Sony Hacked by North Korea

By: Claudia Pluck

After Sony was hacked on November 24th, people set out to find out  who was responsible for infiltrating this big time movie company and why. According to Johnson and others from USA TODAY, when Sony was hacked on November 24th, red skeletons glowing appeared on screens in Culver City, California on Sony grounds.

USA TODAY says that it has been determined that North Korea was behind the elusive attacks. Johnson and the others also say that the U.S. investigators say that the attacks might not have taken place in North Korea, but outside of the country and was still coordinated by the North Korean leaders. They also say that on Tuesday of last week the hackers, who officially call themselves the Guardians of Peace, would attack all movie theaters that would play the movie The Interview, in a 9/11 type of attack. The reason for not wanting the movie to be released in theaters is that it depicts two American TV journalists, played by Seth Rogen and James Franco, who travel to North Korea to assassinate Kim Jong-un. The movie was to be released on Christmas day, but Sony has decided to not release the film now.

According to USA TODAY, the hackers stole more than 38 million files and put them on to websites where people could see the movies, some of which were not yet released. They say that the files included things like Sony films, the script to the newest James Bond movie, and personal information such as staff salary reports.

Johnson and the others also say that this is something that they haven’t seen since around the 1990’s when people would hack into places and laugh later on about how cool they were for doing it. They also say that this is not the first time North Korea has been suspected for hacking into places because they didn’t agree with the people .

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/17/north-korea-sony-hack/20558135/

Shooting at Floridia State University

by Jordan Higgins

On November 20th at about 12:30 AM 3 students were injured at Florida State University’s library. The University made an announcement that the students should find shelter. The police also announced to the students and faculty that a shooting has occurred, and that they would search the library building. The Tallahassee Police Department said that the gunman fired 4 gunshots at the library. The police had ordered him to drop his weapon on the stairs to the library, but the gunman opened fire at the police and they shot him to his death.

John Thrasher the University President had this to say, “The Florida State University community is extremely saddened by the shootings that took place early this morning at Strozier Library, in the very heart of campus, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of all those who have been affected.” The situation has appeared to be under control after 2 AM. The Police confirmed that the 3 students were taken to the hospital. The University remained open on November 20th, but all classes were cancelled due to this shooting that had gone on earlier this morning. The security on and around the campus was immediately increased.

Information from Circa news app 

Technology’s Impact on Children

by Claudia Pluck

Technology is not only changing every second of every day, but it’s also changing the way it is impacting children all at the same time. Children are learning about technology faster and faster every day and how to use the devices. Devices are made for children of all ages including toddlers now too. According to Karehka Ramey from useoftechnology.com, technology is used more by children nowadays than it ever has since the 1990s.

 Karehka also says that children use different technologies including things like television, social networks, internet, video games, smartphones and even things like the calculator. Using things like the calculator prevent children from doing things with there own brain to actually learn and process what is going on when doing different things. Some things include different math problems and in different situations when they get older like when paying their own bills.

 Slowly and slowly while learning these different forms of technology children can become lazier because they start to not use their brain and not function much by just sitting on the couch all day using technology. Using the technology too much can cause children to have weight problems which can lead to serious diseases that last for the rest of their lives. Karehka Also says technology can also restrict children from interacting which other kids and can lead to children being very lonely or depressed.

 We may start to now think that it is all because of the children, but it is not.  Karehka says that parents as the adults have the responsibility to give children a limit on how much time is enough time for children to be using the technology on a daily basis.  Laziness from technology can be prevented everyday by parents making sure their children are being active for the appropriate amount of time everyday.

 As to all of that, Karehka also says parents and children using technology need to be aware of the predators that lurk on the internet. That then being said the internet can not only affect if children are safe from these dangerous people, but can also affect the parents seeing that their children have the possibility of being stolen.

