Happy New Years Eve!

Be safe and have a great night.  We will have some exciting new features next year and can’t wait to get them out.  We’ll see you on Monday!

 

Here is a Random Link for the New Year.

Backup Your DVDs

I spent way too much money a few years ago buying DVDs. It was a waste of money and I recently tried to recuperate some of that cost by selling them back to a local store (I unfortunately got about $1/DVD).  But first, I backed up my entire DVD collection to a hard drive on my computer in a two-step process.  I would first rip the DVD to the hard drive and then I would convert that to a smaller AVI file.  It was kind of a pain to do it, but now there is a program that can do this process in 1 click.  It really is now that easy and if you’re worried about losing your favorite movie or just want to try and sell some DVDs on Amazon or at a garage sale, check out this guide. [Via MakeUseOf]

UAW, The Automakers and the Bailout

This post will have a little different flavor, but it is something important I think, and I really hope to get our readers perspective on this. 

Now that the democratic vote on bailing out the Big 3 automakers has failed, and we have successfully set aside the democratic process to enact the bailout anyway, the dust and discussion has settled a bit on the debate (at least for the time being) I wanted to weigh in on what I would argue to be an unfair amount of blame and criticism that has been laid at the feet of the UAW.

Before we begin, I think we need to be clear about the role of the union. From its website and the preamble to the UAW constitution

“Essential to the UAW's purpose is to afford the opportunity for workers to master their work environment; to achieve not only improvement in their economic status but, of equal importance, to gain from their labors a greater measure of dignity, of self- fulfillment and self-worth. “

The UAW's mission is to represent it's workers. It is not the job of the UAW to keep GM fiscally solvent. It is not the mission of the UAW to protect bond/shareholders. It is not the UAW's job to serve the interest of the US taxpayer. Its constituency is the workers that form the union, and it's only accountable to them, and the laws of the United States.

It is management's job to protect bondholders, and it is management's job to return value to equity holders. While the interests of management and the union can and often do intersect, and of course the long term survival of the industry is very very relevant to the health of the union, to blame the union for many of the problems that face the US automakers is not only unfair, but it shifts blame away from where the collapse of this critical domestic industry truly lies.

Things that are not the UAWs fault

1. A manic obsession with producing Trucks and SUVs

2. A manufacturing model that is dependent on $2.50/gal gas

3. A narrow, narrow political lobbying focus that is dedicated to preserving the status quo vs. preparing for the future

4. Existing in one of the few developed economies where the cost of healthcare falls squarely on industry and workers.

5. Having headquarters and manufacturing facilities in established northern states, where they pay taxes and play a key role in the tax base v. being built in southern states and benefit from incredible costly tax breaks where the tax base is reliant more on federal aid than a true tax upon the economic producers in the economy,

6. Existing in a poltico-economic system that values and protects the equity owning capital-class more than the labor supplying working class.

Now there is a lot wrong with the UAW and unions in general. Too much rent seeeking, unreasonable perks such as a the jobs bank, but these are all things that can, should and will be resolved though the established collective bargaining process. The UAW has its cosmetic flaws, but the fundamental flaws in the system lie well outside it's sphere of influence and its mission statement.

Finally they hypocrisy of our elected officials is angering. Throughout election season, everyone, left, right, center and upside down, pays homage to “the working man,” to the need to provide security, healthcare, a decent wage and a chance to “get ahead,” but when the vote casting is done, how quickly we throw an organization who is work for just those goals under the bus. 

I am not saying that the UAW is blameless, nor am I saying that unions are always a good thing, or always the answer. And of course concessions and structural changes need to be made to all parties involved (including congress) but the truth is that the blame cannot and should not be squarely laid at the feet of our workers.

I know this topic can be a bit controversial, and a lot of people have a lot of strong and smart opinions.  Please share in the comments. 

Hacking Santa

For all of those who get nervous about when Santa is going to arrive, or whether or not he can find you at Grandma’s house.  Don’t worry, the Gov’t is here to help. The great people at NORAD (the same people who track and protect us from Nuclear Missiles) runs a global Santa Tracking Network. 

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

As of this posting, Santa was currently delivering Joy, Peace and Blackberry Storms to Brunei.

Word is that part of Obama’s stimulus package will be extending the tracker to both the Great Pumpkin and the Festivus Merekat.  

 

Merry Christmas from Student Nerds!

