Kindles Are Going to Be More Common on Campus than Cheap Beer

Left: The new $79 Kindle. Right: The Kindle Fire. You'll be seeing a lot of both on campus next semester.

Let it be known that September 28, 2011 was the day that that tablets and e-readers were introduced to the mainstream student market.

E-Ink Kindles

Amazon today announced three new models of its E-Ink based Kindle, including an entry-level model for just $79. For just $20 more, you can pick up a touch screen model, and you can add free 3G to that for a $50 premium. Three Kindle models, from $79-$149, and they are all going to sell like mad.

For those kinds of prices, the device would probably pay for itself over a four year college career through relatively-inexpensive ebook pricing, at least for students who have to buy a lot of novels for classes. There's really no excuse not to get an ereader now.

Kindle Fire

The real star of the show though is the Kindle Fire, Amazon's new 7" touchscreen tablet. It's $200. This will be the first tablet not made by Apple to be widely successful.

It's an Android tablet, but much like the Nook Color (which seems so quaint now), you wouldn't know it. The interface is heavily skinned, and users won't even be able to shop on the Android App Market. Instead, you'll have one-click access to Amazon's App Market and its massive music, video, and book catalogs. Unfortunatley, for the video marketplace you'll really need to get a $79 Amazon Prime subscription ($39 for students), as the discounted free six month student demo accounts don't include video.

The browser is very clever, processing web pages on Amazon's servers, and sending compressed data to the Kindle to improve load times. It's reminiscent of the mobile Opera browser, and it'll be interesting to see how it functions in practice.

I've played around with 7" tablets before, including the original Galaxy Tab and the the RIM Playbook (which has very similar hardware to the Fire), and I've come to realize that for the core competencies of a tablet, a 10" screen is the way to go. For consuming videos, web pages, and images, and especially for PDF class readings, there is a distinct advantage to the larger screen on an iPad.

That said, the Fire's $200 price tag allows it to be a Trojan Horse for college students. Millions of students will return to school in January having received this for Christmas, and I really think it has the potential to make tablet computing a mainstream activity on college campuses. Once students become accustomed to incorporating a tablet into their workflow, they can gradually upgrade to more-expensive 10" iPads or Android tablets. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that any of these devices will be available until November, but preorders will be opening today.

Will you be getting your hands on the new Amazon hotness? Let us know in the comments.

[Via This is My Next and Gizmodo]

What First Amendment Rights Mean for Students

Do you know your rights? Photo courtesy of euthman. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.Last week, I received a mass email from a group called The Fire. According to their website, their mission is "to defend and sustain individual rights at America's colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience-- the Essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity." I took a law class two semesters ago, and so the article that The Fire had sent to me intrigued me, and I wanted to take a closer look at it.

The article stated that 67% of the nation's largest and most prestigious campuses currently have speech codes that violate the First Amendment. This statistic is quite alarming, and so after reading the article (which you can find here), I had a look at their full PDF study where they came to this conclusion of the violation of students' right to free speech, which you can also look at here.

What I came away with from reading and understanding this report and article was less on what The Fire had to say, and more of what I felt as a student myself. Firstly, it's important to understand that a college cannot violate your First Amendment rights if it is a private institution. The First Amendment says that the government cannot infringe on your rights; a private institution can do essentially whatever it pleases. At least half of the universities that The Fire "investigated" were private colleges. So before you think that your rights are being violated because your dean is censoring your newspaper, realize that that only applies at state-funded schools.

Secondly, even if you do attend a private university, it is important to understand what your rights as a student are and how to cope with the administration and the freedom of speech. Does your newspaper have to be submitted for review by the administration before it can be printed? How does this affect its content? How do you as a student feel about it? How can you have a dialogue between the administration and students about this censorship?