 Technology for children is not only just a negative thing but it can also be a positive thing if it is used by the children in the proper way. According to verdick.org  technology can be used to enhance learning for a child by things like building social skills and helping them learn faster. It could also help to get them to know their surroundings. In the long run technology impacts children in different ways depending on how it is used by them.

 

 

websites referred to :

1.http://www.useoftechnology.com/effects-technology-children/

2.http://verdick.org/child-development-and-the-internet/child-dev-pos

3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/apps-for-babies_n_3721886.html

The Plot, Like Gravy, Thickens: An Interview with Two Cast Members

by Bobbi Unger

On November 21st and 22nd Penn Manor’s theater students put on a play.  The Plot, Like Gravy, Thickens is a new experience for the students because they have never done a murder mystery comedy. I had the chance to sit down and ask actresses Lauren Elledge and Madison Beatty some questions about the experience.

When I asked Lauren and Madison why they decided to be in the play, Lauren said, “I wanted to experience theater with school friends.” Madison answered, “Theatre is such a great experience, especially being with your friends and bonding over something you love.”

What were some of their expectations? Lauren thought that the play would go very well, which it did.  She was confident that all of her cast mates would do well. Madison said, “We have such a skilled and talented cast and crew, plus a wonderful group of advisors making this a great experience. I know it will be a great show.”

Lauren played the role of Debra and she enjoyed imitating Alyssa Crook’s every move. Her role in the show was ‘bitter daughter of bitter ex-wife of billionaire’. She helps and loves elderly Aunt Beatrice. Madison was Mrs. Vickers which she said was “a great role to embody and become.” Her main concern in the play is keeping her daughter figure, Edith, away from the playboy and brother-in-law of her employer, Tony Blackwell. She had a lot of fun creating this subplot and making it their own with Paul and Jules.

As for their favorite parts,  Lauren enjoyed all the bad puns and Madison liked all the little things they made up and created to make this play thoroughly funny and fun to play out. For instance, Edith (Jules) left her feather duster on the table for her to find later, leading her in on where she disappeared to. Things like that made this show their own.

Lauren loves improvising as well as watching other castmates improvise, and Madison said it brought the audience into what they experience every second they’re on stage. Plus, it is a great way to get more laughs out of the audience and to have the actors  think on their feet.

 

PMHS Cross Country Team’s Results at the District 3 meet

By Bobbi Unger

The Penn Manor varsity cross country team had a very successful season. The team competed in the District 3 meet on Wednesday October 23, 2014. Josh Bye and Craig Jahnke are seniors who ran their last cross country meet at the district meet on Wednesday. The meet resulted in the girls coming in 27th place, and as a team the boys got 19th place. Both the boys and girls teams had a winning or close to winning season and finished with good results at districts on Wednesday.

Lindsey Lord came in 22nd place with a time of  20:16 and a pace time of 6:32. Joel Burkholder came in 38th place with a time of 17:18 and a pace time of 5:35.  Senior Joshua Bye came in 101th place with a time of 18:13 and a pace time of 5:52 and senior  Craig Jahnke came in 204th place with a time of 19:15 and a pace time of   6:12. Freshman  Zach Schucker came in 155th place with a time of 18:45 and a pace time of 6:03 and Aidan Toomey came in 159 with a time of 18:46 and a pace time of 6:03. Senior  Hannah Willig came in 146th place with a time of 22:54 and a pace time of 7:23 and senior Meghan McMurtrie came in 160th place with a time of 23:14 and a pace time of 7:29.

Freshman Lindsey Lord and Junior Joel Burkholder have been on the Penn Manor cross country team since seventh grade. Lindsey won 15 of her meets and lost 7 of her meets. Joel won 18 of his meets and lost 4 of his meets.

Zach Schucker, Aidan Toomey, and Nicholas Fafel are three very talented freshman boys on the varsity team. They were running with some of the top boys of the varsity team. Brianna Ulacky, Savanna Yarnell, and Maddie Groff are also young talents on the girls varsity team. The boys had 17 wins and only 4 losses and the girls had 10 wins and 11 losses. At the L-L League meet at Ephrata the Boys varsity team came in fifth place and the Girls varsity team came in 12th place.

