Ever logged into your UMBC email and wanted it to be simpler? Have you received emails informing you of recent spam/hacking in the UMBC emails, or been the victim of such? I have good news! Thanks to the SGA blog, I have discovered that the folks at DoIT are hoping to sign a contract with google and transition UMBC student email to gmail, google’s email service. If all goes well, students should be able to start benefiting from this change early next semester in the February-March area. For more details, check out the SGA’s blog.

Last week I had a nice chat with Miriam Tillman about a new website, be.umbc.edu, that officially went public yesterday, Oct. 5. I’ve checked it out, but unfortunately I can’t create an account because I’m an alum. BUT, it looks pretty cool, and like folks are using it. It’s an aggregator site, so it’s pulling info from a bunch of different places. Flickr, Twitter, RSS feeds, video, music… all together in one place.

Speaking with Miriam, I learned that part of this project is to give prospective students a look into what UMBC students are doing, are into, talk about, etc. Which, is pretty cool. I wish I’d had a window into what UMBC was really like before I arrived as a Freshman. Sounds like a major objective of the site is to allow students to have a voice, to tell how things are instead of having others who aren’t as in touch trying to research and summarize.

So, pretty cool. I can see administration folks being a little worried about this, though, because it’s a lack of control over the image of the university — obviously a hugely important thing — but I think it’ll be fine. UMBC Underground, for everything that’s happened, I think has been a pretty positive image of UMBC. Sure, you’re going to have the occasional knuckle-head who’s dumb or bored or both, or the occasional post that maybe steps on some toes, but all in all, UU’s living proof that real students go here, they walk Academic Row and play on the quad, they have ideas and problems and often times great solutions to those problems. If prospective students can get that impression from a school, that’s really valuable. I think, at least. And it sounds like be.umbc.edu will show real students doing real student-y things.

Alright, back to work for me. Can people check this out and report back how it is? I know a group of about 20 students have been using it already to populate it and test and all, but I’m sure any feedback would be welcome. I guess you can leave that here. Or… if you want to email Miriam directly, her email is mir [AT] umbc.edu. Looking forward to hearing the feedback!

Ruckus, a popular music downloading service which catered to college students with a .edu email account, has closed its site and will no longer be providing music downloads according to a notice on their website (www.ruckus.com).  If you have downloaded songs through the ruckus service recently it is recommended that you back up your music through sound taxi (www.soundtaxi.info), tunebite (tunebite.com) or any other utility before the DRM license expires; it seems that the ruckus license server has been shut down as well.

How many of you used Ruckus, and what legal music download service(s) will you use now?

There’s been some buzz this semester about the future of myUMBC, and some of you might have noticed the important announcement currently headlining the site.

You can read some cool information about what’s coming in January, and also about what the 3.0 experience in Fall 2009 will be like, and you can even try out a live beta of the new “Topics” layout (which looks pretty sweet!).

So there is this little game called World of Warcraft. Only a scant 10 million people play it, and about two weeks ago they released a second expansion pack called Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard, or I guess Activision Blizzard had been advertising all the wonderful features in this game like the first Hero Class, the Death Knight, and the new kingdom of Northrend to explore. Well, I’ve ventured into the cold of Northrend and I’ve started honing my skills as a Death Knight, so I’m here to let you know what I think, and if it’s worth your money.

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You may have seen the posters in the commons or some fliers floating around but in case you didn’t know (and I’ll assume you don’t) this week is Global Entrepreneurship Week. UMBC and the Alex Brown Center are taking advantage of this week to teach students more about becoming their own boss and starting their own businesses. Our campus is full of opportunities and resources for anyone interested in becoming an entrepreneur and many people don’t even know about it. If you’re interested in becoming your own boss and doing your own thing, take advantage of some of these events as a part of Entrepreneurship Week here at UMBC:

It may be too late for this one but on Monday the 17th “Boot in the Butt” Camp will be held from 4-6PM in room 310 of the UC. Julie Lenzer Kirk (entrepreneur) and Bill LaCourse (chemistry teacher and start-up business owner) will be speaking about what it takes to start your own business and other related topics. If you have just the slightest interest in starting up your own company, this is the perfect gateway to gain more information.

On Tuesday the 18th, the Techpreneur Fair will be held at bwtech@UMBC Incubator and Accelerator from 5-7PM. This is your chance to see UMBC’s tech business incubator, meet CEOs and learn about their companies and any internship or full-time placement opportunities. If you are interested in this event, contact Christine Routzahn at the Shriver Center at routzahn@umbc.edu. Transporation will be provided from campus plus you’ll get to unshroud all of the mysteries surround that big building you always see and figure out what a “tech incubator” is exactly.

On Wednesday the 19th, the documentary “Global Harbors” will be playing in room 310 of the UC with a guest appearance from Sandy Hillman, former executive director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and Tourism to discuss social entrepreneurship and the revitilization of the Baltimore harbor. If you’re interested in using ideas to change the world through entrepreneurship, this is a great event to attend.

Finally, on Thursday the 20th Duff Goldman (UMBC Grad and host of Ace of Cakes) will be speaking in the Library Gallery about his experiences at UMBC and how it led to him starting up his own company. As cool as this sounds I hate to say that tickets have long since sold out and registration is now closed. I mentioned this event a while back in a post and with such limited seats available, the guest list filled up quick. However I do encourage you guys to check out the rest of the events and keep checking UU for info on future guest speakers and events.

