Site Description

There will always be those moments when you realize something and can’t help but think “I wish I knew that years ago”. For me HackCollege.com is the perfect example. On this website you’ll learn tricks and shortcuts for making everything about college life easier. There is no topic overlooked and nothing is off limits.

Topics range from help planning and executing the perfect party to how to construct a loft bed to maximize space. Content is presented in traditional blog form (i.e. the written word) as well as through entertaining videos.

The site layout is very basic with content on the left and the navigation in the right sidebar. Nothing more is really necessary for the site to get its information across so the contributors wisely keep things simple. Because of this, it’s rather easy to find your way through all the archived content allowing the reader to read more and search less.

About HackCollege.com

HackCollege.com was founded in 2006 by Loyola Marymount University student Kelly Sutton. The about page describes his reason for doing so as an “unprecedented curmudgeonliness” (It’s OK, I had to look it up, too.)

Gradually, over the last few years, HackCollege has grown by adding new contributors and content. Most recently, the addition of HackCollege.co.uk has brought helpful college tips across the pond to our friends in England. Plenty of the content on both sites is useful interchangeably, so really the .uk version is just some more bonus HackCollege goodies.

What I Liked

The thing I like the most about HackCollege.com is the content never really extends into the “need to know” phase of college life. In fact, you’ll get along just fine if you never read a single thing the site puts out there. It didn’t quite exist when I was in school, so I’m the perfect example. I made it through OK. However, the great part is the things you’ll learn on the site just makes college better.

For instance, it’s not essential that you know how to build the perfect $100 bar, but man, life is so much better when you do. It’s the simple things in life that matter.

Another part of what they’re doing over at HackCollege that I really enjoy is providing a little variety while still sticking closely to their niche. An example is a recent post about how to handle a ticket. Now that information can pretty much apply to anyone, but when they put the old college spin on it, it suddenly applies to their blog and others find it useful as well.

I think the most important thing about HackCollege, that really helps with their success is the likeability of their contributors. Through the ‘About’ page you can find information and links to social networking profiles for each of them. After some quick browsing there and the reading through the blog, I’ve really come to appreciate their style and outlook. They’re serious (about their business) without taking themselves too seriously (they goof off quite a bit).

I don’t know about you, but I like learning through entertainment. If I can be entertained, and still be smarter when it’s over, then I’m happy. The guys and gals over at HackCollege have that formula perfected.

What I Didn’t Like

I’m being picky here, because in my opinion there really isn’t much wrong with this site. There are a couple of things I’d do to improve it, though. For starters, from a design standpoint, I’d like to see some sort of color contrast or another form of separation between the content and the sidebar. It’s not mandatory, but I think it would make things look a little cleaner.

Also, with site navigation in mind, I would prefer to have easier access to the different HackCollege pages. They are currently listed about halfway down the sidebar. There’s a lot of good stuff on them and I think they’d get more attention if they were available in the header or higher up the sidebar. Again, not really the worst thing in the world, but I needed to pick something, that’s what I’d change.

The Final Word

It’s not often when a website is so good at being entertaining and useful. I try it here, and realize it’s not always easy. The crew at HackCollege is very, very good at it. Every college student should have its resources as part of their college survival arsenal. I wish I did.

www.HackCollege.com

DoMyStuff is very similar to ads you’ll find on other web services, but it does tend to focus more on odd-jobs and services instead of computer-based projects. Things like laundry, cleaning, and lawn care are examples. Whenever I think of this sort of business model I immediately think the worst of people and wonder how payment is policed. In this case, the site has a secure escrow system that will make sure payments are made in full but only after the work has been completed and approved.

For a while, PDF creation was controlled pretty exclusively by Adobe. Somewhat recently other programs have come about that will convert an existing file into a PDF. If you don’t need any of the bells and whistles that Adobe Acrobat offers and just want to convert a file, Neevia Technology has the answer.

The Document Converter eXPress is easy to use and requires nothing more than an internet connection and a file to be converted. You simply choose from a few settings options, browse for your file and upload it, and decide if you want the converted file to be sent to you via email or open up in a new browser window where you can read or save it. The image below shows the online converter interface.

As you can see converting to PDF has never been simpler. Not only that, but the converter will turn files into various other formats as well, so you’re not limited only to PDF’s. There’s a number of times when something like this can come in handy, even if you have Acrobat or another software program, so it might be a good idea to keep this site in mind.

The reason I bring it up is I site I found recently reminded me of how the newspaper boys were on the verge of being run out of business and how they led a revolution to keep their jobs. In the movie they were successful and were able to continue delivering papers. Thanks to OnlineNewspapers.com the real life Newsies might not be so lucky.

This website is impressive to say the least. It’s got links to thousands of online newspapers from around the world. To be honest, unless you know exactly which papers you’re looking for or would like to read the site can be a bit overwhelming at first. The navigation is excellent, but there’s just so many papers to choose from. Thankfully, they’re listed by geographic region, name, state, etc.

