iBooks 2

The central focus of Apple’s announcement was the iPad, and an updated version of Apple’s iBooks app. The technology possible within the new iBooks app is pretty exciting (watch one of the event’s demo videos for an example). If you’ve played around with any current textbook offerings for the iPad some things will look familiar, but the new iBooks offers richer media offerings, pretty snazzy note taking functionality, and a new section in the iBooks store with competitively-priced textbook offerings.

iBooks Author

To complement the new version of iBooks, Apple also announced a program that they call iBooks Author. iBooks Author is a free Mac program that allows anyone to create and publish an ebook. Once the book is published, you can submit it to the iBooks Store, where you can either sell it or give it away for free. Apple seemed to emphasize the creation of textbooks with the iBooks Store, but technically the user can create any sort of book. The creation possibilities, however, are much more than just exporting a word document into the proper format. iBooks Author offers some pretty cray cool functionality, including support to gestures, multimedia, etc. The app is available via the Mac App Store.

iTunes U

iTunes U isn’t a new name in the world of Apple, as it’s existed for several years as a way to get free university lectures and content through iTunes. As of today, however, Apple has added several new features to iTunes U. Specifically, iTunes U now serves as a place to organize all the course content for a class, including files, videos, lectures, and apps. It can also be the distribution mechanism for the course syllabus, quizzes, etc. Anyone currently in college is probably familiar with web-based services like Blackboard or Canvas; the new iTunes U provides similar functionality to those services, and in addition it also serves as a “media hub” of sorts. Students use the iPhone or iPad app to access their iTunes U supported courses.

So will Apple change the face of education as we know it?

It’s a good question, and one that obviously cannot be answered today. Much of what Apple announced today is extremely exciting, but many questions still remain. The new iBooks is easily the most exciting part of today’s announcement; some of the functionality within iBooks 2 seems Jetsons-like. The only downside is that there are only a few textbooks available today, and the overall selection is entirely dependent upon the textbook publishers. Like many things tech-related, a high adoption rate is essential to success. These new iBooks textbooks do support the ability to download just one chapter of a textbook at a time, which can definitely save a ton of money. The iBooks Author application was great to see, and like many people I am excited to sit down and play with it. It’s exciting to think about teachers and professors sitting down and creating their own class textbooks, then distributing them over the air to their students. No more cheap photocopied packets; now that’s awesome. Though the revamped iTunes U service is probably the least flashy of the announcements made today, it actually was super exciting to me as a current college student. I absolutely despise Blackboard (and Canvas isn’t much better) so the having Apple introduce a viable alternative is incredible. I can only pray that iTunes U will see quick adoption as well.

Apple’s media event today, though maybe not as ground-breaking as some of their hardware announcements, is still a pretty incredible opportunity for the education industry. Many people believe that companies like Apple often “show us the future,” and that’s exactly how I felt as I watched Apple’s promotional video that highlights today’s announcements. As I said earlier, however, the success of everything announced depends upon educators actually using it, so only time will tell. I can’t wait to see what my kids use in college!

Most of what we find in textbook rental returns isn’t intentional, but a few days ago we received a hilarious letter and drawing from our friend Sydney. The basic gist of the letter? She believes that the game “Angry Birds” is a conspiracy. Needless to say, we all got quite a chuckle out of her comedic letter and accompanying illustration (which is quite impressive in itself). You can click on the images below for a high resolution version. Thanks again, Sydney!

Note: This article was originally posted December, 2010. It’s still awesome, however.

It’s hard to imagine how many cups of coffee  are being consumed right now. By college students. Frantic college students. Yes, it’s “the worst time of the year” for many of us; our attempts to cram knowledge back into our brain that was forgotten the second week of the semester can be frustrating and time consuming. Many of you probably have developed your own study methods, or you just don’t study. No matter which boat you find yourself in, the following article can help you immensely on your finals. I decided to write this post to share my “surefire” study method; the one that has allowed me to get B’s on tests that I had no business getting D’s on. I’m not joking. Alright let’s get rolling.

Required Equipment

• computer w/ microphone
• iPhone or iPod (any other mp3 player really)
• headphones
• study sheet

Step One

The first step, and the most important in my opinion, is to create a comprehensive, yet also concise, study sheet. Some of my professors have provided a list of concepts to review, while others just say “study chapters 2 through 9″, which can be the worst. Regardless of your circumstance, you need to be sure that you have a list of essentially everything your final will be on. Double check what is on this sheet, because if it’s wrong then you are essentially wasting your time.

