Category: Technology

Lure of Chainsaws Steals Sleep

By Chris Fleming and Andrew Morales –

The sound of revving chainsaws marks the start of this year’s video game season. But with new games comes less sleep.

Every year around late September the start of video game season launches with new games released by their manufacturers. Kids, including students from Penn Manor, rush out to get the newest games and play them, but sometimes it’s at the cost of school work and shuteye.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, about nine hours of sleep is needed to function best. Without proper sleep the ability to concentrate, listen and learn are affected. It can also lead to aggressive and uncalled for behavior, like being impatient and irritable. Taken from a study done annually by the National sleep foundation, only 15 percent of teens say they get 8 and 1/2 hours of sleep each night.

“I usually only get five hours of sleep a night when a good game comes out,” said Penn Manor senior Nick Zell.

Many big game producing companies like Epic games, Bungie and Activision have their creations hit shelves before the holidays so kids can put those games on their Christmas wish list. But teens who can’t wait for Santa end up breaking their time with the sandman as well.

People waiting in line at a midnight release. Courtesy of www.nerdsociety.com

“I stay up a lot later and come to school more groggy,” said senior Joey Jackson.

“There’s a midnight release and then you end up playing the new game all night. That’s just how it goes,” said senior Logan White.

This year’s season started off with the highly anticipated game Gears of War 3. “Gear heads” everywhere lined up outside local popular video game stores like Gamestop and Just Press Play, to get their hands on a copy at the midnight release Tuesday.

This is the Gears of War logo. Courtesy of www.gonzogeek.com

Gears of War 3, the last game to the well liked trilogy exclusive to Xbox 360 users, lets you play with up to a total of four players on co-operative play. With the new ability to be able to spot enemies out for the whole team to see where they are on the map makes this game more of a team-based game compared to the first two.

A new weapon added to the game is not universally popular.  The sawed off shotgun, added to the game as a single shot shotgun that takes a long time to reload but has a lot of power at the cost of range. “Gear heads” who have been playing the game since the original Gears of War  have stayed loyal to the old shotgun, the gnasher, which is still available to Gears of War 3 gameplay.

This student fell asleep in class. Courtesy of www.sbschoolboard.info

“The sawed off shotgun is so annoying,” said Matt Flick, from the graduating class of 2010, “I wish everyone would just use the old shotgun.”

Unfortunately for some high school students, game season is a hard time.

“Sometimes I skip school just to play so I can get a head start before my friends,” said senior Liam Kline. “So many nice games coming out right in a row gonna keep me busy.”

“Really looking forward to Modern Warfare 3. I stay up later playing Xbox live before homework,” said Alec Keck.

Gamers can look forward to seeing these new titles being released before the end of the year. Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and The elder scrolls V: Skyrim.

 

Cyberbullying still a problem for Teens

By Alex Sanchez-Cruz-

Internet communication is more prevalent than ever, as is cyberbullying.

Teens see gossip on the internet. Picture from lilith-ezine.com

Cyberbullying is when anyone is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or verbally attacked by a peer via internet or mobile technologies.

Almost every teen has read an offensive slur on the internet that was intended to offend someone.  Some may skim over it or even even chuckle.  But this is no joking matter. These words are very powerful and have caused many issues for teens and children.

Cyberbullying has become a prominent issue among teens and is a major cause of teen suicide.  According to an Associated Press-MTV poll, people say more hurtful words in a text or on a social website then in a face to face conversion.

More people attempt use this type of language as a joke then to hurt someone.

“I don’t care if my friends say it, just as long as they don’t say it to me,” Said Eric Shetrompf, sophomore at Penn Manor. “I see it all the time on the internet mostly two girls fighting over something,”

However a poll by Knowledge Networks shows that 54 percent of teens think it’s acceptable to use slurs and derogatory terms to their friends because they don’t mean it.

This doesn’t excuse them for using offensive language, even with teens their age.  Another poll from Knowledge Networks, taken by 14 to 24 year old students, shows that there is a minority that are against using slurs especially when they target a certain group.

“It’s so derogatory to women and demeaning. It just makes you feel gross,” said Lori Pletka, 22, a senior at Missouri State Unversity, referring to the word “sl*t” and other words that are degrading to women.

