[Title will be auto-generated]

THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

Can I Borrow a

PEN? pg. 11

QuizBowl

in education 19

The

Sport for Nerds pg. 14

Issue 1: June 2011

Letter From the Editors of

Dear Readers, We hope that you will enjoy this issue of our magazine, and thank you for reading our blog, at nerdezine.blogspot.com.

As the editors of Nerd magazine, we have strived to bring you the best articles we can in the areas of technology, pen spinning, and other nerdy subjects. Throughout this semester, we have improved our teamwork skills, and learned a lot about the topics that we are interested in. We would also like to thank Peter Reid, who helped with the design aspect of the magazine, and all the people who were interviewed for the articles in our magazine.

Regards, Advaith Anand Jack Laughead Ying Liu

Table

of Contents

Bios 1-2 Electronic Buying Guide 3-4 The Death of the Netbook 5-6 The Ideal Chair 7 The Perfect Computer Desk 8 Quizbowl: The Sport for Nerds 9-10 Pen Mod Comparison 11 How not to have a Social Life 12 Give Life to Your iOS Device 13-14 Can I Borrow a Pen?

15-16 Pirates of the Media 17-18 The Role of Technology in Education 19-22 Protect Your iPhone 4

23-24

The People Behind

Ying Liu Ying Liu is currently a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, Texas. He does not know what class he likes best because he is bad at making decisions. Ying Liu has been playing the violin for 9 years, but has not practiced in the last 5.

He likes to play ping pong, but he likes to burn ping pong balls instead. He enjoys pen spinning, except he is looked down by most of society for doing so.

In his spare time, Ying sits at home alone and cries.

He was born in Manchester, England except nobody believes that, but it is true. He knows all the lyrics to the song “Friday” and constantly annoys his associates with it. Ying Liu has never been found guilty of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and doesn’t plan to in the future. The voices in his head tell him to invent a way to make high octane gasoline from gravy, yet he is able to ignore them. What a boss.

Jack Laughead

Advaith Anand

Jack Laughead is a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, Texas.

His favorite class is Geography. Jack is an avid hunter and general outdoorsman. Jack is a Native Texan and plans to be so for a long time.

He has family in Louisiana so if we moved out of Austin he would probably want to live in New Orleans. His favorite NFL teams are the Cowboys and Saints. He also like technology and nerdy topics such as webcomics, computers, phones, and things like that. He is a member of the LBJ Jaguar Marching Band. In his free time, Jack likes to fiddle with technology (fixing things and modding) and is a real do-ityourselfer.

Advaith Anand is a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. He is interested in consumer technology and his favorite classes at school are his math and science classes. Advaith has played cello since he was 6, and enjoys playing the instrument. Advaith is an Apple fan, and is very interested in gadgets.

Advaith has also recently started writing articles on Chrome OS for netbooknetwork.net, his friend’s website, as he received a CR-48 from Google to beta test Chrome OS. Advaith is also a Texas Longhorns fan and watches basketball and football. After high school, he aspires to go to a top notch college such as MIT or Stanford, and then be an entrepreneur and start a high tech startup.

Ultimate Electronics Advaith Anand

Cell Phones

iPhone 4

HTC Evo 3D

(+) Excellent Graphics (+) Excellent Graphics Very thin 3D without glasses New A4 Processor and 2D Great Camera Camera can take 3D (-) Multitasking is not HD Camera fully developed yet 1.2 GHz Dual Core Antenna Issue processor HTC Sense $199 (-) Possible eye-strain from 3D

Apple Magic Mouse

Mice

Price Unknown

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse

(+) Folds for travel BlueTrack sensor Touchsensitive scroll (-) Expensive $69

(+) Great touch controls Sleek profile (-) Bad ergonomics Expensive $69

Budget Earbuds (< $100) JVC HAFX67A

Klipsch Image S4 (+) Great Value Comfortable Good bass Passive Sound Isolation (-) Not as good quality as more expensive models

$20

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(+) Great sound quality Comfortable (-) Cable not very durable $75

Buying Guide Laptops

MacBook Pro 15”

HP Eny 17

(+) Powerful CPU and (+) USB 3.0 Processor (i7) Full HD 1080P Great Battery Powerful Excellent Graphics (-) Short battery The best touchpad Bad touchpad (-) Very expensive $1399 No HDMI or BluRay

$1799

MP3 Players

iPod Touch

(+) Excellent Graphics Very thin New A4 Processor FaceTime Gyroscope (-) Multitasking is not fully developed yet

Zune HD

(+) HD Radio HD Video Out (-) Poor app/game selection $199

$229

Tablets

iPad 2

(+) Excellent Graphics Very thin New A5 Processor FaceTime Gyroscope (-) Display not updated $499

Motorola Xoom

(+) Excellent Graphics Powerful Processor Dual Camera (-) Honeycomb OS unfinished

$600

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The Death of the Netbook Advaith Anand

The netbook’s reign is over. Enter the tablet

N

etbooks are great portable devices. They are portable yet are fully functioning computers, are cheap, and are great for students.

