LastPass is an app that was created to manage the many usernames and passwords that people create. Once a person logs into LastPass, all they must do is select any website they have connected to the LastPass account to log in safely and securely. LastPass has been recommended by Fox News, The Economist and Associated Press.

The Soviet Union’s space triumph put them ahead of the United States in the “space race.” The United States had previously planned to send their first space flight in May of the same year. It wasn’t until February 1962 that the United States was able to match the Soviet Union feat of orbiting the Earth.

Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. is choosing to celebrate more than just their fraternity this week as they concentrate on health initiatives as well by putting on a health fair for Winthrop students.  Tim Mention, a business administration major and president of Kappa Alpha Psi, said that the fraternity is focused on “helping those in the community and on Winthrop’s campus.”

The health fair will feature approximately 23 venders ranging from chiropractors to massage therapists and from general doctors to dentists.  Representatives from Keystone Substance Abuse and the Red Cross will also be in attendance.

“The health fair promotes local doctors instead of going home,” said Mention.

Mention, who lived a few hours away from campus before attending Winthrop, used to have to drive a few hours in order to make appointments at his local doctors.  He hopes that the fair will make doctors’ appointments more convenient for students who live far away from Winthrop.

The fair, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will give students a chance to meet with various health representatives during the event.  Students may also pick up coupons and certificates for free massages from local places.

Kappa Alpha Psi is hosting the health fair during “Kappa Week,” a week which promotes their organization as well as one of their philanthropies—St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

“My brother was diagnosed at 18 and he passed away at 37,” said Scurry, who also serves as the recreational services assistant dean of students.

Scurry’s brother was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. Scurry is now involved with the Greater Western Carolinas chapter and volunteers with the Walk to Cure Diabetes.

“It only took me 20 years to get involved,” Scurry said.

The Greater Western Carolinas chapter is hosting the Charlotte Walk to Cure Diabetes on Sat., April 27.

Scurry is working on putting together a team from Winthrop for the walk. According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the organization was founded in 1970 for helping to improve research for curing, treating and preventing Type I diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that attacks the body’s cells that make insulin.

Approximately 24 million people in U.S. are currently diagnosed with diabetes with 1.9 people newly diagnosed each year.

A new case is found every 30 seconds.

After the walk, Scurry is planning to help JDRF in his own way. In the future, Scurry would like to host a disc golf tournament in honor of his brother.

“My brother was the one who introduced me to disc golf,” Scurry said.

For more information about JDRF, visit http://www2.jdrf.org/ or contact Scurry at scurryg@winthrop.edu.

Juliana Harris and Tiara Suber, of the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, recently wrote about the risks of identity theft and hacking through smart phones. Their writing warns users about using public Wi-Fi, sharing too much information and phishing.

James Hammond, associate vice president for information technology at Winthrop, believes that while smart phones have become more difficult to hack since their inception, there is always a risk of having a phone hacked. Hammond also believes that new forms of hacking could be formulated in the future, which is why people need to protect their phones.

“We are just kind of waiting for the next wave of exploits to be found,” Hammond said, ”because the bad guys are always at work trying to find something like a weakness in the phone and once they do, it’s going to be exploited.”

Hammond said that there are four simple steps that students can take to protect their phones and the information inside of them.

First, Hammond suggests that students change their default voice mail password after buying a phone. Hammond warns that voice mail hacking is more prevalent than many students realize.

Hammond’s second piece of advice is for students to treat their smart phones as a piece of property that needs to be kept safe.

“The phone itself, think of it as an important piece of property,” Hammond said. “Put your pin on there to lock the phone and also treat it with respect, in that you always know where it is. Once you lose that device somebody has the potential to get into your contacts or get any confidential information you have in there.”

Not storing confidential information in a smart phone is Hammond’s third piece of advice for keeping information safe. Hammond warns anyone who does have anything confidential, like passwords and credit card numbers, saved in their phone, to at least use encryption so that others will not be able to get that information easily.

The fourth step that Hammond believes smart phone users should take is to sign up for location services so that they will be able to track their phones if lost.

