roundup

A back-to-school guide for college students

It's almost time for college students to head back to class. It's an exciting time for both the students and those who want to see their loved ones succeed. But doing it alone with no help from the Web doesn't make much sense nowadays.

That's why I've compiled a list of resources for students to use when they head back to college. Whether it's finding textbooks or getting help with tough subjects, every student should use at least some of these sites.

College tools

BuddySchool BuddySchool helps you find tutors that can assist you with some of your difficult class subjects.

When you get to the site, you'll need to find the class topic you're having trouble with. Once you find what you're looking for, BuddySchool lists several tutors on each subject. Those listings include a brief synopsis of the tutor's expertise, how they can help, and how much they charge for their time. If you like what you see, you can set up a time to be tutored. All payments are sent through the site to ensure the tutor is getting paid before they help. The site also features a review listing, so you can determine if other users' experiences were positive or not.

CollegeClassifieds If you're looking to find some on-campus merchandise, CollegeClassifieds is for you.

As the name suggests, CollegeClassifieds provides classified listings from college students on your campus. Simply find your school, choose the listing topic you're looking for, and you're all set. You can even subscribe to each listing's RSS feed, so you don't miss when new products are added. It's a great idea, but unfortunately, not too many colleges are listing products. That said, larger schools tend to have more listings. Your mileage may vary.… Read more

It's time to go hyperlocal with these resources

Monday's news that MSNBC acquired EveryBlock, a "hyperlocal" news service just a few months after AOL acquired a competing service, Patch, had me thinking about all the start-ups that are vying for your attention by targeting your neighborhood. Of course, many of these sites don't work with every neighborhood, so your mileage will vary.

Regardless, I thought that with the EveryBlock acquisition, it was time to take a look at those services providing a hyperlocal experience.

Go hyper

EveryBlock EveryBlock, which was just acquired by MSNBC, features some outstanding hyperlocal features. The site provides local news, crime reports, and other information at the block level.

Currently, EveryBlock works with a handful of cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Miami. It would have been nice to find information on more areas around the U.S., but it wasn't so bad. The site does a great job of finding local information, including lost and found lists, building permits, and other information that might be useful to someone living in a particular location. EveryBlock is a great site. I just wish it supported more cities. (Click here for our full review of EveryBlock.)

Outside.in Outside.in is one of the nicest resources in this roundup. It finds out what's happening in (at last count) 35,312 neighborhoods around the U.S. and delivers it to people in those areas.

When you first get to the site, Outside.in asks you to input a ZIP code. From there, it finds local news, discussions (it has a message board for each neighborhood), and establishments for you to check out. I was happy to see that both small suburbs and major metro areas were included in the list of neighborhoods on Outside.in. And since all of the information is constantly updated, it was a great way to find out what's going in my area.… Read more

Sites that help you find hot topics across the Web

The Web is a great place to learn about hot topics, but Internet memes can't be spotted so easily unless you have some help. On topics ranging from tech to general interest, you can find what's hot at any moment with the following resources.

Find your memes

Blogrunner The New York Times' Blogrunner sifts through all the news hitting blogs across the Web, finds the hot topics, and lists them on the site. The most popular stories at the time are listed at the top of the Blogrunner page. Those that are either older or on their way up are listed below the top stories.

I was happy with the amount of content Blogrunner provides. Unlike some sites that focus solely on one topic, Blogrunner lists politics, world news, tech news, religion, and several other topics to find the hot stories in each category. Sifting through the stories is simple. And thanks to a fine design, you should be happy with the experience. It's not the best tool in this roundup, but it's pretty good.

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed is a user-generated topic finder. The site asks its users to find funny, outrageous, or interesting content across the Web that appeals to a wider audience. The topics they find should have the goal of starting a meme on the Web.

BuzzFeed is filled with funny or outrageous videos and images. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but if you're trying to find the hottest news at any moment, you probably won't have much luck with BuzzFeed. If you're just looking for some entertainment, you might like BuzzFeed. Your mileage will vary.… Read more

Online resources for the aspiring novelist

Are you the next Stephen King? There's no way to tell, unless you write a page-turner. But writing that book can be difficult. So, you might be looking for some help publishing it, or you just might want some advice. In either case, the Web is a great place to find some help.

Write that book

DoXtop DoXtop allows you to upload documents (including books) that can be embedded into sites across the Web.

