The market for VOIP apps is certainly crowded. While Skype and Google Voice have already established themselves as great apps, it’s always good to see what else is out there. That’s why on this edition of App of the Week, I’m covering the new Vonage Mobile app available for both iOS and Android. It takes a little bit of what Google Voice does and a little bit of what Skype does to create a unique package with some interesting features that definitely make it worthy of a spot on your smartphone.

Platform Availability: iOS 4.0 and up. Android 2.1 and up.

Cost: Absolutely free! Download it here for iOS and here for Android.

What it is: An app that tightly integrates with your phone’s address book to make free calls and send free texts to other Vonage Mobile app users, along with super cheap international calls/texts. And for a limited time, all calls to the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico are free!

How does it work: Install the Vonage Mobile app onto your phone. After firing it up, it will ask for your phone number and email address. You will receive a text giving you a number to verify your account. If you can’t receive SMS, you can opt for Vonage to call you as well. After setup, make calls/texts to your heart’s content!

Features: Cheap Rates – While Skype offers low rates on international calls, Vonage’s rates are 30% lower than Skype’s across the board. Don’t forget that all calls to the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico are also free for a limited time.

Integrated Address Book – Instead of having to manually enter in phone numbers/screen names in Skype, Vonage Mobile just uses your phone’s existing contacts, allowing you to check which of your contacts already has the Vonage Mobile app for free calls/texts. You can also quickly send invites to whomever you want to get the app so you can both share in the free calling fun!

The Competition: As mentioned above, there are two heavyweights in this category:

Skype – Free – iOS 4.0 or later, Android 2.1 or later – Download it here for iOS and here for Android

Google Voice – Free – iOS 4.0 or later, Android 2.1 or later – Download it here for iOS and here for Android

Why the Featured App is Best:  Skype is still indispensable for free video calls, but Vonage Mobile tops it when it comes to 1) cheaper rates and 2) much better address book integration. Meanwhile, Vonage Mobile outdoes Google Voice with free calls/texts between fellow app users, along with a dead-simple way to invite friends to download the app.

Summary: Though it’s not the end-all be-all in VOIP apps, Vonage Mobile has some very strong features that make it better than Skype/Google Voice in some respects. While it doesn’t replace those two great apps, it’s definitely worth a download as a free calling app whenever you want to avoid using your minutes.

What do you think of Vonage Mobile? Let us know in the comments!

March 1st marks the date when Google’s new unified privacy policy takes effect, and once the new privacy policy goes live, Google will be able to combine all of your search history with each of your Google profiles, and use it to target you with (in their opinion) better search results as well as advertisements. Google’s terms of service are also changing, but only so that the legibility of them read much more transparently.

Google is implementing these changes because they want to make their 70-odd individual privacy policies and terms of service simpler, and for the benefits of their millions of users they are trimming the fat and making these agreements much more digestible. By having far fewer pages to read and agree to, Google is ensuring the safety of their users by not masking any vague details that will allow any malicious activity that you would expect a behemoth company to do.

Clearing your entire search history is very simple and straightforward, but be sure to note that you will have to do this for every unique Google account you own, should you wish to clear them all.

Step One: Sign into your desired Google account.

Step Two: In the address bar of your browser, click this link, or copy and paste this URL in a new window and hit enter: https://google.com/history

Step Three: Click “Remove all Web History”

Step Four: Click “Ok”, and you’re all done!

Your privacy is important while browsing the Internet, and whether or not you agree with Google’s new methodology of search result delivery and targeting ads, it’s important to know you have the option to remain as private as Google will possibly allow you to be. You should also know that Google Chrome has a private-browsing feature as well, called “incognito mode”.

Interested in making your Google experience better? Check out this Hack College Infographic that allows you to get the most out of Google by enhancing your search operators to finding exactly what you may be looking for: Getting More Out Of Google.

A big thanks to EFF for pointing this out.

If you have other great Google tips, feel free to send them my way via email: greg[at]hackcollege.com.

Hey everybody! Today on OS Tips, I’m going to show you a nifty little trick to even more quickly sleep, restart, or shut down your Mac. Instead of using your mouse and moving your cursor all the way up to the upper left hand corner, then choosing one of the three options, why not just do it immediately with your keyboard? I’m sure your itching to find out how to integrate this into your daily workflow, so here they are:

1. To sleep, press option-command-eject

2. To restart, press control-command-eject

3. To shut down, press control-option-command-eject.

Under most circumstances, your Mac should immediately perform whichever action you desire. However, sometimes I’ve encountered issues where a program will hang and prevent the system from restarting or shutting down. In those instances, turn to the Force Quit Applications dialog box, which you can invoke with option-command-escape. Once you start using these shortcuts, I don’t think you’ll ever go back to using the mouse to sleep, restart, or shut down ever again.

Do you know of any “hidden” Mac keyboard shortcuts? Let us know in the comments!

