Smell Good, Save Money, Look Crisp: Hack Your Laundry

Drying laundry on the quad is a hack for only the most experienced student. Image courtesy of Flickr user Jackie Kever. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.Clothes: you probably wear them, and eventually you gotta clean them. But, with a few simple laundry hacks, cleaning up your wearables can be quicker, cheaper, and less wrinkled—giving you more time to focus on wearing your clothes rather than maintaining them.

First off, before tossing something into the laundry, consider whether it needs to go in. Excess washing can damage the fabric of your clothing, and if you live in a place where you pay for laundry, it gets expensive. For heavier fabrics (particularly jeans) that may smell but which aren't actually dirty, there is a cheap and easy solution to kill odor without Febreeze or the laundry machine: the freezer. As weird as it sounds, popping a pair of jeans in the freezer over night will kill any lingering odor and leave them smelling like pretty much nothing (unless something in your fridge is spoiled). This works even in tiny built-in minifridge freezers—the important thing is to get the jeans pretty cold for a length of time. Your roommate may give you a weird look, but this hack really does work.

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Friday Fun: The Virginia Tech Beer Robot

I dare you all to top this.

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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How To Get Out of Your Box and Boost Your Confidence

Boxes are so nice and cozy. But even cats need to get outside of their boxes. Photo courtesy of CelloPics. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.

I am fulling willing to admit that I am a very inside-my-box kind of person. My box is wonderful and familiar and safe. I don't care to be spontaneous, I get easily frustrated when things interrupt my perfectly planned week, and I am a-okay with eating the same thing for lunch for weeks in a row. I like structure, predictability, and accountability. I'm well aware that I'm a very vanilla kind of girl, and most of the time, that is perfectly okay with me. However, as someone who is about to be tossed into the real world in a year and a half, I'm quickly realizing that my box is becoming a wee bit small.

I know that I'm not the only one who struggles with getting outside of my comfort zone, and I think it would be good to share with you some things that I've been doing to help myself venture outside my familiar surroundings. They're just little things that I try to do daily, but as I find myself doing them more and more, I can feel myself becoming more comfortable with pushing the boundaries of my box.

Be Aware of How You Hold Yourself

Your body language can say a lot about you, and sometimes you can be completely unaware of what exactly you're saying. Try to be conscious of your body language when you walk. Instead of walking with slouched over, keep your back straight and your shoulders back. Hold your head up instead of looking at the ground as you walk. I find that a lot of people avoid eye contact when they pass someone on the sidewalk. Try instead to make eye contact with people and smile. I would say 95% of the time, you will get a smile in return. That kind of positive feedback will make you feel better about yourself and feel more confident in your people skills. Paying attention to how you hold yourself can make you look much more approachable and friendly. 

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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]

Fix Your Sleep Cycle for a Smooth Semester

Dorm sleep is the best sleep. Image courtesy of Flickr user spentYouth. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.School's back in session, and if you're anything like most people, your sleep schedule is out of whack from a winter break spent with family and friends. However, getting back in the sleepy swing of things will help you readjust to school, quit feeling tired, and get more work done--it's a worthwhile thing to invest in.

The best way to begin a sleep cycle reset is by setting a schedule: have a consistent time you try to go to bed and try to wake up. If your earliest class is at 2:30 in the afternoon, you don't actually have to sleep that late. (It's true!) If you get up earlier, you can do more early-morning homework and have your afternoons and evenings free for things you actually like. Think of it this way: in the evenings, you're choosing between homework and friends. In the morning, you're choosing between homework and more sleep than you need.

As this article points out, the consensus is still that most adults need 7.5-9 hours of sleep a night. When in doubt, go with less: even adjusting your sleep schedule by a half hour can make you feel much more energetic than you would otherwise. The key is not to go to bed at 3 and crawl out of it at 7 in the morning--try for bed at midnight and waking up at 8:30.

As you're readjusting to classes, you're going to want to take naps because you're tired. Don't. Long naps will keep you up when you are actually trying to sleep, and that just messes up your sleep schedule even more than you already have. If you're so tired that you need to go to bed at 10 for the first few weeks of school, that's fine--it's much better than passing out at 5 and only getting three hours of sleep. If you're still having trouble falling asleep, try an exercise routine in the morning. A study showed that women who exercised for as little as 30 minutes in the morning had an easier time falling asleep than those who did not.

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Crowdsource Your Playlist with DJtxt

With Djtxt, the whole party is responsible for the song selection. Just be careful who you give the request number to.

Holding a little shindig but don't want the pressure of managing the playlist? With djtxt you can pawn the job off on all your friends.  The idea is pretty brilliant; anyone at your party can text an artist and song to a special djtxt phone number, and that song is added to an attractive fullscreen playlist visualizer via Grooveshark.  

This probably works better with a small group of friends than a frat house rager. If nothing else it keeps people accountable for the questionable Justin Bieber picks.  If you drunkenly submit a song you know you'll regret, you can erase it by texting "oops," and if Miley Cyrus is ruining the vibe, anyone can text "skip" to escape to the next song.  

Djtxt is a free service, so try it out tonight!

Dropbox Scavenger Hunt Rewards with 1 GB of Extra Space

Love Dropbox? Get ready to love it even more. Photo courtesy of hplusk. Licensed under CC BY-2.0.Dropbox has recently launched Dropquest 2011, an online scavenger hunt that rewards players with up to 1 GB of extra space in their account. Sounds pretty awesome, right? It might kill some of your productive time during the day, but if you have the time or the brains to work your way through Dropbox's series of puzzles and hints, it'll be well-worth your time.

If you're having trouble, Dropbox has an Official Dropquest Thread with some helpful hints. Also, try Google for some walkthroughs.

This type of interactive promoting is becoming more and more common among businesses. As a Communication major, I've studied these puzzle advertisements that encourage people to get involved with a product or service through games or quests. Though Dropquest's puzzles can all be solved from the comfort of your own computer, some companies or products have been taking their interactive advertisements into the real world as well, creating what are known as Alternate Reality Games (ARGs).

I mention ARGs for the purpose of encouraging those of you who are looking to go into business, marketing, advertising, public relations, or any other related field to become familiar with this rising form of promotion because it's gaining quite a lot of interest. If you stay current with up-and-coming methods in your field of interest, you'll be ahead of the pack. Also, ARGs are just crazy cool. If you're interested in doing some on-the-surface reading on ARGs, check out the Wiki page. Pay attention to the article on The Beast, arguably the biggest and best example of an ARG.

Let us know what your experience was with Dropquest in the comments!

[Via Lifehacker]