Tappped Offers Student Discounts By Email

Tappped (note the triple "p") offers exclusive student discounts via email. It was even founded by a rising college freshman!Friend of the site Jeff Bajayo recently took some time between studying for his senior year AP tests to start Tappped, an email-based student deal site. You simply visit the site, sign up with your .edu or .ac.uk email address, and you'll be signed up to receive weekly emails with the latest student discounts. The cool thing is that the emails both aggregate the best on the web, and also offer some exclusive deals just for Tappped subscribers.

It remains to be seen how many deals Tappped can negotiate; a lot depends on how many students sign up. With that in mind, do us all a favor and go subscribe. It's a really convenient way to stay passively informed of some exclusive deals. 

Hack Brackets, Acquire Currency

Winning a pool is not a matter of luck; it's a matter of maximizing utility and playing the odds. Image courtesy of Flickr user MajerLeagues and licensed under CC by SA 2.0

The greatest college sports month of the year is finally here, and whether your school is in the Big Dance, the NIT, or (like mine) Division III, you can still have a great time filling out a bracket and trying your luck in a friendly pool. 

Oh, I'm sorry. Did I just type "luck," and then purposely not go back and correct it for dramatic effect? Yes I did. Luck has little to do with winning an NCAA pool. It can be tempting to pick most of the top-seeded teams all the way through to the later rounds, and this strategy will almost certainly keep you out of the cellar, but it's not likely to win you any money. Picking individual matchups is a complete crapshoot.  Building a bracket that will win your pool is decidedly not. Click through for some tips and tools to help you finish on top. 

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Kno Offers Steep Discounts for Student Ambassadors

We were lucky enough to spend an hour alone with a few Kno tablets at CES, and came away reasonably impressed at the device's impressive screen and excellent stylus input, but worried about the hefty price tag.  If you're interested in trying out the single or dual-screen textbook reader for about half the price, Kno is now offering a Student Ambassador program for early-adopting beta testers.

You'll need to spread the word about the device and attend weekly meetings to give feedback, but it's great deal if you have the time to spare.  If you're interested, fill out the application and cross your fingers. And please, write to us if you're selected. We'd love to hear about your experiences.

[Kno Student Ambassadors via CrunchGear]

Hack Your Holiday Shopping with Student Discounts

Students aren't exactly flush with cash, but you can live large with some savvy student discount shopping. Image courtesy of Flickr user StuartPilbrow and license under CC by SA 2.0.

We really have it lucky, us students.  Companies are willing to throw us huge discounts on the assumption that we are both poor and still forming our brand loyalties.  Whether this is true or not is irrelevant; you don't need to be broke and gullible to take advantage.  Hell, the deals can be so good that Lifehacker even ran a feature to help readers enjoy these benefits forever.  Here is a roundup of some of the best student discounts out there to help you save a little cash this holiday season.

Click through for the list!

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Maximize Your Amazon Shopping Prowess

Shipping costs can make anybody want a hug. Photo by Flickr user sⓘndy²º¹º licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0I never really got into online shopping until college, but I'm totally hooked now.  I'm a loyal Amazon user, and am consistently amazed by their endless selection and impressive deals.  It makes driving out to a store where I'll pay twice as much seem pretty silly.  Here are a few apps/extensions I've found that make the online shopping experience even better.

Filler Item Finder

Shipping costs...oh those shipping costs. That $5 really is a downer.  We all know that Amazon offers free, and not too-terribly-slow, shipping on orders of more than $25.  I've found myself more than once in a situation where I have an order of $24 and some change, and just need one more chachka to get over the hump.  If you need some help finding that elusive cheap crap, head to filleritemfinder.com.  All you need to do here is enter how much you need to spend to get free shipping, and the site will generate a list of cheap items on Amazon you can buy to qualify.  There is really a shockingly large market for $1 or less car parts on Amazon...who knew?

Amazon Discount Search

The next tip is a super-handy Firefox Extension called Amazon Discount Search.  This is pretty easy to explain: right click at any time, scroll through the extension's menu to choose the category of item you're interested in, and what percentage markdown you prefer.  You'll immediately be taken to a page with all of Amazon's current discounts that met your criteria.  It's an incredibly convenient tool for the bargain shopper (and really, who isn't these days?)

Wish List

Finally, there's the Amazon Universal Wish List Firefox extension.  Amazon's wish list feature is great for tipping off friends and family to what you may be eyeing for your birthday, or even just for keeping track of your material desires over time.  This extension will let you instantly add any item from any website to your Amazon wish list.  That way, if you see some awesome gadget on Hackcollege, but don't have the patience to find the corresponding item on Amazon.com, you can add it to your wish list and deal with it later.

Guest Post: Buying Meat on a Student Budget

This post is sponsored by Beer Tees Season Favorite:  Fun Halloween Costumes Popular Product:  Pabst Beer T Shirts Most Popular Category:  Beer T Shirts

Sure you might not be barbequing now that we're moving into the fall, but it doesn't mean you still can't get some quality meat.

This is a guest post submitted by British reader Lucien Topp. He is a a first-year at King's College in London studying English with Film Studies.

So you thought now you were at uni you had to wave goodbye to your favourite foods. Wrong. With this guide to buying meat you will no longer have to live off beans and frozen pizzas.

Buying meat is all about preparation and imagination. Here’s how to do it on the cheap without sacrificing deliciousness.

