We like free stuff just as much as any other college student. We’re going to try to do our part to give back to all college communities everywhere, especially those without Internet access. We are offering all HackCollege content for free to reprint in any college newspaper. We’re calling this the HackCollege Newswire. We may not be any Associated Press or Reuters, but we love what we do and we want other people to love us too.

We also dislike institutions just as much as any other college student, so we tried to be honest with ourselves. Here’s our reasoning on why we’re giving our stuff away for free:

1. HackCollege is not a money-making venture.
2. Our content is not currently syndicated in print.
3. It’s 2008, not 1957.

We know what we’re doing is weird, new and untraditional. We won’t change the way people think about media (we’re not that pretentious), but we might sway a few. We know what it’s like to struggle for content and we want you to fill your space with quality, not house ads and irrelevant national news.

If you are on on staff for sort of college media publication, please visit the HackCollege Newswire homepage for more information. As with anything on HackCollege, if you ever have any suggestions, please email us straightaway.

One of the best ways to control your first-page Google hits is to register a domain name under your own name. If yours isn’t available, try adding your middle name as well. For example, mine is michaelkellysutton.com.

Once you’ve registered your personal web page, you need to decide where to redirect it. It might be a little expensive to get buy hosting for this site if you’re not going to do anything with it. Here are a few ideas on where to redirect your resume site:

• Your LinkedIn profile
• Your blog
• Your Facebook/MySpace profile (be carefule about this one)

or

• a random lolcatz website

So hop over to GoDaddy and register yourself.

 

 Episode 15: Maple Syrup: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Episode 15: Maple Syrup: Play Now | Play in Popup

It’s back to the couch with a fancy new HackCollege “product” release and some extra hilarity.

Topics this episode include:

• HackCollege Newswire
• Lifehack.org front page
• Scott’s Facebook invites
• Twitter
• Maple Syrup
• Mozes
• MPAA and students
• Farts
• Sake Bombing

This episode’s music:

• “Date Game” by Christopher Wade

From time to time, I write for Portfolio.com’s tech section as a junior correspondent of sorts. My most recent post, published today, is a reaction to the MPAA overestimating the effect of student piracy and the rest of the web media–in turn–hastily criticizing the MPAA. The point of my quick post is that people are looking at the wrong parts of the argument. Check it out:

“We’re Not Thieves Just Cash Poor Consumers” [Portfolio.com]

This is the second part of a two-part post about using mobile technology on campus. Check out yesterday’s first part here.

It’s the night of your campus’ “battle of the bands” where the students vote on the best band. The last band plays and leaves the stage. Out come the paper ballots of 8.5×11 crudely paper-cuttered into fourths or halves. Or you’ll need to rush back to your dorm room and vote online. I have just received a transmission from the years 1964 and 2002 that kindly requests their voting methods back. What your student organizers need is Mozes.

Mozes doesn’t have anything to Red Seas, prophecies, or animated Disney movies but it’s so awesome the only adjective suitable is “biblical.” It overlaps a little with yesterday’s topic of Twitter. I first saw Mozes in action at an Ignite! Seattle event last summer; their execution was flawless. You’ll see why

Read on to your heart’s content »

No matter which campus you’re on, student leaders have a tough time motivating students to attend events. While some attendance problems may stem from oversaturation, how most events advertise themselves is very 20th century (in the worst way possible).

I wrote a post titled “On Campus, the Disruptive Facebook Flier” for the Portfolio.com tech blog about Facebook fliers back before students’ brains started ignoring the left-hand sidebar. Back when HackCollege was first starting out in late 2006, one dinky $5 flier gave us thousands of visits. Those numbers are 1/100th of that these days and people are frustrated, especially organizations already strapped for cash.

Read on to your heart’s content »

Earlier today, Lifehack.org posted a whopping article about software, blogs, and online tools for students today. We are pleased to be a part of the list. Check out the article and support our friends!

The Ultimate Student Resource [Lifehack.org]

 

 Episode 14: Back in LA: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Episode 14: Back in LA: Play Now | Play in Popup

The whole team is back at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles and they’ve found a couch. Scott’s a little under the weather from his appendectomy, but still deftly operates the camera nonetheless.

Topics this episode include:

• Living in an Apartment
• Cinder block shelving units
• Bulldozing
• GTD and schoolwork
• iCal
• Scott’s Facebook invites
• Your computer does your reading
• Splitting grocery payments
• Apple announcements
• Wii-ing
• Projectors in rooms
• Hard drive disasters
• Moving in efficiently

This episode’s music:

• “Date Game” by Christopher Wade

It may not be 1969, but HackCollege has hit a milestone nonetheless. Hardcore readers of the site will have noticed that a new little something popped up on the site yesterday: a feed counter. It tells the world how many RSS subscribers we’ve got.

We vowed to not put up the little counter until we reached 500 steady readers. Fake it ’till you make it. And now we’ve made it–to 500 at least.

So welcome everybody and let’s make a difference. We’ll be announcing a new plan to take over the world later this week and we’ll need your help. Look for it around the next episode of the podcast.

If you’re not already subscribed to our RSS feed, do it here.

It’s the first week back at LMU and everyone is running around trying to find the cheapest place to buy books before their professors start noticing. Four months abroad made me momentarily forget what book companies in the States are allowed to get away with. I present to you the latest scam I have discovered–which I am sure is not new to many schools: textbooks sold in tandem with an online “workbook.” As always, it’s difficult to tell who exactly is to blame: the publisher, the school, the department, or the professor.

I went to my German II class earlier this week and was informed I would need a book and a workbook. No problem, I thought. I ballparked the package around $80 online. You’ll see I was pretty close.

Read on to your heart’s content »