Guest Post: Grab the Kindle Keyboard if You're Going Abroad

The Kindle can get you free web access at almost any beach around the world, making it perfect for studying abroad. Photo by goXunuReviews and licensed under CC BY-2.0Today's guest post comes from Daniel Hernandez, an international student from El Salvador and senior at Trinity University studying Finance and Economics, and Shep's old college roommate! He is currently studying abroad in São Paulo, Brazil with CIEE Study Abroad Programs. He spent a month in Salvador, Brazil for a pre-session and later went to São Paulo.

Editor's Note: The new generation of Kindle doesn't support web browsing over 3G. For that privilege, be sure to pick up the Kindle Keyboard before Amazon runs out, or buy one used.

You might think that you already read too much in college, so why would you need an Amazon Kindle 3G ? Well, you might not know that in addition to its book-reading capabilities, it's also a portable international web browser! You can also get books in English, which in foreign countries can be expensive and hard to find. The books can be delivered through 3G (which Amazon calls Whispernet), Wifi, or by connecting your Kindle to your computer.

Check the 3G Availability

Amazon Kindle uses either the faster 3G network or the slower EDGE network depending on your location. I've had experience using both networks and they were about the same speed, at least for downloading books. I would worry more about the availability of either than which specific type is available at your location. You can check that here.

It's really important to note that depending on your study abroad university or institute, Wi-Fi might be extremely limited. I spent a month in Salvador, Brazil before coming to São Paulo and my local university didn't have Wi-Fi. I stayed with a host family and the host family didn't have Wi-Fi, and for some reason I have yet to figure out, they would only allow me to plug in my computer to the ethernet cable about an hour a day. Although I would understand if it had been dial up, it was actually a high-speed internet connection, so they weren't getting charged per minute!

When I wanted to read in my room The Economist, The New York Times, or Facebook I would just turn on the 3G, and go to the website. It was sometimes a bit tricky because the websites aren't optimized for reading on the Kindle over the web browser. With a bit of practice though it isn't that inconvenient, you just need to have the right zoom and/or the appropriate screen orientation. If people in the study abroad group posted on Facebook they were meeting somewhere to eat, I could just read it directly from my Kindle and then go there. Having some internet was way better than having no internet!

Want to learn more about saving money with the Kindle? Read on to see more tips.

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Man on the Street: Band or Tech? (Presented by Intel)

Need a laptop? We've teamed up with Intel to bring you the HackCollege Laptop Chooser. If you share the Laptop Chooser, you'll be entered to win a Samsung Series 9 Notebook!

Man on the Street: What Does a Processor Do? (Presented by Intel)

Need a laptop? We've teamed up with Intel to bring you the HackCollege Laptop Chooser. If you share the Laptop Chooser, you'll be entered to win a Samsung Series 9 Notebook!

Today we begin a series of man on the street videos asking random students around Trinity University a few questions about technology. Today's question: What is the difference between a solid state drive, and a regular hard drive?

Be on the lookout over the next few weeks for the rest of the videos!

Man on the Street: SSD vs. HDD (Presented by Intel)

Need a laptop? We've teamed up with Intel to bring you the HackCollege Laptop Chooser. If you share the Laptop Chooser, you'll be entered to win a Samsung Series 9 Notebook!

Today we begin a series of man on the street videos asking random students around Trinity University a few questions about technology. Today's question: What is the difference between a solid state drive, and a regular hard drive?

Be on the lookout over the next few weeks for the rest of the videos!

Video: Maximize Your Mini-Fridge Space with Common School Supplies

Can't fit all those beers in your tiny dorm fridge? Shep has a few tricks for maximizing your space using a few common school supplies.

If you don't have time to cool drinks down in the fridge, check out Kelly's tips for chilling a beer in less than five minutes

It's Back to School Week, and We're Giving Away $100

Unload your boxes and get reading! Photo by Trinity University.

It's that time again! Amazon is raking in cash from textbook sales, sobbing parents are dragging boxes through dorm hallways, and the smell of hormones and keg beer fills the air. Yes, it's time to go back to school, and HackCollege has you covered. Be on the lookout all this week for our best tips and tricks to get you through the year ahead. 