1. Mince (or Ground Meet)
   
   Mince, be it beef, pork or even turkey (yes, turkey) is a great idea for students. For starters one pack usually contains enough for at least two meals and it can be frozen to last for ages. Not only this but it’s very versatile. Use it to make meatballs, chilli con carne, spaghetti bolognaise, stir fry’s and pies. So buy the cheapest mince in the store (it will still be delicious), use half of it that day, wrap up the rest and freeze it until you want to use it again.


2. Chicken 
   
   Sacrifice a bit of the convenience and chicken can be very cost effective for a student. Don’t get sucked in to paying more for the packs of chicken strips or pre-marinated chicken breasts – these are all things you can do yourself in the kitchen. Instead look for cheaper cuts of meat such as chicken drumsticks and thighs. You can usually get a large pack of these for not very much and again they can last you multiple meals. For stir-fry cut the meat off the bones in to strips yourself and fry it up, for curry do the same thing and add to your curry sauce. If you want it marinated then stick the meat in a bowl, throw over some lemon juice, salt and whatever else you like, stick in the fridge for a couple of hours and you’ll be in flavour heaven.


3. Bacon
   
   A staple of any breakfast and vitally important to hangover recovery. When buying bacon shops very often do a ‘two packs for x amount’ deal. You may look at the use-by-date and think there’s no way you’ll eat all that bacon in a few days however, stick one pack in the freezer and it will last weeks, literally. Then you make use of the discounts and will be safe in the knowledge that you have a good supply of bacon.
    
4. Beef and Pork 
   
   Buying, for instance, a single beef steak is definitely not the most cost-effective meal for a student. It is expensive for what you get and you can only really get one meal out of it. However, occasionally you can get lucky and a supermarket will have good pieces of pork or beef that are just about to reach their use-by-date. Supermarkets will make these super cheap as they have to sell them otherwise they will just go in the bin. So keep a look out for deals but only buy if you are certain you are going to use it that day, otherwise it’ll just be you throwing it out not the supermarket.

If you still find meat expensive and too much effort to cook then, well, become a vegetarian.

Any other tips for the carnivorous student?

Would you like to submit a guest post? Take a look at our guidelines and then send an email to dear@hackcollege.com.

The Move to 21

Image courtesy of flickr user TheTruthAbout...

Unbeknownst to most of our generation, the drinking age was--kind of recently--below the age of 21. In fact, it wasn't until the National Minimum Drinking Age Act that the United States mandated that all states change the legal purchase age to 21. Before then, it varied by state. I remember my mom telling me an anecdote of students from WSU driving across the border into Idaho to pick up booze on Friday nights. The age limit for more and more things is trending upwards and the latest thing is credit cards.

Credit Cards, No Longer All Ages

If your parents have been receiving a slew of credit card offers in your name, it's probably because the credit card companies want to lock you in before they legally no longer can, without your parents' consent. The recently passed Credit CARD Act of 2009 will limit raise the age that one can own a credit card, starting February 22, 2010. If you are younger than 21, you'll need a parent or guardian to co-sign on the card. Credit cards already granted will not be affected.

Denying Rights or Protecting Against Irresponsibility?

While we are all for creating a little mischief, credit cards give me the heebeejeebies. For some reason, spending money via a credit card is exactly like procrastinating a paper: we all know it's bad, but we still do it. You can usually procrastinate and still get an A on the paper, but every once in awhile you'll hear a tale of someone misbudgeting their time and screwing themselves.

Some university presidents have banded together recently to form the Amethyst Initiative to re-lower the drinking age back down to 18. We say hell yeah.

While I personally would be an advocate of greater personal responsibility, this bill does make it more difficult for credit card companies to do shiesty things like arbitrarily raising interest rates, falsely advertising cards and more. For that reason, I'm cool with it. Yeah, it's crappy that you can no longer get a credit card at 18. 

So until the bill goes into effect on February 22, make sure you read all of the fine print on that card. And be ready for the rates and terms to change the day you graduate. It's just the way student cards work right now.

What do you think about the Credit CARD Act of 2009? Should we be given a great degree of freedom or is the 21 age-limit a good thing?

Merry Christmas -- Free software!

Courtesy of pfala | FlickrHas the bad economy got you down a few presents? Last year, we counted down the days to Christmas by counting down our favorite pieces of free software. It's like a 12-day advent calendar -- all in one day!

VLC

VLC is the most widely-compatible media player around. The latest version has some iTunes-like flare.

Drive back-up software

Kelly explains a free back-up solution for each platform, including rsync which is already hidden on your Mac.

Miro

Miro will automatically download your favorite TV and web shows when the come out. It's like turning your computer into a DVR! And it's easy.

Quicksilver (Mac)

Quicksilver is still one of the greatest productivity applications in the world. It's also impossible to explain in less than one sentence.

The Power Hour

Another multi-platform rundown that solves the problem of timing a classic drinking game.

Skype

Skype is a popular VOIP client (it's like a phone on your computer). But it has some free extensions that would officially put Alexander Graham Bell out of business.

Firefox Add-ons

Firefox, a web browser, is free. So are these 7 must-have extensions.

OpenDNS

OpenDNS will change the way you connect to the internet. Read how.

Tor

Tor will let you browse the internet completely anonoymously. Cover your tracks while you pirate music on campus.

Sizzling Keys (Mac)

A mind-blowingly detailed global shortcut program for iTunes. You'll be happy you have it.

Clean your computer (PC)

End your virus and spyware issues with free software.

Facebook syncing

Free ways to get contact info and pictures out of the social network and on to your hard drive.