Remembrance Day Poppy. Created in Adobe Illustrator with vectors.
Technology News Stories
Tech News 1 – OpenAI’s Release of GPT-4o (Omni)
In May 2024, OpenAI launched GPT-4o, its first “omnimodal” model, capable of seamlessly handling text, image, and audio inputs. This was a huge leap in AI capabilities, with real-time voice conversation and broader applications in education, customer service, and creative industries. While many praised the technology, critics raised concerns about data privacy, misinformation, and the replacement of human jobs.
As someone who regularly uses AI tools (including ChatGPT!), I’m very excited. GPT-4o opens amazing possibilities for learning and creativity, and I don’t believe safeguards are required. At the end of the day, I believe AI will be AI, and it can never truly replace the art that can be created by a human.
Tech News 2 – Apple’s Ban on Third-Party App Stores in the EU
In early 2025, Apple announced it would block access to third-party app stores in the European Union following a dispute over the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA aims to increase competition by forcing tech giants to allow alternatives to their own services. Apple argues that complying compromises security and user experience, while European regulators argue it’s necessary to break Apple’s monopoly on iOS app distribution.
As a tech-savvy student, I find Apple’s stance frustrating. While I appreciate Apple’s focus on security, I believe competition ultimately benefits users through lower prices and more innovation. By blocking third-party stores, Apple is disguising their focus on profits as “security.” I support the EU’s efforts and hope it pushes Apple to rethink its approach for the sake of fair competition.
Tech News 3 – Nvidia GTC 2025
In March 2025, Nvidia hosted its GTC conference in San Jose, drawing over 25,000 attendees. CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the Isaac GR00T N1, the first open humanoid robot foundation model. Nvidia also introduced NVLink Fusion, designed to supercharge custom AI infrastructure.
As a student fascinated by robotics, the Isaac GR00T N1 is incredibly exciting because it brings us closer to lifelike robots. NVLink Fusion also opens doors for more powerful and accessible AI tools in schools and labs. Still, I think developers must carefully consider the social impact and ethical risks as these powerful technologies expand.
Passion Project #1
The Outside Shadows. Movie poster created in Adobe Photoshop.
Passion Project #2
Fortnite Project. Created in Photoshop. Rightmost character’s shoe was created with Generative Fill Artificial Intelligence.
Fortnite Project (incomplete). Created in Photoshop. Before rightmost character’s shoe was added with AI.
Passion Project #3
Precalculus 11– Scams and Fraud. Assembled and edited with sound effects in iMovie. Uploaded to YouTube.
Passion Project #4
The Origin Story of the Greatest Wide Receiver Ever: An Emotional Short Film. Assembled and edited in Premiere Pro and uploaded to YouTube.
My first article is about AI and its overuse in this era. Students are neglecting their studies and using AI to do their work, leading to nothing being learned. One source of AI is ChatGPT by OpenAI. ChatGPT is getting increasingly popular these days, and people are using it to cheat. The more sophisticated AI gets, the more people will get “addicted”.
This is not a good idea. People are just using AI for work, then slacking off. AI has many uses, but people are using it to cheat in daily life. Some solutions may be to pause the development of AI
Tech article no. 2
My second article is on Augmented Reality (AR) which is integrating digital information into a person’s view in real time. This is a really cool piece of technology which does not hinder our view on the world and only adds to it. AR has its downsides. People that get super used to it and then they use AR in bad ways. They can get so used to the view that they can’t survive without the help of the tech.
AR can cause health problems such as visual fatigue and dry eyes. It could be helpful, but it still causes more problems than it solves.
I made these poppies for Remembrance Day using Adobe Illustrator.
Tech News Story One: Social Media Banned for All Children Under 16 in Australia
In November, Australia passed a bill banning social media for all children under the age of 16. This ban is the most restrictive one currently in place in the world, and has the highest age limit. Many Australians believe that this is a step in the right direction, but others are worried about negative impacts on youth.
