Home & Small Office Computer Guide

If you’re worried about your kids spending too much time online playing games or chatting then perhaps this may be just what you’re looking for.

Southern California startup Woog Laboratories Inc. today introduced PC Moderator™, http://www.pcmoderator.com, a parental control device that tackles the problem of computer addiction, particularly among teens.

PC Moderator lets parents effortlessly, and with less conflict, limit the amount of time their children spend while they play games or chat online. Unlike parental control software, PC Moderator operates independently of the computer and cannot be easily hacked by tech-savvy teens. Easy configured, PC Moderator is compatible with most desktop computers, operating systems and applications.

The small device easily and securely locks to the desktop computer’s VGA (or DVI with optional adapter) video port. During setup, parents choose passwords and time limits for up to 8 users. PC Moderator simply shuts off signals to the display when the user is unauthorized or time is not allowed. PC Moderator contains a battery-backed clock and microprocessor enclosed in a compact 18-gauge, stainless steel case.

According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study, the time children spend on the computer has doubled over the past five years. As of 2004, ten percent of 8-18 year olds use the computer for more than 3 hours daily. Thirty-five percent report having their own computer.

Of particular concern are massively multi-player online games, widely considered addicting. One such game, Everquest, referred to by many players as “Evercrack,” received broad public attention for its highly addictive nature.

“With the phenomenal response to World of Warcraft, the world’s most popular online game, we’re worried that more teens are at risk for computer addiction,” said company founder Dr. Kenneth Woog. “The problem has gotten so bad in China that the government is now requiring online game manufacturers to incorporate anti computer-addiction time limits into their games.”

PC Moderator is now available at www.pcmoderator.com for $79.95 with a money-back guarantee.

Woog Laboratories, Inc., founded in 2004, develops products to assist parenting in a high-tech world. Its patent-pending PC Moderator parental control device provides simple, hack-proof control for enforcing time limits on computer use.

If you’re into computer gaming you will know that when it comes to the price of gaming machines the sky really is the limit.

$600 for a graphics card doesn’t even cause a hardened gamer to catch his breath and the gaming machine that my friend Rick has for sale down at Fraser Coast Computers for $A4000 is nothing out of the ordinary.

What is out of the ordinary is a good budget priced gaming PC and while you won’t find a manufacturer who supplies them ready built it may be possible to assemble on of your own for around $US500.

If you want to know how then jump over to this article on Tom’s Hardware Guide

Just what you always wanted on your computer, spyware that will sniff around all your files - including your email - and report back to it’s makers. If that’s what you want then World of Warcraft delivers.

It comes prepackaged with the game and installs itself without you needing to do anything - now isn’t that handy?

I wonder where that leaves the makers of the game now that spyware has been declared to be a matter of trespass?

If you want to read all about the spyware that comes with World of Warcraft then you can find it here.

If you’re in the market for a graphics card where you’re emphasis is on gaming then you probably know that you can seriously destroy your bank balance when it comes time to part with your hard-earned cash.

But a recent release from Nvidia might help to slightly improve things on the financial front and improve the gaming graphics on your computer.

The GeForce 7800 GTX is capable of making most of those system intensive games that are so popular today run smoothly and it can also handle high definition video without a problem. To achieve that sort of performance the card carries 246mb of onboard GDDR3 RAM.

The card comes with dual heads so you can run two monitors from the card but it is PCI Express only so check with a computer expert to make sure that it will run with your other hardware before parting with your cash.

And it does cost real money in the US the card retails for $599 - but the performance is wonderful.

If you’re hanging out for the latest Xbox from Microsoft the release date has finally been announced.

Tuesday, Nov. 22 in North America, Friday, Dec. 2 in Europe, and Saturday, Dec. 10 in Japan

And what about Australia?