New Functionality: Share to Facebook

We don't like to brag, but we're the coolest when it comes to this.

It didn't take much work, but we modified some code on our site to give you guys the option to share stuff through Facebook. Just click on the little blue "F" at the bottom of every post.

As far as we know, we're the only site on the web that can do this, but then again, we haven't looked very hard. Wink.

Potential Gift for the Star Wars Kid?

So I was checking out GeekSugar, and I came upon a $15 gift that makes your faucet water light up! It immediately made me think of The Star Wars Kid.

So if you're off-campus and looking for a geeky gift for your roommate, consider getting him/her a faucet light!

Wow. Just wow.

Student 2.0: Vocab. Sheet

As I regularly waste time on Digg, I came upon an interesting video yesterday that claimed that 19-21-year-olds don't really know about and don't really care about web 2.0.

Granted, this is probably true, but aren't we the iGeneration? With "lol" and "brb" and all our very own "blogs"? We're huge on Facebook and MySpace and YouTube, but... Maybe it stops there?

I don't know. But, either way, it shouldn't! So since HackCollege is here to turn you into the very best "Student 2.0" you can possibly be, I'd like to give you all a quick rundown of the terms we will be using in this class:

• Asynchronous: adj. Not in real time (like responses that do not occur simultaneously, such as a discussion board).
• Blog: n., v. An online journal that displays entries in reverse chronological order. Comments are generally possible. And HackCollege is a very popular one!
• (Web) Browser: n. The software you use to interact with text, images, video over the Internet. Popular examples include Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Netscape.
• DRM: Digital Rights Management. Allowing publishers and copyright owners to control access to digital data.
• F2F: Face-to-Face. In other words, a meeting in "real life".
• Folksonomy: A collaborative labeling system that lets users categorize web pages, online fotos, video clips, etc. using "tags". Check out del.icio.us.
• FTP: File Transfer Protocol. A way for two computers to connect --to transfer files.
• Podcast: n. Multimedia (usually audio) that you can subscribe to --like a newscast.
• P2P: Peer-to-Peer. A type of network where many users can share bandwidth to spread files, music, video, anything. Think Napster.
• RSS: Really Simple Syndication. A family of webfeed formats that let you subscribe to updates on a website, blog entries, podcasts, etc. Check out the orange icon to the left of this very site!
• Social networking: Think Facebook. These internet applications connect friends, business partners, etc.
• Student 2.0: Not a 2.0 GPA. Rather, the second generation of students utilizing Web 2.0 to their advantage. Specifically, the students frequenting the HackCollege website!
• Synchronous: Look at "asynchronous". Chats are real-time. Chats are synchronous.
• Tag: n., v. A keyword that describes a particular article, image, video clip on the internet. These are usually created by the person who posted the material.
• Vlog: Think of the many that are on YouTube. Essentially, it's a blog that's made by taking videos.
• Web 2.0: The second generation of websites --simpler, cleaner, and much more interactive than ever before. It's all about collaboration and social networking among users now.
• Wiki: n. Think Wikipedia. It's a type of website that allows its users and/or visitors to edit the website's content.
• XML: Extensible Markup Language. It's a language used to facilitate the sharing of data. Look at RSS.

Google Docs: A Case Study

I'm right smack in the middle of finals week, and that means I am more prone to distraction and procrastination than ever. But let me show you a little something before I get back to writing my last paper of the semester.

An Introduction:

I'm enrolled in the honors program here at LMU. The LMU honors program is a little different compared to most colleges. There are only about 30 people from each class year in the program, and we all take the same humanities classes, regardless of our major (or how much we beg and plead). I had to take a class called "Republic to Prince" for the honors core.

"Republic to Prince" is a western civ class. I am not interested in western civ.

Solution:

To keep myself interested in this typical lecture/discussion honors class, I would bring my laptop to class. I took notes on it. The professor's delivery tended to deliver a crucial nugget of information about every 3 minutes of this 75 minute class. He also handed out an outline/agenda for each class period.