Uploading content to DoXtop is quick and easy. Simply pick the file you want to upload, choose your desired format, and you're all set. What I like most about DoXtop is its many community features. You can discuss your content with readers, ask them to rate your book, or respond to surveys. It builds a readership around your content. It also helps you determine what readers are looking for. If you're trying to deliver your manuscript to readers without printing a book, DoXtop is a fine solution.

iUniverse iUniverse is a self-publishing platform that goes one step further than simply allowing you to see your book in print. Unlike some competitors, it's a supported self-publishing service, which means that you can have your manuscript edited, ask iUniverse to acquire an ISBN for you, and more.

iUniverse offers a variety of plans for you to pick. You can get the basic plan, which costs $599. That gives you access to the service's one-on-one author support. You'll also get a custom cover, but you won't be able to receive all the extras you'll find in its Premier package ($2,099).

That plan includes the ability to choose a hardcover and the option to have your book previewed by buyers. It's a hefty price to pay, but it might be worth it, if you're serious about selling your book. iUniverse even gives you the option of publishing your book in Amazon.com Kindle or Sony Reader versions. It's a neat service.… Read more

Learn how to play an instrument online

If you're trying to learn how to play an instrument, you might be thinking about hiring a local tutor. After all, it's the way it has always been done. But you might be surprised to learn that the Web is a great place to learn how to play that instrument.

Start playing

All Guitar Chords It's a simple app, but All Guitar Chords provides you with a full listing of all the guitar chords you might want to learn. Simply pick the chord you want, click the "Get" button, and it will display where to put your fingers. It's not the best tutorial app in this roundup, but it works better than you might expect. It's a simple and efficient tutor.

Chordbook Chordbook is the place to go if you want to learn how to play guitar. The Flash-based site displays guitar strings. You can then choose which chord you want to play. Upon doing so, it automatically places circles on the guitar strings to help you learn proper placement of your fingers. When you're ready to learn a chord, you can click the "strum" button and it will play a chord to help you determine what your guitar should sound like when you play. If you're beginner, Chordbook is the place to be.… Read more

Online resources for the amateur astronomer

This week, astronomers will be up in the early morning hours to see Perseids, a meteor shower that has historically proven to put on quite a show. This happens every August when Earth passes through debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet.

If you're an amateur astronomer or someone looking to get started with the hobby, you might be surprised to know that there are online tools to help you tonight, when you want to see Perseids, and every other night you go in the back yard and set up your telescope.

Go star gazing

Astronomy Network Astronomy Network is a social network for astronomers. It sounds like a neat idea, but after you sign up, you quickly realize that the site has such a small community, it's tough to find value in it.

That said, Astronomy Network's forums are a great place to hang out and communicate with some of the members. If you end up making friends with some users, you can instant message each other, send direct messages, upload videos, and add images to the site. It's a full-featured social network designed specifically for amateur astronomers, but until more people join, it won't live up to its potential.

CalSky CalSky is an invaluable astronomy tool. The site provides you with a search that you can modify to find exactly what you're looking for tonight. Do you want to see the International Space Station? Are you looking for meteor streams? The site will help you find it all.

When you get to the site, it determines your location. From there, it will find all the objects you search for in the night sky on a specific day (you can search for any day of the year). The site explains each cosmic event and where to find it in the sky. When you click on one of those events, it delivers a page that provides even more information. If you're serious about astronomy, this is the site for you.… Read more

Online tools for the eBay seller

After Amazon experienced some difficulties last week with its selling options in the Amazon Marketplace, it made me wonder if anyone decided to start selling some of their merchandise on eBay. If so, they would join thousands of others who are using the online auction site to make a few extra bucks. If that's your goal, check out some of these services for eBay sellers.

eBay tools

Auctiva Auctiva is a full-featured product that allows you to use a variety of templates and modules to help you sell products more effectively on eBay.

Auctiva is quite powerful. You can create side-scrolling galleries with pictures you upload to the site (you're allowed 1GB of storage), change the color of your listing page, and issue invoices. It won't help you determine if you're selling products that eBay users want, but it will help you easily manage your auctions. Admittedly, Auctiva is for active sellers, but at $9.95 per month for so many nice features, it's an affordable offering.

eBay Market Researcher Terapeek's eBay Market Researcher tool is a fine way to determine how to get the most out of your listing.

