While the repo-men and women still use old-fashioned methods to find cars more and more of them are turning to technology-including social media-to locate them.

“What’s the address of that one on North Champion? Is it out back? It’s out back, right? Okay we’re in route.”

Owner of Asend Recovery E.C. Canterbury pulls up to the 2006 Ford 500 parked on the side of the house within minutes. His spotters got full cooperation from the owner who pulled the car out of the garage. In less than 20 seconds Canterbury connects the car and is on his way back to the lot.

Soon after Canterbury heads to a Southeast Columbus location for a Chevy van.

“That’s our vehicle so we’re going to circle the block.” Canterbury says.

Within 30 seconds, the van is hooked up and towed around the corner. The vehicle moves sideways so Canterbury pulls over and readjusts the van.

“You can be in and out 20 seconds. Like I said if it wasn’t for the fact the wheel was cocked you saw how fast we got in and pulled out you’re gone in that amount of time a matter of seconds.” Canterbury says.

Canterbury goes on to say when owners don’t cooperate it can take up to a year or longer to capture some vehicles. That’s where technology can help. Some repo-companies are finding success by using Facebook and Myspace.

“We’ve gone on there and typed with them and told them who we are hey you know we need to talk in regard to your agreement with this finance company. So you were really up front with them. Right, we don’t try, we’re not trying to be deceptive.” Canterbury says.

They also do internet searches. Denise Trago traces cars for Mid-Ohio Recovery Services using a keyboard and mouse.

“For example this has a 2006 court record. It’s probably not going to be very close for us, but we can at least see if the address is close to around what we’re looking for.” Trago says.

Owner of Mid-Ohio Recovery, Paul Schafhausen says there are many other web search engines he uses to track down vehicles.

“People search, classmates dot com, Franklin county records and Ohio Secretary of State have been our big ones.” Shafhausen explains.

Yet, despite all the technology repo companies says it often still comes down to low tech drive-bys and stake-outs to retrieve repos.

You’re probably wondering what are these things I’m talking about. Well, you know its the IPOD, and its multiple versions, the MP3 player, or the combo cell phone/MP3 player/with unlimited texting.

There are as many as 31 and a half million kids in America today, representing the largest generation in US history. And they like to buy stuff. Advertisers target these kids and marketers present products that appeal to their generation.

According to Apple, one third of American teens own an ipod. A similar number of teens from all ethnic backgrounds own a cell phone.

What is disconcerting is these same products, created for pure entertainment, have almost consumed family time – the the moments when families cultivate the essential social skills our children need to thrive. It is no longer necessary for someone to have to communicate in person or even via phone; we can now get by with a secret coded language that appears only to be understood if you under the legal age. And what happens to the need to strike up a conversation on the elevator or in a doctor’s waiting room? No need just turn up the volume and appear uninterested for small talk.

Technology’s appeal to youth has been embraced as the best way to reach this generation whether it’s in schools, churches and other social networks. So I don’t sound too antiquated, I’ll admit that these devices can definitely serve – at times – an entertainment purpose. Certainly we must give an incredible amount of credit and shed positive light on the technological advancements and how they have benefited our society. I can’t imagine living with just the basics; however it’s quite appropriate to affirm that our children are maturing in a society that is overly consumed by technology. And why it is a great benefit to our society to have the advantage of living in an era when all these digital methods of entertainment are available at our leisure, We must find ways to encourage our children to engage in activities that require no sound wave connection.

The Ohio School Board Association trade show is packed with vendors. They’re hawking the newest and coolest school items from interactive white boards to comfy student desks.

Students from Tremont Elementary School in Upper Arlington test out a new piece of playground equipment. It’s called Neos. Neos is not something one might ordinarily see on a playground. With its flashing lights and radiating sounds it looks like it belongs in an arcade.

Blake Hobson is a managing partner of Playworld – the company that sells Neos and other playground equipment. Hobson said this toy is more than just fun – it promotes wellness and other benefits like hand-eye coordination.

“When you look at playground equipment this is something totally new because it gets them interacting with each other, and for that sixty second time period they’re actually moving and breaking a sweat,” Hobson said.

Neos has nine games and three skill levels from which to choose. These students are playing one of the games that help their hand-eye coordination. Green and red lights flash across the toy and the students must press their team’s color. The team with the most points at the end of sixty seconds wins. The Neos costs $30,000. And Blake said it’s something a school might choose if they already have the essentials like swings and slides.

Sci-Tech has gadgets that look like small remote controls. Todd Boone, with Buckeye Educational Systems, said Sci-Tech allows teachers to program questions into a PowerPoint presentation and students can answer the questions with their hand-held gadgets.

