DevinCollier.com

Recently, there has been a small debate as to who is “the smartest professor ever”. A simple search query in any search engine reveals many ideal candidates; each one incorporates high levels of education, long lists of valid credentials, and a general collaboration of being smart. The level of intelligence is not only “book smart”, but also logically smart.

The following is a list of what could make any professor or teacher the smartest professor ever to his or her students. The list is not comprehensive, but provides good direction on how anyone can determine if his or her teacher is the best ever.

• Education - There is a “doctor” somewhere in the teacher’s name or they have a high level of formal education.
• Setup to Succeed - The teacher strives to setup their students for success in class and in life with lessons designed to push each individual to new heights of understanding.
• Questions - They plan for and answer student’s questions with ease no matter how big or small it is.
• Expectations - Each student knows what is expected of them because of how the teacher has structured the assignments and material in class.
• Latest and Greatest - Being informed with the latest news and information is critical to ensure that what is being taught in class directly relates to everyday life.
• Willingness to Help - Any person that is not only willing to help, but also offering that help makes the difference with students struggling to find answers.

Here at BYU, we’re privileged to have many professors who I would declare are the “smartest professors ever”.

Here’s a small list of wonderful professors who are the “best” in their respective fields.

• Dr. Conan Albrecht - Programming
• Dr. Steven Liddle - eBusiness and Programming
• Professor Craig Lindstrom - Technical Communications
• Dr. Gary Hansen - Database and diagramming design
• Dr. James Hansen - Database Design
• Dr. Marshall Romney - IT Audit

In my Information System class, our group has been asked by the smartest professor ever to share a little about Search Engine Optimization. We decided to post the many reasons why our Information Systems BYU professor is the greatest teacher ever to help illustrate how powerful correct optimization of a blog or webpage can be.

He’s a Mac guy.
There are many Macintosh users in the Information System’s program. Each user seems to appreciate a well built computer, and Dr. Albrecht is no exception. He knows his stuff and the operating system he uses daily (Mac OS Leopard) is Unix based.

He’s funny and makes the class enjoyable.
There are some subjects that students find boring or especially challenging. Programming can be one of them. Thankfully, the best professor ever really tries to incorporate ideas and stories that help everyone understand the concepts of Object Oriented design.

Our professor enjoys video games.
It’s not everyday that you can hold a long conversation about the good old times. Dr. Albrecht’s blog revels his gamer’s side as he comments how newer gaming consoles are bringing back the great games of olden times.

He’s been to the dark side.
Dr. Albrecht reminds his students every so often about how he originally graduated BYU as an accounting student. He gives us wise and smart council to stay away from lots of numbers and statistics.

All these reasons and more help illustrate the fact that Dr. Conan Albrecht is really the smartest professor ever and we highly recommend that everyone should jump at the chance to take a class from him.

UPDATE (August 28, 2008): It looks like our good friend Lee Falin has released a free version of the scriptures. It’s up on the iTunes app store and is currently version 1.0.3.

UPDATE (August 11, 2008): Thanks for all your responses regarding the poll. There is a new LDS application coming out soon offered by scriptureapp.com. I’m part of the beta team combing through the bugs. It will be cheaper and add a lot more functionality then the current applcation available on iTunes.

I’ve also received some questions as to why I would want to charge for the scriptures. Shouldn’t they be free? I’d love it if I could spend 60-100 hours developing an application and have it be free to everyone, however, I just can’t afford that amount of time.  I’ve decided not to offer a free or low cost version of the scriptures due to the fact that people believe I would be making a profit (see comment at the end of this post) and there already is two alternatives out there. I’ll keep this post updated when the other LDS application is released.

UPDATE (August 1, 2008): The LDS Scriptures application went live today on iTunes. We’ll see how well this application is received from users for a little while. I may consider making a lite version of the scriptures soon if time permits.

UPDATE (July 27, 2008): Looks like the app store is live. Our friends at ReadScriptures.com are releasing a new application as soon as Apple approves their application for $15.  I’ve been asked by many people to write an application or provide means to get the scriptures on the iPhone and iPod touch relatively cheaply (or free).

Please make your vote count by taking this poll below. If there are enough people that want an alternate application I’ll seriously consider beginning development. Please note that many people don’t realize the work it takes to create a “free” application. It costs a minimum of $99 just to register the application with Apple. Then there is the cost of the computer (Leopard required), and obviously the time of the developer(s). I would estimate the time to develop an LDS scriptures application to be around 60-80 hours. Lastly, I have no idea about copyright since the scriptures is not my work. Besides creating a new scriptures application though, here are some alternate options that are possible in the mean time.

• Use the application bookshelf in the app store ($5), I can put up the scriptures as downloadable ebooks
• If your iPod Touch or iPhone is jailbroken, I can put up a repository on Cyndia similar to the repository created for the installer program

Also, I’m considering creating a program similar to “ward tools” where church leaders can have quick access to membership records on either the iPhone or iPod touch. Please leave a comment on this post or leave me a note through my contact form.