I quickly copied these outlines into a Google Docs at the beginning of every class. I would then fill in his sparse outline with his lecture as the class went along. Because a lot of the information was not particularly noteworthy all the time, I could safely surf the net or work on something else.

Finals Week:

The final exam for this class is tomorrow with a final paper as well, and I think I will do well enough. Writing the paper has been pretty easy, thanks to Google's kick-ass searching. If I think I'm stretching a point, I can instantly bring up that point in a lecture without having to thumb through a notebook. This is great for both studying for the exam and writing the paper.

Did I also mention that I published all of these notes online for my classmates? That probably scored a point or two somewhere. Because they're all online anyway, I made a simple HTML page that just lists all of them and uploaded it to http://www.hackcollege.com/honors/. Not only can I help myself, but I can (hopefully) help my classmates as well.

A Conclusion:

The point I'm trying to make here is that Google Docs is awesome and cool. The downside is that you need a laptop and a wireless connection, not something every student and school is going to have.

I hope this helped, but I've got get back to writing about Bartolome de Las Casas.

A Side Point to be Made:

Any professor who does not appreciate there notes being published online needs to reconsider which century they decided to live in. But be careful, some curmudgeons may pursue you for "cheating." God forbid we share information!

"118 Ways to Save Money in College"

Scholarships-Ar-Us.org has a really great list on how to save money --from alcohol to books to exercise. I'll list the few I found most helpful, but be sure to check out all 118 tips:

8. Don't drink. But if you must...

9. Be cheap [about alcohol]
* Buy the cheap stuff. Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old English 40 oz. bottles come to mind.
* Buy in bulk. A cheap 5th of Vodka might cost about the same as a drink or two at a bar.
* Drink where the specials are. Some college bars and dance clubs have pitcher specials, 1 dollar drink specials, no cover charge, or other specials for people going out early or going out on slower nights.
* Pre-game if you do drink heavily.
* Don't bring much money with you to limit how much you drink and spend.
* Hit other people’s parties.

15. If you are buying new [books], check for an “international” edition. The book will be almost exactly the same, except for maybe some Chinese characters on the front, AND it will be exponentially cheaper.

21. Oatmeal is fast, filling, and affordable.

60. Beg your parents - they will feel a connection to you by letting you use their stuff or by buying you new stuff. The more they buy the less you have to. [Thanks, Mom! Thanks, Dad!]

57. Play on the web [for entertainment]! The web is a virtually limitless land which will allow you to deeply explore any topic of interest, and participate in communities discussing those topics. You can also play games like Zuma or visit true time waster sites like HotorNot.com. Searching around online auctions like eBay may help you find deals while also being entertained by the prospects of bidding and winning.

72. Get a few friends together to pitch in for the price of an annual membership at a place like Sam’s Club or Costco.

73. Buy in bulk. You’ll save money per unit for a pack of twelve bars of soap versus singles.

99. Shop for your personal items at a discount retailer. Money strategists suggest buying the “store brand” as a cost-saving alternative, as well.

111. Volunteer for a medical study. Most do not require much time and you get paid!

The Dailymotion Trilogy

• Dailymotion: Episodes


• Dailymotion: Movies


• Dailymotion: Music Videos

Just like Brian "Baby" Williams, these sites "don't need no introduction and shit".

Using Google Like a Masta

Whenever I'm searching for something inappropriate on Google, like communism, I often have trouble getting to exactly the right site. And I also don't like doing more work than I have to.

In the spirit of studying for finals and not doing work, I'll just link to a trusted outside site, College v2.

Get your Goog on:

• Search with Google Like a Pro: Part 1


• Search with Google Like a Pro: Part 2

Popular Christmas Specials: X-Rated Versions

My favorite Christmas special has probably always been A Christmas Story. It was based in Indiana! (That's where I'm from, guys) But, then again, there was also A Charlie Brown Christmas, which was really good, and I've definitely seen The Nightmare Before Christmas more than twice.

But what I hadn't seen was all the re-interpretations of them! So when 10 Zen Monkeys decided to put up a pretty good list of them, I actually felt better about procrastinating a little by surfing the internet. After all, laughing is a good internal workout.

So here was my favorite:

But check them all out!