Friday Fun - Open a Wine Bottle With a Shoe

This happens a lot. Wine is the only type of alcohol that comes in a container that requires its own special tool to open. Other alcohols don't even have basic child-proofing. So, when you're smashed out of your mind and caught without a corkscrew, it can be pretty frustrating when all that's left to drink is a bottle of wine. You might find yourself beating the glass bottle against your dorm room wall in rage. Well, as this how-to shows us, that's exactly the right thing to do.

You only need four common things: teeth, shoe, wall and "drunk enough to do something dangerous." See how handy that is? It's very impromptu. French people keep all four of those things with them at all times.

If you want to open more bottles with style, don't forget our video segment that recounts every single solitary impromptu bottle cap removal method known to man...

This Week's Best Questions on Discuss Campus - Nov. 6, 2009

We launched a new site this week, Discuss Campus. There was a huge flood to the site and there is already a healthy community over there with over 200 questions asked in the first 2 days. Awesome. There were quite a few questions that generated a lot of answers and reputation. (By the way, my reputation is at 117. Beat that.)

Here are this week's best questions and answers.

What are some must read books for college students?

You know, like the classics, etc. What are some that you think every student should read?

Laptop or netbook?

I'm going to be living off campus and have a computer at home that I can use for papers and research. Will I need a laptop on campus for note taking or presentations? If so, what's your preference? Laptop or Netbook and why? I'm leaning toward getting a Netbook just for portability but don't want to handicap myself on needed equipment if a laptop would serve better. Again, this is not a desktop replacement, merely something I'd use only when on campus.

Do people use vodka in their eyes to avoid calories?

I heard about these sorority girls who use vodka in eye-droppers as a way to drink but avoid calories. Would that work? I bet it would sting or something.

How can I make a group project less of a clusterfuck?

I was just assigned a group project and I'm worried it will become the same thing that every group project ends up being: a clusterfuck.

What are some good ways of preventing this from happening?

How do I keep myself from snoozing in the mornings?

I keep missing my 8am class because I keep hitting snooze. How does everyone else get out of bed so easily?

How can I start generating passive income as a student?

I've read around online of people starting to generate passive income (i.e. generating income without working all the time). What are some good ways to get set up with passive income? Are there any things that are student-specific?

What are some of your favorite questions on Discuss Campus?

8 Twitter Lists All Students Should Follow

If you’re already a Twitter user, you probably get why Lists are so cool: they’re an awesome way to follow whole groups of interesting people, in one place, without letting them get all cluttered among everything else you follow.

If you’re not a Twitter user, Lists are a great reason to become one. You can follow lots of people, get information and updates all in one place, and get up-to-the-second news and interesting info in ways that never existed before.

The student world is no exception. There are tons of people on Twitter who either are students, talk about students, or are just interesting in some way or other that’s relevant to us as students. Here are eight great lists that students should follow:

Top 50 Funny: 50 hilarious people, from Dwight Schrute to Darth Vader, who are always making the Twitterverse laugh.

Breakingnews: Some of the best and most popular news companies that are on Twitter – an awesome source for up-to-the-second news headlines from a number of different companies.

Recommended: Poorly named, true. But this is a great list full of people who are into technology, education, and how each matters to the Web. This one’s a huge range, but some seriously great stuff.

EdTech: More of the same – lots of people involved with education and technology, helping bring the classroom into the 21^st Century.

Universities: a number of colleges and universities that are active on Twitter.

Young Smart Newsies: Young people making and reporting news, and mostly doing so in interesting ways.

Top 50 Celeb: The people, from Ashton Kutcher to Barack Obama to Shaq, who are bringing Twitter rapidly into the mainstream. Who doesn’t want to be friends with a celeb?

Coaches Advisors Mentors: People who get how to succeed in business, and in life. Lots of good advice, fun stories, and interesting tidbits from people who just win.

Whether it’s news, advice, or funny comments from stars of The Office, you can find it all on Twitter. And with Twitter Lists, you can find it all a lot more easier.

What lists do you follow?

Kelly's at Notre Dame This Weekend!

Photo used without my brother's permission. If he complains about rights to his photo, I will beat him up.

Hello!

