To Our Readers

To our readers, sorry for not updating our blog recently!! We were preparing for the Common Tests, so we could not really post on the blog. Hopefully our previous blog posts were still entertaining! J

The Convenience of Technology

So what have we been doing for the past few Home Economics lessons? YES, THAT'S RIGHT, WE HAVE BEEN USING TECHNOLOGY TO FIND DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOOD FROM THE INTERNET!!!!

The internet and technology have made our lives easier. In reference to the above, we were using our laptops to search for groceries from the online NTUC Fairprice and Cold Storage websites. That way, we need not be there in person, we can just buy everything we want online! And there's even delivery! How cool is that?! J

We can even call for food delivery, using the wonderful technological invention of the mobile phone. We can just dial a number and within half an hour or so, the food will be served right at our door step, piping hot and fresh!!!

Now, Singaporeans(and other people) are able to use the internet anytime, anywhere with just a simple little thing called 3G. The iPhone and iPad allows users to use the internet even without a proper internet connection, just by using 3G, they are able to use the internet!

Ahhhhh..... The convenience and wonders of modern technology... J

**Rewind**

This week, we did the topics 'Online Assignments: Are They All That Helpful?', 'Has the Internet Changed Our Lives for Better or for Worse?', 'Technology Helps Cancers', 'How Technology Can Be Bad for Our Health' and 'Information Report'.

I started by stating my views on Online Assignments on learning portals and Esther continued by debating whether the Internet is useful. Almas explained how technology can help in the treatment of cancer. Rabiatul talked about a computer user's opinion on how using the computer for long periods of time caused his health to deteriorate. Vera elaborated on Almas' post by explaining how using CRT monitors for a long time can expose you to a great amount of radiation and it's effects on your health.

And that's all for this week, folks!

If you haven't read the full blogposts, make sure to check them out, right here on TechStars! J

Information Report

Did you know that excessive playing of computer or video games or Wii increases your exposure to radiation?
Although this is a very rare occurance in which only 1 out of 4000 people experience this, the 1 person out of 4000 will have sizures and blackouts caused by light flahes or patterns and occurs when they are playing computer games.
Computers emit a huge source of radiation. Radiation over a long period of time can cause burnt skin, dry and wrinkled skin and photo aging.This is similar to being exposed to the sun for a long period of time.
What can be done to prevent this? Well, here are the most important precautions to take.Firstly, make the switch from the old-fashioned CRT monitors to laptops and LCD ones. This is because although laptops and computers with LCD screens still emit readiation, it is much lesser than the radiation emitted from the CRT computer.
Secondly, make sure that when you are using the computer, sit as far away from the screen as possible and play in a well-lit room.Lastly, make sure that you remember to take an eye-break every 10-15min during the game and refrain from playing too much when you feel sleepy and tired.
Any suggestion? Comments? Please feel free to do so below. J

How Technology Can Be Bad For Our Health

Here is one of a computer user's opinion :

I work 10+ hours a day on a computer and my health has gone downhill. Everything you mentioned is accurate. It affects eyesight and sitting all day can lead to weight problems. I think mental health issues come into play with being isolated. At my work, everyone sits around and talks while I am busy on the computer.
Since I started working on the computer for a living, I have developed a vitamin D deficiency. That is from being indoors during daylight hours and could apply to things other than the computer. There are repetitve strains and if you sit incorrectly in front of a computer, you can damage your back as well. I know that magnetism/electronic fields used to be a problem back in the days of CRT monitors, but am not sure how prevalent it is now. Who knows what all the wireless transmissions could be doing to us? All in all, I don't think we know half of the ways that technology and computer specifically could be damaging us yet.

Source : http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090117143603AAMuqIT

Technology Helps Cancers

The cells lining the brain's blood vessels are tightly packed together—like a good defensive line, they keep bacteria and other blood-borne intruders from getting through, shielding the brain. But this protective layer, called the blood-brain barrier, also thwarts efforts to deliver drugs like chemotherapy agents to the brain, so scientists have long searched for ways to disrupt it selectively to allow treatments in. A startup company called Perfusion Technology is developing a technique to open this barrier by bathing the brain in ultrasound waves.

