Summer lends itself to long hours of boredom followed by brief periods of responsibilities and more stuff than you know what to do yourself with (like dangling prepositions, zing). How many times have you been trying to get out the door while reading that vacuous digg.com front-page-r? It doesn’t work so hot.

So, we introduce the Mobilizer Firefox Extension (or Add-on?). Select whatever you want to beam to your phone and then right-click to select “Mobilize This!”. Shazaam, not Kazaam.

Now you can contribute to a statistic [DARK HUMOR WARNING] or two while keeping updated on all those blogs.

Get it and don’t forget it: Mobilizer Firefox Extension

Way too, too, too many college students either lose their cell phone or get a new one and then advertise to all of Facebook that they’ve lost their contacts. Boo hoo. Have none of them ever heard of Zyb? Now you, loyal HackCollege reader, have.

Zyb is (of course) free. The service will store and keep all your contacts, your calendar, and even those text messages from your lover that you cherish… safe, online, and available 24/7. It supports virtually every mobile phone (even the old ones).

Sign up and follow the directions to sync your phone with the service. You’ll need an Internet connection, but practically all cell phones these days have that capability. If you’ve downloaded ringtones from your phone before, you’re fine.

Zyb will send their “settings” right to your phone, and whenever you remember, you’ll just click “sync” now and then. No need to get on a computer. No need to type in your contacts. Just click “sync” right from your phone, and Zyb will receive all your contacts, calendar, and sms.

This is perfect if you lose your phone, if your phone dies, if your phone stops working (i.e., you spilled liquid on it), or if your phone gets stolen. If you’re abroad this summer, get this service immediately.

Re: Classhack: Turn Your Phone Off in Class

I don’t know for sure, Kelly, but I think the stress you’re talking about is the feeling you get when your phone goes off, the professor notices and either gives you a dirty look or, even worse, actually says something directly at you. So, yeah, you could turn it off, or you could turn it on silent, or you could turn it to vibrate. But… Aren’t we HackCollege? I’d like to introduce you all to the mosquito ringtone (what I personally recommend):

Read on to your heart’s content »

While it’s not the most revolutionary thing in the world, I’ve started turning my phone off before I step into a class.

Since I don’t text my friends while in class anyway, turning my phone off relieves a certain stress. I don’t have to worry about it going off, whether I silenced it, etc.

And besides, it’s always nice turning on your phone and getting several voice mails and text messages. Give it a shot.

I wrote a while ago on how to call someone anonymously for a little fun. But what if they don’t accept phone calls from unknown numbers (like me)? Or screen their calls (like me)? Or are very conscious about their minutes (like me)? Here’s an idea: Send anonymous, free text messages using AnonTxt.com!

I just tried sending a message to myself, and it came in, oh, half a second. This is great for non-US residents to text US residents for free, too. Enjoy.

Rosario here. And I’m back. Let me save you money on your cell phone bill.

Before Christmas, a friend of mine got one of those new Razr phones after switching to T-mobile (now we can talk for free!). Because my Nokia 6800 only has polyphonic ringtones, I was excited for her since the Razr has .mp3 ringtones (and bluetooth capability!). Now, instead of her paying $.99-$4.99 for every ringtone, I wanted to quickly find out how to make them (for free) and then send them to the phone (for free). And I’ve got results.

I remembered reading an article over at Lifehacker that demonstrated how to use the free software Audacity and lame_enc.dll to create your own 20-second ringtone from any .mp3 file you have on your computer. Sweet! This way, you get to choose. Want the melody? Or do you want that really emo line that always makes you cross your heart and hope to die?

Okay, kidding. About that last part.

But moving on. Now, for those of you who don’t want to download software, Mobile17 will trim the .mp3 file for you and send it to your phone via the phone’s email address (i.e. 1234567890@tmomail.net). Since it’s free, there’s a line, but, eh, it works.

Anyone not done shopping for the holidays? I’d love the Nokia E70…

To go off Kelly’s last post about keeping track of your minutes, I’d like to introduce 2 ways you can “screen” your calls –should you be like me and rather phone-phobic. I know I’m not the only one.

Or you might be the Don Juan who gets asked for their number a lot when out at the bars/clubs. Again, I know I’m not the only one.

Let me introduce AIM Phoneline and GrandCentral.

According to AIM Phoneline, it works best for privacy, dating, starting a career, socializing online (bloggers!), and even buying and selling online:

“Sometimes I don’t want to give out my home or mobile number.”
“I met someone in a club. Wasn’t sure if I wanted to give out my home or mobile number.”
“I’m a college senior. I don’t want my crazy roommate to answer calls from recruiters.”
“I want to make it easy for people to contact me on my blog.”
“I buy and sell stuff online. I don’t want to list my home or mobile number on online classifieds.”
… “I give out my AIM Phoneline number.”

Oh, those testimonials sound cute. Read on to your heart’s content »

Unless you are fortunate enough to have your parents pay your cell phone bill (pansy), keeping track of your minutes used can be a pain.

It’s pretty difficult to find how many you have used, unless you know a special keystroke with a proper keycode as long as your phone has been granted the proper security access and is transmitting from a safe location. Well, maybe it’s not that hard. But there are cool Firefox extensions that makes it easier.

After some digging, I found Firefox extensions for the three largest cell carriers: Verizon, Cingular, and T-Mobile. These extensions just sit in the bottom right corner of your Firefox window and keep a running tally of your total minutes used. Quite nice if you ask me.

Save yourself some money:

Verizon Minutes Used Extension
Cingular Minutes Used Extension
T-Mobile Minutes Used Extension

I’ve got a cell phone. So does my brother at Harvard. So does my mother in Indiana. My father, well, he’s holding out.

We’re all with T-mobile, but it’s not a family plan. In my case, I like T-mobile because I get free T-mobile-to-T-mobile minutes, and I also get unlimited texting. I pay $30 a month, but I’ve only got 150 minutes during the weekdays and 500 minutes during the weekends each month. But, hey, it works. I don’t like to talk on the phone that much.

But many do.

So MyRatePlan.com looks to accomplish what, as my title suggests, Geico.com offers with auto insurance. You can compare lots of cell phone plans; you can also find out which plan supports that particular Nokia mobile phone that you’ve been dying to have (or maybe that’s just me).

As a college student, you’re almost on your way to total independence. Why not start now and pay your own cell phone bill? But be informed about it!

(Oh, and I’ve also heard about MobileBurn.com)