The main reasoning behind the ban is to free youth from the confines of harmful content and addictive apps. “We want our kids to have a childhood and parents to know we have their backs,” Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, said (credit BBC). It’s hard to disagree with this sentiment; we all want children and teens to enjoy their lives and be safe online, and the social media ban will help protect young people from the dangers of this kind of technology. However, experts are worried that the ban could prevent teens from connecting with their friends online, leaving them feeling isolated. Additionally, there are concerns about privacy with possible age-verification technology, which could involve biometric recognition of the faces of children and adults alike.
How the ban is implemented and its positive or negative effects remain to be seen. Depending on the outcome, other countries, like Canada, could follow suit, or if the ban is ineffective, go down alternative paths for protecting children on social media.
Personally, I think that the ban has both positive and negative attributes. As a teenager, I am aware of my and my friends’ social media usage, and the positive and negative impacts it can have on our mental health. I take steps to avoid overusing social media, but not every teenager does, and this can lead to a lack of sleep and poor performance in school and other activities. While a flat-out ban may not be the ultimate solution to the social media problem, it will force tech companies to make their platforms safer for kids or risk losing a significant portion of their users. I look forward to seeing the positive impacts that will most surely come from this.
I created this Google Form to act as a practice test for an upcoming Life Sciences 11 exam. It involves questions from all units and gives users a score out of 14 once they have completed the test.
Tech News Story Two: Smart Ray-Bans
In October of 2023, Meta Ray-Bans were released, which put photo, video and AI capabilities into a pair of fashionable glasses. These glasses allow wearers to listen to music, take photos and videos, livestream from the glasses, send messages, and ask AI questions, all without even taking out their phone. The glasses are reported to be as comfortable as regular ones, only weighing “a couple grams more” than their non-AI counterparts. With a long battery life and stylish, comfortable frames, these smart glasses could be the wave of the future. However, there are also some concerns with the ethics of the technology. Two Harvard students proved that while AI glasses are cool, they also raise some concerns about privacy.
Combining facial recognition programs with AI assistants, the students approached strangers in the subway station and tested the technology on them. Once in about every 3 people, the glasses recognized a face and pulled information from the internet about them, including information about their job and possibly even where they live. They then introduced themselves to the strangers, asking them questions based on the information retrieved about their identities. The strangers, a bit confused to be greeted by someone they’d never met before, had no idea what was going on until they saw the video of the encounter posted later on social media.
Personally, I believe that the Meta Ray-Bans are a great new invention that will be helpful to many people, but we also must be careful about respecting people’s privacy, especially when such useful technology is right at our fingertips. The same expectation of courtesy and etiquette with phones should be upheld with smart glasses and any other kinds of wearable electronics. In the end, always stop and think before you record someone or use facial recognition mechanisms, and ask yourself if it is the right thing to do. When in doubt, just ask for permission.
I used Adobe Illustrator and watched a video on how to make a parrot using Illustrator functions such as the ellipse tool, layering shapes and then subtracting parts to make half-circles, and using the eyedropper tool to make everything the same colour.
Tech News Story Three: Synthetic Media
The rise of artificial intelligence in many aspects of communication and information sharing, such as social media posts, has also given rise to what is known as “synthetic media”. Synthetic media refers to any photo or video that has been altered or changed in some way to make it different. AI allows us to create all sorts of synthetic media, from photos of ourselves with cat filters to reels on social media to AI-generated trip itineraries. This kind of technology has led to advances in the film industry and other creative industries, improving some already-existing features such as CGI and making cinema even better. On a smaller scale, we can create fun social media posts that we share with our friends which were made through the assistance of AI. While all of these aspects of synthetic media are beneficial, AI has recently been used in the spread of disinformation.
Deepfakes, or fake videos of famous people, have become more and more common in our world, and harder to spot. Videos of politicians and celebrities, usually saying or doing outrageous things, proliferate across news and social media platforms, often spreading fast and far before fact-checkers can debunk them. This can lead to consumers being easily manipulated by fake videos, and believing the ideas and opinions that they share, which are most often harmful. In today’s uncertain political landscape, this type of synthetic media could wrongfully damage the reputations of different parties or candidates, causing their supporters to lose faith in their platforms or even support a different party, all because of false information.
