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Teens’ Brains, Technology, and Multitasking

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brain-mriMultitasking is a skill that not everyone possesses, and there is even this saying that men can’t multitask if their lives depended on it. (Now that is definitely something that is up for debate nowadays.) For teenagers, though, multitasking is an inherent part of their lives. Indeed, they might suffer if they are not able to multitask.

News Hour science correspondent Miles O’Brien took a look at this phenomenon and how technology plays a crucial role. What did he find out?

Basically, I think he just confirmed what many of us already acknowledge: multitasking and technology go together. At any given time that you are online, you probably have at least five windows open. You probably have at least one instant messenger account on. Add to that Facebook, e-mail, and your mobile phone (which you check every so often).

So what’s there to talk about?

What I found pretty interesting about O’Brien’s report is the “brain science” behind it. He took a look at how the brain lights up during an MRI when one multitasks. Yes, the lights are bigger and there are more of them – the brain gets more taxed with more input. No surprise there.

The significant point is the effect of these activities on a teenager’s brain. At that stage in a person’s life, his or her brain is still developing. It continues to learn and to improve according to how it is used. O’Brien’s question is one that should be considered by everyone: are the teenagers of today benefiting from the use of technology in such a way that their brains are being hardwired to perform better?

Watch the video report below and tell me what you think.

Photo via Dangerous Intersection

TRENDnet Launches GREENwifi Technology

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trendnetThe Consumer Electronics Show always grabs the attention of tech enthusiasts the world over, and this year is no different.  While not everything that is showcased is worth noticing, one can’t deny that some of the most interesting things can be found at the CES.  Take TRENDnet’s newest technology dubbed GREENwifiTM for example.  It holds the distinction of being the first embedded green wireless technology.

GREENwifiTM is part of TRENDnet’s already existing environment-friendly solutions, GREENnetTM. This networking technology is a wired switch-based solution that saves considerably on energy consumption by determining and providing the right amount of power to each connected device. When calculating the amount of electrical power to supply, the technology takes into consideration things such as the length of the Ethernet cable.

The new wireless technology is based on the same principles being used in the wired set up, with a few specific differences. The allocated power is significantly reduced in the following cases.

  • When the wireless device is not connected to another device (such as a wireless router not being connected to a laptop)
  • When the wireless device is connected but idle

Another consideration is the wireless signal strength.  For example, if a laptop is very near the router and is receiving a strong signal, the router will reduce its power consumption.

Based on tests that TRENDnet has conducted, the whole system can offer up to 50% on savings.  This is quite a feat, especially considering the amount of time that the average person spends on the Internet these days.

New Intel Chip to Disallow Copying of Movies

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Yeah, I hear you. News like this does not sit well with a lot of people, but what with copyright issues being at the forefront these days, you really cannot say that it is unexpected can you?

Yesterday, Intel announced a new feature on their next-generation Core chips. Dubbed Insider, the feature offers studios the incentive of providing access to more high definition movies via online streaming. The main issue of studios with regard to high definition movies and online streaming is the fact that users can copy the movies. Of course, once a movie has been copied onto one’s hard drive, so many complicated questions arise.

Insider is Intel’s answer to the concerns of the studios – the feature has an end-to-end protection layer that will ensure that streaming movies will not be copied. Tomorrow, January 5, we will be hearing more about this new generation of Intel Core processors with Insider as Intel conducts the official launch.

On the one hand, this is good news. With such measures in place, studios will be more comfortable offering their premium quality movies online. This means one thing: the choices that we have will only become more varied, and for those who are nitpicky when it comes to visual quality, then HD streaming will only sweeten the pot. On the other hand, I will not be surprised to hear grumblings here and there about how restrictive this move is.

On to less controversial news: the next generation of Intel chips are going to have seriously beefed up graphics features. Now who can complain about that?

XToaster360: Putting That Old Toaster to Good Use

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Got an old toaster or two that is merely collecting dust in the corner? If you are a candidate for that reality TV series The Hoarders, then you might want to put one of those toasters to good use – just like what this guy who calls himself ncarouso11 did.

Basically, he got a four-slice toaster, took out its innards, and then replaced (carefully, I bet) them with the stuff that you find inside of an Xbox360. Here’s how it looks.
xtoaster360

In case you’re wondering how you get the game CD in, here’s the answer.
xtoaster360_2

Here’s a video of the toaster slash Xbox360 in action in case you need more convincing that it is for real.

You have to admit, there is something to be said about the boxy thing with glowing blue lights coming out of it. It may not be as sleek and sexy as the Xbox360, but not everyone can say that they own something like this and actually play games on it, can they?

If you can’t be bothered to create your own XToaster360, or you simply do not have the skill to do so, then prepare a couple of hundred dollars (US) and bid on this cool mod on eBay. The starting bid is $150 and as of this writing, there are 6 days 12 hours left to bid. If you win, you get the following:

  • XToaster360
  • Power cable/brick
  • AV cable
  • Ethernet cable
  • Xbox360 Controller
  • Xbox360 Headset
  • (Only has 256MB internal memory card but can easily be improved with the use of a thumb drive)

Gorillaz’s The Fall Recorded Entirely on the iPad

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gorillazI don’t know about you, but the way I see it, the iPad is mainly to be used for playing that awesome game called Flight Control HD. (Try it once, and I’ll bet my bottom dollar that you will not want to stop landing those planes!) It also is a great e-book reader, and of course, one can’t forget the angry birds and the irritating green pigs.

If you were the band Gorillaz, though, you’d find something a little more productive to do on the iPad – such as record an entire album! The British group has never been on any of my playlists, but I am inclined to try out their new album simply because of this fact. Dubbed “The Fall”, the album was created simply by utilizing some iPad applications – a plethora of which is available. Some of these applications are Speak It!, SoundyThingie, Mugician, and Solo Synth.

Before you write this one off, watch the video of the first track in the album. You just might become a Gorillaz convert if you do!

Here’s another cool thing – the entire album can be downloaded for free at the Gorillaz’s web site. As long as you sign up for the newsletter, you can get your hands on this one of a kind production. Next year, the CD will go on sale, but why wait for that?

Technology: The Cheater’s Bane

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CheatingCheating (the kind that students do when taking tests) has existed for ages – perhaps the very day that man started to exist – and it seems that as time goes by, the methods used for this unscrupulous activity just gets more creative. Blame whatever you want for that, but technology does play a part.

Unsurprisingly, technology is also becoming a bane for cheaters. There is actually a company that specializes in technology that catches cheats. Caveon Test Security has been in operation for several years now and uses statistical anomalies to determine if students have been cheating. The algorithm that they use is not exactly public, but neither is it a secret.

As a matter of fact, using statistics as the basis for catching cheats is an age old trick – Caveon only makes it more advanced and accurate. The basic idea is that their algorithm checks for patterns that show up if test takers have been copying from each other (high number of the same incorrect answers). It also checks for illogical patterns such as people getting correct answers for harder questions and getting easy questions incorrectly.

It is easy to see that while those ideas do make sense, it may not be foolproof. Critics are actually pointing out that the methods used by Caveon may not be that accurate – and they may very well be right. Then again, it might be better than allowing cheating to go unchecked.

What do you think of Caveon’s premise? Is it logical or does it put too much faith in technology?

Photo via Instructables