I’ve gotten a few questions recently on my life “in the cloud,” one of them being keeping track of bookmarks. This is especially a problem if you’re lucky/foolish enough to have more than one computer (e.g. me). My answer is, and has been for more than a year, a nice service called del.icio.us.
Here’s a disclaimer that should be implied with every post: This is not extra clutter for your life.
del.icio.us is a “social bookmarking site” that allows a user to save his or her bookmarks into del.icio.us easily. The smart folks behind the site have made some slick buttons that you can build into Firefox.
So let’s say I’m browsing a site and want to remember it for later. Rather than bookmark it into my Firefox bookmarks, which just stay on that one computer, I “tag” it to my del.icio.us. All I have to do is press that “tag” button on my toolbar. The social aspect of del.icio.us then indexes my bookmarks with everyone else’s. Checking out what other people have bookmarked makes for a great time-waster/brain-enhancer.
All in all, del.icio.us has a permanent place in our hearts and our workflows.
Last week, Google added onto their expanding arsenal of Microsoft Office-replacement products. Much like HackCollege favorites Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentation offers a stripped-down, online version of Microsoft’s ubiquitous PowerPoint.
As we mentioned in the third episode of the podcast, we are all about minimal functionality. If making a presentation for a class requires fancy slides and graphs, maybe you should read up on howtogivea presentation. For our needs and wants, Google Presentation is all we need. And all that information is in the cloud, which is a huge plus.
Creating group presentations for a class is now a breeze, with the same collaboration features from Google Docs available. Soon, you will never even have to leave your room to meet your classmates. We will each live in pods controlled by machines…
For now, Google Presentation’s functionality is expectedly limited. We would like to see a few more font choices. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of PowerPoint but hey, we don’t miss ‘em.
We’re 1! A few of us spent the weekend celebrating at Oktoberfest. Or maybe the party was thrown for us? We’d like to think that HackCollege inspired this year’s Oktoberfest, never mind tradition.
Although we’re technically late, here are the most popular posts for the first year.
6:56 pm on September 20th, 2007 by Rosario Doriott
October midterms are coming up. Some say if you can’t understand, just memorize. And to memorize, try the “stacking” method:
1. First, use a pencil or word processor (I prefer the latter because it’s faster) to type, in complete sentences, any fact you think might appear on the test. Use short sentences because they’re easier to remember. Take your printed notes into a quiet room, shut the door, and eliminate all distractions.
2. Look at the first sentence in your notes and read it out loud. Then, close your eyes and say the sentence without looking at it.
3. Repeat the step above, this time with the first 2 sentences.
4. Next, try it with 3 sentences. Then 4.
5. Repeat until you have memorized every sentence in your notes. [Retired at 21, via LifeHack]
The article also notes that completing the process twice (once more after taking a short nap) is also a good idea. Any other tips for memorizing?
9:06 am on September 20th, 2007 by Rosario Doriott
Cal over at StudyHacks recently posted a great article on the effectiveness of spreading out your studying. He recommends starting a week in advance, and if this is a possibility for you (around all your other social obligations, of course), we would agree.
Important to note in this method, however, is the fact that each “study session” lasts between 30 minutes and 2 hours. In other words, you won’t be spending all hours of the day studying for an entire week. Definitely not.
8:17 am on September 19th, 2007 by Rosario Doriott
University of Florida student Andrew Myer, 21, was tasered and arrested on Monday during a question and answer forum with U.S. Senator John Kerry.
After the microphone cut off during one of Myer’s questions to Kerry, police attempted to remove and restrain the UF student when he became insistent that the senator answer his question.
Soon after, Myer was tasered.
In the video, students’ voices are then heard screaming for the police to stop.
This week Chris and Kelly talk in front of the scenic (and overexposed) Rhine River during a Sunday festival. Kelly reflects back to the beginnings of HackCollege and gives a much-needed shout-out to Rosario. Stay tuned to the end for some footage of their recent beer mile.
Today, you can quit fussing with registration via a .edu email address, BugMeNot.com, and our other New York Times hacks. Now, nobody will get charged for viewing virtually anything, including archives.
What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.
HackCollege is going to London for the Future of Web Apps Conference! Chris, Scott, and I will be flying over from Germany to listen in on some talks, meet up with like-minded students, and film an episode of the quickly-growing podcast.
If you’re near London and a student, definitely check it out. The conference just announced that expo passes are free for students! So for our British readers or those studying abroad from the States, definitely check out FoWA.
And keep your eyes peeled for us! We’d love just chat and we’re always looking for some eager coders. Let’s just say we have a few projects we’re looking on starting…
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University of Florida student Andrew Myer, 21, was 