Quick Tip: Secure Your Wireless Network

Throughout the rest of the week, we will be posting a quick tip that may help you with your computer needs. Today’s tip is to secure your wireless network.  Here is a great guide to help you do it. [Via PracticallyNetworked.com]

For the Love of Tech

If you read this blog, it won't come as a surprise to you that we here at Student Nerds love technology. We love how it changes lives and connects people, There's an innate “gadget” factor that I think we all buy-into, finding new devices that do old things better, as well as new things for the first time.

But Tech is more than just processors and touchscreens, uploading photo and gigabytes. Tech is a way of thinking, it is believing that if an old way of thinking doesn't work, or did, but doesn't anymore, then it's part of what makes us people to try and find a way that does.

Our country is faced with unparalleled challenges and pain, there's a fear out there that can be felt in many, and a sense of confusion and apprehension that can be felt by all.

We are not going to grow out of this by doing things the same way. The trust that we put into our regulators to monitor the financial services industry has been shown to be sorely misplaced. The refusal of Detroit to operate in any way but business as usual is frustrating. The fact is that those parts of our economy that we consider to be cornerstones have proven to be the weakest. It's a crisis of trust, and respect and of our priorities as Americans and people.

I'm not suggesting that iPhones and blackberrys are replacements for financial services and heavy manufacturing. Nor do I think that we can necessary invent our way of of this with nifty gadgets and toys.

But what I do believe is that it is a tech way of thinking that will allow us to build ourselves back up again. We need new ways to manageable our financial resources, and we can and will make the best cars again one day, cars that people get as excited over as they do their iPhones. And the future will look different than the past. It will need new skills and new talents, but fresh thinking and creative, innovative and inspiring people, armed with a Tech way of thinking can lead us into that future.

As scary as this time is, it's also exciting. I've referenced Joseph Schumpter in this blog before, and I will do again, as he talks about the forces of creative destruction. Only by tearing down the structures and processes of the old way of doing things, will the necessary will and energy be expended finding and inventing new ways. I think we all can agree that we've been through a uniquely destructive run over this past year. We've fallen off a pretty high tightrope that we were walking, but we're going to climb higher, and I'm excited to see the view.

Replace your iTunes with Songbird!

So last night I was reading about Songbird which is a program powered by Mozilla (Makers of the popular Firefox browser).  Songbird is an open source music management program to compete with iTunes. In fact it looks just like it, brushed metal and all. 

But here’s the kicker, you can not only browse the internet within the program, but you can have all these add-ons just like Firefox.  An add-on can enhance your experience while using the program.  It is very simple to figure out how to get the add-ons.  Install the program, and on the left side where you would see your iTunes library there is a Songbird – add-ons playlist.  Below are my favorite add-ons:

SeeqPod – This is by far my favorite, you just search for your favorite artist/album/song and it populates a list, and then you can right click on it and  play the song, or download it.  What this add-on does is search around the internet where someone has posted the full song, if it doesn’t show up right away give it a little time because it is crawling the internet for your request.

Skreemr – This plugin uses the popular skreemr.com website for its search.  The reason I love using SeeqPod and Skreemr within Songbird is because typically if you download a song from this site you need to save it to your music folder, then go into iTunes and add it to your library manually.  This gives you a way to download it and have it show up immediately in your library. 

SHOUTcast – This is pretty cool for internet radio, you can choose the station, and the bit rate (quality), unfortunately you are at the mercy of what they are playing.

Last.fm – An add-on that I haven’t quite figured out exactly what it does, but I have been using the browser within Songbird to use the last.fm radio. 

Media Flow – This is to mimic the cover flow from Apple.

Lyric Master – if you ever wanted to know exactly what Juvenile was staying in any of his songs, feel free to find out now.  Beware, he’s not exactly the most creative artist out there. 

Themes – There are ton’s you can make it look exactly like iTunes if that's your preference.  I’m using Yabs; its a black theme.  It is by far my favorite.

And to answer the most important question YES it works with your iPod!  Clearly they are trying to make it work with the masses.

Give Google Docs a Try

Google is always coming up with something really cool to use.  From Gmail and Adsense, to SketchUp and Google Docs.  Today I’m going to show you more about Google Docs and why I think it is such a wonderful way to do work.

I started using Google Docs almost right when it was released back in 2006.  Since it’s initial release, the Google Docs team has steadily improved their products and for basic use, I could recommend using it for a full Office program.  Documents, spreadsheets and presentations can all be created with the suite.

