The Student Nerds Blog

I found this comic a few days ago and I’m sure anybody reading this blog is this person or has been helped by a person like this.  I think I actually laughed out loud a few times while reading it.  Let me know what you think. Why It's Better To Pretend You Don't Know Anything About Computers

So after 3 days of Droid, here’s my good, bad and ugly in reverse order. First, background: I have been a blackberry user for ~4year (8700 and Curve).  I also own an iPod Touch *UGLY*: Have YET to be able to sync my Microsoft exchange with the Droid’s email feature. Droid admittedly (they say so in their manual) does not do a good job at syncing to Microsoft exchange, they offer a few solutions which all involve getting your Exchange Admin involved and then tell you to download some 3rd party apps which get around MS’s security requirements and so on. This could be a dealbreaker for many people. I can’t say for sure if this problem is universal or if it’s just my Exchange server’s fault, or even my fault for screwing up the sync. I have been working around this by using the **AWESOME** web browser to connect to my company’s online email server but this hack won’t do me for long. *BAD*: *Physical Keyboard*- not good. I don’t have a ton ...

I hate paying for software.  I will occasionally do it if I cannot find it easily online or if I feel the developer deserves the cash.  I’ve used many different anti-virus software packages over the years and I think I finally found one that I really like.  It also happens to be free.  I used to use Norton Antivirus like many people. I’d pay for it because I didn’t think there was any other way.  I then moved on to a free version of McAffee that my school gave me.  I probably used that for years before moving on to the next one; AVG. I loved AVG for a long time.  It was fairly quick, updated often but it was a little obtrusive.  I dealt with that though because the product was truly free.  About a year ago I AVG had a false positive that caused iTunes to get messed up.  I freaked out and uninstalled AVG and iTunes so nothing bad would happen to my music collection.  The next day a fix was issued but it was already too late for ...

I've been doing a lot of international traveling as of late and keeping in touch with family and friends in the states can sometimes prove to be difficult.  I should rephrase t hat.  It's not difficult but it's difficult to do it cheaply.  I've learned a few things along the way and I'll let you know what I've been using to do this on the cheap. 1. A smartphone with unlimited internet access This is a must.  I've been able to be on gChat and email without some people even knowing that i'm in Europe.  I've been using an unlocked iPhone 3G and a Pay as you go SIM card from O2 in London.  I put 15 pounds on the SIM card and it came with unlimited internet.  If I really wanted to I would never have to use the 15 pounds and just use the following program to make all of my calls. 2. Skype on your smartphone (or at least your laptop). Skype has allowed me to place phone calls to the US at very cheap rates.  Using Google Voice (mention...

I think the Motorola Droid might actually have a chance to see some serious buyers. I will lay out a couple reasons I think this phone will be a hit. First, Verizon has terrible handsets to date. I have used the Blackberry World, Curve, and now the Storm. They all have their benefits but they also all have very big downsides as well. So a nicely placed Android smartphone with a good design would be the number one seller right away. Second I think the Storm two has been fumbled horribly. This might have been the leader if they truly fixed all the problems with the current Storm, but with out the fancy Android operating system. Third I seriously think there are a lot of Verizon users out there like me just waiting and searching for a good touch screen Smartphone that can rival the iPhone. Now don’t get me wrong. I think this Droid is in the same league with the iPhone no way. First AppStore, second loyal Apple Fanboys, third Gizmodo/Engadget/TUAW, they are all over the iPh...

