Newspaper Page Text
September 29 - October 5,2010
www.themaroontiger.com
4T BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY
Technological Must-Haves for College Students
Charlston Manning
Staff Writer
c mann i ng89 @ gmai 1 .com
C ollege life isn't easy.
Homework seems to vir
tually pile up, essays seem to
be the norm, and if you're a
STEM major, a calculator is
your best friend. However,
there are particular techno
logical items that every stu
dent. regardless of class or
major, must have to assist in
a wholesome college experi
ence.
The easiest and most obvi
ous is a laptop. A laptop is
a college student’s life be
cause he or she needs it to
write those dreaded essays
or to check email. The brand
names for the most popu
lar laptops are Apple, Dell.
Sony, HP. and Toshiba.Their
price ranges from roughly
$300 to $3,000. Besides the
great price range, various
technological aspects help to
distinguish one laptop from
another. This includes the
amount of gigabytes a hard
drive has to the amount of
memory the laptop comes
with.
After getting a laptop, a
personal printer is needed
because most college stu
dents tend to procrastinate
when finishing a paper. Usu
ally. they wait until the pa
per's deadline to complete
it. Then they have to scram
ble, running around campus
(Clockwise from top) Apple MacBook Pros, HP printers, and Toshiba external hard drives are among the most popular brands of their respec
tive gadget types for college students. They all can take some of the stress out of being an undergraduate student.
before the class starts to get
a paper printed.
The most popular print
ers are those created by HP.
Lexmark and Canon. These
printers range from $50 to
$200. depending on wheth
er they include scanning,
faxing, copying and Blue
tooth functions.
An external hard drive is
another bit of technology
a college student should
have. It's a hard drive that
is found in most computers,
but it is not within the com
puter itself. It is connected
either by a firewire, USB
cord, or over an Internet-
type connection.
This device can help back
up or save your information
like important documents,
pictures, music, or videos.
Backing up your stuff every
now and then on your com
puter can help if, or when, it
crashes or if you accidentally
delete something important.
It also helps assist in transfer
ring your old computer files
from one computer to the
next.
Some producers of exter
nal hard drives are Western
Digital. Seagate, and Dell.
The price range for these ex
ternal hard drives is from $50
to $210.
Music helps a lot of college
students relax, have fun, and
it helps with the progress of
the work. Thus, students need
an MP3 player, like an iPod or
a Microsoft Zune.
Most students have an iPod
because of its ability to hold
large amounts of music and its
ability to use applications from
the iTunes store. With a Zune,
not only do you have the stor
age like an iPod, you also are
able to use the radio. iPods start
at $50 and expand to $400.
while Zunes start at $124.
Finally, college students
should own digital cameras
to capture their college ex
perience. Camera brands
vary from Canon, which is
one of the high-end cam
eras, to a Panasonic, which
is one of the lower-priced
cameras that functions very
well. From online ratings,
most have said that Canon
cameras are the ones to pur
chase. They are better quali
ty and mostly affordable, but
Panasonic cameras have re
cently began to produce bet
ter cameras. Canon cameras
have a starting price of $100
and increase to $500. Pana
sonic cameras have a similar
price range.
With this technological
equipment, college students
can be ready for anything that
is thrown at them throughout
their college career. These
few things, like a laptop and
printer, make life easier for
them to survive.
Fraud With the Magical
Click of a Button
Rumors of Facebook selling personal
information to advertisers frighten users
Sescily R. Coney
Business and Tech Editor
sescilyrenee@gmail.com
W ith a click of a button,
Facebook announces
that your personal page is
now private. With glee, you
giggle on the inside, delighted
that no one who's unwanted
will have access to your per
sonal page. Now you can post
all those party pictures from
the weekend without any re
percussions, correct?
Wrong! Facebook is not a
safe haven and those private
settings are just a way for you.
the customer, to feel comfort
able and secure.
Despite having those set
tings, Facebook inevitably
owns your property, includ
ing any phone numbers you
put on your page or pictures
you post to chronicle your
collegiate experience. As
stated by the Terms of Ser
vice, if accepted. Facebook
has the right to “use. copy,
publish, stream, store, retain,
publicly perform or display,
transmit, scan, reformat,
modify, edit, frame, trans
late. excerpt, adapt, create
derivative works and distrib
ute" anything that appears on
your page. This being said,
your photographs can be
used in advertisements, sent
to third-party lenders, or ma
nipulated in any form profit
able to Facebook.
If this bit of information
makes you regret those semi
nude bikini pictures or that
funny picture of you passed
out drunk and you're sud
denly filled with the urge to
deactivate your Facebook ac
count. don't be so hasty. Even
when you terminate your ac
count, Facebook still owns
anything that was on there.
The "Termination" section of
their Terms of Service force
fully states that the following
activity of your page will sur
vive for their own use: user
content, privacy practices,
and other legal jargon.
On Facebook's official
blog, Mark Zuckerberg, the
company’s creator, addressed
the criticism of Facebook’s
Terms of Service.
“Trust us, we’re not doing
this to profit from you,’’ he
said. “It’s so we are legally
protected as we enable you to
share content with other users
and services.
“We are not claiming and
have never claimed owner
ship of material that users
upload. The new Terms were
clarified to be more consistent
with the behavior of the site,’’
stated an unnamed Facebook
representative who added
commentary of this touchy
issue. “That is, if you send
a message to another user or
post to their wall, etc., that
content might not be removed
by Facebook if you delete
your account.”
In early 2010. Zuckerberg
and the rest of the Facebook
staff began to scale back on
what kind of information can
be shared with outside sourc
es. Previously, if you ran an
application on Facebook. the
provider would have access to
all of your information. Now,
with a magical click of but
ton. you can choose to disable
any information being trans
mitted to the provider.
Also. Facebook’s current
partners - Pandora, Yelp,
and Microsoft Docs — will no
longer be able to access your
personal page and retrieve in
formation.
At the end of the day, you,
your pictures, and your pri
vacy are the property of Face-
book. As soon as you accept
the Terms of Service, you
lose your identity among the
totalitarian cyber world that
Facebook has created. Think
about this the next time you
contemplate posting that
questionable picture of you
and your friends. It could be
featured in Facebook’s next
advertisement.
FFO Fitness Training
Recreation, Intramurals & Fitness
MOREHOUSE COLLEGE
Water Fitness:
Fall 2010
5:30pm-6:30pm
B/ery Monday & Wednesd^
Archer Hall
Dates:
September:20,22,27,29
October: 4,6,11,13,25,27
November: 1,3,8,10,15,17
Shiekgo Carter December: TBA
Phone: (404) 653-7781
E-mail:scarter@morehouse.edu
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