The Power of Pinning

Pinterest has become the new sensation for social media savvy people. Not only can you display your favorite fashion trends or your fabulous dream home but you can create your own professional portfolio and showcase your personal brand.

I have been “pinning” since October and it has become one of my favorite pastimes (due to its tendency of being highly addictive!)  Since I’ve been pinning, I’ve created styles for my future apartment, dream home, and my most whimsical (dream) wedding. I’ve also thrown in a couple of my favorite hairstyles and fashion trends. The possibilities with Pinterest are endless. However, there has become a whole new way to approach Pinterest; to boost your resume and to build your brand.

I’ve recently discovered the power of pinning. Pinterest is a tool that can be utilized to market your brand and to build up your resume and portfolio. What is your brand you may ask? It’s the way you want to display your personality to peers, coworkers, and even your future employers. With Pinterest you can upload your own photos and link your pins back to your blog, website, tumblr, or any other form of social media you use.

Pinterest is a great way to visually share your story with others. Through pinning the things that you love, you can show others what your passions are. You can also use Pinterest as a way to organize your inspiration for your personal brand. This is a great tool to further your own style as well as to discover what kind of industry that you desire to work in.

For inspiration you may want to start boards that include future companies you’d love to work for, cities you’d want to live in, and the things that inspire you each and every day. You may also want to include a board for your resume. This could include a video of your self, contact information, and photos of your involvement, achievements, examples of your work, and academic experiences. Just remember to keep content professional.

You may wonder if using Pinterest as a branding tool is even useful. There is debate about whether or not Pinterest is an effective way of branding, but remember this is just another tool. Pinterest offers an array of different ways that you can showcase yourself and it also depends if your future career would benefit from this platform. If you are planning a career in public relations, social media, or business, Pinterest may be beneficial for you to use. Pinning is all about you and how you want to make use of it.

With Pinterest the possibilities are endless. Show the world who you are and what you love, but also keep in mind a sense of professionalism if you choose to use this as a way to market yourself. Continue to pin things that define your personality as well as your inspiration, goals, and dreams.

Olivia Adams is a sophomore at Ferris State University, majoring in Public Relations. She is involved with Public Relations Student Society of America, National Society of Collegiate Scholars and is the founder of the Spanish Club at her school. Olivia is passionate about creativity, social media, writing, and travel. You may follow her on Twitter at @OliviaAdams6.

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Categories: tech geek

5 Android Apps for Students

While students still need to lug around textbooks for their respective classes and likely carry their laptops with them to take detailed notes during class, sometimes the load becomes a bit heavy for the average college student, who begins to resemble a hunchback from the bulging contents of their stuffed backpacks.

In our modern age where various Android smartphones are tucked in pockets, purses and pouches of a large majority of college students, it’s a gift that they’re capable of storing so much content to help the college student. Not unlike backpacks, Androids are ready to be stuffed to the gills with handy apps to help students in the learning process. Thankfully, though, smartphones’ storage space is far more efficient and lightweight for the carrier than the backpack. Students can carry full access to an unabridged dictionary, a set of encyclopedias, math and science support, and so much more to make their days of full course loads much easier, at least on their backs.

Below are 5 Android apps that may come in quite handy for busy college students.

Evernote

Evernote is the king of note-taking support for college students on the go. This free Android app can help students keep track of their endless barrage of notes. Students can easily organize and maintain audio file notes, scanned notes, to-do lists, calendar entries, pictures, and other types of files by creating the proper tags and storing notes in the appropriate locations. Students can synchronize their critical notes between their Android phone, their netbook, laptop or any other devices where they may need to store the class information.

Grammar Guide

Students – particularly liberal arts students who do a lot of writing – shouldn’t be caught without a solid guide to grammar at their disposal and this one will do the trick. At under a dollar, Grammar Guide can help any student with pronunciation, usage or capitalization.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

No student wants to haul around a huge dictionary from class to class. On the other hand, no student wants to come up short on the meaning of English words that are unfamiliar to them. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary app also features a list of synonyms and antonyms for each word, so the dictionary also serves as a makeshift thesaurus.

WikiDroid for Wikipedia

With Wikipedia being the go-to source in online encyclopedic information, at least as a starting point for a student’s research before they hit the library, the WikiDroid allows students an app portal to the information database for quick and easy loading without the lag of the Internet-based page.