There are two main benefits of Google Docs (at least as I see it) are:

1. The ability to access your documents on any machine with internet access.  You don’t have to worry about having the right software installed; you only need to have a fairly recent browser. (The Student Nerds recommend Firefox)
2. Collaboration. You can invite others to view and/or edit any of your Google Documents. This is great for working on projects because you can actually edit the same document at the same time from anywhere in the world.  When more than one person is editing the same document, a little chat window even opens up and allows you to converse with everybody.

The Student Nerds team currently uses Google Docs to keep track of ideas for this blog and also to keep track of long term goals for our company.  It helps us work together and keep track of everything in remote locations.

Check out Google Docs right now!

Dell Mini 9 – Netbook Review

I recently purchased a new Netbook, while there are a number on the market from Asus and Lenovo. I chose to good with the Dell Inspirion Mini-9. I chose the Window XP version configured here.

The reason I decided to go with the Netbook was two fold. First, and probably most important was price. As configured, and with discounts and coupons found my Netbook cost me $350 pretax. That's cheaper than my newly purchased Kindle (reviewed here) and about the same as an unsubsidized Blackberry Storm. To get the (close to) the functionality of a full laptop, at that price point, is very compelling.

The second reason, and by far the more interesting one, is just how functional this device can be with its limited resources. With open source and web based software become better, cheaper and more user friendly, the need for big, powerful and costly devices is rapidly diminishing. For instance, right now, I am drafting this post on OpenOffice.org's Writer software (I uninstalled the pre-loaded MS Works applications as soon as I booted up). I will be posting it to our blog via Microsofts's Live Writer Beta, and I am listening to old Zac Brown Band music via a Last.Fm feed. All of these applications are available free on the net and the user experience is equal to or better than other closed or commercial apps that I have used.

The available software doesn't stop there, after learning that I had purchased a Netbook, Prassel sent over a link to a GigaOm post with half a dozen excellent ( and free) software tools for optimizing a Windows XP Netbook.

The device certainly does sacrifice some features and functionality for size. The battery gets about 3 hours, a little less with everything running and connected to the internet. With the pre-loaded software from Dell, the Hard Drive has about 14GM of free memory, plenty for documents and some music, but far too little for most people full libraries, and it's only about 2x's the free space you get with a Gmail account. This is only a minor problem however as there are tons off great online storage tools available. The device even comes pre-loaded with some free trials. We have a review of our favorite, Dropbox here.

The keyboard does take some getting used to; my hands are feeling cramped typing this post, and navigating around applications and Windows without a mouse (a favorite bragging right of heavy excel users) is very difficult. However I'm finding that my keystroke accuracy and typing speed are already improving after just a few days working on the device.

One final drawback to the Netbook is the net itself. Our wireless Internet went down the other day and I found the functionality and usefulness of the computer severely limited. Without my online storage, or Last.FM I couldn't play music, without Hulu or Youtube there was no online video, and it's hardly the kind of machine that you can play games on. It was pretty much just a spreadsheet and a word processor until we got the internet back up and running.

All in all, I have been very pleased with the Dell Mini as a net focused computer. For users looking for a quick and easy tool for internet access, simple and short document creation, small and convenient and especially for those who have access to another, standard computer, this is a great device for you.

*Update – More Pics!

Finding the Perfect Holiday Tech Deals

Shopping during the holidays can be a real pain. I can't stand crowded malls, so I prefer to do as much shopping online as I can. I have found many great sites over the years and I'm going to share them along with some of my tips for having a painless holiday shopping experience.

First, I'm going to share with some of my favorite sites that I frequent when shopping.

Amazon - It's amazing what started as an online bookstore is now a place I can buy a Nintendo Wii and toilet paper at the same time. I shop for TVs, audio equipment and cologne here. I also prefer Amazon's MP3 download store to iTunes as Amazon does not have any DRM in their files and the album artwork is already embedded in the files.

Newegg - I use Newegg for almost all of my computer equipment. I have built many wish lists for different projects that I would like to tackle someday. Newegg does a wonderful job with customer service and they always seem to have the best prices. Always check here if you are looking for computer products. Added plus is you don't have to pay tax.

Monoprice - If you need to get any type of cable for any type of installation, Monoprice.com is your friend. Retail stores like Best Buy make a lot of their money on accessories and installations. A $40 HDMI cable at Best Buy will cost about $4 at Monoprice. The great thing is now that more connections are digital, the cable quality isn't important like it used to be (unless you are doing a really long run).