Ultrasound has been investigated for a decade as a tool for opening the blood-brain barrier. Most techniques, however, rely on specialized equipment to focus the ultrasound waves to a tiny point. They also require an injection with microbubbles to amplify the effect, and an MRI machine to guide the treatment. Al Kyle, president and CEO of Perfusion Technology, which is based in Andover, Massachusetts, says that the company's method is simpler and cheaper. Rather than opening the blood-brain barrier briefly at a single point, Perfusion uses a specially designed headset to expose the entire brain to low-intensity ultrasound waves for an hour-long treatment session.

The company is developing the treatment specifically for patients with brain tumors. A patient could receive the ultrasound during an outpatient session of intravenous chemotherapy, to open the blood-brain barrier and let the drugs into the brain. Kyle says it would be "a kinder and gentler way of delivering therapeutics to the brain" than current invasive methods, such as an infusion pump or a surgical implant. He also believes that his company's approach would be better than focused methods when it comes to treating tumors that have spread to multiple parts of the brain, because it reaches the entire brain at once.  

Although Perfusion is initially developing the technique to treat primary brain tumors, the majority of brain cancers originate elsewhere and metastasize to the brain; in these cases, the technique might help deliver drugs designed for other kinds of cancer into the brain, Kyle says. He further believes the method could someday help treat other kinds of neurological disorders.

Note to all groups members of techstars

Heyy Group Members of Techstars!!! Please try to write reports about your reflections on the 4 passages regarding technology in the notes Mrs Hon gave us:D

Has the Internet Changed our Lives for Better or Worse?

The internet is being used by people from all over the world and it cannot be denied that internet has changed our lifes for the better in one way or another.

Changed our lifes for the better?
-Internet provides us with plenty of information
-The internet is freely available
-Provides us with instant news, media & knowledge
-Faster Communication/ social network

Changed our lifes for the worst?
-Internet not used responsibly
-Quick tool for spreading misinformation, fears, lies & guesswork (passing them off as the total truth
-People use the internet to spread & collect their perversions (E.g. Immoral & illegal stuff such as pornography
-People may get addicted to some online games

I have listed 4 points each. Whether the internet has changed our lives for better or worst, it's for you to decide.

Online Assignments: Are They Really All That Helpful?

I believe that everyone has had some experience with online assignments that are assigned by teachers via E-Learning portals. Right?

Today, I will be blogging about whether online assignments are helpful to us or not and my opinions on that.

In my Primary school days (which was just last year, haha), we were assigned online assignments/quizzes via the online LEAD learning portal. These assignments were of the practices sort, just either for our extra knowledge or E-learning day (apart from the lessons already in the portal).

So, when I was doing my language practices, such as English or Chinese cloze passages, (the kind where you have to fill in the blank with a suitable word) I was quite confident of my answers before hitting the 'Submit' button. However, to my horror, I found out that my mark was only JUST enough to pass! What happened, you may ask. Well, if I'm not wrong, according to my teachers, they only uploaded ONE or TWO answers and so the rest were, you guessed it, unaccepted. But some of my incorrect answers were actually synonymous with the answers accepted.

I was furious and talked to my teacher about this. She too, said that those exercises were not very accurate in terms of accepting answers. So this brings me back to my point.

My argument is that teachers TEACHING (not hinting anything) and marking students' work would be more beneficial in our learning. This will teach us that many answers can be accepted and will not limit us to particular answers. We will have a bigger vocabulary and would be able to use a wider range of words, enabling us to learn from one another. For me, I am able to learn better if a teacher teaches me face to face. Sometimes, the "human approach" may be better than learning via technology. But perhaps, in the next 10 years down the road, computers may be even more advanced than it already is today. Technology may even be used to replace teachers! What would that be like? What do YOU think? :)

To Sum It Up...

This week, we learnt many things on the computer. Here's a re-cap. First, we discussed about whether technology is beneficial in learning and most people agreed that technology is indeed a pro and not a con as it is easier to access and is quicker. Next, we discussed the topic- Pros and Cons of Blogging. We learnt what precautions to take when blogging so we wouldn't atrract any unwanted attention and the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining a blog. After that, we learnt that in true fact social networking plays an important role in helping the environment. And we learnt more on the Xbox Kinect that actually allows you to be the controller to control it. Then, we dicussed if technology was dependable. Following that, we discussed whether work should be assigned on computers or not. To end the week, we discussed on cyber bullying and learnt how to overcome cyber bullying.
Here is to conclude the whole of this week. Please check out all the posts if you haven't and feel free to comment on them.