The netbook’s popularity has soared over the last two years, and they have had amazing sales numbers. According to CNET news, netbooks had a 72% rise in popularity in 2009 and sales went over $11.4 billion. As a student, I’ve been using a netbook for the last 6 months, and have discovered many great things about it. However, the netbook is going to be obsolete in a year or two, and a new device is going to take over its role; the tablet. In a Summit Market Research study it was shown that demand for netbooks will peak this year and sales will plummet in the upcoming years.

The tablet is a far superior device to the netbook, as tablets are more portable,

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better for media consumption, and tablets’ mobile OS is better suited for their low specs.

The main draw of netbooks to consumers has been their small size and convenience, but tablets are even smaller. According Apple’s website, the iPad weighs a mere 1.33 pounds. Even a very light netbook, such as the Acer Aspire 1 weighs as much as 2.5 pounds.

Tablets are also very thin compared to netbooks. The Motorola Xoom, an upcoming Android tablet, is 0.51 inches thin, whereas the Acer Apsire is 1.5 inches thick. One downside of tablet’s weight is that there is no physical keyboard. Even though the size of a standard tablet’s landscape keyboard is 96% the size of a standard keyboard, many people will still want to return to

a physical keyboard. However, there are many accessories available for the iPad, including Bluetooth keyboards, so this minor inconvenience can easily be solved.

Tablets are much better for media consumption than netbooks. The touchscreen interface is much more intuitive and easy to use. There are complaints that iPads can not run applications such as Photoshop, therefore media creation is said to be weak on the iPad. However, PCMagazine says that “… in any given day, content creation only takes up 25 percent of the time most people spend on computers and the other 75 percent is spent consuming content”. If you think about your average day on the computer, you will find this statement

very true; the majority of time I spend on my computer is browsing the internet, and even for basic content creation, such as Word Processing, the iPad has a robust office suite in iWork. iWork includes Pages, a word processor, Keynote, an alternate to Powerpoint, and Numbers, a spreadsheet app.

The iWork app is priced at $30, much cheaper than desktop office suites such as Microsoft Office, which can run up to $200. Many people complain that since iPads can not run Flash they can not view a great percentage of the Web, but Flash is not very smooth on netbooks due to their lack of processing power and memory, and upcoming Android tablets such as the Motorola Xoom have Flash 10.1 available. The web is phasing out of Flash to HTML 5, which the iPad supports, and many Flash based online websites have applications developed and optimized for the iPad. For example, YouTube, which uses Adobe Flash to display videos on its website, came out with an iOS devicefriendly version of their website, along with Apple’s YouTube application. Hulu, a popular website to view TV shows online, uses Flash, but also has an iPad app. In a couple of years, the Web will have made a much larger transition to HTML 5, and even current tablets have

Flash enabled, so media consumption is much better on a tablet.

Tablets are more portable, better for media consumption, and tablets’ mobile OS is better suited for their low specs The mobile operating system is much better suited for the underpowered specs of both tablets and netbooks.

There are always going to be things that need to be done on laptops or desktops, such as photo and video editing, and managing huge media libraries.

Netbooks’ small screens and keyboards and low specs can not handle many of these things. Full Operating Systems, such as Windows, can really slow down a system with already low specs, such as a netbook. However, using a mobile OS, designed specifically for mobile devices, such as iOS and Android can

be very beneficial not only for User Interface and smoothness, but also for other nuances such as boot-up time and battery life. For example, according to drain tests performed by PCWorld, the iPad had 11 hours and 25 minutes of battery life, while continuously playing movies on it. The Aspire 1, in comparison, received a score of 6 hours and 38 minutes, which PCWorld called “impressive battery life”.

Google recently conducted a poll on electronic devices and found that there was a 1328% growth in interest for tablets, and a 50% decline in netbook interest. The tablet is a much more versatile device, and is more portable, better for consuming media, and has a better operating system suited for its specs. By 2012, the netbook will not be as popular, and the tablet will be the bestselling device. Ω

. rola Inc o t o M f yo courtes . Photo

oom torola X o M e Th

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Properties of a Perfect Computer Chair Art Credit: Officedeskchairs.com

Jack Laughead Ability to bend backwards

Backrest for resting back

Arm rests

Cushion pad

Ability to be adjusted to be higher or lower

Wheels for mobility

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An Ideal Desk Jack Laughead 1. Pencils are a given but having them handy means you don’t have to get up as soon as you sit down and realize that your missing one.

3. Netbooks or Tablets can be very handy when doing projects.

With a computer or tablet, you can surf the web faster than on a phone and access resources such as online dictionaries, information for papers, and even bibliography makers.

5. One thing that should be on every desk is a clock. Alarm clock or no, a clock is handy to... take a guess... check the time. If you have a meeting at 8 and its 5:30, than you could set an alarm for when you have to leave.

2. Lamps are important to have on your desk aswell. When your up late at night doing work or reading sometimes your phone light just won’t do and it allows you to work deep in the darkness that is procrastination.

4. Another thing the desk needs that is taken for granted is paper.

Without paper, you can’t print or write physical documents. Having paper handy can help reduce time spent looking for paper as soon as you sit down.

