It seems to me that cell phone etiquette is a thing of the past for this generation. From libraries to public transportation, everyone is always on his or her phone and they’re always being very rude about it. As a misanthrope I find everything about society to be extremely irritating but overheard phone conversations really grinds my gears. Who’s with me? All of you? Ok!

Lets evaluate the top ten most annoying conversations to overhear and make fun of those guilty of them.

initiating the gallery...

This is a guest post by Richard Rushfield, the author of American Idol: The Untold Story. For three years Richard has covered American Idol for the Los Angeles Times, writing hundreds of columns and conducting thousands of interviews with cast and crew. He is currently an entertainment columnist for The Daily Beast, a Vanity Fair contributing editor, and author of its long-running “Intelligence Report” column. For more information please visit http://www.richardrushfield.com/ and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

Idol was perhaps the first show on television to have as much of a life off the screen as on.   These days we are used to The Hills girls, Bachelor contestants, Real Housewives and Jersey Shore housemates seeing their dramas spill over from the shows that made them famous to the covers of the tabloids and the greater celeb-obsessed blogosphere.

But when Idol debuted on the US airwaves in 2002, such a phenomenon was relatively unknown.  The internet was still in its infancy and network programming was a remote, pristine world, largely untouched by the hurly burly press.

What brought Idol out of its shell was the steady stream of scandals it provided as fodder for the ravenous new media.  Each year it seemed, some gotcha shattered Idol’s peace; some disqualification brought it face to face with the public beast.

Ten years later, the stream of scandals doesn’t seem to have hurt entertainment’s greatest juggernaut.  If anything, the blow-ups have kept us all talking about the show, even when the singing got a little dull.

Here then, in order of appearance, are the ten greatest scandals of Idol’s first decade:

[Click on any scandal to get started.]

© 2011 Richard Rushfield, author of American Idol: The Untold Story

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Want to win a copy of Richard’s book? It’s easy. To enter, head over to our Facebook page and cast your vote for American Idol’s biggest star of all time. Simply open the American Idol photo album and “like” the Idol contestant’s photo of your choice to vote. Then, not only will we finally prove to the world that Clay Aiken wasn’t the biggest thing to come from Idol, but we’ll randomly draw two (2) people to take home the prize and announce them on Facebook tomorrow, January 19th, just in time for the season 10 premiere!!

I am a complete technology addict.

Receiving a text message gives me a blissful, momentary high.  A day without access to the internet is a sad day.  If a couple of days go by and I haven’t signed onto Facebook (like that ever happens), I get antsy and feel out of the loop. This loathsome habit isn’t exactly an insightful revelation that came from deep soul searching or a problem unique to myself. Because, let’s be honest – you, dear reader, are probably just as addicted as I am.

I mean sure, anyone who’s seen a few episodes of Intervention knows there are far worse things to be addicted to and I’m not harming other people by logging onto Facebook five times every day.  I’m not even sure I am hurting myself.

What I do know is that our addiction can interfere with the quality of interpersonal interactions, focus in class, and other activities deserving of one’s undivided attention.

This is a day in my life:
I go to class and at least half of the people in attendance are not paying attention to the lecture.  They are either a) texting, b) shopping online, or c) on Facebook.
I go on a date and my date begins randomly texting somebody while pretending to listen to me at the same time. Annoying!
Even this past Thanksgiving my fourteen-year-old cousin was playing videogames on her iPhone at the dinner table.

It’s like everyone is perpetually bored and needs to use technology to alleviate themselves from their sorry state of boredom.

As finals and the holiday season are upon us, why not put in the effort to disengage and take a vacation from technology.  You might do better on your exams and can reconnect with yourself, your family and friends.  It would be hard to imagine going completely cold-turkey on technology (it was hard enough for one CollegeCandy writer to go cold-turkey on Facebook!), and after all, technology does have its merits, but with a few simple modifications, you might find the holiday season to be that much richer. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Host tech free gatherings. Invite the girls over for a movie night or old-school sleepover, but inform them ahead of time that cell phones are persona non grata. You can even offer a “tech check” where your BFFs can check their phones at the door and claim them once the night is over. Talk about bonding time!