Something to Think About...

(Pictures taken from http://www.tnp.sg/content/act-cute-facebook-quarrel-turns-violent)

(This is a continuation from Almas' post)
A few days ago, I was reading an article in The New Paper. It is about something that happened on the popular social networking site, Facebook.  So the story goes like this.
A picture of this girl, whom we shall call Jane, was posted on Facebook. Another girl, whom we shall call Mary, saw that picture, and commented, "Don't act cute." This provoked Jane and resulted in the exchange of vulgarities between Jane and Mary. Mary then rounded up some of her friends and they went to bully Jane which ended up in her being injured and being sent to hospital.I'm not siding with either one of them, but I feel that Mary shouldn't have said such an insensitive thing. On the other hand, Jane should have kept her cool and ignore the comment. If she wanted to tell Mary off, maybe she could have used a more pleasant tone and not spew vulgarities at once. IT TOOK JUST THREE WORDS.I conclude that social networking sites may be helpful at times as mentioned but in this case, it was anything but helpful. We should keep our content in social networking sites/blogs appropriate for everyone.Or maybe we should just use technology for learning purposes. It will be safer for everyone that way.  Hmm. What do you think?Let me just thank my lucky stars that I do not have a Facebook account. :)

Cyber Bullying

Recently, there have been many reports on cyber bullying on the newspapers. One of the cases I remembered involved 17 year-old, Alexis Pilkington. She took her own life on 21 March after vicous taunts on a social networking site, FormSpringMe.com, where many of the attacks appeared.

This tragic incident underscores the growing trend of cyber bullying. Apparently, the relentless taunting pushed poor Alexis off the edge and she decided to end her life. This is not the only case of cyber bullying, in fact, there are a lot of cyber bullying taking place around the world. I am not sure what Alexis posted that invited such vicous and mean comments but one thing I am sure of is how evil and heartless those people who bullied her are. These people are the cause of Alexis' death. In my opinion, Alexis should have kept her cool and not feel bothered by the insensitive and mean comments. If she was feeling really upset, she should have talked to her parents about it, instead of bottling all her feelings up. The people who bullied her just want to make themselves better by bullying others so they won't feel so pathetic.

If YOU are one of those insensitive, mean and vicious people who go around bullying others, I suggest you stop it because, you never know what the person being bullied might do, like commit suicide or something.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS TO OVERCOME CYBERBULLYING:
1)Ignore--Do not feel bothered by what those people say of you. They can't judge you based on whatever you post on your social networking site. Don't give them the satisfaction of bullying you. These people bully you so they won't feel so pathetic

2)Tell Somone You Trust--Tell your close friends or parents. Don't keep things to yourselves. You will only get more depressed and more upset if you bottle everything to yourself. If that bottle is full someday,you may get pushed over the edge. Another option is to seek professional help from counselling

3)Do Not Delete the Negative Comments Sent To You--Yes, do not delete information sent to you by the bully. Cyber bullies are cowards, they do not dare to reveal their identities online but not to worry, these pieces of information CAN be traced back to the bully so, with that, you can find out who the bully is and report him to the school or police or whatever.

So these are the basics on cyber bullying. Please feel free to comment! :)

Work Should Not Be Assigned On Computers

Some have requested that tasks should not be assigned on computers as :
1. Students may wonder to other websites and forget all about the task
2. Students may not be able to focus whilst doing their task
3. Students are able to come up with many excuses why they were not able to finish the task (e.g.A student was not able to do her work as her laptop was crashed)

However, there are rebutts .. Any solutions ? Opinions ?

Do comment !

Thank You.

What Happened To Our Laptops?!?!

Yesterday, while we were doing our Maths quiz on our laptops, almost all the HP computers crashed! What happened?! This brings us to a question. Although technology may be very useful in our learning, is it all that dependable? Well I guess not, sometimes. Technology may still have some flaws, but hey, nobody's perfect right (or in this case, nothing's perfect)?

