computer school for teens and kids Toronto Ontario

Who did you want to be as a child when you grow up? What where your dreams and ambitions? Surely many of us wanted to become musicians, cosmonauts, firefighters and artists, yet many more of us gave on those dreams up. In particular, on the dream of being able to express oneself
colorfully and freely, hence every child loves to draw; Remember those days when anything served as a canvas – the walls, the sidewalk, textbooks and even your own body!
Unfortunately for my school, I found my aspiration on the pages of my textbooks and used every piece of paper in them to express myself. You see, I wanted to become an Animator and this required a lot of paper-space for my practice. As a matter of fact, it is this space that enables any talent to flourish, and talented we all are, the only question is in what.

It often happens today that you hear parents complain about the excessive time their children spend behind the computer screen instead of on the playground. Fearful thoughts cross the parent’s mids about what will become of their computer-obsessed offspring if all they do is play video-games. The truth is, in today’s computerized world of technology, those children might have a much better chance of becoming successful that those who rather play ball. This is not to say that physical activities are less important, but rather to rimed those concerned parents that familiarizing your children with the PC-Screen is of no-less importance that playing outside.

As such, instead of worrying and trying to get your child to leave the computer alone, you should help your child to develop the desire of playing those games into something very useful in the future. For example, here at the New Image College,
New Image College - The only college in Ontario where you can learn a wide range of Graphic Design, Web Design and Animation programs, all in the same place

we offer fun and interactive courses in our Teens Computer School Department that will do just that.
Your child can engage in a variety of courses in the computer graphics area; as early as 7 – 10 years old we offer comic book creation, 10-17 year olds can get involved in the video game creation. 3D design, web design and flash animation can be taken between the ages of 13 and 17.
Teens Computer School – Teens Computer School – a computer school designated for kids and teens, located in Toronto

The truth is, the computer is the most popular item on today’s kid’s and teens list. The reason behind it is simple; this universal instrument allows the user to do about anything, including watching videos, listening to music, drawing pictures, communicating with friends, playing games and even programing the future. Moreover, all if this can be done simultaneously – how can anyone argue that computers are boring? Hence this is our motto: Computer classes are fun! Our experience shows that teens and children enjoy coming to our Teens Computer School. They don’t like to miss classes and tend to make many new friends.

The general range of enrollment is between 7 and 17 yeas old. We offer classes in the most desired areas of expertiese in today’s computer oriented career fields. This knowlege is not only usefull current information, but can now start to фccelerate your child’s futer career. The possibilities are endless, including numerous opportunities in the field of computer and graphic design. You as a parent, however, have to make the right choice and we are here ot help you and your child to finde the right path, discover the talents and encourage development.

At this point you might be questioning the idea of more computer interaction than your child already has. This is a valuable question to us as well, and thus we believe that monitored interaction is the best way to utilize the time your child spends at a computer wisely while learning something. By getting your children excited about our programs, children tend to return to their home screens with different ambitions than to “shoot and race cars” or aimlessly surf the internet. They now have a purpouse and goal to work towards, which in other words, is controlled and concious interaction. In the end, the extra hour the children spend here, will result in less waisted time beind the screen at home.

In order to get a better feeling of what we offer, it is important to briefly describe some of our courses. One of our most desired and widely enjoyable courses is the “Comic Books Creator” course . This four month long journey encompasses basic computer functions, such as importing, exporting, image rendering and last animation. In the end of this course your child will be able to present a whole animation! The course is offered for the ages of 7 to 10 and best of all features the most beloved Japanese animation style “Manga”, which your child will surely adore.

For the older crowd of children, ages 10-17, we offer the creation of computer gaming. The great news is this course leave out the tedious and boring component of programing and focuses on the fun and interactive part of character development in the virtual world. This includes special effects, and multi level animation. This and other courses for this age group lasts up to six month. For somewhat more mature children, starting with the age of 12 and up to the age of 18, we offer more complex courses including, 3D, Web design and Flash animation. Some of these course are suggested to be taken after the participation in simpler course. However, each child is different and we are open to exceptions.

The best part of enrollment in these courses is the early familiarization with the computer. This will allow your child not only to be computer literate, but also be ahead of their time and possibly enter the professional world of web design and its well-pained branches in the future. Regardless of the path your child chooses afterward, you can be reassured that any computerized learning that will happen afterwards in your child’s educational carrier will come easy and thus allow to focus on other subjects and thus help to get ahead of any curriculum.
Whether your child had no experience or is extremely comfortable with the computer, our assesment will help determine the level of eduction that is best suited for your child’s needs and excellareted learning. To get started today and get registered for our upcomming clasess, go to the registration link on our Web-site at www. newimagecolleg.com and send us your electronic information. In no-time you will recieve a personal invitation, either via e-mail or phonecall to come to one of our frequently held open house events to meet and greet the college, it’s employeees and other students. Remember,calsses fill quickly, so do not procrascine, register and let us help you learn about some of the most valuable and exciting skills today: The Computer and its endless possibilities!