2. Make exercise a time to connect with yourself and leave the distractions and stress of your every day behind. Create motivating playlists with your favorite music to keep you focused and pumped during your workouts, but leave gadgets that connect you to the outside world inside your locker. You’ll focus more on your workout and even give yourself some much needed time with your thoughts.

3. Implement a “tech curfew.” Let your friends and family know that at a certain time, you will not be available. Establish that time and turn off your technology. Without chimes and reminders that you have mail, a text message and constant Facebook updates that pull for a response, you will claim a lot of extra time for yourself and perhaps reconnect with something called relaxation.

4. Tech charge time. Leave the house willingly without any form of technology. At first you may be uncomfortable with how naked you feel as you re-experience everyday activities without your phone, but after the initial shock you will be surprised at how liberating it is to NOT be accessible.

With the holiday season approaching, it is the perfect time to reconnect with family and enjoy some time to ourselves. Our Digital Self needs a break too, so why don’t you and I turn off our BlackBerrys, Droids, and iPhones and tune into opportunities to be tech free-not all the time, but enough to feel a nice change.

I’m a loyal iPhone user, but I must admit – the Windows Phone 7 was pulling out some pretty cool tricks, including your own personal avatar (woot woot).  And today, I’m standing in as your personal messenger.  I hereby introduce to you: Windows Phone 7.  Hey iPhone? You may have to scooch over a little bit…

Here are the features of the new Windows Phone 7 that may tickle your technological fancy:

Informative lock screen: In a lot of ways, the lock screen resembles iPhone’s. However, it lets you give your friends individual tiles on the start screen (essentially, you add your friends as apps) and it aggregates everything they do! Yes, from texts to Facebook and Twitter updates, you can follow it all in one handy little place. Creepy? Maybe, but totally satisfying.

Facebook Integration/Social Media Hub: Microsoft really took our Facebook/Twitter addictions to heart with a Social Media Hub, which allows you to pull up a friend’s contact information and contact them in your avenue of choice: posting on their FB wall, Tweeting @ them, texting them or, if you still even do this, calling them.

Search Button: Unlike the iPhone, “search” is integrated right into the overall Windows Phone 7 design. So if you’re looking for some grub nearby, you can just type in “thai food” and get a Bing map, directions, restaurant reviews and hours instantly. Just swipe right through the options to see all the results. How informative of you, Microsoft!

E-mail/Outlook: The Windows phone not only adds events from your email, but it tells you automatically if there is a conflict with the built-in ‘Check Conflicts’ workflow so you don’t schedule dinner with the girls at the same time as that dreaded group meeting. And if there is a slight conflict, there is even an “I’ll be late” button you can send right to your contacts.  (Though I think they should change it to “I’ll be fashionably late.”) The spellcheck on Outlook is an extra perk.  It works just like Microsoft Office’s, and gives you multiple options for corrections (instead of auto-correcting!). Yes, now when I type ‘shit’ into my e-mail, it won’t come up as ‘shizoka!’

EA Games: Um, they have The Sims. Whoever added this feature, they have my blessing.

Music Hub: The Windows Phone 7 uses Zune Pass (boo, no Grooveshark) and gives you easy access to content you play most and can auto-sync to deliver new content.

Photo Hub: Takes photos right from Facebook and brings them onto the live stream on your home screen. This is awesome because you don’t even have to waste your precious time signing on to Facebook to stalk your friends’ Halloween party pics.

Personal Avatar: If you’re super bored, you can create your own personal avatar.  And if you’re a super avid gamer, you can receive special achievement points to buy new clothes, facial jewelery, and random items, like a VMA trophy. (Hey, I don’t judge.)

Texting: If you have huge fingers or drink too many Venti coffees, the text feature has an error correcting tab which, like the e-mail, will give you potential options instead of auto-correcting your words. Oh, and the phone has an emoticon button. Windows Phone 7 FTW!