America’s Precuations for Ebola

by Jordan Higgins

The U.S. government is responding to citizen’s concerns about the spreading of Ebola. They’re trying to think of new steps and ideas that will keep this disease from spreading. On October 21st, Homeland Security announced that all flights from West Africa should arrive at 5 U.S. airports. The planes are going to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. West Africa has the highest cases of Ebola. The world wouldn’t have ever heard of Ebola if it wasn’t for West Africa. Since Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea are in West Africa, they have it the worst. In these 3 countries there have been 13,700 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola. About 4,800 people have died there and it’s still growing.

Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security said, “We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption. If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.” An estimate of 150 people each day arrive in the U.S. from those 3 countries. Not only is the U.S. taking precaution; the U.K has also amplified its screenings at its airports to check for Ebola.

On October 22nd the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) enforced new rules on the travelers arriving into the U.S. from these 3 countries. The rule for the passengers is that they need to have their temperature checked each day for 21 days and report back to the health officials to see if they’re ok to travel. This new rule will begin on October 27th.

Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/29/health/us-ebola/index.html

The Idea of Arming Teaching Will Be Shot Down, Eventually

by Matthew Tulli

A proposed Pennsylvania bill by State Sen. Don White (R-Indiana) would allow school employees, after obtaining licensing and certification, to carry concealed weapons at school. And by “school faculty”, I don’t just mean teachers. By “school faculty”, I mean teachers, principals, counselors, custodians, lunch ladies, etc.

This is obviously getting a lot of backlash from Democrats, who stand far apart from the views of many Republican Senators. Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, said, “It is a bad idea to place such a grave responsibility on people whose principal interest is educating children,” according to The Washington Times.

At first reading that statement seems ridiculous, and that’s exactly what it is. Obviously a reaction to recent massacres like Aurora, Colorado, Columbine High School and Sandy Hook, the solution will not be found in arming teachers. Although tragedies like this do happen, putting a gun in the hands of an individual takes a lot of trust, more than I think we are able to invest for such a rare occurrence. Instead of giving teachers weapons, we should hire more qualified, highly screened security guards, if more security is necessary.

There are many problems with the idea of allowing faculty to carry weapons. First off, the ability for schools to put a firearm in the hands of all school faculty at the over 3,290 schools in Pennsylvania sounds to me like a very dangerous proposition. The guns are being put exactly where we do not want them: in schools. It seems to contradicting the point of the the bill, which is to supposedly to protect students. What happens when a seemingly sane teacher pulls a gun on a student? Or what happens when a student gets his hands on one of these guns? This proposal brings up many more ramifications that exist now. I think it would be natural for students to feel uneasy about knowing their teachers are in possession of a deadly weapon. I’m sure that feeling would wear away within a little while, but it’s still going to sit in the back of our minds.

Secondly, Adam Lanza, the shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary used a fully-automatic military grade assault rifle to murder those 26 people. I’m not sure he would be too fazed about some teachers carrying around small pistols, considering he committed suicide after first responders arrived at the scene.

Third, with school budgets already tight, and the money spent on the certification and training programs would just make education costs tighter. Would it costs the school district to buy the weapons? Would it costs schools to train the faculty? If the answers to these questions are “yes”, it brings me back to the question: Is this really necessary?

Why do you think we have an armed officer, Mr. Hottenstein? Why do you think our doors are locked at all times? Why do you think there’s a 2-way mirror in the office? These innovations are here to keep all 2000 students and faculty safe throughout the school day in today’s dangerous world. So is putting a deadly weapon in the hands of over 125,000 teachers reasonable? My answer is no.