Telephone: (647) 300 4453
New Image College

Computer School for teens and kids Toronto

Statistics show that children and teenagers are among the biggest consumers in our society today. This, as you know, requires a lot of pocket money that YOU – parents provide! How can you teach your child at an early age the value of money and the competitive advantage that comes with it? Many parents choose to send their children to work and learn through the hard lessons of an 8.00$ an hour job how valuable time and money really are. Others, simply give-in and hope that with age their children will become more aware and understanding of their spending limits. However, those of you who came to this web page are confident that there are other ways to challenge your children’s limited perspective on cash. You are the kind of parents that believe that instead of restraining youngsters from spending and forcing them to work hard for little pay, one needs to encourage them to become exceptionally good at something and be rewarded for it fairly, regardless of their age.

Here, at the Teens Computer School – Teens Computer School – a computer school designated for kids and teens, located in Toronto, we want to help you and your children achieve just that. Did you know that your child could make as much as $100.000 on an annual basis with the right training in the right industry? Moreover, the best part is; all you need is a computer and some expert lessons and your teenager is ready to face the lucrative world of professional Web design. Just image saying: “my child recently designed the web page for the bakery around the corner”. The statement seems out of proportion, but the truth is, today the fewest businesses survive without the interactive global outlet known as the Internet. No matter if you own your own business or are a consumer, by now every one of us has been confronted with the visually entertaining Web pages on the screen. The great news is, with each and every day this network continues to grow and needs creative and innovative young mind to maintain and improve it!

Not convinced yet, simply log on to www.jobfuter.ca, and see for yourself the forecast on web design and it’s prosperous future. With an average pay of $ 23.60 per hour a current web designer is far better of that a typical worker in other disciplines who is expected to make an approximate $18.00 per hour. With an early start in this profession of Web design, the hourly amount will also increase with advanced years of experience. Hence, from a clean office job to complete independence, web design offers endless financial and personal growth possibilities.

Just looking at such names as Markus Frind from Vancouver, and his mega hit web site www.plentyoffish.com, which is bringing in close to $15.000 a day for the creator, you might just want to become a Web designer yourself! Another success story, not too far from here, comes from London, Ontario. The story is about a ten –year- old boy by the name of Keith Peiris, who became the youngest CEO in the world. He developed “Cyberteks Design” which is a virtual studio of web-design and Internet Commerce. Keith’s income in the year of 2000 was $ 110.000. Moreover, the former prime minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, took Keith on an international business trip as a representative of trade and foreign exchange.

We say, your child or teenager can be just as successful with the right training and support. Currently, we offer a newly created course for the ages between 13 and 17, with the focus on Web Design and Flash Animation. This course encompasses the creation of simple web sites, as well as the use of HTML and CSS. We further focus on the basics of animation and 3D design. The first part of the course is spread over eight month and covers the introduction and leads into the intermediate level of web design. After that, in the month of October of next year, the sequence continues and covers the advanced and super advanced levels of Web design and Flash.

Upon completion of both parts of this learning sequence, participants will be able to design complex web pages, including interactive layouts based on Flash animation. With these skills, your teenagers will surely not be selling ice cream or flipping burgers at the neighborhood bar during the next holiday season or summer break. Instead, your child will be able to either assist at an established design company, or even complete independent assignments at home. In order to get your youngsters started, we provide the opportunity to get paid for extraordinary projects during the study period.

The only thing left to do is: get registered and get started! Do not delay your registration since space is limited and the selection for the Teens Computer School has already began. Information on our programs and other registration details can be found on our web site at www.newimagecollege.com, or simply call 647-300-4453

New Image College of Design and Technology – The only college in Ontario (Canada) and USA where you can learn a wide range of Graphic Design, Web Design and Animation programs, all in the same place

We hope to see you soon!
Teens Computer School

The ideas below all work online, most without having your own website. Several companies have set up revenue sharing lately, and you can benefit. Without ever learning Java, HTML, or Flash, you can set up your own little kingdom or queendom of money earning sites.

Take a look at these:

1. Studentoffortune.com

This is a paid research site, where a student or teen can post a question with a bounty, then you can answer and win the bounty.

Do you have a cool hobby? Read a bunch of books on one subject? Maybe you work in your parents’ business. You can earn money from this site. Everybody knows about something.