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user candescent. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.]

• CamerAlert for Android is now free in the Android Market, previously $0.96.

• AndroZip Pro File Manager for Android is now $2.75 in the Amazon App Store, previously $3.49.

• The Wolfram|Alpha Android app is now $0.99 in the Amazon App Store, previously $2.99.

• Call Screen Maker for iOS is free today only, normally $1.99.

• PocketCloud Remote Desktop Pro – RDP / VNC / View for iOS is on sale for $8.99 for a limited time, normally $14.99.

• Converter Touch HD for iPad is free for a limited time, normally $0.99.

• Penny Arcade Adventures: Precipice of Darkness for Mac is free for a limited time, normally $1.99.

• Yollar offers $20 of Overstock.com credit for $10. You can purchase the deal through 2/23 and use the credit until 5/22.

• American Eagle offers 25% off your order + free shipping with Code: 95867071, ending tomorrow.

• Walgreens is offering $5 off $20 with Coupon Code: SAVEFIVE through 2/29. Excludes prescriptions, tobacco, dairy products, liquor, liquor department items, phone cards, newspapers, magazines, stamps and gift cards.

• The Philips Online Store will take 20% off your order with coupon code: PRESDAY2012 through 2/23.

• Take an additional 30% off your Sunglass Hut order with code: SAVE30 through 2/26.

Sorry for being out of commission so long folks! But now I’m back and here to present to you another fantastic App of the Week! This week, I’m covering the Unarchiver, a free, fantastic archiving utility that tightly integrates with Finder and handles all of your uncompressing needs.

Platform Availability: OS X 10.4 and up

Cost: Free! If you like the Mac App Store’s interface, get it here. If not, download it directly from developer Dag Agren’s website.

What it is: The Unarchiver is an archiving utility that is much more robust than Mac OS X’s built-in archive utility. Open an archive, and the Unarchiver will come to life, uncompressing your desired file(s), and then automatically going away so it doesn’t use up any system resources.

How does it work: Install the program, and then it will work in the background whenever necessary. Let’s say you want to uncompress a .ZIP file: simply open the file, the Unarchiver will work its magic, and it will spit out the archived file wherever you want.

Features: Beautifully Simple UX – Unlike similar uncompressing software on Windows like 7-Zip that have ugly, horrible user interfaces, the Unarchiver stays out of your way until you need it. Even when it’s active, all that’s noticeable to users is a small progress bar, outputting the archived file after it’s done. It does what it needs to without barraging you with unnecessary options. Like many other Mac Apps, there’s an emphasis on simplicity and elegance that I really enjoy.

Huge File Format Support – The Unarchiver supports many of the most popular compression formats like Zip, RAR, and 7z. But it also supports more obscure file formats like XAR, RPM, and NDS. I’ve yet to find an archive this program can’t uncompress, and I doubt you will either.

Multi-file archive support – One of the most annoying things about Mac OS X’s built-in archive utility is that it can’t handle archives split into multiple files whatsoever. With the Unarchiver, just download every part of the archive, and then open whichever file in the collection you want. The Unarchiver will automatically piece together the archive and uncompress everything perfectly.

Password Support – Sometimes, the archives I download will be password protected. In those instances, the Unarchiver pops up a simple dialog box to enter the password, then goes about its business uncompressing just as usual.

The Competition: Here are two apps that are great in their own right:

Keka – Free, Mac OS X 10.5 or higher – Download it here.

Entropy – $19, Mac OS X 10.6 or higher – Download it here.

Entropy gives you a lot more customization over viewing and exploring your archives à la 7-Zip. Unfortunately, it also costs $19. As for Keka, it’s another free unarchiving utility that can also compress files/folders into a whole bunch of different formats. It also integrates very well into Finder, and gives you some more options like customizing your uncompressing speed. But for basic uncompressing, I feel the Unarchiver does everything Keka can in a much prettier and OS X-centric UX.

Summary: The Unarchiver is one of those applications that doesn’t do much – just uncompressing – but does it very, very well. It’s straightforward, well-designed, and integrates almost seamlessly into Finder. It’s free, so what do you have to lose?

How would you compare The Unarchiver to Keka/Entropy or anything else? Let us know in the comments!

All of us have our favorite websites that we check everyday. Whether it’s Facebook, Google Voice, or ESPN, there are some websites that you know you’re going to keep open all the time. Whenever you restart your browser/computer, don’t you find it annoying to have to reopen those same sites in new tabs? To remedy that problem and make your browsing experience 1) easier, 2) faster, and 3) more automated, pin tabs for sites that you always use.

The procedure works the same in both Chrome and Firefox. First, head to whichever site you want to pin. Then, just right click on the tab you want to pin and select “Pin Tab” in Chrome and “Pin as App Tab” in Firefox. The tab will shorten to only show the site’s favicon, also saving you a few precious pixels in your browser’s menu bar. Now whenever you open your browser, it will automatically load those tabs you’ve pinned without you having to do anything!

