The Quad

Illinois Perks: Netfiles (on your Desktop)

2008-07-02T22:35:00.004-05:00

At some point in your college career, you will need to share files between yourself and your peers. A great solution is Netfiles, 500 MB of online web storage for each Illinois student.

Some cool things about Netfiles: you can store files only for yourself, or you can share them with specific UIUC Netfiles users, or you can make them available on the public internet (available to any internet-enabled computer in the world).

Something that you may not know, however, is that you can mount your Netfiles directory as a drive on your computer. This means that just as you can save a file to your "C drive," you can enable your Nefiles folder to be another drive letter like the "W drive." This is done through an excellent program called WebDrive. Check out all the information on using WebDrive with your Netfiles account on the CITES Netfiles Documentation.

New UI Energy Drink!

2008-06-26T17:04:00.003-05:00

Havoc Distribution recently announced that it will be producing a University of Illinois Energy Drink. The drink will be sold and distributed across Illinois.

CK Williams, president of Havoc, said: "This is another example of the success that we are achieving as a company in executing our marketing program of co-branding our product. And to be partnered with an institution with the reputation of the University of Illinois is an honor and very exciting."

In a school where late study sessions and all-nighters are typical, the new energy will be a good addition to any student's fridge. The drink won't really be anything special, just the normal Havoc Energy Drink with an orange and blue label.

According to the Havoc Energy website: HAVOC® is a refreshing energy drink with stimulating and invigorating effects that is ideal for the modern person's work and leisure routine. The refreshing flavor, unique among the energy drinks, guarantees a perfect symphony of emotions. All this thanks to a well crafted and healthy composition of natural ingredients. None of the important ingredients of HAVOC have an effect on their own. The secret lies in the refined composition of ingredients. It improves your stamina and performance and even tastes great.

Havoc Energy Website
News Report from TradingMarkets.com

John Deere is Coming to Illinois

2008-06-19T12:04:00.003-05:00

According to the Official Press Release, "Deere & Company said today that it is investing $1 million to create a John Deere Technology Innovation Center with the University of Illinois to leverage the skills and knowledge of faculty and students in the areas of agriculture, business, engineering, and information technology.

The new facility, which is expected to be ready by July, is located in the University Research Park in Champaign, Illinois and will create an accelerated innovation environment to assist Deere in utilizing advanced electronics, mechatronics, advanced sensors and control systems technology."

"This investment dovetails perfectly at the University of Illinois with our 140-year history of addressing the most critical needs of society. Furthermore, it will enhance the knowledge and skills of faculty and students as we continue to prepare our graduates to compete and succeed in the global marketplace," said Chancellor Richard Herman of the University of Illinois.

Unacceptable Website Errors

2008-06-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

If you navigate to http://istart.uiuc.edu, you get a blank white page that says "ODOSISTARTWEB." The "www." is required in the web address. This also happens for the OAR website at http://oar.uiuc.edu. Isn't it a fairly accepted web standard that three-part internet addresses in the form http://xxxxx.uiuc.edu should work with or without the "www."? I always thought so.

UI Chicago Selects New Chancellor

2008-06-17T11:54:00.002-05:00

Paula Allen-Meares has been named the new chancellor for the University of Illinois' Chicago campus, pending approval by the UI Board of Trustees.

Allen-Meares said she was "deeply honored" to become the next chancellor of the Chicago campus and hopes "to build on and strengthen bonds" with the UI campuses in Urbana-Champaign and Springfield.

She succeeds Sylvia Manning, who retired last December after eight years as Chicago chancellor. That campus has about 25,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students and a total annual budget of about $1.7 billion.

Since Manning's retirement, the campus has been overseen by interim chancellor Eric "Rick" Gislason, the vice chancellor for research in Chicago. Gislason plans to retire next January, when Allen-Meares is scheduled to take office.

Allen-Meares, 60, has been dean of the University of Michigan's top-ranked School of Social Work since 1993. Before that, she was a professor and dean of the School of Social Work at the UI's Urbana-Champaign campus.

Read the rest of the story from the News-Gazette

'Required' College Textbooks

2008-06-16T22:00:00.002-05:00

The UIUC iStart "College 101" booklet says that "Books that are labeled 'Required' are essential for success in the class and should definitely be purchased."

