Isn't this how Pixar and Aardman got their starts?"
- I don't know about Pixar, but Aardman (based right down the road from me in Bristol) was originally two teenagers who got a commission from the BBC to produce a short kids ident (called the "aard man", hence the company name).
From then on, the studio funded itself through producing advertisements and music videos (Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer for example), and put the revenue it recieved into producing quality shorts - it was this money that funded Nick Park's "A Grand Day Out". "Chicken Run" is an exception to the advertisement funding rule, as it's part of a five film deal with Dreamworks.
Animations aren't considered for the VFX Oscar, and have their own Oscars (unsurprisingly, Best Animated Feature Film, and Best Animated Short).
However, a film that intergrates traditional animation with live action (eg Who Framed Roger Rabbit) can win - in 1964, Mary Poppins won the VFX oscar.
The vast majority of Spyware is installed by the user unknowingly - if Windows was to die tomorrow and we all moved to Linux, you'd probably see Spyware popping up on that platform.
Microsoft could produce a anti-spyware tool, but that would be seen as further anti-competetiveness against companies such as LavaSoft.
"People who've had their ears damaged by gunfire, jackhammers or punk rock have traditionally had two choices: get hearing aids, or suffer in silence."
Actually they have three choices - if they have the money (and their hearing loss is profound enough) they could purchase a cochlear implant (12 electrodes that are inserted into the cochlear to stimulate it, producing sound.)
You say you'd like to hear from "the other side of the fence", so I'd thought I'd share some experiences from the point of view of a 17 year old, who's been using the internet since around 12.
I don't know how tech minded your children are, but (as you probably know), it's really not that hard to cover your tracks if you have the knowledge. I can understand you might like to know what internet sites you children have been visiting - you don't mention their sexes, but I assume you're worried about internet porn and other illegal sites, and the (well over exaggerrated) possibility of "grooming".
However, there are many good reasons as to why your children may wish to lie or quickly exit / minimise a programme - you wouldn't listen in on your children's conversations with there friends, and so they probably don't want you to look at what they're saying to there IM friends.
There are some children who just value there privacy - my younger sister (13) instinctivly quits her computer programmes when anyone walks past, and turns off the TV when anyone walks into the room.
If you're really concerned, there are programmes and facilities to enable you to closely monitor your children - for example, MSN Messenger has an option that lets you retain all chat logs for later viewing, and there are obviously web filters (although I've always thought of these as a bad idea)....perhaps you should think back to all the rules you broke when you were a child, and the times your parents didn't find out...
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The Register used to do a great 419 T-shirt, but you can still get an "All my money went to Nigeria and all I got was this lousy t-shirt".
Isn't this how Pixar and Aardman got their starts?" - I don't know about Pixar, but Aardman (based right down the road from me in Bristol) was originally two teenagers who got a commission from the BBC to produce a short kids ident (called the "aard man", hence the company name). From then on, the studio funded itself through producing advertisements and music videos (Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer for example), and put the revenue it recieved into producing quality shorts - it was this money that funded Nick Park's "A Grand Day Out". "Chicken Run" is an exception to the advertisement funding rule, as it's part of a five film deal with Dreamworks.
Animations aren't considered for the VFX Oscar, and have their own Oscars (unsurprisingly, Best Animated Feature Film, and Best Animated Short). However, a film that intergrates traditional animation with live action (eg Who Framed Roger Rabbit) can win - in 1964, Mary Poppins won the VFX oscar.
The vast majority of Spyware is installed by the user unknowingly - if Windows was to die tomorrow and we all moved to Linux, you'd probably see Spyware popping up on that platform.
Microsoft could produce a anti-spyware tool, but that would be seen as further anti-competetiveness against companies such as LavaSoft.
"People who've had their ears damaged by gunfire, jackhammers or punk rock have traditionally had two choices: get hearing aids, or suffer in silence." Actually they have three choices - if they have the money (and their hearing loss is profound enough) they could purchase a cochlear implant (12 electrodes that are inserted into the cochlear to stimulate it, producing sound.)
You say you'd like to hear from "the other side of the fence", so I'd thought I'd share some experiences from the point of view of a 17 year old, who's been using the internet since around 12. I don't know how tech minded your children are, but (as you probably know), it's really not that hard to cover your tracks if you have the knowledge. I can understand you might like to know what internet sites you children have been visiting - you don't mention their sexes, but I assume you're worried about internet porn and other illegal sites, and the (well over exaggerrated) possibility of "grooming". However, there are many good reasons as to why your children may wish to lie or quickly exit / minimise a programme - you wouldn't listen in on your children's conversations with there friends, and so they probably don't want you to look at what they're saying to there IM friends. There are some children who just value there privacy - my younger sister (13) instinctivly quits her computer programmes when anyone walks past, and turns off the TV when anyone walks into the room. If you're really concerned, there are programmes and facilities to enable you to closely monitor your children - for example, MSN Messenger has an option that lets you retain all chat logs for later viewing, and there are obviously web filters (although I've always thought of these as a bad idea). ...perhaps you should think back to all the rules you broke when you were a child, and the times your parents didn't find out...