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After the release of the Xbox and PS2, in the highly competitive world of video gaming consoles it appears like Nintendo was pushed out of the game. Now, with the brand new Xbox 360 and the soon to be released PS3, Nintendo needs to definitely do something cool in order to keep up with the 2 giants that are leading the game so far. Nintendos answer to this situation is the in-development-stages Nintendo Wii. Hopefully, this will be a console capable of competing with Xbox 360 and PS3. Will Wii really manage to give Nintendo a breath of relief? Well, only time can show.

Nintedo Wii has been in development for quite some time now. The initial name of the project was Nintendo Revolution but later on, the guys at Nintendo decided to change its name to Wii (its pronounced we). The console itself is a black (it can also come in other colors, thats a common practice by Nintendo), sleek, rectangular box with a blue, beautiful, LED illuminated slot-receiver. The exterior follows the concept keep it simple and effective and its completely different from the flashy Xbox 360.

Leaving the eye-candy aside now, lets talk about the actual features of the Wii console. First of all, Nintendo promised that the Wii will bring a whole new gaming experience upon its arrival. Part of the implementation of this plan is a small controller that comes along with Wii. Although it appears just like a simple TV controller, it contains motion sensors; this feature will be utilized in various gameplay aspects. For example, Titles such as Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel take advantage of the new controller technology in order to provide the player with an effective way to aim.

Regarding interior hardware aspects of the Wii, what we know by the moment is that it will be equipped with an IBM CPU, an ATI graphics card and a RAM memory of 512MB. Of course, it features wireless controllers, 2 USB ports and a built in antennae for WiFi internet access. Saddly for those who consider it a must, Wii will not support HD output but it still has the potential to look pretty good on a HDTV due to its wide screen friendly mode and the 480p progressive scan.

The last thing to add is that Wii features an amazing backwards compatibility feature. You can play literally any game that Nintendo has ever produced. Yes, even retro games! Finally, another good thing about the Wii is that it will come at a very affordable price; according to Nintendo it is going to cost something less than 250$!

John Gibb is the owner of gamesconsoles facts

For more information on games consoles check out http://www.gamesconsole-guides.info

The gaming bug in me has being awakened by the arrival of Xbox 360, my wife got this console as a prize from a campaign her team won in the office, I always used to skip buying my favourite games on my PC since the gaming configurations keep going up every time, and I find it useless to keep upgrading my PC ram and processor and graphic card for just gaming, so Xbox 360 came as a blessing for me.

Box Content: Xbox 360 Pro console contains Xbox 360 console, a brick charger, Component HD AV Cable, Ethernet cable, A gaming headset, media remote, one wireless controller, 20 GB HDD, manuals, warranty card, alkaline batteries for remote and wireless controller, I also received two free games along with the console, Viva Pinata and Forza Motor racing 2.

Console Details: Xbox 360 pro console is sleek and can be placed horizontally or vertically, its white in look and has chrome finish on sides, on the front panel you have disc loading tray and two slots for memory units (sold separately), a protected slot having 2 USB ports, on the back you have power connection slot, a Ethernet port, extra USB port, HD AV cable connectivity port, Digital output port (used for digital audio cable).

Configuration: I have a Philips 32TA800 LCD TV which is HD ready, setting up the console is easy and I connected the component HD AV cable to my televisions composite video ports, connected audio output to my Artis S6600 5.1 speakers, I set my TV display to 1080i setting (1920 X 1080 resolution = 2,073,600 pixels) then set the cable option to HDTV mode (it has TV mode as well for playing games on normal televisions), I began my console set up after powering it on, created my Gamer tag (gaming profile), the gaming experience was 'AWESOME'.

Console Navigation: Xbox console has a really cool dashboard which can be customized in terms of colours and you can even keep your preferred images in the dashboard background. It had 5 dashboard blades, Market place, Xbox Live, Games, Media and System these dashboard options are easy to access, you would not require much effort to navigate through them, you also have an option for configuring family settings for games in case you have a child at home and you would not want your child to play certain genre of games.

Console performance: I have begun playing all 6 game titles I have with me ( Viva Pinata, Forza Motorsport racing 2, WWE RAW Vs Smackdown 2008, Army of Two, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Halo 3), game play clarity on HD mode is 'Amazing', I checked the visual quality on normal TV mode, where the video quality takes a slight hit, still playable in case one does not have a HDTV or HD ready TV. I did not experience any game lag during the game play and graphics delivered by the console are top notch and flawless, playing with wireless controller is fun, you just need to pair the wireless controller once to the console and controller buttons and joysticks are easy to use, you wont end up paining your fingers once you are done gaming, with a great audio and visual clarity the game play becomes immersive, you can also play your own soundtrack in the background while playing a game, this feature is game based.