Honestly, as a loyal iPhoner, the only thing I can see wrong with this guy is the copy/paste feature… because there isn’t one.  But don’t fret – according to my sources,  Windows will be coming out with one in early 2011. Even without it, though, this phone is definitely enough to rival the iPhone, especially when you realize it’s half the price!

The following is a guest post by our (nerdy yet totally helpful) friends at Hack College. Check ‘em out for all your techy needs. They’re like the nerdy boyfriend you never had but always needed.

Not everyone has a smartphone.

It’s true! Though they are excellent devices, and can even be productivity-boosters for the savvy student, they are expensive–and parents are unlikely to see the need for a smartphone to be as urgent as you see it.

Those of us who have yet to join the ranks of Androids and the iGeneration are not totally without hope, though. Even the dumbest of phones, so long as it can text, can be used as more than a pricey doorstop:

Google Calendar - Though most readers are probably aware that you can both create and be informed of GCal events via text message, dumbphone users have an added advantage: since there’s not a constant barrage of incoming messages from installed apps, the 15-minute warning the Google Gods text you about an upcoming meeting is much more likely to be seen.

GOOG-411 – Google’s directory service will give you location-specific business listings, connect you to them, and give you their address. Very helpful if you’re stuck somewhere and need to find the closest taxi service in a hurry–just be patient with the sometimes-confused voice recognition software.

Cha Cha – Cha Cha, much like its competitor KGB, is an SMS-based answer service. However, Cha Cha has a leg up in that it’s free in exchange for ads at the end of their answers. Because it’s a free service, the answer quality isn’t always the greatest, but if you’re lost and need to know the address and phone number of the restaurant you’re looking for, it will spit it out for you in phone-friendly SMS format. (And, unlike GOOG-411, it doesn’t require you  to wade through an automated phone menu to get the info in text form.)

Tumblr – Unlike Livejournal (which requires a paid/plus account) or WordPress (which requires a third-party work-around), Tumblr allows users to easily create voice posts just by calling them and talking. Useful for keeping people abreast of travel experiences when you’re somewhere without easy free internet access/a computer.

Everything else - And of course, there’s always Google SMS (to check the weather), Twitter (to inform the world what you’re doing), Fourquare (to inform the world where you’re doing it), and Facebook (for everything else).

These hacks can extend the lifespan of an aging phone without a data plan–and getting more life out of one’s tools is never a bad thing. And besides: nothing beats the smug satisfaction of knowing your phone works no matter how you hold it–even if you have clammy soft developer hands.

[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, TFLN…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (like Grooveshark, Ebates and Keep Me Out) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

My desk is cluttered with post-it notes of things I don’t want to forget about, magazine clippings, receipts, class notes, and more.  The mess, plus being occasionally scatter-brained, drives me crazy and sometimes (OK, more than I’d like to admit) even causes me to forget about important events or due dates. I used to try to figure how I could keep it all organized in a way that would make it all easy to access and find what I need – but now Evernote does all that for me!

Evernote will help you remember anything – whether it’s the due date of an assignment, a random thought, the name of that awesome beer you had at your friend’s party, or anything else – and it’ll help keep it organized!  It’s so easy: simply create an account on the site and start adding notes!

There are about a zillion different ways you can submit something to Evernote.  The most basic way is to simply log on to the website and type in a note manually, but you can also send an e-mail to your account (an e-mail address is created for each account, and can be found on the account settings page of the site), send a text or picture from your cell phone (to your account e-mail address), enter it through one of the smart phone or computer desktop apps, clip something directly from a webpage through their browser add-on, or even send a tweet.  Plus, there are tons of websites, products, and mobile apps that you can connect to Evernote with, and more are being added all the time!

And if helping you remember everything wasn’t cool enough, Evernote gets even cooler: it also helps you stay organized!  Once you submit something, Evernote automatically saves it for you in a “notebook.”  You can create as many notebooks as you want (one for food, one for school, one for shoes….), and can organize everything you submit accordingly.

