Campus Essentials: The Electronics Edition

By: Travis Harvey (Illinois State University)

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With the summer speeding away many of us are starting to think of the upcoming school year.  If you’re like me you’re wondering where this summer went, I just remember taking my last final. But to get back on topic, I like to be prepared when I step onto campus otherwise that first day can be completely overwhelming. Here are a couple of gadgets that every college should have.

iPod Touch

I’m sure everyone by now has some sort of MP3 player, but on college campuses, the iPod touch is the best bet. Not only can you rock out to music on your way to class, but while you’re sitting in that boring biology lecture you can play games.  Just make sure not to get caught, you will get called out and that can be embarrassing.

Olympus stylus Tough 8010

This is pretty much the camera any college age student should have, heck this is the camera everyone should have if you’re accident prone…like me.  This 14.0 megapixel camera is pretty much everything-proof, shock, freeze, water, and dust resistant. If you plan on taking party pictures this may be the camera for you. Even if you aren’t the clumsy person I’m sure somehow camera will meet pavement and with the Olympus Tough you won’t have to worry.

Dry-All wet cell phone emergency kit

The Dry-All wet cell phone emergency kit will certainly come in handy while away at school. I don’t know how many of my friends will drop their phone in a glass of water or those who can’t part with their phones in the shower or toilet. Mistakes happen, so why not be prepared for those mistakes? The Dry-All wet cell phone emergency kit retails for only $9.99, that’s a whole lot cheaper than getting a whole new phone.

Western Digital My Passport

This is quite possibly the most important gadget on this list, computers crash and sometimes it’s an easy fix and all is well with your world. But there are times, crucial times (like right before that history term paper is due.) that all your files will be gone. That leaves you without any photos you may have, and music, and most importantly any important documents.  So, as a person who this has happened to I urge you to get yourself a external hard drive because it’s a horrible feeling knowing EVERYTHING is gone.

And just for a bonus, here’s software that I guarantee you end up using more than once.

Blast file finder

How many times have you downloaded a file and then you go to look for it and you have no idea what folder it went into?  Maybe it’s the in the folder with all the weird numbers? Nope. Or how about over here? Still no. Why waste your valuable time with something like this when you can have a program that finds all your docs for you? Unfortunately this product is only for Macs, but I’m sure if you scour the Internet, you will find another out there for us PC users.

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