Some people pretend like cyberbullying isn’t a problem, but it is.  If you witness cyberbullying report it to a school counsler.  No child deserves to be harassed, in any form.

 

Amazon Sets Their Sights On Tablets

By Jacob Harvey-

Amazon is taking its shot at the tablet market with its release in October.

With the iPad shutting down all other competitors attempts at the tablet market now, Amazon is stepping up trying to put its foot in the door for the tablet market. Amazon is seen as the last competitor to knock Apple off its high horse of owning the tablet marketplace, but do they have what it takes?

With the famous App Store and the iTunes store, Amazon just doesn’t seem to match up to what the iPad can produce.

Artists rendition of the Amazon Tablet which a photo has yet to be released by Amazon. Image courtesy of TechFlash.com

However, the big price cut might sway peoples minds into buying Amazon’s tablet. According to a Tech Crunch Review by MG Siegler, the tablet that Amazon is producing is pretty much a kindle e-reader with a 7 inch screen.

“It looks a lot like a Black Berry Playbook and has no physical buttons and a two finger multi-touch screen with a back light for the screen,” according to a Tech Crunch Review.

The Amazon tablet is supposed to be extremely user-friendly, and it’s going to be run on Android.

Amazon’s Kindle store and Cloud Player are both deeply integrated into the device’s software, but there was no link to the Google Android Marketplace. The device is supposed to be Wifi only, but Amazon did add a link to its Instant Video Player, so users should be able to stream video onto the tablet.

 

High-Tech Vending Machines May Be In Our Future

By Eric Schlotzhauer –

Students may arrive at school one morning to find vending machines that are a lot like the technology they use everyday.

One of the new high-tech vending machines. Photo Courtesy slumz.boxden.com

Vending machine usage has gone down in teenagers.  In this day and age, teenagers would much rather swipe a card than dig through their bags for change.

Touch screens and smart machines that can talk may be the solution to the decreasing revenue seen from vending.

“We now have machines that look and act like giant iPads,” said Dan Mathews, COO at the National Automatic Merchandising Association, during an interview for USA Today. “We’re changing the stereotypes.”

Vending machines designed to snag the dollars of today’s Y generation range from:

  • Made-to-order Ramen Noodles (fresh and customized)
  • Made-to-order Cotton candy (fresh and on a stick)
  • Live crabs that are stored at the correct temperature
  • Talking machines that allow for you to not touch the germ-covered buttons
  • Social vending that allows you to leave a message for your friend by entering their mobile phone number

“(Smart Vending machines) would be beneficial for people who don’t really carry around change or small bills,” said Collin Decker, a senior at Penn Manor High School.

“I don’t even use the vending machines,” said senior Emily Eddowes.

Reasons for the decline in vending machine usage seem to revolve around one main factor according to Penn Manor students: money.

“I don’t carry change around,” said senior, Eddie Bley.

“I stopped using vending machines because of the prices,” said Decker.

Interest in vending machines seems to rise when more convenient products are placed inside of them.  Some students have an ideal product that they would wish to be sold within our school.

“Energy drinks that are more herbal, to help kids get through the day,” said Decker.

“I want a big mac coming out of my vending machines,” said Bley.

With the lack of use that the vending machines are experiencing, small changes like the appearance, the features, or even what is inside, could change how often students use them.

 

Unknown Class Gains Attention

Brandon McCormick –

The little known class that is big in the hearts of many.

Penn Manor has had a woodshop class for the last…well nobody is really sure how many years. Sean McKnight, the head of the Technology department claims it’s been around for as long as he can remember. Administrator Jason D’Amico couldn’t come up with an exact date either. Regardless of its age, Penn Manor’s woodshop class is still going strong.

Ben Darrach's Electric Guitar

“Many schools are doing away with [woodshop],” said McKnight. “We think the hands-on work is good.”

Lancaster Country Day School has never had a program, according to Secretary June Chrales.

The School District of Lancaster doesn’t have a specific woodshop class like Penn Manor does either, said Kelly Burkholder. They have pathways that help students prepare for life after high school. One of these pathways is a technology path though.

Penn Manor’s woodshop class, just like every elective has had ups and downs in numbers over the years, although it has always been a favorite course for a few students. This year however, the woodshop class, which became known as AP Wood, had students who went above and beyond the call of the average wood worker.

