Obama's ASU Commencement Speech

Here's a little gem to get you motivated on this fine Saturday morning.

Obama's ASU Commencement Speech [Text]

Lifehacking with Air

via free.macgames.jpA lot has been said about the convergence of the desktop application and the internet browser.  With Java coding languages like PHP and the group of languages know as Ajax have allowed effortless action without loading another webpage.  Adobe has taken it one step further, by creating an environment for developers to make rich web applications that walk and talk like desktop ones. Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) has been out in stable form offering over a plethora of applications.  After sifting through these applications, I've found some that have the potential to hack the crap out of studenthood.

TweetDeck. This one is probably the most successful AIR application, at least in the Twitterverse. The free application with a ton of intergrations. One of them is 12seconds.tv, which allows you to create a 12 second video that you can tweet.  TweetDeck has also added a possible gamechanging feature for them, Facebook support. On the heels of this update comes Facebook's own Adobe Air application which isn't what one would expect. The ony features are the News Feed and the Status Bar. Don't clog up your computer, just get TweetDeck.

Focused. If you can't help but see TweetDeck hanging out behind you project, in your dock or on your task bar; you definitely need to get Focused. Focused turns your computer in to a simple text editor. One of the problems is that because it's a text editor you have to take what you wrote out and format it in another program. Also you have to print out whatever reference materials you're planning on using. All in all, it does do it's job of keeping you focused. 

Nomee. While this pretty piece of application is one of the Marketplace's Staff Picks, I can't advise you to download it. It's an awesome idea in theory but, it only works if everyone you know has it.  That would take so much more time than a computer application is worth. The way it works is you get a card.  That card has all of your social networking accounts on it. From there you can acquire other people's cards.  From that you can view and publish information from it. 

Multilingual Soft Keyboard.  So your school is making you take a language, eh? And your professor doesn't understand that this language isn't the cream of your crop. This application can't explain that but it can making writing essays, or anything in another language easier. MSK has a ton on languages that have all the different characters other languages use.

The picture in this post will take you to Adobe's site where you can download AIR. 

Do you use Adobe Air? Comment below or shoot me a reply on Twitter @mrbertolino.

The HackCollege 24-Hour Guest Post Showdown

We know it's finals week. Now, you have another last-minute assignment. You have 24 hours to write a 400 word guest post. If you do, a brand new Pantech Matrix Pro and $100 of AT&T service could be yours.

 Here's what's important to us (see the contest page for details):

• Your post must be a lifehack for students (that we like).
• You must be a student with a valid .edu email address.
• You must submit the post by May 13th (tomorrow) at 5:30 p.m.

Want to get started? Head over to The HackCollege 24-Hour Guest Post Showdown for the rest.

Scheduling 201

Image: ISU Center for the Study of Education PolicyOne of the first pieces of advice you get to help cope with a college work load is to make a schedule. What they don't tell you is how spontaneous college life can be. Some of the greatest experiences at college can happen as a result of three people sitting in dorm room, doing nothing then deciding to go on some type of adventure. So lets just say this is an advance guide to scheduling and being social at college, because nothing is ever that simple.

Make academics a daily occurence. There aren't enough hours in a day, on the eve of a term paper being due; but there are plenty of hours through out the semester. Studying a little bit everyday will not only make studying more habitual, it will decrease the amount of studying you will have to do per day.

Also, studying during the day can also help clear time for "spontaneity" at night when it's more likely to happen. Cause really, what could happen during the day? People could go out to lunch. So just bite the bullet during the day, then you be thankful.

Start having modified work days. Create a block during the day where you'll do work around the hours that your classes are. Creat a schedule with each day's block and post it somewhere so you can be reminded of it everyday. This could be as the wallpaper on your computer, on a desk or the fridge. While on your workday try to disconnect from everyone and just work. Post up in the top levels of the library, they are usually empty during the beginning of the semester and offer a quiet place for you focus. Once you're finished with your work, head to class or party the night away.