Windows 7 officially has launched today and Microsoft was encouraging people to host “Windows 7 Parties.” Seriously, I’m not kidding.  Windows 7 is a great operating system and I would recommend it to anybody but this is just too funny.  Check out the official guide on how to host your party then watch FunnyOrDie’s spoof of it. Hosting Your Windows 7 Torrenting Party - watch more funny videos

This is how I fix all computer problems with family and friends:

This weekend just 3 short weeks after my warrantee on my Blackberry Curve ran out, it just happened to fall apart.  Convenient timing especially because it didn’t completely break, its keyboard/buttons just went out.  So I take my phone into Verizon as if I’ve never done this before.  Of course they say well this phone is worthless you can either pay a $50.00 replacement value for a refurbished Curve, or full retail for another phone because I didn’t buy insurance.  The more devices I buy the more I think those stupid over priced warrantees make sense now that the manufacturers are making crappy phones that fall apart after a year.  It was a short while ago in my life that devices purchased lasted a very long time.  Hell I still have a first generation iPod!  Not that I use it anymore but it still works.  Now those iTouch’s are very fancy and all, but I bet they won’t last much longer than a year. Very planned I think that these devices start t...

Quick set of links. Enjoy the weekend. Video: How IMAX Wizards Convert Harry Potter to 3-D How Netflix gets your movies to your mailbox so fast This Is What It Feels Like To Fly In a U2 Spy Plane Rainmeter 1.0 Brings the Enigma Desktop to Everyone

In case you haven’t heard the news from the past week, Apple and AT&T have blocked Google’s official Google Voice application.  This really bothered me along with many other Google Voice and iPhone users.  Why can Blackberry users on AT&T use Google’s app but my iPhone on the same network cannot? I actually started looking at other platform’s just to see what was out there and what was coming out.  The HTC Hero (pictured above) looks like an awesome phone and it runs the Android Operating System.  Android is a much more open platform and I wouldn’t have to worry about them blocking applications.  Apparently I’m not the only one who feels this way . The rant is now over.  Here are some links for your reading enjoyment. If China Gets Microsoft Office for $29, Why Don't We? Take 18 Minutes to Keep Your Days on Track What if…Microsoft Had a Windows App Store? What Twitter and Facebook Can Learn From Phish How To Sniff Out A Lia...

The rumors about this fabled Mac Tablet have gotten me excited.  For the longest time I have wanted an iPod touch like device with 3G.  The rumors swirling have put specs like 3G chip, 10” screen, and iPhone OS 3.0 not OS X like the normal Mac's run.  I will probably wait in line for this to come out.  Especially if I have to move into an office where I wouldn’t want to browse the internet on my work computer.  Why not just browse the interwebs during the day with your Tablet PC that fits easily into a backpack/briefcase.  And maybe even small enough to fit into a pocket.  What kind of specs would you like to see, and is this something people would upgrade from an iTouch for?  With the 3G it makes it worth the money in my mind.  Also would this mysterious device have a camera for pictures/video.  I am interested to hear if people would pay $600-800 for a device with no physical keyboard.  I think they are planning on changing the wa...

Another week, another set of links.  I’m also pretty happy that the Student Nerds team got their Google Voice invites.  Now we just need to get the invite for our company line.  Anyway, here are the best of the rest for the week.  Have a great weekend! 30+ Useful Websites You Probably Didn't Know About How to Photograph a Sunset Cool Down a Scorching Car as Quickly as Possible Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For Pain Relief Remembering Apollo 11 Jefferson's Cold Feet Apple demanded Microsoft to stop its Laptop Hunters ads President Obama in the booth, first pitch The best FREE iPhone games The Invisible Flash That Takes Clear Pictures at Night New York Nearest Subway Augmented Reality App for iPhone 3GS Revving Up Digg GButts Gives You Quick Access to Your Favorite Google Services

If you’ve ever had your Google account compromised you know how frustrating that can be.  It happened to my brother and he was unable to get Google to reactivate his account and had to create a new one. It was very time consuming and he also lost all of his email.  Luckily he didn’t have anything crucial in the account, I think.  Anyway, there is a new feature from Google that allows you to prove that you own your account.  You can setup a mobile phone number that Google will use to text you a code to reactivate your account. Click here to activate this feature.  You’ll be asked to verify your Google password and then you should be presented a screen that looks like this: Click “Add a mobile phone number” and add your phone to enable this feature.  On a side note I just got Google Voice. What happens if I use my Google Voice number for my mobile phone number for this and I get locked out of my Google account? That would suck...

