Mendeley Seamlessly Manages Academic Research

Mendeley lives online and on the desktop--like a very, very single-purpose Evernote.Mendeley is a social network that fits somewhere between LinkedIn and Facebook: instead of focusing on users' personal or professional lives, it's targeted towards academic connections. In addition to the social networking features, the cross-platform desktop service allows users to save and organize academic papers into "collections," tag papers, and annotate documents. Users are allowed 500 MB of online storage for themselves, 500 MB of shared storage for collaboration, and unlimited desktop storage--if a user is approaching the storage limit, it's easy to quit syncing papers which the user no longer needs cross-platform access to. Users are also able to upgrade to higher-storage accounts, which start at $5 a month.

Because Mendeley is so specifically intended for academic research, it's able to focus on a very niche, useful set of features. A particularly nice feature is the organization of documents by author, by journal, and by user-designed collection. In addition, the program allows for full-text search withing the documents themselves and for user tagging. Because of its large pool of users, Mendeley is also able to offer suggestions for other papers a user might be interested in based on what they've uploaded--a potential godsend for students at a research dead end.

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How To Start Your Semester Off Right

Daunting semester? Start it off right. Photo courtesy of RLHyde. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.If you're not already back at school at this point, you're at least in the mindset of heading that way again. We've all enjoyed our wonderful winter breaks, spending time with friends and family and taking a long, well-deserved hiatus from classes. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as we are unceremoniously thrown back into the collegiate chaos.

The beginning of the spring semester is always interesting. It's an odd mix of old and new. You're already moved in and organized in your dorm or apartment. The same people are still there for the most part. But then you've got an entire new semester dynamic with new classes, new faces, and new professors. It may be a little less overwhelming than the beginning of the fall semester since you don't have to get used to your new rooming situation, but it's still a whole new ball game.

Once this semester gets moving in the next coming weeks, you'll eventually start to fall into a semester pattern as you inevitably do during every semester. But in order to get your semester off to the best start possible and to make your semester even better as the year goes on, you can start doing things now, right now at the very, very beginning of the semester. Before you fall into semester habits that are hard to break, start good habits now so they can be incorporated into your pattern throughout the semester.

Start Your Classes off Right

There are several things you can do do make sure you get a good start to your classes. I start off every semester the same way. After the first day of each class when I've gotten the syllabus, I sit down at my computer, open my calendar, and write in every assignment, test, project, paper, etc. that I have due for that semester. That way I have everything for every class written down in one place. I can visually see when things are do and then strategically plan in those upcoming weeks when I need to do work ahead of time to avoid working on two major assignments at one time. It also will help you remember everything you need to do so you don't forget to complete an assignment or prepare for a quiz.

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CES 2011 Student Gadget Roundup

Shep and Luke took over the NBC Universal stage (thanks again guys!) to take a look at their favorite gadgets for students from the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.

Gadget List

• BassJump (Twelve South)
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• HTC HD7 (Unlocked)
• Bottle Opening iPhone Case (Be a HeadCase)
• Livescribe Smartpen (4GB)
• Powermat 2X Portable Mat & Powercube
• Block Rocker Battery Powered Speaker System (Ion Audio)
• Optoma Neo-I Projector
• DryCASE Waterproof Phone Case
• Kensington Keyfolio for iPad
  

More CES 2011 Coverage

• The Samsung Galaxy Tab
• The Kno Tablet
• The Livescribe Smartpen
• The Blackberry Playbook
• The Ion Audio Book Saver
• The DryCASE Shower Review
• CES 2011 Photo Gallery (First Half)
• CES 2011 Photo Gallery (Second Half)

CES 2011: Second Half Photos

Better late than never, here are some highlights from Saturday and Sunday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

Kelly, Shep, and Luke basking in the calming blue glow of the NBC Universal Stage

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In-Shower Review of the DryCASE

We picked up the waterproof DryCASE at CES. Once I got home, I decided to put it to the test.

If you want the honor of winning this very unit, let us know in the comments a creative way you would use it.

The DryCASE, in all its glory

Hands On with the Ion Audio Book Saver

Ever wanted to digitize your own textbook? This may be the answer!

Hands on with the Blackberry Playbook

Hands on with the Livescribe Smartpen