Beyond Gaming: Xbox 360 pro does not just play games, it has windows media center connectivity option to connect your windows based pc to Xbox, you can dump your existing DVD player since you can view your favourite movies on Xbox, with the latest software upgrade for Xbox you can also view DivX files on Xbox, it allows mp3 playback and movie playback from USB devices as well, surprisingly it would not play a VCD, you can connect your mp3 player, or Ipod, digital camera to play music or view photographs on Xbox, it also provides song ripping option in case you want to load tracks to Xbox hard drive from a music CD, with the media remote you can operate multimedia features easily and even record live TV in case your PC is equipped with TV tuner card is connected to a set-top box.

Xbox Live service: Microsoft offers free silver membership to online service for Xbox 360 called Xbox Live, I connected to this service by connecting the console to my laptop by sharing my wi-fi connection through my router in my other room, I got 1 month trial Gold membership of Xbox Live service, this feature allows you to watch new game trailers, download game demos and participate in live gaming events, download Xbox arcade games, you can also share your gamer achievement score which you keep scoring in different games as you unlock various challenges in a game.

Support & Warranty: Xbox 360 console has being criticized to be a noisy console, heating up fast and the most famous RRoD (Red ring of death) problem most consoles have reported to encounter, but I have observed that my console has no problems with regards to over-heating or being too noisy as I have played games at a stretch for 4-5 hours, in terms of warranty Microsoft offers 3 years warranty against RRoD problem with console replacement and 1 year warranty for other issues. You can be a part of buzzing Xbox forums on Xbox website which offer lot's of tips and tricks to play games from members across the globe, other discussion topics on Xbox.

Why Xbox ?: Its very difficult to choose between two major gaming consoles Xbox 360 & PS3, Nitendo Wii is still not officially released in India, its available through grey market, PS3 is gaining popularity slowly and has less number of game titles as of now which cost mostly near 3000 bucks and above, while Xbox 360 has impressive line up of gaming titles with backward playing compatibility of few Xbox games, apart from that a windows based PC is bound to connect seamlessly with Xbox compared to a PS3, both PS3 and Xbox 360 have their pros and cons, but I am happy with the performance of Xbox which combines features of a gaming and entertainment device. In India Xbox 360 games are available in a range of Rs 999 to Rs 2510.

Why gaming consoles: We all like to play games and spending money on a PC to upgrade graphic card, memory and storage turns out to be an expensive affair which is not affordable every time, Sony PS2 is the largest selling console till date and is still alive and kicking with a huge library of game titles and new games still being churned out for this console, it also happens to be the largest sold console in India, so consoles stand to gain a upper hand due to extended shelf life they enjoy, the flip side to console gaming is expensive game titles, unlike cheaper PC games and pirated game CDs available for PCs, Sony PS2 gained popularity in India because PS2 has a slew of pirated games and this console has being cracked long back, whereas Xbox 360 also has being hacked, the hardware has to be modded, but it voids the warranty, PS3 is still not cracked.(I personally would not encourage hacking your console to play pirated games), so with gaming consoles extending their capabilities to become a complete multimedia device, it makes sense to invest in a gaming console.

So if you are a gaming freak, and would like to enjoy cutting edge graphics Xbox 360 is a good choice, in Pune I have seen retailers selling Xbox 360 at a price of Rs 27,750 and Rs 23,990, some give no free cds, some give 2 free cds(Viva Pinata, Forza Motorsport Racing 2) and some 4 cds (Project Gotham Racing, Yuvraj Singh International Cricket, Viva Pinata, Forza Motorsport Racing 2), check out Planet M store at M.G Road in Pune they have a Halo 3 edition with 4 free CDs for Rs 23,990.

Bhautik Joshi

According to a recent "The Detroit News" article, "Noise isn't just aggravating; it can damage your health." What's a modern-day person to do to save his or her hearing and bodily soundness? The Vibro-Insulator line of noise, shock and vibration control products can help.

In today's high-tech, electronic-focused world, noise is everywhere. Many city dwellers have become so accustomed to the unending onslaught to their eardrums that they've developed an immunity to the auditory commotion. But suburbians and ruralites are no safer off. Power lawn mowers, barking dogs, turbo-powered leaf blowers and blaring stereos are just some of the earache culprits "The Detroit News" points to.

