Be Nice, Give Some Rice... FOR FREE!

Free Rice is a new website that started out in early October which allows people to pretty much donate rice in a click of a button.


The unique thing about this though is it is somewhat of a game. They give you a word and you must choose from four answers on what the word means.
In less than 2 minutes I had already donated 100 grains of rice to the hungry. This may seem like a small amount, but together we can feed thousands. Give it a try and it will even make you smarter!

Free Rice



Cheers,

The College Kids

Musicovery - The New Way to Discover Music

The other day I stumbled upon this gem. Through certain settings such as choosing your mood, which decade, if not all, you will be a second away from discovering new music. The way that it came in handy for me was getting ready for Friday night, I just chose energetic music and I had endless tunes coming out of my speakers.

Check out Musicovery here.

No More Paying for 411, Google's Got You Covered

I've been using this service for the past few months and it has been nothing but nice to me. First of all it's free, which is already better than most phone companies. Next, they even connect you for free and also send you a text message with their address and phone number. This was a big help for me because odds are, I always try to remember the number, and it never works out.

You can use the service by calling 1-800-GOOG-411.


Watch the video for a quick tutorial on how to use it.

How to Get More Juice From Your Laptop Battery

College Kids,

I have a cheap laptop and the battery on it is always dying. Are there anyways to make it last longer?

Kevin
20 Years Old
Fairview, FL

Kevin,

We have all been there. Your laptop battery is dying and there is no outlet around. It is a very frustrating experience, so we found some tips to make that charge last longer.

Only run programs you need - Having multiple programs running at the same time seems like an unnecessary way to drain your battery. Instead consider running only one program at a time. In other words, if you're browsing the web don't leave your email client running in the background, check it when you're done surfing the web.

Dim your screen - One of the fastest ways you can kill your battery is by leaving your screen brightness high. Dim your screen to the lowest level you can possibly manage.

Disable unnecessary programs - You know all those programs that automatically run on startup? You probably don't need them or use most of them anyways. So just turn them off before they eat into your battery resources.

Keep operating temps down - Batteries perform better when they're cool. Clean your air vents and avoid placing your laptop in a position that will restrict airflow (such as your lap).

Limit external devices - USB devices or anything else you have plugged in uses battery resources even when they're not in use. Now is probably not the best time to try out your new USB hand warmer.

Turn off wireless and Bluetooth Turning off your Bluetooth and wireless won't save you a whole lot of power but in certain situations every bit counts.

Via [atbatt]

Acronyms You've Never Heard Of

These are acronyms you would use using an instant messenger, but I bet you've never heard of half of these.

ADN: any day now
CID: crying in disgrace
CYO: see you online
FUD: fear, uncertainty, and doubt
G: grin
GMBO: giggling my butt off
GYPO: get your pants off
GTFO: get the f*** out
HDOP: help delete online predators
IANAL: I am not a lawyer (but)
IMNECTHO: in my not-even-close-to-humble opinion
IPN: I’m posting naked
LMIRL: let's meet in real life
MOOS: member(s) of the opposite sex
OMGBBQWTF: oh my God, Bar-b-q, What The F*** (surprise and confusion)
PlzKThxNo-Re: Please, ok, Thanks, No-Read (sarcasm)
ROTFLOL: rolling on the floor laughing out loud
WYSIWYG: what you see is what you get

For a full dictionary of acronyms here.

Learn a Foreign Language

If your looking for some help in your foreign language class or just want to learn some Spanish in your spare time this is the place to do it. Not only is it an awesome resource, but it's FREE. From Japanese to Russian, your possibilities are endless (well at least until you learn all their languages).

Give Mango a Try

Sharing Music And Files With Your Friends

College Kids,

Is there a way to share music and files with my friend across the country?

Danny
20 Years Old
Duke, TX

Danny,

The College Kids and I did a little investigating and found Hamachi. It is a great program that creates a secure private network that all your friends can join.

Once you and a friend are connected you can share music through itunes just like you can on a campus network. If your itunes is not set to share you can change it by going edit >preferences >sharing.

With Hamachi you can also share folders. To do this you must pick one and set it up by right clicking on it, clicking properties >sharing >then checking "share this folder on a network". Once you have done that your friends can right click on your name in Hamachi, click browse, then enter your computers user name/password, and connect! Just be careful who you invite as friends because anyone you share folders with has open access to those files.

Altogether Hamachi is secure, fast, and College Kid Tested & Approved.

Check it out!

Cheers!

The College Kids

The New iPod! - iPod Touch

The new iPod is out and it looks frickin' awesome. Basically it looks like the iPhone; minus the phone part. You can get it in 8GB($299) and 16GBs ($399) models. So look for it in stores next time your being a mall rat.

Check out the official site here.

Places To Watch TV Online

College Kids,

Do you know of any good sites to watch TV online?

Seth
20 Years Old
Heatherbrook, AZ

Seth,

There are many of sites out there but there are three really good ones that we think you will like:

TV Links - TV Links is our favorite and most recommended. It has a great selection of American TV shows and movies. They usually load fast and are decent quality.

Peekvid - Peekvid comes in a close second. It too has a great selection of shows and movies. Quality and reliability can vary depending on which site they link off of.