Have a great weekend! The PEN Story Video: Jaguar's 2010 XJ cockpit is a dual-view, 7.1 surround sound lovers' aradise Microsoft Silverlight Now Supports GPU Video Acceleration BlackBerry Clearly Has Some Apple Envy Issues Facebook's Own Estimates Show Declining Student Numbers; Now More Grandparents Than High School Users Find the right internship with these tools A 6,000 year old world needs no mining laws Anticipate Your Interviewer's Next Question to Ace Your Job Interview How Large Is a Petabyte? 9 Google Labs Projects You Must Try Out! The Seven Types of Employees You Meet at Best Buy

There is finally a new CDMA phone coming out next week for Verizon.  What is the big deal and why would I buy this phone?  First of all to recap for all those who don’t know the difference between CDMA, and GSM.  CDMA is the cell phone band that Verizon and Sprint operate off.  GSM is what ATT, T-Mobile, and all the rest operate on.  This means that phones can’t work between the two bands.  Hence why you don’t see an iPhone on Verizon’s network; it just simply won’t work. I have been loyal to Verizon for as long as I can remember.  A few blips here and there, I had been on T-Mobile and Cingular/ATT for a short period of time.  They were both terrible compared to Verizon.  However, the one complaint I have is the type of phones Verizon has on its network.  Well now some are claiming the best CDMA phone ever is coming out next week, the Blackberry Tour.  After looking at the review at Engadget here .  I am simply unimpressed wi...

Looks like we missed the Friday linkage due to the holiday. Hope everyone had a good and safe weekend.  I’m going to try and catch up with some of the best links I’ve seen in the last week. I’ve also included one of my favorite SNL clips that I can’t help but crack up at. Skier saved from death plunge by Blackberry Schaumburg Dumps Redlight Cameras After They Show No Safety Benefit Cook the Book: Perfect French Fries Jon Stewart on Mark Sanford Going Old Testament The Nazi Stealth Planes That Could Have Dropped a Nuclear Bomb in NYC Michael Jackson First Artist to Sell Over 1 Million Downloads in a Single Week Enigma Battleship Is Probably the Best Drinking Game Ever 11 Reasons Why You Absolutely Need More Sleep Facebook Now Growing by Over 700,000 Users a Day, and New Engagement Stats

I was wondering when the fabled WiMax was going to launch.  For those of you who don’t know what WiMax is, it is essentially Wi-Fi (or High Speed Internet) everywhere you go.  Similar to a cell phone connection, except at a much higher speed.  I’m not surprised Comcast is the first to roll this out.  They are the evil monopoly that clinches Chicago, and makes outrageous profits I’m sure.  They will be rolling this service out to Chicago hopefully by the end of 2009.  I don’t think for the suspected $30 extra dollars on top of our triple play this would even entice me at all.  I have a Blackberry that I can tether. Not to mention I leave Chicago more than I am here.  This service serves no purpose for me.  Let us know if you are excited about WiMax at all?

I signed up for a Google Voice invite about 3 or 4 months ago when they first announced the service. On Friday Google announced that they would be sending out those invites to people who have signed up. I constantly checked my email on Friday hoping I would get my invite. Well, it’s Monday and still no invite.  Why do I want Google Voice so bad? Watch the following video and you can also read about Voice’s features here . Google, please send me the invite and also enable Number Portability. Now. Thanks.