2. Treasuretrooper.com

Lets you fill out surveys that pay or offer free goodies. In case you think this won’t work well, think about this. Companies pay people to try their stuff, to comment on it, and to give the company their opinion. You could be one of those people, getting paid for your opinion. Available to teens over 13 can make money with this. Pretty sweet, right?

3. Cashcrate.com

Works similar to #2, but some like it better. Either way, you make money for college. Also available to teens over 13 with parental permission.

4. Squidoo.com

you can build a lens (to focus on a topic) for free, then you can add in affiliate links, adsense and so on to earn some money from it. The key here: think broad, and update often. Hubpages.com has an approach similar to Squidoo, but offers a one-time payment for doing serious work on a page. You have to meet their guidelines, but then you get $25 for building a resource page.

5. Build your own Website

When you do it right, you can build a great website, even if you have no programming or web design skills. Seriously, you can make money in a ton of ways, too, like your own list, advertising, and selling your own products. And if you build your own site, you can keep it forever. Be careful what host you pick. Find one with a great block builder and the right formula for success.

6. An extra: be an affiliate.

This works best if you have a site, but you can also use your Myspace or Facebook page. You earn with this by first affiliating with an online seller. They can sell anything, you just need to be their affiliate.

Then, you tell people about it. Careful – you don’t want to spam yourself off of Myspace or Twitter. But you can help people find answers and refer them to the company you represent. Just do a little search for affiliate programs on a search engine, you’ll be swamped with good opportunities.

Better yet, pick a product, and then add affiliate program to it, then search.

My Experience

When I was a teen, I tried painting house numbers on curbs, mowing lawns, and washing cars. Here’s another idea for you: set up a webpage on your hobby, then sell advertising to Google and Commission Junction or tons of other places.

You can check out the Google Adsense program for more, or hop over to some places like CJ and learn how they work. Pretty cool programs, and I am earning with them.

Basically, you just write up some good information about your hobby, what you do, some pictures, how to do it right. Get it online on a few pages. Then talk about your pages to friends, in your emails, on forums or your favorite social site. No selling yet, just good information.

This will bring some traffic. Do tons of this stuff, without trying to sell anything. When you have some traffic, you go to Google’s program and apply to get in. After that, you cut and paste some ads and stuff. When people like the ad, you’ll get paid a bit. Over time, it adds up and makes a great little business.

You can find tons more of these kinds of offers if you look. It only takes effort. Teens make money online just like this.

Get started!

About the Author:

Want a free e-book on how to be a master affiliate? Come and get a Free Ebook and E-course by email to help you get started.

You may not even realize it but being a teen entrepreneur actually has its advantages. Think about many of the very profitable sites online these days, lets take MySpace for example. MySpace is extremely popular around the world, they make a fortune and the site has been built with young people in mind, everything about the social community screams teenager, from the flashy colors to the functions many of you have grown to love. Now, who do you think would know the most about what teens want out of a website, I would put my money on other teens. Being a teen yourself gives you the advantage of knowing what other teens want, you know the popular music and whats in style and you can build a site that caters to those people, that alone is a tremendous advantage over other “older” webmasters.

Every entrepreneur, young and old, has to have a foundation to build their ideas on and that is exactly what this article is meant to be, a foundation. You can use any of the ideas in this article just as they are, or you can stretch your imagination and call on your creativity to build on these ideas and make them even bigger and better than anyone else has done. So just how many ways for teens to make money are out there, its limited only to how many you can come up with, maybe its time to let your imagination out of the box, here are 5 ideas to get you started:

1. Building and Managing Websites – New webmasters are popping up all over the place. People whom have never imagined running websites are quitting their day jobs and making money online and there are so many more opportunities floating around, just waiting to be snatched up by you.

2. Blogging – One of my favorite ways to make money online is blogging. There are a couple of options here, you can opt to create an authority blog on your favorite subject and sell advertising space as popularity grows or you can build niche blogs and use cpc advertising to make money from search traffic. Both have their benefits and both methods can be very profitable, which one suits you best?

3. Virtual Assistant – Lets face it, most teenagers are more experienced online than some of the older guys that have used the Internet for a longer period of time, that give you an edge up in the world of virtual assisting. Virtual assistants tend to do a little of everything for webmasters and you can find these opportunities in webmaster forums and freelance work exchanges.

4. Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing is a great way for teens to make money, because its easy once you learn the ropes, its highly profitable and usually requires less time than say, starting an authority blog or website. Stay away from the ebooks and other schemes, try learning in the forums and from the best marketers to avoid the hype or junk.

5. Freelance Work – Freelance writing, freelance web design and other freelance opportunities pay the bills for many online entrepreneurs and age seems to be no boundary in this field.

Have you started to see some of the possibilities available to you? As I mentioned above, the secret is using your creativity to build on ideas and create something new and exciting that people haven’t seen yet. Hope you enjoy!

