Tyler Livingston
Editor-in-Chief

On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, Palm—one of the world’s newly revived leaders in smartphone technology—announced its second device to run on the cell phone manufacture’s newest operating system called WebOS.  The device has been named the Pixi.

Palm’s Pre, the first WebOS-enabled smartphone, was a substantial success for the company after the device’s release in June, bringing Palm back into the market as a serious competitor to Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry for the first time in nearly three years.

The new Pixi will provide users with a similar feeling to that of the Pre: at 2.63 inches diagonal, the screen on the Pixi has a resolution of 320×400 and features full multi-touch capabilities, as well as a physical QWERTY keyboard as opposed to an on-screen typing solution like you’ll find on the iPhone or BlackBerry Storm.

A large selling point for WebOS smartphones is the ability to multitask.  This allows programs to run in the background, meaning the user is able to switch from one application to another without closing either of them.  This feature separates Palm’s devices from the iPhone’s one-application-at-a-time system.

The announcement of the Pixi came on the same day that Apple unveiled their newest line-up of iPods.  Many believe that Palm attempted to take some of the attention away from Apple’s hyped product introduction.

It is clear that the Pixi is positioned to be a more affordable version of the Pre, with its slightly slower processor and lack of Wi-Fi.  The Pixi is aimed at a younger teen audience, whereas the Pre is more for business users.

However, the Pixi is much thinner than the Pre, measuring in at 0.43 inches thick.  It also includes a two-megapixel camera with flash, as well as a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, allowing compatibility with almost every type of headphone.

Sprint has been chosen as the Pixi’s initial carrier in the United States, but it is very likely that the smartphone will be available from AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the near future.

According to Palm, the Pixi will cost less than the Pre.  Technology experts estimate Palm’s newest device will be sold for around 99 dollars with a new two-year contract and will be available preceding the holiday season.

BRIANNA VARGAS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A new legislative law may be passed in the state of California. Due to the growing recession in the United States, California companies are suffering from low income and debt. The California state prison is one of the most expensive facilities in California, using billions of dollars from the California state fund. Governor Schwarzenegger believes the key to cutting down cost is for the state prison to clean house.

Governor Schwarzenegger, along with the California Legislative, plans to release more than 27,000 inmates by the end of 2012. This is only the beginning of the reduction: California’s final deadline is to reduce prisons by 40,000 inmates. The release of these inmates will save California over $524.5 million a year.

Although the prospect of releasing inmates is a little edgy and uncomforting, the bill created by legislative is safe and controlled. Only nonviolent inmates will be released, not criminals serving time for murder or abuse.

“Even though these men are [supposedly] nonviolent,” said Senior Meagan Proffit, “this bill still worries me. I’m going to college in California next year and I don’t want to have to worry about an ex-convict living in my apartment complex.”

The final acceptance for this convict release bill await the approval of the voting member of the California Legistlative including: the Chief of Justice of the California Supreme Court, a judge appointed by the Chief of Justice, the State Public Defender, and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. If the bill receives enough votes, enforcement will begin July 1, 2012.

Kim DeGuzman
Entertainment Editor

Writing is one of the most important skills to possess. It is said that Americans are writing now more than ever, not just through novels and poems but also through songs and screenplays and text messages and e-mails.

Nevada Congresswoman, Dina Titus, legislated October 20 as a national day of writing. Due to this legislation, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has created an online gallery for students from all over the nation to exhibit their writing.

A-TECH has an online room in the gallery and is hoping to have as many pieces of writing as possible by March, the submission deadline. To be selected for the gallery, students must submit one piece of writing to their English teachers, who submit it to Ms. Norby, facilitator of the project. Only one piece of writing per student can be submitted. All entries must be school appropriate.

The piece of writing could come from any genre. “We know there are people who write songs, poetry, creative stories,” said Ms. Norby.

“You could be as creative as you want; you could compose a whole story out of text messages or e-mails or instant messaging conversations, let us know what a breakup look like via text message, what a confrontation looks like through e-mail.”

Students could even submit a piece of work that was already published.

