Blogging - The New Shit Job for Interns?

While Chris and I were at a party this weekend in San Diego running around getting some shotgun footage for episode 35, pitching HackCollege to normal party-goers got them talking about two things: online identity and blogging for their summer jobs. It was interesting to hear what fellow interns are doing for the warm months of the year.

A few gals started talking about their summer jobs. Many of them had jobs for low-profile magazines, such as 944. It seemed that they were set loose and just told "go blog about stuff." Summer internships have their lulls--which are often filled with 3-hour YouTube binges--so why not blog about them?

Hate to say it, but even hip magazines are gutting it when it comes to blogging. Just because you publish it doesn't mean that it will get read. None of the girls mentioned anything about the technical requirements of blogging (SEO and such) or creating a two-lane highway of dialogue. Instead, they are told to blog about whatever and forget about the content afterwords.

Have You Heard of This Thing Called Blogging?

Blogging is regarded as an experimental, mysterious form of technology. But those who know how it works are going to get ahead in their summer job. If your employer has you endlessly crapping blog posts into outer space, try suggesting that they change their ways. Mention search engine optimization (SEO). Tell them about the importance of leaving comments on other blogs. Tell them that it's important for each author to have their own page and RSS feed. Then ask for a bonus.

So what do you think? Does your summer employer have you regurgitating their print information online in blog form? Or do they have you doing something else? And is blogging important enough to pay someone nothing minimum wage for?

HackCollege Podcast Episode 35: Comic-Con 2008

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Chris and Kelly podcast straight outta San Diego this week while at the jam-packed Comic-Con 2008.

Topics this week:

• This week's Rule of Thumb blasts through:


• Harvard unveils some new student IDs after a student hacks the system.


• Business schools will stop proxy test-takers with palm scan verification.


• Rudy Giuliani's son white whines and sues over getting kicked off the Duke Golf team.


• Chris shows off the perfect earbud wrapping technique.


• Chris cruises the Comic-Con expo floor asking characters about college choices.


• The guys wrap up a Twitter contest that ran earlier last week.


• A hiatus is announced. The show will return towards the end of August.

Music this week:

• "Date Game" by Christopher Wade

Sponsors this week:

• Radar.net, the cameraphone picture-sharing service

Call 25 Friends At Once With PhoneVite

Many of you are probably familiar with mass text messaging. Either create a list or add several recipients to the same text message and click send. Bam. Everyone's invited to the party.

But what if your service charges you a nickel (or $.15 in some cases, so I've read) per recipient? You could email everyone's cell phone with Teleflip or...

You could record a message and have PhoneVite prank, ahem, call everyone for you. For free. And without registration.

1. Enter in up to 25 phone numbers at a time (US and Canada).


2. Enter in your number.


3. PhoneVite calls you.

If I remember correctly, you then have to hit *, 2, and then finally # to accept your recording. A few too many buttons, but, eh.

PhoneVite calls each recipient and immediately plays your message. They don't start with anything creepy like "You have a PhoneVite message! Press 2 to accept!". They simply play your message right away, so the recipient has to hear it no matter what.

What if voicemail picks up? Well, according to PhoneVite:

"Our system has an algorithm that detects if an answering machine or voicemail picks up. In such cases, our server will leave the message, in its entirety, on the answering machine or voice mail system."

Fascinating. ;)

The Parent-Proof PC - This Week's Summer Project

Are you sitting around at home this summer, religiously watching YouTube with your hand elbow deep in a container of Ben & Jerry's? It might be time to find a hobby. Or you could make yourself useful.

Chris wrote a post about "parent-proofing" your parents' computer. How many times have they called you because "the Internet doesn't work?" Put an end to that and install Ubuntu, a "flavor" of Linux that's easier to install than Windows XP.

Check out the original post: How to - The Parent-Proof PC

Facebook Turns On New Theme

As of today, Facebook has made its newest theme-change official. This is the most aggressive theme change yet, with a complete reorganization and a yet-again minimalist-ization (that is definitely not a word) to the profile pages.

To check it out for yourself, just visit www.new.facebook.com.

As with all Facebook updates, there's going to be a lot of backlash. Facebook has learned from their previous roll-outs and are now giving people the option to "opt-in" to the new layout. Kudos to them.

2008 Facebook Prius

Everything that you know and perhaps love about Facebook is still there. Everything's just in a different place. While the number of columns has stayed the same (3), the width of each column has increased.