About the Author:

J.Donnovan provides more ways for teens to make money along with information to better your life on her website.

If you’re an avid video gamer and while sitting at home playing your favorite game, you think to yourself, “I could do this better”, video game design might be the perfect job for you someday. But there are some key skills you’ll need to have before you can enter the field and truly make an impact on the video game market. Here’s a description of the most important ones.

Programming

Everything you see in a video game is boiled down to 0s and 1s, the basics of programmers everywhere. If you decide to aim for this job, you’d better start early. Programming is the building block of any good video game design job. If you’re great with numbers, better with details, and don’t mind spending long hours staring at a computer screen looking for a missing line of code, programming is a great place for you in video game design.

You’ll need to learn a combination of three to five different programming languages to be really successful in this job, so you’d better be prepared for a lot of work. While C++ is the groundwork for any programming job, you’ll also be learning Java and Visual Basic to supplement it.

Most video game design uses a combination of whatever works in a given situation to get the job done. If you’re in high school though, interested in a job in video game design and programming, you should try your hardest to take courses in or learn C++ as preparation.

Story Writing/Game Theory

For every good video game, there’s someone (or many someones) whose job it is to write the story and develop the ideas for the game. You might think this sounds simple, having sat in your basement telling your friends how much better you could do at writing the ending for a particular game. But there’s just as much schooling to get a job writing or brainstorming ideas in video game design as coding.

For writers, you’d better get a decent degree in creative writing or English. Most video game design jobs require at least a Bachelors degree in English to apply for a story writing job. Second, they want experience, so start early, working on projects in school, taking specific courses in Game Theory and developing long story lines for use in video game design projects.

Your job will be writing dialogue, script and concepts for a massive world with hours of interaction. You’d better have a decent idea of how you’re going to do that.

Computer Animation

The face of video game design, the job that everyone thinks of when they envision their future designing video games, is computer animation. First off, you’ll need to still learn the programming languages of your programming coworkers. This job requires a lot of different skills, many of which are programming languages. So C++ had better be on your resume along with Maya, 3DS Max, and a handful of other image rendering mega-software.

Video game design courses are perfect for the potential Computer Animator as well, as you’ll learn how to operate vast, high tech computers and machinery and utilize the newest software in doing so.

Computer Animation requires not only the technical expertise of a programmer, but the visual, artistic mastery of a story writer or sketch artist. This job requires the best of both worlds in the video game design industry.

There are plenty of jobs for all different skill levels in video game design. If you’re capable of writing a good story, drawing a decent picture, or remembering vast strings of numbers, you can find a job in game design. It’s all about where you’ll best fit in.

About the Author:

BONUS TIP: If you’d like to get your foot in the game industry door, why not start as a video game tester? For more information, grab your FREE REPORT right now at: http://www.BeAGameTester.com

The teens want computer literacy skills in order to become competitive in their upcoming careers and give them ease in their day-to-day activities. Computers become indispensable tools to the teenagers, from making their assignments, writing research papers, helping in their studies, learning new information to making new friends from around the globe.
The different computer skills that teens want include the need of word processing programs to make various types of invitations, make reports, format documents and write resumes. Even at their young age, they have to gain insights and abilities on the complexities of life, especially in finding a lucrative job. In this way, they are much prepared when they finished their studies and start their own career.
Attractive and eye bulging reports are created using presentation software such as Microsoft Power Point. These teens know that an ability to properly present their propositions would spell a difference between winning and losing. In classes involving mathematical problems, the teenagers must learn spreadsheets, data entry and related subjects.
The latest trend among the teenagers is the use of the internet. Hundreds of tools are available to teenagers to allow them unlimited use of their creativity. Through the computers, the teens learn to surf to their favorite websites, make the required reports at a shorter period, learn and explore new trends and developments with ease. Among the teens’ favorites are chat rooms, games, blogs and other interactive sites. Free downloads are also available such as music, software, skills training and others. Through the internet, the teenagers are freed from spending so much money in purchasing their favorite music and movies, as well as in gaining knowledge in tradecraft and other profitable skills.
Computer literacy skills are very much needed in properly navigating the internet to browse the sites that they need. Lack of the necessary skills and know how would make the teenagers land on sites that are not suited and deplorable. By chance, they will be able to view pornographic videos and violence. If bad persons roam the streets, they also haunt unsuspecting victims in the internet.
The good news is that thousands of jobs could be accessed through the internet. These jobs include data entry, web and logo design, computer programming and so on. Landing on high paying jobs require the needed knowledge and skills in computers and computer applications. Of course, this knowledge could be acquired through formal education, but to the freelancers, learning through the internet is profitable and worthwhile.
One word of caution, having learned some computer literacy skills could make a teenager a useful citizen by applying what he knows for his personal and career growth within the bounds of the law. But it could also be used to advance personal interests out of greed such as creating viruses and programs contrary to law. The latter must be avoided.The teens want not only these computer literacy skills to prepare them for a bright future, they also need the encouragement and motivation coming from people they trust.