Step Two

Record! Most laptops have built in microphones by now, and even if your computer doesn’t then you can get a plug in microphone for a few bucks at most big box retailers. Choose your recording software (I recommend Garageband on the Mac and Audacity on the PC, both are free) and begin to record. Make sure that you talk clearly, but also maintain a quick pace. Try your best to keep your recording in the 10 – 15 minute range, and if you mess up just continue; you can always edit out stumbles and mispronunciations later.

Step Three

Edit, mix and export. Remove any dead space from your recording; the goal is to cram as much information in as little time as possible. Sometimes I put a basic instrumental track in the background, but other times I just leave it simple. Once you are satisfied, export the sound file in a format that your mp3 player supports. iPods and iPhones support AAC, MP3 VBR, AIFF, and WAV. Drag the exported file into iTunes (or whatever you use to manage your player). You can then even create some album artwork if you want. Once I found a photo of my professor on Facebook and used it to create 500X500 dimension album art. Last, sync your player (obviously).

Step Four

Listen like crazy. You didn’t go through steps 1 – 3 without a reason;  it’s up to you to wear out your iPod on the track you created. Use the “repeat” function, and try to listen as many times as you can without going crazy. Sure, you will probably start to really hate your own voice, and maybe you will you tune out here or there, but with this method it’s quantity of time over quality. The best thing about studying using this method is that you can multitask; study while driving, walking to class, cleaning, etc.

I super hope that some of these tips help you pass those dreaded finals! Good luck and let us know how it goes!

We’ve all been there. You sit down to write a paper, then decide to check your Facebook profile. An hour later, frustrated, you close your web browser and start writing the paper. Twenty minutes into it, you’re stuck. You trying to think of what to write next, then you realize that your friend might have replied to your witty Facebook status update. Back to Facebook, where another half hour goes by. You’ve spent two hours “writing your paper,” and you only have a paragraph to show for it. Suck!

Concentration is always an important element of collegiate success, but it’s absolutely imperative during finals week. Whether you have papers to write, or tests to study for, it’s quite likely that you’ll find yourself pressed for time over the next couple of weeks. While the causes of distraction seem unlimited, Facebook is easily one of the most common offenders. This is probably even worse if you’re going to an online college, with the temptation to browse always a click away. I imagine students going through Online University or a similar program, probably have a much higher rate of distractions than students who have to physically attend lectures.

College students always seem to find enough time for a quick Facebook check. Next time you’re walking around campus, glance at the laptop screens around you; I guarantee that most have a Facebook tab open on them. A few weeks ago, I decided I had had enough. I was tired of habitually checking Facebook, and I wanted to annihilate the wasted time that Facebook encouraged. But, like most of us, there are several people that I only communicate with through Facebook; friends from high school, out of state relatives, etc. I didn’t know what to do, until I concocted a plan!

Starting in 2010, Facebook added a feature that allows users to “unsubscribe” from certain people’s status updates. Not only is this handy for Facebook friends that post thousands of Farmville updates daily, but I realized it could also be the key to conquering my impulsive Facebook use. After all, how often did I log-on to Facebook with a set goal in mind? Rarely. Most of the time, I scrolled through other people’s status updates and photos, waiting for something to catch my eye. I hatched a plan: I would just unsubscribe from everyones status updates. To do so, I had to do is click on the little arrow by each persons status update, and click “Unsubscribe From (Name)”.

It was a little tedious initially, but not too bad. I have about 400 friends, but several of my friends aren’t very active. I noticed that a select handful of people post a majority of the updates, and after clicking unsubscribe once, it clears every single one of their updates. At first I decided not to unsubscribe from a small handful of people (family, close friends, etc.), but eventually I just ended up unsubscribing from everyone. After all, if they have anything important to tell me, they can text or call. It took a couple of weeks to unsubscribe from everyone on my list, because each time I logged on, I would unsubscribe from 10-20 feeds. When all was said and done, how did my plan work? Like an absolute charm. Now, when I log on to Facebook, I am greeted with the screen below:

That’s it! I still check my Facebook every day or two, to see if anyone has DM’ed me or sent me an interesting event request. But without a never-ending list of updates and photos, the lure of Facebook has been reduced to pretty much nothing. If you are tired of the time that you waste on Facebook, I can’t recommend this method enough. It allows you to still use Facebook as a communication tool, but greatly decreases the distraction factor. Now if I can just write my 8 page English paper, I think I’ll have my finals in the bag.