Eric Gerlach gifted the class with the title of Advanced Placement Woodshop. While there is no actual GPA weighting like a usual AP class, every student works hard to perfect their study in the course.

Eric Gerlach's Tresure Chest

“It is the hardest level of woodshop Penn Manor offers. Some of the projects are so hard to make [the student] could be given an AP credit,” said Gerlach.

Maybe that is what sets this years class apart from all the others.

Matt Soto has been the woodshop teacher for the past six years. This class ranks very highly compared to his past years, said Soto.

“This is one of the most accomplished classes. There is a very high skill level from all the students,” said Soto. “There are a whole variety of students in this class, from Career Prep to College Prep and Honors. One thing that is similar is their desire to make a nice project.”

Soto stated, “No, not every project is perfect. That’s the beauty of it, the students takes these imperfections and try to hide or fix them.”

And these imperfections become invisible to make an amazing project.

Travis McConathey's Cherry Roll Top Desk

Such as Travis McConathey’s roll-top desk: an upright cherry desk with a magnificent rolling door.

“I enjoyed the class,” McConathey said. “I liked working with wood and making raw materials into a finished product.”

Bo Perez made a large lawn bench. His favorite part of the class was using the lathe where he crafted a walnut gavel. Perez plans to take the course every year he is eligible.

Jordan Drexel created a walnut dove-tailed chest. He plans to continue using his talents after he is done at Penn Manor’s woodshop.

Bo Perez's Lawn Bench
Jordan Drexel's Dove-Tailed Chest

“My grandparents have a woodshop in their barn. I’ll finish some of the projects from my great grandfather.”

Soto was so impressed with this years class he invited some of the schools administrators to a AP Wood showing so they can see the impressive work done by students.

“It’s hard to believe you can turn scrap wood into something so impressive,” said Administrator Doug Eby.

Bo Perez's Lathe-Spun Gavel

Eby was surprised when he walked into the woodshop and saw such intricate pieces.

Dean of Students, Eric Howe, was equally impressed.

“You don’t always see talent expressed like this in a normal school day,” Howe said. “Some pieces could be sold in stores. You would never know they were made by high school kids.”

With all the breath-taking projects coming out of the woodshop this year the only remaining question is; will woodshop be on your course selection sheet for next year?

AT&T Broadband Customers Obtain New Data Cap

By Ryan Krause –

Is 150GB enough data to last you a month?

Well, whether or not you like it, AT&T users will have to comply.

On May 2, 2011 AT&T applied a new data cap to their broadband users of 150GB per month. And every 50GB over that costs an additional $10.

Now, should you be worried? Or will that only affect the data-consuming Torrent users?

Actually yes, you should be worried.

With today’s ability to stream movies over sites like Hulu and YouTube it is very easy to hit the limit if you’re a media user.

An average HD video being streamed consumes about 2GB per hour and a standard video anywhere from 0.3GB to 1GB per hour.

The AT&T logo. Image copyrighted by AT&T.

That could eat one’s data up to the cap pretty quickly if there’s multiple users on that one network. AT&T claims that only two percent of their customers are expected to breach that cap.

According to MaximumPC.com, AT&T said that an average user uses about 18GB per month.

But what about enthusiasts who game daily online? Or have daily updates from programs?

One may be thinking, “Hey, this program will provide me with this information! It can’t hurt to slap on top of the other ones I have running in the background.”

But, it all adds up. Especially with weekly updates from online games that can be a couple GB.

And how about iTunes and other media distributors online that focus on downloading their products? Steam, a digital distributor for games, has everything focused around downloading all their games. And a majority of them can be anywhere from 50MB to 12GB.

Luckily for the AT&T “U-verse” members, (ones who pay extra to have internet, TV and phone access) they are capped at 250GB per month. That’s the same amount of a cap as Comcast’s.

 

YouTube- The Next Blockbuster Video?

By Morgan Fletcher –

“So what should we rent from YouTube tonight?”

Although such a question seems out of place at present, it may soon become a common thing to ask.  The video-sharing website YouTube is likely to become a movie rental site in the near future.

The proposal to do so has not happened over night, however.  YouTube has been working for two years to get studios in Hollywood to offer their new-releases for rental to YouTube users.