Many of us in the technical fields of Engineering and Sciences know that this is definitely not true. Often, not only do you not need 'Required' books, but you don't use them at all!

Advice: Wait until the second or third class to buy books. You could miss some "used books" bargains, but you'll save more by only buying books that you need.

Football Tickets on Sale (Early)

2008-06-10T18:15:00.003-05:00

The Quad was recently informed that the UIUC athletic ticket office began selling tickets for the State Farm Arch Rivalry game against Missouri. According to the source, tickets were not suppose to be on sale until July 22nd. Apparently, for Missouri fans, tickets were expected to be extremely hard to come by. Because of this, a number of Mizzou fans are purchasing tickets through the UIUC athletic department after someone spread the word through online Missouri newsgroups.

We here at The Quad, want your help. Do you really want to have to sit by a punk in an ugly yellow shirt spilling his beer all over you while he complains about his team losing and whining that they didn't get into a BCS game last year? I didn't think so. I encourage you all to buy your self some tickets. These are Illinois seats and they should be filled with Illinois fans. Wear orange and cheer on the team that is sure to have one phenomenal season.

The State Farm Arch Rivalry is on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. Tickets can be purchased here and sell for $35.

Go Illini!

Facebook News: New Profile Layouts

2008-05-29T18:52:00.003-05:00

Facebook will be unveiling the first major change to user profile pages since the mini-feed and 3rd party apps in the coming months.

Learn more about tabs, the new publisher, resizing of news feed stories, and more.

Profile Changes Are Coming Soon

New Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

2008-05-27T18:23:00.005-05:00

Charles L. Tucker III, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, was announced as the new University of Illinois College of Engineering Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Programs last week. Professor Umberto Ravaioli has served the College amazingly over the past year. We thank him for all his hard work, and are excited about the future with Dean Tucker.

"Professor Tucker is very well-respected as a teacher, advisor, and researcher, and he has held a similar position administering academic programs at the department-level," remarked Ilesanmi Adesida, dean of the College of Engineering. "His appointment as associate dean comes after a thorough review of both internal and external candidates and I am very pleased that he has accepted my offer to serve all students and faculty in the college."

Tucker chosen as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education

Vice Chancellor for Research

2008-05-20T18:33:00.009-05:00

Our current Vice Chancellor for Research Charles Zukoski will step down this summer. As an amazing teacher, administrator, and professor, he will be missed.

Zukoski said he's leaving with mixed emotions but feels the time is right. The career path for most vice chancellors for research involves taking a job as dean, provost or chancellor of another university, he said, and he is in "no hurry to leave Champaign-Urbana."

The News-Gazette: UI vice chancellor for research will step down

What Computer for College - 2008 Edition

2008-05-14T13:46:00.006-05:00

So every year we get a few requests about "What computer should I buy for college?" Here are some of our thoughts, as well as some specifics that every new computer should have.

Laptop or Desktop (or Tablet)? - I'd say a large majority of college students have laptops, simply because the mobility of a laptop is important to students who are on-the-go. Further, a laptop is simply easier to move around while moving in and out of your dorm room. Laptops are more expensive, however, so this is a trade off decision that you must make yourself.

Tablet PCs are still a specialized category of computer - most students do not get this unless they know that they need a tablet PC. Most of the major online retailers (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba) have tablet PC options.

PC or Mac? - Most people don't really need to ask this question, as you should just get whatever you've been using before at home or school. Macs do have the reputation of being less buggy, more stylish, and simpler to use than Windows. These things come at a hefty price tag, though, as a PC is often much cheaper than an equivalent Mac laptop or desktop.

Vista or XP? - right after Windows Vista was released, some people were sticking with Windows XP, but now that Vista has been updated significantly, there is no reason that a new computer should be purchased without a copy of the latest, most secure version of Windows - Vista.

Now some idea on specifications (these are more appropriate for Windows laptops)

Screen Size - This defines the overall size of the laptop. A 15" display is the typical average, but some students will get a smaller screen because they want to be more mobile, or a bigger (17 inch) screen if they want a desktop replacement (a computer that they intend to leave on their desk a majority of the time)

RAM/Memory - If you're getting Windows Vista, 2 GB of memory is a must, if not 3 GB.

CPU Speed - Intel Core 2 Duo is important to get if you want a speedy laptop - do not get a Celeron or a Intel Dual Core. 2 GHz is the typical speed, and slight deviations from this (e.g. 2.2 GHz) won't affect overall performance that much.