WolframAlpha

For students who are naturally curious and hear an arcane reference in passing or are perplexed by something the professor mentions that isn’t easily found in the textbook, the WolframAlpha app may help. The student can enter various dates or facts and this app can dig up ancillary information to help students find answers.

These are just five of the hundreds of student-centric apps available for Android smartphones—and while a smartphone can’t replace a textbook or a bookbag, it can be the perfect complement to your college toolbox.

Joseph Baker’s business experience in management spans more than 15 years. A leader of development and management teams, he also implemented budget reductions professionally and as an independent contractor. Joseph led strategic planning and systems of implementation for nine organizations, public and private, and worked extensively with small businesses. His education background ranges from teaching to school administration.

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Categories: tech geek

Visual Displays for Those Visually Talented

Yesterday I looked at the calendar and realized there are less than two weeks left in March. Two weeks. That means we will soon be entering April. Let’s be honest: April is the last month of the spring semester…most students only have a week or two of school in May, and one of those is the week of final exams. So, when you break it down, there are only about five more “real” weeks of school when you take away Spring Break. Wow. That was the first time I’ve really broken it down to that extent, and I’m immediately worried. Like most of you, I’m sure you still have no idea what you want to do with your life. That sounds a bit extreme, but the time for finding a job before graduation is narrowing down, and to be honest that scares us. All of our lives, we have been ending one chapter and beginning the next already knowing how the story will play out. We attend elementary school, and then we go to middle school, high school, and the like. Now that we’re actually finishing college, where do we go next? We’re used to this structured lifestyle and being told what is expected of us. However, this is the moment where we decide how the future will play out. Again, that scares us. Or at least it scares me.

I am sure you are trying to polish your resume so that it is suitable for career fairs and online job applications. The truth is that everyone is doing the same thing, so how can you make yours stand out? Well, for those majoring in subjects such as business and politics, a detailed description of your accomplishments will most likely suffice. However, what about those with more visual majors, such as film and design? Luckily, there are plenty of websites that can help portray your work in ways that words cannot. Etsy.com, for example, is an online fashion and accessory website where those studying design, fashion, and the like can place pictures and descriptions of their products for others to view. To add even more appeal to the website, people can shop through the individuals’ items and actually purchase them online. This way, not only can a student display his or her works of art for employers to view, but they could possibly acquire some compensation as well. My friend, Giuliana Raggiani is studying fashion design at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. Last spring, she studied knitwear design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London which helped to land her a position as a Knitwear Design Freelancer at Anthropologie. She uses Etsy.com to display products she has made and to show potential employers how her determination has played out. Her page can be viewed here. For those of you who are studying something other than fashion, there are still other options available.

Personally, I am majoring in Telecommunications and Film with a sequence in Media Production and minoring in Photography, so I was very interested in finding a website where I could display my work online for potential employers to view. In order to show my videos and media production reel, I created a page on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com. Both of these are online sites where people can share videos and portray their work. My channel can be seen here. I am sure everyone is very familiar with YouTube; Vimeo is a great website that is coming into its own as a more “professional” video sharing website.

In order to display my photography, I had many options. There are websites where you can create a page of your work for free. The source I use is called Wix.com. Through this, I was able to choose a layout that worked the best with my work and then easily edit and manage all of my information. My page can be viewed here. I could create tabs so that one could easily learn more about my work and then contact me if at all interested. Another website that is great for displaying pictures is Tumblr.com. This website is more of a “visual blog” but it is free and very easy to use. I also have a Tumblr account; mine is for my own personal use to display pictures and quotes I find and want to keep in one place, but it would be ideal for showing artwork as well. My page is at: http://smalldoseofhappiness.tumblr.com/. One can easily embed pictures, audio files, and videos, so it would be a great tool for those needing a place to display their products which need to be viewed rather than simply written about. If you are not interested in Photography and want to start a blog about a topic related to your studies, Tumblr is a great resource for that as well. I have a blog for Study Abroad Italy (SAI), a program I went to London with last spring to study Photography. I am now a student ambassador for the company and use the blog not only to promote their company, but to also share my own personal travel tips and stories. It can be viewed at: http://studyabroaditaly.tumblr.com/. I encourage everyone to at least look into creating a page of his or her own so that he or she may be able to stand out from competitors. When you think about it, five weeks is a lot of time to create a webpage. Five weeks…

Melissa Smith is a Senior at the University of Alabama studying Telecommunications and Film, with a focus on Media Production, and Photography. Last Spring semester, she studied Photography in London and hopes to return to work there post-graduation! She currently works at the Center for Public Television and never turns down an opportunity to meet new people for friendships and networking. Follow her blog as an ambassador for Study Abroad Italy (SAI), the program she studied with in England at this link and check out her video portfolio here.