The article went on to reveal these startling statistics: "According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the sound from mowing a typical suburban lot with a riding lawnmower (90 to 95 decibels) can be heard 1/4 mile away and pollutes 100 acres with noise."

But the news gets worse, with all the experts consulted in the article agreeing on the detrimental impact of noise. Former U.S. Surgeon General, William H. Stewart, comes right to the point and declares, "Noise must be considered a hazard to ... health." In their March 2007 "Southern Medical Journal" article, Louis Hagler, M.D., and Lisa Goines, R.N. concurred. Therein, they "called noise pollution a plague" and "pointed out that environmental-noise pollution is not just an aggravation; it is a constantly increasing threat to health."

The National Library of Medicine adds even further fuel to the fire. Its "database lists more than 5,000 citations on the adverse health effects of noise pollution." What specific types of health hazards, however, are associated with noise? The answer may surprise you.

The World Health Organization spells the issues right out. "WHO has seven categories of adverse health effects caused by noise pollution: hearing impairment, interference with spoken communication, sleep disturbances, cardiovascular disturbances, disturbances in mental health, impaired task performance including cognitive and language development, and negative social behavior and annoyance reactions." That's a lot of residual health problems from something most of us don't even think of as unhealthy, a fact that indicates what we allow in our ears may be just as important as the foods we allow in our body.

Consider these decibel levels for sounds we encounter in our everyday lives:

a gas-powered lawnmower (88-94 dB)
a weed whacker (94-96 dB)
a leaf blower (95-105 dB)
a baby crying (110 dB)
a loud squeaky toy (110-135 dB)
a stereo system (100-110 dB)

Putting those levels into perspective, the article's author states, "According to the EPA, the average healthy outdoor sound level is below 55 dB. Indoor sound levels should be less than 45 dB (about the sound of a refrigerator). Anything above these levels adds stress to our already hectic lives." Oh, my aching ears!

Thank goodness for the Vibro-Insulator line of isolators and mounts. These products are used for the control of noise, vibration, and shock. From one pound to one ton, they're available in the right type of mount for every noise-reduction application.

Carmen Fontana is a Web Services Manger for Western Reserve Internet Services. She recommends visiting http://www.karmanrubber.com for more information on noise reduction.

The life insurance settlement industry, derived from ordinary life insurance policies, is relatively new. When a policy holder's life situation changed to such a degree that his policy was outdated, he could take the cash value offered by a third party, instead of the insurance provider that sold him the policy. The concept of life settlements began in Canada a few years back, and rapidly spread to the United States, and then on to most of the world. Now, most of the major insurance firms, and a few major financial investment agencies have begun programs geared toward life insurance settlements.

Life settlement is a secondary market in life insurance policies. In the case of insurance companies before the advent of life settlements, if a person was interested in cashing out his policy, he had no other options other than settling with the insurance company. There are many ways that a policy holder's life situation could change. Loans are repaid, or some of his assets that contribute to his high net worth are sold off. The change of life situation changes the requirement for the life insurance policy. In many cases, the policy holder is over insured. In comparison to mortgage refinancing, life settlement is like refinancing your life insurance policy with a third part financial institute. You dont pay property insurance when your equity is 20% or more of house value. For life insurance, the policy holders have option to sell the unwanted or over-insured part to a third party company and invest the extra cash value of that policy to other investment opportunities more in line with his financial plan. It is now possible to basically sell the policy to the highest bidder, and take the cash settlement, called the life settlement, and reinvest it in a more appropriate policy.

Life insurance purchased on a term basis only cover a specific period of time, usually ranging from 5 to 25 years. If the insurer opts for a permanent life insurance, then the period of coverage lasts until the death of the individual at any age. If you have a life insurance, your family will have a protection to continue paying common expenses, long-term debt and eventual relocation if needed. You must be aware of the terms of the policy to make sure the amount to be paid will be enough to pay expenses and preceding costs.

Your life insurance can replace lost income and help you to pay off or eliminate your debts, if you take life insurance, and later sell the policy to a third-party buyer willing to pay the premium on the insurance. The drawback here is that such buyer will become the beneficiary of the life insurance settlement after you die.

Natalie Aranda writes on home and family. The life insurance settlement industry, derived from ordinary life insurance policies, is relatively new. When a policy holder's life situation changed to such a degree that his policy was outdated, he could take the cash value offered by a third party, instead of the insurance provider that sold him the policy. The concept of life settlements began in Canada a few years back, and rapidly spread to the United States, and then on to most of the world. Now, most of the major insurance firms, and a few major financial investment agencies have begun programs geared toward life insurance settlements.

