up in demands, and definitely don’t threaten to sue.

Get legal help if necessary

If a gentle approach doesn’t work, you may need to call in some help. Some content is illegal by law. For example, Google may remove sensitive personal information or copyrighted content. Online defamation may be worth pursuing legally, but be careful. You may in fact call attention to the content that you want to clean up.

If you can’t delete embarrassing content completely, don’t worry. You still have options. Even if negative search results persist, it’s entirely possible to bury them with positive content. In most cases, the best course of action is to push down negative search results where nobody will find them.

Push down results with positive content

Let’s face it: it’s usually not possible to delete negative results. However, you can still clean up your online reputation. How? Build a positive brand to push down negative search results on Google. You’ll not only develop a great first impression for recruiters, but you’ll also hold back future negative press. Here are some techniques you can use to do just that.

Be a real person online

It sounds silly, but the best way to establish a positive online reputation is to be active, and be yourself. Use your real name, fill out your social profiles with legitimate information, and use a professional head shot that shows your face.

Get your own domain name

A personal website domain usually costs about $15 per year or less to register. You’ll show that you’re serious about developing a professional brand, and you’ll improve your internet presence.

Link to your positive results

If you found positive results on Google, make sure you link to them. Targets to consider include your portfolio, positive news stories, videos, and more. Link to them on your website, blog, LinkedIn, and anywhere else you find relevant. You’ll show employers (and Google) that these results are important to you.

Create a well informed blog

You don’t have to write weekly essays, but you should develop a blog that shows off your expertise. A blog is an excellent platform to offer commentary on topics that you care about. You’ll show employers that you’re informed, vocal and that you care about what’s happening within your industry.

Establish a social media presence

\If you’re not already on professional and social networks online, now is the time to start. Sign up for LinkedIn, Facebook, Cameron Clokie Twitter, and other social media sites where you can build your personal brand, connect with others, and share links that reflect positively on you.

Be professional online

Show employers that you’re a mature, intelligent candidate. Use proper grammar, be respectful of others, and avoid getting into arguments.

Become active in your community

Volunteer and reach out in your local community, connect with industry influencers, and be publicly active online. Just be sure that your activity is positive and doesn’t throw up any red flags. Back up your activities with photos, posts and other online evidence of your involvement. Connect with influential organizations and associations as well as influencers in your community, and participate in industry conversations on social media and in active networks.

Showcase your skills and interests

Make videos on YouTube, post photos on Flickr, link to accomplishments and interests on Pinterest. Use social accounts to point to what you do best and make sure that employers can find them.

Use LinkedIn effectively

Don’t just sign up and connect with a few people, really use LinkedIn. Share links to your work, join communities, reach out to new contacts. Don’t forget to ask for recommendations as well: these act as virtual references that hiring managers and recruiters love to check out.

Support your resume

Employers are often looking to make sure that what you’ve shared on your resume lines up with your online life, so it helps to leave evidence that you are really doing what you say you’re doing. Add jobs to LinkedIn and Facebook, post photos, links to events, recommendations, and any other indications that your life on your resume accurately reflects your life online.

It may seem like a lot of work to build a great online reputation, and it is. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start small, and take one step at a time to clean up negative or neutral results and replace them with a positive results.

Build a Strong Online Presence

So you’ve filtered out negative results and promoted positive content. But keep in mind that you’re still not done. You’ll need to continue to invest time and effort to keep your internet presence clean. That’s why so many people hire online reputation management services to do the work for them. Don’t throw away your hard work by neglecting your online reputation once you’re happy with it.

How to Choose an ORM CompanyRead the Article

Here are a few more tips to maintain a squeaky clean online reputation.

Watch what you share on social media You should only need to clean up your reputation once. After that, put a filter on your posts to prevent future issues. Think about how your boss, grandmother, or children would feel about what you plan to share.

War Machine Bridles….

Equines are adored not simply for their natural splendor but also for their strength and momentum but as battle weapons. Also, the rider must be able to connect with equines well in order for them to function proficiently and demand respect and strike fear in the enemy. One of the many resources that can help in the efficient interaction between the rider and the warhorse are the bridles. Horse bridles are found on the equine’s head. It is one way to boost the connection between the rider and the equine with regards to direction, flexibility and speed.There are various types of equine bridles which are regularly used everywhere.