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For older versions of iPhone and iPod Touch users:

I’ve created a repository to allow any user to quickly add the standard works to their iPhone or iPod touch quickly and easily without the need to have Edge or Wifi access. They are in the form of eBooks and use the “Books” application.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch so you have access to the “Installer” application.
2. Make sure you have the “Books” application installed.
3. Within the installer, add “http://www.devincollier.com/ebooks” as a
new repository/source. Tutorial can be found here.
4. I’ve put the standard works in the “eBooks - LDS” category. Install each one
and enjoy.

UPDATE: I have tested “plucker” files from the lds.org website and have found them to cause the books application to really slow down. Also, some characters look really weird and it’s hard to navigate through the text.

UPDATE 2: It appears that the latest version of the “books” application in combination with 1.1.4 firmware breaks the location of the ebooks. Since application will be coming out within a month, I’m going to wait before I fix these issues. These ebooks will be still be up, but may not work with your iphone.

Most MacBook and MacBook Pro users are unaware of a great way to upgrade an internal hard drive. My MacBook came with a standard 5400 RPM 80 Gigabyte drive. I recently wanted to import my photo library and have it with me at all times which required over 20 GB (which I didn’t have).

On Black Friday this past year, Staples put a Western Digital 120 GB “pocket” drive on sale for 49.99. I purchased this drive, used some drive cloning software, and switched the two. Now I have an extra 80 GB to store my files plus I have a USB 2.0 spare drive which is perfect for backing up most of my valuable data.

Here’s the steps to upgrade:

• Purchase an external 2.5″ SATA drive. I like the western digital drives because of how easy it is to open the plastic case. Be sure you chose a SATA (or serial ATA) drive and not an older IDE drive.
• Look up your computer on ifixit.com for a tutorial on how to switch the drive (MacBooks are much easier to upgrade than the MacBook Pro).
• Download Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer all files from one drive to another.
• Switch the drives and select your new startup disk so there isn’t a slight delay when the computer starts up and looks for a previous drive.

Enjoy the extra space!

Recently HP stopped including full starter cartridges with its 2600 series color laser printer. They joined Canon, Brother, and Epson in the sense that each of these companies only include starter or “half full” cartridges. They say this increases sales of cartridges, a cash cow for any ink or toner company. Looking over HP’s specifications on newer color laser printers, it appears only the lower end of the printers (1600 and 2600 series) only include starter cartridges.Word to the wise. It was common practice that resellers would purchase these color laser printers and strip out the toner to sell though online auction sites. Be care if you think the price of a printer with no toner is too good to be true. Purchasing 4 color toner cartridges can be costly and possibly more than just purchasing a new machine.

I’ve received many complaints from a few customers about toner they recently purchased on an online auction site. The auction showed a picture of genuine HP toner sealed in the box. The contents of the auction description showed no indication that this wasn’t OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) cartridges for sale. A few days later when the toner arrived, the seller of this auction sent remanufactured cartridges. Although I don’t condemn using remanufactured cartridges, if you pay for OEM cartridges, you should get them. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, be sure to do the following:

• Make sure you communicate with the seller of the auction before you purchase or commit to buy them.
• Check the feedback rating of the seller
• Ask other buyers from this seller if possible
• Read the fine print of the auction, if you don’t see it, ask the seller what the fine print is
• If it’s too good of price to be true, it is.

I’ve just posted a tutorial on PrinterHacks.com on how to easily connect your JetDirect network based printer up to a home network. Of course, there are many different configurations and setups out there, but I did my best to tackle all the bases and at least cover the concepts. In the future, I plan to provide Microsoft Windows Vista screen shots.

Tutorial: How to Setup an HP LaserJet Printer with the Built-In JetDirect Network Card

I’ve just completed a review of the small, compact, and stylishly fast new printer from HP. Take a look to see the shortcomings of this small wonder of a LaserJet.

Review of the LaserJet 1020

I recently was asked about a deal at Provantage.com. It appears there was a pricing mistake and most of their HP LaserJet printers had a price tag with the rebate already taken off. The customer could then submit the original rebate and get a deal of the century (nearly free after rebate). So are these rebates valid? Has anyone received a rebate back from HP in a timely manner? Most people I know don’t mess with the rebates, but some go through the fun process of getting the UPC labels, forms, and praying that HP receives the rebate and processes it immediately. Just a note to those individuals seeking to find that HP LaserJet “free” after rebate, it hasn’t happened yet, and probably won’t anytime soon.  Prices are, however, falling quickly, so cross your fingers.

I just finished a short review of this timeless classic printer that is still around in many businesses. Why? Well many people have asked me what worth they have in their current condition and what items are compatible with them. Since it’s one of the last metal-framed printers that HP built, there is still some good value left. Although there are a few common problems that can easily be fixed in most cases, a fully refurbished machine should last much longer than a new printer sold today from the same company (although it may not be as fast).

You can find the review at laserjetspecs.com