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Today’s economy is all about money, it has been like that for years and it will probably be like that for the remainder of time, unless someone comes up with an ingenious solution that replaces money with another object of value that is easy to exchange, both in the real world as well as digitally. Since I don’t see that happening any time soon, I might as well discuss an idea I had about teaching our young ones how to “work” with money.

Before we start, let’s take a minute to think back. I think I got my first money to spend at the age of seven, but I had been spending other people’s money (namely from my parents) before that. I would be rewarded for school activity as well as the occasional monetary present for birthdays. While this worked out nicely for me back then, I think the system is flawed. Later on, when you’re a grown-up, nobody will give you money just because you turn a year older. Well, some people might do, but those are the ones with bad taste, and it’s never going to be enough to sustain yourself. Basically, I think that parents are teaching their children nothing about the value of money by “just” giving them access to funds.

What I’m proposing, basically, is the following: give children money, based on the work they carry out. Chores should of course be appropriate to their age, you can’t expect a five year-old to go shopping, you might end up with no money at all and a bill for the dentist. Have kids work around the house. Most children aren’t interested in that kind of stuff at those ages, so why not utilize a system that works so well, even primates pick up on it?

The “do this, get that” method is, if you ask me, a lot better than just giving kids an allowance that you replenish whenever the kids need it. Working for money is an essential factor of life, so why not start out as early as possible? Protecting your children from the harshness that is the world? Well, good luck with that. What good does that do? Ten years later, you have children who are completely incapable of managing the funds they have access to and you’ll end up having to teach them the whole system after all.

I’ve read about people who taught their children the value of money in creative ways. Mom would tell her son to look through grocery fliers and the more coupons and great deals he could get, the more they would save. The saved money then, would be his reward. Does that teach children the value of money? You bet it does. The more you save, the more you get to keep. It’s as easy as that.

Now, in todays digital world, you could enhance the whole process a lot. Create a game I say. One that is a win-win solution for everyone involved, parents, children and the economy. If you’re going to create it, however, you should do it the right way. A famous Dutch financial institution tried and in my eyes, fail to meet the goal I’m trying for.

Said bank came up with a system that let’s you save money. You have a piece of hardware, connected to your computer. Put in a dime and you’ll see the computer process it in a visual way. You can always see how much you have, but you can’t really use it. It works great to teach people about saving money, but, in the end, why do we save money? Exactly, to spend it, when the time comes.

Their system lets children play games that are branded with the companies logos and everything. Every game costs a certain amount of points. You have x points every day and a game costs, say 1/10 of x. So you can play ten games a day. Very nice, if you want to keep your kid from turning into a gambler, but it doesn’t teach them anything about the real value. Like before, the problem is that the points are restored daily. In fact, parents can even buy more points for you, if need be.

My idea is different. Let’s create a game that combines online and offline chores. It’s gotta be entertaining to the kids, or they won’t play it, but it’s also gotta be educative. I propose to utilize the “do this, get that” method.

The application itself, would be aimed at an audience between three and six, so it would be heavy on the visual side and only include easy to read (and understand) text for the player. The application is basically a shell, your access to a myriad of minigames, some of which could be branded by the companies that support this game (and I’m certain, there would be quite a few).

Each minigame has to be entertaining. You’d have simple games, for example, stuff where you match pairs but also more advanced stuff, for example, reading easy words and linking them to their visual counterparts. After completing a level, the “boss” of that level is a real-world chore, related to the game. If you matched pairs ingame, why not go help your mom match socks? Sounds easy, but it would help both parents and children. The idea is that the kids first play something, then complete a chore, related to the game and finally get their reward. Both points in game as well as a monetary reward.

The game contains sophisticated tracking systems so that you can see how long your kid takes for a certain part, but I’d advise to spend the time on the computer with your kid, after all, there’s no better guardian than the one that’s there, when they need it. The tracking system also will show you statistics, like what does your child like to do most? What does it not like? You can then adjust the rewards in a way that for example, cleaning up the room, something just about every child hates, becomes a lot more interesting, financially speaking.

Heck, we could even digitize the aforementioned idea about having your kid look through grocery folders. Said minigame would have to be sponsored by a grocery store of course and the coupons would be for their products only. The player would be presented with a selection of say hundred coupons and then mark the ones that are of interest to him or her. Once the “level” is finished, call your parents, have them check the list, print it out and if they approve, enter a special parent-code™ that would translate into the reward.

Said parent-codes™ are printed lists with an unique identifier. There’s a pair of two codes each. One you have to enter before you start a game, one you have to enter after the player has completed a level. The game doesn’t handle situations where you start a game, then start another though because players are expected to only commit to something if they are willing to pull through. Much like in real life, later on.

All in all, this game has the potential to do three things: help children understand the value of money, help parents with their workload and help the economy create people who understand the value of money and brand children with brands they will be buying later on.

At the beginning of this week, I finally received my Windows Vista DVD, thanks to GLS’ delay though, I wasn’t able to install it, yet.

Long story short, I’ll be installing Vista today and like a true prosumer, I’m not going to use the out-of-the-box version, but rather cook my own one, using vLite.

vLite is the successor to the much loved nLite. Both of the tools allow you to create custom install CDs (or DVDs, in Windows Vista’s case) that only include the stuff you really want (or need) as well as custom drivers. Basically, with these tools you can create your very own, very perfect install medium.

Step 1 is to get a copy of the vLite tools, so just head on over to their site and grab any of the packages. At the time of writing, 0.9 was the latest version. Extract it, start up vLite and you’ll be presented with something like:

Note that you can click on the inline images if you want to see a bigger version of the image.