In honor of Michael Jackson’s passing I’m going to start today’s blog post with a video of one of his best moonwalks.  Have a good weekend and listen to the King of Pop this weekend. Click here if you can't view this video Links: Giant Cowboys Stadium LED wall caught playing Xbox 360 during downtime Google Docs Backup Software Become a Gmail Ninja Awesome Internet thing: Bill Murray does Carl Spackler Soccer in South Africa Giant Wraparound Screen Shows Air Traffic in Real-Time Five things missing from the iPhone 3GS Google City Tours Google Account Recovery via SMS HTC Hero Android Phone Hands-On (With Video) Google Voice Invites Going Out to Reservations List This iPhone is Freakin' Hilarious

There is an interesting site out there now that lets you sign up for free.  Its Alice.com .  It’s a personal shopping site that lets you sign up and have all of your necessary shopping be done by someone else.  It pulls all of your monthly or weekly usages together.   So you can see how much money you are spending on certain  things like cereal.  They claim to have the lowest prices on the market, and allow you to use coupons.  This site is very similar to Amazon.com where you can sign up for reoccurring purchases on things like paper towels and toilet paper.  But you can also have your body wash, razors, coffee, etc ordered and delivered to your house for free.  This is very similar to Mint.com with your finances but this is for your normal daily use products.  Let us know if you sign up its worth it, because its free!

I’ve been thinking about this lawsuit involving the RIAA and Jammie Thomas-Rasset.  She was ordered to pay $80,000 per song that she downloaded or $1.92 million dollars.  $1.92 million for 24 songs? This is absurd and luckily I’m not the only one who thinks so.  I’ve been reading many articles on the topic and there seems to be some hope for this woman.  This ruling could actually be unconstitutional according to this PC World article. The constitution has rules against “grossly excessive” punitive damages and I think most people would agree that $80,000 per song is grossly excessive.  There have even been some music artists that have been critical of the RIAA and Moby has even said the RIAA should be disbanded. The music industry is really in a bad situation with this. They are punishing their customers and there have even been studies that say people who download music illegally end up buying more music . They will eventually come around but th...

Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend. Here are the links: Woman Hit With $1.92 Million Fine in RIAA Case Should AT&T be allowed to be the iPhone's exclusive carrier? Huawei's E583X wireless modem turns 3G to WiFi, beautiful lights Best Recipe Organizer? Google Voice’s Secret Weapon: Number Portability Watch Streaming TV with StreamTorrent The Story of the Beatles in Two Minutes We Are Hunted - The Online Music Chart TweetTabs: Realtime Twitter Trends Obama Announces Plans To Run For McCain's Senate Seat In 2010 iPhone 3.0 Update: 10 Hidden Features iPhone 3G S or Palm Pre?

If you are using Mozilla Firefox it’s likely because someone Nerdy like myself or Praz has told you to.  But you may not know why exactly you are using Firefox over Internet Explorer.  The big difference between the two is the customizing that you can do with Firefox.  There are themes, add-ons, or extensions.  Most people browsing the web  with Firefox are not using any of these and it’s a shame.  I am here to try and make it as simple as possible to jump in and make the web browsing experience much more fulfilling.  I want to focus on add-on’s and extensions.  The problem with the add-on’s to date is that their are so many and its hard to figure out which ones are actually useful.  Now the Student Nerds have created a collection so you can use the same ones we do. To see the addons that we recommend you can visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collection/studentnerds

We’re going to start a new feature for the blog where we will rewrite posts about awesome websites, programs or tips that we use on a daily basis. Today’s repost is about Dropbox . Our original post on Dropbox can be found here . I recently shared some files with a friend of mine and he asked me how I was able to quickly share the files with him without using email. I couldn’t use email because the file was too big so I used Dropbox. I figured I should write another post about Dropbox because I think everyone should be using it (if only to backup your important files). Let me first explain what Dropbox ’s primary feature is. Dropbox will backup your files to their servers quickly and easily.  You can then install Dropbox on any of your computers and Dropbox program will keep the folder in sync on all of those computers.  I use Dropbox in a few different ways. Here’s what I do with it: Download torrent files to start downloads remotely. Here is a guide on ...