13 Tips For Saving Phone Battery

Connor Rowe posted an article about this in 2010, (https://www.pennpoints.net/?p=1838) but I thought it would be a good idea to write an update for the newer technology of recent years.

We all know cell phone battery life can be a nuisance to consumers. You pull out your phone at halftime of a football game, and you’re somehow at 20%. No big deal, right? It should be able to last until the end of the game. But as you go to text your friend during a timeout in the fourth quarter, the phone is magically at 3%, and by the end of the game, it’s dead. Here are seven tips to help you preserve battery (and where to find them):

  1. Turn down brightness; turn off auto-brightness. Everybody probably knows this one by now, but it bares repeating. The iPhone has a light sensor that adjusts the brightness automatically. Turning this off and adjusting brightness manually can boost battery life. (Control Center)
  2. Turn off wi-fi unless you’re connected to it. If you’re not connected to wi-fi but it is on anyway, your phone will constantly search for signals, and doing this can drain your battery. (Control Center)
  3. Turn ON “Reduce Motion”. On iOS 7 and up, the phone’s background moves when you move the phone itself. Although its a cool feature, its also a good way to drain your battery unnecessarily. (Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion)
  4. DO NOT be fooled into thinking quitting background apps saves battery. iOS instantly suspends apps that are in the background, meaning they don’t waste any battery at all. And if you have a large amount of apps in the background, it can actually waste battery to go through and quit all of them.
  5. Turn off Background App Refresh. This feature of iOS 7+ automatically updates apps based on when you usually open them. This feature is very useful but obviously, it can drain battery life very quickly. (Settings > General > Background App Refresh)
  6. See what apps are using the most battery. A new feature in iOS 8 is telling you what apps have used the most battery in the past 24 hours or 7 days. (Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage)
  7. While playing music in the car or on the bus, turn on airplane mode. Unless you’re playing music using a third-party music playing app (Spotify, Pandora, etc.) or iRadio, your iPhone doesn’t need the internet to play music from the Music app. (Control Center)
  8. Avoid letting your phone die. Intentionally draining your battery from 100% to 0% can damage the battery since the iPhone has a lithium-based battery. These batteries are meant to be charged early and often, so utilize short discharges and frequent charging.
  9. Turn off Location Services. Location services for some apps serve little to no purpose in most apps, such as Snapchat and Twitter. Turning off Location Services on some apps that it is not needed for can help boost battery life. (Settings > Privacy > Location Services)
  10. Turn off Bluetooth. Your phone may be able to connect to other electronic devices via bluetooth. If you have your phone connected to any of these devices and you aren’t using them at the moment, you should turn bluetooth off to boost battery. (Control Center)
  11. Always try to keep your phone at a regular temperature. Nothing damages your battery like exposing it to high temperatures. Don’t leave your phone in your car on a hot, sunny day. Furthermore, if you let your phone get very cold, it can also damage your battery. To help keep your phone at a cool, regular temperature, you can take your phone off while charging, and if you’re desperate, just put your phone in the refrigerator. I’ve had to do that a few times.
  12. Turn off “Fetch New Data”. If you have this setting on, your phone will automatically access the network to refresh the app. Apps like Mail can kill your battery if you have this on, since it will refresh automatically either every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or every hour. (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data)
  13. Put it down. Lastly, this is the number one fool-proof way to make your battery last longer. Go outside. Do your homework. Read a book. Do something that doesn’t involve sitting around and looking at your phone.

Obviously, doing these things will not double your battery life, but these simple and easy tips should help keep your phone from dying on those Friday nights.

iDissapointment

“Eh.”

Image provided by cnet.com

That’s the first thing that came to mind after getting a first look at the iPhone 6 in May, when YouTube user and technology geek Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) was given a “dummy” model from another person who got their hands on it. The dummy model is the model that Apple sends out to case makers so they can start designing and manufacturing cases months ahead of the release of their newest phone. He posted a video revealing the shape and size of the newest iPhone on his YouTube channel.