The rider should know how to make use of the tool correctly to acquire good results. It must be used with patience, light pressure and it should be released when the horse responds and leg pressure can be used to support the cues of the bridle. On top of that, a precise size to the horse is an excellent aspect to its glorious performance. A mismatched bridle can detrimentally affect the equine’s ease and comfort, stride and cooperation. Even though you will discover different types of equine bridles, they have common qualities which make them exceptional.The strap that rest across the forehead of the horse, just underneath the ears is called the browband. It is essential to prohibit the bridles from being pulled back over the ears and down the neck. Be certain that it suits snugly and would not pinch the horse. Various horse lovers who prefer western horse-bridles because it does not use a browband, alternatively it uses two ear loops attached to the headpiece. Having either a browband or ear loops, a noseband is also being used to force a horse to drop its head. It is found above the nose but its efficiency and exact position can vary based on the style of bridle employed and riding discipline. Sometimes, cosmetic nosebands that usually do not apply any pressure to a horse’s nose are preferred by owners.

The Cheek piece horse bridles for sale are another significant portion of the horse-bridle is the cheek piece. It can determine the level of interaction between the reins and the bit. It has to suit properly because if it is fitted too freely the bit will rest low in the horse’s mouth. It will lead to the bit to hit the horse’s front teeth and the tongue to be subjected to uneasy pressure. This is unquestionably a detrimental experience for the horse and can negatively influence its operation. A suitably fit cheek piece lets one wrinkle in the corners of the horse’s mouth.The Throat lash is a piece that is situated under the upper jaw near the neck is called the throat lash or also called throat latch. It holds the bridle in place and keeps the horse from rubbing the bridle off his head. Be certain that these horse bridles have the proper clearance of about three fingers to prevent constriction in the horse’s breathing.

HANNA-BARBERA Characters get a Re-Design for Comic Book reboot

 

Scooby has gone through many incarnations over the years since his introduction in 1969. Most of the incarnations have either been slight modifications by the inclusion of new characters, like the bad choice to include Scrappy Doo, to reducing the number of regulars in the show, a back to basics series of direct to DVD movies including a musical, to a recent attempt by Cartoon Network to add even more mystery and a running story to the show called ‘Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated’ that ran from April of 2010 for two season till April 2013 and is considered the 11th incarnation of the show according to Wikipedia. When it comes to the comic books Scooby has seen plenty of change and shift as well but this new version should be interesting to watch unfold. Speaking about the reboot AND redesign of the characters artist Jim Lee had this to say:

“I’m a huge Scooby Doo fan, as I think most people are,” said Lee during Entertainment Weekly’s initial report. “It’s a multigenerational obsession at this point, and we just thought it would just be really interesting to take the cartoon version of these characters and see where they would be if we took what existed in the very first iteration of the cartoon and moved it into this day and age.”

That sounds a bit dangerous to me. Take a look at the cover art for the new series as drawn by Lee himself.

Scooby Doo Apocalypse

Shaggy seems to be the character with cross-hairs on his back as he’s evolved from a hippy to a hipster with trendy facial hair. Velma looks like she’s been handed larger glasses and a shorter stature. Fred and Daphne seem to be dressed as twins minus the colors and rocking some pretty hefty tech. All of this wrapped up in Lee’s signature style… and tattoos apparently.

Lee has a long history of producing great artwork and his work on the New52 and this mysterious Rebirth for DC has been heralded and lauded so it will be interesting to see how this new version of the historical and “generational” characters of Mystery Inc unfolds.

Personally I’d kinda like to see more of this idea!

GODSANDHEROES

Rome Rising is a mature, full-scale, action-adventure, massively multiplayer online role-playing game that immerses the audience in Roman mythology.

Players strap on gladiator armor, lay waste to monsters and command minions while seeking favor from the gods.

Contact

2991 Sandy Avenue,
Costa Mesa
CA 92626.

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