6. Teachers and big businessmen aren’t the only ones who should have a letter tray. You can put your work on the top and your finished products on the bottom.

This way, you will keep track of your work.

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QuizBowl: The Sport for Nerds Jack Laughead

S

ports like football and soccer don’t really fit in with the idea of being a nerd, however there is an activity that fits it perfectly. Quizbowl is an extra-curricular activity where nerds can gather and do what they do best, know stuff.

Some of the minor subjects are Fine Arts, Social Science, Geography, and Current Events. Most students pick one major and one or two minors to focus on.

However Quizbowl also has a leisure side. “Quizbowl can be a huge commitment or not much of one, depending on the desire of the student to succeed.” Mr. Flowers goes on to say “Our current A team has spent countless hours of study, practice, and playing to become one of the best teams in the nation. But some students take it less seriously. However all students are welcome to play.”

“Practice isn’t Quizbowl is the football of nerds, and really what the prom of geeks. This team is very important to them and its helpful for makes someone school too. Studying questions and subjects has to help. If it doesn’t give Tournaments are serious business too. you new information that you should be successful...

Usually said tournaments start around learning in class, then it will give great 8am so if they go out of town, they studying habits for when you do need usually leave school around 4:30am. it’s long hours to learn.

They will often have 4-6 games before lunch and more after. “When we go on of study and a “The biggest stress for some (it certainly out-of-state trips, we usually leave a was for me) is coming to the realization early...and take some time to tour genuine interest in day that they must specialize in categories whatever city we’re in. We’ve been to (asian history, western literature, Times Square, the Strand Bookstore, the subject(s)” economics, physics, etc) that they love MoMA, and the Met in New York...” Mr. in order to give their team the best advantage, and to rid themselves of the mentality that they can be the one-man team exception that will win nationals.

After that, it’s thrilling to compete against teams, test your knowledge against other specialists, and be awestruck by the depth of knowledge of your own teammates.” Daniel Chupien, a Senior on the LASA Quizbowl team said.

Now lets take a moment and think, What exactly is Quizbowl? Quizbowl is an activity where a team of students are asked questions and must ring the buzzer before the other team and answer the question correctly. Quizbowl has 4 major subjects and a hand full of minor subjects. The major subjects are History, Science, Literature, and RMP (Religion, Mythology, and Philosophy).

NΣRD 09

Flowers stated.

“I think from this whole concept of a team being a group of players specializing in specific categories you get a general sense of support and respect, and friendliness stems from that. We also travel a lot together, which I hope adds to the sense of togetherness.” Daniel stated.

Practice makes perfect is an old saying we are all familiar with, however that isn’t the sole reason students are successful at Quizbowl. “We practice nearly every day” Mr. Flowers states.

“Practice isn’t really what makes someone good of successful...it’s long hours of study and a genuine interest in the subject(s) you are studying that make someone successful.” Quizbowl is a serious activity to the participants.

The Quizbowl team also goes on team trips to interesting places. Their tournaments have taken them to places like New York and Boston. They are already planning to go to Atlanta and Chicago for national tournaments.

This shows just how serious Quizbowl players take it.

“It’s a rarely recognized notion that quiz bowl is a learning experience before it is a competition. It exposes you to culturally significant books and ideas, to exciting scientific oddities, and to works of art of great aesthetic value. If you seize the opportunity, the sheer volume of testaments to the vitality of human civilization to which you will be exposed will excite you and motivate you to learn something new, take up a new

hobby, or do a wealth of other things.

I would not have been as interested in Medieval art or the writings of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez as I am now, simply because I heard those things so much during quiz bowl practice that I finally decided to look them up. quiz bowl’s just an awesome avenue for learning and contemplating new things if you

recognize that this opportunity exists at a deeper level than the rote memorization that unjustly characterizes the game.” Daniel said.

You may be asking yourself “How do I join the Quizbowl team?” It really depends on the school you attend, but Mr. Flowers said “Interested

students can...talk to one of the current members of the [Quizbowl] team, or just show up to a lunchtime practice. If you are interested I would seek out your Quizbowl representative and talk to them. Ω

In Photo: The Buzzer and Time setters used in Quizbowl

Pen Mod Comparison Ying Liu

Dr .K T

~15g

~12g

~18g

Length

~21 cm

~22cm

~16cm

~19cm

~20cm

C.O.B

Center

Center

Center

2 cm A.F.C Center

Cost

~$10.00

~$20.00

~$2.50

~$4.00

~$21.00

Difficulty Medium

Medium

Easy

Easy

Hard

VP

M RS

X

om all ic C

~19g

et M

~20 g

st e Art Credit by: www.Penwish.com

NΣRD 11

od V. G. G. M

Weight

rC Bu

YL

ss a

Everybody knows that having a good pen mod is very important in executing a perfect combo. The key parts to a pen mod are having a good center of balance, length, and weight. The lesser parts consist of it’s appearance, cost, if it is easy to make and whether the parts are avaliable in their country or not. The chart below is comparing 5 famous pen mods for their, weight, length, center of balance, cost, and modding difficulty. All pens are avaliable at Penwish.com

Tips on how NOT to have a Social Life Ying Liu Have you ever looked at that kid who sits in the safety of his home on the weekend training his online character and thought to yourself, “Man, I want to be like him when one day!” Follow this guide step by step and in no time your social life will be as existent as the Rebecca Black fan base.

