What are the entertainment system essentials for college students? – Intel Conversations

As part of Intel sponsoring the HackCollege Summit, we produced a few videos talking about the necessities of college students. We will be releasing these videos over the next few weeks. Christine and Kiesha prompt each question and add insights from an "older generation," while Mike, Laura, Luke and Shep participate in the discussions.

In the third Intel Conversations session, Kiesha and Christine ask, "What are the entertainment essentials as college students?" Can you get by with just a laptop, or is it nice to have a TV? What are some pieces of software that can make your media consumption easier?

What are the important things in your system? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.

How To Melt Your Brain Freeze

Perhaps if you tap your pencil enough times, ideas will fall out of it. Photo courtesy of Rennett Stowe. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.

There is nothing worse than being in the middle of writing an eight page paper that's due tomorrow and developing writer's block on page six. You're stressed, you're frustrated, and your brain just can't coherently put your thoughts together. It's a common ailment among college students but one that fortunately has some fairly effective remedies as well. Ideally, what you want to do is clear your mind for awhile so that when you come back to working or studying, your mind is ready to take on the task at hand. Here are a few suggestions for things to do to take help you clear your mind for an effective break that will unblock your creative flow.

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The Top 100 Education Advice Blogs

CollegeScholarships.org has put together an impressively long list of the best Education Advice blogs, and HackCollege is sitting pretty at #14.  Check out the list if you have the time; there are a ton of great links in there for students.

[Top 100 Education Advice Blogs via CollegeScholarships.org]

Know of any other blogs that weren't on the list? Let us know in the comments.

Our Major-Related Tumblr Tuesday Picks

Screenshot o' the Tumblr Directory. Check it out, yo!If you have a Tumblr, then you probably know that today is Tumblr Tuesday, when its users recommend all their favorite blogs of late. While there are the always popular users, like the internet culture blog, The Daily What, and print-turn-digital outfits, The New Yorker and Newsweek, there are also many specialty blogs that have content close to what you're studying in your major. Here are a few of them: 

Psychology: NeuroLove

Depending on your school of thought you may either love or hate this blog. It's a few posts a week about the brain and all the wonderful things it does. 

History: Dead Presidents

This is fairly specific blog, as it only focuses on presidents, but, there certainly isn't a lack of information. There are a few posts everyday ranging from really well asked and answer questions, to what some presidents said about others.

Chemistry: FuckYeahChemistry

I don't know a lot of chemistry majors, personally. I imagine they have their head in the books a decent amount, probably more than the average college student. So, FuckYeahChemistry sets out to test your knowledge as well as titillate you with funny Chemistry-related comics.

Political Science: Robert Reich

You know the saying, opinion are like buttholes everyone's got one. It seems as though Robert Reich's opinions might hold a little more sway. He is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and has served under three national administrations. His succinct posts will give you unique point of view, having worked with presidents and all. 

Thanks for tuning in! Let me know if you like this Tumblr-related post by commenting below or connecting with me on Twitter.

What do you look for in your system? – Intel Conversations

As part of Intel sponsoring the HackCollege Summit, we produced a few videos talking about the necessities of college students. We will be releasing these videos over the next few weeks. Christine and Kiesha prompt each question and add insights from an "older generation," while Mike, Laura, Luke and Shep participate in the discussions.

In our second session, we ask, "What do you look for in your systems?" Is speed important? Choosing the right system is important to having something that "just works."

What are the important things in your system? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.

Swag Review: Windows 7 Asus Eee 1008P PC

Today I received a 10" Asus Eee PC 1008P in the mail from Microsoft. As part of their loaner program, I'll be using it for the next year before I ship it back. The video above shows my initial impressions (and my deathly pallor).

So far it seems like the pros are the long battery life (6 hours!), good keyboard, and sensitive trackpad; the cons are the silly casing on it and the poor mic quality. The rest of the HackCollege staff agreed that I sounded like I was eating mud while talking during our weekly conference call, so take that as you will in regards to mic quality.

What are some things you'd like to see us try on the machine? So far I intend to use it for basic notetaking, and clearly I'm able to record video on it, but that's the extent of my ideas for now. Please, give suggestions in the comments or on Twitter!

More photos after the jump.

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Featured Desk: Graphic Designer's Paradise

When in doubt, build up. Japheth's desk makes use of vertical space to open up the chance to fit in a Wacom tablet for graphic designing.

Japheth Crawfod, a graphic design student at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, sent us this week's featured desk. He's made use of generic school-provided furniture and build up, allowing him to fit all of his work materials around without needing anything more than appartment-legal ingenuity.

On his desk, he's got a 15" Macbook Pro and a Wacom tablet--key for his major--that fits snugly in beside so he can work on his class assignments. Next to them he's made space for his TV, speakers, and a lamp. Nothing on the main part of the desk distracts from functionality--this keeps the workspace free for actual productivity.

By building up, Japheth has made space for his wireless all-in-one printer, so it stays out of his way and there are no wires to tangle on the desk. He's made clever use of one of the storage nooks to store a few external harddrives and, on its side, an easily-accessible box of Kleenex. To the right of the desk, he's storing useful items (like DVDs and blank CDs) within arm's reach. Overall, the desk allows for maximum productivity without Japheth ever leaving his chair.

Think you can do better? Got an innovative idea? Then send pictures of your desk and a description 
of what you've done to emily@hackcollege.com.

Think Education's Broken? Help REDU It.

There's a new kid in town. Photo courtesy of kevindooley. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.Microsoft - the very name invokes majesty and power. The powerhouse behind Windows, World, Excel, Xbox, and modern computing. Oh, yeah, and the Zune. Well, we can't be perfect.

One of the most recent and most popular Microsoft creations is Bing - the "decision" engine and the closest thing to a challenger in the Google age of search engine. Bing touts its ability and functionality with image search and appeals to travelers with more information built-in about travel, but it's got a new trick up it's sleeve.

Education.

Yep, you heard me right. Microsoft wants to take its vision to improving our education system - K-12 and higher education - through its new project REDU.

REDU is available at http://letsredu.com - it provides information, tutorials, and videos to help improve America's education system. I'm pretty convinced Microsoft is really trying to make an impact, but I'll let you be the judge. 

Check out REDU and leave your reaction in the comments or on Twitter @HackCollege.