Some universities have good reasons for their censorship. Universities are a place of diverse thoughts and backgrounds, and it would be extremely tense if there were groups who promoted hateful ideas against other groups of people, whether the ideas were racist, religiously intolerant, sexist, etc. On the other hand, these types of speech are (usually) defended by the Constitution. So are universities censoring senselessly or are they doing it with purpose? Are they doing it to maintain power and control or to try to protect their students?

Far from telling you what you should think about colleges and student rights, I simply want to encourage other college students to be aware of what kind of rights you have on your campus. If you attend a government-funded school, your rights are featured in the picture above. If you attend a private school, your rights are listed a document that your school has. If you are concerned about the freedoms your university provides or lacks to provide, ask to see it. Gather a group of other concerned students to discuss what you think should be allowable on a campus. Create a form, a dialogue of some sorts. Just be aware. Understand and protect your rights as a college student.

What are your views on student freedoms on campus? Are you even concerned with your rights as a student on a college campus? Let us know in the comments.

[via The Fire]

What Pew Internet Research about Social Media Means for Students

It's official: Women rule teh internets. Photo courtesy of Ray_from_LA. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.According to Pew Internet a non-profit organization that generates reports on the affects of the internet on American life, the "power users" of social media sites are women ages 18-29 years old. This means that "that nearly nine out of 10 (89 percent) women in that age demographic who are online use the [social media] sites overall, and 69 percent are plugged into social media outlets each day. The social media sites that the study looks at include Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. In addition to this statistic, the study also found that "nearly two-thirds of adult Internet users (65 percent) are plugged into at least one social networking site," which is double of what it was in 2008.

Those statistics are pretty awesome and all, but what do they mean to us?

Firstly, it means that college-aged women are kicking butt at social media. However, just because we are using it the most, does that mean that we understand it the most? Hopefully the answer is yes, but I am not convinced. For a college student, using social media means more than just updating your close friends on what you're doing this weekend or what weird thing you just saw happen. It means using it to benefit you the most. It means using social media to brand yourself. Use it to create yourself an online presence. Become an expert on a subject. Become a known persona in those niches that you are especially interested.

Because so many women (89% of women, for god's sake) are using social media, just having a Twitter and LinkedIn no longer sets you apart from the pack. You have to be awesome at your social media management. Consider how you are using your social media. Are you making the most of it? This is a tool that is really starting to change the ways businesses work and how people are hired. It is a way of connecting and a way to make yourself known. However, if handled improperly or lazily, it's a way to just fade back into the crowd.

Now for the boys, this article has impact for you too. Because women have the upperhand in social media, you have an fantastic opportunity to stand out. If you manage your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts well, you will stand out among your male competitors because of your experience in social media. This isn't to say that you don't have to work as hard as your fellow ladybros at managing social media. It just means that you have the chance to really master something that is important in today's society and make yourself stand out more.

Anything that you can bring to the table will help you in the future, even if it's something that seems as frivlous as social media. More and more businesses have Twitter accounts to communicate with their customers to address problems, answer questions, and generate more buzz about their products. If you can bring experience and knowledge on how to manage social media well, you'll at least have your foot in the door.

For more information how to manage your social media life, check out Emily's awesome social media series TweetMemeFace.

To view Pew Internet's full report on their findings, click here.

How do you use social media to brand your image? Has using social media ever helped you get a job or an internship or helped you make a great connection?

[via Maximum PC]

What the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Hack Attack Means for Students

How safe is your identity? Photo courtesy of mikebaird. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.Last week, hackers breached the security of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee by planting malware in the university's computer systems. The result was the exposure of social security numbers of students, faculty, and staff. Though forensic experts don't believe that the motive behind the hacking was identity theft, the social security numbers and names of over 75,000 people associated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

As college students, we are required to give our social security numbers to a variety of institutions for financial and background reasons. However, when a computer attack like this one happens, it can cause unease for us to feel vulnerable to attack and identity theft. The lesson college students should take from this incident is to always be cautious when dealing with personal information. Even when you trust the institution you are giving your information to, like your university, be aware the things can go wrong. Even upstanding places like colleges aren't safe from hackers.

