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Posts tagged as “tech”

Fractured Focus: Tech and Time Management

By editorialteam on February 14, 2025

By Melanie Trottier-Mitcheson | Observer Contributor

Photo by Andras Vas from Unsplash

Social media, emails, texts, news, AI, games: access to technology can be a daily source of distraction. Mount students reveal their strategies to stay focused.

The typical college student’s routine day is punctuated by a series of buzzes, pings, and alarms from a device. This barrage of digital noise, studies show, takes a toll on human attention spans. University of Texas at Austin professor and writer Steven Mintz quotes a Microsoft study finding that the average human attention span decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013. Humans now pay attention for a shorter time than a goldfish. read more

Laptop Buying Guide for College Students

By editorialteam on February 13, 2025

By Kent Yang | Staff Writer

Photo by Andras Vas from Unsplash

School is officially back in session as the spring semester begins. Whether you are a freshman entering Mount Wachusett Community College for the first time or a returning student, having the right laptop for your classes can make all the difference. However, with so many options available, choosing the right one can feel overwhelming. This guide will help you understand key laptop components, evaluate your needs, and make an informed purchasing decision.

Understanding Laptop Components

Before selecting a laptop, it is essential to understand its main components and how they impact performance. read more

Getting into Photography for Less Than $100

By editorialteam on December 19, 2024

By Kent Yang | Staff Writer

Photos by Kent Yang: See full spread below

Have you ever wanted to dive into the world of photography but felt held back by the cost? While it’s true how every few years there’s new state-of-the-art equipment on the market with the latest and greatest technology, buying used equipment is a cost-effective way to maximize value without compromising performance. While older gear may lack the latest features, they were once top-of-the-line and can still produce excellent images. Many people believe the misconception that you need to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on gear to get good images. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s not the case. In fact, you can spend less than $100 and still capture stunning images. This guide will show you how to get started with affordable gear, and I’ll share tips for practicing your skills without breaking the bank.  read more

A Brief History of Voting Technology

By editorialteam on October 23, 2024

By Kent Yang | Staff Writer

Image by Element5 Digital from Unsplash

Since the inception of the United States in 1776, elections have been essential for choosing the next president. From colonial times until the late 19th century, elections were held, and votes were cast orally at courthouses. Presidents such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were elected this way. However, this changed with the invention of the Acme Voting Machine.

The Acme Voting Machine was invented in Bridgewater, Connecticut, around 1880 to prevent voter fraud. With its open-slot box design, crank lever mechanism, and tabulator, it offered voters an honest, secure and reliable way to cast their votes. In the following years, it was reported that election officials would tear or mark ballots, making them invalid. This issue prompted the invention of the Lever Style Voting Machine in Lockport, New York. By pulling down its levers, the machine locked votes to prevent tampering, while also making the process faster and more accurate. While it was effective and efficient for its time, its maintenance was complex and it had limitations, such as only being able to tally votes internally rather than producing a verifiable record of each individual vote. read more

The Ultimate Calculator

By editorialteam on September 30, 2024

By Kent Yang | Staff Writer

A TI-84 Plus scientific calculator.
Image from Amazon

Disclaimer: The Mount Observer does not encourage cheating or academic dishonesty in any way, this article is intended for educational purposes only.

If you’ve ever taken Algebra, Calculus, Chemistry, Statistics, or Physics in high school or college, chances are you’ve used a Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus at some point. Released in June 2004, the TI-84 Plus quickly became America’s favorite calculator. Compared to its predecessor, the TI-83 Plus, the TI-84 Plus boasted three times the memory and a processor that was over twice as fast. It featured 480 kilobytes of flash memory, 24 kilobytes of RAM, a link port for data transfers, 13 preloaded software applications, seven different graphing styles, and advanced statistics functions, all of which were crucial to student success. Today, the TI-84 Plus remains widely used and is considered the “best budget calculator” at $97 by many reviewers. read more

(Archive April 2016) The Gaming Industry: An Editorial

By editorialteam on August 28, 2024

By Mark Ramos | Observer Contributor

Video games.
flickr.com/video_game_community

When you purchase a product you would expect that product to be a completed one right? So why is it that, that level of expectation applies to every product on the market except for video games? From releasing unfinished games to locking content behind pay walls, the gaming industry has turned its back on those who made it the biggest entertainment medium in the world.

Street Fighter V is the most recent culprit of the beloved industries new business model of undercooked, microwave gaming. Its longtime publisher Capcom promised consumers the next level of fighting games, but delivered and substandard game due minimal content and dysfunctional online connectivity. read more

(Archive March 15, 2010) Goodbye Paper, Hello Keyboard

By editorialteam on July 10, 2024

Students of All Ages are Switching to Laptops

By Joseph Benavidez | Assistant Editor

As technology advances, more and more college students are using laptops instead of pencils and notebooks. According to the Donald Kitzmiller, Technical Services Manager, roughly 200-250 MWCC students log into their student services account daily.

At 25, MWCC student Tara Powell said she brings her laptop because it helps her to be better organized and because she is a faster typist than a writer. Jessica Race, 34-year-old Liberal Arts major, agreed saying, “I type wicked fast.” Race also said that she preferred taking notes with a computer because it allowed her to share her notes with fellow classmates easier. read more