Hard Drive - A typical hard drive is between 150-250 GB for laptops. This is plenty of space for a decent amount of music and school documents. If you will be doing video editing (which takes up more hard drive space), you may want to get something bigger.

Optical Drive - A standard laptop will come with a CD Burner + DVD Player. This is probably enough for an average student, but a DVD-burner upgrade is nice if you want to burn DVDs of video or for backups.

Video Card - A laptop will probably not play games very well, simply because a top-of-the-line video card cannot fit into the laptop. The standard video card is fine for everyday use.

Wireless - Wireless is essential for school laptops. Upgrades to "802.11 Draft N" or things with "N" are not essential - your school wireless will use the widely standardized 802.11b.

Summer!

2008-05-12T18:24:00.003-05:00

Summer is here. Grades are expected to be posted on Friday - so be ready.

Have a great summer. We'll continue to post UIUC news here on a less frequent schedule.

Gas Mileage Tips

2008-05-07T07:00:00.002-05:00

As the semester comes to an end, many UIUC students will be driving home and to other parts of the country for summer internships. But the gas prices are quite ridiculous right now, making driving much more costly. Check out some of these videos and websites to maximize your miles per gallon.

Revision3: Gas Prices killing you? We can help you max out your MPG!
Wikipedia: Fuel economy-maximizing behaviors
CleanMPG

Image by cobalt123 under Creative Commons

Send Your Name to the Moon

2008-05-04T08:58:00.003-05:00

Before NASA begins manned missions to the moon, they will first send the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to scout out particular features on the surface. The LRO is scheduled to launch later this year, but NASA has invited people of all ages to take part in the mission now. You can visit the LRO website to submit your name to be brought aboard the spacecraft. The collected names will be stored in a database on a microchip inside the LRO. Participants are encouraged to submit their information at http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?"

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

One boy, one girl - one dorm room

2008-05-03T17:42:00.003-05:00

Interesting story about two students of opposite sexes rooming together in Connecticut's Wesleyan University dorms.

"People are shocked to hear that it's happening and even that it's possible," said Youngdahl, a 20-year-old sophomore. But "once you actually live in it, it doesn't actually turn into a big deal."

CNN: One boy, one girl -- one dorm room

UIUC on Engadget

2008-05-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Very cool to see UIUC on a technology blog ... seems like we don't get as much press as we deserve.

We've already seen a few viruses delivered via hardware, but a group of researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are now warning that we may not have seen anything yet.

Engadget: Researchers design "malicious circuits," warn of potential risk

Reading Day 2008

2008-05-01T10:46:00.001-05:00

Well, the semester is officially over. Classes are finished and all that's left is final exams. Today is Reading Day. It's been in debate for years as to what the purpose of this day really is. Do they expect us to read all day? I think it is meant to be a day off, after class and before exams. To those of you who have exams on Friday, today would probably be a great day to study. For those of you who have nothing to study for, or are just too lazy, here are some ideas to fill your day:

Top Ten Things to do on Reading Day:
10. Study for Finals
9. Go outside and enjoy the weather
8. Go home and skip finals
7. Come back to campus when your parents find out you're skipping finals
6. Return your stolen cafeteria items to the "amnesty box"
5. Recycle all your notes (or toss them into a [safe and contained] fire)
4. Browse Facebook (all day)
3. Go to your normal Thursday classes and wonder where everyone is
2. Sleep
1. Read!?! (It is reading day.)

Good luck on your exams!

Compass Grades

2008-04-28T19:04:00.002-05:00

Four of my courses this semester use Illinois Compass, two of which use it strictly for publishing grades. Compass should have a feature of emailing me when my grades are updated. They already have the option of emailing you when you have new "Compass Messages," and they display on the front page when any grade is updated, so why can't we just combine the two features?

Seems like something all too obvious.

Facebook

2008-04-25T15:41:00.000-05:00

I think it would be interesting to see your Facebook friends sorted by number of mutual friends, and also mutual friends of friends. Does your number of mutual friends define who your closest real-life friends are? I would guess maybe not.

In other Facebook news, Facebook Chat has been enabled for the University of Illinois network. Usage seems to be limited, though, as students already have their normal way of chatting established.

Go Green: It's Earth Day!