Channel Chooser - Channel Chooser is the smoothest of all the sites. Unfortunately its selection is very different than the other two sites. Of course, If you are looking for something different this is the site to be at.

Cheers!

The College Kids

Cheap Cool T-shirts

Ever wonder where you can get sweet t-shirts for cheap. Well I stumbled upon this beauty the other day. Woot.com is known for its awesome deals everyday. In a nutshell they sell one product a day for an amazing price and once its sold out, they're done for the day. The same concept goes for the shirts. Like today, the item is already sold out. Why? Because you got two shirts for 10 bucks and that includes shipping people!

Check it out

Lite-Brite

So remember when you were a little kid and you played with that cool light game, Lite-Brite. Well we found it online and it's almost as fun as the original.

Lite-Brite



Cheers,

The College Kids

Cover Charge for Apple Stores

That's right, your read that correctly. Apple stores nation wide will now be charging $5 at the door of all their stores for entry into their computer sanctuary. Along with being able to walk-in the store you get a nice button that tracks your every move. Sorry guys, no more checking your e-mail on your lunch break or drooling over the iPhones.

Simponize Yourself

That's right, you can actually Simponize yourself and other people. I'm sure your one dream in this world was to eventually have a Simpsons character created from your beautiful looks....

Well your dream has come true today!

Grab a portrait of yourself and create a Simpsons character from it here.


P.S. The one to the left is mine....BEAT THAT!

Stream Your Entire iTunes Library Over the Internet

Ever wonder if you could listen to your music on your friends computer who lives across the street, or even in the city? We did, and now we have found the answer to that question.

Simplify Media has a released a free program that allows your music in iTunes available for connection over the internet. If you have ever used the Share Music feature in iTunes, it's kind of like that.

Don't take my word for it, but I'm sure there is a way to use myTunes Redux with this so you can borrow some of your friends music as well.


Simplify Media via [Lifehacker]

Watch Free TV Online

College Kids,

I don't have a TV in my room, but I do have a computer. Is there anyway to watch TV on my computer?

Sam
18 years old
Nebraska


Sam,

There are multiple ways to watch TV on your computer. I will let you know of two of them. You can get a TV Tuner for your computer, but that requires you to have a cable jack somewhere close to you. Other wise you can find websites that allow you to watch live TV and also shows on demand.....for free!

Here is a website that is a lifesaver to us College Kids:

33 Ways to Watch Free TV Online

Enjoy!

The College Kids

Free High Resolution Wallpapers

College Kids,

Where can I get some free high resolution wallpapers?

Jeremy
18 years old
New York, NY


Jeremy,

I have the perfect solution for you. Mandolux is a great site that usually is updated daily with a wallpaper that is far beyond incredible. They also offer resolutions for almost any computer and for one, two, and even three screens. Check out the archives to find all the treasures that Mandolux has to offer.

Here are a few of out favorites:

Cheers,

The College Kids

Upload Mobile Pictures using Flickr

College Kids,


How do I upload my mobile phone pictures to my iMac?

Charlie
New Jersey


Charlie,

I have found an excellent way for you to get those amazing pictures you have been taking with your cell phone. No matter what kind of computer you have or what type of phone, you will be able to pull this one off.

What you need to do is setup a Flickr account here. Once you have that set up, all you have to do is follow their instructions on how to upload your pictures via e-mail or picture message on your phone. For instance on my cell phone, all I have to do is take a picture, and send it to my e-mail address provided by Flickr.

Also, if you want an alternative to Flickr, you can also try MoBog, but beware, there is a lot of mature content on this site, and we are not responsible for you getting fired from work for looking at those naughty pictures.

Hope this helps!

The College Kids

Plasma Pong

College kids,

What's a cool game I should download?

18 years old
Amanda
Boston, MA


Amanda,

I recentlly stumbled upon a new game that is quite incredible in every way possible. If you have played the old school Pong...well this is that, on acid. It is called Plasma Pong and is know one of my favorite games.


Download
Plasma Pong Website

Enjoy!

The College kids

College Kid Life Saver

Were going to start something new here at Ask A College Kid today. Let me introduce the weekly college kid life saver. This could be software, tips, tricks...literally anything -get my point?

I discovered this life saving site awhile back and shared it with the rest of the college kids. I don't know about you, but when it comes to IOUs, I tend to forget most of them.

This site allows you to keep track of who you owe money to, more importantly, which friends owe you money, who's borrowing your movies, and much more.

Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments.


BillMonk



Cheers,

The College kids

Download music, movies and more

College kids,

I am looking for an alternative to Limewire and all those P2P programs. My school blocks Limewire, and I'm looking for something better. Have any suggestions?

Eric
18 years old
Boston, MA


Eric,

Let me introduce you to something called a torrent. These things are a life saver when it comes to music, movies, and software. I'm not saying this is legal in any sense, but still pretty frickin' cool.

To use torrents in a nutshell you must first download a program that accepts torrents, let me suggest BitLord. From there you can go to a number of sites that have music albums and movies waiting to be downloaded. To name a few: PirateBay, ISOhunt, and Torrentz.

Have fun, and stay out of trouble!

The College kids