Everything that used to be in the main column has been compressed into tabs. That personal info top spot has been replaced by a Mini-Feed/Wall hybrid. Everything that gets written on your wall or every action you perform now shows up on your Wall.

My jury is still out on this concept; I can't decide if they just charlie-foxtrotted two features together or if the combination makes sense to me.

What's the Same

The core functionality of Facebook is the same. Applications are still there. Info is still there. Everything is still there, it's just gotten a face lift (pun). Think Michael Jackson (joke).

Dominant Ad Placement

There have been some grumblings from advertisers recently that Facebook ads are continually under-performing, even though Facebook ads are probably the most targeted things possible.

In film, the dominant side of frame is considered the right side of frame. Because the Western World reads left-to-right, your eyes "stop" at the right. A good example of this is any late night talk show. Hosts always sit on the right.

Thus, the ad position has moved from being a forgotten space in the bottom-left-hand corner of the screen to an in-your-face top-right dominatrix. Maybe this will appease advertisers' woes?

Twitter, Anyone?

This update stresses the single-feed mentality that is the rage these days. Like Twitter or Pownce, all action is being consolidated into one stream of information. This stream of information may be a fire hose but--hey!--it's all in one place. Maybe this will make people think twice about becoming "friends" with someone on Facebook.

Boxes?

Any application that lets you put something your page can now be seen in the new "Boxes" tab on each profile. Facebook is forcing users to keep their profiles clean of 3rd party applications. While it's draconian, I like it. It means I won't have to scroll past 13 different variations of a SuperWall application to just leave someone a note.

Conclusion

After the initial cross-eyedness and "This is bullshit" reaction, the Facelift is growing on me.

How do you feel about the new Facebook changes? Let us know in some comments.

HackCollege Podcast Episode 34: Chillin' Some Beers

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Kelly is breaking down the chemistry behind cooling as the guys podcast from Ray, the Radar company van, with a lovely San Francisco backdrop.

Topics this week:

• This week's Rule of Thumb blasts through:


• The roll out of College Publisher's newest version of its newspaper management system.


• Berekeley students suing over lawyers fees resulting from a lawsuit about raised tuition feed.


• The New York Times reports that the high cost of gas is pushing more students to take classes online during the summer.


• Chris shotguns a beer.


• In a new sponsored segment, Chris poses the question "Does the size of your school matter?" to a few fellow interns at Revision3.


• Kelly examines 3 easy and fast ways to cool beer.

Music this week:

• "Date Game" by Christopher Wade

Sponsors this week:

• Radar.net, the cameraphone picture-sharing service


• myUsearch, the unbiased college-matching service. Find your perfect college or university today!

"Where Can I Get Free Wallpaper and Ringtones?"

Got a question? Ask us: dear@hackcollege.com

HackCollege reader Wayne asks:

I just recieved my phone and accidently erased all my wall paper and ringtone’s,I do not mind paying for them but after 4 hours playing games with the jerks on the other end of the phone and nothing they told me to do worked ,so I gave up and decided to try something else. If you have any ideas on how i can get a few pictures for wall papre and a few ringtones i will be greatful thank you for your time wayne [sic].

We've already covered how to create and send your own .mp3 ringtones for free using audiko.net, but we haven't touched on good sites for free wallpaper. Or even free themes or games, for that matter...

Check out Zedge.net.

After selecting your phone model and filtering the millions of games, wallpaper, themes, and ringtones, you have the choice to download to your PC or to save as a favorite and access it via mobile internet/WAP. If you have an unlimited data plan, the latter is a great option.

Registration is required at Zedge, but everything is free or ad-supported (i.e., every 4-5 game plays, the game will download an ad via mobile internet/WAP).

Any other great sites out there? Leave a comment.

How To Quickly Download MySpace Music

There are a couple tutorials floating around the internet for how to download or "rip" music from your favorite MySpace artist before buying a concert ticket this summer, but they all require you to either sift through the source or install a program. Ick.

The following is not a tutorial.

One step: visit File2HD.com.

1. Paste the address (e.g., http://www.myspace.com/novicetheory).


2. Check the box and select Audio.


3. Click Get Files.

You'll be presented with Streaming Version (Low Quality) and Original Version (High Quality). Go for the high quality first. Right click and Save Link As (Firefox). If it plays, there you go. If not (if the size is, say, 23kb), go for the low quality.

You'll notice the file downloads as "artist name - song title".mp3 (no more ugly strings of sixty characters!!). And may even include an ID3 tag.

Niiiiice.