I believe that synthetic media has both positive and negative impacts on society. The positive aspects should be enhanced and celebrated, and we should reduce the negative aspects through consumer education, legislation and forms of technology that can combat deepfakes. We should also enjoy the benefits we reap from AI, but be conscious of the ways it can be used for harm, making sure to never spread misinformation and always protect ourselves from the influence of this technology.
I used Photoshop to create this wacky scene. I took pictures off of the internet and combined them to form new animals, using the selection, blur, remove background and erase tools. I generated the background using AI.
Tech News Story Four: 23andMe Bankruptcy
The popular genetic testing company 23andMe has recently filed for bankruptcy, leaving many people wondering what will happen to the data the company has collected. Much of the information gathered from genetic testing can be quite personal. From your ancestry to your susceptibility to certain diseases to many other characteristics, companies like 23andMe provide users with lots of information. DNA testing is comprehensive as it looks at the whole genome, and can allow people to better understand themselves and make informed decisions about their health and take preventative measures to help ensure a better future.
Unfortunately, as 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy, all of this valuable, yet sensitive, information could be changing hands very soon. Another company could buy 23andMe, and that company could have different privacy laws that don’t adequately protect the data of their customers. A data breach already occurred in 2023, exposing many customers’ data without their consent. Attorney general of California Rob Bonta said “Given 23andMe’s reported financial distress, I remind Californians to consider invoking their rights and directing 23andMe to delete their data and destroy any samples of genetic material held by the company,” (The Toronto Star), echoing the comments of other experts.
I believe that, in a world where many aspects of our life and information about us is stored online, we have to be careful about who we share our personal data with, and whether the risk is worth it at all. Once your information is out there, it’s often hard to retrieve it. When using online genetic testing, it’s important to take all possible steps to protect yourself. Putting personal information in the hands of someone else is always risky, so be prepared for all possible outcomes, including data breaches, before using such services.
Project 4: Mailchimp Campaign: Best Off-Campus Lunch Spots
I created a Mailchimp campaign, with an attached Google Form, surveying people about the best places to each lunch off-campus. The first image is a screenshot of the email, and the second one is the embed code for that email.
Tech News Story 5: Digital Twins: How the Fashion Industry Is Moving Towards AI Models
Famous fashion company H&M recently announced that they are going to start using AI models for marketing purposes. This campaign is an exciting opportunity to try out new forms of technology in a never-before-seen way. Many models are excited about this idea. It will allow them to be in “multiple places at once” (through their digital rendering). Without sacrificing pay, they will be able to take on more contracts and further their career by modeling for companies that may be far away from where they live. Spokespeople say that the models and their agents will have full control over their digital twin, just as if it was a real picture of themselves. This project could cut down on costs for the company and reduce travel time for the models.
However, there are also concerns about this kind of technology being used against the wishes of the models. Clothing institutions could potentially use a digital twin in advertising without properly compensating the model for it, or apply the likeness in ways that the model doesn’t consent to. Additionally, professions associated with photo shoots, such as photography, makeup art, hair styling, and equipment setup could find themselves out of a job. To cut costs, money has to be saved somewhere, and in this case it would be by getting rid of all the jobs associated with organizing and running a photo shoot.
In a constantly developing tech and fashion industry, policies and regulations can often fall behind innovations. The AI fashion industry could make the lives of models and companies much easier, extending the reach of their products. Sadly, it could also render many jobs void, and leave people out of work, or provide an opportunity for future companies to misuse digital likenesses in whole new ways. I believe that this kind of technology should be closely monitored and followed by laws to protect workers from the negative aspects of AI models, but not prevent industries from experimenting and progressing. We all have to make sure that as our world is developing no one is being harmed in the process.