Step 1: Contact with the outside world? I think not.

If you’re trying to be deprived of a social life, obviously you cannot have contact with anyone that you see diurnal, as this may cause the two of you to “talk”and “hanging out.” This person is now classified as a “friend” which is a big no-no.

If you have a cell phone, be sure that you only have 15 or less contacts on it. Let these 15 include your parents, sibling, home phone, and even yourself. You can even repeat contacts (for example: “Dad”, and “Dad’s Name” are 2 different contacts that link to the same number) If someone calls and asks for you, disguise your voice and say that you are not home, if they ask when you are avaliable, call him/her a stalker and hang up.

Step 2: Get addicted to online gaming.

To not have a social life you may never leave your house during when you are not at school. To prevent being bored you will play online games 24/7.

There are many online games that you can play these include, Runescape, World of Waraft, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Minecraft, Club Penguin, Call of Duty, Halo and hundreds more. Just pick one and become addicted to it.

It is okay if you talk to people on these games because chances are you will never see them in real life. You ca n even get an online girlfriend if you want. If you are really desprete spend your money to buy in game gold, then people will lose all respect for you, which means they will not be your friend. Make reference to these games at school so people will be creeped out.

Step 3: Make bad jokes, and laugh at them.

Annoy people with bad jokes and laugh at them to confuse them even more.

ROFL:ROFL:LOL:ROFL:ROFL ______|_____ L / \ === [] \ L \______________\ | | --------------------/

There are countless bad jokes out there, but the most infamous one is the “That’s what she said” joke. Use this when ever someone uses an adjective. An Example is: “This (test) is so hard.” “That’s what she says.” Also make puns, but make sure these puns are BAD and not witty. An example of a bad pun is “Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, “I’ve lost my electron.” The other says, “Are you sure?” The first replies “Yes, I’m positive.” “ Bad pick up lines are okay too. An example of this is “I wish I was your mathematical derivative so I can lay tangent to your curves.” Everyone around you should facepalm, if they don’t you need worse jokes.

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Give Life to your iOS Device

i

OS devices, like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are the face of Apple.

They can wake you up in the morning, act as a GPS on the way to work, let you surf the Internet, and download a plethora of applications from the app store. However some of the best applications are not located in the Apple app store, but instead, in alternate app stores, an example being Cydia. These special app stores can only be obtained through the jailbreaking of an iOS device. iOS users should jailbreak their device if they want to unlock all if its potential and capabilities that Apple has put restrictions on.

According to FireceDeveloper, in September of 2009, there were 50 million iOS device users, 85,000 apps in the App store, well over 125,000 application developers, and over 2 billion downloads. These numbers increase everyday as the demand grows. These applications are fantastic and helpful, but they still have their limits. Apple’s YouTube app is well known and allows users to stream YouTube videos directly to their device.

A problem with the YouTube application is that you cannot watch YouTube videos with out internet access, a hassle for iOS users without 3g service. With the release of MXtube, an application only downloadable in Cydia, this problem is fixed. MXtube allows users to watch YouTube videos, and download them to watch at anytime, even without internet access. Jailbreaking your iOS also allows you to customize your device, such as different skins and application placement. Cydia offers a wide variety of applications, though some applications in Cydia require a monthly fee to use, most of the applications are free, or are very cheap. Most of the applications in Cydia are legal for download, but users may have to be careful downloading

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Ying Liu

-Cydia opened on a jailbroken iPhone

“When one jailbreaks a Smartphone in order to make the operating system on that phone interoperable with an independently created application that has not been approved by the maker of the Smartphone or the maker of its operating system, the modifications that are made purely for the purpose of such interoperability are fair uses.” certain applications, as downloading them is illegal. If downloading an application is deemed “illegal”, Cydia will always give you a warning sign, telling you that the application is illegal and asking if you want to carry out with the download.

Many people are hesitant about

jailbreaking their device for the main reason that they believe that jailbreaking is illegal. Last year the World Intellectual Property Organization made jailbreaking legal in the United States, parts of Europe. The new rule was an addition to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. WIPO response to a disappointed Apple with,

When one jailbreaks a Smartphone in order to make the operating system on that phone interoperable with an independently created application that has not been approved by the maker of the Smartphone or the maker of its operating system, the modifications that are made purely for the purpose of such interoperability are fair uses.

This means that once you buy an iOS device, it is yours, and you are allowed to modify it anyway you want, which includes jailbreaking.

Another big reason that people are against jailbreaking is that they are afraid that once they jailbreak their device it will null their Apple warranty and they will not be able to send their device back to Apple for a factory fix if something goes wrong with their device. This was true, up until December of 2010. For unknown reasons the new iOS 4.2 is missing the API that allows Apple to track a jailbroken device. This simply means that if you jailbreak your iOS device and something goes wrong,

you can just hook your device with iTunes and install Apple’s iOS 4.2 and your iOS device will be back to factory settings. Because of this, Apple will not be able to tell if you jailbroke your device. This essentially means that your Apple warranty will not be affected by the jailbreak, and Apple cannot refuse to fix your device because you wanted to access more than what Apple gave you.

