Ever Wanted to Solve the Rubik's Cube?

I've finally posted a "how to": How to solve the 3×3x3 rubik’s cube: In three steps and with only six moves (to memorize).

The Cinder Block Shelving Unit

As a young freshman, I looked forward to moving into my dorm and assembling an impromptu shelving unit via the cinder-block-and-plank method. Unfortunately, I have yet to see another one at my school (maybe it's not a West Coast thing) or any other dorm or apartment I've visited.

Image courtesy of "Ms Bunburyist" of Reed College (via Flickr)

Today, as I built one in our new rec room in Chicago, it occurred to me that this 60s and 70s college tradition must be resurrected. This weekend, I was at Miami University of Ohio hanging out with some friends and many were still scrounging for decent furniture. This thing can be your stylish, sturdy and sometimes free, alternative to Goodwill.

The basic idea is very simple. Universities are always building stuff. People are always building stuff. One late night, discretely "liberate" a few cinder blocks and planks from the construction site. The next day, bring the wooden board back, and the workers will probably be happy to cut "the board you bought at Home Depot" to the appropriate size for your living space. But then again, with less than $10 to spare, you could actually buy the materials at Home Depot and have them sliced for you there. Craig's List is also an excellent source for legitimately free construction remains.

Now, stack the stuff however you choose. With the right eye on the design and contents, it can be very stylish in a sort of industrial way. You might also make it a bit more sophisticated by painting the cinder blocks and staining some nicer, clean wood. You could also use something besides cinder blocks: crates, bricks, pipes, etc.

Image courtesy of Sarah Marriage of Brooklyn, NY (via Flickr)

This is mine from today. It isn't finished, and with 3 days until departure for Germany, don't expect anything.

Another "Back to School" Series

Ellie over at ThePinkC has recently unveiled her own "Back to School" series, with a new tip every day (running until the end of this month):

• Geek Girl: Naked Alarm Clock (We like this one!):

  Students (and workers!), isn’t it is a big hassle to reset your regular alarm clock if you just need a quick afternoon nap? The worst part is if you forget to turn the alarm on after you took such pains to reset it or if you set it for 2 a.m., not 2 p.m.!

  Don’t despair, though. The Naked Alarm Clock is a reliable and easy to use internet clock...



• Back to School: 5 Time Management Tips that Work


• Back to School: Get A Tutor!


• Back to School: Find out your learning style


• Welcome to Soulville: Making the Most Out of Your College Career


• Back to School: Reading Skills that Produce Results

And you can subscribe to the entire series via rss.

Study Abroad Study Music

I'm studying abroad in Germany once again come Tuesday. I've started packing digitally, at least. I can't quite afford to bring along my 80 gigs worth of music, especially since my laptop's hard drive is a measly 40 gigs. I embarked on a solution a few days ago and found the mother lode.

Anywhere.FM looks and functions like iTunes... inside your web browser. It lacks a few features, but it still is not half bad. I've been loading my music library into the site for the past week now and I should have access to all of my music while in Deutschland. Did I mention it doesn't limit your uploads? I'll just have trouble finding it all, since Anywhere.FM doesn't have a search function yet.

Anywhere.FM has a few features that will eventually mature. There's a section for friends' playlists, although I can't quite figure out how to find friends. It also seems like the developers are building in some last.fm-esque music discovery functionality. We'll see.

The site is good enough for me right now, and will only get better.

iTunes in the Cloud: Anywhere.FM

LaTeX: Take Notes in Your Math Class... on Your Laptop

Here at HackCollege, we're all about keeping our notes in "the cloud" (on the web) or on a thumb drive instead of on paper. It saves trees and it allows you to search your notes easily. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to take notes in any advanced math course. Tablet PC's don't cut it, and let me know when you find a double-integral sign in the Microsoft Word symbol library. I'll see you in a week.

A math professor and friend of mine, pointed out the LaTeX markup language to me a few months ago. LaTeX is a multipurpose markup language with some very powerful and extensive math symbols. Think HTML, the web markup language, on 'roids and for word documents. And I have a pet theory: a student with a laptop could learn it so well they could take notes in math class. If you've ever punched in an equation to your TI-89, you can use LaTeX. This time you get a full keyboard. No more 300-page notebooks full of nearly indecipherable notes.

Getting Started

First, you'll need to install something that can parse LaTeX. The TeX Users Group recommends the following:

• For Windows: proTeXt


• For Mac: MacTeX


• For Linux: TeX Live

Install the one corresponding to your operating system, then try entering this text. You may have to somehow build your LaTeX after you entered it. Read the documentation for your program or look at the page you downloaded it from.

Once you've got it installed and working, try entering in the following:


\begin{eqnarray}
E &=& mc^2
\end{eqnarray}


This snippet of code prints that ubiquitous equation that Einstein figured out.

Learning LaTeX

Now all you have to do is learn how to use LaTeX, right? That might be easier said than done, especially speed wise. Some students may need to completely change their mindset. Everything in LaTeX, like just about any other markup language, is nested. Thankfully, math usually works this way, too.

This post is not about teaching you how to use LaTeX, just how to get started. Here are a few cheat sheets and starter guides:

• Latex Cheat Sheet [stdout.org]


• Getting to Grips with LaTeX [Andrew Roberts, School of Leeds]


• Getting Started with LaTeX [David Willis]

Using LaTeX as a Student

I suppose I did promise that you'd be able to save your math notes into the cloud through a service like Google Docs. Well, as of now, there is no online word processor that has LaTeX support. But that's okay, you can just use the LaTeX parser that you used.

Next, you need to tell your OS to keep track of the files. Make sure that you have your OS's operating system set to index the folder you decide to keep the notes in. If you're running Windows XP or Linux, try something like Google Desktop Search.

Voila, just like that you have searchable math notes.

Let us know what you guys think and how it works for you.

HackCollege: In the Press

HackCollege is hot.

Check it out: This Fall, a Handful of Students Reshape the College Landscape with - What Else - the Web.

The blog is an addition to the recently popular universe of “lifehacks,” small tips and tricks to make life more efficient. Kelly soon realized much of college life was backwards and definitely not taking advantage of the slew of new software. Much of this new software becomes more useful as more people adopt it, a typical quality of social webbased software. HackCollege was no exception; shorty after launch, Rosario Doriott, a Yale student with similar interests, joined the site as an editor. Since then, HackCollege has added two more writers to keep up with demand for pertinent and intelligent college-related content.

From Lifehacker: Back to School Roundup

Our friends over at Lifehacker posted a back to school round-up today. Did you know that you can get SAT study guides for your video iPod? When will they make downloadable essays for in-class finals? ;)

It All Comes Together: Back to School Roundup [Lifehacker]

Dorm Room Round-Up

It's about that time to start thinking about what to put in your dorm room, especially if you're a freshman. These links will give you a hand up in the dorm room coolness factor:

• College Dorm Room Shopping Part 1 [CollegeFashion.NET]


• College Dorm Room Shopping Part 2 [CollegeFashion.NET]


• How to Build Your Own Air Conditioner [HackCollege]


• Packing a Dorm Room into a Car [HackCollege]

Good luck, see you at school.