“We prefer fresh pieces to go in the gallery but if they’re really proud of it, maybe they could put a note explaining why they’re really proud of it,” said Ms. Norby.

“It’s a celebration of student diversity and writing talents. It could is like an online writing fair or Heritage Night,” said Ms. Norby.

“I love writing,” said freshman Daniel Rice. “It’d be really cool to know that my writing could be published in an Internet gallery and all of A-TECH could see it.”

A-TECH sophomore Cady Harris said, “It sounds like it would be a lot of fun. It  makes me want to sit in a room and write for hours until I get my best piece.”

The launch date of the gallery was on the actual National Writing Day of October 20.

Many students got the opportunity to browse the gallery in their English classes on October 20 or will soon after.

Currently there are more than 120 pieces of writing to browse in the A-TECH gallery.

Ashley Morris
Junior Staff Writer

In August, MIT engineers Professor Kamal Youcef-Toumi and Valdivia y Alvarado created a new generation of advanced robotic fish that are capable of scouting ocean floor at depths previously unreachable.

The original robotic fish–the Robotuna–was developed in 1994. This preliminary model was about four feet long with nearly three thousand components.

Robotuna’s design has been discarded since then, as it was unable to pass underwater submersion tests. Fifteen years after the first model was built, the new, slimmer model has only ten components, and is ready to be released into the sea. Based off of the anatomy of bass and trout, it is a smaller fifteen inches, with a coating made of a soft polymer.

This new model has opened a world of possibilities, such as the surveillance of an underwater world never before seen by the human eye, pollution detection, and the monitoring of underwater oil and gas pipelines. These robots, like their living counterparts, will be traveling in schools. Although their movements were meant to be like those of a fish, the prospect of the robot being mistaken for a living thing is unlikely. Parts such as motors and cords will keep this from happening.

“The whole idea of mimicking nature takes advantage of the fact that nature has been designing for billions of years,” says robotics teacher Mr. Johnson. “When you take a robot from nature, you take advantage of design…we recently found out that the bumps on a shark’s skin help cut through water. So while mimicking nature, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.”

Later this fall, the engineers plan on expanding their research to other animals, such as manta rays and salamanders, for the purpose of robotic design and the advancement of human technology.

Natasha Sushenko
Copy Editor

On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, in Cupertino, CA, Apple held its annual Keynote to announce new iPods for the holidays, after numerous rumors and photographs of supposed new devices hit the Internet.

Since the original iPod was released in 2001, the iPod line, consisting of the iPod Nano, Classic, Shuffle, and Touch, has been a massive success for Apple. According to the company, they have sold over 220 million devices, with the fastest growing device being the iPod Touch, selling 20 million devices since being introduced in 2007.

Apple has gone in a new direction with the iPod Touch, recognizing not only its function as a portable music player but as a handheld gaming device as well. The iPod Touch offers a unique gaming experience due to its multi-touch display and accelerometer.

However, the biggest selling point for the iPod Touch as a handheld gaming device is the App Store. According to 148Apps.biz, there are 13,323 applications with an average price of $1.38 within the game category of Apple’s App Store. This is over 3.5 times as many games as the Nintendo DS, and nearly 22 times the amount of games for the Sony PSP, which usually retail for around $30 per game.

However, the iPod Touch did not get the new feature it was rumored to get: a high quality camera like the one in the iPhone. Apple explained that this was to keep the entry-level price at $199. Sophomore Ryan Fox has a deeper explanation. “It’s better in terms of market strategy,” explains Fox. “Apple can’t let the iPod Touch and iPhone get too similar, or their cellular phone revenue will evaporate.”

The iPod Nano got a large update with many new features at the Keynote. Of the updates, the most exciting was a video camera with a built-in microphone. The camera can’t take still pictures, however, because Apple wanted the Nano to retain its thin enclosure.

On the outside, the iPod Nano is now polished aluminum that comes nine colors. The screen size is now 2.2 inches, increased from the previous two inches. An external speaker, like the one in the iPhone and iPod Touch, is included for music and audio playback without earphones. Also added was a built-in FM radio, a first for any iPod. Despite all these new features, the new 16-gigabyte Nano is now $179.

