There are very few apps that give you the freedom to use your imagination and words to overcome obstacles. In Scribblenauts Remix, you have the power to create thousands of objects that can be summoned at any point using the in-game keyboard. The goal of this game is to ignite your creativity and push the boundaries of your vocabulary skills to solve random puzzles in whatever way you can think.

Your main goal in Scribblenauts is to collect the hidden “starites” in each of the game’s 50 themed levels. With every starite you achieve, Maxwell ,the protaganist, has the ability to use whatever item you choose to devise, from a pencil to a flying car. Depending on the item you create, you will get a certain amount of Ollars (something like creativity points).

Scribblenauts Remix is probably the best 99 cents I’ve ever spent, with its ability to read adjectives and create wacky, oversized (or undersize) objects, it will definitely appeal to those with creative minds..Though my only complaint is that it needs more levels, this game doesn’t get boring even after frequent gameplay. Even if you do play the same level over and over, the game is so open-ended that you can use a wide variety of things to beat it’s many obstacles.

If I had to describe Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception in one word, it would be gorgeous. This is the best looking game to date on consoles. Producer Naughty Dog claimed they “Maxed out what the PS3 can do graphically” in Uncharted 2, but they pushed the bar even higher.

Noticeable graphic improvements have been made in Uncharted 3. Whether it’s a building fully engulfed in flames, or the night sky lit up with stars as you aimlessly wander the dessert, this is the best looking console game of all time, and it even rivals with some of the higher end PC games. When I look at this game It makes me realize the raw graphical abilities of the PS3.

The amazing visuals in Uncharted 3 really help me sink into the story. I can sink into the couch, and get lost in the world of Uncharted. The story telling is brilliant. The transition between game play to a cut scene is seamless. The plot is suspenseful, unexpected, Touching, and heart wrenching. When my character (Nathan Drake) is aimlessly wandering the desert hanging on his life by a thread, I’m scared and nervous. I feel like I’m with him every step of the way. Drake is just one of many amazing characters in this game.

I find myself wanting to go back and play Uncharted simply to interact with the characters. I finished the game and I found myself missing the characters and longing for them. You’ll find a lot of the same characters from previous Uncharted games, a long with some new additions to the cast. Nolan North steals the show voicing for Nathan Drake, and he does fantastic. I’m surprised more developing studios haven’t taken the same route as Naughty Dog with the ‘Everyone in the same room recording at the same time’ approach. The Interactions between the characters are one of the things that make this game so amazing. I understand the way each character feels about the other characters, and that’s a rare thing in even books and movies, let alone video games. Characters have little lines of snappy dialogue during the game play while your exploring or solving a puzzle. When Chloe (Who is particularly fond of Nathan) asks for ammo from Nathan she’ll say “Nathan Can I have some ammo?”, when she asks Sully(A gruff old man) for Ammo She’ll yell out “Gimme some God D*** ammo!” These lines show the relationships between every single character in this game, and they really add to then overall experience. And that’s what Uncharted 3 is. An experience.

This game is the full package, and it’s one of the best things you can spend your money on this year. When people argue that video games are not an art, I will point to this game. Beautiful visuals, Brilliant plot, and deep characters make this one of the best games of all time.

10/10

I waited in line for 45 minutes at midnight just to get the newest installment in the Battlefield franchise, Battlefield 3. The game was released today at 12:01 and I’ve already had a good amount of time with the game.

Battlefield 3 gave me mixed feelings. The multiplayer is deep and engaging, but the campaign is short, linear, and it takes it self way too seriously.

It’s not that I didnt enjoy the stunning visuals, and the bone chilling sound of a bullet whizzing past my ear, but when I finished, I didn’t find myself missing the characters and longing to experience them again.

I finished the campaign, jumped into multiplayer, and never once thought back to the single player. That’s becuase the multiplayer in Battlefield 3 is one of the deepest and most engaging online experiences I’ve had since Call of Duty 4.

In fact, this may just be the best fps online experience I’ve ever played. The online is bigger and better than its predecesor Battlefield 2. Rush is by far my favorite game mode. In Rush, the objective is to capture (or defend) two objectives. Once you have captured these two objectives, another part of the map is opened up and two more objectives are available.

I really don’t know what to say about this newest Battlefield. The graphics are mind-blowing, the multiplayer is deep, but the campaign is slow and forgetable. But Battlefield is all about online, so a lacking campaign is not a huge deal. If your looking to pick up Battlefield and plan on playing multiplayer along with the campaign, then this game is well worth the $60 price tag; however, if you don’t have access to online, then you should probably pass on this game.

Over all I’ll rate this game 8.9/10 for it’s lack for a strong campagin.