Here is a list of websites that I'll go to find some really great daily deals:

Techbargains FatWallet Slickdeals

I've also got one other website and tip for finding that hard to find gift. It's unbelievable that it can still be difficult to find a Nintendo Wii two years after it came out. It's crazy that Nintendo can't keep up or chooses not to keep up with production. Anyway, I've got a good system for finding gifts like this. I first go to NowInStock.net and see if they are following any of the products I am looking for. In this case, I chose a Wii. I then subscribed to the alerts and I got an email any time a Wii was in stock. I then set up a filter in my Gmail to forward all of those emails to my phone as a text message. This keeps me on top of when a Wii is in stock and I can then buy it. I was looking for a Wii this past week and I got a text message at 2am on Saturday after getting home from a night out. I was able to purchase the Wii before going to bed and it was out of stock when I woke up. If you really need to find a hard to find gift and need help setting something like this up, Twitter me.

Hopefully you'll be able to find some helpful hints in this post to make your holiday less stressful.

Agency The Firm and Lobbying

I was reading this post from Roger Ehrenberg.  Normally I agree with pretty much agree, or at least am educated with everything Roger says, but in this instance I think that he misses the point. 

Rogers complains that “bankrupt companies are spending millions on influencing key policy-makers while their destiny hangs in the balance, something is terribly wrong.”

While I don’t disagree that this is a moral issues, I question where the blame lies, should we be pointing the finger at Firms?

The courts and (ironically) legislators themselves have decided that political donations are a form of protected free speech, further, it is the fiduciary duty of every board of directors to act in the best interest of their shareholder.  Bankruptcy (in theory, perhaps not in practice) is clearly the worst possible result for equity holders.  As such, corporations are obligated to attempt to influence politicians in whatever legal way available.

Our government has clearly set a precedent that if you create enough of a sense of panic, or if your oligopolistic actions have made you enough of a risk to the world economy then you will be bailed out.  Not in a fiscally responsible way, a way that maximizes value for the “investors” (taxpayers), but rather by direct equity lifelines for irresponsible companies. 

If the money is out there, these corporation are obligated to seek it.  I think too often our national obsession with the “free market” ascribes a certain Agency to Firms, the ability to do good and evil, to know right and wrong, to behave benevolently or maliciously.  In truth firms are not agents, they do not have agency or will, they cannot be good or evil.  They are bound by a single purpose, to maximize wealth.  It is incumbent upon us, people, democratic actors to create controlled market environment where we align the interests of shareholder with those of society.  So don’t blame the abstract idea of the Firm Roger, cause in fact, blame lies a lot close to home. 

Bulletproof Job During the Recession

Well as most of you may already know we at Student Nerds are looking for a programmer to complete what we feel will make our site a successful venture.  The tricky part about starting a website is finding the right people to help you get your product to market quickly and effectively.  Recently (in the last two weeks) we have been searching for a PHP/Facebook API  specialist and we got a quote which I felt was a little ridiculous for the amount of work. 

Now, we aren’t completely incapable of doing this ourselves. We have basic knowledge of programming and Praz can program on his own, but is not as effective as someone who can do it full time.  So we reached out to someone on the Facebook developer site, and got a quote of $4,500. This guy was the novice compared to the other guy we messaged.  This is a college kid who wants to charge that amount of money, and my guess is he has people beating down his door for that price, during a Recession!  If a college kid can make $4500 in a job that could be completed in under a month, then why aren’t there more colleges/companies teaching the skills necessary.  If I were unemployed and looking for somewhere to focus my energy I would spend 100% of my time learning the programming languages that big companies seek out.  This is something that is widely published on the web and you can even take online tutorials to teach yourself and it cost’s nothing more than an internet connection and a computer.  Below are a couple sites that can get you started if you want to start learning now.

PHP Information

Java Script Information

Facebook Connect

What’s a Twitter?

Twitter, the short message, micro-blogging website, is loved and hated, but mostly misunderstood I think. I love to use twitter to talk to, keep in touch and learn more about my friends, but to be honest, of my close friends on twitter, I have all their email addresses, most of them I spam on Blackberry Messenger and I know I could Facebook message anyone of them. If worst came to worst, I’m sure I could pick up a phone and actually call them. So as a communication tool for keeping in touch with your friends, Twitter is by no means indispensable.