2008-04-22T08:26:00.003-05:00

According to Wikipedia, Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22nd and "promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world."

It is important for us as habitants of this planet to protect it and preserve it for the many generations to come. There are many ways we can help "save our planet" that are very easy. One of the easiest things to do is to recycle. Both Champaign and Urbana offer free recycling services for all of its citizens. All it takes is a little effort and you can make a big difference. There are also a number of additional ways you can stay green by using energy efficient appliances, compact florescent light bulbs, and riding a bike or walking instead of driving, just to name a few.

Check out the Earth Day Challenge to calculate your impact on the Earth and see what you can do to change your habits.

Happy Earth Day!

Illinois Earthquake

2008-04-18T08:40:00.000-05:00

An earthquake shook Illinois last night. It was centered near West Salem, IL.

A 5.4 earthquake early Friday rocked people awake as far away as Indiana, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a large Midwest temblor.

Associated Press: 5.4 earthquake rocks Illinois; also felt in Indiana

"Unaccustomed to such a large Midwest temblor" - That's for sure. What are we even supposed to do during an earthquake? Here are the guidelines from FEMA.

Overheard at UIUC

2008-04-18T08:35:00.000-05:00

Interesting Facebook group:
Overheard at University of Illinois

Apparently these groups are fairly common. A quick search of "Overheard" on Facebook turns up more than 500 group results - including "Overheard at Vanderbilt" with 3000 members. The University of Illinois version seems to be about the second most popular with almost 2000 members. Very interesting way to waste some time.

Finals Week: Turn off the Distractions

2008-04-17T07:55:00.002-05:00

When you're studying or doing final projects, Facebook and other "Internet time wasters" are a real problem. Robert Scoble noticed this in a recent post:

Want to get something done? Turn off Twitter. Turn off Facebook. Turn off blog comments. Turn off FriendFeed. Turn off Flickr. Turn off YouTube. Turn off Dave Winer’s blog and Huffington Post.

Not productive enough? Turn off the Internet

We college students only need to worry about the big one: Facebook. How can you turn it all off? Short of disconnecting the Internet or modifying your HOSTS file, blocking a website is hard to do. I propose that you simply turn off all email alerts in Facebook, and then make a promise to yourself that you won't visit any of these time-wasting sites until the sweet, sweet summer. (Although this sounds easier than it actually is, it is indeed possible)
If you really want to get something done these last three weeks, turn it all off.

Cell Phones on Campus

2008-04-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

Does everyone on campus have a cellular phone? It seems like it.

Last week someone who knew me slightly but did not know if I owned a cell phone just asked me "Can I use your phone?" I of course got it out and let them use it, but was surprised that he just assumed that I had a phone.

Is it a requirement to have a cell phone on a college campus these days?

Photo used under Creative Commons.

Mom's Weekend 2008

2008-04-11T08:45:00.004-05:00

This weekend is Mom's Weekend here at the U of I. This is a time for students to open their doors and show our mother's what we've become without their guidance. Think of it like a middle-school open house, where the parents come in and you get to show them the pirate ship you've created out of leftover macaroni noodles you've been stashing from the cafeteria. This is an opportunity for students to "bond" with their mother's and show them the sights and sounds of this wonderful place you've began to call home.

I remember my first Mom's Weekend. My Mom came in on Saturday morning and meet me for lunch. She wanted the "experience", so I took her to Za's. It started as a great day, but the weather quickly took over and we found ourselves in the middle of a rain/snow storm. After multiple trips to local bookstores, the craft fair, and the flower show, my mom was ready to call it a day. We went to dinner and then enjoyed "My Fair Lady" at the Assembly Hall. I had a great weekend with my mother and I ended the day with a few new t-shirts, a new umbrella, and some food that I told her I wouldn't eat (but of course later did).

What I am trying to tell you is that although you may think this weekend is just a waste of time and you would rather be sleeping through it, it is definitely worth it. If not for you, for your mom. She has raised you your whole life and one day you just left her. She misses you. Welcome her to your new home. Let her buy you things. Enjoy your time together.

Some of this weekend's festivities include bowling, a comedian, baseball games, a musical, a capella performances, a craft fair, a fashion show, and a flower show just to name a few. Check out the complete Mom's Weekend Calendar here! Take a look at the schedule and find out (if you don't already know) what your mom is interested in. Take her to your favorite restaurants and have a great weekend.