Carry a Small Notebook for Better Idea Capturing

Photo by flickr user Constance Wiebrands and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0After purchasing my first fountain pen (Orange Lamy Safari), I needed an excuse to carry it around. So naturally, I began carrying a small Moleskine notepad in my back pocket. All very pretentious, I know. What began as an excuse to write turned into a fantastic organizational tool. Although my iPhone and Omnifocus handle the bulk of my data acquisition tasks on the go, the always accessible notepad allowed me to capture more complete ideas. Some examples include rough sketches, impromptu work such as blog posts and that perfect thesis for a philosophy essay. I also pull out my notebook for quick notes when a cell phone may not be appropriate. Although the barriers are eroding, I still find it rude to take notes on your cell phone when you are speaking with a professor or colleague. Cal Newport suggests carrying a piece of paper for daily planning and for marking down any information that may need your attention at a later time. At the end of the day, the way you choose to capture information is up to you. I do suggest giving the small notebook a trial for a week or two, you'll be amazed by the convenience and the interesting scenarios when your cell phone simply won't do. As technology advances, we sometimes take for granted the analog methods we used to rely on. Newer isn't always better.    

HackCollege is Looking for New Writers!

As I'm sure many of you are aware, Kelly and Chris have graduated, both from LMU and from their writing duties on Hackcollege.  As with any school, it's necessary to replace our graduating seniors with a new freshman class to keep pumping out quality content for all of you.  If you're a strong writer with an engaging voice, possess a keen interest in our brand of undergraduate efficiency, and are a current college student (duh), then you may be just what we're looking for.  

If you're interested in becoming a writer for us, shoot us an email at dear@hackcollege.com. Be sure to include the following in the email:

• Some contact info (Skype, preferred email, cell phone)
• Your current school and expected graduation date
• A resume (don't worry about fixing it up or anything, it's not really that necessary)
• Ten story ideas you think would work on Hackcollege
• A fleshed-out, spit-shined, ready-to-publish guest post on one of those ten ideas

Submissions are due by Saturday, June 26 at noon Eastern time.  Can't wait to hear from you guys!

Treat Your Wounds with a DIY Hotpack

Have some rice and an old sock? Of course you do.Injuries happen in college.  Maybe you were exercising during finals, or even involved in a fender-bender. Hell, sometimes you may wake up with one you don't even remember getting. Unfortunately, the typical dorm room doesn't have the fully-stocked triage kit that mom was so good at maintaining.  I recently banged up my leg a bit, and I guess my girlfriend got a little sick of my whining and melodramatic limping, so she whipped up this brilliant little hotpack for me.

You'll need a small bag of dry rice, which should be easy to find at just about any campus convenience store, and a sock... that's it.  Use an old elastic tube sock if you have one, but if shorter socks are all you keep, find a rubber band.  All you need to do is empty the rice into the sock until the bulge feels about the right size, tie off the end (either with the rubber band, or a simple knot), and pop it in your microwave for two minutes or so.  

Your room will smell like rice pudding for a little while, but the hot pack can hold its temperature for a surprisingly long time, and can be used again and again.  Just apply it to your injury for about twenty minutes at a time, and be sure to wrap it in a paper towel or something to protect your skin. 

Curing Lifestyle Induced Insomnia

Photo by flickr user Matzuda and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

The college lifestyle is one of fun, excitement, and unfortunately, stress. Maintaining a regular bed time can be extremely difficult when all nighters and crazy parties take jabs at your internal clock. Here's two great pieces of software to help you fall asleep at night. 

F.Lux is a free application that runs in the background on your PC or Mac which changes the color temperature of your display in relation to the time of day and type of lighting in the room you are working in. The theory behind altering your display's color temperature is the fact that a bright computer screen late at night simulates the sun and engages your nervous system. The developer’s site lists some journal articles which explain the theory,”...we surmise that the effect of color temperature is greater than that of illuminance in an ordinary residential bedroom or similar environment where a lowering of physiological activity is desirable.” At night the orangey tone can be a little annoying, but F.lux definitely helps if you are intent on using your computer later at night. (Thanks to Tynan for bringing this piece of software to my attention. Check out his website, he’s easily one of the most interesting people on the internet.)