#Freshmantips Contest

We're also running a contest for the duration of the week to win $100 cash! Just Tweet your best 140 character tip to make a freshman's life easier, and end the tweet (so it shows up for the world, not just us) with an @ reply to HackCollege and the hashtag #freshmantips. The best one (as judged by our writers) will win some cold hard beer money to start the year off right. Good luck!

Guest Post: Beef Up Your Security and Rip Hackers a New One

This post is by Thomas Frank, a junior at Iowa State University who runs a college blog of his own called College Info Geek. As long as you're not a vacuum salesman, you can connect with him at his website or on Twitter.

As a college student, you're getting to the point in your life when you have a lot to keep track of online. School email accounts, online banking, FAFSA information, social networks... the list goes on. As you get older, your online life just keeps expanding.

Now that you're in college and have this expanding online life to keep track of, your online security becomes ever more important. In high school, most of the people in your network were your age, and you probably didn't have a lot of resources. Therefore, you probably weren't much of a target for malicious attacks. However, now that you're in college and most likely over 18, a lot of sensitive data becomes yours instead of your parents'. You can get things like credit cards, and loans are now in your name. You're also probably a lot more visible on the internet.

I'm going to expose myself to a potential foot-in-mouth situation here and make what's called a "blanket statement": 

 Your online security sucks.

In fact, if we were to somehow personify your online security, it would probably look something like this... Steve RogersOn the other hand, I can tell you that, at the present moment, my online security looks a little more like this. Coincidentally, my dad looks kinda like this too...I say it looks like this at the present moment because, as recently as two weeks ago, I too had terrible online security. What I'm talking about specifically in this article are passwords. Most of us, including me, are or were at some point guilty of using the same password on every site we have an account with. Some of you might even use a really bad password like your name spelled backwards or something with nothing but lowercase letters. In the past, I used to think it was OK to use the same password everywhere as long as it was really secure. Using that line of thinking, I created one really long, complex password, set it on all my accounts, and settled into a false sense of security. It wasn't until I started learning about web security that I knew how stupid of an idea that was. Now that I know, I've fixed my security problems. In this post, I'll show you how to do the same thing easily and painlessly. However, before I do that, I want to give you a short primer on why using the same password is a bad idea, even if it's a really good one. Essentially, there are two potential pitfalls involved with non-diversification in the security world:

• Screw-ups by you, yourself, and thou
• Screw-ups by the owners of the websites you use

Read on to hear Thomas' advice for protecting yourself online.

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Guest Post: Broke, But No Time For a Real Job? Create Your Own!

Zac made a business out of rooting Android Phones, and says you could do the same with almost any skill. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Pittaya and licensed under CC by 2.0

Today's guest post is from Zac Sweers, a rising junior at the University of Texas in Austin. Zac loves tech, especially Android, and even made a business out of his ability to root Android phones. You can check out his popular how-to videos at his YouTube channel.

So you're in college, and you need cash. Unfortunately, most of your fellow students are in the same boat as you. Enough to safely say your boat is more like an unpleasant cruise ship full of broke people. Jobs are the easy solution, but sometimes you don't have time for a real job with all of your partying and gaming "studying", right?

I was in a similar position coming into the fall of last year. I had the near-obligatory tanked GPA from freshman year, and subsequently no time to get a real part-time job. My parents send me a monthly check for rent and bills, with some extra for food and leisure, and I was essentially living from check to check.

I had an HTC Evo 4G, and around October I researched how to root it, and subsequently ROM's and all that jazz. Now, for those of you that have attempted this yourself, you know researching this is ridiculous kinda hard. After I got the hang of it though, it was easy. I was still an economics major at the time, and so my thought process was:

"Man, this was hard ----> I bet other people have trouble with this too ----> *with arrogance* I'm really tech-savvy, and if I had trouble with this, then most other people probably REALLY have trouble with this ----> I bet people would pay me to do this for them."

Read on to hear about Zac's experience in the rooting business.

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