Secret: I have a younger brother and he goes to Notre Dame. My family is making a pilgrimage to South Bend this weekend for the Navy game.

I will inevitably have some free time to meet up. If you're an ND student and want to hang out, let me know! The best way to get in touch with me is via Twitter (@KellySutton) or on Facebook.

See you this weekend!

Cost of Ownership May Scare Potential Smartphone Owners

We at HackCollege like to think our readers are a few standard deviations above the mean when it comes to tech savviness.  I came across this interesting infographic from BillShrink that was dugg over 1000 times and was featured on Lifehacker. It's a comparison of the four major wireless carriers and the best phones they have to offer. Here it is for your viewing pleasure and consumerdom. 

Droid vs iPhone 3GS vs Palm Pre vs MyTouch 3G: Total Cost of Ownership (BillShrink Blog)

This is one thing to think about if you are going to get a smartphone. Data plans cost almost as much as the voice plan in some cases. So, before buying think about how much you're actually going to use the mobile internet you'll pay so much for.

Also, there's speculation that Verizon might charge for Exchange access. West Chester U runs on Exchange and that would be a deal-breaker for me. It could be 15 to 20 dollars a month on top of a data plan that's also running 30 dollars or more. As the Wired article says, "Verizon loves to nickel and dime its customers." 

Do you have a smartphone? Is it worth having to pay extra for the data plan? Comment below to share!

The Death of the College Email Address?

Last week The Chronicle of Higher Education wrote a post in their blog, Wired Campus, about colleges doing away with school specific email addresses. One of the main reasons they cite for the inclination to delete the mail accounts is that all of their students already have an email address. I'm pretty sure 99% of students that have applied to colleges or universities since 2003 have one.

Are College E-Mail Addresses on the Way Out? (Chronicle)

It becomes a hassle for students students to check these accounts. Here's a solution to that problem. Gmail allows you to forward email to your account (even Exchange for our non-Snow Leopard readers). It's pretty simple can be found under the "Accounts" tab of the settings page. 

Do you find it to tiresome to check more than one email account? Do you have them all hooked up to one? Comment below to share!

Featured Desk Space: Kelly's Desk

My desk space is... kind of cluttered and uneventful.

Well, I figured it's about time I put my own desk up here. The world wants to know.

My desk may be quite the let-down for anyone expecting some crazy, avant-garde ultraproductive setup. It's pretty plain without anything special to it. (Maybe the fact that I haven't spent much time on it is productive? I dunno.)

Here's a quick rundown: I've got my 15" MacBook Pro sitting on the awesome Griffin Elevator laptop stand. I recently turned my Dell 2005FPW sideways to accommodate for papers and long blocks of code. I use it as my primary monitor. I've got the Apple aluminum keyboard and an old school Logitech MX500. I'm eyeing the Apple Magic Mouse.

I use my keyboard tray as a little workspace. I'll jot a note down, work out a problem or do some reading there. When I'm not using it, in it goes.

I try to keep only work related things on my desk. Except when I go to sleep, then I kind of to a pocket dump on my desk. I'm thinking I should move that into a shoebox or something...

So, what do ya think?

If you'd like your desk to be featured on HackCollege, shoot an email over to room@hackcollege.com with a description and pictures of your desk. Don't forget to tell us a little bit about yourself! 

Keep Your Fingers/Keyboard Clean While Snacking

We know you think potato chips are a well-rounded meal, but to lots of other people, they're just a snack. That means we usually munch them while doing something else -- sometimes, at the computer. And though they're bad for your diet, they're even worse for your keyboard. Salt crystals and phony flavor powder gets all over your fingers, then all over your keyboard and mouse. Gamers, we know you have the same problem also. 

It's annoying and it's a mess. And keeping a napkin close by doesn't always do the trick. 

Thinking back to my Revision3 days reminded me of an excellent hack for stopping snack mess that Bit Wrangler Chuck Siu imparted to his coworkers: use chopsticks. They keep your fingers clean, your keyboard cleaner and they make it that much easier to snag those last few buried in the bottom of the foil bag. 

After a little practice, you can eventually get the hang of typing and using a mouse with the chopsticks still in your hands.