Webware

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

If you are a college student, you should know you now have a much higher chance of ending up with student loans, than if you graduated 15 years ago. And even if you are one of the lucky few who don't, every American is carrying a burden of about $184,000 in government debt and unfunded obligations.

In short, it's important to learn how to be financially responsible. This is the message that mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network, wants you get via an online flash game called "DebtSki". The game is is part of mtvU's and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's Indebted campaign, an ongoing effort to encourage students to help stop the fiscal crisis in the United States.

It's a very simple Mario-like kind of game, where you maneuver the game character Piggy Banks through a series of obstacles, while trying to collect coins and then making decisions to spend those coins on items.

There are things you need to collect to win the game; other items are discretionary, which could bring you happiness but could potentially put you in debt. You are challenged to create a balance among happiness, debt, and responsibilities.

This alternative browser looks to be built on Internet Explorer, combining a robust notepad with diminished Web browsing. Freeware Student Pad splits the browser and notepad horizontally, so that the top half of window is for taking notes and the bottom half is for surfing the web. It sounds like an interesting project, but the execution of it as it is now shows that there's room for improvement. There's also no documentation on the browser's source, although it uses Favorites so I'm assuming it's based on IE.

It's a good idea, with an execution that is clearly still in development and more novelty than anything else. There are some nifty student-based needs addressed here. There's a built-in calculator with square-root functionality, calendar, bibliography template, e-mail client with Gmail and Hotmail hooks, MDI editor, and a basic spate of browsing features. The notepad lives on top of the browser, emphasizing both workflow and feature set.

The browser is really what stops Student Pad from joining the workforce as a tolerable alternative browser. You can change your font, adjust the text and background colors, mark favorites, and view the source code. A helpful icon--the sheets of paper--copies and pastes the URL you're looking at directly into the notepad.

However, the browser itself doesn't work as smoothly as it should. It's slow to load pages, sluggish when scrolling, and reluctantly lets you jump into other programs. A lack of tooltips makes getting acclimated a struggle. Modern browsing features such as tabs and a download manager are not supported, and advanced security enhancements are present only in a "web security indicator" that doesn't seem to work.

There are some interesting tweaks here, including rolling most features under the Tools menu. Perhaps the program will become significantly better in the next major update, planned for April 10. For right now, Student Pad remains an interesting curiosity--but nothing more.

With banks scrutinizing loan applicants with renewed fervor, students who need money to cover college tuition could start looking to friends, family, and social networking for cash.

Two start-ups are banking on the premise, with Web sites that help college students secure small loans for school from relatives, close friends, and their extended social networks. Their timing couldn't be better, given that banks and other private lenders are pulling up stakes on risky loans (e.g., those granted without a proven credit history) and students need to bridge the gap between a $40,000 tuition bill and a $20,000 government loan.

One such start-up, Redwood City, Calif.-based GreenNote, will officially launch its service Tuesday to help students solicit as little as $100 from friends and family at an interest rate that's on par with subsidized government loans. For a percentage fee, the site legally formalizes what would otherwise be a transaction sealed with a handshake or nod. Its rival, Fynanz, launched in March.

"They're essentially playing the role that banks had in the past," said Forrester Principal Analyst Brad Strothkamp. "Banks have tightened up lending standards, so if you're looking for a small loan, and you don't have a credit history, this may be the only option."

Microsoft has been tight-lipped about the "Albany" product that it has just started testing, but ZDNet blogger Mary Jo Foley hears it might be a consumer bundle that includes Windows Live OneCare, Office Live Workspace, and Office Home and Student Edition.

The product, which apparently also goes by the name "ValueBox" may be an attempt to beef up the consumer version of Office amid stepped-up competition from Google Docs and other free and online competitors.

It strikes me, though, that Microsoft may be looking at ways to protect the Home and Student version of Office, a product that has been a huge seller at retail ever since its introduction as the Student and Teacher version back with Office XP in 2001.

Since Office Live Workspace is already free, the main addition to the Office box would be Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft's consumer antivirus product. Although it carries a $50 list price, it can often be had for far less either at retail stores or online. How much this would add to the product's appeal is unclear, though antivirus is also one of the biggest areas where consumers shell out for boxed software.

Microsoft has confirmed that it sent out invitations seeking testers for Albany, but has declined to offer any details about the product.

The testing of Albany, though, is not occurring in a vacuum. The company had previously said it was looking into the possibility of an advertising-funded productivity suite based on its Works franchise. Some inside the company have been pushing that approach for some time.

Microsoft may, however, now be rethinking whether it makes sense to have two separate productivity suites for the home at all.