According to Technoladget, users against jailbreaking say that a jailbroken device is more susceptible to viruses, you have to re-jailbreak your device after each software update, and that is kills the lower battery life. Jailbreaking your iOS doesn’t make your device more susceptible to viruses, in the history of iOS devices only two jailbroken devices have been reported to be affected by a virus when jailbreaking. When you upgrade your iOS software it is true that your device is “unjailbroken”, but it is really simple, and fast to re-jail break your device. According to Apple,

Jailbreaking does in fact lower your iOS battery life. This isn’t a big deal because Apple devices don’t have a great battery life anyway. Eventually a regular device’s battery life will be just as dead as a jailbroken one. You can replace the battery of your device to fix this issue.

As a user of a jailbroken iPad, I can safely say that it is much better, compared to the original non jailbroken iPad. Jay Freeman, the founder of Cydia, estimates that 10% of all iOS users have a jailbroken device. If you have a nonjailbroken iOS device, try to imagine the great features you are missing out on. Jailbreaking: gives life to your iOS device. Ω

NΣRD 14

Can I Borrow a Pen? Ying Liu

S

o you mastered juggling and the devil sticks? Perhaps you’re even pro at the Baoding balls or yo-yoing, but are you ready to take on the new form of object manipulation that is pen spinning?

Pen spinning (also known as pen mawashi), at the most basic definition given by the Universal Pen Spinning Board (UPSB) is

“The artistic manipulation of a pen in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.”

Unlike all the other forms of object manipulation, all pen spinning requires is a pen, a common object that everyone has.

Pen spinning was believed to have started in Japan and parts of Asia about 90 years ago, but the popularity of pen spinning is definitely on the rise. In 2007 the very first pen spinning world tournament was hosted online, followed by a world cup in 2008 and another world tournament and world cup the following years, and as of now the third world tournament is underway. Large companies have also started featuring pen spinning in their commercials. Volkswagen has made two commercials so far featuring pen spinning and K.F.C. has

NΣRD 15

made one.

“Pen spinning has been growing faster these past 5 years than any other time…

These commercials are just another way of getting the sport more known, which is great!” says Victor Rodriguez, more popularly known as VicGotGame.

When you watch someone spin a pen, your eyes might not be able to follow the pen, you may be even awe-struck at how one can make a simple writing utensil appear to defy gravity. This is the case for many pen spinners, like Victor, at first. However, if you pick up pen spinning you will better understand trick and even preform some them. You may be surprised at well you can pen spin in a short amount of time. Victor became one of the best pen spinners in the world, and even won the UPSB championship within just 4 years of spinning.

“Oh and also, if you’re not happy with your learning path, learning too slow[ly] or can’t get a certain trick don’t give up,” recommends Victor.

Another thing great way to improve your pen spinning is to join a pen spinning community! There are many pen spinning community forums online that would be perfect to start at.

“Getting info on a trick or combo, getting advice from other advanced spinners, or even opinions from other spinners on your spinning is a great way of learning.”

The world wide pen spinning community is very large, friendly, and competitive. Many countries, such as groups France, Germany, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea have pen spinning organizations and groups.

“At first when I started to pick up pen spinning, I wasn’t planning on becoming one of the best in the world. It was never a goal of mine, I just wanted to learn a few tricks that I thought looked cool,” Victor said.

“…pen spinning spreads in the world since more and more countries create their own board,” says Stan (more popularly known as S777) of the French pen spinning board (F.P.S.B.).

One of the best ways to pick up on pen spinning, like many other activities is to start with the most basic tricks and then ascend up the difficulty ladder. At first you should master learn all the basic fundamental tricks (Thumb Around, Charge, Fingerpass, Sonic and their reverses). These are the easiest starting tricks and really the tricks but they are the foundation for the more advance.

There are a plethora of tricks that one can learn, and new tricks being created every day.

Pen spinning boards host gatherings and tournaments a couple times every year. In the past these have included the 2010 Hong Kong Tournament, 2009 German Gathering Tournament and the annual South California, North California, New York, Singapore and Auckland UPSB gatherings. During these gatherings pen spinners will socialize, collaborate with one another, see who can perform the best combo and learn how to make pen mods (pens that are modified in a way so that it is easier to spin).

“I always enjoy these kinds of [positive] crowds because it give me a chance to talk to people and get to know more people while explaining what pen spinning is about. It makes it a lot more fun for me and as well as others,” says Victor.

However, like many other hobbies, pen spinning also has critics and negative crowds.

“Half the time people think it’s awesome and very mesmerizing to watch, while others think it’s stupid and a waste of time...I’ll usually just ignore them.

Online I’ve gotten a lot of comments saying “Get a life.” or “wow no life”...I just ignore them,” said Victor. Victor has rarely gotten any negative comments in public.

Pen spinners do not believe that pen spinning is a waste of time and they consider it to be much more than just a hobby. Many pen spinners such as Riley (from UPSB) consider pen spinning to

be a sport, while other pen spinners, like Eazi-Penspinner (also from UPSB) believe that it is more of an art form.

