A Newbie's Guide to Making Games in Java

Java is free to use, and freely available. It's also extremely accessible because of its flourishing community, which provides a free diversity array of tutorials, editors and other tools. Java is also remarkably powerful, like C ++, but it's also more refined and convenient, and then easier to use, especially for the newbie. For all these reasons and many more, it comes as little surprise that the Java language is often the first choice for first-time game developers.

Neverheless, this easy access to the language, learning materials and tools does not necessarily mean that your path to game development will be a simple or even straightforward process. In fact, many neophytes jump in too quickly and take on too much too fast. Overwhelmed and frustrated, many of them lose their exuberance and then abandon their dream. That's a shame, and so we've written this brief guide to ensure that you do not become the next one.

The first step is to visit the Sun website, and then download the Java Development Kit (JDK). The JDK is the Java software platform itself, and once you've installed it, you could begin making games right away using text files and compiling via the command line. But in order to get the most out of Java, you're going to need a sophisticated modern editor. There are a number of excellent free options available, so take some time to sample them.

Two of the most popular for Java game development as well as Java programming in general are Eclipse and NetBeans, so start there. Many consider Eclipse to be the most powerful, configurable and expandable Java editor available. The downside is that it has a steep learning curve. NetBeans, on the other hand, accentuates user friendliness, and it's quite powerful in its own right. We'd start with NetBeans, and then graduate if need be.

So now that you've installed the JDK and an editor, you're ready to start programming. This is where the tricky part comes in because most new game programmers want to program something cool. After all, after its umpteenth iteration, 'Hello World' has lost its charm. Neverheless, we need our building blocks. A popular starting point for Java game developers is Quizmaster, and you'll discover a number of variations online of this classic game tutorial.

At this point, you'll be ready to move onto advanced tutorials, ones that walk you through building an application from its first line of code to its last. The "bad" news is that the majority of guides like this are business oriented. Many budding game programmers bore easily, so we have to do what we can to avoid that. First, overreach a little more than take on material that is too easy for you. Secondly, focus on how the program could apply to a game.

Once you develop a confident feel for the language, you'll make your greatest strides prior to making your own game by tackling a completed open-source Java game. A good way to do this is to go to an open-source depot, like SourceForge, and find a Java game that you actually enjoy playing. Now, dig into the source code until you understand how they've accomplished it. That's the moment when you're ready to develop your own Java game.

Virtonomics Guide - 4 Important Things You Need To Know About Work Efficiency

In this Virtonomics guide, I will walk through with you on one of the most important elements of Virtonomics - Work Efficiency . This is, in my opinion, the most important element you must master in Virtonomics if you not only want to survive in it, but also to excel in it. I will cover 4 very important topics in this article:

# 1 - What is Work Efficiency?

Work efficiency defines how efficient a subdivision is. If it is at 100%, it means that the subdivision is operating at 100% work efficiency; Similarly, if it is at 50%, it means the subdivision is only operating at 50% efficiency. This means that if a factory is operating at 50% efficiency, the production output is reduced to half!

As you can see, if work efficiency for your subdivisions is not managed properly, it could mean a difference between profit or a huge plunge of losses. This is especially important as an overlook in your factory production's work efficiency could result in a disruption in your Production Chain and many retail stores down the line could be affected by it, and the recovery process can be disastrous as it will take quite a substantial amount of time. If you did not have a Business Continuity Plan in place, obviously your earnings will be upset.

Before touching on the calculations of work efficiency, allow me to explain what Qualification is in Virtonomics, and how it will affect our calculations.

# 2 - What is Qualification and how does it affect me?

If you are familiar with gaming, qualification in Virtonomics can be translated to "Level". That is, you will need to gain enough experience points to 'level up' during which you will be able to cope with a larger production load (Production Qualification), or a larger retail store (Commerce Qualification). As long as the relevant track is utilized properly, experience points can be gained.

All in all, there are 8 qualifications available for you to level up with. I will cover more on Qualifications in a separate article, such as Top Manager Type 1 - 3, how to achieve maximum qualification growth rate, etc, as there is quite a substantial amount of information. For now, this information is more than sufficient for the calculations that I will be covering.

# 3 - How is Work Efficiency Calculated?

First of all, you will need to refer to the work efficiency charts that I have uploaded. Next, note that the formula to calculate the required Qualification to establish 100% efficiency is as follows: (Quality of Staff needed * ((current staff / left column of the chart) ^ 0.5)). For example, if the minimum quality of staff needed is 3, how many staff can I hire to achieve 100% efficiency if my Qualification is level 1?

In this case: 3 * (5/50) ^ 0.5 = ~ Q1. You know that you can hire 5 staff.

The formula might seem a little intimidating for starters, but be rest assured, you will get a hang of it in no time! Also, please note that the formula is derived empirically after countless attempts of experiments. It should not be used for actual data. However, the formula's accuracy is only about + -1% off, but has already proved to be very effective among the Virtonomics community. I personally have been using this calculations, and have not faced any problems in any form of misrepresentations of data.