So far, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers are on board to start an agreement with YouTube.

YouTube is set to launch their movie rental deal with major Hollywood studios. Photo courtesy dvice.com

This leaves about 60 percent of North America’s other major studios, including Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, out of the deal.

YouTube is working to boost ad revenue by getting viewers to stay on their site for longer periods of time.  They are working to compete against rivals, such as iTunes and Amazon.com, with comparable prices.

Currently, Lionsgate Entertainment, the Weinstein Company and independent filmmakers offer their movies for rental on YouTube.  The addition of bigger Hollywood studios will most likely increase the popularity of rentals.

In the past, there has not been an astounding amount of interest in YouTube rentals.

Students in Penn Manor don’t seem to be in favor of movie rentals via online websites.

“I’d rather watch a movie on my big screen T.V.,” said senior Katie Maisel.

Many movie rental stores like Blockbuster Video have closed because they cannot compete with the lastest methods of movie renting. Photo courtesy collider.com

“I don’t like watching something on my computer,” said senior Sam Adams.

The presence of movie rental stores has diminished over the last few years as viewers find it easier to obtain the entertainment they want through other means, such as Redbox machines, because they have many convenient locations nationwide.

According to students in Penn Manor, these other methods of movie renting will be favored over online viewing.

“I’d rather do Redbox,” said senior Jenna Waite.

“No, I’d rather go to Turkey Hill and get a Redbox,” senior Caroline Lovett said, regarding whether she would take advantage of YouTube’s latest proposal.

Although technology has trumped most factors of our lives, it’s evident that most people still prefer the old-fashioned aspect of movie night.

Rocket Team Back after Weekend Lift-off

By Matt Ulmer –

Home Sweet Home for the hardworking Rocket Team.

Penn Manor students look forward to the outcome of football games or basketball results but ever since last year’s international victory for the rocket team, students are anxious to see how the “New Crew” performs.

This past weekend six teams from Penn Manor brought their talents to Manassas, Virginia.

Although they didn’t cinch the national title, they had a great showing.

“We actually performed the best as a school ever,” said Osmolinski.

Here’s how they did.

Team 1: 10th Place (Alex Cauler, Mark Raymond, David Herr, Jonathon Martin)

Team 2: 50th Place (Maggie McClintock, Jesse Burkholder, Eric Keefer, Ian Tahmasbi, and Jake Schick)

Team 3: 55th Place (Andrew Lobos, Cate Shipley, Gabbie Bauman, and Chris Cuascut)

Team 4: 27th Place (Lars Anderson, Haley Blazer, Peter Ashworth, and Alec ORourke)

Team 5: 45th Place (Zach Kauffman and Brendan Woods)

Team 6: 25th Place (Jesse Stoner, Tom Sowers, Wyatt Shiffler, Curtis Herr, and Shawn Stone)

Brian Osmolinski the man behind the rocket

The Contest showcased 600 qualifying teams from all over the country.

Penn Manor had six teams of the final 100. The teams had to deal with various weather problems and even a tornado warning.

The scores in this year‘s competition have tig htened and point gaps between teams were smaller this year than any other year. This actually made the competition easier as a whole.

However, the entire group from Penn Manor did better than any other year with scores ranging from 14 to 39.

Brian Osmolinski said he received compliments from other coaches and aerospace executives on the performance of the team. He feels Penn Manor was represented very well.

This year’s teams had very big shoes to fill not to mention many rules changed.

“This year the recovery system had to be a 15-inch parachute,” said Osmolinski.

The goals for next year are already stacking up. The amount of underclassmen bring a promise of good things ahead.

“What we’re gonna work on is more team consistency and all members are at all practices,” explained Osmolinski.

Some people wonder what they do with the remaining rockets.

Saturday, June 11th the Rocket Team will launch the remaining rockets at Manor Middle school from noon until 5 p.m. There will be free food.

 

What Microsoft May Do with Skype

By Ryan Krause –

They spent 8.5 billion dollars on it, but now what?

On May 10, 2011 Microsoft bought Skype for 8.5 billion dollars in cash. According to MaximumPC, both Google and Facebook were also interested in this service.

But Microsoft won and it may be a great move by them.