Tech News Story 6: Bird Lasers: How Technology Is Being Used to Combat the Spread of Avian Flu
Avian influenza (H5N1) has been a problem for a long time, but the effects of the virus have grown in recent months and years. Wiping out millions of birds from a flock and decimating farms, H5N1 has made its mark. Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the story. Avian flu has spread to dairy farms, infecting cows and even human workers. While avian flu can’t spread from person to person yet, if the virus keeps spreading and mutating, it could happen soon. With a crisis looming in the future, experts were looking for a solution to the problem. They found one: lasers.
Originally used around airports to stop birds from landing on the runway, lasers provide an eco-friendly and harmless solution to the problem of keeping wild birds away from farms. Invisible to us and safe for animals and people, the technology is an excellent way to stop the spread. When installed on the top of a building, they form criss-crossing lines that birds perceive as objects, so they do not land. Farmers in Minnesota have tested the use of the lasers on farms, and they appear to work perfectly. A couple of months ago, the Minnesota government even gave out grants to farms to help subsidize the cost of installing these lasers.
With avian influenza cases rapidly increasing, I think that technology, whether it is bird deterrents or vaccines, is the only way we will solve the problem and prevent it from getting worse. Technology has been used to solve all kinds of problems, and this issue is no different. Also, this design is not new: lasers were already in place in airports. Sometimes, the answer isn’t hard to find: You just have to look around at the tools you already have, and one of them might just work.
Hey! Thanks for checking out my portfolio. Feel free to check everything out! : D
Twin Python Projects
We created two python projects at the start of the year. One of them is a numbers game, and another is a words game. (If any link in this portfolio doesn’t work, refer to the OBS video) : )
This game is like a choose your own adventure story, but there’s only really one good ending.
We created poppies in Tinkercad for Remembrance Day. This is the screenshot:
Month of Failure Project
We created experimental projects, and I used Python. Although, Trinket doesn’t support part of my code so it can’t run on there. To work around this, I used Thonny instead and it works perfectly fine. This project is basically a luck trial, where you put your birthday in to see if you’re old enough, have a randomly generated number that determines whether you can play, and a rock paper scissors game against a bot. Win and get bragging rights! Full demonstration is shown on video.
Students are using AI to cheat in school, and anti-AI programs aren’t cutting it.
ChatGPT has been here since November 30, 2022, and its release spiralled into many other tech companies following with creating their own version of AI. But what is AI? AI is an acronym for “artificial intelligence”. It can translate spoken and written language, analyze data, give recommendations for any topic, summarize an article, give answers to questions in simple terms, and much more. Some examples of AI are ChatGPT, Gemini, or a newer addition: DeepSeek. Since AI is so readily available, it is also very easy to use to cheat in a test or essay. Many students have already used AI to generate entire essays, and then turned them in. Of course, teachers and educators would want to put a stop to this behavior, and that’s where AI detectors come in. AI detectors can check if an article is generated with AI, but they are generally ineffective and inaccurate.
This is a problem for school systems in general. AI detectors have already shown to flag real, student written works as AI generated and AI generated works as real. This is harmful to both students and education systems, because people can get away with cheating easily, and people who actually did the work can get punished for doing nothing wrong. As well, having an incredibly available way of cheating can foster an environment of distrust between students and teachers, which may make classrooms much less fun to be in and learn in. With how widespread AI is, there should be some reliable way of detecting it, but there isn’t currently one. I feel that this doesn’t bode well for school in the future as AI becomes more advanced, and it becomes easier and easier to cheat. AI may get so advanced that there’s no way to tell it apart from a real human’s writing. Hopefully, AI gets some rules on how people can use it, and it becomes harder to cheat with artificial intelligence.
Social Media Addiction in Teens
As the years go on, our lives become more intertwined with technology and in turn, we grow more apart from each other. Teens and younger children are exposed to the Internet and social media at earlier and earlier ages. As well, they are also much more susceptible to the numerous algorithms that keep people on social media platforms longer. This leads to addiction to these platforms, which can eventually turn harmful. Overuse of social media can lead to depression, social anxiety, cyberbullying, low self esteem, isolation, and being exposed to things kids shouldn’t see. Some social media platforms can also lead to shorter attention spans which make it harder to learn in school.