(ArticlesBase SC #243490)

Importance of elementary computer training

Earlier, learning to read and write was considered as the basic objective through education. These days, emails, chats etc have replaced the conventional mode of communications like sending letters or telephone calls. In addition, any dealings can be performed through computer and internet. It is common that people depend on internet for daily activities like shopping, banking, entertainment, knowledge etc. Thus, learning basic computer skills and internet technology has become a requirement to survive in this IT era.

Institutions providing Online Computer training

Most of the people prefer online computer courses rather than classroom trainings. A substantial amount of commutation time can be saved by this mode. Another major advantage is the flexibility and comfort for the learning schedule through online option. Once enrolled for a computer course, you will get instructions and courseware from the institution and there will be tutors to assist you for the learning process. Most of the learning materials can be downloaded from the website of the e-learning providers. Online exams and assignments are provided by the authorities to assess the learners.

Advanced computer training through online courses

Information technology is advancing day by day. Most of the enterprise applications use advanced software and tools and hence, lots of job opportunities are available in the IT sector. The job prospects of candidates holding certifications and degrees are more in many multinational firms. Many employment firms are providing advanced computer training to their employees to update them with latest tools and technology. E-learning facilities are supported by many course providers due to its flexible nature. The certification courses provided by many leading multinational IT companies like ORACLE, SUN Microsystems, CISCO etc are very popular among employees and job seekers.

Computer training through software tutorials

Software tutorials are applications designed to train learners by giving step by step instructions. Anybody who has reasonable computer aptitude can learn any new tool using the software tutorials. A great advantage of this type of learning is that it can be done through self study. Most of these tutorials can be purchased online or most of then are available at major retail outlets. Comparing to online trainings, this mode of learning doesn’t require the presence of internet connections. Most of these computer trainings are highly interactive with graphics and multimedia. Computer training is now a compulsory factor for efficient communication and productivity to survive in the modern IT world. Exploring the world of computers and related technology can be done in a number of ways according to the interests and convenience of an individual.

About the Author:

John Mahoney is a freelance author who writes about various technology related subjects including Computer Training.For more information about John, visit his website:www.techstore.ie

When I was in school bullies were the mean kids on the blacktop. They were the ones waiting after school to beat up on another kid that was usually no match for their size and strength. But there was at least a “safe zone” from school bullies: Home.

Today, running home and shutting out the bullying happening at school isn’t an option because bullies are popping up on the internet faster than ever.
Last year my daughter experienced a bit of cyber bullying when a kid posted a bulletin online that asked all the kids in her school that viewed it to make her life “hell” and call her names when she was at school.

Even when I moved her to a new school when it became unbearable for her, he posted another bulletin for the kids at her new school to see asking them to do the same thing to her on her first day. Soon, we discovered her so-called friends got in on it with him and were plotting to completely embarrass her during her first week at the new school. We cut and pasted the “online conversation” we discovered between the two girls plotting against her and took it to the school principal.

Their plan was aborted by our taking action and the girls apologized profusely. I think they all learned a valuable lesson, but it was devastating for both my daughter and me. Although this, to me, is a blatant case of harassment and bullying, I wondered how my daughter would describe it and if she would identify the incident as cyber bullying. I asked her yesterday what she would consider cyber bullying.

First, she corrected me and said, “No one my age says cyber, mom.” Than stated she didn’t know. I reminded her of last years events and told her that would be a perfect example of “Internet” bullying.

Thousands of students every year embark on yet another scholastic roller coaster. There are many, however, who look upon the beginning of school with trepidation. They are the new kids, the shy kids, the kids who would rather be anyplace else but in school. Why? The reasons take on a myriad of variations, many are the kids who, as a result of embarrassment, shame, or fear, have either been, or fear that they will be harmed by their peers, or worse yet, opt to be by themselves because they believe they are alone and “the problem” is to big for them or anyone to handle.

I’m talking about traditional school bullying. This crime happens under the roofs in what appears to be happy families. There’s a ground swell of it within schools across this country. It’s called “Cyber Bullying”, or as my daughter called it, Internet Bullying.

Cyber bullying takes what used to be schoolyard insults, pushing, and shoving to a whole new, expansive, and very dangerous level. The cyber bully uses email, chat rooms, instant messaging, cell phones and text messaging to insult, demean, threaten, humiliate, harass, deceive, impersonate, and in many cases, posts lewd or embarrassing photographs online of their peer — while hiding behind a veil of anonymity that the Internet provides.