But Twitter is more than messaging, I frequently learn where my friends are, what they are doing, how hungover they are and so on. But again, with most of them, I’d learn anything notable anyway when we got together next. Now maybe their chicken dinner on Tuesday wouldn’t come up, or maybe I wouldn’t know how bored they are on Wednesday, but they’d probably share the story about their office closing early due to too much drinking at the company party, or they might send me a funny link via email instead. So while I utilize twitter as somewhat of a tracking device on my friends, again really, I don’t think that’s where I get the most value from my Twitter Feeds.

Twitter, its true value and its future is to me, Stocktwits. Stocktwits is a community base service built on top of the Twitter platform. As with most great ideas, the fundamentals are simple and elegant. Basically Stocktwits monitors the Twitter-verse and scans for Twitters (I know they are called tweets but I hate that word) that have a $XYZ (where XYZ is a ticker symbol, e.g. $F, $SPY, $LEH (uhhhh?) ) or a “$ $” for posts about the economy in general and aggregates these twitters into one site. Now I’m not a trader, but I try to follow the economy closely and what’s amazing about stocktwits is that it provides instantaneous access to the true zeitgeist. It’s better than watching CNBC or FBN, or even Bloomberg, because it taps directly into what people are trading, doing, thinking and so on. I’ll probably never make an investment directly off a stocktwit meme, but I know that I understand the markets and investing better for following it and that knew knowledge impacts every financial move I can make.

Stocktwits is more than a gauge of opinion, it’s a community, and that’s where it’s integration with Twitter really pays off. I’m a passive stocktwits user, I’ve made a few observations, but most of the time I spend listening, I’ve listened to some really smart people, and some really dumb people, I like listening to both, but the smart people I typically begin to follow off stocktwits, people like Howard Lindzon, Soren Macbeth, David Buffalo, Eric Bolling, Dasan, and InfoArbitrage. Reading these guys twitters is better than reading their blogs, because twitter is a conversation, to follow the back and forths of smart, engaging and amusing people is part of the whole conversational aspect of the internet that is so key to its value. It’s with this service and with these guys that I get the true indispensable value out of Twitter.

There are other services similar to stocktwits, some that I am aware of, like @LOTD for music, and many others that I’m sure I’m not, but I think that these services are the key for the health growth and expansion of twitter. And if you’re a casual or reluctant twitter user, I encourage you to go out and find a community, I think that it opens doors on to the value of the service that are really neat.

Oh and if you’re looking for people to follow, give us a shout out at @awatterson, @mklear, @michaelprassel @studentnerds and let us know you’re out there.

Has Facebook’s Ship Sailed?

I’m not suggesting that Facebook is going anywhere, too many users, too stable and all that. But what I do find strange is that despite emerging in one of the biggest tech cycles since well…the last huge tech cycle, Facebook as of yet has not been able  to figure out how to monetize itself effectively.

If this downturn lasts until 2010, like some people are saying, advertising budgets will certainly be slashed, even if popular opinion hold that they will be up or at least flat in 2009. In 2010, Facebook will turn 6, that’s pretty old to still need to figure out how to make money (people are already giving Twitter a ton of crap, and it’s barely a year old. Further, with the money, resources and personnel that Facebook currently has at its disposal, their lack of success is even more troublesome. I remarked to Klear the other day that Facebook is the new Yahoo!,   and while I was joking, I could see it happening, there are many parallels, between the quality of the staff, the amount of resources, the wunderkind Founder-CEO and so forth.

Facebook is certainly trying, and maybe FB Connect is what’s going to do it for them. I don’t know. But if I was a Facebook investor, I’d certainly take pause to ask myself some hard questions.

Organize Your Digital Photos

Keeping your digital photographs organized can really help you along with helping your family and friends.   I started using Picasa a few years ago and Google just recently released Version 3 of the software.  Today I’m going to show you how I use Picasa to organize my pictures and also use it to share with Facebook.

The first thing you should do is have just one folder where you store all of your photos. This isn’t a necessity, but it makes it much easier to backup your pictures which you should be doing. I personally have a subfolder for each year then have another subfolder with the date and the name of the event.  My folder structure looks like this:

E:\Pictures\2008\(12-9) Weekly Blog Post

Once you have that setup, go and get Picasa (Windows & Linux only).  After installing Picasa you can have it scan your computer for your pictures or you have the opportunity to choose a folder manually.  Now that all of your pictures are loaded in Picasa, you can go through and do some manual fixes such as redeye and color balance. You can also Star your favorite photos for easy viewing in the future. The other great thing that I use Picasa for is sharing my photos to Facebook.  After setting Picasa up, you can then go get the Picasa Uploader.  This allows you to create a Facebook album and upload only the pictures you want to it.  It will automatically resize the photos for you and it makes it extremely easy to share your photos.  I should note that I do not use a Mac and have not tried iPhoto.