“The only physical thing it does for you is that it’s good for your fingers. Pen spinning is a talent, a skill or an art that looks beautiful when done correctly” Pen spinners even sometimes use their unique talent to entertain themselves in class, impress their friends or even become tagged as “that kid who can spin the pen really well” at school.

Whether pen spinning is a sport or an art form, negative ramifications do come along with it.

“It [pen spinning] could cause carpel tunnel no doubt. Pen spinning is no different than playing an instrument, typing or other things using your fingers and hands that has been known to cause carpel tunnel,” says Victor.

David Weis, a former pen spinner and

inventor of many tricks quit pen spinning because of thumb complications he believes he acquired through pen spinning. Pen spinners are aware of these problems and recommend that one does hand stretches and exercises before spinning for prolonged periods.

In addition to finger problems, pen spinning may also distract you in class as teachers may get very angry and annoyed at your spinning (or because you keep dropping your pen and it makes a loud noise every time.) You may even neglect your friends to practice pen spinning. A pen spinner must know when or when not it is appropriate to pen spin.

“I think that we have to be responsible.

High [level]-pen spinning can be a human and artistic experience, but it will always be something that is “secondary”. You can’t really say you’re human if your life is just spinning a pen,” Stan says. Ω

Pirates of the Media Jack L

P

irating music is a crime that is more harmful than you may think. The illegal downloading and filesharing of digital media is a serious offense. While artists sell their CDs and mp3s on media stores like Amazon and iTunes, some people like to download songs for free which, jeopardizes the artist’s careers. Without actually gaining money from putting out their songs, the music industry would slowly die and pirates would no longer be able to steal what they wanted.

Many artists rely on their songs to make a living. The bottom line is that piracy is stealing.

actual amount of songs she downloaded was 24. This was not a pleasant surprise for her or her lawyer because if she bought those songs legally, it would have been 99 cents each at a total of $23.76 instead of a staggering $1.9 Million.

This just goes to show ­­­that downloading music illegally is not only hurting the artists, but has a chance of landing you in jail with a gigantic fine.

Websites like Limewire and Napster support illegal downloading because

Why would you The Business Software Alliance (an organization intent on advancing take the chance software industries around the world) states that 41% of software used of ending up with worldwide is pirated. There is no excuse for it but that you don’t want to pay huge fines just to for it. You’re not promoting the artists, you’re just swindling them out of their download a song money. CNET News reported that pirating cost the software industry $51 for free? billion in 2009. That’s $51 billion that could have gone towards fixing kinks or creating new software.

Many artists speak up against pirating music including bands like Metallica, who filed a lawsuit against Napster in 2000 for copyright infringement. The band was the first to strike back at piracy hoping to start a campaign with other musicians. They went on to form Artists Against Piracy (AAP). Pirating seems like a victimless crime, but in reality it’s not.

Cnn news reports that a 32 year old woman from Minnesota was fined $1.9 Million Dollars for downloading illegally.

She was fined $80,000 per song. The

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those are what their entire websites are based on. Filesharing is the same as pirating because you’re uploading or downloading digital media which has a high possibility of infringing copyright.

Is it really worth not paying the 99 cents for a song? Which in the long run hurts the artists you’re stealing from and could end up costing you much more and running musicians out of business so that you can’t even pirate from them anymore. As the Artists Against Piracy state, “If a song means a lot to you, think of what it means to us”.

Piracy is especially harmful to new artists. If a musician is trying to rise up in the music world and they can’t make

any money because instead of people buying their songs, people are illegally getting them for free. Its almost as if you are starving them because they can’t make money. For instance, if there is a starting software artist is trying to get his software noticed so he can keep producing and improve technology.

Microsoft launched a new anti-piracy version of their software in China. The results were millions of angry Chinese.

When a user of the pirated software was on the computer, every hour the software would try to validate itself. If the test failed, the screen went black.

This minor inconvenience outraged the Chinese population. Instead of just paying for it, they rallied and protested that Microsoft had outrageous prices and that they were hacking into the Chinese people’s computers. Many Chinese believe that the U.S. should not be in control of software in China regardless of the fact that it is an American company making the rules of its own software.

All in all, you can save a couple bucks from pirating, but at what cost? In 2004 the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) launched an anti-piracy campaign with the popular slogan “You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a handbag. You wouldn’t steal a mobile phone. You wouldn’t steal a DVD. Downloading pirated films is stealing.

Stealing is against the law. Piracy: it’s a crime”. This section was added to many DVDs and was not skippable on most systems. This seems like a very logical argument that effectively gets the point across that pirating is no different than stealing a physical thing. It may seem innocent and cost less in the real world, but the consequences are the same and it is stealing. Ω

16 Steps of a Thumb Around

1. Pen is held with Thumb, index and middle finger.

2. Preparing for the Thumb around 3. Still preparing for the Thumb around 4. Almost there 5. Middle finger pushes pen 6. Middle finger is still pushing the pen 7. Index finger falls to make way for pen 8. Middle finger stops pushing the pen

9. Pen is revolving around thumb 10. Pen is still revolving around thumb 11. Still revolving - Oranges are orange 12. Yup 13. Still doing it 14. Preparing to catch with index 15. Pen falls in Thumb flap and caught with index 16. Finished Thumb around - Like a Boss.