Although Hammond believes that apps like this can be useful, he warns students about the amount of information certain untrustworthy apps can take from your phone.

“Make sure that you are only installing apps that you thoroughly trust,” Hammond said.

Harris and Suber warn about public Wi-Fi, because many people use it to cut down on data usage, especially on college campuses. They warn that even though the Wi-Fi is free, smart phones are more vulnerable to malware and hacking when connected to unsecured networks and can cost the user in the long run.

Hammond agrees with the sentiment and even feels that secured networks can be dangerous if a person that is trying to steal information is controlling the secured network. His advice is to be aware of who is running the network being used by the smart phone.

“Try to have some degree of faith in whose

network you’re using,” Hammond said. “The more knowledge you have about that network, the better.”

While smart phones allow the user to do a great deal while on the go, it is important for users to understand the risks involved in using them. Steps can and should be taken to protect personal information while using smart phones. For more information on identity theft and hacking through smart phones, visit www.consumer.sc.gov.

James Hammond, associate vice president for information technology, warns students to make sure they keep track of their smart phones at all times. Photo by Coleman Krietemeyer • krietemeyerc@mytjnow

While Apple refuses to comment on what for now is speculation, there has been talk that the company had plans to release a less-expensive iPhone that could be released for sale sometime during the second half of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The release of a more inexpensive iPhone would allow the company to compete on a wider scale with Android phones, said NBC news. Android gives users a wider range of variety because different companies manufacture the phones.

Android users are also fans of the bigger screens offered on Android phones while any newer iPhone is more likely to have the same 4-inch screen, reported NBC news.

The competition originally started in 2001 with two schools competing,.Each school’s recycling coordinator was looking to find a way to promote recycling on their campus and came up with the idea to make it a competition between their two schools: Miami University of Ohio and Ohio University, according to the tournament’s site. The competition has since grown and this past year over 600 schools competed in the competition.

Winthrop University was one of 13 South Carolina institutions to compete in this year’s Recyclemania competition. Winthrop has competed in the Recyclemania tournament since 2006. Competing in the “Per Capita Classic” Winthrop finished ranked at 284 among 355 schools, with an average of 3.7 lbs. per capita.

In paper recycling Winthrop finished at 122 with an average of 1.3 pounds per capita. The Eagles also competed in the cardboard division and the cans and bottles division, all results are listed on Recyclemania’s website. Winthrop has competed in the tournament for the past eight years

According to the Recyclemania website, while the number of people recycling on college campuses has grown due to increased tournament participation, there is still a high number of recyclables going into the trash.

James Hammond, associate vice president for information technology, said that although it sounds like a futuristic endeavor, the technology has been around for quite a while. Hammond explained that iris scanners do exactly what it sounds like they do.

“An iris scanner uses cameras to take pictures of a person’s iris,” Hammond said. “It then digitizes the pictures into codes with hundreds of data points that allow it to be stored for matching against future pictures.  This allows the scanner to confirm the identity of a person for purposes such as door entry.”

Winthrop’s iris scanning stations, titled EagleEye stations, have not actually been implemented around campus yet, but are in the testing stages.

“We are developing a pilot program to determine feasibility,” said Hammond. “If the program is determined to be feasible, we will look at areas such as the MacFeat Nursery, West Center and Tillman Data Center for implementation.”

Hammond feels that locations where it is inconvenient to carry an ID card are the best locations to begin using the EagleEye system because it will allow students to scan into the location quickly and hands free.

Hammond feels the iris scanners are not only more convenient than ID cards but that they will help protect student identity as well.

“Iris scanners are very accurate and cannot be forged,” Hammond said. “ID cards are less effective because they can be passed to other users or stolen or even forged.  Iris scanners are the most accurate form of biometric recognition.  Iris scanners are far more accurate than fingerprint scanners.”

The iris scanners use 3D technology, so the program recognizes people so that a person cannot steal somebody’s identity by using a picture of a person’s eyes.

Aside from security, iris scanners prevent students from passing germs which scanning an ID or even fingerprint scanners do. The no touch technology prevents students from having to touch a scanner that has been touched by others before them.

