college

Natali Del Conte's alter-ego, Motherboard, returns to the show to fight your computer worms and viruses! On today's show, we start off with a bit about fishing and gadgets. I think we have a new show idea: Ms. Del Conte will demo the latest fishing technology on a boat every week. Any takers?

Radioshack is trying to be cool again by renaming itself "The Shack." Too easy when it comes to jokes. There's no way that we're going to hang out at "The Shack." For a matter of fact, the only reason we can think to really go to Radioshack is if we needed something random, like a cable or a transistor.

Further down the show, we find out that scientists think women are getting hotter because of evolution. Apparently, attractive women tend to breed more, but for some reason or another this has no effect on men. We're ugly as ever. Natali testifies to this when she looks at Jeff and Wilson.

A recent graduate of Monroe College in the Bronx decided to sue her school after her information technology degree proved pretty useless in this economy. While we don't know the details of the situation, this can't be good for art school. Perhaps students will get disclaimers when they get Bachelor of Fine Arts or anthropology degrees?

We finish the show with some iPhone app updates. The new OS 3.01 has beefed up Wi-Fi connections in addition to its SMS fixes, but it still doesn't discount Apple's move to block Google's Voice app on its App Store. The Palm Pre gleefully still holds onto its Google Voice app. Finally, Steven Spielberg announces that he will be remaking the Jimmy Stewart classic "Harvey." Why? Didn't Hollywood see what happened to the remake of "Miracle on 34th Street?"

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With online education growing more popular, a recent survey has ranked the most affordable online business colleges.

Coming in No. 1 as most affordable was East Carolina University in North Carolina, according to the survey released Wednesday by GetEducated.com. Residents of the state can pay $11,880 for an online bachelor's degree in business, though out-of-state students pay a less modest $54,480 for the same degree.

The University of Wyoming came in second with its bachelor's in business administration program costing $16,080 for all online students, in or out of state.

GetEducated.com graded online … Read more

iMagic Timetable Master offers to help users get organized with their class schedules. With an intuitive flow and simple commands, most users will find that this a helpful way to be prepared for their classes.

The program starts off with a simple scheduling wizard that sets the parameters of your school schedule. From there, the schedule is laid out in blocks and adding information is slightly confusing, but not impossible to master after a few minutes of experimenting and a visit to the Help file. Users first fill out a menu along the side to showcase teachers and tutors, classes, … Read more

Amazon announced its most recent Kindle device this week: the Kindle DX. Though it's almost identical to the original Kindle, this newer model is marketed for use with textbooks and for reading periodicals. While this seems to give the impression that Amazon has presented a more practical solution for college students, it's likely that the everyday pupil will reject this new device.

Currently, most students purchase their books on campus, where new and used copies are available, while the more frugal of us order online from Web sites like Amazon.com or eBay's Half.com. At the end of the semester, students can sell their books back to the school or to online buyback services where they receive a check for about 15 percent of the original price. For decades, this has been the routine.

More recently, however, the words "e-textbook" and "Netbook" have created a buzz around campus.

E-textbooks have been available for some time now, and are currently purchased for use on a laptop or desktop for about half the price of the print book version. Electronic textbooks are an excellent alternative to print books since with them, a student can search for a specific word or topic, copy/paste text into their coursework, comment within the textbook, and enjoy a lighter backpack. … Read more

After yesterday's downer show, we're back and cheerier than ever. Even Jeff is in good spirits after the New Jersey Devils got stomped all over their home ice. We discover today that Wal-Mart really does rock, and not in a good way.

The lesson of today's show is DO NOT BUY ELECTRONICS FROM WAL-MART, unless you're a rock collector, in which case you'll be thrilled, because apparently the company is literally selling Nintendo DS boxes filled with sediment.

We need to get THE BONCH, aka Bonnie Cha back on our show to talk about the Palm Pre. Actually, Palm is offering preproduction review units to Average Joes (and Josephines) in hopes of receiving "true life" feedback on the smartphone. Wilson seems to think that most consumers will frown on the smaller screen size, but we all have high hopes for the brand since this is definitely a last ditch effort in the smartphone market.

In exciting movie news, Jeff is superstoked to hear about a "Drop Dead Fred" remake starring Russel Brand, that quirky English dude that played the hippy beauhunk in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." His brand of piratey humor should do well as a young girl's imaginary friend, right? Oh! We also reveal another popular movie sequel in the works, but you'll have to listen to the show to get the full scoop.