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Technology in Education From textbook to tablet.

Advaith Anand

“It’s ubiquitous in your life, and then you come to school...all of a sudden it doesn’t make any sense” - Scott Lipton on technology

E

ver since the advent of education, students have lugged around heavy textbooks and binders full of paper. In class, students use paper to take notes, and if they need computer access, they have to go to the library or a computer lab. But even with technology widespread throughout our society, technology has not penetrated its way into education.

Lee, a sophomore at LASA.

”...It’s ubiquitous in your life, and then you come to school and you’re doing everything on paper and pencil, and all of a sudden it doesn’t make any sense; because that’s not the way the rest of your life works,” says Scott Lipton, principal of LASA high school.

Amazon released the Kindle DX, an eReader with a large screen specifically made for textbooks at 9.7”, but due to it’s high pricepoint at $379, sales have been slow, as indicated by the fact that Amazon has made many promotions for it.. However, Mr. Lipton’s opinion differs greatly from these students.

There are two major aspects to the debate on technology and it’s role in education. The first is whether eBooks are ready for prime time and for textbooks to be gradually phased out in favor of eBooks. The other aspect is technology (such as laptops and tablets) being used for normal school tasks, such as taking notes, and in special education.

Amazon released the original Kindle in 2007, and has come up with follow up generations, with the Kindle 3 unveiled summer of 2010. However, in these three years,while Kindles have become very popular for pleasure reading, they have not made an impact in education.

There have been many eReaders released, such as the Nook, and even tablets, but very few schools have adapted these devices into their curriculum.

“I’ll always go for a good paper textbook as opposed to something on the internet. I’ll focus on it”, says Arthur

“I think for eBooks to be a threat to textbooks, the eBooks would have to be a lot bigger, well the screens anyway. Textbooks usually display lots of information on one page, and I think that makes [it] easy to follow what’s happening,” says Keivaun Waugh, a freshman at LASA.

Lipton mentions that if he’s borrowing a textbook “I can’t mark it up, I can’t drill down and find more information” whereas with a few taps, an eBook can accomplish all of these. Lipton also states that “when I read something, and I want to know more, I am used to being able to click on it and then be able to take it to something else, and then find out and go more in depth,” He also said that for special education, foreign languages, and credit recovery, eBooks are advantageous, especilaly the fact that if you select a word, an eReader can read it out to you, or define it for you.

“If I’m a non native English speaker, I have access to being able to learn a little bit quicker, and being able to learn the language a little deeper, if I’m a struggling reader, there’s tools to do that, but then also if I’m an advanced

student I can go further and go further beyond what the TEKS is offering me.

Not only do I think they could be, but I think we’re way behind in replacing it. Everything’s here right now, we just need to do it,” Lipton says.

Jake Stephens, a computer science teacher at LASA, mentions that there is a major problem with textbooks in that they are not editable after print, a problem which can easily be solved by eReaders, which can constantly be updated over the Internet.

If eBooks are to be implemented, however, students need a way to access these at home and at school. While eReaders only goal is an excellent reading experience, at a high price, tablets, for similar prices, can access eBooks, along with doing many other tasks. Mr. Lipton stated that he believed that the tablet woudl be most useful for students, for many reasons.

Lipton gives two main reasons about why his iPad is better than a netbook or tablet. THe battery life of his iPad, he says, lasts all day long, and then there’s the iPad’s versatility. Lipton states that it’s different from an iPhone in that it’s big enough that it feels like a book, so it can be used as a textbook.

“There’s a lot of stuff that tablets are these unnecessary things that we’ve convinced ourselves are necessary now, but I do believe that they have a place in education that I think is a more usable device than anything I’ve ever seen before,” Lipton says.

Stephens agrees to a point, but there is

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one exception he brings up.

“Tablets still have a lot of shortcomings, and so f they said I’m not going to have any more computers in my room, so they can only use whatever we provide the students, well, tablets are not a viable alternative for programming in computer science yet, they just don’t have the ability. Also, if you have a thing where you’re going to have to input a lot of information, if you give someone a tablet, then you’re probably going to need to figure out how can you provide an input device that goes above and beyond the touch interface; whether that be wireless keyboards, or something like that, you have a limitation on what a tablet can do.”

Waugh mentions that there are other benefits to using your own electronic device in school. Waugh gives the example that if you’re working on a report, it’s much easier to have it all on one device, such as the websites you’ve visited, and the document you’re editing, rather than having bits of pieces of information on one school computer, or on your home drive, but if you forget to put it on a flash drive or email it to yourself, you can’t work on it at home.

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dents that bring in their own laptop to use in my classes, and I have no problem with them doing that,” says Stephens, but AISD does not encourage the use of many electronic devices, as indicated by the fact that cell phones are not allowed during school hours.

Cell phones, which allow texting and calling, are distracting, but the fact can be brought up that tablets and laptops allow for not only communication, but also games and Internet browsing.

