Gaming computers need to be powerful machines to handle all the latest games. This means you're looking at expensive top of the line models for your gaming computer. Alternatively, you can opt to build your own, but is it worth the hassle? In the old days, the answer was always yes, but technology has improved. PC makers often create high-quality prebuilt machines that are worth buying]]>http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/tech/rss-comments-entry-32022454.xmlFacebookSocial MediaSocial mediaTwitterYahaira ReyesFri, 21 Oct 2011 10:47:25 +0000http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/tech/2011/10/21/is-virtual-protest-making-us-apathetic.html787578:10772414:13402454You receive an email, a twitter link or an invitation to a virtual event on Facebook or any other social media. The themes go from Saving the Whales to Free Tibet (and every good cause in between). You read the reason for the event and the awful facts which cause a certain injustice; you become outraged, click on the button to participate/sign/send a virtual message and a sense of satisfaction fills you up for a moment. After 30 minutes, you have forgotten all about it and are busy with your daily routine. 

We have all received these requests. They are Virtual Protests. An idea conceived, among other things, to protect the participants from serious danger whilst giving them the opportunity to raise their voice to, in many times, a difficult cause[1]. This idea, in theory, sounds perfect; you will share your voice with the world while protected by the "anonymity" the Internet allows but in practice, in my opinion, this method makes us lazy while feeling an underserved sense of reward and peace of mind for having done the "right thing".

What happened to the real, live action protests? The Civil Right Movement of Martin Luther King Jr.; the protests of May 1968 in France or the squatter protests in Amsterdam during Queen Beatrix coronation in 1980; these were protests filled with real human faces and emotions, protests that reached the core of the issue at hand, worrying the leaders of the countries and catching the eye of the International Community. And although some of these protests did not see a very successful conclusion, they still changed rules and ideologies in their time. They became part of our history and still remain in the collective conscience giving us the unity so badly needed to improve our quality of life.

With Virtual Protests, however, how do we measure the results? You receive an email telling you that your virtual signature helped save a child you've never even seen, a law you will never read in some distant country where you have never been? How can we as humans, brothers and sisters be satisfied with a simple email? these are not real results, this is us individuals searching for a feel good moment, perhaps to stop feeling guilt for becoming an investment banker instead of the fire fighter or policeman you wanted to be as a child. The virtual protests gives you that nice selfish feeling that YOU made a change (a virtual one that is) and that you were a good humanitarian even if only for 2 minutes of your day. 

My biggest fear of Virtual protest? The next step: Once again you receive an email, a twitter link or an invitation to a virtual event on Facebook or any other social media. The themes go from Saving the Whales to Free Tibet except this time you can’t be bothered to care at all. You have receive this requests with the fury and the speed of spam emails and by now even clicking the link is too much for you. Complete and utter apathy has settled and it will take a strong and awful situation to get you to care once again. The worse part: you won’t even notice, you will simply think, "I'm busy and the Dolphins or the occupied people of Nepal will have to make do without my signature this time... maybe tomorrow".                                                                                 

[1] http://globalfree.wordpress.com/virtual-protests-explained/

A labor camp in northeast China: break rocks and dig trenches in open coalmines by day. Slay demons, battle goblins, cast spells at night.

That's right, being a prisoner in some places in China means...being forced to play video games!

But it's not the fun and games it sounds like.

The prisoners were used to build up credits for the prison guards who would basically trade them for real money. When you can amass enough of it, this fictional gold can be worth a whole lot of real-world money to gamers who use the digital gold to progress in games. One of the former prisoners said it was an even more lucrative project than the hard manual labor they were forced to do.

This Week in Tech or TWIT.TV is fast becoming the pod/net casting community’s first 24 hour online network. Founded by veteran tech journalist Leo Laporte, for 30 hours each week, Laporte and a myriad of other hosts and co-hosts talk about all things technology. In this digital age there is a sizeable and growing audience for this genre of net casting.