That is exactly what happened in Egypt during a two-week long rally of protests against the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 year non-democratic reign.

The ‘Day of Rage’ took place in Egypt on Jan. 25 beginning with protests, rallies and riots and by  8 a.m. Pacific Time, Egypt had blocked Twitter, according to the @TwitterGlobalPR account.

The block was an effort by their government to stifle communication between protesters, and eventually all Internet access was cut off along with SMS and similar applications.

Despite government attempts to severe internet communications to and within the country, people in Egypt were still able to get in touch with family outside of the country. According to Spanish teacher Ana Youssef, who’s husband’s family lives in Egypt, they were not worried despite the lack of internet access and the media frenzy.

“Although some may think that we couldn’t communicate, the phones were still on,” Youssef said. “ The internet was disconnected for awhile but eventually they turned it back on.”

There were also other ways for people to get the word out about what was going on inside the country, such as the new program Speak2Tweet developed by Google’s Ujjwal Singhm and a new Twitter account called @AliveInEgypt.
The Speak2Tweet program, developed in just one weekend, allows people to call a phone number, leave a message and then post a link to their twitter, while @AliveInEgypt  transcribes arabic tweets into text.

Even though it may appear as though that this kind of political turmoil would be frightening and harmful to a country and it’s citizens, Youssef said it was the exact opposite, calling it a “celebration.”

“Everybody is happy now, it’s more like an exciting situation like a party,” Youssef said. “We were happy, and we didn’t have any worries.”

Students of LHS are well-acquainted with cell phones, more so than any other generation before them. There are a small number of students who cannot be defined as ‘texting fools.’

The following is a survey conducted by the Panther Growls staff asking 50 students during all three lunches which phone it is they use to text.

36%- iPhone

26%- Blackberry Bold

18%- Blackberry Curve 8310

10%- Palm Centro

5%- Pantech Matrix

5%- LG Incite

Apple’s successful iPhone came in first, being most favorite to text with.

“I just love texting with the iPhone, it sounds a little lame, but I enjoy texting with it,” said one student.

However, Blackberry’s innovative business phone claimed the top two spots as students said texting on the Blackberry is simplistic and fast.

“You don’t have to be a genius to text fast with a BlackBerry,” said another  student. “My BlackBerry looks good, text fast and is easy to adapt to.

Skype, an important and reliable internet service that now has more that 400 million people around the world, is making an aggressive movement into mobile phones.

Beginning in May, Skype will have fee software available for Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch as well as various BlackBerry phones. As when using Skype in computers, users of Skype with mobile phones are able to make calls and receive instant messages with other Skype users free, and pay lower rates the they would pay with other companies when they use Skype to call landlines or other mobile phones.

“The carriers are in the business of selling voice minutes. For a long time they saw products like Skype coming along and they were concerned,” said Ben Wood, director of Research at the London-based CCS Insight, a market research firm. “But it turned out a little bit different than they expected.”

The idea of bringing Skype to mobile phones was viewed from many cellular companies as potentially threatening because they are afraid of people using Skype to make calls using Skype rather then the more expensive voice minutes that carry their cellular network.

In the last two years Skype network was tested in London using Hutchinson 3, a British network, and made an impact because many people started to join this network and use their mobile phones to make calls using Skype that high calling rates would have discouraged otherwise.

However, chief operating officer,  Scott Durchslag, hoped Apple and AT&T would relax and let people make calls using Skype anywhere they roamed.

Until then, Skype will continue to pursue it’s interests in mobile phones.

Apple added to it’s list of innovative technological advancements with the release of the new iPod Shuffle a few days before spring break. The new Shuffle is being praised as clever and ingenious for it’s unique design and enterprising breakthroughs.
The leading notable feature of the new Shuffle is the size, or lack thereof. The Shuffle is roughly the size of a paper clip, which gives the user the utmost discretion deciding when to use or abuse it. *hint hint students walking down the hallway .
Like David Pogue of the NY times noted, an iPod the size of a battery might be a whimsical concept much like the micro-cellphones in the movie “Zoolander.” However, the task of making a paperclip music player is an accomplishment in itself.
As far a comparison goes to the old shuffle, it’s more bang for the buck. The new Shuffle is running at $80 whereas the old one (still available) is going at 50$. However, the user obtains four-times the storage space–4 GB. There is also the matter of battery duration. According to Apple, the Shuffle can go ten consecutive hours playing music on one charge.
Another appealing feature of the new Shuffle is the voice automated speaker.
The new Shuffle emits a distinct male voice identifying the song and it’s performer. To check battery life, one simply has to flick the power switch. The user does all this from the headphones. (If only James Earl Jones would’ve been the voice-over)
On the headphones, there is a clicker for volume control. If you hold down the clicker long enough, user-made play lists begin to sound off– “Dank music,” “Sleep music,” “Baby-making music.”
The sole negative feature of the new iPod Shuffle is the headphones.
Let’s say the headphones break, replacements can only come from Apple.
Standard headphones do not work with the new Shuffle because the headphones for the Shuffle are several times smaller.
Apple is working with headset companies though and hope to have some third-party headsets available in the near future. For now though, iPod Shuffle users are required to use the standard Apple headphones.
The new iPod Shuffle is now the smallest music player on Earth, and as one blogger wrote: “We are one step closer to the iPod flea!”

