Scott Alsafin
Tech Editor

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.

Francisco Acevedo
Staff Writer

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.

Scott Alsafin
Staff Writer

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!”

The Robotics team will be competing in their first competition on March 25, 2009 in Katy,Texas.

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.

Francisco Acevedo
Staff Writer

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.

Scott Alsafin
Staff Writer

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.

Scott Alsafin
Sports Editor

The new MacBooks are finally here. While that might not be the biggest news, there are some reasons why it should be.

On October 14, Apple released new notebooks in hopes of taking a lead on a still faulty Windows Vista.
The new MacBook line introduces an all metal unibody enclosure, with a trackpad that supports four new MultiTouch gestures. This allows a variety of new options to allow for hand-to-computer contact.
New MacBooks also come with Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, which allows for better playability on computer games, and much better performance overall.

But there is a pricey tag for this new bit of technology.

The first model has a 2GHz Core 2 Duo configuration with a 160GB hard drive and sucks $1,299 out of the ol’ wallet.

But there of those of us who enjoy the finer things in life, so if you would like the next MacBook upgrade, which includes 2.4GHz and offers a 250GB hard drive, you would have to drop $1,599. The latter includes backlit keyboard for you late night workers.
If these numbers are a little out of your range, Apple will continue to sell the plastic white MacBook with a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo processor for $999.