Twelve South BassJump Review

Apple’s MacBook notebooks are widely popular amongst college students, unfortuatley the built-in speakers lack the power and sound fidelity required to produce an enjoyable listening experience. I am by no means an audiophile, but it’s pretty obvious that the MacBook speakers are simply inadequate for dailly listening. At home I plug my computer into a pair of M-Audio monitors, a relativley inexpesive and admirabe set of speakers. On the go it’s a pair of Apple In-Ear Heaphones, chosen primarily for aesthetic, none the less, the sound they produce is much superior than the Macbook’s quiet and tinny speakers. Here’s the thing, when you’re home for Christmas deprived from your beefy speakers, but your ears are sore from your earbuds, what is one to do?

Allow me to introduce you to the Twelve South BassJump, a USB subwoofer for your MacBook. When connected, the BassJump is used to play the low frequencies that the MacBook’s tiny built-in speakers are unable to pump out as a result of their inherent design. This frees your speakers for the highs, which they are much better suited to play. Essentially, the BassJump turns your MacBook speakers into a pair of tweeters.

Sound

The BassJump is far from a Hi-Fi sound system, but that’s not the point. Rather, the BassJump is intended to improve the sound coming from your MacBook in scenarios where full sized speakers or headphones would be inappropriate. I would describe the sound as good; the lows and mids sound decent, while the highs (from the MacBook) a wee-bit harsh. Coupled with the BassJump, the MacBook is loud enough to be heard accross the room. At CES this year, Shep, Kelly and I were all rocking out to Daft Punk and Kanye West despite sitting on opposite sides of the room. The general conesus? ” It’s good.”

Design

The BassJump matches the current aluminum and black aesthectic of Apple’s current machines. With it’s rounded square corners and black speaker grill, the BassJump is, dare I say it, sexy. The back features a single mini USB port, while the bottom is covered in grippy black rubber to secure it on a table. The BassJump feels solid and is a perfect match for any of Apple’s current laptop offerings. Included with the device is a black neoprene case for travelling, a welcomed inclusion from Twelve South.

Usability

A System Preferences pane consisting of an On/Off toggle, music genre dropdown and a couple sliders to change which frequeiences are played by the BassJump needs to be installed before you can use the USB Sub. Once that’s done, using the BassJump is simply a matter of plugging in the USB cable into your MacBook.

Price

At $69, the BassJump is at a price point where it will sting just a little to purchase, but is cheap enough that you may pick it up just because it’s cool to have. For the price, you could certainley find a pair of desktop speakers that would eclipse the BassJump, but would lack the portability of the cute little box.

Conclusion

My advice, If you’ve got a couple bucks to burn and would like good sound when you’re away from your desk, pick up a BassJump. Although it won’t replace your desktop speaker system, it’s a big improvement over the the built-in MacBook speakers.

Disclosure: TwelveSouth provided me with a unit for this review.

We have a winner: Testing the Samsonite Tectonic backpack

I've picked the winner of the Samsonite backpack, and completed the suggested test. I picked Joseph Gilbert's suggested test, because it had the best ratio of feasible to amusing for me. The test involved trying to cram the backpack full of a Friday's worth of material, spilling red wine on it, and--most entertainingly--running it through the dishwasher. The review's in two parts, since it took a while to dishwash the thing.

The bag was pretty amazingly durable, and the tests actually improved my opinion of the bag compared to my initial review. If you live in a rainy climate and have had bags which were not as waterproof as claimed (an issue several of our readers said they'd had), then do take a look at the bag--it really does seem to be as water-resistant as it is excessively padded. I still thing the bag is probably overkill for most folks in a hot climate, though--the padding which makes it so water-resistant will probably make it incredibly hot to wear.

New HP Monitors are Perfect for College Students' Second Monitor

Getting a second monitor is a great idea for multitasking college students. Awesome Pokemon not included. Photo courtesy of daveynin. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.

School is right around the corner, as you can tell from the plethora of back-to-school ads everywhere. The one thing that I am really looking to invest in this fall as I head back to college is a second monitor. Instead of trying to shrink down windows to all fit on one screen, an external monitor gives you more space to spread out all of your open documents or windows. This is especially helpful when you're writing a paper and have to keep referring to academic articles.

And just in time for fall, HP has released two space-saving monitors that will be a great addition to any college student's tech collection. You can read all about the nitty-gritty details and specs over at Maximum PC. But basically the two monitors are 21.5" or 20", costing $225 and $145, respectively. The larger, more expensive model also comes with two USB ports, a USB cable, dual microphones, and audio jacks.

I am about 99% sure that I will be purchasing one of these to help me be more productive this school year, so if you're in the market for a second monitor, these are a great choice.

Do you use a second monitor at school? Which one do you use? Let us know in the comments!

[via Maximum PC]

Home Screen Week: Deryck's iPhone

A friend of mine talked me into jailbreaking my iPhone soon after I got it, and I’m really glad that he did. My device is ten times more powerful and customizable thanks to jailbreaking and many of my home screen apps reflect that. Thanks to a myriad of Activator actions to open SBSettings, Quick Compose a text in biteSMS, or access my iPod, I actually don’t use my home screen very much. However, there are a few apps that I do find very handy, and I use them enough to put them on my home screen. Here they are!