Sorry if this is on such late notice but with the semester winding down, work is really starting to pile up, I promise I’ll give you guys more of a heads up in the future.

College students love flash games.  But they’re such a waste of time!  Or are they?

Presenting Oiligarchy, an addictive little game with a heart of [black] gold.  You start as a wide-eyed leader of an oil upstart in the early 20th century, chasing the thrill of oil prospecting in Texas.  As you begin to expand your operations, and as the world discovers oil (and becomes ‘addicted’), you’ll make money and begin to look to other fields.  Heck, you might even let those fellas in Congress know what you’re all about!  If they happen to support you, well, that’s dandy.

Oiligarchy takes a fairly complicated set of controls and simplifies them to make a point.  Build more oil rigs, earn more money, take over Washington.  Head out overseas, and into protected areas, seeking the riches of the Earth’s bounty.  I recommend you try to take your oil empire as far as you possibly can.  Who says oil isn’t sustainable?!

I assume the discussion to follow will focus on energy, but let me take a moment aside and mention that the game studio that created Oiligarchy, Molleindustria, is focused on the concept of promoting games as more than just entertainment; they want to put passion, purpose, and art into the medium of the video game.  Based on their entire collection, I’d say they’ve made a point about the efficacy of the video game in carrying ideology.

Gah the weather over the weekend sucked! It was my first weekend not completely crammed with crap to do and what did I wake up to each morning: clouds, fog and rain. On the bright side (and I don’t want to upset anyone so I’m sorry if I do) there are only three full weeks of school left in the Fall 2008 semester. Three freakin’ weeks! This fall term blew by abnormally fast. I guess being a senior and having a million things to do helps pass the time. What also helps is having weeks full of events to stay involved with, so if your semester seems to be dragging along, I suggest you start marking some of these events on your calendar. That way not only will oyu have things to do when you happen across a patch of free time, but you’ll also have stuff to look forward to. Here are just a few of the things going on this week:

On Monday the 17th, come let SEB hear your student voices at the weekly SEB Committee Meeting at 12PM in Commons room 2B10. At these meetings you can talk about past events, current events or even your ideas for future events and the best part is the fact that your opinion will be heard and potentially put into practice! From what I hear not many students actually attend these open meetings, so I highly recommend you stop by at least once.

For any of you interested in learning new things, the How-To Series continues on Tuesday the 18th at 7PM in Flat Tuesdays with how to make origami. Just last week I spent a full hour trying to make an origami elephant out of a dollar bill and failed completely. It’s definitely not as easy as you might think to make even the simplest looking origami. If you want to impress your friends and probably yourself as well, this event is definitively for you.

Wednesday the 19th is another night of many options on campus with three events happening all at 7PM. Take your pick from the following: poet, typographer and author Robert Bringhurst will be giving a free lecture on the 7th floor of the A.O.K. Library for anyone interested in graphic design or the arts; one of your last chances to get in on the action at Pub Trivia Night in Flat Tuesdays to compete for the big end of the semester prize; and the women’s basketball team will be facing George Mason in the RAC. Remember all three of these events are happening at 7PM, so pick what interests you most and check it out. With this many options you have no excuses for not having anything to do this Wednesday.

Finally, the UMBC Wind Ensemble will be performing on Thursday the 20th at 8PM in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. This performance is absolutely free and features some of the great musical talent from the UMBC music department. After the performance, you can also catch the FINAL SEB weekly movie of the semester! Last week was the Dark Knight and this weekend SEB presents Wall-E for three evenings, all FOR FREE! Catch the first showing on Thursday the 20th at 10PM in LH1 with one more showing on Friday in LH1 at 8PM and a final showing on Sunday in the Sports Zone at 8PM. Remember, this is your last chance to see a SEB movie this semester and you can’t beat the price of free.

With finals quickly approaching, you’re not going to have a whole lot of free time come the end of the semester. If I were you I would take advantage of these last few weeks of events and get a nice break from your books. There’s going to be plenty more stuff going on this weekend so check back at UU later on in the week for event updates!

This Thursday at 7:00 pm there will be a party for the release of Gears of War 2 in the Commons Gameroom. There will be a 4 on 4 tournament played on projection screens and video games will be given to the winning team at the end of the night. The last time they held a release party there, 180 people showed up to play so don’t miss out. It was a hell of a good time.

This Article Submitted by Jay Lagorio with the myUMBC Web Development Team

We’ve heard that students have expressed an interest in swapping their books with other students through one central location - and what location is more central than myUMBC?

In partnership with SGA, myUMBC has a new tool you can use to swap your textbooks (or any other books for that matter) safely, privately, and easily with myUMBC’s Bookswap. You enter in all the books you have to trade, the books you want to trade for them, and Bookswap will do the rest - right down to keeping you updated on the status of your trades whenever you sign into myUMBC. SGA acts as the intermediary so everything stays private while they collect and distribute books to and from students.

We want to launch this by the end of the semester to the whole campus, so this is the part where you find problems and report them so they can be fixed. If you’re interested in testing this program, all you need to do is join this group! We’ll send you a message when we’re ready to begin the test.

The web address will be sent out shortly - in the mean time, forward this to all your friends who might like to trade their textbooks!

Join the Facebook Group to get updates and to participate in the testing and refinement of Bookswap!