# 4 - Use in Practical Scenarios

And as you can see, Qualification plays a very important part in calculating the work efficiency. If you had hired more than 5 staff, your required qualification would exceed Q1, which results in a drop in the efficiency. However, sometimes it could have been a good thing to sacrifice a little on the work efficiency for higher sales return. Referring to the previous example, if you had expanded your shop and hired 10 staff instead, you would actually experience an increased sales volume due to the additional customers instead, despite having lower work efficiency! So go ahead and experiment the right setup for you!

Another thing to take note is that the work efficiency in your office affects all the work efficiency of its subdivision. So always pay attention to your main office first!

If it Is not Free, I Do not Want It! A Guideline For Business Opportunity Seekers

Business opportunity seekers, like you and I, are fed up with paying up front for a chance to make some money. I do not care if it only cost $ 1 to try it, by the time you've tried a few of these offers, you've paid some serious money.

Now do not get me wrong. I am not suggesting that there are no business opportunities which should require up front payments. No one would expect to purchase a McDonald's or Burger King's franchise with no out of pocket costs! My opinion is that any business that (1) requires an investment in assets before you can service your first customer and (2) turns over the control of operations to you is justified in mandating up front payments. Even under these conditions, there should be some guarantees and risk reduction agreements in the arrangement.

On the other hand, if there are no assets to be purchased and the seller boast about the effectiveness of his offer, why should I have to pay up front to try it? If he is afraid that if he shows me the system for free, I will take it and run, leaving him with nothing, then he should design his product or service to allow for his control. In other words, if I am using his system in violation of our agreement, he can cut me off! FINIS! With this type of business opportunity offer, the seller makes money if I make money. If I am netting $ 1,500 monthly, I would not mind paying $ 1,000 monthly to the seller. Maybe More! But if I am losing money, I do not want to pay anything up front or otherwise.

Furthermore, who can you trust? If promised a refund, can I trust that it will be paid? When a seller posts testimonials supporting his offer, how do we know that they are genuine? Who are these people? Did they receive any incentives? We just do not know, do we? As a former Certified Public Accountant (CPA), I used to think that if a CPA was hired to audit the sales representations of the seller and provided a public opinion, that we could trust what was presented. Then, I thought, did not have ENRON have CPAs? Did not Madoff have a CPA? Who can you trust?

I've concluded that the only internet business opportunity for me is one that is absolutely free or offers a free trial period. If the business is so successful, why should I have to pay to try it? IF I MAKE MONEY, THE SELLER MAKES MONEY.

IF IT IS NOT FREE, I DO NOT WANT IT!

Confidence Towards Successful Online Business

Nowadays trust building can be very cruel to any type of industry and online business is not an exemption to it. Thus, this becomes more crucial when creating your online mailing list because such will be your foundation for a successful business online. It is overwhelming to see people joining your list, but it might be the opposite feeling when you see them pull out. The main grounds of them unsubscribing is for the reason that trust has been broken, it maybe purposely or most of the time by mistake. Here, here are small tips to help you give more confidence to your subscribers and help you attract more people to join your roll.

Every time someone visits your sites, gives you a perfect opportunity to start building trust with him or her. You need to be direct to the point regarding your purpose and focus more on the benefits. For that reason, everything you said on the site should materialize, honest, realistic and reasonable enough for the visitor to believe. Try to be passionate and avoid deceitful advertisements. Trust then, will be your visitor's link back to your pages. Keep this in mind for all business online, as this will be your key to keep them coming back for more.

Secondly give them a clear picture of how it feels after joining your list. Since most of the time guests online are so skeptical in giving personal information for fear of you sending them an e-mail blasts or you using their information for other purposes. You can avoid these circumstances if you give them upfront information on what to expect when they subscribe on your mailing list.

Let your guests feel that they are your priority. Follow up through email consistently or else they will feel disregarded. A simple email will do and they will certainly remember you by heart. Materialize and be creative with your promos and advertisements. Announce your winners on time. These will give them a feeling that indeed you are true with your words.

Personalize your messages by keeping it simple and professional. This will eventually gain more trusts from your lists as they will feel important and been taken care of. Thus, you are creating a value to your lists and at the same time relationships to them. Income will follow as soon as you established trust on your lists.

Be honest. Many online businesses have bogus pages trying to convince their guests by giving false information and such to subscribe on their lists. This should be a BIG NO. What we are trying to do here is to build a long lasting relationship to your market and have them respond to you positively. You do not need to lie to them to persuade them, a truth is already sufficient for them to offer their trust to you.

Be creative and straight to the point when laying down your intentions. And as you go along always bear in mind that trust is the key to a successful online business, once this has been build to your lists, you may find yourself sitting on a table drinking your favorite coffee or watching a movie while while your network is growing through them -endorsing your site to their friends. Maybe by then you can say it is all worth the effort.

The Drone That Looks After Your Car: The Compustar DR-1000

Do not you wish that instead of carrying around loads of your electronic products, you could have them all in one? Now with technology increasingly integrating your electronic products all into one, you can complete many actions from one electronic product. One of our new favorite integrated electronic products that allows you to interface with your smartphone is the Compustar DR-1000, which is a high-tech car alarm system that interacts with your smartphone.