*Note: I can only attest to how great Picasa is. I am aware of a plugin for iPhoto that allows you to upload to Facebook in the same manner as I mentioned above.

We Didn’t Start the Fire

I recently got a Kindle,  and apparently I was lucky to do so, as Amazon is reporting that they are sold out of version 1 of the device until after Christmas. I think this speaks both to the popularity of the devices (a good thing for Amazon) as well as the failure of Amazon to get Version 2 of the device ready for the holiday season (a very bad thing)

Overall I have a very favorable impression of the device. I have subscribed to the New York Times and Atlantic Monthly on it, neither of which I read on a regular basis on paper. I have also purchased a book as well. I have read the NYT’s regularly, but have only sporadically touched on then book, more a statement on being busy at work, rather than the quality of the book or Kindle experience.

Before the kindle I was very skeptical of e-books and e-reading in general. Obviously the convenience was appealing, but the loss of the tactile and ergonomic sensations of books was to big a deal breaker for me. The Kindle has changed that for me.

One of the most appealing features, and certainly the most revolutionary feature is the use of e-Ink and e-Paper in the device. e-Ink is developed by a Boston-Based start up E Ink Inc and is intended to revolutionize the e-reading experience. Rather than displaying words on a back like screen, the eInk devices actually “prints” words on a page, using the e-Ink. While this was hard for me to internalize as a concept, the effects are amazing. It’s difficult to describe, but you really feel as if you are reading of a page of paper.

From a construction stand point, the Kindle behaves very much like a book, in that I frequently find myself holding as I would a leather and paper edition. And although V2 is supposed to be smaller, the size is very manageable. I recently read the Times on a 3 hour flight from Chicago to Boston (MUCH MUCH easier than dealing with the paper edition on a plane.), and never once felt the need to put the device down, or felt any discomfort in my hand.

The Kindle uses a wireless connection (free) called Whispernet, which functions over Sprint’s EG EVOD network. The connection has worked wonderfully for me in the areas I have tried it in (Boston, Chicago, Columbus OH). The book I purchased (roughly 300 pages) downloaded in less than a minute and the NYTs updates each morning nearly instantly.

Battery life so far has been wonderful, I charged the device once when I got it last Sunday and it is still at full strength as of Thursday, although I have kept Whispernet   off for most of that time.

As far as negatives, my biggest complaint, and one that is supposed to be addressed with V2 of the device, is placement of the page turning buttons, as it is, it is far to easy to accidentally turn pages, very frustrating, especially with the noticeable fraction of a second it take for the Kindle to “print” a page.

My only other feedback is that the Kindle doesn’t seem to use it’s wireless connectivity to it fullest extent. While the allows access to Wikipedia and an online dictionary is helpful. I would really love the ability to email articles to myself or others. Further I really wish that the blogs that it allows access too (dozens) were free. Although the $1.99 price tag on many is very reasonable, I can’t see myself paying for a media that so clearly should be free, I understand Amazon’s desire to offset the cost of utilizing the network and printing the blogs in e-Ink, but I feel slightly nickel and dimed, being asked to pay for The Huffington Post.

To be fair, I have pretty much only scratched the surface of the Kindle’s capabilities, I have not uploaded documents and have only made limited use of the annotating and bookmarking feature. There are now full length supplements that document all the off-the-book features as well. But all in all, for readers, travelers and travelers who read, I can enthusiastically state that you should all be reading on a Kindle. I am.

Free Programs!

At Student Nerds we have started compiling a list of on going free software because we believe open source can be much more powerful than closed source because it is constantly being upgraded and fixed.  There will always be the need for closed source programs for software companies to profit on, but just think about the amount of money companies that rely on Microsoft spend on their products that could be replaced by free software. 