Pzizz is an application which generates unique audio tracks to help you fall asleep. It uses a combination of Neural Linguistic Programing (NLP) and Binaural Beats to comfortably ease you into sleep. Pzizz is available on the PC, Mac and iOS operating systems. You have the option of purchasing two different “modules”, the Energizer module intended for short power naps and the Sleep module for falling asleep at night. From my experience both modules are fantastic and let you tinker with a large number settings (length, volume, type of sounds) to produce the perfect insomnia busting soundtrack. If you are having troubles falling asleep, Pzizz is the perfect drug free solution. Students are eligible for a 75% discount, knocking the price per desktop module to $10. The iOS editions are priced accordingly with a “lite” option for those who are skeptical. 

If it’s 3:00 AM and your laying awake, give F.Lux and Pzizz a try. You may actually make it to your early morning class for once. 

What the iPhone 4 Means for Students

Resistance is futile.There's a chance you may have heard something yesterday about Apple's new iPhone 4.  Actually, if you went basically anywhere on the internet then it's pretty much a foregone conclusion.  We've seen leaked prototypes over the past few months, but now that Steve Jobs has given us the details, it's time to think about what this device means for college students.

Video Chat

The most obvious new feature is the front-facing camera and Apple's FaceTime video calling service.  FaceTime itself may not be very useful at first (it only works between iPhones), it won't take long for some great video chatting apps (cough, cough, Skype) to hit the App Store.  Though the jury is still out on whether this is a good thing, there's no doubt that iPhone 4 users will have an easy time engaging in the perennial freshman ritual of video chatting with parents.  This will also become a favorite feature of any long-distance college couples.

High-Res Retina Display

I think the most interesting addition for college students though has to be the 960x640 LCD.  Basically you're getting nearly as many pixels as an iPad in a pocketable device that more students will be using than a tablet.  Supposedly the pixels are so tiny that text looks as crisp and readable as printed pages.  The addition of the iBooks Store (and any number of third party e-book apps) could conceivably turn this into the ideal reading device.  Whether it's textbooks, novels for liberal-artsy classes, or increasingly-popular PDF readings, it will be interesting to see how many students decide to move their class materials to the iPhone.

Improved Camera

Personally, I'm most excited to take the new camera for a spin. I've grown used to the 2 megapixel, no-video, no-autofocus camera on my trusty iPhone 3G, so the 5 megapixel, 720p shooter on the iPhone 4 qualifies as a major upgrade.  The new LED flash means that you won't need to haul your point and shoot to parties (the fewer expensive gadgets, the better), while the HD video recording and onboard iMovie editing could conceivably be used to stitch together basic video projects for class.  I'm a paperless-living freak, so the autofocus 5 mp camera should be more than adequate to "scan" important documents, handouts, and receipts into Evernote, or any number of other things.

How else could the new iPhone be used on campus? Are you planning on upgrading or hopping onto the bandwagon? Let us know in the comments.

Moving On

Goodbye! Photo by long-time HackCollege supporter, Bryan Thatcher.

It's been amazing ride. There are many platitudes out there, but I think the best one for this moment is "All good things must come to an end." And after 3 years, 9 months, 10 semesters, 54 episodes and 539 posts, my time as a writing contributor must come to an end.

As a result of some inexplicable rift in the space-time continuum, Loyola Marymount recently handed me two degrees and shooed me out the door. Throughout my schooling career, I spent more time agonizing over the decisions around HackCollege than I did the classes I was apparently enrolled in. Did my grades suffer? Definitely. Was my college experience better because of this little project? Unquestionably.

The opportunities that resulted from HackCollege approached, passed and exceeded any definition of "expected." My later years of school were characterized more by flights to random ends of the U.S. than exams or term projects. HackCollege has taught all of us a little bit more what it takes to achieve a small sliver of success in the world.

When we started HackCollege, we didn't have much of a mission or a direction in mind. In fact, the blog actually started as a personal blog. (The domain name was mksutton.us. Thankfully, the name didn't stick. Check out the very first post for some comedic relief.) Over the years, we've honed our mission, tone and influence. As far as student blogs go, we've stood the test of time. It's taken us awhile to arrive at the ultimate goal of the site, but I think I've got it: We are changing the college experience for the better. What started out as a blog for "Adobe After Effects tricks" (what?) has blossomed into much more than that. We've accidentally created a worldwide network of the smartest students in the world. At almost every school, there are a few HackCollege readers. It's amazing.