The iPhone 6 is like when taking a test you felt really confident about, thinking you’re getting an A, but then getting a 74. And the iPhone 6 Plus is like when on that same test you got a little smiley face on the back page for getting the two-point extra credit right.

Apple could have done so much with this newest iPhone! They could have made it waterproof. They could have given it the best camera ever put into a phone. They could have slapped on a metal back and a screen that would make the whole thing shatter proof.

But what did they do? They made it bigger. Incredible.

First off, Apple is way behind the competition in terms of innovation of their mobile phones. The Nexus 4, released in November of 2012, had the same size screen as the iPhone 6, released in September 2014. That same Nexus 4 had the same megapixel camera as the iPhone 6. Also, Apple raves about its new “Retina HD Display”, which is just over 720p, but in reality, the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 had the a better resolution screen since early 2013.

In 2010, Steve Jobs claimed nobody would want a phone the size of larger Samsung phones, but Apple finally gave into the pressure and created 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen phones to rival other smartphones. Apple shouldn’t give in to other smartphone companies. The iPhone 6 Plus is a whopping two inches bigger than the iPhone 4 and 4S, nearly twice the size (screen sizes are measured diagonally; a 10 inch screen is twice as big as a 7 inch screen). That may not seem like much, but look at the picture below. What I’m getting to is this: I think there will eventually be a point where screen size on a phone tops out. People won’t want a phone that will barely fit into their own pockets. Honestly, I’m happy with my iPhone 4S screen size. Yeah, I’d rather see seven or eight messages at a time in a conversation instead of four or five, but I also don’t want to be making calls on an iPad. As much as I like the bigger screen, Apple obviously forced the issue here because the screen makes the front of the phone look so awkward. Apple should keep doing what they used do best and simply make new upgrades that are original to them.

All that said, do you think I’m gonna get one the first day I’m available for an upgrade? Of course I am.

But let’s look on the bright side:  First, when I pick up the phone, it is really really light. A phone that large and powerful should not be that light.

It’s also incredibly thin. At a whopping 6.9 millimeters, this phone’s thinness is amazing when considering its power. However, this comes with a few disadvantages. First, the battery in the phone is not as big as it could be. Like I said before, Apple could have made a phone with a record-setting battery or some other specs that could put it above and beyond the competition. But they chose to go the thin route. Also, the thinness may make it easy to drop, which, with the way people treat their smartphones nowadays, is probably a bad thing (but hey, if people keep needing to buy replacements, I guess that’s an economical advantage for Apple). Lastly, the thinness causes the improved camera to protrude out of the back, making it prone to be scratched, and that’s probably the last thing you want to be scratched on a phone other than the screen.

Lastly, about the iPhone 6 Plus: On September 23rd, Unbox Therapy (Lewis Hilsenteger) posted a YouTube video (that had over 50 million views as of October 3) after he got several reports of the iPhone 6 Plus bending in people’s pockets. The video consisted him explaining the reports that he got, and then he tried to bend the phone with his bare hands. Now, keep in mind, he applied as much pressure as he could for about 10 seconds, and, I have to admit, the test came back positive. The iPhone 6 did indeed bend. It was significantly bent on the side of and just below the volume buttons. It was still usable, but a consumer would probably not want their brand new device that they spent a large amount of money on to be misshapen. Now, I must ask you this: Do you really think one of the richest companies in the world would just allow their most recent and best product to bend in a pocket? I don’t think they would. And even if it would, Apple said in a statement released after the video went viral that they would be more than happy to replace it free of charge. So if you’re thinking of buying a sleek new iPhone 6 Plus, don’t be worried about it bending.

Although the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are quality phones, in terms of innovation, Apple laid an egg. With as great a company as Apple is, I just feel like they could have put themselves into another stratosphere with their newest device, but they added features that have been around for several years now. The next generation of the iPhone is a disappointment, simple as that.

Matthew Tulli