Microsoft could license parts of Skype to Facebook and earn money that way. Plus buying Skype before Google keeps them from owning every big thing on the web.

Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer gave a speech on the acquisition of Skype when they released the information.

Miscosoft and Skype together. Image owned by CBSNews.com.

According to CNN the following five possibilities of Skype were discussed in his speech:

1. Integration with Xbox Live.

According to CNN, about 10 million users have a camera connected to their Xbox 360. Having Skype added to Xbox Live would open the possibility of video and voice chat support.

2. Application to Windows Phones.

Having a solid application with the Windows based phones would boost their popularity. Let’s be honest, the iOS and Droid based phones overshadow the Windows devices.

3. Addition to Facebook.

It would be great for both Facebook and it’s users to have video chat integrated into the regular Facebook chat. With Microsoft owning rights to Skype, they could easily license it to Facebook and earn a lot of money from it.

4. Beef up Hotmail.

Hotmail may have tons of users world wide, but how many are actually excited about it? Skype’s technology would allow more attractive additions to Hotmail and could potentially boost its popularity.

5. Be at a meeting without actually being there.

Cisco is known as the largest corporation for telecommunication according to CNN. And with Microsoft owning rights to Skype, Microsoft’s big name could boost the popularity of itself. Maybe even over Cisco. It’s rumored that there will be integration with Microsoft Office with this newly acquired technology.

Can Microsoft successfully pull all this off without losing money?

Is there a chance that additional fees will be introduced?

The Return of the Whiteboard

By Lyta Ringo –

Is there anything smarter than a smartboard?  Turns out for this school district there is.

Way back in the 2008-09 school year, Penn Manor was given a grant to upgrade to smartboards.

The smartboard allows teachers to project their lessons and instruct students more easily. But as we all know technology does, it’s upgrading again. Only this upgrade, will allow us to down grade a bit.

The interactive board along with the needed pen.

Instead of having an interactive (Polyvision) board, the new device created by Mimio, is a thin device that goes on the side of a regular white board.

“All of the Polyvision boards will be removed completely (eventually).” said Charlie Reisinger, the head of Penn Manor’s technology department.

According to a presentation about the boards given by Shelby Foster, in the cottages at Manor Middle, the board comes with a USB drive that plugs into your computer, and in order for the board to actually work you must use the pen that comes with it. The nice thing about this is its completely covered. So say you drop the pen and it breaks, or a student would steal it, it has a full warranty and a new device would be received.

The Mimio boards offer a lot more than the current smart boards. For instance, as learned at the presentation, Mimio runs off of a program called notebook. Notebook allows you to access more areas of technology then ever before. An example being a function called glass mode. Glass mode allows you to be on the internet and write notes over top of your page. Which we can do on the current smart boards, except now if we scroll down our notes don’t move, and they no longer makes sense where they are placed. With notebook your notations move with you, the notes will also save in your own personal gallery under the notebook features.

Notebook contains replicas of all the programs students and teachers are used to. There is programs like word, excel, and PowerPoint. Except now they all run as one. Making it easier for teachers to create lessons on multiple programs but share it on a single one.

Another positive about the new boards is the hiding ability. With the current smart boards in order to not show the screen you have to close a slot on the projector. Which is fine except for its on the ceiling, and pulling a chair over isn’t really ideal in the middle of class. However, with Mimio their is a feature called reveal. This feature pulls up a black screen over the entire projected area, and you can move the screen from all areas of the board letting the teacher be in control of what their students are seeing. Also allowing a teacher to show a problem but easily keep an answer covered.

Since the Mimio boards are a lot smaller, the installation time is a lot faster then our current Polyvision boards. For the Polyvision boards a wooden box has to be built over top of the existing white board. The Polyvision board was then mounted over the box, and their not light either. With the Mimio board all it does is magnetizes to the far side of any regular white board.

“The installation is much easier with these new boards,” said Reisinger.

Reisinger also commented that the Mimio boards are much less expensive costing about $700, whereas the Polyvision boards can be anywhere from $1000 on up.

Elementary schools are currently receiving the boards as the schools are being renovated. One board exists in the high schools agriculture wing, which was received as a gift. However we will hopefully be seeing these Mimio boards popping up in the high school over the next few years.