Nook's Hidden Controversy

E-readers--they’re every avid readers dream and with the Christmas season right around the corner they are selling faster than candy canes. But despite skyrocketing sales, one e-reader is stirring up an immense level of controversy in the world of writers.

Say hello to the Nook. A slick, dual color, touch screen e-reader with 2GB of memory space and a Wi-Fi connection, which boasts itself for storing 1,500 E-books all for the price of $259. Offering more than a million titles from its E-book library, you would think the newest prized invention of Barnes and Noble, more popular than Amazon's Kindle, would be an enticing hit in the publishing industry. Yet most writers detest it.

Why, you ask? The answer is quite simple. Because of the new Barnes and Noble lend me technology. Thanks to this new technology, an owner of an e-reader can lend any book that they purchase to their friends for free. What’s more is that it does not necessarily have to be sent to another e-reader. It can be sent to any and from any iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, or Mac, by simply using the Barnes and Noble e-reader software, which can be downloaded for free off their website.

This leaves authors financially hurt and unable to protect their work, much like musicians whose work is freely distributed over the internet through peer to peer connections. Needless to say, the Nook’s technology has writers outraged.

“If all you have to do is wait for your friend to send a copy of a book to your nook or to your i-Phone, why buy? And if no one is buying, then fewer and fewer writers will be able to make a living by writing,” Michelle Richmond, author of “No One You Know,” said on her blog.

Though there is talk of a new model where the lending would become available through a licensing program, publishers are not happy with this resolution and continue to push it back in a relentless tug of war. Barnes and Noble itself has refused to comment in regard to these accusations.

Yet readers say the lending feature should pose no threat, since it is severely limited. E-books can be lent only once to designated individuals and for a maximum of 14 days. Furthermore, there are only a few titles that are designed for this feature. But what has left readers really astonished is the fact that when they lend the book, they themselves cannot read it; therefore, contradicting the era of technological advancement versus a library.

“I'm a little pissed off by this, especially since I was so excited about the Nook, but not entirely surprised. It's like when Microsoft introduced the Zune's sharing feature. They understood that people share physical media and want to share digital media, but still forced (probably at the record labels' behest, but whatever) a 3-play, 3-day restriction that was so strict nobody ever used the feature. And now Barnes and Noble is following in Microsoft's footsteps,” Gideon commented on a Gizmodo blog post.

Yet despite the array of controversies and problems, it looks like the Nook is here to stay, as it enters the sold-out holiday marketplace.

No Z's For College Students

Aliza Moorji, 21, napping on the Great Lawn at St. John's University

Sleep deprivation. We have all suffered from it at one time or another leaving us in a zombie like trance throughout our daily activities, despite the unparalleled amounts of caffeine ingested by our bodies. However, what happens when this occasional phenomenon becomes part of a daily regime?

The coffee cup in one hand and energy drink in the other trend has become a commonplace one among college students to stay awake in class. This phenomenon is no stranger to New York City’s St. John’s University. With little or no sleep and class lectures on average running from one to three hours, students constantly try new methods to stay conscious. Yet sometimes a can of Redbull doesn’t do the trick leaving students dozing off during class or missing them altogether.

According to St. John’s University Media Graphics Professor Durso, this is not something that surprises the staff of the university, but rather the number of such circumstances.

“Although this is not a “new” problem, there appears to be many more instances of it today than in the past.”

According to an article in the Daily Utah Chronicle, a recent poll taken by the National Sleep Foundation found that approximately 60 percent of college students lack in sleep. The study also showed that 39 percent of the adult population, including college students, gets less than 6-7 hours of sleep on a daily basis.

“I usually get about 7 hours of sleep during the school week but that's not enough. I wake up feeling tired and have to drag myself out of bed. I would like to get at least 8 hours but that only happens when my first class in the morning is cancelled,” St. John’s University student, 21, Aliza Moorji, said.

This leads to a massive amount of problems. From cascading grades and GPA’s to the inability to perform and handle stress or emotions, the side-effects are endless and can progress to serious health problems. According to sleepdeprivation.com, doctors warn that severe sleep deprivation can lead to depression, heart disease, irritability, and tremors. In addition, weight fluctuations can occur as well as faster skin aging, since the body does not receive enough time to rejuvenate itself.

So why do college students sleep so little?

While some students may resort to late night partying, others complain about the workload, implying that between classes, exams, assignments, and work they have too much to consume on their plates. Some even have an additional task of an internship.

“It's not so much of sleep deprivation but more of stress. During the last few weeks though, I do find it harder to fall asleep than usual because I toss and turn until I can actually fall asleep. But it's because of stress,” Moorji, said.

However, there are those students who resort to procrastination, and do their assignments at the very last minute resulting in all-nighters. Often times they are also distracted by the array of websites designed specifically for them keeping them from a good night’s sleep.

“Students think that staying up late to catch up on school work and social networks is a good idea. The reality is that they lose so much sleep that they fall further behind on everything and the vicious cycle starts again,” Durso said.