Magazine Subscription

Price: $5-$20

The best thing about giving someone a subcription is that the gift can last all year long. And although everyone is talking about digital magazines these days, it’s hard to beat the price of a paper magazine subscription (not to mention what happens if you spill coffee on it). Amazon currently has some pretty impressive deals on subscriptions, with prices as low as $5. It’s also just fun to receive mail when you are living away from home.

Netflix Subscription

Price: $7.99 for 1 month, $95.88 for 12 months

Like magazine subscriptions, a Netflix gift subscription is nice because it can last for the entire year. Netflix provides thousands of movies and television episodes, which can be streamed to laptops, smartphones, and televisions. On campuses across America, when a certain movie or tv show is referenced, a common follow-up question is: “Is it on Netflix?” Yep, Netflix is a pretty big deal to college students.

Target Gift Card

Price: Up to you.

Giving a gift card to a store such as Target can be a great idea, because it acts as the Swiss Army Knife of gift cards. If a college students needs some food, or laundry detergent, or video games, or whatever, a Target gift card is the perfect solution.

Water Bottle

Price: $10-$20

Many campuses are working to reduce plastic water bottle consumption, and in doing so they are installing water bottle refill stations. A high quality water bottle is a great way to ensure adaquette water intake, without the high cost of disposable water bottles.

iTunes Gift Card

Price: $15+

An iTunes gift card is to media consumption what a Target gift card is to food consumption. The nice thing about an iTunes gift card is that it can be used to purchase anything from the plethora of Apple’s media offerings. Whether a college student wants to rent a movie, buy a new music album, or catch up on a television show, an iTunes gift card is the easiest way to go. There are also many iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps that are super handy for college students, all of which can be purchased with, you guessed it, an iTunes gift card.

Bulk Granola Bars

Price: $15+

It may seem silly to give someone a big box of granola bars for Christmas, but it won’t when one of the granola bars, hastily thrown into a backpack, means the difference between energy to study and a 2 day fast. Granola bars also decrease a students dependency on on-campus food offerings, which are pretty much always a rip-off.

High Quality Earphones

Price: $30+

Anyone who has stepped foot on a college campus sometime in the last five years will attest to the fact that 90% of everyone on campus has headphones in. Headphones are definitely quite handy when it comes blocking out background noise while studying. Here’s the thing about the headphones that came with your iPod or smartphone, however: they suck. Not only is the sound quality bad, but they can actually increase the liklihood of hearing damage. Why? High quality earphones are much better at blocking outside noises, which means that you don’t need to turn up the volume quite as high on your device. Contrast that with low quality “included” earbuds, which I usually have to crank up most of the way to drown out the girls next to me in the library talking about Twilight. Any college student will thank you for some high quality earbuds, and there are even several sets with built in remotes, good for controlling an iPod or smartphone without removing it from your pocket.

Topo Designs Backpack

Price: $90

I came across this backpack a few days ago, and was struck with how well it is designed. Topo designs makes extremely high quality gear, and this backpack is minimalistic, while at the same time containing pockets for the four primary things that college students carry around with them: a laptop, smartphone, notebook, and writing utensil.

Amazon Kindle

Price: $79-$199

Amazon recently released a brand new line of Kindles, and they are making quite a splash. The cheapest $79 Kindle is the smallest and lightest Kindle ever, and is a great go-to option for students who want to try out Amazon’s recently announced Kindle textbook rentals. Amazon also released a Kindle Touch, which starts at $99 and features a touch-screen display, a great feature for readers who like to take lots of notes. Lastly, Amazon also released the Kindle Fire, their $199 7 inch color tablet aimed to take a swing at the iPad market. Though the Kindle Fire isn’t too great for productivity or reading, it seems to have hit a homerun with those looking to stream a movie or play Angry Birds.

Apple iPhone 4S

Price: $199-$850

Apple’s latest iPhone is its fastest selling device ever, and for good reason. The camera on the iPhone 4S is exceptionally good, with video and photo quality that rivals compact point and shoot camera. The 4S also features Siri, the voice-activated “digital assistant” that allows a user to dictate an email, add a reminder, and check the weather, all simply by speaking to the iPhone. Prices range from reasonable ($199-$399 if contract-subsidized) to quite high ($649-$849 if purchased outside of a contract). With thousands of useful productivity and education centered apps, not to mention Siri, the iPhone 4S is definitely one of the best all-around gadgets for college students.

Apple announced iTunes Match several months ago, and since that time I’ve been anxiously awaiting its arrival. Like most of us who began building a digital music collection pre-2007, much of my music was encoded in the low quality bitrate of 128 kbps, and iTunes Match promised to “upgrade” most of these files to a much more pleasant 256 kbps. When the service was finally released earlier this week (after missing it’s “end of October” launch date), I signed up immediately, crossed my fingers, and hoped that it would live up to my anticipation. After spending a couple of days tinkering around with it, I thought I would pass on my experience.