The volume of data transmitted through an internet connection is referred to as the bandwidth. Those planning to get a web hosting plan should first carefully assess the amount of bandwidth that they need.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that web hosting plans can come with unlimited bandwidth. Website hosting companies that offer web hosting plans with unlimited bandwidth usually offer these plans with hidden charges. Other web hosting services will also offer you with unlimited bandwidth, but will ask you certain charges for every excess amount of bandwidth.

In cases when users avail of "unlimited bandwidth" plans, their websites unfortunately frequently get disconnected. Instead of refunding the payment of their users the web hosting provide will resort to legal means, informing their user that the website they are hosting has violated terms in their contract. This would allow the website hosting company not to refund the payment of their customers.

In case you consider getting a plan with unlimited bandwidth, then do take time to read up the Terms of Service. Understand the terms and conditions. Look for certain clauses that may hint of additional charges. Once you have clearly understood every clause in the Statement, then you can proceed to choosing the right type of website hosting plan for your needs.

In choosing the amount of bandwidth you need for your website, take into consideration the number of users that will visit your site, the pages a typical user will browse and visit, and the sizes of files and codes of your site.

Finding a good web host is a difficult decision which most online business owners face. HostingCoupons.org simplifies this process by providing hostrocket and discount coupons from the leading web hosting companies. Read the webhosting blog and find a good webhost such as hostgator.

Most webmasters started off using single domain hosting or shared web-hosting services. Shared web hosting means you share a server with dozens of other webmasters. Typically, shared web hosting plans allows you to have more than 1 domain per shared web hosting account with a predetermined hard disk space and bandwidth. The cost is usually pretty low. You only need to pay around 3-10 dollars per month.

Although it is cheap to host your website on single or shared web hosting accounts, there are many disadvantages you should be aware of.

By the nature of shared hosting, the server resources are shared among many websites, therefore it is very easy for resources such as CPU and memory to be used up quickly. Certain types of websites such as proxy sites are known to generate high CPU utilization, therefore if your website is on the same server, be advised there is a possibility of your website going down. Spam complaints against other sites on the same server will also affect your website. Any form of denial of service attack against someone else hosting can impact on the uptime of your website.

Also some web hosting companies over packed too many hosting accounts on one server causing the server to be slow and sluggish. The end result is your website is up but takes too long to load and display properly.

How can you do to avoid this issue?

Years ago, the only solution is to get a dedicated server. However, nowadays you can get a cheap virtual dedicated server for less than 30 dollars a month.

A cheap dedicated virtual server or VPS allows you to run your sites as if you own the server virtually. In reality, the dedicated server is spilt into multiple virtual dedicated servers. The main advantage is that each virtual dedicated server has control over its own resources such as CPU, RAM etc. So each virtual dedicated server is totally isolated from other virtual servers and will not be affected if other webmasters bring their servers down.

Some web-hosting providers also have unmetered bandwidth, which is a plus.

So Are There Any Disadvantages in having a virtual dedicated server?

There are not many major disadvantages except for cost. It will cost a little bit more on hosting. The other disadvantage is you need to be technically proficient in administering the server. However, some web-hosting providers also can provide managed virtual dedicated server. It means they will help you to manage the server. Examples are routine server maintenance, security patches etc.

With increased speed and reliability from using cheap virtual dedicated server, you will rest easy that your websites are always up while you are sleeping.

Ricky Lim is a webmaster with 7 years experience in cheap web hosting. For more cheap web hosting reviews and articles, visit his site at http://www.epromote.info

However, I'd always assumed that when the time did come to utter these immortal words, it would be to make some romantic dash to an exotic location. I didn't realise that it would be because I'd the hangover from hell and was about to miss a flight home from Prague. Relying on the alarm on a mobile phone, will only ever work if you remember not to let the battery run out.

The taxi driver was great; he kept beaming at me in the rear view mirror, gesturing the universal sign for 'sore head from too much booze' as he put his foot down on the back streets to the airport. Despite all his best efforts, I did miss the flight, but it was one of those situations where there really was no one else to blame but myself. Luckily I managed to squeeze in on the next flight. Not so lucky was that this gave me time to recollect the events of the previous night that led me to miss the flight in the first place.

What is it about the last night of a holiday that seemingly incites us to undo all the good work spent unwinding and relaxing? In my case it was the discovery that beer is cheap in Prague because it doesn't seem to have much effect, whereas the cocktails, on the other hand, do and they're cheap. Sitting in the airport, nursing a sore head, the events of the previous night came back to me.