Just humor me here, these are the programs that came installed on my company computer when I received my laptop:

Microsoft Vista - $199.95 per computer vs. Open Source (Ubuntu)

Microsoft Office - $149. 95 (Holiday Sale - $69.95) vs. Open Source (Open Office) and Gmail

ACT contact manager -$229.99 (Sale - $199.99) vs. Open Source (Gmail)

Microsoft Mappoint - $260.99 vs. Open Source (Google Maps) or (Mapquest)

Total Savings for 1 computer = $840.88 (this is not using the sale prices).  If you assume around 10 sales people per organization on the conservative side you would be saving $8,408.80 for the company, simply by switching to open source products that are just as powerful and easy to learn.  Here is a great list compiled by Lifehacker.

Blackberry Voice Recogition

A couple weeks ago, I was heading to Iowa City. A new Blackberry owner, I couldn’t resist Google Chatting on the drive there. Since I don’t typically enjoy putting hundreds of other drivers’ and my lives at risk, the idea of voice-recognition on the Blackberry naturally came to mind.

A quick Google search later (by the way, check out http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/) and I had come across vlingo 2.0, an application for the Blackberry. Essentially, it takes over the already included voice-dialing operation for the phone, but expands it to include voice: text messaging, emailing, googling/yahooing, and a bunch of other  commands I haven’t gotten around to learning.

This thing rocks. I say “message Mike Klear message hang on a couple more days and I’ll write that column” and it produces it within seconds. Usually on a message of that many words there will be one or two I have to go back to and correct, but the corrections aren’t manual: scroll to the word and it suggests 2-3 other things it may have been. In almost all cases, the correct word was its second guess. And it almost always gets the name of the person perfectly, even complicated stuff like my sister, Anjali Sharma.

It isn’t perfect, but it’s definitely worth a try. The field of voice recognition has made significant strides since my dad, too lazy to learn how to properly type, bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking 5.0 some 7 years ago. Even through his thick ac cent, even several years ago, the software worked pretty well. Now in its 10 ^th generation, I tried using it a couple months ago and it’s perfect. It’ll never replace typing for me, but I see voice recognition as possibly the way of the future.

As a radiologist in training (well, in another year or two, anyways), I’ll be reliant on voice-recognition software for the rest of my life to dictate every exam on every patient I see. Almost all radiology departments in all hospitals have transferred over already or are doing so at the moment. Northwestern Memorial Hospital (the richest hospital in the world), just switched over last summer.

Voice recognition will never replace typing, mostly because people don’t speak the way they write. They say one of the most difficult things about becoming a radiologist is forming sentences before you speak and articulating them without pause. And I don’t think talking is necessarily faster than typing, despite what those software programs may say.

But for quick messaging back and forth, especially given the increasing ubiquity of these ridiculously powerful cell phones and foreseeable full-integration with cars, headsets, and computers via Bluetooth, this technology is great. In the interest of full disclosure I will note that vlingo doesn’t work with Gchat, but I can’t see that it won’t in the near future… Give it a whirl.

Backup, Sync & Share

I’ve written about backing up important files before. I think it’s a very important thing to do because it’s one of the worst things to have to deal with. I just recently had been turned on to Dropbox. Dropbox is a great program that runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Today, I’m going to show you how to use it.

First you need to download the software. During the installation you will create your free account that gives you 2gb of storage (You can upgrade for more room at a cost). Once you have the software installed, you will have a folder on your desktop that you will be able to store your important documents. The great part of Dropbox is you can install the software on many computers and keep all the files in your Dropbox folder synced with all of the computers that you use. I personally use it to keep spreadsheets that I build at work available at home for me to edit. Another bonus for Dropbox is that there is a public folder where you can put files and then share a link with your friends to download any of the files you put in there. If you would like to learn more about the software, watch the video below.

Blackberry vs. iPhone Reliability

I love my blackberry, I could gush endlessly about it.  And I know people out there free the same way about their iPhones. 

There are pluses and minuses to both to be sure, but this report from SquareTrade Inc, an electronics warranty company surprised me.  SquareTrade found that Blackberrys fail at nearly twice the rate of iPhones (11.9% to 5.6%. Treo of course failed at over a 16% rate – Palm sucks)

Anyway, what I found surprising was not the Apple device’s low fail rate, but the blackberry’s relatively high rate. I have had great luck with my RIMM phone(s), the only real failure came from a screen cracking when I hurled it against a wall (probably the 20^th time I had done that my friends will remember), so I can hardly consider this a relevant data point.

I can think of a couple reasons for this disparity, one of course being that the iPhone data is a projection based upon a model that SquareTrade has built. But I don’t want to get into that here.

