The Student Nerds Blog

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.

Here’s the stuff we didn’t bother writing about this week. Enjoy. Hand Shaking Is So Medieval. Let’s End It. 10 Things To Do Before Creating Your Next Budget Why We Need to Reach the Stars (and We Will) How to Create a DVD from Any Video File Exclusive: First Look at the BlackBerry Storm 2!! GPS Accuracy Could Start Dropping in 2010 How The Kindle Now Lets You Steal This Blog

Google introduced Gmail back in 2004 and it has changed the way people use email.  Gmail offers more space, a new way of following conversations, filters and many other little features that make it a great experience.  You may not use it if you have had an older Hotmail or Yahoo account and you just didn’t want to deal with the stress of switching.  No longer is that an excuse.  For all new Gmail accounts created (existing accounts are slowly being enabled for this feature), there is an option to import your contacts and email from AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo.  After creating a new Gmail account, you’ll be presented with the option to import your contacts and email from an old account.  It will even let you continue importing email for the next 30 days while you tell your contacts you’ve finally made the switch. If you’re already using Gmail and trying to convince anybody to make the switch, it should be fairly easy to do so now.

I think we have mentioned Google Sketchup before but I wanted to go into a little more depth about the product.  If you are moving into a new apartment or home, Google Sketchup will help you build a room with a 3D model so you can see how thing are going to fit.  I have tried 3D building software before and none of them were very useful or easy to use.  But with about 2 hours of messing around I was able to actually put together a product I had intended to draw on a napkin and it didn’t turn out too bad.  Head over to http://sketchup.google.com/ to download your free 3D software.  If you build a model it can be read by the normal AutoCad, and also AutoCad can be imported into Google’s product, so they have figured out how to make it compatible as well!  Below are some screen shots of it in action.   You have the option when you first open the program to use it to design a product, part, or a room, so it sets the measurements necessary for wha...

If you need to convert any video file so you can use it on your phone or your AppleTV, I found this program that will make it very easy to do that. EncodeHD will take your video files and convert them to any device that you can think of. It’s as simple as downloading the program (which is only for Windows and is free), selecting your device and then dragging your video files into the window. This is a great solution for the for people with Blackberrys, iPhones, and Set Top Boxes. Check it out here and let us know if you have any other pieces of software that you would recommend.

I found this particularly useful over the last couple days.  I never knew there was anything out there like this.  I am creating a slideshow for my wedding and of course the largest collection of pictures of myself and Kristyn is on Facebook. It was extremely tedious right clicking and saving each individual picture.   So I came across this little program that allows you to download a full album with the installation of FacePad .  You can use it for Flickr or Facebook.  This is actually an extension for Firefox that allows you to this.  An extension is basically an program that works in conjunction with Firefox.  There are many very well created extensions as well as add-ons that we will highlight in the coming weeks.  Both Praz and I have found some neat tricks to tinker with Firefox to make your web browsing experience much easier, or customized to your liking.  If you have any questions feel free to hit us up on the twitter ( twitte...

Have a great weekend fellow nerds. Here is some stuff to keep you busy today. Boxee Founder Avner Ronen on the Future of Your Living Room Minnesota tells ISPs to block gambling sites Five Best Free Data Recovery Tools Two Free Apps To Sync ANY MP3 Player with iTunes The 2009 Kentucky Derby Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable' Six things I learned from losing my iPhone 3G A 10 Step Outline Of Our Financial Plan GradeGuru: Collaborative Note Sharing for College Students Fukitorimushi cleaning bot is just like a pet -- only cleaner, quieter, better behaved, and more pillow-shaped Oregon Man Used an Electric Dog Collar to Shock His Kids "Because He Thought It Was Funny" Bargain hunters make Vizio LCDs most popular in US -- for now Gary Vaynerchuk: 12 Wines for Under $12 Youmail - Cell phone voicemail tha saves you time

We’re curious what primary operating system you all use. Please vote and leave any comments below. What Operating System do you run? ( answers )

If you ever have your Google account compromised you’ll be glad you listened to the information in this post.  When someone gains access to your Google account and Google notices it, they will immediately disable the account.  When you try logging in again to your Gmail for example, you won’t be able to.  You have to fill out a form and Google will look into the problem and you may never be given access to your files again. This happened to my brother and it can be a huge hassle.  There is a way to makes this process very easy and pain-free. The trick to getting access to your Google account again is having at least one backup email in your account settings.  This allows Google to email one of those accounts and give you access to your Google account.  To do this, follow these steps: Click here to visit the Google Account Settings.  Log in if you need to. On the right hand side you’ll see E-mail addresses. Click Edit. Nea...

Have you ever wondered why the text messages on your phone are limited to 160 characters?  Well you can thank German fellow Friedhelm Hillebrand. He is considered the father of the text message according to the LA Times.  He invented these blimps of messages to inform workers on a jobsite big things going on back at the homebase/office.  He determined the average postcard mailed out had only 150 characters so he decided to make it 160 because people were already used to this amount of characters.  This length meant that business people could adapt easily because the majority of emails we send out in the office are no longer than 160 characters anyway.  Imagine if  we were all limited to 160 characters and you had to get your point across.  Business emails would be much more concise and in all likelihood more business would take place and less BS.  I say we make a limit to business emails longer than 160, and make everyone to learn our Generatio...

It’s May and I just may, go down to the bay and lay in some hay. Here’s the best of the week. Feel free to leave any sites of interest in the comments. How to make delicious coffee liqueur Five Best Malware Removal Tools Push a Coin Through a Table Peering into North Korea BillMonk keeps track of your money and stuff so you don't have to. The LAN Warrior Is Easily the Dorkiest PC We've Seen This Week Keep Your Grocery Bill Low by Avoiding These Marketing Tricks Ten Things I Wish I Had Done When I Was Twenty Laptop Burglar Caught After Owner Mocks Him Remotely Watch My Furniture Truck Get Decapitated By a Bridge New in Labs: Google Search right in Gmail Packwhiz - Packing List Generator