I can thankfully say it's because we've never compromised. Students are a group that's seen more as an easy market opportunity many times rather than tomorrow's future. Many businesses and individuals are looking for the quick buck, but we're in it for the long haul. We aren't afraid to rake the coals when it comes to dismal student software. We'll continue to do so, in the name of students.

But just because I'm stepping away does not mean the site will fall into disarray and be forgotten forever. Quite the opposite. Chris and I are handing over the reigns to the most competent students we know. From here on out, Mike, Luke and Shep will be steering this ship. I'll be in the engine room, feeding the engine with coal (or in our case a little bit of money). We'll be bringing on a few new writers in the summer as well.

Too many projects that we create in life don't receive the dignity of a clean cut. I've entered a transition period in my life: an awesome new job, a new city, new friends... Now is the best time to for me to make the cut. I hope that what we've started is a testament to what a few college students can do in the 21st century. I won't be disappearing from the World Wide Web. If you found the last 3 and a half years interesting at all, keep in touch. I will always be reachable by email.

Until next time, shotgun a beer.

Kelly Sutton

What the End of Unlimited Data Means for Students

The end of unlimited data -- blessing or curse? Photo by Flickr user William Hook licensed under Creative Commons AT&T just announced that they would be eliminating their popular unlimited data plans for smartphones, replacing the $30 option with a $15 200 MB plan, and a $25 2 GB plan.  Maybe this is just my school, but it seems like I see more students these days texting under the desks on smartphones than on less-capable feature phones. Based on my own experiences, the iPhone is by far the king of college campuses at this point, meaning that AT&T's changes are set to affect a lot of college students (and the other carriers will likely follow suit in the coming weeks and months anyway).

I consider myself a pretty heavy data user, and when I woke up to the news I was devastated, thinking I would have to cut back on my phone usage to stay under the 2 GB cap.  I wasn't ready to accept a reality where I couldn't stream This American Life whenever I drive.  A quick trip to AT&T's website alleviated my concern though, assuring me that I have never used 1 GB, let alone 2 in a month.  

It made me realize that this could actually be a good thing.  Limiting the data hogs that stream video to their phones on a constant basis should make the network faster for everybody, and the new $15 entry-level price point for data means that students who pay for their own phone plan can now have a top of the line iPhone for as little as $55 per month (with the 450 minute AT&T plan, 200 MB data plan, and an app like TextFree Unlimited for text messaging).  As I mentioned earlier, the other major carriers will likely be emulating the new tactic soon, so this logic won't apply only to AT&T handsets. Hackcollege is pretty big on the value of having one of these pocketable computers with you at all times, so anything that gets them into more students' hands is a plus in my book.  

If you're worried that 200 MB (or whatever the other carriers decide their "light" plan will be) won't be enough for you, don't forget that most campuses these days are blanketed in Wi-Fi, meaning that anything you do with your phone on campus won't count towards your monthly cap.  You might need to go by your school's IT department for help in getting your device on the network, but the extra speed and free data is absolutely worth the hassle.  As long as you generally refrain from streaming video or audio off campus, you should be fine.

So what do you think of the new pricing structure? If you don't have a smartphone, would $15 data convince you to make the switch?

Facebook Unleashes New Privacy Controls

What the new privacy page will look like. Click here for more info straight from ZuckerbergWe've been talking a lot about Facebook lately because, frankly, about 99% of college students use it.  When Zuckerberg and co. came out with their incredibly fine-grained confusing new settings that defaulted to making tons of information public a few months ago, it gave rise to the usual crop of "1,000,000 Strong Against the New Facebook" groups.  But something was different this time.  People started talking seriously about abandoning ship and actually deleting their accounts.  A few enterprising college students even started making their own social network in response to the changes.  

It doesn't happen often, but this time the outcry was loud enough to actually make Facebook backtrack and respond to the criticism.  Over the next two weeks, Facebook will be rolling out a streamlined and simplified privacy page to help you lock down your information to your heart's content.  They will even prompt you upon signing in to check out the changes and update your settings.  Nice of them, right?

Overall the response from the blogosphere has been positive, but bear in mind that simplified settings mean fewer options.  For example, you won't be able to choose what non-friends will see if they search for you (your name, gender, profile picture, and networks are all fair game), and you can't choose different options for your posts, photos, and status updates anymore.  It will be interesting to see how college students, still Facebook's bread-and-butter audience, will react to the new changes.

Has Facebook graced you with the new options yet?  What do you think of the policy?  Let us know in the comments.