Personally, I believe that there should at least be more restrictions on social media. If not set by the platform itself, then by the parents of the children. And I am writing this as a teen myself, although I don’t use much social media. Social media can be a good thing, when it’s used responsibly and sparingly enough. I believe it shouldn’t be outright banned, but there should be something restricting teens to not use social media as much. Social media addiction is slowly becoming a bigger problem as technology advances, and if we don’t do anything about it, it’s going to get worse. This is already a large problem already, not just in teens, but in adults as well. Sometimes, we should just take a break from it more than we do already.
The Nintendo Switch 2
The first Nintendo Switch released in 2017, and it still sees a lot of use to this day. Though, this year, Nintendo announced a new console. The Nintendo Switch 2, which is coming out in 2025. Like its predecessor, the Nintendo Switch 2 can be used as a handheld console or a home console. As well, it appears to be larger and sleeker than the regular Nintendo Switch, and it is now mostly black in color. It still seems to retain the design features of the Nintendo Switch, and the button placements are similar to it as well. Currently, there will be a presentation on April 4th about the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, as well as a closer look at the console. For the time being, not much information has been given, though that has not stopped people from being incredibly excited about the new Switch.
It would be a lie to say that I am not excited about this news. The new trailer also looks quite intriguing to me. Though, I’m curious as to how well it will compare to the old Nintendo Switch. Would it be enough of an upgrade for people who already have a Nintendo switch to consider buying? As well, though the new design looks great, I prefer the more colorful joy-cons of the first Nintendo Switch. When the remotes are connected to the main console, it looks monotonous and a bit boring. I can barely tell the joy-cons apart as well, as they barely have any color on them. Personally, I prefer the design of the first Nintendo Switch more than the second, but I still like both. As well, there isn’t much information on it or its performance while running various games, so we’ll have to wait for a bit longer for that. Overall, I’m pretty excited about this, and eagerly waiting for more details about it.
NHL Predictions:
We basically looked at the top player’s wins and losses to try and predict how many points they would score. This graph is representative of all the data over two months collected into a google sheets.
Our website is about our top/favorite songs. I collaborated with Saba and Matilda to create this website. It has a working menu and all of us have a page of our top songs, as well as an “about” section.
It’s a screenshot of my first 3d project I made for my May Passion Projects assignment. I was inspired by lilypads and lotus flowers while creating this.
Editorial News Articles – Passion Project #2
Macbook or Windows?
There has always been an argument about whether Macbooks or Windows are better. They’re the main two laptops people have to choose between usually, and both have pros and cons. First, Windows offers a much larger price range compared to macbooks and tends to be cheaper. As well, Windows laptops run video games better than Macbooks, which could be an important factor for some people when deciding which laptop to choose. Also, Windows has more customization options than Macbooks, and more software is supported on Windows rather than Macs. However, Macbooks do have access to Apple-exclusive apps like iMessages and Procreate. If an apple-exclusive app is necessary for a task, then a Macbook would be the better choice here. Macs also are known to be more user-friendly and easier to operate. Personally, I prefer Windows laptops. Not only because it’s the main laptop I use for school, but also because it can do practically anything a Mac can do while being much cheaper. Sure, I don’t get to use apps like iMovie or Procreate, but I currently don’t have any need for them. For daily school use, my Windows laptop works very well, and the battery lasts quite a long time. Another reason I prefer Windows is because of the keybinds. Most of my grade, including me, started out with Chromebooks. Those laptops have virtually the same keybinds as Windows, which made it much easier for me to make the switch. Plus, I use keybinds constantly, and they’re very convenient for me. Finally, I just find Windows more familiar to me, since my entire family uses it. Overall, it is up to personal preference which laptop is better, but I certainly know which laptop I’m going to be using for the foreseeable future.