To protect yourself against stolen identity, follow your credit reports closely and check up on anything that seems out of the norm. Always check your bank statements to make sure that there aren't any purchases listed that you don't remember making. Constant vigilance!

[via Maximum PC]

What University Facebook Pages Mean for Students

Liking is not the same as friending. You don't need to worry about privacy when dealing with your school's Facebook page.

If you've been accepted to a college in the last few years, odds are you've received invitations to join some of your school's official Facebook groups. These could include umbrella pages for the whole university, pages specific to your graduating class, or even pages designed for your residence hall and managed by an RA. Despite what you may have heard, these pages are not evil.

Most Facebook users have never been an admin for a Facebook page, so it's not always obvious what permissions they enjoy. As a result, many students avoid these pages like the plague, worried that the Dean spends his days looking for evidence of underage drinking, vandalism, and other tomfoolery. Others worry the individual users of the page will be able to access their profile without sending a proper friend request. Fortunately, neither of these rumors are true.

As an admin of the HackCollege Facebook Page, I can only see what users post to the page, not anything else associated with their profile. I have access to broad analytics such as the number of fans we have from certain cities or countries, but none of that information can be traced back to individual users. I can click on the name of anyone who likes us, but I'll only be able to see as much of their profile as their standard privacy settings will allow, unless of course I send a personal friend request. So basically, as long as you aren't posting illicit photos directly to your school page's wall, or using one as your profile picture, you have very little to fear.

In fact, there are many advantages to liking your school's page. Incoming freshmen can connect with each other, or even find roommates. Your school can create instant polls to get student feedback on things like dorm ammenities, dining hall food, and campus events. You can even be the the first to know if classes are cancelled due to snow or power outages. The benefits far outweigh the privacy concerns, because frankly, there are none. 

What you do need to watch out for though is if your school set up a profile (with full access to your information), rather than a page. A school setting up shop as a profile could be an attempt to spy on students, or it could be a university employee not knowing what they're doing. Either way, don't "friend" your school, "like" it. My high school once created a fake profile of someone supposedly moving into town that summer. It was clearly an attempt to spy on students, and it got really ugly once we found the 16-year-old Rhode Islander's profile picture on a Brazillian modeling website. I don't think many colleges are small enough or care enough about what you do on weekends to try a stunt like that, but it's a stark reminder to make sure you really know who you're friending. Liking a page though is perfectly safe, and there's no reason why you shouldn't.

Do you like any of your school's Facebook pages? Do they use them effectively? Sound off in the comments!

What the New MacBook Airs (and Deceased MacBook) Mean For Students

Is this the future of student computing?

While there's been no shortage of media coverage for Apple's new OS X Lion release, the company also quietly refreshed a few of their lower end computers as well.

It's no secret that Apple enjoys widespread popularity on most college campuses, and the fact that they updated two entry level machines in the MacBook Air and Mac Mini, and killed off the popular white plastic MacBook, makes this product refresh more interesting than most. 

The Mac Mini, for the unitiated, is Apple's cheapest computer offering, starting at $599. As a desktop computer, it's certainly not a first choice for most students, but I have seen them in computer labs and in the occasional dorm room, so they aren't unheard of on campus. The new models get the upgrades you'd expect, notably a Thunderbolt port, and Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 processors, but lose the CD/DVD drive. You can still pick up an external drive from Apple for $79 if you need it, and you probably should. I probably only use my drive two or three times per year, but when I do, it's because I really need it. The added speed and cheap price should make this a very appealing option for any college students still interested in a desktop computer. 

More important than the Mac Mini upgrade, however, are Apple's notebook offerings. The legacy white plastic MacBook of yore is officially dead, and for this, we should shed a tear. This has been the iconic computer of my generation of college students, and in an instant, it has disappeared from the Earth, with nary an acknowledgement by Apple. As far as Apple products go, it was a lot of computer for your money, especially with a student discount, and it came with everything the average student could want in a laptop. It may not have been the prettiest computer Apple's designed, but it was a worthy king of campus.