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Categories: chic geek, tech geek

Keeping Organized Online: MySchoolNotebook.com

So…how long until we can share class notes over Facebook? Just kidding, someone’s already thought of it. That someone is 18-year-old Jakub Roz, a high school student in Prague. He is the founder of MySchoolNotebook.com, the Czech version of which was founded in 2010. If this 18-year-old entrepreneur isn’t impressive enough, consider this: he has been involved in the Internet business since age 14! Therefore, it’s not such a surprise that his website launched a second, English version barely a year after the Czech premiere of MySchoolNotebook.com.

MySchoolNotebook.com allows you to develop online notebooks for all of your school subjects and share them with your Facebook friends, rent them as read-only notes or publish them. Furthermore, it only cost $2 per month for the premium version, which includes features such as an unlimited number of notebooks, ability to print notes as PDF files, drawing tools and a mobile version for iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Your notes are automatically numbered, dated and sorted. What MySchoolNotebook.com markets as one of the best features, and perhaps rightfully so, is that you can use the service offline, as well. This is a great benefit for schools where the wireless Internet is either spotty or non-existent.

I was lucky enough to hear from the creator Jakub Roz (via the Internet, of course) and here’s what he had to say…

Why did you launch MySchoolNotebook.com?

I was dealing with a problem with notes when I started to attend high school. My classmates were using Word and other programs to write down their notes, but it did not seem convenient to me because it did not offer a complex solution. It was only a page of notes, which you had to save somewhere and back it up. Also, you had to constantly sort your notes not to get lost in them, which happens anyway after some time. That is why I programmed a very simple system for recording notes. My classmates liked it; therefore, I made it accessible to them as well. Finally, it reached the point when I had a feeling it might be good to make this service accessible to all students. As a result I set up a Czech version of mySchoolNotebook.com with my friend who is a programmer.

Why did you choose the name mySchoolNotebook.com?

The Czech version is Školní sešit.cz which means “a school notebook.” This name describes very nicely the nature of this service. The English name is not as nice as the Czech one, but other domains have already been occupied.

Who is a typical visitor of your website? How many people can your products potentially appeal to?

Approximately 80% of users are people between the ages of 13 and 24, simply an everyday student. In the Czech Republic we have 25,000 users, but we do not dare to estimate the number of users at the global level right now. It is a big number because many students use laptops at school.

Why did you decide to launch an English version and enter the global market?

Our service is becoming very popular in the Czech Republic and has more and more users every day. However, the Czech market is not large enough for our service. Also, we want to offer this useful service to more users. Therefore, we have just launched an English version that will be able to serve more people.

Who are your biggest foreign and domestic competitors? What do you think is your advantage in comparison to your competitors?

We do not have a direct competitor, but there are competitors such as Evernote, Google Docs, and so on. However, these are not direct school systems, which create notebooks divided into themes and lectures. In addition, we number the lectures and sort them to create well-arranged notes with fast searching capabilities. Right now, there are a number of our potential customers who use these services. Therefore, it is necessary to show them that mySchoolNotebook.com is more advantageous for them.

What is your plan for next six months? How do you plan on growing?

In the following six months, we would like to enlarge the number of users of the English version. Also, we have launched a German version of MSN called mySchulHeft.de just last week. Right now the team is working on Spanish version.

In summer, we should bring another additional service called School Store. At this store students will be able to sell their notes by offering them for a price that they will determine. By visiting our School Store you are able to find notes of students from the same school with the same professors from the previous year. It is not possible to find those relevant notes somewhere else on the Internet.

In general, we would like to become the main player on the market of educational innovations. We want to publish an educational magazine informing about how schools use and should use digital tools in schools, what issues they are experiencing, important numbers associated with it, and other news.