I find this little trick particularly useful for all my Google apps (Voice, Calendar, Gmail, Docs, etc.…) because it fires them all up at once instead of me having to manually open the sites one by one.

What are your favorite sites to use with “Pin Tab”? Let us know in the comments!

Over the next few days, as people draft their New Year’s Resolutions and 2012 predictions, I’ll be providing tools to help you Achieve Your Resolution – valuable webapps and web sites that I’ve found in the past year that help achieve popular New Year’s Resolutions.

I wish this was a more unusual occurrence, but let’s be real: college isn’t the best time to learn how to save. But skating on thin ice isn’t fun, and if done right, you can set a budget that will keep you out of the red.

The best way I’ve learned to budget is through the use of webapp Mint. Mint allows you to set a monthly budget, and automatically links with your bank account to track your expenses and income. It does allow temporary expenses and income and can indicate how students can spend what little they may have. And of course, it’s available as a mobile app.

In addition to budgeting your current income, Mint encourages users to save. I’ve pledged this year to save more (didn’t do so well last pay period it seems), but I knew when I was low on cash I couldn’t spend much more. I used my gift cards for Starbucks and for dinner, and it made what could’ve been a tough period one that was easily survivable.

And I couldn’t have done it without Mint.

[Photo courtesy of big spender and Flickr user Eric Damon Walters. Licensed under CC-BY 2.0.]

1. Should I file a tax return at all? If you earned any income in 2011, you should consider filing your taxes. If your income is higher than a certain threshold, which varies by depending on your filing status and age, you may not have a choice. Check here to find out if you are required to file a tax return. But even if you don’t have to, it’s a good idea to file a return anyways. “Workers who are not required to file a tax return because their income is below their filing threshold should file a return to get a refund of all taxes withheld and/or to claim other tax benefits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit,” said Elaine Smith, master tax adviser with H&R Block.

2. What’s the difference between a W-4 and a W-2? Your employer is the one who fills out a W-2 form for you and will either mail or send it to you online. A W-2 reports your wages and the taxes withheld from them, and you need information from the W-2 to fill out your returns. A W-4 form, on the other hand, is filled out by the employee. It determines how much federal income tax is withheld from your paychecks. You’ll be asked to decide on the number of “withholding allowances” you want to claim. You’ll usually give this to your employer whenever you start a new job.

To see the last two tips, head over to this post on Block Talk, H&R Block’s blog.

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user 401K. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.]

• MacBundler is offering a bundle of 9 popular Mac Apps worth $330 for $39. The bundle includes SnapFlow ($129), FX Photo Studio PRO ($40), Koku ($30), Sidekick ($29), DVD Creator ($49), Nottingham ($20), Mac DVD Ripper Pro ($20), App Delete ($8), and Elmedia Player Pro ($19.95) and can be purchased through Feb 21.

• BeatPad for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time, normally $6.99.

• Meta Notebook for iPad is free for a limited time, normally $0.99.

• Front Camera Zoom for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad is free for a limited time, normally $0.99.

• Newegg has Corel Paintshop Pro X4 on sale for just $24.99 with free shipping after a $10 discount and a $45 mail-in rebate. Originally $79.99. Rebate offer available through 2/15.

• Download Them All for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad is free for a limited time, normally $1.99.

• Notification Bubbles Pro for Android is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time, normally $1.99.

• Take 20% off your purchase sitewide at Tommy Hilgifer with code: THFEB20 through Feb 29.

• Get 30% off your order sitewide at photo-printing company Snapfish with code: ROCK131 through Mar 3.

• Fatheads is offering 25% off any NFL product (Go Giants!) after code: 25NFL through Feb 7.

Right now, Dropbox is offering up to 5GB of free space to all users who test the new feature of automatic photo and video uploading. To take advantage of this great offer, all you have to do is download the latest beta version of the Dropbox desktop client for your operating system, and then use the auto-upload feature to upload pictures and movies to your Dropbox. For every 500 MB uploaded, Dropbox will grant you an additional 500 MB in storage space, up to 5GB!

One important note is that you don’t actually have to upload your photos and videos to Dropbox; All you have to do is make sure the files import to your desktop’s Dropbox folder. Once you hit 500 MB imported, you should receive a notification that your space has been increased.  Finally, I’ve included useful links to make it even easier for readers to get more free Dropbox space. These links allow you to download the latest Dropbox beta (version 1.3.13) for your respective OS that grants you the free extra space.

Windows: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/Dr…1.3.13.exe
Mac OS X: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/Dr…1.3.13.dmg
Linux x86_64: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/dr….13.tar.gz
Linux x86: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/dr….13.tar.gz

Enjoy the free space everybody!

What are your recommendations to get more free Dropbox space? Let us know in the comments!