On the middle school level, typical insults include comments like “U R ugly, U R fat, U R a liar, Nobody likes you, or make so and so’s life hell at school tomorrow”, however when kids reach 13, the comments are often sexual in nature, include profanity and detail true or untrue reports of promiscuity.

Unlike the schoolyard bully, these attacks aren’t by some scary kid wanting to push his weight around. They can be by anyone or no one that the child knows. Tragically, it’s sometimes by someone that the child thought was a friend. And unlike the schoolyard bully, a cyber bully can be comprised of one or many kids and by the time the posting hits the Net, literally thousands, if not millions of people have seen it, if it’s been shared around the world. And unlike the schoolyard bully, the cyber bully hits their victim in the sanctity of their own home or bedroom – where they feel that they can’t escape.

Greg Writer, CEO of CEN, Children’s Educational Network, and a father of five, notes: “Often, kids are afraid to tell their parents for fear that their computer will be taken away or that their parents will make the situation worse. What they don’t realize is that unless the bullying stops immediately, it can escalate and leave permanent psychological scars. That’s one of the reasons CEN provides FREE Internet safety and education with our Parental Control browsers.

Kids need to know how to navigate safely within this environment, so they’ll know how to prevent and protect themselves from these situations. Additionally, we make it very clear to kids who might want to engage in this type of activity, that there are severe personal consequences to their behavior. For example, we want them to consider “before” they make poor choices that whatever is posted on the Net is there forever, and as much as they may regret later that they did this to someone, the damage is done and irreversible.”

Experts in the field state that victims of these crimes suffer psychological trauma requiring professional help, many, like my daughter, have had to move to other schools, their mental state has resulted in their grades dropping; many are afraid to form close relationships with new people; and in more severe cases, suicide or murder has resulted. These are not just childhood pranks.

These are serious crimes, and several states are enacting laws, such as Florida, making these emails felonies. In Pennsylvania, cyber bullying, harassment and stalking carry stiff jail sentences and fines for those convicted.

Cyber bullies need to realize that they may be able to hide from their victims behind screen names, but they cannot hide from law enforcement. Everytime they send out a text or e mail or even an IM, they leave an electronic fingerprint that can be accessed by the authorities to trace all electronic communications between computers and/or mobile phones. No computer or mobile phone — or its user — is really anonymous in cyberspace.

The Internet and cell phones have become, in large part, the fabric of the social lives of tweens and teens. As such, they are prime targets for this kind of attack. The first thing kids need to understand about Instant Messaging, and blogs (web logs) or live journals, is that the more personal information you give someone (sports they participate in, what school they go to or city they live in, wearing school mascot clothing in pictures, etc.) the more it can be used against you by not only those whom you wanted to read it, but by others whom you didn’t.

Whenever you type something online and press “send”, you have just given up your privacy. Additionally, people online will pose to be people they aren’t for purposes of deception and in many cases, to commit crimes — often stealing someone’s identity in the process.

Parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers…talk to kids about cyber bullying. Give them these helpful tips: Know that there are ALWAYS people available to help you that will make cyber bullies stop. These people are law enforcement; your school teacher, school counselor, principal; your parents or a nurturing, responsible adult; Cyber crime reporting sites.

Don’t give out any personal information such as your name, your school’s name or the name of any of the sports teams in which you play, even on a shirt you are wearing in a picture, your home telephone or cellular phone number, your address — including the city where your other parent lives if they are divorced, your parent’s office address, or the address of your school.

Don’t ever use your real name as your user or screen name. If you find that you are a victim of cyber bullying: Do not respond to the harassers directly because that is exactly what they want. Don’t give them the pleasure of knowing that you’re upset by it –Stay cool. Save and print out all messages — Do not erase any emails. Report this crime to the police. If possible, report it as it is happening and remember, you are in control of your online experience. It is unacceptable for you to be verbally abused or threatened in person or online.

It’s an unsettling thought for any parent to think that their child may be a victim of a Cyber Bully, or actually may be one. As difficult as it may be to consider, parents and teachers alike need to talk about this subject at home and in the classroom. We need to raise awareness of this issue and be pro-active. At present, lawmakers are drafting laws to prevent and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes. Education, vigilance, and strict laws are the keys to disarming bullies.

About the Author:

Greg Writer is the Founder/CEO of Children’s Educational Network, a software company dedicated to empowering parents with tools and information to keep kids safe online. You can get free parental control software at their web site http://www.childrenseducationalnetwork.com

Continue reading to get answers to your questions about how online predators work, who is at risk of being victimized by online predators, and how you can help to reduce the risk of your child becoming a target.

How Do Online Predators Attack?