Google’s AI Summary
I’m sure we’ve all seen it. An AI Overview that takes all the information from relevant websites and spits it out at the top of the google search. At first glance, it seems quite convenient. Instead of browsing through websites looking for a roundabout way to answer a question, it’s right there in front of you instead. But this AI summary didn’t go unnoticed without backlash. People have been criticizing it for using information from sites that aren’t credible, often calling it unreliable and not an accurate source of info. It has even been recorded saying the exact opposite of what a source it cited said, which is worrying. In my opinion, these summaries are quite annoying and ultimately not necessary. Yes, in a pinch they are useful, but they only really save me a couple of seconds. And that’s if it doesn’t get the information wrong or use misinformation as its source. Plus, Google doesn’t allow us to turn off this feature, so I’m forced to see it even if I don’t want to. As well, since it isn’t fully reliable, I still need to fact check it usually, which feels like it defeats the purpose of it. It’s not convenient to have an AI summary giving me information if I still need to spend time verifying if it’s true anyway. It would be faster to look at sources myself instead. If there was an option to turn it off, I believe that most people wouldn’t care about it much. But since we can’t, and it’s not even correct all of the time, I think that this isn’t really necessary for Google searches.
Tinkercad – Passion Project #3
A screenshot of my second Tinkercad project. It is a terrifying mockery of a scrub daddy. What I have created. What have I done?
Slideshow – Passion Project #4
This slideshow is a revamped version of the previous slideshow on google slides. It has transitions, animations, and honestly looks cooler. Here’s a link: NHL Slides.pptx
Recently the question has arisen, “Is Apple really protecting our privacy?”. Many people have speculated about this topic and recently some truth has come out. As the iPhone 16 arrives, users are concerned about new “Apple Intelligence” being slowly integrated into their phones.
One of many concerns regarding Apple Intelligence is the reworked voice assistant, Siri, who will now be able to use Apple Intelligence to perform commands the user initiates. For instance, if you say, “What time did Owais say to meet him for lunch?” Siri will now be able to find that information and respond. This definitely creeped out some users who are scared for their security and privacy. As said in the CyberNews article, “After years of data exploitation reports by other big tech firms, users have a right to be skeptical”.
Critical Thoughts
Even I feel concerns regarding AI being integrated into our phones, and what right we will have to easily opt out of it. ChatGPT being involved makes me feel like something is fishy about all of this. There are also many significant worries about the amount of personal data AI can collect. It’s been known that Apple has sugar coated things like privacy issues in the past to its users, which obviously leaves users skeptical. Due to this, they may worry about what could occur following the AI tech integration that Apple is taking part of. Yes, there are tools that analyse our content, write essays, recognize photos, but truly where do we draw the line? Are we accelerating towards an AI future too fast?
With the new iPhone 16 being brought into the public eye, people on social media were quick to respond to the new phone, many of the responses being negative. It’s been a known thing that Apple has seemed to not put much thought into drastically changing the physical appearance to the iPhone, which has definitely been a disappointment to some, especially since truly not many changes to the iPhones physical appearance have changed since the iPhone 11 came out in 2019, nearly half a decade ago. The only differences we see as far as physical appearance goes are the display sizes, new colour variations, new camera look (only on 16 and 16+), and the new camera button placed on the side of the phone. Apple Intelligence is one of the most anticipated new features but has gotten much backlash, and the 15s are getting it too so it isn’t technically unique to the 16s.
Critical Thoughts
Despite the “under the hood” changes, many including myself, still feel the need for more of a change. For instance if we look all the way back to the 5-6s, or more recently the XR-11 Pro Max, we see a much more drastic difference than what we’re seeing now in my opinion. I’m unsure if it’s laziness on Apple’s part or just poor planning but I genuinely think it would be more beneficial if they lengthened the time between iPhone release dates. Maybe even just half a year more could make a bigger difference when it comes to iPhones because I always tend to feel that they’re getting a bit rushed, and Apple is just throwing whatever they can in there to make the “new” phone seem cooler. Honestly I don’t want to be convinced, I want to look and use the phone and be sold. For me that was how I felt with the Iphone Xs, and 11s when they were released, and nowadays that feeling is almost never reciprocated.