With so many students falling into this trap, the question remains, how can these problems be solved? University professors are eager to work together with students to make college life a little more bearable for them, but under one condition—student cooperation.

“I would be more than happy to work with any student, but I think the issue is time management and understanding your own strengths and weaknesses as a student of life,” Durso said.

Weight Loss Shoe Fad

Weight loss sneakers: you have seen them before and perhaps even purchased a pair. Now with Reebok’s recent new EasyTone ad campaign these once popular sneakers are in high demand all over again. But just how healthy and safe are they?

Designed for battling cellulite, toning muscles, improving posture, and weight loss, through their heavily cushioned rocker sole, which forces the wearer to use muscles that would normally remain inactive, the sneakers have become a sensation across the nation. Cleverly advertised commercials aimed at women show a promising path to a healthy lifestyle and a model-like body. But before you run off with your credit card to the nearest shoe outlet store, consider the fact that these shoes may not be for everybody.

According to About.com, though doctors recommend daily 30 to 60 minute walks due to several health benefits, such as lower blood pressure and better heart functionality, they do not necessarily have in mind weight loss sneakers, but rather comfortable walking shoes. Shoes should not cause unnecessary strain and discomfort when walking, especially for the young and elderly whose bones are more fragile and prone to injury. Instead they should offer good heel and ankle support to prevent fractures and complications.

According to USA Today, weight loss sneakers may be supportive but can be the cause of severe muscle strain.

“The shoes limit normal motion in the foot. So you may be under-using some muscles and overusing others,” Marlene Reid, a podiatrist in Naperville, Ill., and spokeswoman for the American Podiatric Medical Association, told USA Today.

In addition to extraneous tension in the muscles, which can cause great discomfort to some, there is also the problem of balance. Weight loss sneakers require those who wear them to have near perfect balance, which for the inexperienced may result in falling.

“Shoes do make a crucial difference in assisting exercise and preventing injury. But the best results come when shoes and orthotic inserts built for your foot are evaluated by an expert,” Dr. Bruce Hensel of NBC4 told NBC.

According to USA Today, originally weight loss sneakers were manufactured as therapeutic footwear for those suffering from arthritis and other medical problems involving one’s feet.

However doctors and fitness trainers alike are not barring these not-so-new shoes, but reminding that everything should be done in moderation.

“Look, all these things have a placebo effect,” Dakota Mitchell, a personal trainer in Woodland Hills, California told NBC. “You pay a hundred bucks for a pair of trendy rocking shoes and you are probably going to be walking more than you would normally. You see results, but it's from exercising more, not from the shoes. Anything that gets you out there doing it, is good.”



Image courtesy of http://www.extreme-evolution.net

A Day In Embden, Maine

Public WiFi: A Hacker's Paradise

Sitting in your local Starbucks with a tall Mocha Frapuccino in hand, you turn on your laptop and seize the opportunity to hook up to a public free WiFi provider. They’re everywhere. Airports, cafes, hotels, and even gas stations have them. But just how safe are they?

The answer: not very. According to several reports, including those of the NY Times, public WiFi’s are a magnet for security hazards. Hackers particularly have thrown their anchors into the deep abyss of the oceanic hot spots of public wireless internet providers. Though a number of people are aware of the dangers lurking at public internet access points, most narrow it down to the mere refusal of making credit card transactions or typing in personal information.

Yet the precautions should go deeper than that.

According to a Yahoo Tech article, anything that requires an online login like Facebook or other social networking sites, as well as personal e-mail accounts are subject to exploitation by hackers. The threats intensify if you are using a public computer, since cookies are stored making the sites and logins you just used easily accessible to anyone who sits at the computer after you.

The problem lies in insufficient public internet security.

“The problem is, the really good people have written sniffer programs so that the less-sophisticated people have access to the same technology,” Michael Sellitto, a Harvard graduate student studying international security, told the NY Times. “Say a Microsoft Word document gets transmitted. The sniffer program will collect that and someone could open it up on their computer.”

Yet even your own wireless connection at home can leave one in the path of danger if not protected by a unique password.

So how can you protect yourself from becoming a victim and having your information stolen in a matter of seconds? According to the NY Times, there are several things you can do.

Create a password to safeguard your own wireless connection at home. Also make sure you have a new or updated version of an anti-virus program to further prevent hackers from invading your privacy.

Installing a specialized program, like RoboForm, meant to encrypt all personal data such as passwords is a safe and easy way to protect your data from being stolen in public places. Such programs can also be stored on USB ports creating a secondary protective barrier.

However, the safest way to protect your hardware is to simply limit your use online to websites that do not require personal data when using public WiFi.

"Connect only to the networks that you trust. Make sure that your communication is secure, disconnect the wireless when you stop using it, and maintain the list of wireless connections that you use on your laptop so that you don't accidentally connect to networks that may spring up when you're traveling,” Kiran Deshpande, president of AirTight Networks, told CNN.