Predators establish contact with children through conversations in chat rooms, instant messaging, e-mail, discussion/bulletin boards and social networking sites. Many teens use peer support through online forums to deal with their problems, and predators often go to these online areas to look for vulnerable victims.

How Do Online Predators Seduce their Victims?

Online predators try to gradually seduce their targets through attention, affection, kindness, and even gifts, and often devote considerable time, money, and energy to this effort.

They’re aware of the latest music and hobbies likely to interest kids.

They listen to and sympathize with kids’ problems.

To try to ease young people’s inhibitions, they gradually introduce sexual content into their conversation or show sexually explicit material.

Some predators work faster than others and engage in sexually explicit conversations immediately. This more direct approach may include harassment or the predator might stalk the victim. Predators might also evaluate the children they meet online for future face-to-face contact.

Which Children Are at Risk?

Young adolescents are the most vulnerable age group and are at high risk from online predators. Young adolescents tend to explore their sexuality, move away from parental control, and look for new relationships outside the family. Under the guise of anonymity, they are more likely to take risks online even if they don’t fully understand the possible implications.

The Children or Adolescents who are the most Vulnerable to online predators tend to be:

new to online activity and unfamiliar with netiquette

aggressive computer users

the type to try new, edgy activities in life

actively seeking attention or affection

rebellious

isolated or lonely

curious

confused regarding sexual identity

easily tricked by adults

attracted by subcultures apart from their parents’ world

Most children feel that they are aware of the dangers that lurk online, but in reality, they are quite naive especially when it comes to online relationships.

How Can Parents Minimize the Risk of their Child becoming a Victim?

Talk to your kids about sexual predators and potential online dangers.

Young children should not use chat rooms the dangers are too great. As children get older, direct them towards well-monitored kids’ chat rooms. Encourage even your teens to use monitored chat rooms.

If your children take part in chat rooms, make sure you know which ones they visit and with whom they talk. Monitor the chat areas yourself to see what kind of conversations take place.

Instruct your children to never leave the chat room’s public area. Many chat rooms offer private areas where users can have one-on-one chats with other users chat monitors can’t read these conversations. These are often referred to as “whisper” areas.

Keep the Internet-connected computer in a common area of the house, never in a child’s bedroom. It is much more difficult for a predator to establish a relationship with your child if the computer screen is easily visible. Even when the computer is in a public area of your home, sit with your child when he is online.

When your children are young, they should share the family e-mail address rather than have their own e-mail accounts. As they get older, you can ask your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to set up a separate e-mail address, but your children’s mail can still reside in your account.

Tell your children to never respond to instant messaging or e-mails from strangers. If your children use computers in places outside your supervision public library, school, or friends’ homes find out what computer safeguards are used.

If all precautions fail and your kids do meet an online predator, don’t blame them. The offender always bears full responsibility. Take decisive action to stop your child from any further contact with this person.

How Can I Reduce the Risk of my Child Being Victimized?

There are a number of precautions that children can take, which include:

Never download images from an unknown source they could be sexually explicit.

Use e-mail filters.

Tell an adult immediately if anything that happens online makes a child feel uncomfortable or frightened.

Choose a gender-neutral screen name that doesn’t contain sexually suggestive words or reveal personal information.

Never reveal personal information about themselves (including age and gender) or information about their family to anyone online; never fill out online personal profiles.

Stop any e-mail communication, instant messaging conversations, or chats if anyone starts to ask questions that are too personal or sexually suggestive.

Post the family online agreement near the computer to remind children to protect their privacy on the Internet.

How Do I Know if My Child is Being Targeted?

It’s possible that your child is the target of an online predator if:

Your child or teen spends a great deal of time online. Most children who are victims of online predators spend a lot of time online, particularly in chat rooms, and may close the doors to their rooms and be secretive about what they do when they go work on their computer.

You find pornography on the family computer. Predators often use pornography to sexually victimize children predators can supply things such as Web sites, photos, and sexual e-mail messages as a way to open sexual discussions with potential victims. Predators might use photos of child pornography to convince a child that it is normal for adults to have sex with children. You should be aware that your child may hide pornographic files on disks, especially if other family members use the computer.

Your child or teen receives phone calls from people you don’t know, or makes calls (sometimes long distance) to numbers you don’t recognize. After a predator establishes contact with your child online, some online predators might try to contact young people to engage in phone sex or to try to set up a real-world, face-to-face meeting. If children hesitate to give out their home phone number, online sex offenders will provide theirs. Some even have toll-free 1-800 numbers, so potential victims can call them without their parents’ knowledge. Others will tell children to call collect and then, with Caller ID or Call Display, the predators can easily determine the child’s phone number. Do not allow your child to meet a stranger they have met online, in person, without your supervision.