Students now have two options for an entry-level Mac laptop; the MacBook Pro 13", and the MacBook Air 11". For a $200 premium over the old MacBook, you can pick up a baseline 13" MacBook Pro, which isn't a bad deal. It's basically the old MacBook with extra RAM, backlit keyboard, and aluminum chassis, so the $200 isn't too tough a pill to swallow.

For students looking to stay under $1000 though, the only option is now the 11" MacBook Air. The entire Air line received Thunderbolt ports and updated processors today, but they're still niche devices. The Air is undeniably sexy, and it would be an absolute joy to carry between classes, but I don't think it will please as many people as the dependable old MacBook. For $999 (less with a student discount) you only get 64GB of hard drive space, albeit in a speedy solid state drive, meaning your music and photo collections will have to be pawned off to external drives. The next cheapest option is actually the same price as the low-end MacBook Pro mentioned above, but still only offers 128GB of hard drive space in addition to an extra 2GB of RAM.  

The identically-priced Pro sports a larger hard drive, faster processor, CD/DVD Superdrive, larger screen, Firewire port, and SD card reader. That's not to say that the Air is a bad computer, or that every student should care about these missing features, but I have to imagine most students will miss at least one of them. Whether it's Firewire for film class, the faster processor and SD card slot for editing photos, or the Superdrive for watching DVD's, everyone who chooses an Air over the Pro will be sacrificing a feature they use semi-regularly in exchange for portability. The MacBook Pro has taken the mantle as my student laptop of choice, but it sucks that students have to pay a 20% premium to get the speed and storage space of the old MacBook. I'm sure students will ultimately be happy with either entry-level machine, but it's tough to not feel a sense of loss the reasonably-priced, feature-rich MacBook. 

Are you an incoming freshman looking to buy a Mac? If the white MacBook was still available, would you choose it over the MacBook Air of MacBook Pro? Do you think you could get through school with just a MacBook Air?

Google to Announce Chrome Laptop Rental Plan

Could this be your new laptop? Image courtesy of Rachel Wente-Chaney. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA/

Remember the Chrome laptops that were released for testing a few months ago? Well, now we know what's become of them: Google's planning to announce today a $20/month package for students which would allow them to rent a Chrome laptop and the OS that goes along with it. The laptops aren't super-powered, but they don't have to be for most of what students do (watching Netflix, writing papers, and watching Netflix while writing papers).

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Review: Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk Plan

Phone service and beer: two great tastes that go great together. Image courtesy of Flickr user Jose Betancur. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I recently made the decision to jump ship on my family's cell plan with Verizon. It was a perfectly fine plan and the reception was great, but I was looking more and more for a phone with data capacity and my parents didn't want to pay for it (understandable, given that Verizon is crazy expensive). Given that my contract expired last month and my dumbphone's case was so beat up that the battery routinely fell out when you picked it up, it seemed like a good time to go.

The situation: In looking for my new plan, I wanted unlimited text, a high data cap, and the ability to cancel service easily since I plan to spend half of next year in Senegal. I also wanted it to be cheap. After shopping around, I went with Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk plan. For $25 a month ($27 with taxes) and no contract, I get unlimited text, web, and data and 300 minutes. You buy the phone from them, so that was an additional $150. I went with the Optimus V, which is a low-end Android phone.

The bad: The plan isn't perfect. Particularly in rural Georgia, where I spend most of the year, the Sprint service that the phone piggybacks off of isn't great. The phone took over a week to ship, and it didn't ship with a tracking number. The Virgin Mobile website, though usable, is a bit of a pain and setting up payment for the first time is more confusing than it should be--I managed to pay two months' worth of bills rather than the one that I had intended.

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