The Basics: When iTunes first debuted, Apple was encouraging consumers to look at their computers as their “digital hub.” Music, photos, and videos would essentially “live” on computers, where they could easily be transfered to iPods (and later iPhones and iPads). Apple is currently shifting that strategy away from a computer-based digital hub and toward a cloud-based digital hub. This cloud-based hub is coined “iCloud” by Apple, and iTunes Match is essentially a tool to transfer your music online. Once your music is online, you can access it from any computer or iDevice by entering your iTunes credentials.

The Specifics: iTunes Match is a subscription service that costs $24.99 per year. Once you sign-up and pay the money, iTunes Match begins scanning your music library. The amount of time that this scan can take depends on the size of the music library, the speed of your internet connection, and the number of people that are currently hammering Apple’s servers. My library is about 5,000 songs, and the scanning process took me about an hour and a half. I was surprised in the short amount of time that it took, considering that iTunes was performing the scan on the day that iTunes Match debuted. Once the scan is complete and iTunes “Delivers Your Results,” it will label every track in your library with an iTunes Match status. There are several different statuses, which are explained in this excellent MacWorld article, but the primary statuses that I saw were “Matched,” “Uploaded,” and “Error.” Matched means that the track was found on Apple’s servers, and that you can download the iTunes Music Store formatted version on the song on any computer that you log in on. Apple matches the songs based on the actual music (not what you’ve named the tracks). Uploaded means that the track wasn’t found on Apple’s servers, but that it was uploaded so that you can download that exact file on any computer that you log in to. Error obviously means there was a problem. Out of about 5,000 songs, iTunes Match “matched” around 4,300 tracks, uploaded around 700 tracks, and posted an error on about 40 tracks. These results seemed pretty good, as most of the songs that it was unable to match were definitely not on iTunes (live bootlegs and local independent bands).

Then What?: Good question. Once you have your results, what you do with iTunes Match is really up to you. I began finding which tracks were low quality, and upgrading them to the higher quality 256 kbps file. To do this, all you have to do is select the track and delete it. A pop-up window will appear asking if you’d like to delete the track from iCloud. Say no, and the track will be deleted from your library (it will remain listed, but will be greyed out). To re-download the track, either click the handy iCloud button next to the track name, or right-click and select download. Within seconds, the nice 256 kbps track will download. I’ve gone through my library and upgraded all the lower quality songs, which ended up being an astounding 2,000 or so tracks. Note that this quality upgrade process only works with songs identified as “Matched.” Also note that your tags (Album data, lyrics, notes, etc.) remain intact throughout the process.

Other Computers: Like I already said, one of the nicest parts of iTunes Match is the ability to download the tracks on multiple computers. If you buy a new computer (or heaven forbid have your hard drive die), you can now redownload your entire music library quite easily. This is also nice for multiple people using one iTunes account, as they can now keep their libraries synchronized with ease. iTunes Match also increases the value of my 16GB iPhone as a music listening device. With iTunes Match enabled, my iPhone displays a list of my entire library and allows me to select which songs I want to listen to, instead of having to pick and choose which songs to sync.

The Bad Stuff: My experience with iTunes Match thus far has not been without hiccups. When I initially signed up, Apple’s servers were getting hammered, and it took a while for my sign-up request to go through. Last night (as I was in the middle of downloading about 1,000 tracks in higher quality files), Apple’s servers apparently had another problem. I was unable to connect to iCloud, and the greyed-out songs in my library (that I had deleted to make room for the upgraded files) dissapeared. Needless to say, watching a third of my music library vanish freaked me out, but I noticed that iTunes was still saying that I had the full 5,000 songs in iCloud, so I figured it was a server problem. This morning I was relieved to see all the songs back in my library, available to download. Another weird thing about iTunes Match is the random tracks it didn’t match. While many of these tracks aren’t in iTunes, there were a few albums where only one track wasn’t matched. This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, because an iTunes-ripped CD should either be completely recognized or not recognized at all. Why would every track but track 8 be identified, when every track was imported at the same time and with the same ripping settings? Other people have expressed frustration that their iTunes library is over 25,000 songs (iTunes Match’s limit), though I highly doubt that a large percentage of consumers have over 25,000 songs in their library.

