![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Echo: Amazon’s latest development in hardware
Courtesy of Amazon
A top view and side view of the Amazon Echo. The Echo consists of an action and mute button, along with a volume button around the top to control music playback.
Amazon announced the release of the Echo yesterday on its website as a versatile and capable piece of technology.
Whenever we face pressing questions, we usually refer to Google by typing in our question and viewing the result. With Amazon Echo, you can announce your query following the name of your device, defaulted to “Alexa.” The device will respond with an answer.
Amazon Echo comes with seven speakers that use beam-forming technology to pick up a voice from anywhere in the room. Its noise-cancelling capabilities allow it to hear you even while music is playing. Instead of running on battery, the Amazon Echo remains plugged in with its power adapter.
Amazon Echo receives its information from the cloud, using Amazon Web Services. Over time, it will adapt to your speech habits and preferences. Whenever you speak to Amazon Echo, it responds clearly with audio pervading the room it rests in.
“Probably the best part of the Amazon [Echo] is the surround system,” Rahul Balakrishnan (12) said. “If they can capitalize on that, they should probably be good to go in the market for tech products.”
The interface of Echo is simple to activate and continually use. With the aid of a companion app, downloadable on Fire OS, Android and iOS, you can play music, change your shopping list, change your alarm times, and much more. On top of Amazon Echo is a light ring, to tell you that it is working, a mute button for the microphone, an action button, and a volume switch.
Amazon does not want to make the mistake of ordering too much inventory as they did with the fire phones. The Amazon Echo currently retails at $199, but costs $100 for Amazon Prime members.
“Yeah the price is too high,” Eric Wang (12) said. “Like it costs 200 bucks, and I think they should lower it for everybody, not just prime users, and not just for the pre-orders.”
It is probable that Amazon will release more hardware products later on. Updates are expected to be made to Amazon Echo and Amazon Web Services in the future to allow for more capabilities and better functionality.
Vijay Bharadwaj (11) is one of the opinion editors for The Winged Post and Aquila. She served as the assistant opinion editor and the Wingspan copy editor...