After you sign up for the site and choose a membership (it costs $24.95 per month or $197.95 per year), you can immediately start searching through the app's listings of eBay products. When you find the product you're looking to sell, it provides you with information on the item's average bid, how much the average listing makes, and how page design affected profits. The app even provides you with information on which day is best to list the product and end your auction. It's a powerful tool.… Read more

Refresher course: What to do when Twitter is down

Twitter tanked Thursday. The outage, caused by a targeted denial-of-service attack, had ripple effects continuing into the evening. I wasn't able to post a tweet with a link in it.

I was reminded of an era not long ago, when it was more newsworthy that Twitter was up. In an homage to those less-stable days, I thought I'd outline some of the better alternatives we can take advantage of during those moments Twitter isn't cooperating.

Other options

FriendFeed is the first place to start when Twitter is down. Although it's designed to track updates to all your social networks, it's a fine communication platform itself. The site will let you chat it up about important topics, follow other friends' many social-networking updates, and more. It's an ideal alternative to Twitter.

But if you're looking for something a little more Twitter-like, there are several options. You can try out Plurk. It's a nice platform, but beware that there are very few users on the site. If people are updating their friends about their lives, they're not doing it on Plurk.

That said, it does provide a really neat timeline display and a unique way to spread your feelings. Instead of giving you full control over your message, it asks you to use one of several keywords, including love, like, wishes, hates, gives, and more. It's not bad.… Read more

Find new video podcasts with these directories

TiVo announced Wednesday that subscribers will now be able to manually input a video podcast's RSS feed into their TiVo software to watch those shows through their DVRs. That means it's time to find out what your favorite shows' RSS feeds are. It also means you might want to expand what you watch, since another set-top box is bringing Web videos to your television.

But finding those shows isn't always easy. Realizing that, I thought I'd highlight online video podcast directories that will help you find shows you're really interested in. From professional content to amateur shows for niche audiences, these sites will help you find whatever you're looking for.

Before we get into it, I should note that iTunes is another fine way to find video podcasts. Simply click the "Video Podcasts" option in the software and you'll be able to search through shows.

Find some shows

Miro Guide: Miro Guide is a repository for video podcasts. The site is well-designed. It also has a nice listing of both popular shows and niche listings.

When you get to Miro Guide, you can immediately start searching for video podcasts. A show's listing page allows you to subscribe to the RSS feed, add its feed to Miro, so you can watch it on the site, or download it to your computer. If you're only looking for the feed, it provides that too. I was really impressed with Miro Guide. With so many listings, it's worth trying out.

Odeo: Odeo is one of the best podcast directories in this roundup. It allows you to search for both audio and video shows.

I was really impressed with Odeo. The site has one of the biggest listings of shows in this roundup. On topics ranging from technology to politics, you'll find a variety of video podcasts worth watching. When you pick a show you want to try out, you can opt to subscribe on Odeo's site, copy and paste the RSS feed to a service, like the TiVo, or watch it right on the site. You can even subscribe to the show in iTunes. You'll like Odeo. It's an extremely useful directory.… Read more

Seven alternative Flickr search engines

Flickr announced Tuesday that it has improved its search tool. The site's search results page now allows users to see small previews of photos and get details on those pictures without being forced to visit the individual photo page. It's a nice improvement.

But if you're looking for something a little different, these Flickr alternatives are worth checking out.

Flickr search services

Bubblr Aside from the fact that it lets you search for photos by tag or user name, the real focus of Bubblr is to help you create a comic strip that you can publish for the Bubblr Archive.

When you search for pictures on Bubblr, it displays your search results next to the search box. From there, you can either go to the photo's respective Flickr page, or drag and drop images into your comic strip. When you create a comic strip, you can also add dialog bubbles to tell a story. When you're ready, Bubblr lets you publish your comic strip to its archive. I was pleased with how well Bubblr worked. Search was quick, dragging images worked beautifully, and the finished product was great.

Compfight Compfight allows you to search Flickr by tag or text. So, if you choose to find photos by the tags associated with images, simply input a keyword, and Compfight will do the rest. It displays several images matching the query.

If you're looking to search Flickr based on the text associated with pictures, Compfight will do that, too. In my experience, changing how you search will change the results quite substantially. When you click on an image, you'll be brought to its respective Flickr page. Thanks to a simple search box and little clutter, Compfight is easy to use. I liked it.… Read more