Here is some of the coolest stuff for the week. Check it out and have a good weekend. Star Wars: The Old Republic E3 09: Jedi vs Sith Cinematic Platforms Extreme Makeover: The Email Inbox Edition How to Transfer Your iTunes Library to a New Computer in Five Minutes Apple invites iPhone devs to test AIM/push notification Amazon Kindle DX unboxing and hands-on! Palm Pre runs Doom, smartphone-loving space marines rejoice Video: Archos 9 pctablet resistive touchscreen impresses Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread Jason Jones Visits the NY Times (And Mocks them very well)

I installed the newest version of the iPhone OS (operating system) a couple of days ago and I’ve been very happy with it.  There are a few topics that make this upgrade worthwhile and I’ll talk a little bit about each one.  These are in no particular order. Universal Search – The iPhone now has Spotlight search which allows you to quickly find music, movies, contacts, calendar events, applications, emails and more. You can access the search by swiping to the left on the home screen or hitting the home button while on the home screen. Very useful. Horizontal Typing – They have finally enabled you to use the wide keyboard with the iPhone in the Mail, Messages and Notes applications. This should have been in the very first iteration of the iPhone but as they say, better late than never. Copy & Paste – Another feature that should have been available at launch. I’ve already used this feature a lot and I can’t believe it didn’t have it before. ...

If you are a picture freak with your DSLR, iPhone, or Digital Video camera, I recommend you checking out a site I found on Lifehacker .  Fotopedia is a  FREE website where you can follow your friends albums and geotag your pictures with the location the picture was taken.  It’s a very cool site depending on your obsession with photography.  I am in the process of looking for a DSLR that will fit my lifestyle, and this site will be my favorite for those very things. I enjoy traveling and want a camera to document the places, but I also want to remember where I took each picture.  I am going to make a prediction that geotagged photos will be the wave of the future, and I bet the new iPhone 3G S is going to have the built in ability to do this.  I think much of what Fotopedia is doing might be copied and done better by Facebook considering they are leading photo site on the web.  However, Facebook will need to step up their game with some new features ...

I’ve been out of town for the past few days so today’s post is some of the stuff that I have missed while I was gone. There was also a new iPhone announced yesterday that I will not be upgrading to. There are a few reasons for this. One, the price is too high to justify and I don’t think the new features will be worth the upgrade.  I also read an interesting article about how AT&T might lose their agreement with Apple next year and that is also when my contract with AT&T would be up. I have had AT&T (or Cingular) for nearly 10 years. I’ve seen how their service has buckled since the iPhone has been out and their service is just getting worse. I would have no problem switching companies if the iPhone came out.  Any of you upgrading or have any thoughts on that? Here are the links: 4 Really Popular Prank Call Websites & How They Work Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Windows Downloads 3 Web Apps For Staying On Top Of The Music Scene...

I’m going to share a couple tips that the Student Nerds use to make their lives easier. I had both my sister and my new wife get mad at me for not making them aware of a financial management website that makes checking all your credit cards, bank accounts,  or any financial institution extremely easy (Even though we did have a post about it here ). You can pay bills and it will constantly update balances, and send emails when your credit card bills are due etc.  They have gotten a lot of recognition because of the Wall St Journal and NY Times.  The company is Mint.com   and if you haven’t been over there yet you should make your way.  It is safe and secure so you don’t have to worry about that.  The second useful tip is for all the free music listening you can handle. Go over to imeem.com and sign up so you can listen to all the songs free of charge.   They also have an iTouch/iPhone app that is out of this world.   It’s similar...

I came back from my honeymoon and being away from the internet for a week was like not dusting your apartment for months. It became overwhelming.  I had piles of emails for work and personal and I felt like I had been away from my blackberry for years. I had forgot how to type and had gotten left behind with all the exciting tech news as well.   However, the one thing I have been able to sift through and pick out as one of the coolest things yet would be Microsoft’s Project Natal.  If you thought the Nintendo Wii was cool with its magic wand then this Microsoft project will blow your mind.  It is based on voice recognition and movement recognition.  It interacts with you as if it were another human being.  It’s a very cool technology but border line psychotic because soon all the very anti-social people out there will have no need to leave their house at all now. But I am still getting excited for this new project, for this could change the way...