One more hidden bonus that OnlineNewspapers has to offer is a link to the similarly styled Online Magazines. This page has links to hundreds of categorized magazines from around the world. I found a few broken links, but for the most part this is a solid reference.

Oh yeah, one last thing. This week when you go to tip your paperboy make sure you give him (or her) back this week’s job ads, because slowly but surely sites like OnlineNewspapers.com are putting our modern-day Newsies out of business.

You’re cleaning out an old relative’s basement and come across a strange object, one that words can’t describe. It’s some sort of decoration, and it’s old…very old. You want to know what it is, both to satisfy your own curiosity and to be sure you don’t get rid of something that might be worth a fortune. What do you do?

There’s only one thing to do in this situation. Take a picture of it and upload it on PicAnswers. There your questionable object can be observed by a community of users who will either know what it is, or give you their most entertaining guess.

I’m not sure how long this site’s been around because I couldn’t find an ‘About’ page, but the furthest back any photo that I saw went was about 1 year. In that time there’s been hundreds of interesting pictures posted. Many have been answered (correctly? I’m not sure) but some are still unsolved.

Even if you don’t have any inexplicable objects you can get lost looking through other peoples old, but cool stuff. It’s kind of like a virtual garage sale. You get to check out the junk, but there’s no concern of “accidentally” buying it.

Take a look for yourself – www.PicAnswers.com

SITE DESCRIPTION

For anyone who attends college or lives near one, Campusfood.com is your saving grace. Listing hundreds of colleges nationwide, Campusfood provides a directory of restaurants and bars in each school’s surrounding area.

Not only does the site give each restaurant’s address and phone number, but it offers menus, maps, whether it’s currently opened or closed, payment options, hours of operation, and pretty much anything else you’ll want to know about the restaurant you’re doing business with.

Most importantly, Campusfood has eliminated the food-ordering middleman, adding ease to the process. When you’ve decided where you’d like to order from, click on the restaurant name and then select ‘View Menu’. From the menu page simply click on the price of whatever menu item you’d like to order and, if necessary, Campusfood will prompt you to choose how you’d like your food cooked. Adding or subtracting extras on your sandwich or pizza is a breeze.

Once you’ve got your order selected, proceed to checkout, choose whether you’d like it for pickup or delivery, and that’s that. You can choose to pay either online or when your food is picked up or delivered.

The navigation menu at the top of the page is extremely comprehensive. Visitors are able to search restaurants based on whether or not they deliver, have a waitstaff, and if they’re offering any specials or coupons. There is also a listing of local bars/nightclubs available, which includes all the same information the restaurants present, including any drink specials they may offer.

Sub-menus include details of the style of restaurant or bar and different amenities available. For instance if you would like to know the Friday night specials for a local sports bar, Campusfood can provide that for you with only three clicks of the mouse. 

Because Campusfood is free for the user, and they have to eat too (no pun intended), they take a 6% commission from the subtotal of each order. According to Julie Shimshack, director of marketing for Campusfood.com, using Campusfood.com has increased order sizes by 10-15% because “the customer is not put on hold, and aren’t rushed off the phone because there are other calls coming and can therefore spend time browsing the menu and adding to their order.”

Sounds like a win-win-win to us.

ABOUT CAMPUSFOOD.COM

Campusfood was started in 1997, by University of Penn student Michael Saunders, in an effort to ease the take-out process. Eleven years later the site brings the menus of more than 1,500 restaurants right to your computer screen. More than 300 campuses are catalogued and more are added all the time.

WHAT WE LIKED

 The entire concept is a winner. Students these days don’t want to be bothered with making a phone call (though every single one of them has a cell phone). And who can blame them. If they can log onto Campusfood and have their order placed within minutes, without having to find a phone, phone number and menu, why wouldn’t they?

Orders are processed quickly and with little difficulty. The menus are fully interactive and categorized. It’s as though you’re standing in the restaurant reading their menu board, except it’s easier to place an order. And you no longer have to speak to the crabby phone person who could rattle off 150 places they’d rather be on a Friday night than sitting there listening to what you feel like eating.

Even if you’d rather call and place your order by phone, you can still reference menus for all the restaurants Campusfood lists. This way you can have your order ready and know the prices before you call.

The site navigation and ease of use is top-notch, and the design is functional. Campusfood does a great job of knowing itself and sticking to what it does best, without trying to be too much.

For a cool look at how expansive Campusfood is, check out the chains page. This list doesn’t include the mom and pop shops, just the franchises.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

 Campusfood only lists restaurants that are in close proximity to the colleges. For someone who lives in the suburbs, or away from any schools, finding your local pizza joint listed may not be possible. We understand that the site is called CAMPUSfood for a reason, but expanding on the listing radius would probably increase their revenue.

Also, we’d like to see Campusfood increase the number of colleges they list, which, of course, means they have to actively recruit restaurants in those areas. For us, the only real issue with the site is although they already do represent a large number of schools and restaurants, there is still much left uncovered.

