Deciding which high definition video player to purchase has just become a little bit easier.On February 19, 2008, Toshiba announced that they were abandoning their HD-DVD format.Prior to this announcement, two competing high definition disc formats, Sony’s Blu-Ray and Toshiba’s HD-DVD, were locked in a seemingly endless battle that left many customers mystified.Predictably, soon after Toshiba’s announcement, Paramount and Universal, the last remaining movie studios to support HD-DVD, announced their switch to Blu-ray as their high definition format of choice.Yet, even after Blu-Ray’s apparent victory, many still wonder whether Sony’s …

ISTania in SecondLife
“I believe that virtual worlds are today where the PCs were in 1986” said Professor Santoro in reference to the popular virtual world, Second Life. Second Life is a virtual world which was launched in 2003 by Linden Labs. In this virtual world, users can fly, socialize, and visit famous places, such as the Sistine Chapel and Ancient Rome, all without ever leaving their seat. Although, it is not the only virtual world available, it is by far the most popular. Presently, IST has an island, …

By Alex Goodstein
The use of social networking websites is nothing new to college students. Many students use one or more online social networking websites on a daily basis. Two years ago, 85% of college student said that they were registered users of Facebook.comi.  This number has continued to grow, with Facebook.com now having over 63 million usersii.  The world’s most popular social networking website, MySpace.com, has over 110 Million active usersiii.  MySpace and Facebook rank seventh and sixth respectively in global access according to the Alexa rankingsiv.  However, these websites …

By Mitchell Rukat
Every year, many products are over-hyped by both corporations and consumers alike.  Initially, everyone feels like they need to have these exciting items. Unfortunately, some of these products can be a big let down.  Moreover, they can lead to feelings of disappointment once people realize how much money they actually spent for them. In this article, I will discuss the top five let downs of 2007.
The first let down of 2007 is X-Box 360’s X-Box Live program.  On Christmas day, over 5 million people signed onto Microsoft’s X-Box …

By Joe Lewis
Have you ever wondered how Google has been able to return accurate images whenever you enter a query? Or maybe you wondered how best to improve “spellcheck” applications in order to allow for the recognition of words outside of the dictionary. These are just some of the ideas Google has recently been working on. During the recent IST Graduate Symposium, Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google, presented some of the advancements that his company has made in areas of text and image modeling. Text and image modeling …

By Mitchell Rukat
Nearly everyone has either played or heard about video games. Many gaming councils have been released in the past decade, with PlayStation 3 being one of the most recent. In this article, I will discuss the PlayStation 3 and its future within the gaming industry.
PlayStation 3 is currently the most advanced video game system available on the market. Unfortunately, few people are fond of this new system. When the console was first released, many rejected it due to its price. Sony initially released two …

By Joe Lewis
MIST: What is your background before you came to Penn State and got involved with SRA (Security Risk and Analysis)?
Professor Graham: Prior to teaching SRA I was a career Marine Corps officer. I retired in July of 2007 and my family and I relocated to State College. In seeking employment with Penn State, my first inclination was to look for a job in the Athletic Department. As a former squadron and airbase commander, I thought my experience in managing people and facilities could be put to use managing …