Create relationships in your study zone. The method here is if you are in this study environment then there will be other people, with same values, also studying. So if you are bold enough, make friends at the library or the coffee shop. At some universities libraries are the place to be on campus.

Bring your friends along. They have to study sometime too. They say that if you workout with a friend, especially someone who's in the same shape, going towards the same goal, you'll be more likely to succeed because you can motivate each other. After you have excercised your greatest asset in college, bring that person to the coffee shop, the library or study lounge wherever it maybe to expand you mind.

Do you have any other advice for creating a work schedule in college? If so, comment below or email me at mike@hackcollege.com.

Things To Do During the Summer

Image courtesy: icanhascheezburger.comOkay, so after you've finished finals, packed up and shipped out, unpacked and had a quality ass meal from your mom, you sit there and ask yourself, what now?  Well, I've compiled a little list of possible things you could do to recuperate and prepare yourself for the next year at college. 

Relax. Just sit there and absolutely nothing. You probably deserve it.  I find the best way to pass time is to lay in bed with my computer and just click through LOLcats until I grow whiskers. You could find new music or have a movie marathon. It's debateable that watching all three Lord of the Rings Extended Editions are more of a workout than time to relax.

Hone your craft. What's your major? There's probably a skill or two, that when you're out in the real world or in upper level classes it'll help you out and save you time studying in the long run. It could be learning new part of a coding language if you're a computer science major or learning the major parts and functions of the brain if you're a psychology major, neuroscience major or are pre-med.

Make money. Granted, there are millions of other people looking for jobs right now, but if you could score one that would be most excellent.  Nothing boosts a late night study session like ordering out. That money has to come from somewhere, right? Craigslist usually has jobs that are for summer camps and odd-jobs.  My buddy got a job off of Craigslist that landed him at the University of Pennsylvania working on a tech camp for kids. The jobs won't be weird, trust me.

Give your hardware a boost.  The good thing about summer is that there's a lot of time, time to do things you couldn't do during the busy school year. If you found that your computer was running a little slow take this time to fix it. Adding memory is something at you can do your self and find it for relatively cheap on the internet.

Take a summer class. Community colleges are awesome because they are a nice way to take care of some gen-eds during the summer. While some schools may not let take the GPA you receive back in the fall, they certainly allow you to take the credits. If you're in need of a boost in GPA it's probably not too late to sign up for summer classes at your school. Getting a 4.0, getting some credits and learning yoga (phys. ed. requirement anyone?) sounds like an awesome way to spend the summer.

How do you plan on spending your summer? Comment below or email me at mike@hackcollege.com.

Interview with Milkman, an Up and Coming Mashup Artist from UCSB

I had the opportunity to interview Gregg Luskin last week or--as he's know to the music world--Milkman. Milkman is currently one of the leading mashup DJs in the world. Believe it or not, he's a student at UC Santa Barbara. It's great to see there are college students leading cool lives. Keep an eye out for him. Here's the interview. ~Kelly

Download the Audio Interview

What year are you and what's your major?

I'm a third year. I'm actually a computer science major. I got really into computers in high school and as you can tell with my music it's very tech-oriented. I've also been really into music, so the whole computer science side of it really interests me. Whether or not after college this DJ thing goes anywhere, I feel like with a CS degree I will always have the opportunity to work with computers and music to bridge the two.

What do you use to DJ?

I run off of a MacBook Pro; I'm a huge Apple guy. When I first started--in the dorms actually--my roommate showed me a few of these other sample-based remix artists and I was intrigued. I've got music ADD and I can only listen to 30 seconds of a song before switching over to another part. I've always been good with computers, so it fell right into place with me.

Believe it or not, I started with GarageBand and Audacity. My song "Trial and Error," which is the first song I ever created and is on my first album "Lactose and THC," I used Audacity to timewarp the songs and used a keyboard. I listened to the song to get the pitches right and just threw it all together. That literally took about a month, every single day on GarageBand.