Pop in your Windows Vista DVD, select the location where you want to store your modified files and hit “Next”.

Step 2 is where the real magic starts. The components tab allows you to (de-)select any items you do not need. It is important that you note that anything you select will be removed.

As you can see, I strip out everything that I have no need for but leave in those tools that require other things such as “Windows Mail” which is needed for Outlook. Your selection might vary and since I don’t have the time to provide support on this tutorial, it’s important to read the hints that vLite offers when you hover over an item. Only then should you decide if you want to keep or remove an item. Once again, if you remove it, it’s gone, for good. If you have any doubts, leave it in there or research your options.

For Step 3, we’re going to add some tweaks to our install medium.

Segoe UI is a lot more readable than other fonts, if your display supports Cleartype. Since mine does, Segoe UI is my font of choice:

Next step is to disable UAC. While the concept of it is very nice, I personally don’t care for the added layer of security. I know which sites not to surf to and which things I shouldn’t do, so I have little to no use for UAC:

The last tweaks tab allows you to change the hibernation behaviour. Since I’m a mobile user, I have a need for hibernation and as such, I leave the setting unchanged:

Step 4 is about adding drivers to your install disk. Since Vista miraculously includes all the drivers I need, there’s no need to add anything for me:

Step 5 is where the real fun begins. The last tab is where you create the actual ISO image of your install medium. First, you’ll want to change the options so that vLite creates an image for you:

The next thing you’ll have to do is to name the image. For maintenance reasons, I give it the same name as the Windows Vista DVD has:

Make note of the name and copy it into the vLite application:

Finally, it’s time to start building your image. The whole process takes a couple of minute to complete:

Once vLite is finished, you’ll see a message in the lower part of the screen:

Technically speaking, you’re done now. Grab an empty DVD and write your image on it, or head on over to Douglas Stockwell’s blog and read his thoughts about installing Windows Vista from a HDD.

If you’re looking for the easy, highly uneducative way out, grab my vLite preset file from here, put it into a folder called “Preset” in your vLite directory and load the preset from within vLite.

Happy customizing!

After having some trouble with GLS Netherlands last week, my package was finally delivered on Monday, undamaged even and I now finally have an OEM copy of Windows Vista Home Premium.

Now, one would think that this chapter is closed but there’s something else that annoys me to no end with GLS. When you receive packages from a courier, you normally have to sign for them. That is, the person who receives the package has to sign for it. Sometimes you have to identify yourself with a driver’s license or an ID card, sometimes you don’t. In any case, those people have your signature and you’re legally bound to the package at that time.

Obviously, this isn’t an issue if you or someone you know signed for it, it is a problem though, if the driver has the audacity to sign in your name, like the GLS driver did. Granted, he delivered the package and saved me the time of calling GLS (yet again) and getting them to redeliver the package, but if the package shows up damaged, he’s not liable for it anymore. I’m the last person to look for filing charges, but if I receive software that is damaged and I supposedly signed for it, what would GLS compel to solve this problem for me and make repairations?

Well, lesson learned - don’t ship with GLS if you want your package to be delivered in a professional way. Sadly, Perfect Systems has no intentions of switching carriers and as such, I don’t believe I’ll keep ordering stuff from them anymore …

February 14th, Valentine’s Day, a day that is traditionally used to express your love and affection towards those with whom you share a familiar love with, but also towards those you share romantic love with (and if you’re lucky enough to be able to have a 2-for-1 deal going, even better!)

Today is about showing your partner(s) how much you care about them, your chance to thank them for all the things they do. Things you might have started to take for granted, but believe me, they are not. So get out there (if you haven’t already done so) and surprise your loved one(s). They deserve it.

While you’re at it, you might want to consider extending Valentine’s Day beyond it’s original scope of only showing your gratitude towards loved ones, you might want to think about including those people you admire too, like I’m about to do:

We’ve met a few years ago, yet it sometimes feels like only yesterday. We’ve been through good times and the obligatory bad times, we’ve even been through no-times, that is, the dark period without regular contact. We’ve shared secrets with each other that other’s still aren’t privy too and probably never will be.

Yes, we’ve had our fair share of disagreements but we managed to pull through, most of the time. Our friendship, if you want to call it that, has been faced with events that would have destroyed any other friendship, yet, ours miraculously survived, even if it was put on life-support by me soon thereafter. In hindsight, it seems hardly thankful, after all the things you’ve done for me and believe me, there isn’t a day I don’t feel guilty about it. That same guilt is what kept me from telling you this a lot sooner, that same guilt, is what keept me from hangin’ out with you in the past.

In times of trouble, no matter which kind, you have stood by me, you have protected me and you stood up for me, even though you didn’t have to. You were there for me when I needed someone to talk to and you allowed me to help you when you needed someone to talk to.

You managed to captivate my mind and heart the day we first met and you continue to amaze me until this very day. You possess a gift, an inner strength that is unlike anything I have ever witnessed. You somehow overcome events that cripple others for a lifetime and even though I know that deep inside you, a little part of you succumbs to the pressure, you never show, you are always the same, blissful person.

I respect that and I admire you for it, a lot. So, here’s to you! You know who you are.

It’s close to 10 am and I’m sitting here with a group of other motivated students. Today’s session will be split in two parts: the first part will be about coming up with creative ideas for IT usage till the year 2020 and in the afternoon, we’ll try to think of possible ways to enhance the (IT - related) life of future students for the time till 2010.

We just received our welcome package with a nice gadget: a branded 256mb MP3 player, useless to me but nice nonetheless.

More updates to follow…