Lee, when asked about what he uses his netbook for in school, says “very rarely notes, usually looking stuff up/stuff unrelated to the class, and the occasional Wesnoth [a computer game] (in certain classes).”

When asked about the how often he gets off task using his netbook in school, Lee says that that’s most of his computer usage at school.

Waugh, after laughing, adds that it is a common sight in classrooms.

The major problem with allowing students to bring in their own electronic devices is about the diversions they may create.

“Often times when we have computer time in school, kids use the computers for a little bit, and then they get bored, and then they start playing games but this does happen a lot.”

“In my classroom, there are a lot of stu-

This is a main problem barring full use

Both images from Wikipedia commons

Waugh states that he likes his tablet “because it’s really small and portable and so it has Bluetooth so if I ever need to do hardcore typing on it I can just bring my bluetooth keyboard along with me, which is extremely light and takes up hardly any space in my backpack.

I have some nice document editing programs on my Galaxy Tab that make it easy to edit as well.” Waugh also mentioned that the touch screen of the tablet is much easier to navigate. Once these issues mentioned are overcome somehow, tablets can be implemented in schools.

Technology has a much greater impact in schools than just eBooks.

“I hate taking notes using pencil and paper. I write extremely slow, if I want to write something in between two notes that i have taken to make the flow of my notes more coherent, I’m not able to do that without squishing it in and making my writing extremely hard to read. With typing it’s so much faster; I type 70 to 80 words per minute and formatting is a lot easier,so that is my preferred choice of taking notes,” says Waugh, who brings either his Galaxy Tab, a tablet device, or MacBook Pro, a laptop computer, to school frequently.

“Since this is education, the financial issues always come to the forefront” - Jake Stephens, Computer Science Teacher of students’ technology in the classroom, but many devices that students own are still able to act as portable computing devices, though AISD or school policy bars students from using them.

“I think there needs to be an adjustment to the policy somehow because students have, as you’re recording this with your iPhone, they have so many devices that could be potentially useful and used in the classroom, that we are kinda barring them from using right now,” states Stephens.

While the prospect of introducing tablets or other electronic devices into school is promising, AISD is in a budget crisis, which, according to Lipton, has “completely dismantled the educational technology department.”

“Since this is education, the financial issues always come to the forefront,” says Stephens.

However, when electronic devices take the grand scale, such as tablets, Lipton mentions that many costs could be defrayed.

Whether or not technology is ready for prime time in education is anyone’s debate. Currently there are many pros and cons for introducing technology into school, and while some schools are taking the initiative, schools such as LASA will have to wait. Lipton mentioned that the budget crisis has dismantled the technology department, and until Austin ISD, along with many other Texan school systems are back in the green, technology may still not be widespread in education. Ω

“Things like every single textbook we have versus being able to have eBooks, you know, all these different costs that there might be an offset.” Other costs are also defrayed; notebooks, paper, and even graphing calculators. Even eBooks are cheaper than their print counterpart because there is no printing and binding cost involved.

Image court esy of Wikip edia Comm ons

“Even in this budget thing one of the things we’re trying to do is look outside for grants.”

Lipton gives the example of how much it would cost to buy tablets for the entire freshman class. In a class of 300, buying a 300 dollar tablet for each student, which they could use for four years, amounts to a cost of $90,000 per class.

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Protect Your iPhone 4 Advaith Anand 1. Light Protection

Want protection for your iPhone while keeping it light? I recommend the Bodyguardz (bit.ly/ bgiphone) screen protector. These are super strong, while still keeping your Retina Display clear and sharp. If you want other options, I also recommend the Zagg Invisible Shield or Ghost Armor. Bodyguardz come with two screen protectors, and lifetime replacements.

Installation, however is complicated, but if you go to your local BestBuy, they can install the Invisible Shield for you.

An i Phon e wit

h Gh ost A rmor

Is just a screen protector not enough, but still care about keeping a relatively slim profile for your phone? I recommend using the aforementioned screen protector solution in conjunction with a light case. One great case is the Speck PixelSkin HD (bit.ly/pixelhd). This case has won numerous awards and has an eye-catching design while adding gription to the back of the case. If you drop your phone from a short height, it should be fine with this case and a screen protector on. One alternate is the Griffin Reveal Etch.

3. Heavy Protection

Want to make sure that almost nothing can hurt your precious new iPhone? I recommend any of Otterbox’s line of cases, especially the Otterbox Defender Series (bit.ly/otrbox)

The Speck PixelSkin HD Case

2. Medium Protection

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Other Great iPhone Accessories 1. Extra Power

2. Stand

Both a case and an extra battery, the Mophie Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 4 is great for iPhone power users, nearly doubling your iPhone’s battery life. $99

Great for watching video on the go or FaceTime hands free, the GoGoStand is an iPhone stand (landscape and portrait) that folds into a slim piece of plastic. $5

3. Docking Station

For a great alarm clock, docking station, and speaker station, go for the iHome iA5. The system is also App enhanced, as iHome has released compatibvle apps for the iPhone.

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Prepared by MagCloud for LASA EZINE. Get more at lasaezine.magcloud.com.