Hammond believes Winthrop is on the cutting edge of university use of the technology because it is only one of two schools that have begun to test iris scanners in the Southeast. The technology is so new for university specific use that members of the Winthrop faculty have been the ones developing some of the software.

So far the iris scanners are being used in many airports across the United States and Canada, in the military and in hospitals.

The technology has been in use in these different locations for years, but have only recently been made more affordable which is why Hammond wanted to get Winthrop involved with the scanners. The units cost about $2,000 more per unit than the traditional card scanners being used on Winthrop’s campus, which Hammond feels is a price worth paying for the security of the program.

In the two weeks that Technology Services have had the testing scanners, they have had around 250 students quickly and successfully scan their irises. Technology Services has been urging students who are getting new ID cards to go ahead and sign up for the iris scanners, so that the school can test the system as much as possible.

Hammond said Winthrop will determine whether or not the iris scanners are feasible for the schools use in about a month, and if they are they could begin to be implemented in certain parts of campus as soon as the summer.

The event featured videos about social media and a panel comprised of three mass communication students along with mass communication associate professor Dr. Nathaniel Frederick.

The conferences opened with a mockumentary about the control social media holds over people’s lives. While the panelists agreed that Facebook and Twitter have a hold over students, there are good functions.

“A lot of people break their news stories on Twitter, because they know that people are already on Twitter, and tweeting,” said student panelist, Gabrielle Franklin.

The topic turned from social media to the use of phones in the classroom. A video was shown that displayed the positive aspects of using phones in the classroom, but Frederick hasn’t seen a practical everyday use for phones in the classroom.

“There are times when you just need to pay attention during class,” Frederick said.

Although cell phones won’t be incorporated into Frederick’s classroom he has found a use for other forms of technology.

“I really use Youtube as a learning tool,” Frederick said. “I would say I’m a better teacher because of Youtube and I could not live without it as a teacher.”

Although he has enjoyed Youtube as a teaching tool, other panelists mentioned it as a form of entertainment which was met with some skepticism by both Frederick and Franklin.

Both worried that laughing at Youtube sensations like Sweet Brown and Antoine Dodson is laughing at news representations of poor African Americans.

By the end of the event the four panelists came to the agreement that new forms of social media are ingrained in current society and have both negative and positive aspects that tend to balance each other out.

Earth Hour is a worldwide event in which people all over the world are encouraged to turn off their lights for an hour to show concern for the environment.

The students involved with SEAC asked the school to participate in the event by turning the lights around the campus green out for an hour, but this request was not granted because it was seen as a safety hazard.

This roadblock didn’t stop members of the organization from participating themselves. The group met on the campus green with food, bubbles, kites, Frisbee discs and candles to spend an hour outdoors to show their care for the environment. SEAC co-president, Brandi Sheppard, felt that the event was too important to pass up.

“The entire world has basically come together to say we need a cure to help the Earth,” Sheppard said. “And it starts with us. It starts with our individual actions and coming together and saying ‘hey I’m going to take a responsibility of turning off my lights for just an hour.’”

The organization’s other co-president, Moriah Nabors, felt that it was an event that was as important as it was simple.

“We thought that since it’s an easy task to just turn off your lights for an hour we’d get the campus to join us,” Nabors said.

The night opened with a candlelight vigil to represent the use of natural lighting as opposed to electricity that the world has grown so accustomed to.

“We think it’s symbolic to pass around candles,” Sheppard said. “It also makes the message of trying to go back to natural energy.”

Nabors agreed with this sentiment and added that they wanted to show students that there are activities to participate in outdoors that do not leave a negative impact on the environment.

Although attendance at the event was minimal, both presidents said that was what they expected. The group has been making an effort to try to get students involved in their activities all year, but have been met with a lack of participation.

Despite student indifference, SEAC has forged on, hoping to spread knowledge to college students, because they think that it is important that students get involved.

“We are the future of the world and if we start really early then maybe we can make a difference,” Nabors said.

The group plans to host activities throughout the rest of the year to try to spread their green message. SEAC will be hosting a mock oil spill on the campus green on April 9 and encourage any students interested in the environment to attend.