If you’re interested in checking it out, find their app in the Apple App Store or the free trial online!

Jessica Errera is a Sophomore, double majoring in Dramatic Art and English at The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. She loves theatre, reading, tennis and all things FASHION. She is also a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and a contributing writer for TalkNerdy2Me. You can follow Jessica on Twitter at @thisJESStin.

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Categories: biz geek, campus geek, tech geek

Beyond the iPad: The Top 5 Tablets

 

The iPad has been the greatest creation to date from Apple. Tons of people no matter how old, get googly-eyed when they see an iPad. However, iPads are not the only personal tablets on the market. Since tablets have been introduced, there have been many different makes and models integrated into the market. Below you’ll find a list of some of the best tablets out there and why you should consider them:

1) Toshiba Thrive Tablet: Featuring a 3.1. Honeycomb Operating System, the Toshiba Thrive tablet tops the list as the best tablet outside of the iPad. Featuing NVIDIA GeForce Graphics, which is the highest quality of NVIDIA graphics available, this tablet is perfect for the gaming geek, the reading geek, or even the chic geek who loves online shopping. Other functionalities include an HDMI output, front and rear facing cameras at 2.0 MP and 5.0 MP, an SD card slot, one USB port and it comes in at a whopping 1.6 lbs. — 16 GB, Retail Value – $399.99


2) Amazon Kindle Fire: I am crazy about this little guy.First off, its just under $200 and it does everything I need a tablet to do and more. Kindle’s are known for being some of the best e-readers on the market. But this kindle goes far beyond an electronic book. It is Wi-Fi enabled and web-browsing capable so not only to you have a fantastic e-reader, but you have a multifunctional computer in your hands. Stream thousands of music, movies, TV shows, books, and email messages onto this bad boy and your ready to face the world. The Kindle Fire is also Adobe enabled and because it is wireless, no computer is required to manage applications and content.Cloud storage on the Kindle Fire allows you to store all Amazon content so you never have to worry about space. — 8GB, Retail Value – $199

3) Samsung Galaxy Tab: Also operating under the Android 3.0-3.2 Honeycomb Operating System, the Galaxy Tab is a top pick for me as well. It is the thinnest and lightest Android tablet available at 3/8” and 1.3 lbs. The graphics on this tablet is phenomenal and the TFT LCD high-definition widescreen touch-screen will spread your eyes wide open with one look. It’s a great tablet, but I rank it at number three because of the cost – not sure if it is worth the price for it. — 16 GB, Retail Value – $499.99

4) Blackberry Playbook Tablet – Crackberry addicts are still amongst us. My favorite thing about this tablet has probably got to be it’s size. Personally I hate carrying around bulky gadgets so the fact that this tablet is less than 1 lbs. at 14.4 oz, is a win for me. Plus I enjoy the blackberry platform as well so it’s nice to have a fully functioning blackberry and a web-enabled computer all in one. The Playbook Tablet features a HD multi-touch screen, so you know the display is out of this world. It also comes with a SD card slot, HDMI output, Adobe Flash Player, and has a 10 hour battery life. — 16 GB, Retail Value – $499.99

5) Lenovo IdeaPad K1 Tablet: This tablet also operates on the Android 3.1 Honeycomb platform, which I love! And with an SD card slot, Adobe Flash, Wi-Fi, HDMI output, and 10 hours of battery life how can you go wrong? At 32 GB for $319.99 it is a win-win deal!

The Android Honeycomb is also great because it can be synced with your Android phone so that all devices are on the same page (no favoritism there). You can import some of the same settings, preferences, and contact information between all Android devices. Also, all Android Honeycomb 3.0-3.2 tablets are flash supported which is my biggest complaint with the iPad, they are not Adobe Flash supported.

So if you are shopping around for a great tablet, you don’t HAVE to choose an iPad. Explore your options!

Ashley Williams is a junior, Broadcast Journalism major and Digital Design minor at Howard University. She is a member of The National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Social Action chair for the NSCS chapter at Howard University. She is a chic geek at heart as she truly enjoys shopping for great deals and putting different styles together. She enjoys sharing her deals, beauty and fashion secrets to whoever is willing to listen. She is a contributing writer for TalkNerdy2Me and Hercampus.com.

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Categories: biz geek, tech geek

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