Guest Post: Hack Your Knowledge with Free Digital Resources

Lectures and chalkboards are boring. Knowledge hacking is fun. Photo courtesy of edbrambley. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.

Today's guest post comes from Josh Olson, a student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is a would-be iPhone app developer and blogs about study tips at www.gradesapp.com/blog.

Whether college is the best of times or the worst of times depends greatly on your professors' abilities to teach. Some can't. Fortunately, there are a number of swell digital resources that help you hack your knowledge. Here's how to learn cool stuff for free.

First, there's ted.com. This website provides videos from the TED conference—a gathering of scientists, digital gurus, entertainment big-wigs, and Bono. These videos cover an array of subjects, all explained by some of the brightest minds of our time. For instance, in this talk Robert Wright talks about game theory, non-zero-sumness, and his "grimly optimistic" philosophy of history. If you're taking a music class, you might like Itay Talgam's talk explaining the art of conducting an orchestra. Or if you're in physics you have to check out Brian Greene's excellent explanation of string theory. Astronomy got you down? Listen to Stephen Hawking talk about space aliens. Or if life in general's got you down, listen to Bill Gates talk about what's wrong with the world and what we can do about it.

Speaking of Bill Gates...Read on to find out more

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Guest Post: Evaluating Your Employability

Fun though it may be, this is probably not how you should dress for a job interview. Image courtesy of Flickr user TedMurphy and licensed under CC by 2.0

Today's guest post is from Thomas Frank, a longtime HackCollege reader, and founder of collegeinfogeek.com. Thomas has some great takeaways for students from The Personal MBA. Enjoy!

One of the most interesting books I've been reading lately is The Personal MBA by Josh Kauffman. The book is centered around the idea that you can save thousands of dollars by not pursuing an MBA, instead reading lots of books in your free time and educating yourself. The book is a very broad overview of business that is broken down into chunks based on each factor that goes into running a business, including value creation, marketing, selling, finance, value delivery, and more.

While the actual value of an MBA is beyond my perception at this point in my life, I've come to realize that this book is a great starting point for business self-education. It's written in bite-size passages, each one based on a particular concept that falls under its chapter's main idea. 

In the chapter on value creation, one of the concepts that stuck out to me was the concept of economic values. These are the values of a product or offering that will influence how much people will want to buy it. The economic values Josh lists are

Efficacy - how well it works
Speed - how fast it works
Reliability - whether or not you can depend on it
Ease of use - how much effort does it require you to expend
Flexibility - how many things it can do
Status - how it affects the way others perceive you
Aesthetic appeal - how attractive or aesthetically pleasing it is
Emotion - how it makes you feel
Cost - how much you have to pay to get it

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Guest Post: How To Deal with a No-Laptop Policy

Stripped of your laptop? You can still find a way to stay digital in class. Image courtesy of Tulane Public Relations and licensed under CC 2.0

Today's guest post is from Nick Honegger, a fellow student at Trinity University. Like many of you, he can't stand being told to keep his computer in his bag. He has a few tips if you find yourself with a technophobic professor.

The semester has started and you find yourself stuck in a class that has a no laptop policy, what do you do?

The most basic option you have is talking to your professor outside of class to discuss the possibility of you using your laptop. Most professors fear students who use laptops in classes are either playing games or surfing the web. In an attempt to distance yourself from this perception, try explaining why you find a computer is helpful to your note taking process. If you can convince him or her that the computer is more efficient for you they may change their mind. Offer to make some sacrifices to prove you are willing to be diligent. For example, I’ve had teachers be content with laptop users if they sit in the first three rows. The best way for this strategy to work is to be polite and explain why your laptop is so vital for your learning process. This works more than you would expect, and as long as you do not appear to be distracting your classmates, you will be in the clear. 

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Guest Post: 7 Ways College Must Have Been Different When Cellphones Didn't Exist

I dunno, they look the same to me. Photo courtesy of traftery. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.

Today's guest post comes from our friends at CollegeCandy.

Nowadays, pretty much everyone has a cell phone. And if you don’t, I’m going to assume that you’re my grandma and say congrats for figuring out how to sign on the World Wide Web.  Cell phones have become a such a big part of our lives that we view them as another body part. We all know that panicky feeling that you get when you realize you left your phone at home. Seriously, I think everyone would prefer to walk out of the house without pants rather than without a fully-charged phone.

So what was life like before cell phones? (Editor’s Note: Uh….horrific?!) Like, I’m talking about life even before Zack Morris ’80s cell phone. Sure, maybe life was livable without being in constant contact with everyone, but can you imagine college without a phone in your hand at all times?

1. How did people find each other at parties or bars? My friend, for a whole semester, was sans phone. It sucked having to find her out in public places. Navigating a crowded bar with no idea where to look is the opposite of fun. We would find her an hour into our night, just when she was leaving with a new guy. The only way to be sure that we would be with her for the night was to actually arrive with her, as in make a solid gameplan and follow through, and who can do that?

2. How did they talk sh*t about people without texting? Let’s be real, we’ve all been there. Sitting in class between that weird kid who clearly hasn’t showered for weeks and your BFF.  Or talking to a creeper at a party and trying with all your might to get away from his creepy stare. Or spotting a girl’s thong sticking out of her jeans in lecture and just HAVING to share the image with someone…who happens to be sitting three rows away. Like any normal person, you take out your cell phone and text.

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We're Going to CES!

Shep, Luke, and Kelly are heading to Vegas later this week for the Consumer Electronics Show.  We'll be scouting out the best upcoming gadgets for college students, so keep a close eye on the site for the latest news from the show.

On a related note, if you'll be at the show want to speak to us, send an email to Shep at shep@hackcollege.com.    

Twitter Contest: GoodReader for iPhone

A few months ago, Shep covered the goodness that is GoodReader for iOS. Just in time for the end of the year, we've got four copies of GoodReader for the iPhone to give away. The app normally costs $2.99, so this is the perfect little stocking stuffer for a tech-savvy friend or yourself. As the tweet says, simply @ reply us on Twitter with your favorite holiday hack by the end of Christmas day, and we'll pick the four winners. Good luck!

Guest Post: Stuff Your Brain With Cramberry

Today's guest post comes from Kyle Dreger, a tech enthusiast and freshman at University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio.  You can read more of his writing at his personal Tumblr.

Through the years, low-tech flashcards have remained one of the best ways to help you memorize facts, vocabulary, or pretty much any sort of information you need. However, many times the process of creating flashcards can be tedious - writing a hundred front and back cards is exhausting for anyone. If you've made flash cards before, you realize that keeping track of many sets is a pain as well. Once a hardcore flashcard user, I've tried almost every online flashcard creation site out there. They all have different strengths, but none really gave me the simple, yet robust, flashcard experience I was looking for on both the desktop and my mobile device. Then I met Cramberry. 

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The HackCollege Christmas List

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and the HackCollege writers are salivating at the thought of some of the latest gadgets, toys, and apps out there.  We've rounded up a few of our favorites after the break for you to sample, and feel free to leave your own recommendations in the comments.  

All Amazon links are affiliate links, meaning we get a little cash to support the site if you buy something you clicked to from this post, so send this post along to your parents! :)

Click through to see the complete list

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