Scientists use PlayStations to create supercomputer

Not only is it an entertainment device, scientists have been able to create a supercomuter out of it!

Recently, two American scientists have created an easy guide on how to build a supercomputer while using Playstation 3 video games.

"The guide, posted online at ps3cluster.org, allows users with some programming knowledge to install a version of the open-source operating system Linux on the video consoles and connect a number of consoles into a computing cluster or grid."

The researches say this guide could provide a cheaper alternative to renting time on supercomputers to run their simulations.

To read more click here

New Mayor of Vancouver

GREGOR ROBERTSON

of the

Vision Vancouver Party

Vancouver's new mayor which carries the tittle of "Your Worship" has vowed to end homelessness around the city where the Winter Olympics will be taking place. I'm interested in how he will do this what kind of plans will he make in order for this to happen? Recently, the government had closed down a hospital for the mentally unstable ,can Gregor Robertson help recover that? I believe he can, he is young and full of ideas. Check out this website for some more info ! :http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/391412_Joel10.html

Python

Our ICT 12 class will soon be starting a new unit called Python. If you are interested in learning about the computer programming language of Python, visit the following website, run by our ICT 12 teacher, Mr. Vogel:

Python by Vogel !

Twilight

Twilight !!

This popular book has been read by many young readers who have been anticipating this movie for months. Twilight a vampire/romance novel written by Stephanie Meyer. It is a story of a young girl, Isabella "Bella" Swan, who falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. There are three other novels that follow after Twilight -- New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. People should go into the movie with no expectations. However, the book is in most cases usually the better choice when it comes to picking the book or the movie.

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER ! Click HERE
Here's some pictures of the cast taken from Vanity Fair Magazines

Blackberry Storm

Recently,Blackberry created a new model: Blackberry Storm. The Blackberry Storm isn't like any other Blackberry's, its very similar to the feature of the Apple's iPhone its a touch screen! . It was announced that Storm was to arrive before the holidays, but it seems that software and hardware don't quite mesh up in this product. Therefore, it is not a glowing endorsement of the touch-screen technology in the Storm. Check out this review - Blackberry Storm

OLPC XO

This a late post but check it out anyways...

The innovative idea for the "One Laptop Per Child" (OLPC) program was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, to give children in developing countries an educational opportunity that they would never have. Last year, the students of Notre Dame Regional Secondary fundraised to purchase an OLPC XO. They purchased two units, one of which went to a student in a third world country.

On November 17th OLPC will launch their Give One, Get One campaign. There are many ways how everyone can help:

1. Tell 100 friends.

2. Bring your laptop to work or school.

Hopefully, by telling your friends and family about the Give One, Get One campaign, they will want to help. Surprisingly, there are about more than 100,000 members with XOs around the world.

For more updates on One Laptop Per Child, check out the following links:

http://www.laptop.org

http://support.laptop.org

http://youtube.com/olpcfoundation

Trism for the iPhone : Game Makes Big Dollars

This CNN article focuses on a programmers success with the game "Trism" for the iPhone .The company made the game available for download and it was priced at $5 for 2 months. Its a unique puzzle game that many enjoy. Click here to find out more : CNN Article "Trism"

Lest we Forget - November 11th,2008

Remembrance Day .... at Notre Dame

It is that time again, time to fully remember those who have fought and died for our country. It is the time where we remember all the lives that have been taken in order for us to live with the freedom we have today. On Monday, November 10, at Notre Dame Regional Secondary

Vancouver BC, a Remembrance Day service was held. The assembly then proceeded with a number of slides and clips of movies, as well as skits by our grade 11 and 12 students. The grade 12's acted out the current events of the Afghanistan Wars to the song "Fix You" by Coldplay. The grade 11's reenacted the battle where the first gas attack was ever used on the Canadians and recited a poem.

A red poppy is worn to remember those who sacrificed their lives for each and everyone of us.
It was on the 11th day of the 11th hour of the 11th month that WWI finally ended.

Here are some pictures that were taken during the service:

A late post....This week, we started to work with a new coding program called Visual Basic or "VB" for short. It is similar to Turbo Pascal in a sense that we have to write our own underlying codes, though it is different in responsive events. As a class, we were introduced how to operate basic events such as creating a form, adding labels and commands. We will continue to be working with this program for some time and this blog will continually update.

Microsoft Announces New Operating System

Yesterday ( October 27,2008), Microsoft unveiled details of two new operating systems. Currently, the most commonly used operating systems are Windows XP and Windows Vista. Although frequently criticized, often by those who have never used it, Vista is actually are very stable rich environment in which to work, particularly when used with up to date machines.

Nevertheless Microsoft has decided to press ahead with successors for Vista. In late 2009 Windows 7 will be released. It will be much like Vista. Around the same time Microsoft will release Windows Azur, an operating system that lives on Microsoft servers and not on your computer. This is called "Cloud Computing", the "Cloud" being the internet. Basically this means that you wont need an operating system or programs: they will all live in the "Cloud".

Whether this works out or not remains to be seen. However, many companies are already trying this, both with Microsoft and with Google products.

"Cloud Computing " is one of the most used technology buzz words at present.

Updated Blog List

Ava Balingit

Ryan Battistel

Sofia Busse

Nicole Ceralde

Nathan Chiu

Tomasz Cieslik

Jonathan De Maeseneer

Danila Di Giacinto

Sonia Di Palma

Lia Estrellado

Kimberly Francisco

Dilantha Geekiyanage

Nikko Henderson

Nikka Komisarski

Steffani Mastromonaco

Caitlin Nery

Conner Olenick

Andrea Strazzullo

Adam Troczynski

Nikko Tagle

Alannah Villella

Jason Wong

Ava Balingit
Ryan Battistel
Sofia Busse
Nicole Ceralde
Nathan Chiu
Jonathan De Maeseneer
Danila Di Giacinto
Lia Estrallado
Kimberly Francisco
Dilantha Geekiyanage
Nikko Henderson
Nikka Komisarski
Steffani Mastromonaco
Caitlin Nery
Conner Olenick
Andrea Strazzullo
Adam Troczynski
Nikko Tagle
Alannah Villela
Jason Wong


These are the blogs for my ICT 12 colleagues
This class is using blogger throughout the year to record information about various programs and techniques.
This list will be updates to include several blog URLS not presently avaliable.

iGoogle

Today i signed for the iGoogle service and made a couple of minor cutoms changes. I added a custom widget to display my IP address.