What I’d like to do is survey the audience. So if you own a ‘Berry or an iPhone (or even a Treo), let us know in the comments how you’ve found the reliability, and if you are one of the lucky people to own more than one of these devices, we’d love to hear how they compare.

Music of the Week

I don’t have a real good grasp on all of these CD’s quite yet, but the best music I listened to last week was:

Common – Universal Mind Control – this is the only song I have heard on the CD but if you like hip-hop like Atmosphere and Blackalicious, then I think you will find this song very likeable. (Amazon – iTunes)

Kanye West – Heartless – Most of this CD sounds exactly the same, but there are a few good songs.  I must say its not his best work but its still listenable. (Amazon – iTunes)

The Killers (Day & Age entire CD) – haven’t listened to this cd extensively quite yet, but on initial listen seemed like a very well put together album if anyone else disagrees please comment. (Amazon – iTunes)

Ludacris feat T-Pain (One more drink) – if you haven’t seen this music video I recommend you take the time it watch.  Its  pretty entertaining. WATCH NOW! (Amazon – iTunes)

The last song by Ludacris is courtesy of Jam of the week on MTVJ.  This is pretty much how I find every popular rap song, and how I keep up with the music they are going to play in the bars before the weekend starts.  I dare you to try it.  Listen to the Jam of the week then go out on Friday and Saturday and I can almost guarantee if not that week, but the next week it will be played at least 25 times over the course of 1 night.  Typically MTVJ’s will be playing non stop at my buddy Kevin’s house while we are pre-partying with some Beirut/Beer pong (name depending on where you are in the country). It is definitely a good way to start off the night.

Infrastructure Infrastructure Infrastructure

Robert Reich is a very smart man.  I have enjoyed and learned a lot from reading his blog. 

While this post is packed with insightful and interesting analysis, I think that his focus on the infrastructure aspect of Obama’s “Economic Recovery Plan” is especially pertinent. 

The American Society of Civil Engineers believes that $1.6 Trillion in infrastructure  investment is necessary to bring our infrastructure to a GOOD level.  The key implication there is that we currently have a BAD or at least non-good infrastructure.  This is very disturbing.  Especially since not $0.01 of the $700 billion TARP investment, or of the $25bn Auto bailout is going to investment, but just to maintain the status quo.  Now this is not necessarily an indictment of either of these programs, that can be done elsewhere.  But if it isn’t clear that we are faced with a fundamental structural crisis, then it should be. 

I think we would all prefer to see the private sector spearhead most of the necessary intervention.  Even liberals prefer private investment over public (if only to free gov’t up for other pursuits). But I think it is clear that the private sector is unwilling and, certainly in the short term, unable to make this investment.  This problem did not emerge overnight.  Eventually we will need to find a way to incentivize our private sector to tackling long term problems, but that time is not not, the need is too pressing to experiment. 

The question of whether the government needs to make this investment would seem to answer itself.  The key task for Obama will be how to spend this money.  Roads, Bridges, Mass Transit and clean water will be high on the list of course, but we need to do more than just patch up a 20th century system, we need to finally enter the 21st, and start preparing for the 22nd.  Universal Broadband, wireless networks, laptop initiatives, clean industry and sustainable models of living should all be on this list as well.  I think its critical that Obama view our current situation both as a challenge to overcome, but also an opportunity to grab. 

Pimp Out Your Gmail

Google continually pushes out new and useful features for Gmail. Some of these features are a little gimmicky, but some are very helpful.  I’m going to show you some of my favorite ones and also how to enable them.

To get started, you need to be using a recent internet browser.  The Student Nerds team recommends Firefox, but Internet Explorer 7 should be fine too.  If you are using Internet Explorer 6, you should upgrade, but if you can’t, make sure you have all the updates installed as some of these tips may not work.

First, log in to your Gmail account and look for a green flask in the upper right part of your screen.  If it isn’t there, click Settings and then Labs.  There are plenty of options to choose from, but here are the ones that I use:

Pictures in chat Custom keyboard shortcuts Mouse Gestures Signature Tweaks Muzzle Right-side chat Default ‘Reply to all’ Quote Selected text Navbar drag and drop Forgotten Attachment Detector Mark as Read button Go to label Google Calendar gadget Google Docs gadget

Google also just enabled 30 themes to choose from. You should see the themes option in the Settings page under the Themes tab. I’m currently using Shiny.  Google is constantly updating Gmail to make it better and better. Now they if they could only add HTML signatures.

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