I just found this interesting article about how colleges are moving their mail servers to the GMail system. I hope American universities follow suit.

Hey you. Yes you. Why are you backpacking around Europe and dropping a whole $20 per night on a hostel bed? You sir/madam, are foolish. You could be paying (relatively) nothing for a roof while in Europe or in other parts of the world.

Hello, CouchSurfing.com. Where have you been all of my life? Why are you so handy although your interface reminds me of a website 5 years ago? Regardless, your innards and offerings are more expansive than a red light girl in Amsterdam. You promise to help me find a place to stay, no matter where I am in the world.

Your prices are so nice, as in free. You encourage your users to donate $25 to prove your worth and to project the idea that we will not abuse the system. Your eBay-esque rating system ensures that I will always trust the person(s) I am staying with. I am so excited to be able to host travelers-by once I have my own place. How is it that you make couch communism so appealing? I thought sentiments of the red couch scare still exited? You puzzle me, CouchSurfing.com.

CouchSurfing.com, you really are a dream come true.

Stop paying for hostels and meet the locals: CouchSurfing.com

Good for boys and girls of all ages. Because a paper wallet is totally hipster.

You’ll need:

• A Printer
• Ink
• Photo Paper
• Scissors
• Tape

First, check out iPaperCraft’s .pdf generator. There, you can generate a custom print-out for your wallet. I just like to show off family pictures on mine, but there’s also room for custom text (e.g. I heart HackCollege!). I recommend printing on photo paper because it’s a bit thicker than regular print paper. It’s also nice and shiny.

Read on to your heart’s content »

I’m not the most computer savvy kid on the block, but Web 2.0 still plays into my life. I love it when I can think, “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a site/program that could help me do [whatnot]?”… A few minutes on Google, and sometimes I find what I hoped for.

This was the case when I discovered MapMyRun about a year ago. It does exactly that: it helps you map out running loops, so that distances are no longer a mystery. Kelly mentioned it here, (upon my valuable recommendation) but back then, the site had just the essentials. I checked up on it the other day to find that an update has made it the dream-site for runners, hikers, bikers, equestrians, skateboarders, dogwalkers — you get the point.

The newest features are a new look and a Training Log that helps you keep track of miles, calories and even sleep. Just go to the site (use FireFox) and after a little exploring, you’ll see why this site is so dang cool. But I thought I’d offer a little more insight for the ultimate student 2.0.

Read on to your heart’s content »

Facebook has been on fire lately - due mostly to the release of the new Facebook platform. It seems as though new applications are developed every day. But before there was the Facebook platform, users could add new functionality to Facebook through the use of scripts and Greasemonkey. Below are some of my favorite scripts to enhance your Facebook experience.

NOTE: To use any of these scripts you must be using Firefox and have the Greasemonkey extension installed. Download Greasemonkey here.

• Facebook Fixer - Adds recently added, updated and online friends sections on the main menu, Enlarges profile pictures when hovering over them, adds links to view all friends, groups, notes and items on profiles, and more.

• Facebook News Feed Ad Nuker - Simply removes all the “sponsored” ads from Facebook’s News Feed.

• Facebook Autologin v2 - Will automatically login to your Facebook account as long as your password is stored in Firefox.

• View Photo in Album - This will add a link above photos to view them within their albums, and it works even if your not the person’s friend.

• Facebook Auto-Colorizer - Changes Facebook’s color scheme based on the profile picture.

There are tons of other scripts to customize Facebook and other websites at Userscripts.org.

Use another awesome Facebook script? Leave us a comment!

I had trouble sleeping the other night because I convinced myself that I had come up with a great new idea for a website, a wiki-driven travel guide. Much to my dismay, I soon discovered the idea had already been implemented. WikiTravel.org won the 2007 Webby award for the best travel site. And with good reason.

If you are familiar with Wikipedia, you already know WikiTravel.org. Any user can edit the travel page for any city or any country.

WikiTravel has helped me while travelling to Bonn, Dusseldorf, and Munich in Germany. I’ll be using it to check out the best places to go for Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, most of the night life sections for cities are missing. If you think about it, I guess that’s our generation’s fault. Time to get to work.

Get your summer travel on: WikiTravel.org