We featured some Google Streetview imagery back in late December of downtown State College. Finally, Google has posted up their imagery that was taken of the Penn State campus from a slightly different photo-taking platform. At last, I can look back at my Freshman Dorm (Pinchot Hall) or the building I spent so much time in, for many years to come. Click this link to see a map of Penn State. Drag the man shaped icon from on top of the zoom bar to the area you want to see the Streetview imagery for. Read on for some sweet highlights.
The Centre Area Transit Authority recently released their CATA iPhone App for free. They previously had an app that was basically just a bunch of black and white scans of their bus schedules, then they had the balls to charge me $1.99 for it. (Turns out it was a student who made this app for their ENG411 class and then had the balls to charge me $1.99 for it, YouTube )
But their new app has hit a home run with their new GUI and GPS data. I used the updated CATABUS.com website's realtime bus locater often (amazing!), but it was a real pain in the ass to use it on my phone. More times that not I was stuck out in the cold navigating their website to find that I just missed the bus. Now I'll be able to check my bus schedules right before I leave class with only two touches of the glass to find out that I just missed the bus, and I might as well hop on www.OnwardState.com for a few moments to see whats happening.
You can get this app in the iTunes App Store now
Onward State iPhone App Usefulness Rating: A+
Keeping with this semester's theme of actually getting things done, UPUA had another eventful meeting last night.
Here's the important stuff to know:
At the beginning of the meeting, a representative from "Tree Swings for PSU" spoke, seeking support for their project. Also, Gail Hurley, Associate VP of Auxiliary and Business Services, gave a presentation on her department and all the aspects of university life that it handles. Hurley played a major role in both the implementation of the new White Loop hours, as well as the recent bandwidth limit increase, and she urged students to become more involved with the department so more changes like these can be made. Mike Wallace also took the floor to give what amounted to a farewell address, saying "it's not you, it's me" in regards to his decision to leave.
Luke Pierce will be serving as Director of Strategic Implementation, basically making sure UPUA's current strategic plan is both feasible and actually followed. If his time with IFC is any indicator, this seems like Pierce is the right man to tackle a project of this magnitude.
President Gavin Keirans discussed the success of the White Loop's first weekend with the new hours. He also shared his plan to get members of the IFC to volunteer as Ambassadors to ride the bus on weekends, per UPUA's agreement with CATA. Whether it is a good idea to leave the Greek community responsible for monitoring students who are predominantly using the service as a "drunk bus" to get home from frat parties remains to be seen.
The budget for UPUA's next big project, an effort to revive Penn State's Freshman Handbook, was approved. The goal is to create a handbook that will be passed out to all incoming Freshmen, and possibly change of campus and transfer students as well. This handbook will serve as a guide to Penn State, including maps, campus organizations and services offered. While this idea seems like a noble on, little effort was made to hide UPUA's secondary objectives with this project - gaining the loyalty of new students to further cement its legitimacy. Members of UPUA will be responsible for every aspect of the guide's creation, and will have absolute control over what information is included and what is left out. The fact that UPUA makes no provision for outside oversight or control is more than a little disconcerting. We'll be sure to bring you more information on this project as it develops.
A resolution was also passed promoting the inclusion of the university's non-discrimination policy in all class syllabi and a change was made to UPUA's budget policy in an effort to better streamline small, time-sensitive projects. Low cost (under $1000) projects will no longer have to be voted on, though they will still be reviewed and submitted to the general assembly.
All in all UPUA, seems to be on a roll so far this semester. Hopefully the momentum keeps up.
Come watch representatives from each THON Captain Committee compete for the title of Mr./Mrs. THON in the first annual pageant on Monday in Alumni Hall at the HUB.
Contestants will will be evaluated on their dancing skills, costumes, and other criteria. Be sure not to miss the group dance performance to a Gold Digger/Single Ladies mash up—complete with rapping! The grand prize remains shrouded in mystery, but it’s something every contestant will want during the upcoming THON weekend.
Doors open at 7:00 pm and the event will begin at 7:30 pm. Be sure to arrive early with your suggested $1 donation, as seating will be limited. And, even if you don’t care to see the shenanigans that are sure to ensue, just stop by FTK!
Last week, we let out a story about Windows 7 being implemented to all ITS labs starting this May. To find out some more information about this change, I talked with Marcus Robinson, Director of Marketing Communications at Penn State, to discuss the entire transfer process.
The facts are as follows - starting May 15th, 2010, Windows 7, 32 bit Enterprise Edition, will be implemented into all ITS labs. Starting April 15th, 2010, students, faculty, and staff will be able to test Windows 7 in demo centers in two different locations on campus. They will be located in the Pattee and Pollock 201 (not the eTesting center) open labs. You can consider these demo centers to be an open public beta for ITS and PSU to test the new operating system on the Penn State network, but also for people to get use to the new system.
ITS and Penn State will then be keeping an eye on the fully implemented system over the summer to be on the look out for any unexpected issues and to make sure everything works before 42,000+ students arrive for the fall semester. Mr. Robinson assured me that they do not anticipate any issues when the system is fully implemented.
Now what does that mean for you, the user? Even though ITS labs will not have XP anymore, there is no learning curve for Windows 7. Windows 7 has a very simple interface and everything will be in the same location as Windows XP. It just looks a lot nicer and is a lot faster than XP.
As for Snow Leopard being implemented on the Macs in the lab, that is still in discussion, and there is no official word on that. However, as soon as Onward State hears anything about that, we will be sure to let you know.
It's been a little over a week since a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the already impoverished nation of Haiti. Across the nation people have been working to provide aid to the island nation, from celebrities to former presidents to private citizens.
The Penn State community is no exception to this rule, with several groups and alumni both raising funds at home and providing aid on the ground.
Matthew Marek, class of '98, has been working in Haiti for a decade with the American Red Cross. He has remained in the nation and has become one of the major sources of information on the ground. Read on to see a clip of him being interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper and to find out what else Penn State is doing to help in Haiti.