Cydia (Free - Jailbreak Only)

AKA the jailbroken app store. This is where you can find all the apps that don’t meet Apple’s specifications, whether they open up unintended functionality or make Apple’s stock offerings just look plain shoddy. Some of my favorite apps/tweaks/hacks are SBSettings, LockInfo, and SMS GV Extension. It’s also very handy for saving your SHSH blobs and then using TinyUmbrella to make sure you can keep jailbreaking long after Apple stops signing off on old firmwares.

Mint.com (Free)

Mint.com is a very useful site where you can keep track of all your personal finances. After linking up your bank and credit card accounts, it automatically tracks transactions for you by type, allowing you to setup budgets for each type of transaction so you’re completely on top of your spending. I check it once a day to see how I’m doing budget-wise for the month to make sure I’m not spending too much.

Reeder ($2.99)

Like so many other HackCollege writers, Reeder is invaluable for me. Whenever I’m on my daily commute or just waiting in line for something, it’s so handy to be able to fire open this very, very pretty RSS reader and browse through all your Google Reader feeds. It makes keeping on top of all your blogs a million times easier.

Skype (Free)

It takes everything you can do on Skype (well…except for screen sharing) and puts it on your iPhone. I use it to call family living overseas for super cheap and to make free video calls without having to be on Wi-Fi like FaceTime. It’s intuitive, fast, and free!

Yelp (Free)

Yelp is great for finding new places to eat when you’re travelling and have no idea where to go. Just search for whatever you’re in the mood for near your current location, and you instantly have an entire list of great dining options to peruse.

biteSMS (Free with Ads, $9.99 for a full license - Jailbreak Only)

Once you try biteSMS, you’ll discover how texting on the iPhone was meant to be. Simply put, it blows Messages out of the water. Features include Quick Compose, Quick Reply, Smilies, Saved Message Templates, and much more. Check it out, and you’ll never go back to Messages.

Camera+ ($1.99)

This is another example of developers showing Apple how it’s really done. When you have time to compose your shot, Camera+ brings a myriad of features that make your iPhone pictures look a million times better. You can both focus and maintain white balance lock simultaneously. And after you take your pictures, you can edit them using Camera+’s many filters to give your shots that hipster flair before you upload them to Facebook.

App of the Week - Access Everything on Your iOS Device with DiskAid

Hey everyone! Here at HackCollege we’re starting a new weekly feature covering applications and extensions that save you time and help make your life as a student easier. We’re going to be platform agnostic, so that means we’re open to everything out there – Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and even gaming consoles – if it helps you access information or entertainment, we’re going to cover it. This week, I’m going to introduce you to a neat little application called DiskAid.

DiskAid has a very clean and similar appearance to Finder in Mac OS X. This shot also shows you where to access your device's pictures and movies - /var/mobile/media/dcim/100apple

What it is: Have you ever been frustrated about not being able to access the files on your iOS device? While Apple supported the ability to use old school iPods in disk mode, in typical Apple dictatorial fashion, it removed the ability to do so with iOS devices (that means iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch). To regain this lost feature, today I introduce you to DiskAid. DiskAid is an iOS file system browser. After connecting your iOS device via USB, it allows you to read/write your device’s files from a pleasant and intuitive GUI.

Platform Availability: Windows XP SP 3 and higher, Mac OS X 10.5 and higher

Cost: Free for students! Just visit this link to have your .edu email address associated with a free educational DiskAid license

Read on to see the whole review!

Click to read more ...

Home Screen Week: Luke's iPhone

All this week HackCollege writers are showing off their phones' home screens and discussing their favorite apps.

I'm a guy who uses his phone in nearly all aspects of daily life. My phone is my alarm clock, car jukebox, GPS, newspaper, pen, paper and communication device. I find it comical that the Phone app of my iPhone is buried in a folder. Truthfully, my iPhone is so much more than just a phone to me. Here's a look at some of my favorite apps.

OmniFocus

$19.99

OmniFocus is my "Getting Things Done" system of choice, it gets used so much that it has earned itself a place on my iPhone's dock. Choosing a task management system can be tough, OmniFocus has my vote for on-the-go sync and the flexibility to accommodate a tricky use scenario like college. If you see me on my phone in class, it's because I'm adding a task to my OmniFocus Inbox.

Rdio

Free

Much like Spotify, Rdio is a subscription model based music service. Although the jury is out on the which is better, I subscribe to Rdio because it's available in Canada unlike Spotify. Rdio allows you to stream music over Wi-Fi or 3G from their vast music catalogue straight to your phone. If you know you're going to be in an area with poor reception, you can sync the track to your device for offline listening. Well this is all well and good, Rdio is a favourite of mine for their Match Collection feature which reads your iTunes database file and matches your library with your Rdio Collection. My music library is tipping the scales at just over 100GB, far too big to keep on my iPhone. Rdio gives me access to my whole library on-the-go.