Xbox kinect technology

 The new xbox kinect rocks! It is a technology that tracks your body. Instead of using a controller, you are the controller. This technology helps us with many things. It can make you lose weight, learn new experiences and it is fun. One of their games is Dance Central. It uses the Kinect technology to read the player's body as he or she follows a series of on-screen prompts that depict a dance routine. These "flash cards" each represent one move, and that move can range from a simple shuffle step to an advanced series of upper body motions. There are more than 30 songs in the game (ranging from new hits like "Evacuate the Dance Floor" by Cascada to classics like "Jungle Boogie" by Kool) and each track has three different difficulties to play on, which must be unlocked in order. It teaches you how do dance stylishly. In no time, you would be a perfect dancer. :D

Social Networking Helps The Environment???

 Do you know that technology actually plays a role in preserving the environment the way we all wish to do? Technological advancements like social networking may cause more of a smile than a frown once you understand their implications on our environment.


 Social networking is a subcategory of the Internet technology, and it actually saves the environment from millions of photographs printed every year and sent to loved ones or documented in albums. Indeed, even memories have gone digital, and although it may be considered unreliable by many of the older generation (as files can be so easily lost), it serves its purpose. For example, photos from one’s recent trip abroad can be quickly uploaded to a website for everyone to see, without needing to print a single photograph. Not only does it conserve paper, it also eliminates much of the chemical waste that comes from the photo-printing process.

Technology Post

 See what are the many things we can do with technology ? Amazing!

Note

Dear Loyal Readers of Techstars,
If you have yet to notice the colourful fishes at the right side of our blog page, please visit them soon! Those hungry fishes add a touch of nature to our blog. Watch them as they follow your mouse hoping you will feed them by clicking the surface of the water. Do remember to feed them when you visit them the next time as they get hungry very easily.

Pro & Cons Of Blogging

If you are familiar with the internet, chances are that you have heard the term "blogging". Have you wondered whether or not blogging might be right for you? Before you decide, here are some key considerations to think about:
There are many advantages to blogging. Blogging helps you to convey messages easily. Instead of sending e-mails, SMS or calling your friends and colleagues personally, you can just post whatever you would like to tell them on your blog! For instance, my CCA, Girl Guides, has our own blog. The CCA leader would post announcements and the timeline for the next Guides session on the Guides blog. This is a very good way to announce things to a large group of people. Another advantage of blogging is that a lot of blogs are free and easy to set up. You can also make your blog personal. Your blog can include pictures of yourself and you can use it as a "online diary" and invite your family and friends to read your blog. The only difference of a blog and a diary is that unlike your diary, your blog would not be entirely personal even if you limit the people who have access to your blog.
Some of the disadvantages can be that maintaining a blog can be a lot of work and very time consuming. You have to constantly update and add new material in order to keep the flow of traffic to your blog and your current readers interested.
Another important thing to take note of, is to limit private details to avoid loss of privacy and security issues.
Only you know if blogging is right for you. You might not know until you try it out yourself. With all the free sites to sign up for a blog, getting started is easy. Once you start, you can better decide if you have the time and ability to keep it up and running. Good luck and happy blogging!

Whether Technology is Beneficial in Learning

Technology can be helpful at times in learning. 


With many teenagers being highly digitally-literate, they are no strangers to the world of modern technology.


They are familiar with the many different functions of technology. So, how do we use all this skills and channel it in the RIGHT direction -- by effectively implementing it into learning? 


Starting off with the English Language, for instance, there are numerous dictionary/thesaurus sites which can be easily accessed by simply switching on the modem and typing the word into Google search. From there, many MANY sites can be easily accessed. All with a simple click of the mouse! 

But of course, technology can be a major distractions at times. The computer, which can access Internet, can be a hindrance or a big help at times. The Internet can be a dangerous place, it has  social networking sites, such as facebook, which can be very distracting. When the use of computers is required in class, some students may seize this opportunity to surf the web for matters not related to studies, for example, as mentioned above, social networking sites. 

Especially when we are in a school where there is wireless WiFi, students may take advantage of it and even download their movies, causing the whole network to slow down. 

But what can we do? This IS the 21st century, modern technology exist. We must be tech-savvy in order to be able to survive in an age like this.

Welcome to TechStars blog

Welcome to our blog everybody. We have daily issues on technology to discuss on. Feel free to leave your comments in the comments box :D