The high end alarm system was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2011. It can interact with not only iPhones but other smartphones, including Blackberries and Android phones. It alerts you via your smartphone whenever there is a security issue, enabling you to get to the scene straight away.

It also enables you to open and close your car doors using your smartphone, so that you no longer need to carry around a transmitter. You can control all from your smartphone. It even allows you to start and stop your engine as well as open your boot. Control does not stop there either as you can almost control anything in your car, from heated seating to sliding doors.

Almost every expert agreements that the real prize in this system is the GPS locator, which helps you locate your car and gives you directions on your smartphone. A real handy tool, especially for those who get lost in the car park of the shopping center!

After locating your car, you can with the DR-1000 catch up with your car's status. You can check on the alarm status, batter voltage, speed and temperature. You can also manage your car as well as the management system and enable you to keep an eye on where your have been, speeding and even reminds you of the maintenance needed!

From your smartphone using the DR-1000 alarm system you can almost do anything! It secures your car, automates some parts of the driving experience and helps you manage everyday car maintenance! The DR-1000 is certainly an eye opener for the future of technology as it goes more and more towards electronic integration.

Setting Up Your Own Movie Studio

I watched a video online not long ago regarding how cheaply you could setup your own mini movie studio. Last night I was visiting my local electronics retailer and my mind was blown at what's available in off-the-shelf video equipment. Here's a run down of what you will need to get your movie studio setup and some prices as of March 2008.

First off, to record your video you will need a camera. Now, due to your previous experiences, you may think that will cost an arm and a leg, but cameras are cheap today. See more info below. All types of cameras exist that record on SD type cards, internal hard drives, mini disks and so on. Right now I personally prefer using a camera with an SD card for video. One reason why-the ease of importing the video to the computer. No firewire card or cable is necessary and it is quick. If you import video via a USB or firewire cable, you typically have to wait the same amount of time as the length of the video you are importing. However, with an SD card you can simply copy and paste the video and your done! Super fast transfer.

The next thing to consider for your movie studio is a tripod for your camera. Local electronics retailers and mega stores have these for cheap these days.

Thirdly, you will most likely want a microphone that can plug into your camera to get really high-quality audio recorded with your video. You may also need an adapter to fit your camera's av port. Where can you find these for little dollars? Ebay, of course !.

Finally, you will need a computer that can edit and export your video to a common format. If you're reading this article online, you already have the computer. If you are running XP or Vista you also already have an editing program, Windows Movie Maker. Of course Mac users are blessed with a lovely iLife software package with iMovie-jealous much?

You can add lights, a green screen, lens filters and all kinds of other components to your studio but the above is a good place to start.

So how much? Take a look at this:

Video camera with flip-out lcd screen = $ 99.00

4 gigabyte SD card for the camera = $ 49.00

Tripod- $ 17.00

Multi-directional microphone = $ 52.00

Computer and editing software = $ 0.00

TOTAL = $ 217.00

Are you kidding me? For under $ 225 you can get started with your video-making empire. Ridiculous. Want more in a camera? Here's what I saw last night:

HD video camera with flip-out lcd screen = $ 149.00

Video camera with a 30 gig internal HD = $ 499.00

Video camera with a 40 gig internal HD = $ 449.00

Video camera with a 60 gig internal HD and lots of bells and whistles = $ 899.00

INSANE! So what are you waiting for? Sell ​​some of the junk you have not touch in a year online and start making movies. The Oscars await!

Home Business Where's My Money

In recent years there has been an increase of home based business with increase of fuel cost and the availability of employment via the internet. Unfortunately many fail in business due to a number of factors such as under capitalization, poor work habits and mismanagement of finances.
There is nothing wrong with chasing the American dream of owning your own business and being your own boss but one needs to put most of your efforts into the planning of your endeavor with realistic goals, facts and actual numbers. Cost of doing business is one of the single most important factors in planning any home based business.

Operating a business from home has a lot of advantages such as lower initial start up cost, less commuting depending on the type of business and allowing more time at home to attend to family matters if the need arises. Another big advantage of home based business is the tax write-offs you can add to the list which in turn will make you even more money by reducing cost of living in your household.

Understanding tax liability and allowable tax deductions is an area best left to your account as the tax laws are apt to change every year and if you have ever tried to read one of these publications you know they are not the most entertaining thing you will ever read nor are they written with the average person in mind.

Accounting is often overlooked when calculating cost of starting business. Most of the time absent thinking of the business idea itself, required license, legality of operating from home, advertising and supplies are necessary point to consider but do not get so caught up in spending and making money that you forget knowing where your money is . It can also get you in hot water with the government if you do not give them their share.

I'm not saying you need to go out and find the highest price accountant you can find. There are many computer programs you can purchase to help in keeping track of your money and tax liability. Also when you one of these programs it will save on the cost of your accountant due to the fact that they do not have to do as much work when filing your papers. You just simply down load your files and take them to your accountant which saves on data entry time and in business you know time is money.

As I stated earlier there are many programs available on the market, A couple of the more well known are Quickbooks and Peachtree but you should check with your accountant to see which will be most compatible with their software and in the long run save you time and money.