Finally, we touch on the bloated cost of higher education and how NYU students are getting questionable phone calls about their financial aid. Apparently NYU financial advisers are individually calling students receiving significant amounts of financial aid and questioning their decisions to accept the money and attend the university. If I were still in school and someone called me about this, I'd probably just tell them to put the check in the mail and stop telling me what to do all the time.

Today's CFTP is rather heartfelt. Thanks to everyone who called in, and we'd like to personally welcome James Christopher Maximus to the world! You were born today, dude! Hopefully you're reading this in the year 2021, when you're old enough to fully grasp our jokes. We love your dad for breeding future listeners of The 404!

Per usual, don't forget to check out our live VIDEOcast (man it feels good to write that) every morning at 11 a.m. ET. We have a ton of fun in the preshow and you get the inside scoop on how we prepare for the show. And please please please call and leave us a voicemail at 1-866-404-CNET (2638)!

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is home to so many large heads.

Heads that need nurturing. Heads that needs feeding. Heads that need, just occasionally, to sweat and play and bang.

Now, some of MIT's finest brains will be denied these sources of release.

Yes, in a swathing, thoughtless massacre of all that is good and important in human development, MIT has withdrawn funding for eight crucial sports.

No longer will the men and women of MIT be able to represent the school in ice hockey or gymnastics. No longer will the artificial intelligentsia of tomorrow be able to … Read more

Sean Tice and Adam Bedient, directors of the online Web series "Streak to Win," join the show today to talk about college kids competitively streaking and the crazy antics they get into.

You can find the series online at streaktowin.com. On the Web site, you'll also find a guide to the best techniques of streaking. Most importantly, you have to be sure to tape down all appendages. Their words, not ours.

We also discuss a bit about how the Web is really opening up distribution for films that might get overlooked on the traditional festival circuit. These guys obviously didn't get too much love at Sundance when they pitched their film. And they share some interesting stories about getting arrested during the production of their Web series. Plus, plans for a follow-up featuring Ivy League streaking?

Also on the show today, we talk about a kid who mashed up Twitter, Twitpic, and the public arrest records of the Denton, Texas, Police Department. Kind of scary, but also pretty cool that there are more practical uses for Twitter than finding out that Ashton Kutcher just ate a sandwich. Just don't ever get pulled over for possession in Denton. These mug shots aren't pretty. As for Ashton Kutcher, we think this might be cheating a bit. There are starving people in the world, and someone donates money for this?

Be sure to send in your adventure stories and callbacks to 1-866-404-CNET (2638). Catch you all on the flip side.

There are those who believe that the NCAA is an iniquitous organization.

It takes advantage, they say, of unpaid student/athletes while large-stomached coaches enjoy huge deals from sneaker companies and colleges make their fortunes.

It's the equivalent of slave labor, so the story goes.

Surely not. Surely one can see this as an organization of America's brightest minds anticipating every downturn and recession and insulating itself smartly by ensuring the wages of workers are kept far beneath the level of inflation.

Which is why I was unsurprised to see that the NCAA's enterprising spirit has come … Read more

By now, many prospective college students have received responses from all the colleges to which they've applied. But now comes the hard part: deciding where to go.

Luckily, there are some sites that help them in that endeavor and provide them with valid insight before they make their final decisions. Even better, these sites can also help those who haven't applied yet and are starting their initial research.

For the high school junior who is considering applying to different colleges or the high school senior who needs to make a decision, these sites are outstanding resources.

BeRecruited: BeRecruited is designed specifically for the high school athlete. Instead of waiting for a team to find the student, BeRecruited gives them an opportunity to find colleges across the United States that have the kind of athletic program for which they're looking. They can then upload information about themselves and their high school athletic performance to attract the attention of team recruiters.

CampusExplorer: CampusExplorer allows students to search more than 6,000 colleges in the United States to find which campus is right for them. They can search by area, curriculum, or type of school. The site provides information on the size of the school, what it offers to students, and the attendance cost. It even has advice on getting into the school from students who have asked questions about the college on Yahoo Answers.

Cappex: Cappex requires students to sign up and create a personal profile that includes grades, extracurricular activities, and SAT/ACT scores. Once that profile is completed, they can search for colleges, learn about the schools in which they're interested, and use a handy tool called "What are my chances?" to help them determine if they really have a chance at being admitted to a particular school.

CollegeAnswer: Owned by college financial-aid company SallieMae, CollegeAnswer provides students with information about all facets of college admittance. From basic research on schools to information on paying for a college education, the site has it all. It provides in-depth information about colleges, including their demographics and attendance costs. But where it really shines is in its information about college life in general. It's an outstanding resource for prospective and current students.… Read more