Some ideas: a digital shopping list with pictures of cute clothes you see in stores and online that you want to buy, a to-do list with tasks and assignments you don’t want to forget about, or web clippings of research for your upcoming term paper.  The uses for Evernote are endless!

All your Evernote notes are also searchable by the note’s title or keywords in it.  Evernote can even recognize text and handwriting in images!  You can also add tags to notes to make searching even faster and easier.

Evernote is going to put an end to the post-it wall over my desk (thus saving many innocent trees)and the hundreds of poorly organized bookmarks on my browser.  I never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m finally going to get organized.

God, the Internet is such a wonderful thing.

The following is a guest post by our (nerdy yet totally helpful) friends at Hack College, the #1 tech site for college students. Check ‘em out.

So there was that one crazy night – you lost count of Jell-O shots, games of beer pong, and perhaps even where you were. You wake up in the morning, the grogginess sets in, and you feel your wallet, your keys, and — that’s it. Your phone is AWOL, and in the new era of technology you’re up a creek without a paddle as a college student.

Or are you? Modern technology might have wiped out our previous lifelines and made cellular telephones a necessity, but they’ve also provided for ways to survive without them.

Here are some tips for surviving without your cell phone in college.

Use Google Voice. There’s no excuse not to. Even if you don’t use it with your primary number, having a Google Voice number can save your life – link your phone calls to your roommates’ or friends’ number temporarily and use the internet to text your friends. Not to mention the online contact database.

Take advantage of phone company programs. I am a big fan of phone insurance – it’s saved my behind for cheap the past couple of times my phone has gone MIA, gotten wet, or just broke. Even better, my insurance company (through my provider) provides free GPS lookups for lost phones which could save you a ton of money and a lot of stress.

Figure out a back-up plan, and quickly. If you need near-immediate access to a phone (for a job interview or friends coming in town), you need to acquire their numbers and a phone quickly. Roommates are vital for this, but make sure you two agree on an arrangement, so you don’t leave a generous roommate without a phone for a day or you only have the phone for a short period of time.

Find a temporary phone. I can’t even count how many friends have phones for this purpose. Granted, it’s probably in the early-SMS stage, with limited Internet connectivity, but God darn it, it makes calls and some can even text. Just make sure it’s the same provider and you can get it activated.

Haggle with the cell phone dealer/provider. Last resort, but I’ve seen it work. When my roommate lost his iPhone 4 at a party, he was able to gain the reduced upgrade price just by talking for a bit to his cell phone provider (in person, over the phone is not as successful) which took an incredibly high price down to a moderately high price – but one he was more willing to spend.

Losing your cell phone is never fun, but it’s survivable if you follow the above tips.

It’s day three of our College Dating Makeover Challenge, From Ice to Nice. That means we’re halfway to being more approachable!

For those of you just joining us, this week the experts from The College Crush are going to share with you daily videos with simple challenges to help you go from shy to getting noticed.  In a good way. (Not, in this sorta way.) First they challenged you to put on a happy face. Yesterday, it was all about eye contact.

Today’s Challenge: Ban PDT (Public Displays of Technology) with Jewels from @techromanceblog and Techromance Tuesday on The College Crush.

Now, let’s be honest for a second. In this day and age, everyone is hyper-connected so it’s become totally normal and expected to be texting and calling and Facebooking no matter where we are and who we’re with. But how are you supposed to apply the basics (smile + eye contact) when you’re constantly looking at your stinkin’ phone?!

Here is what our techromance expert has to say:

Normally I support technology and definitely think it help fuel connections during the dating process. Who doesn’t love sext messaging, thoughtful emails and that epic moment when your honey changes their status from single to “in a relationship” on Facebook?

But sometimes technology can also create a wall that we hide behind–just look in any library and coffee shop and you’ll see faces buried in smartphones, laptops and Kindles instead of chatting and flirting with other people. This horrible trend is even finding its way into bars.