Tonight will be Hulu ’s first attempt to do a live simulcast of a concert.  They decided to broadcast a Dave Matthews Band show the night before their new album is released.  The show starts at 9pm ET and you can watch at Hulu or you can watch it right here on StudentNerds.com. I must say that I was very skeptical of Hulu when it was first announced.  I thought Youtube was going to win out, but after Disney’s investment and the release of the Hulu Desktop software I think Hulu is going to hit a grand slam for the media companies.  They are doing a much better job than the music industry. Thoughts?

Before sharing the links for the day I wanted to talk a little about the new application Hulu just released. The application allows you to view all of Hulu’s content on your PC or Mac computer and use a remote control. This means that you could easily hook up a laptop or desktop to a TV and have an awesome solution to watch TV. If you could get live sports on Hulu I could easily get rid of my cable. It’ll be interesting to watch what happens with this company. Here’s a video to explain the new application. On to the links: What We Know About The Apple Tablet So Far The Dish on Dishwashers How to Get a Great Suit Ferris Bueller's Ferrari House Now For Sale Download Torrents Without A Client Via Torrent2Exe [Windows] 5 great program downloaders and updaters for Windows Samsung's 240Hz HDTV Is the Best LCD Around Make House Wine Taste Better with Soda Water

First of all, Congratulations to Mike and his new wife. Now, this post is something of a response to Prassel and his posts about not seeing the point of Ubuntu and instead opting for Windows 7.  I finally got the RAM together on my laptop and was able to install Windows 7 this afternoon.  It still is not on my desktop, but I’m too happy with that setup to take the risk.  Plus it’s a now-7-year-old  computer, and I don’t dream that it would run a newer Windows comfortably. For a bit of context, I have used ubuntu sporadically for the past 2-3 years, and in February when I was stranded in TN with a shitty connection and a corrupted Windows Registry such that I could not start Windows up, I first downloaded Ubuntu 8.5 and built up from there.  I’ve since placed Ubuntu 9 on both my desktop and laptop and have spent at least 20 hours in the environment, and I’ve spent about 8 hours now in Windows 7. Windows XP : the industry standard.  Get a nice clean, ...

I have a terrible time keeping up with people’s birthdays and I wanted a better way to manage them.  If you’re on Facebook there is a somewhat hidden feature that will email you weekly with upcoming birthdays.  It’s a quick and easy way to make sure you don’t miss one.  The setting is a little hard to find and I wish Facebook would make it easier to find but don’t worry. Here’s how to get those weekly emails: Click here to go to your Facebook notifications settings (It will ask you to log in if you are not already) Click Show More Click the On radio button next to “Has a birthday coming up” and you’ll begin to receive emails every Sunday for the upcoming birthdays for the week. Thank me

I was reading a blog post by Fred Wilson on the A VC blog and he mentioned something called “Take Away Shows.”  I clicked on the link and was forwarded to a an incredible website of recorded songs by some artists I have heard of and others I have not.  The basic idea of the site is to get these artists to perform their songs on the spot and usually in the street (at least that is what I’ve seen so far).  I’ve watched a few of them and it’s a very cool idea and you could watch these for hours.  Here is a pretty cool one from Bloc Party: Bloc Party, 'This Modern Love' - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo . Here are a few others I've watched: Jason Mraz R.E.M.

I was forced to write this post because over the weekend I realized how many people who use web-based email clients (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc) don’t have them set up as the default email client in Firefox .  This allows you to click on an email address on a webpage and have your webmail open a new email to compose.  Here’s how you do it: Go to Tools, then Options in Firefox. Click on the Applications Tab and in the Search box type “mail”.  You should see the following image In the dropdown menu you can select to use Microsoft Outlook or you can select Gmail or Yahoo.  Since you should already be using Gmail, just select Gmail and you’ll be good to go. On a side note, the blog might have less posts in the coming weeks as the team will be travelling. We’ll try, but no promises.