The iPod Shuffle, introduced in March with a 4-gigabyte model available in black or silver for $79, now has three new colors: blue, pink, and green. Also introduced was a special edition of the 4-gigabyte Shuffle, with a polished stainless steel exterior for $99. They also introduced a new 2-gigabyte model, priced at $59.

Apple dropped prices of the iPod Touch to a new $199 entry-level price for the 8-gigabyte model. They also discontinued the 16-gigabyte model, moving the 32-gigabyte model to its $299 price point. They also created a new model, with 64-gigabyte of storage for $399.

The iPod Classic formerly included 120-gigabyte of space for just $249. The new model adds 40-gigabytes of space for the same price, moving up to 160-gigabyte.

Despite what some might call disappointments, sophomore Jordan Bauzon is still happy with the news from the Keynote. “The new iPod Nanos are awesome,” says Bauzon, “I really like the colors. They’re so bright and vibrant.”

Vanida Visessung
Junior Staff Writer

Many people tend to not drink green tea because of its taste, without realizing its many benefits.

“I haven’t been drinking green tea for a while. I just started about a month ago, and it just tastes bad,” says sophomore Lia Hwang adding, “but I drink it to lose weight.”

The bitter-tasting drink, originating in China and Japan actually has some values that can make your life better.  Filled with antioxidants, green tea also gives its drinkers the opportunity to lose weight and decreases the chances of caner. Besides losing weight and prevention of cancer, there are many other benefits to drinking green tea.

Mrs. Guild, an A-TECH teacher, states, “I wouldn’t say it’s my best drink of all, but I drink it only because it burns belly fat and gives me more metabolism during the day.”

Drinking green tea gives people the ability to build up a strong immune system, helps clean dental plaque and prevents tooth decay, and most of all, green tea helps prevent Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Even though green tea provides these benefits, it has the potential to harm its drinkers.  There have been numerous reports of green tea causing kidney and liver damage it is made from leaves that are not clean or high-quality, called “low grade” leaves, which present your immune system with numerous contaminants. It is highly recommended not to drink an exaggerated amount of green tea.

“It gives me caffeine high, and then it makes me crash later on, which is my only problem,” explains Mrs. Guild. Unlike other people, she says that she has not experienced any bowel or sleeping problems, which are commonly caused by drinking green tea.

Green tea is recommended to everyone who desires to lose weight, gain metabolism, and help themselves build a healthy immune system.

By Kim De Guzman
Entertainment Editor

Food. We all crave it. We all need it to live. We all have our comfort foods and our three square meals a day. Sometimes, there’s just not enough to eat.  In “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs”, there seems to be the perfect solution of never having to starve again, involving an inventor and his food weather machine.

“Cloudy” tells the story of an aspiring inventor named Flint Lockwood, who has tried over and over again to make an invention that would make his small town of Swallow Falls proud. He has created everything from spray-on shoes, hair un-balder, and even ratbirds; each invention has ended in complete and utter destruction of the town, making Flint the town laughingstock.

Swallow Falls depends heavily on sardines.  When the Baby Brent sardine factory closed down, and the world suddenly decided that sardines are gross, the town is forced to live on nothing but sardines, until Flint invents a machine that turns water into food. After the machine is accidentally shot up into the atmosphere, food begins to fall from the sky and the town is delighted by the food weather machine, which serves everything from huge T-bone steaks and bacon and eggs sunny side up. Even snow days are turned into ice cream days, where ice cream falls everywhere like snow.

However, the huge demand of food ordered from the machine causes the water molecules in the machine to over mutate and make bigger food that could cover the whole world. The plot twists and turns into a dangerous adventure for Flint to shut the machine off and save the world from being buried.
The movie has many well-played jokes, considering its target audience, as in the scene with the ice cream snow day. Even the characters are especially lovable. From Flint’s gummy bear-obsessed sidekick monkey, Steve, to Flint’s love interest/special food weather correspondent, Sam. The characters prove they can be relatable with fictional elements at the same time.

Overall, “Cloudy” gives valuable food for thought, while successfully turning a 30 page children’s book into a 90-minute all you can laugh buffet.