According to junior Sohini Vidhur Jr., they have to simulate a vehicle driving on the moon with only a six week time frame.

“We must design, build, program and learn to drive a robot in six weeks,” said Vidhur ” We spent the first week just brain storming, so that actually leaves us only one week to get the robot built.”

They will be competing against various teams this year some, but according to freshman Colby Belcher, so far the only thing they fear is the new surrounding.

“We never underestimate any of our competition, but our biggest threat will have to be the fact that we are going to be in a new arena”,Belcher said.

Belcher also said that their other competition is building the machine itself.

“We have been introduced into a whole lot of new equipment, Belcher said. “Like the shaft we have can only fits one cassette, but we need it to fit two and we have a new seven thousand dollar controlling board that I have to design.”

The team is very ambitious towards their work and will strive to make the best whatever the outcome may be.

“We are very dedicated to our work, we do things, that most students wouldn’t even consider do, for this project,” said Belcher.

Team members like junior Katherine Conaway spend most of their personal time trying to make sure their robot will be a success for competition.

“Some of us stay up here on the weekends and sometimes up to around one or two in the morning, trying to make sure everything is working the proper way,” said Conaway.

However, designing, building and programing a robot can be stressful for some of them,like team member junior Zachary McDonald.

“Sometimes we just feel like ripping each other heads off,” said McDonald.”But in the end we are nothing but big family.”

According to the team, they are one family with the same goal.

“Our motto is something that has been used for a while,”said Belcher. “It reminds us that we are a team, and we all do have the same dream, and that is to have the best robot.”

“One team, one dream,” the team  said in unison.

Bluetooth is a popular way for people to  communicate with other users, but it sometimes can take a couple of minutes for that to happen. Because of this frequently occuring problem, Bluetooth SIG and Wi-media alliance are currently developing a new Bluetooth wireless standard (Bluetooth 3.0) to try and replace the 2.1.

The new standard is up to 160 times faster than bluetooh 2.1. With the new bluetooth, camcorders will stream video footage or still Photos to bluetooth enable television and computers. Digital cameras will also be able to stream photo slide shows to cell phones, and laptops will be capable to wirelessly transfer presentations to a projector.

The new Bluetooth will operate in 6-9 GHz rather than the current 2.4 GHz, eliminating the concern of interference from wireless network and other devices with 2.4 GHz range. One of the best abilities about the new standard is that the new devices are going to have the ability to communicate with the old ones and vice versa. Another impressive feature is that unlike the current bluetooth, the new standard will allow people to send data almost instantly.

The bluetooth wireless technology has made some strides for the past few years, and the new 3.0 standard has the potential to remove not only wires, but the communication barriers between devices that have existed for years as well. If all goes well, cell phones will eventually integrate the new technology into phones.

Bluetooth 3.0 technology is still currently being developed and should be available on the market at either the beginning of 2010 or the near the close of 2009.

On Thursday, the US Senate passed another resolution to delay the “big switch” to digital television from analog TV signals. Hopes were that the transition to DTV would take place on Feb. 17. However, those expectations are becoming increasingly unrealistic due to the ongoing movement to postpone the switch till June 12.

President Barack Obama is one of those opposing the movement. The push to delay the movement centers around the fact that there are currently an estimated 20 million households unequiped for the “big switch.” Most of the people who are unprepared are the impoverished, who lack the financial resources to make the switch, those who are well-aged, and then people who reside in rural areas similar to the outskirts of Lufkin.

The switch to digital TV will allow for better quality reception and more channels to be recieved. However, it appears that those within the bureaucracy want to take the utmost caution toward the switch because arguably, it is the biggest thing since the release of color television.

Each household will be able to sign up to receive two $40 coupons that can be used to help pay for these digital converter boxes.

The Senate must now wait for the bill to pass throught the House. The House has failed once to pass a bill, but hopes are that the bill to delay the switch will pass this time. If not, the switch will occur on schedule on Feb. 17.