All I could conclude was that I'd been incredibly lucky. Lucky that I'd woken up at all. Especially after leaving myself an hour to sleep before getting to the airport, but failing to charge my phone. Lucky, because no amount of travel insurance would have covered me for damage if the tables I decided to use as a 'stage' for a 3am song and dance routine, had broken or collapsed. And mostly, lucky because I would never see any of the Australian backpackers, who'd been treated to my impromptu karaoke performance, ever again.

It could have been a lot worse. I managed to make it make to England only 8 hours late. Sheepish phone calls made, that put more blame on budget airlines than myself, it looked as though if I slept on the plane, no one would be any the wiser to my antics the previous night. Obviously, I swore, I was never going to drink again. Ever.

In my wildest dreams, I couldn't envisage that what was officially a 'Bad Day' could get much worse. Imagine my horror as I felt a tap on my shoulder after leaving baggage reclaim and heading into the orange glow of Gatwick airport.

"Hey!" said a friendly antipodean voice, "Thought I recognised that face. Weren't you the one dancing on the table in the hostel last night?"

Find travel insurance at http://www.confused.com/travel-insurance

My life changed dramatically on June 4, 1995. I broke my neck in a swimming pool accident. When I regained consciousness, I found out that I would never walk again.

Before my accident, I was having an identity crisis; I did not like the course that my life was taking. I was unhappy with most aspects of it, and I wanted a change. Needless to say, breaking my neck was not the change that I was expecting.

I was emotionally distraught for quite some time after my accident. I went from being an active twenty-four year old to a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic. A few years after my injury, I developed severe health issues. I went through two major surgeries, but I did not find much relief. Chronic pain and depression became my constant companions for approximately six years. As a result, I was no longer able to get up in my wheelchair. During this period of time I was prescribed a variety of pain medications and anti-depressants. The side effects were horrible beyond words. I was barely able to function, and I was constantly dizzy, nauseous and tired.

When the spinal cord specialist in charge of my case bluntly told me that there was no hope for me, and that I should accept the fact that I would always live with pain, I gave up all hope.

In early 2007, I was introduced to energy medicine and energy psychology. I would love to say that they were an answer to my prayers (because it sounds so poetic), but I must admit that I wasn't doing much praying at the time.

Using a combination of energy medicine, energy psychology, and getting a deep understanding that our thoughts create our feelings and our feelings create our health, I gradually stopped taking pain medications and anti-depressants. Amazingly enough, I was able to get up in my wheelchair for longer and longer periods of time without the aid of prescription medications. My mental attitude has also changed dramatically.

While I still have break-through pain every once in a while, I no longer feel like a victim. I now know that virtually every physical ailment is the result of unresolved emotional trauma. I am currently working on my own list of unresolved emotional issues, one at a time. The more closure I bring to an old issue, the better I feel. I strongly believe that forgiveness played a crucial role in my recovery.

As I write this article, I am happy to report that I am currently able to stay up in my wheelchair all day, and I am taking adult education classes in order to prepare myself to join the work-force once again. My plans for next year also include mentoring children.

I am not a proponent of energy medicine and energy psychology as an alternative to traditional/modern medicine. I prefer to call it complementary medicine. I would never suggest to anyone that they should stop taking their prescription medications and replace them with energy medicine. I actually owe my life to modern medicine. I don't think I would have survived breaking my neck in a country where cutting-edge technology for spinal cord related injuries was not available. But for people that are about to throw in the towel because traditional treatments are not working, why not give energy medicine and energy psychology a chance? The potential benefits are definitely worth giving them a try.

About three years ago, when I was going through a particularly dark time, I joined a chronic pain support group seeking answers. I posted a message about my condition on one of their message boards, and I got several replies from caring people, some of whom were going or had gone through similar situations. I also read what I can only describe as horror stories of people suffering indescribable physical and emotional pain. Like me, most of them had already tried and were familiar with a variety of prescription pain medications and anti-depressants; and like me, some of them were also hopeless. I will forever be grateful to those compassionate individuals who reached out to me and tried to pull me through even though they themselves were in pain.

To this day, I feel heart-broken whenever I remember some of the postings by people that were in so much agony that they just wanted a way out... I knew that if I ever found any relief to my pain or even a glimpse of hope, I would make it my mission to spread the word and reach out to people that are experiencing physical and/or emotional pain. This is the reason why I created www.hotchocolateforthespirit.com I truly hope that through my website, I will bring real hope to people that are about to throw in the towel.

I finally found meaning to my years of suffering; and I am embracing my new mission wholeheartedly.