Your child or teen receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don’t know. It’s common for offenders to send letters, photographs, and gifts to potential victims. Online sex offenders even send airline tickets to entice a child or teen to meet them in person.

Your child or teen withdraws from family and friends, or quickly turns the computer monitor off or changes the screen if an adult enters the room. Online predators work hard to drive wedges between kids and their families and often exaggerate minor problems at home. Sexually victimized children tend to become withdrawn and depressed.

Your child is using someone else’s online account. Even kids who don’t have access to the Internet at home might meet an offender while online at a friend’s house or at another public place, even the library. Predators sometimes provide victims with a computer account so they can communicate.

What Can You do if Your Child is Targeted?

If your child receives sexually explicit photos from an online correspondent, or if she or he is solicited sexually in e-mail, instant messaging, or some other way online, contact your local police. Save any documentation including e-mail addresses, Web site addresses, and chat logs to share with the police.

Check your computer for pornographic files or any type of sexual communication these are often warning signs.

Monitor your child’s access to all live electronic communications, such as chat rooms, instant messaging, and e-mail. Online predators usually meet potential victims in chat rooms at first, and then continue communicating with them through e-mail or instant messaging.

About the Author:

Bill Wardell the Senior Editor, Creator and Developer of Online Security Authority, the Author of “Don’t Take Candy From Strangers” NSM Director, ASC Certified Coach. Speaker and Radio Show Host, Publisher, Researcher and National Radio Guest! Your OSA Blog

These days, computers have made the animated playing field much more even. Now anyone with an idea can create an animation of considerable quality, in a lot of cases for little or even no money, and a lot less time. With a computer and the proper software creating 2D or 3D animation is very much a reality.

Let’s take a look at some of the software available, both low cost and free, for 2D and 3D animation.

2D Software

There are many programs on the market for creating 2D animation. Some require drawing out scenes like traditional animation, and some use cut-out animation, which is more like working with puppets. Unlike traditional animation where everything was hand drawn frame by frame then filmed, today computer animation programs allow for tweening. This means you can draw or position two scenes on a time line, and the computer fills in the frames in between. This makes creating an animation much faster.

Let’s focus on two of the more popular programs here. Toon Boom and E-frontier Anime Studio. Toon Boom allows for cut-out animation, but the real strength is the ability to draw frames as in traditional animation. Anime Studio on the other hand is a cut-out animation powerhouse, allowing the animator to rig and manipulate characters with an internal bone structure and vector graphics directly in the timeline.

Depending on your personal style, there is not much you can’t create with these products. They both offer different price levels for introductory versions and the full featured versions and both are also used by professional animation studios. Introductory versions start around $50 and go from there.

But, maybe that is still too expensive. Well there is good news as there are many free options to create 2D animation as well. Creatoon was once a competitor for Anime studio in the cut-out animation field, but the producers stopped development of the software. The good news is they left the final version for download free of charge. They no longer support the product, but there are many online tutorials that show how to create animation with Creatoon. This is not a second rate product, but a very powerful tool and a real bargain.

3D Software

Here is where things get fun. The trend in animation is 3D CGI, with studios like Pixar leading the pack. The software used can get prohibitively expensive, such as Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max, and Pixar Studio’s own Renderman. 3ds Max alone is just under $4000.

But, there are many cheaper, or even free alternatives.

E-frontier not only makes Anime Studio for 2D work, but they also make Poser, which is a 3D character program that allows for character creation and animation. Poser costs around $250.

There are even cheaper options. For around $200, you can get Reallusion iClone. This program is very powerful as it not only allows for custom character creation, but is also a 3D virtual movie studio complete with motion control, lip synching, 3D sets and props, and full camera control. You can make a full movie inside this one program. It even comes with stock motions for characters that can be used until comfortable with the program.

Even $200 is a bit much for some burgeoning producers, so how about free? This is where Movie Storm comes in. This bit of free software shares a lot of features with iClone. You can make full movies, but you are limited to the characters, props, and sets that come with the program and have a bit less control over the 3D environment. Other than that, this is a very powerful tool to create 3D animated movies.

So there is a brief overview of the programs to help you break into animation, without breaking the bank. The great thing about the programs above is that they are not toys, but powerful animation systems. All can produce high quality animation and bring stories to life.

It is fun and rewarding to make films, so give animation a try. Everyone has stories to tell, but not everyone has a studio behind them. Now, that no longer matters. With video sharing sites like Youtube, you can create your movies and share them with the entire world. So get animating!

Finding the titles in the article is just a quick web search away.

About the Author:

Internet marketing guru Ryan Even has been experimenting with using animation and video in his internet marketing. Read more about how to Succeed In Internet Marketing…