Now I've got a lot of toys. When I perform live, I run off 2 MacBook Pros which are MIDI clocked together. I run through Ableton Live, which is a fantastic program. Anyone trying to get into remixing or music production, it's a great program. I highly recommend it. On top of that I've got a Novation SL 0 which has got knobs, faders, buttons... I map all those to Ableton. I also run with a BCR2000 from Berringer. I've got a few audio cards, USB hubs... and all that is just bring the tracks in easier and manipulate the tracks more easily. Using a mouse and a keyboard on the spot is kind of ridiculous. My most recent upgrade have been Jazmutant Lemurs. They are just these monitors that are gigantic iPhones; they have infinite touch.

How do you balance your school and this hobby that's blossomed into a career?

Hopefully my parents aren't listening to this right now. It's pretty tough; I have a Jekyll and Hyde-esque alter ego. Monday through Thursday, I'm this nerdy computer science student writing programs in C and C++, hidden in the corner of the lab on campus. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I'm flying across the country doing shows. It's fun but it's really difficult. This music thing has taken off more than I expected it to. I try to balance them equally, but the most important thing is obviously school because you never really know what's going to happen tomorrow. There have been countless times where I'm flying back and forth from Pennsylvania and Maryland, just sitting there with my vector calculus book trying to finish up my homework.

I definitely don't have a free minute in my week.

Are you finding that you have a reputation around Isla Vista and UCSB?

Yeah, it's pretty funny. My friends from freshman year get a kick out of when we go somewhere and someone will recognize me. We'll just be cruising down DP and a few of my songs will come on. We just start laughing.

For me, this is just fun. I like DJing, I like making people dance, making music. It's just really funny to see the level that it's gotten to. It really is weird. Sometimes I take a step back when I'm playing a show and when people are really excited to see you, it's really weird. Especially for me, who's just up and coming. It's definitely a reality check.

How has this hobby changed the way you view your schooling?

To be honest (hopefully my parents aren't listening, again) my computer science degree is a fallback at this point. The way things are going and if I keep working hard, I feel like I can make a career out of this DJ thing, whether it's me actually DJing or if this entertainment company I'm starting up. That's really where I want my future oriented. The whole goal is to get a collection of DJs and put on events. That way when I get older and I'm this old washed up mashup artist, I'll have the young up-and-coming guys.

Hopefully in the future you'll be seeing a lot more from Milkman Entertainment.

Check out everything Gregg and his crew are up to at milkmanmusic.net and keep your eye on this rising star.

Get Undrunk and Open a Tough Jar with Your Half-Naked Dad - HackCollege Season 3, Episode 8

Chris and Kelly cover a myriad of topics this week, everything from sobering up to new iPhone classes at Vanderbilt. They also check in with Mom and Dad on tips on how to open a tough jar.

Topics this week:

• Digital textbooks will be hitting a few campus bookstores shelves this fall.
• Is Facebook contributing to lower grades?
• iPhone classes are catching on around the country.
• Kelly shows you how to sober up after you get back from a party.
• Mom shows you how to deal with a stubborn jar lid.

11 Things You'll Regret Later in Life

Ahhh, Walmart.While the loyal readers of HackCollege are mostly dudes (let's face it), we are curious ones. Every so often when over at a girl's apartment, we may peruse the Cosmo magazines left about the room and scoff and their silly recommendations. College Candy, for those who don't follow it, is something like a HackCollege, except for (mostly) gals who are more social than us. No matter, they've written a great post today with some awesome life tips for anyone.

The post is called "The 11 Things You Do in Your 20's That You'll Regret When You're 40." While HackCollege is all about fun and nerdly debauchery--I think we all have degrees in it--sometimes we need to come back down to Earth or go back to building something that will launch us off of this rock. The post is primarily written for persons of the female persuasion, but there are analogs for guys for all advice given.

Check out the post and peruse College Candy! I'm a huge fan of their "Cosmo Says the Darndest Things" monthly feature. (I may have a girl's name, but I swear I'm not a girl.)

XOXO Kelly