“What this does for the teacher is it gets a response from every student in the class, not just the couple at the front of the class that always wants to answer the questions. The teacher can then get a grade, download it to a management system and track them and actually give them a class participation grade,” Boone said.

Boone said teachers can also use Sci-Tech to get students ready for tests.

“There actually is a function that you can go into a fastest finger contest so as you’re reviewing for a test the teacher can actually set it so it’s timed and the first student to press the button gets the first chance to answer the question. If they get it right they get points. If they don’t then it locks them out and the other kids get a chance at it. So, it is very fun and they really love it,” Boone said.

Also at the trade show is the overhead projector. But this isn’t the opaque projector you may remember from the 1960s or even the 1990s. This one is smaller, streamlined and digital. Michael Tracey is president of Affiniti Professional Sales. Tracey said this projector uses a digital camera to project objects onto a screen or whiteboard.

“So now anything that’s being shown under the camera can also be shown onto the big screen and with the software you can now capture that image,” Tracey said.

Tracey said these captured images can be downloaded on a computer and students can go back and review them later.

More than 50,000 teachers and administrators are expected to attend this year’s conference and trade show.

The proposed 315 Research and Technology Corridor begins at Riverside Hospital and stretches south along State Route 315 to COSI. In those 10,000 acres, 50,000 people are employed and $1 billion worth of research is done annually. But until now, according to Columbus City council president Matt Habash, local leaders did not fully comprehend the available resources.

“Let’s tell ourselves what we have -we’ve got to market that to ourselves – we don’t know what’s there,” says Habash. “You know I often tease the university that they’ve got 18 different deans doing things and sometimes bureaucracies like cities and universities, they don’t communicate very well.”

The corridor’s resources have been pinpointed on a new map. They include Ohio State University, Battelle, Columbus Children’s Hospital, Chemical Abstracts, Edison Welding Institute and the SciTech Center. Habash says it’s more realistic for the governments of Columbus, Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights, and Clinton Township to help nurture and develop businesses that began in central Ohio than to try to attract new ones.

“These start-up companies that are coming out of Ohio State and Battelle; they go from an idea to what could be a business. But when they need to go to the next level, we’re not ready for that,” says Habash.

Specific details have yet to be worked out, but a diverse group of community leaders spoke in support of the plan at a public forum late Monday afternoon.

But in recent years, technology that once seemed unimaginable is appearing even on small farms.

From the road, Heimerl Farms south of Johnstown looks like an average large farm. Four tall silos are surrounded by hog bars and about 2,500 acres of grain fields.

One of the farm’s international harvester tractor rolls idles in a barn. It rolls on 6 foot high tires and is powered by a 235 horse power engine. But it’s guided by satellites.

On the other side of the farm, augers and chutes transfer hog feed from the silos into semi trucks, just as they have for years. But now computers control the mix of ingredients right down to the fraction of a pound.

In the barns, hogs scurry to the edge of the pen,looking for some of that feed. Behind the scenes, special software tracks the feed mixture, breeding and the quality of the pork the hogs produce.

On other farms, dairy cows wander into barns when the feel the need and are milked automatically by robots.

Genetically engineered seed can boost yields, protect crops from insects and even increase flavor.

Pictures taken from satellites help farmers estimate crop production and control run-off.

Matt Heimerl climbs into a red truck that spreads fertilizer and pesticides. The cab of the truck is filled with technology.

A pocket pc is connected to a global positioning satellite receiver and spreader controls. The GPS system helps him steer. The pocket pc uses soil samples to tell the spreader controls how much fertilizer to spread and where. Heimerl says the system helps boost yield and cut costs.

The system cost about 3-thousand dollars. Heimerl expects the cost savings to pay for the system in about a year..

There is a GPS system that actually steer the tractor automatically they cost much more, but the Heimerl’s are considering it.

While satellites robots may be new to farming, technology advances are not.

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s Joe Cornelly says for the past 75 years, technology has been advancing. Farmers are always looking for new ways to gain an advantage to squeeze profits in a low margin industry.

While prices have come down, the GPS technology and robotic systems remain expensive – out of reach for small farmers.

Joe Logan, president of The Ohio Farmers Union, which represents family farms, says small farms are not threatened by the unaffordable GPS systems.

Many farming technology advances are microscopic. Bio technology is being used by more and more farmers.. And not just the big farms. The farm bureau’s Joe Cornelly says bio tech has boosted yields, increased protection and even improved flavor.

Farmer’s Uion president Joe Logan is skeptical about some biotech advances. Logan says some genetic engineering advances are being driven by research companies and labs rather than farmers or the consumer.

Matt Heimerl who is 21, readily accepts the new farming technology. He says farmers are adapting.. Gradually. And just when they get used to it, some new farming technology will come along..