4/21/10 Teen Tech News

 Trinity finishes 8th in national robot tourney – Trinity School was the highest finisher of local schools competing in the FIRST international robots championship this past weekend in Atlanta. The competition is an annual event organized by Dean Kamen’s FIRST, a group that promotes science and technology to young people around the world.(Gizmodo)

 Many teens send 100 texts a day - New survey shows that 75% of teens own cell phones, 1/3 of teens send more than 100 texts a day, and that texting is preferred to talking on the phone, except when communicating with parents.  Forty-three percent of teens who take their phones to school reported sending at least one text message from class a day, despite the fact that many schools have banned cell phones in class.”Teenagers have been looking for ways to skirt around rules and defy administrators for millennia, whether it’s passing notes in class or passing digital notes in class through cell phones.” (CNN) 

 NC State grad loses secret new Iphone - Apple engineer Gray Powell left the top-secret model of the in-development I-phone in a California bar, and it was later published on the Gizmodo website, earning one million hits in a day.  Apple closely guards its prototypes, which are always the subject of intense speculation and hype. This weekend, though, Gizmodo not only published a story about the phone’s new features with detailed photos but also outed Powell, going so far as to link to the Flickr account where he posted personal photos. (N&O)

 School-issued computers snapped 50,000 secret photos – A tracking device on computers issued by a suburban Philadelphia school district secretly shot over 50,000 photos of students in their homes. (NYT)

Wednesday’s Teen News – local(∆) and national

(∆) Durham h.s. students tutoring students to read – Trinity High School students are taking a class to learn the Orton-Gillingham system of reading then using the knowledge to tutor low-income students at a local elementary school. “It sounds really cool,” said James, a varsity basketball player. “I love working with little kids. I’ve done basketball camps and worked at a Spanish camp. … So I love working with little kids. I love seeing how they learn. It seems like a great thing to do. I really hope we help a lot of people doing this.” (Durham Herald-Sun)

Feds outlaw flavored cigs to deter youth - FDA banned flavored cigarettes (chocolate, vanilla, clove, etc.) because they claim it encourages youth and teens to start smoking. In 2004, 17-year-old smokers were more than three times as likely as those over the age of 25 to smoke flavored cigarettes, and they viewed flavored cigarettes as safer. (NY Times)

Tyra Show hosts gay exorcist – Clips from Tyra Show with 16-year-old boy who claims his minister cured him of homosexuality, as seen in the exorcism that was posted on YouTube.  Tyra interview his minister, who says the boy will go to hell as long as he possesses any gay tendencies.  (Jezebel)

Tanning salon sting produces mixed results – College students posed as 15-year-old girls to see if tanning salons were following laws requiring teens under the age of 16 to obtain parental permission.  Most tanning salons followed regulations except allowing girls to tan every day when the law only allows six times per week.  (LA Times)

Teen sues Abercrombie & Fitch for discrimination – Muslim teen claims store refused to hire her because she wears a hijab.  Ambercromie says they hire models and therefore do not have to hire anyone who is not considered a model. (Daily Collegian)