THE FINAL WORD

At the very least an account in Campusfood should be in your food-ordering repertoire. If the eatery you’re looking for isn’t there, then you can resort to the stone age and reach for the yellow pages.

www.Campusfood.com

SITE DESCRIPTION

Snopes.com is a website that takes rumors and urban legends, researches their validity, and reports whether there is any truth to them.  The list of rumors consists of those that are current and some that are passed on through the generations, and explains their origins, their purpose and details how much of them are fact, if anything.

Snopes has urban legends broken down into 40+ categories, with each having a number of additional subcategories. Though some are topical, others are very specific. For instance, there are the normal categories such as movies, music, and sports, but then there are also categories for disney, coke and titanic. Many of the popular email circulations are also listed, many of which are said to be false, or at least fabricated.

On the info page, there is a Snopes FAQ which addresses many of the accuracy concerns you may have. From what we gathered, the site’s owners Barbara and David Mikkelson take caution in posting inaccurate information. Their content appears to be researched and then reresearched.

ABOUT SNOPES.COM

As mentioned above, Snopes is owned and operated by Barbara and David Mikkelson, and their copyright on the site’s footer suggests that Snopes has been around since 1995. In that time the Mikkelson’s have compiled and researched hundreds, if not thousands, of urban legends. Although they don’t claim to be the ultimate authority on any of the listed subjects, they do provide a bibliography of where they did their research at the end of each listing. Anyone wishing to dispute their claims is encouraged to check the sources for themselves.

WHAT WE LIKED

What’s not to like? Surfing around on Snopes.com for just a little while will make any visitor feel foolish for believing that crazy rumor they heard in high school, especially when they’ve continued to believe it years later. That’s what makes the site so much fun.

The layout on Snopes is very clean and concise. There is an adequate amount of white space, and though ads are present, they stay out of the way of the content. The navigation makes sense, and the category icons add a nice touch to what would be an otherwise plain, text-filled site.

As far as the content goes, some of our favorite legends are the salted treat, eight glasses, and tastes like chicken. There are dozens others that will surprise/amuse you as well.

One of the most interesting features of Snopes is the 25 Hottest Urban Legends, where users have easy access to the day’s most popular myths. Though they are listed daily, the top 25 doesn’t change much from day to day. Chances are you’ve received an email about at least a few of the daily 25.

In addition to offering an RSS feed, Snopes allows visitors to quickly access the newest listings and updates directly from the website. This way frequent visitors can easily see the most recent information.

Perhaps the best compliment we can pay to Snopes is their ability to stay within themselves. They serve a very specific and particular niche, but they do it very well and without confusion. They have stuck to who they are and why they’re there for a very long time, and it appears to be paying off.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

We have no complaints. Seriously. Snopes.com is a very interesting, very well-researched website. The layout is fine, the content is excellent, and the guarantee of new myths and rumors originating means Snopes will be ok for a very long time.

THE FINAL WORD

This site is an excellent way to pass the time. Fun, interesting and entertaining, Snopes is definitely worth a look.

www.snopes.com

SITE DESCRIPTION

AsktheBuilder.com offers hundreds of informational articles, videos, and e-books all created to help homeowners take on their own home improvement projects. On the site, nationally syndicated newspaper columnist Tim Carter breaks down numerous common problems that occur around the house, presenting them in a do-it-yourself fashion. Some of the topics discussed involve brick work, painting, and countertops. Carter also takes reader questions and answers them regularly.

Not only does Carter’s site provide lessons on how to make home repairs, the AsktheBuilder General Store sells a variety of supplies, guides and tools to use when performing them. The store makes it easy for viewers to find specific products that are mentioned in the articles and videos, a helpful feature.

WHAT WE LIKED

The content provided on AsktheBuilder.com is so dense and thorough there really is very little to dislike about the site. Although we didn’t perform any of the jobs described on the site, we did find the topics to be widespread, and from reading/watching the content it appeared to be solid advice for completing the desired job.

According to the website, Carter has been writing these articles since 1993, so one would think were he a fraud he most certainly would have been discovered by now. What we think instead is that he is a home improvement genius. Judging from Tim’s advertising rates, it’s safe to assume many others agree.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

Though the content is excellent, the layout of the site seemed to be a little bit clustered. The navigation is good, but the content layout isn’t the site’s best feature. Fortunately, the content is so good, the layout becomes only a minor detail.

The only other gripe we could come up with is, at the time of this review being written, there are no terms listed on the glossary page, which we thought would be an extremely helpful resource.

THE FINAL WORD

An excellent resource site, but probably not worth going to until you had a specific problem you needed fixed. Otherwise, you may find it to be an information overload.

www.AsktheBuilder.com

 
More Home Improvement Websites:
The easy way to lay tile
Kitchen remodeling secrets
Do it yourself handyman guide