I've witnessed many changes over my three well-spent years at Dartmouth. I've seen the end of a great college president's tenure and the beginning of another's equally promising career. I've seen the beloved Thayer Dining Hall gutted and morphed into the unfinished and overcrowded mess that it is now. I've observed the slow deterioration and decay of many frat basements into their current toxic states.
Being the tech nerd that I am, the biggest changes I've seen at Dartmouth involve the technology used by students. A school's gadget preferences fluctuate more frequently than the alcohol levels on MTV's "The Jersey Shore." No gadget remains king for too long, and I'm here to review the big tech changes I've witnessed over the past three years:
Androids are cool again.
After Star Wars, the word "android" was always associated with sci-fi nerds who enjoyed role-playing. Google, however, completely changed the stigma with its Android mobile phone operating system. Although Apple's iPhone officially ushered in the current generation of super-fast and incredibly versatile smart phones, U.S. phone vendors still sell more devices boasting the Android operating system than iPhones. Dartmouth students have also slowly started to adopt Android phones. The iPhone is still the phone of choice at the College (sorry, Blackberry users), but devices such as Verizon's Droid X and Sprint's Evo 4G have started to challenge the Apple heavyweight for smart phone superiority.
Flip phones are not cool again.
If you still have a Motorola RAZR, you are probably still riding on the coattails of your middle school popularity. It's time for an upgrade.
Die Vista, Die.
Windows Vista sucked. Plagued by frequent crashes and inconsistent performance, Vista was a nightmare for the students who were unfortunate enough to have the software preloaded on their computers. For a few years, the word "Vista" was more traumatizing than the phrases, "the internet is down" or "it turns out he's not actually the father." Now, everyone who bought a Vista machine has either upgraded to Windows 7, downgraded to XP or simply bought a new Mac.
It's not email. It's Gmail.
For those of you who don't know, the BlitzMail program was first developed in 1987. The last major update to the software was in 1998. BlitzMail is very old and its lack of standard features such as a calendar, a preview window and the ability to display pictures in emails has forced many students to seek email alternatives. Although there are countless email providers such as Hotmail and Yahoo, the vast majority of Dartmouth students who've decided to abandon the ancient client choose Gmail because of its excellent search and label functions, advanced chat application and phenomenal calendar.
Trust Dre he's a doctor.
During my freshman year at Dartmouth, I noticed that everyone around campus used earbuds instead of larger over-the-ear headphones. Being the audiophile that I am, I always rocked a large set of headphones. I always felt self-conscious because my large, clunky Alienware headphones made my head resemble one of the masks in "Predator" (1987). Thank God for Dr. Dre, because he created a high-quality headphone that appeals to both music lovers and the casual fan. The sleek headphones are the audio device of choice on the Dartmouth campus you're guaranteed to see at least a dozen pairs whenever you walk into the library.
As you can tell, the technology world at Dartmouth has experienced a major facelift over the past few years. So far, I'm a fan of all the changes, but there are still many more to come. After seeing the technology in super portable internet devices such as the iPad and the Galaxy S tablet, I predict that the small tablets will be just as popular on campus in the upcoming years as laptops are now.