Conclusion: I’ve been pretty stoked with my iTunes Match experience thus far. One thing that people need to understand, however, is that this service isn’t as easy as an On/Off switch. In order to get the most from it, you will need to spend some time organizing, downloading, and replacing your music. This was something I was planning on (and honestly needed to do anyway), but if you don’t have the time to spend on your music library right now, maybe wait to sign-up for iTunes Match until you do have the time. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes with iTunes Match, and understanding exactly what’s happening is definitely a hurdle to overcome. Being able to upgraded 2,000 tracks to a much higher 256 kbps was easily worth the money for me, as is the knowledge that if my computer and Time Machine drive die, I’ll still be able to retrieve my music. Though I’ve encountered some frustrating elements to the service (why in the world is a single track of an album not matched?), I’m willing to bet that in a few months it will be more polished and useful than it is now.

If you have any questions about iTunes Match, check out this awesome guide on TheNextWeb.com, or drop me a comment.

Ah, the woes of funding higher education. As every college student knows, the costs of higher education have risen dramatically over the past few years. What’s more, there’s no end in site to the increasing prices of tuition, student fees, and housing. While education remains important (college graduates are currently experiencing much lower unemployment rates than those without a degree), the thought of graduating with piles of student debt has led many to question their decision to attend college. The total of America’s student debt has passed $1 trillion, which is more than the total of the nation’s credit card debt! Indeed, a large percentage of those supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement are doing so because of their frustration with crippling student debt.

As rare as it may seem, Washington has been listening. At the end of October, President Obama announced a plan aimed at reducing the pressure of student debt. This plan reduces the maximum required payment on student loans from 15% of discretionary income to 10% of discretionary income. Further, the plan will allow remaining student debt to be forgiven after 20 years (the current debt forgiveness period is 25 years). Lastly, the plan would provide a low interest rate debt consolidation program for federal loans.While these changes were set to happen in 2014 anyway, President Obama is pushing for them to take affect next year instead.

So what does this mean for current students, as well as those who have already graduated? The White House estimates that over 7 million borrowers will be affected by this plan, to the tune of a few hundred dollars per month each. Perhaps more importantly, however, this plan aims to change some of the perceptions currently surrounding higher education in America. For our economy to remain healthy, education is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, thousands of dollars of potential student debt has discouraged many from attending college, and plans such as this one hope to minimize that hesitancy, while at the same time showing the world that the United States still values education.

While the plan has some opposition (I am actually not completely certain that I support it in its entirety), it’s fantastic to see lawmakers paying attention to the millions of citizens that are pursuing (or have pursued) a higher education. Most of us, regardless of political opinion, value education, and a well-educated America is an integral part of emerging from our current economic climate.

Mustache on a Stick

Sure, it’s minimalist. But it’s simple, easy, and likely to get some laughs. Via MarthStewart.com.

Awesome Party Guy Viral Video

Poster board + markers = this cheap costume. Via NothingCorporate.com.

Lego Guy

The killer costume is made primarily of cardboard, styrofoam, and paint. Via CoderKev.

Spider Glasses

Another great costume for minimalists, these spectacles are pretty trippy. Via MarthaStewart.com.

Occupy Wall Street Protestors

Show your topical know-how with a picket sign and sleeping bag.

You have probably already heard of Occupy Wall Street, the New York City protest that is quickly spreading all across the country. While the group has no specific demands, it is comprised of individuals pleading for change; in the financial system, job market, political process, environment, etc.  The interesting thing about the group, however, is that one of the primary topics of discussion among the protestors is student debt, and the lack of available jobs for recent graduates.

A blog called We Are The 99 Percent is comprised of photos of lists from people all over the country. These lists detail the countless frustrations brought on by the economy, capitalism, and the like. Interestingly enough,  almost every list says something about student debt, and the hopelessness that surrounds it.

This led to quite a bit of contemplation on my part. As a current college student (hopefully) set to graduate this spring, it can be quite disheartening to hear of so many college graduates unable to find jobs in their chosen fields. The fact of the matter is, college is really expensive, and like most students, I’m banking on the fact that my degree will provide the opportunity to be financially successful; not rich, just comfortable. Like most of us, I’ve been promised my entire life that a college education is the “right choice,” and even the “only choice.”

How terrible of a realization it must be, then, to graduate college and not be able to find a job. It seems that this scenario is one of the primary forces behind Occupy Wall Street. Essentially people are saying, “Look, I upheld my end of the bargain, Uncle Sam, so why am I still working at Taco Bell?”

I guess the point of this post is this: If you are a current (or soon to be) college student, take a closer look at the Occupy Wall Street movement. I’m not saying to support it, but many of people in it are focused on the problems with American higher education, problems which easily could affect you as well.