If you want to start “crushing” it in the dating scene my advice is to ban PDT: public displays of technology. Guys will appreciate your thinking outside the inbox and enjoy the more fun and laidback vibe you project when you’re having fun in the moment. Plus you’ll realize it’s so much more fun looking into someone’s eyes instead of your iPhone.

So let’s do this! Smile, make eye contact and keep that phone in your purse. Then share your experiences in the comments section! At the end of the week, we’ll randomly choose one commenter to win a free one hour one-on-one session with the Dating Makeover Coach herself, Kira Sabin, to get to the nitty gritty of what isn’t working and what is.

[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, TFLN…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (like College Bar Finder, Unhear It, and ReQall) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

I’m a ridiculously sound sleeper (seriously, I’ve slept through earthquakes), which makes it really difficult for me to get up in the morning.  When I first went away to college and I didn’t have my parents or sister to yell at me to get up when I hit the snooze button for a third time, I realized how big of a problem this could be.

I tried to use a regular alarm clock next to my bed, but I’d just turn it off and fall back asleep, causing me to keep missing my early-morning classes. Any by early-morning, I mean 12pm. Either way, though, not good.

If only WakeupDialer.com had existed back then!  WakeupDialer.com has a simple but oh-so-useful purpose: providing free wake up calls (no matter where you pass out). Type in your phone number (or the number of a friend who could use some help waking up in the morning), and the time of day you want to receive the call, and that’s it!

Each call features a hilarious random message from a “butler” (voiced by British actor/comedian Stephen Fry) that will make you momentarily forget about your messy dorm room and make you feel like you’re staying in a swanky hotel (cuddled up next to RPatz, perhaps?) instead.

For privacy purposes, WakeupDialer.com only keeps your phone number in its database until it actually makes your call. You’ll have to manually set it up every time you want a wake-up call, so it probably wouldn’t work for everyday use (unless you can remember to set it up every night).  But for important occasions, like tests, job interviews, doctor’s appointments, or those school-night sleepovers across campus that tend to happen after $1 pitchers of Milwaukee’s Best even though you have class at 10am, it’s perfect.

I know I’ll definitely be using WakeupDialer.com for any occasion I absolutely can’t miss.  My only criticism is that I wish I’d known about it sooner!

[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, TFLN…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (like Regretsy, Clicker, and Homeslyce) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

How familiar does this scenario sound to you? You’re driving in your car or walking to class when you suddenly get a great idea or remember you have to do something…but by the time you get a chance to write it down, you’ve already forgotten it.  Or maybe you simply forgot to write down an assignment right when it was assigned…and then forget to turn it in. Or your roommate asked you to pick up some emergency toilet paper… and now everyone has to drip dry.

Thank god I’m here.

Meet reQall, an online service that helps you remember important ideas, dates, tasks, etc., at the exact moment they pop into your head so there’s no time to forget them. (Don’t worry, reQall isn’t some weird microchip installed in your brain.)

It’s ridiculously easy to use: just sign up for an account (you can choose between the “standard” free account and the paid “Pro” account) to get started, and then you can start adding events and reminders.  OK, so that seems pretty similar to having a planner, but it’s so. much. better.

1. There are so many ways to leave a reminder on reQall!  You can call and leave a message, or send a text, e-mail, or IM–no matter which method you use, reQall will store it for you.

2. ReQall actually organizes all the information for you! Whenever you add an item to reQall, it analyzes what you say or type and determines which category on your personal calendar it belongs to (to do, meeting, shopping list, or note).  It also determines where and when the item should be done, how often it repeats (if at all), and if needs to be shared (either with another reQall user or through e-mail).

3. There are tons of different ways to use ReQall. You can use your cell phone (there are also apps available for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android), the web, and most instant messaging programs (including AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo IM, and Jabber).  Plus, it can sync with your computer’s calendar (such as iCal, Outlook, or Google Calendar), and even send you reminders!

As you can see, reQall can do pretty much everything for you when it comes to organizing your tasks and schedule.  It’s sort of like having a personal assistant, only in digital form.  It’s pretty friggin’ awesome, I have to admit.  Why don’t you give reQall a try for yourself!?