"The End Of Minutes": Full Vonage Mobile App Review

For Your Info: Just wanted to let you know that the two posts about this application were sponsored by Vonage. With that said, I will still be giving you my true and honest opinion about this application, expressing what I find, in as unbiased a manner, as I possibly can.

Overview

If you have yet to read my previous introduction post, I have used the new Vonage Mobile App for a week straight. Using it as much as I possibly could, here are my findings...

How To Play Land Mines Drinking Game

Will Vonage's New Free Calling Mobile App Put an End to "Minutes" Once and for All?

For Your Info: Just wanted to let you know that the two posts about this application were sponsored by Vonage. With that said, I will still be giving you my true and honest opinion about this application, expressing what I find, in as unbiased a manner, as I possibly can.

A recurring question always comes to mind every time I glance at my phone bill, "Why am I still paying for minutes on top of my unlimited data plan?" Though I supposedly have unlimited data, according to my wireless provider, "unlimited" does not appear to include the data I use when making phone calls. Well I say enough of that!

Vonage has recently released a Mobile Application for iPhone and Android that uses the data connection on your phone to free worldwide talk and text all other users of the app. Using your phone's 4G, 3G, or Wi-Fi connection, this application will allow you to make phone calls that circumvent the whole "minutes" idea completely.  Just be sure to remember that the calls still use your data plan, which is something to think about if you have a cap.

Even though they were not the first to implement this idea of data calling or "voice-over IP" (for all you nerds out there), Vonage's Mobile App is said to boast several improvements in user experience over it's competitors.

These differences, as well as my complete opinion of the application as a whole, will be included in a review exactly one week from today. Between that time and now, I am going to be testing this new application by exclusively making phone calls with it throughout my daily life. I really feel like the only way to truly give my honest opinion about this app is to just jump head first into it and see how I feel about it when I come out the other side.

Below is a video explaining some of the features of the application........

5 Cheap Gifts for Your Sweetheart on Valentine's

Photo By: epSos.de

Well, in the words of the great Bender of Futurama, "I'm back Baby". What would bring me back from my two month long hiatus, you say? Well, love, of course! Paul McCartney's performance at the Grammy's stirred up all those Beatles' love juices inside me, and I just had to come back, groveling at your feet, begging you to take me back and listen to my advice once again.

So here I am, and I hope you can forgive me for leaving. I thought about you everyday, and brought you a gift to make up for it. Well…..gift ideas at least. Five Valentine's gifts to give your sweetheart that won't break your tiny little student sized bank.

So here it goes, and P.S. - ILU.

5. Love Scavenger Hunt
Leave clues all around on little pieces of heart-shaped paper -- one leading to the other, pointing to a final destination found by your Valentine. Use clues that are about something personal, that only a few people would know, if not just you and your lover. The final destination can be a small gift, or just you.

4. Coupon Booklet
One Valentine's Day Eve long, long ago -- I was strapped for cash and wanted to get my girlfriend something. What I ended up doing was using Microsoft Word and little bit of creativity to print a custom coupon booklet of "love" for my sweetheart. Settle down, settle down -- it wasn't what you're thinking (dirty minded college kid).

The coupons were innocent and could be redeemed for anything from a back rub to cooking dinner one night. You can go the other way if you like, just remember to make it something you don't usually do that he/she enjoys, and it should work just fine.

Extra Advice: Make sure to punch holes in the coupon when it's used or you'll be stuck doing the laundry for a month until you realize you only made three of those freaking coupons in the first place.

How To Get Rid of a Hangover

Photo By: aerodesign

Ahh, the hangover -- dreaded reminder of a night devoted to forgetting. Though so-called "remedies" appear abundant at first glance, they always seem to do little in stopping its evil onset.

Well, I'm sorry to say that I won't be bringing you some ancient middle earth cure for the mistakes you made through others' encouragement last night, nor am I going to try and sell you some wonder pill that's supposed to soak up all those "Bad Booze Toxins" swimming around in your bloodstream. Instead, I will be sharing with you what has seemed to work for me -- so pay attention.......

College Tuition Facts That Will Surely Piss You Off

I usually steer clear of these huge "info-graphs", but this one was just too relevant to pass up. Being that I am a recent graduate currently feeling the effects of the loan debt this graph is talking about, I really had no choice but to share it.

I also challenge anyone who is currently attending or has recently graduated college to try not getting upset while reading this. Trust me...it's hard.