Dragon Remote Microphone

Free

Dragon Dictate on the Mac is a crucial part of my textbook reading workflow, I've nearly cut the amount of time it takes to read and takes notes on assigned readings by half using it. At home I dictate into a Blue Yeti Microphone, but when I'm away from my desk, I found my Mac's built-in microphone too poor to use for dictation. Dragon's recently released Remote Microphone app for Dragon Dictate 2.5 allows you to use your iPhone's excellent noise cancelling microphone for dictation. Although I don't use this app daily, it's just too cool not to mention. Perfect use scenario: home for Thanksgiving with a pile of reading to do.

Pzizz Energizer

$5.99

I wrote about the pseudoscience of the binaural beat generator Pzizz almost a year ago, and yet I still use it several times a week for supercharging my naps. Whether the calming tones have become a behavioural cue that it's nap time or that brainwave entertainment actually does work, I find it easier to fall asleep and consistently wake up feeling more refreshed when napping with Pzizz.

Apple Remote

Free

Seriously, the Apple Remote app doesn't get nearly enough credit. Not only does it allow you to control your iTunes media library without touching your computer, you can use it to control media sent to an Airplay enabled device anywhere in your house. I use Remote almost daily in the kitchen, where I have a set of speakers hooked up to an Aiport Express. With my Mac upstaris, I can stream any audio from my library directly to the speakers. As I wrote about last year, the Remote app is a key part of my party music setup to ensure my expensive devices don't get damaged by intoxicated guests.

Home Screen Week: Laura's iPhone

All this week HackCollege writers are showing off their phones' home screens and discussing their favorite apps.

Being still fairly new to the iPhone family, I still am feeling out the best apps to use. I have a habit of reorganizing my home screen every so often to make make room for new favorite apps. Here are the ones that I use most often.

Netflix (Free)

As a television aficionado, I absolutely adore the Netflix app. No matter where I am, I can open the app and catch up on TV shows I've been meaning to get through. I especially use this app when I work out. I simply prop my phone on the little stand on my exercise machine and power through my work out while watching Doctor Who. It makes working out so much more fun.

Groupon (Free)

I think every college student should have this app on their phone. Finding fun things to do while balancing a full time class schedule can be difficult, and finding inexpensive things to do is even harder. Groupon helps you find discounted activities, meals, sales, etc, in the area around you. It's a great idea source when looking for things to do around town, and it might even inspire you to do something new-- at a fraction of the original cost.

Amazon Mobile (Free)

I am forever buying things off Amazon, whether it's books or awesome little decorations or gadgets that I simply must have. This app helps me search for what I'm looking for and compare similar products. It also lets me track my shipped items, which I do about every hour after I have a confirmed order (I am not known for my patience). For anyone who frequents Amazon, I'd definitely recommend this app.

NHL GameCenter (Free)

I am also a huge hockey fan (Dallas Stars, baby) and so during hockey season, I check this app at least once a day to keep up with stats and team news. It features instant push notifications for goals and an awesome play by play mode so you can keep up with the game even if you can't watch the game.

Kindle (Free)

I love my Kindle dearly, but I don't always have it on hand. When I'm stuck waiting unexpectedly, it's nice to just grab my phone and read a couple of pages of that book I had to put down earlier. You can load all of your purchased books on this app so that even if you leave your Kindle at home, you always have your books on hand.

Watch, Read, Make: Fry and Google+ and S'Mores, Oh My!

Hello, hello, hello. On this week's Watch, Read, Make, we've got Stephen Fry, a criticism of Google +'s "real names" policy, and delicious, horrible s'mores. It's a full weekend, for those of you who wish to take on the list!

Watch: Stephen Fry was one of the first two people to own a mac in the UK--Douglas Adams being the other. In addition to being Hugh Laurie's college friend and an actor in his own right, he's an advocate for open source software, and kind of a nerd. Here he's explaining GNU and talking about the open software movement. Part of the fun, even if you're already familiar with the history of Linux/GNU/free-as-in-freedom software, is hearing him enunciate the words in a soothing, British accent. If you have a family member who you'd like to explain open source to, here's a good video to do it with. He's delightful! (Also worth a look: this dashing animated GIF of a young Fry.)

Read: This article by danah boyd on Google +'s real names policy does a good job of summarizing why the policy is so very problematic for people on a safety level as well as a stupid-decision level. For those of our readers who don't pay attention to activist circles, Google has a history of forcing users to share--their real names, here, but in the past it's been things like forcing users to opt out of having their Google Buzz locations shared. For those who are worried about their safety (primarily women, social justice workers, young people, LGBTQ folks, and people of color), this is a problematic policy. Given that there's already been several surveys that have shown Google+ to be dominated by men, who are least likely to be affected by the policy, it's troubling. boyd's reporting is always nice for its awareness of both social justice issues (she works with youth and social media) and technology (she works on those issues for Microsoft).

Make: Would you like to make s'mores that are incredibly ridiculous? (Or course you would.) Then may I present to you the s'mores pop tarts s'mores. It's a s'more, but instead of graham crackers (which suck), you have s'mores poptarts (which are awesome). Go make some and send us photos.