Works has historically been a separate product from Office, although Microsoft has at times brought the two products closer together. One bundle of the product, known as the Works Suite, includes an older version of Word as part of the product, along with Works' separate tools for things like databases and spreadsheets. Microsoft has not updated Works substantially in some time, with the product overdue for either upgrade or replacement with Office Home and Student, were Microsoft to go that route.

Any decision on the future of Works would have to look beyond the retail channel, however. Although Office Home and Student is the big seller on store shelves, Microsoft has historically used Works as a product that computer makers can pre-install on new machines, though such deals generate only a couple of dollars for Microsoft. These days, new PCs also come with a trial version of Office. With direct sellers like Dell, Microsoft also has an option called Office Basic that includes Word, Excel, and Outlook.

University students face a certain challenge keeping their homework, class schedules, and research developments organized among paper documents and computers in their room, home, and the lab. When epiphany strikes, it's just as likely to be recorded on the back of a crumpled sandwich receipt as it is on a Word document or online briefcase--or was that just me?

That's exactly why Tom Whitson wrote Notely.

Developed in the Netvibes Ecosystem and translated into a number of languages, Notely is positioned to meet students' organizational needs by storing notes, important links, a calendar, a class schedule, grades, and a to-do list, and is accessible from anywhere a student logs on.

Notely racks up points for online document storage and data backup, and a word processor that supports links and images. It also has a language translator and can export and e-mail some of the stored data. Friends who jump on Notely's bandwagon can share information, such as class schedules or lecture notes.

You can add as many courses as you want into Notely, just not the lecture time.

While Notely has much to offer students, there are some snags. For starters, it's not clear how much storage Notely offers. Also, the calendar and scheduling sections deserve some attention and are the program's weakest sections. Despite assigning preferences for a 12-hour clock, I had to schedule my adviser meeting for 16:00. And while I could list my courses and the meeting room, Notely didn't note the class time. I also didn't like having to drag and drop classes into Notely's schedule. I'd much rather enter the time once and let the schedule populate itself. Many of these ills can be improved by emulating Google and Outlook calendars and offering greater flexibility for adding events directly into a schedule instead of one by one.

With a Mac dashboard widget, a Facebook app, and iPhone and mobile phone interfaces, Notely is also accessible to (technologically advantaged) students traveling between points who might otherwise reach for that degraded receipt.

Students solely interested in online note taking and collaboration should also consider Notesake, another free tool reviewed on Webware.com.

Rule #15 of creating an Internet start-up: Short names are good. Just look at all the companies that are eliminating letters from their names--i.e. Flickr. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the brains behind STATravel193 got that memo. STATravel193 is a new social networking site created by STA Travel, an agency which organizes study-abroad logistics for students. The thinking behind "193" is cute--there are 193 countries in the world--but the site's name comes across as sounding like an AOL screenname.

Nevertheless, I'm hoping that Web users will be able to get past the awkward name of STATravel193, because it looks like this is one "niche" social networking site that will serve a very useful purpose. Right now, the site is in a pre-launch mode, but eventually it aims to be a full-on social networking site for students who are abroad or planning to go abroad, and I think that's a much-needed niche on the Web. I never studied abroad in college, but I knew plenty of people who did, and I remember that the majority of them were quite nervous throughout the organization and preparation process. This will likely be a great resource.

On the downside, the site is currently very Flash-heavy, which likely won't translate well to the oft-shoddy wireless access still found in many colleges' student housing.

(Via PSFK Trend.)

Gradefix is a Web-based organizational tool aimed at students who want to organize their schoolwork in a virtual assignment book. Users simply add their assignment info, and Gradefix prioritizes the projects that need their attention. Could this be simpler than a hard-copy day planner? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

Gradefix separates schoolwork into four categories: homework, reading, quiz study, and exam study. Sorely lacking is scheduling for lab work and study groups, two activities that most college students likely would add to their schedules. In that regard, Gradefix seems suited more to the high school crowd.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

After adding a new task, Gradefix will plot out when you need to work on it based on when it's due, how long you think it will take, and your total daily time budgeted for homework. Work is presented by week, with color coding for each class. One obvious problem with this system is that some assignments might need to be done in one sitting, and can't be split up.

What's cool about Gradefix is that missing an assignment automatically re-arranges the the rest of your priorities. The tool will automatically put the missed task at the top of your daily queue, and adjust how much additional time needs to be spent to make up for a lost day.

Gradefix is an interesting take on project management, but compared to a hard-copy day planner, I think it's asking too much for students to log in and input assignments every day when they'll likely have to write them down in class anyway. I'd also worry about reliability -- will the service be running when I need it? Gradefix is fairly easy to use, but as far as building strong study skills, I don't think it beats writing things down on a piece of paper.