Make the Most of Your Internship

By Follett intern, Barron Biros

Figuring out your post-graduation career plans can be a daunting task, but one of the best ways to prepare for the real world is by having internship experience. Last fall, a friend told me about Follett’s Marketing Genius competition. I was immediately hooked when I heard about the grand prize: a paid summer internship with Follett’s integrated marketing department and free housing in Chicago.

I entered the competition with my best friend and we created a detailed marketing plan to promote Follett’s Rent-A-Text program, which allows students to rent textbooks instead of buy them full price, and CafeScribe, Follett’s digital textbook option. After pitching our campaign to company executives, we were awarded first place and named Follett’s first “Marketing Geniuses.”

My internship with Follett allowed me to work for a real-world marketing team and gave me the opportunity to put the skills I learned in college to the test. Whether you’re destined to be a Marketing Genius, or your career aspirations lie elsewhere, it’s important to remember that an internship can be a great stepping stone to full-time employment. Here are three tips for how to stand out during your internship and make a great impression on your employer.

Network: Everyone knows networking can be the key to finding a job, but it can also be helpful after your internship is complete. So take the time to get to know your co-workers whether you plan to continue your career there or move on somewhere else. And remember, networking doesn’t always have to be about business. I’ve made some great professional connections here at Follett, but I’ve also made friends with my colleagues. You never know where your connections may lead when your internship is over.

Feeling Lonely? -- 5 Ways To Cure Those Freshman Blues

Photo By: Sara Björk

Moving away from your parents and friends for college can be kind of a shock, and unless you're some kind of "social butterfly" -- it might take a while for you to find interesting people you can connect with. So, here are a few ways to cure some of those in-between"home-town blues" while still meeting great new people.

Take a walk around campus (even if you don't have class)
I know this sounds a little obvious, but we've all had friends that, if they're not eating or going to class -- they're more than likely sitting in their dorm room alone. If I just described you, Get Out for God Sakes! Sitting around doing nothing is the leading cause of the dreaded Freshman Fifteen! Let me put it this way, I met the girl I've spent the last 5 years of my life with on a bus on the way back from "The Freshman Lot" (a place where Freshman have to park their cars if they live on campus). That moment was as random and coincidental as you can possibly get and it has shaped everything about my life ever since. You're never going to find what your looking for where you've already searched, so why not go out and have a look around somewhere else for once.

Leave your Hometown at Home
It's hard to leave people you care about and go on to something new, and I'm not saying you need to cut ties completely -- but if talking with your family and old friends consumes your life at college, you will never be able to form the new friendships and bonds your college years can create. It's alright to Skype a friend every once and a while, or even keep a long distance relationship working -- but you can't let it run your life. Make time for old friends as well as new ones. Being frank about it, if you loved home so much -- then why did you leave it to go to school in the first place? There is such a thing as online classes you know.

Join a club or organization
Joining a school club or organization is by far the easiest way to meet new people and make new friends (that is if you actually make time for it). You don't even need to sign up! When I was a Freshman living in the dorms, there was a Baptist Student Organization that always met at the bottom of College Hill and played Ultimate Frisbee every Wednesday afternoon. I never signed a paper or went to a single meeting with the group, but every Wednesday for a couple of months I would head down there and play a few games with them.

"Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" -- Thank You Steve

Not many changed the world as you did -- Thank You.

Google+ You = "Your Social Rebirth"

Have you ever logged onto Facebook and thought, "Who are you people and what have you done with my friends?" Me too! For some strange reason I have accumulated over 400 people that would consider themselves my "Friends", and all I ever see when I log on is them doing stuff without me. Because in truth -- we aren't really friends, we're "Facebook Friends".

Well, if you're tired of feeling this way, I think I may have found the solution....Google+! Google+ represents something of a Social Restart button. Instead of going through and slyly "de"-friending people (that honestly probably never was a friend in the first place), now you can just move onto to the fresh start and greener pastures that is Google+.

Not to mention Google+ has a simple and easy way to move people that aren't as close into a separate category called "Acquaintances". Because isn't that what 90% of Facebook friends are anyway......just Acquaintances.

So.....if your looking for a new Social Rebirth to go along with that degree your striving for,

Here's a invite link to get you started: https://plus.google.com/i/_IspoBj7YP4:nuJGxYj7G6k

P.S. - I know this kinda sounds like a commercial, but no one paid me or told me to say this. Facebook has just been making me mad lately.